 楊果強居士是臺灣人。他的父親是一位不發脾氣，凡事都願意吃虧的人，1987年時突然中風去世。他想學習父親的精神，於是開始接觸佛法。
1989年尚在求學的楊居士，賃屋而居在一間佛教書局的樓上；房東請了一位美國來的在家人「教」佛法。二十幾個人都陸續有了感應，有人莫名其妙地打拳或跳舞，有人自稱開了天眼；唯獨楊居士沒有「感應」，因為他每天持楞嚴咒。這個人還說修行不一定要吃素，又私下說，「我在天上有某某淨土，你們是我的妃子、護法，我是來度你們回去的。」
當時楊居士覺得這些話很奇怪，於是向觀世音菩薩祈求智慧來分辨正邪。他就到樓下書局上千本的佛教書中去找答案，他打開第一本書時，就是宣公上人講解《楞嚴經》中五十陰魔的現象，一針見血地揭穿魔事，使其無所遁形；而《楞嚴經》中的四種清淨明誨，更讓外道邪師無法自圓其說。
楊居士恍然大悟，原來佛教中的亂象，是人所造成的。在地球的另一端，仍有一位老和尚，為延續佛陀的正法而努力。上人「凍死不攀緣，餓死不化緣，窮死不求緣」的家風，以及為法界眾生所發的十八大願，讓他找到了一位有骨氣，眞修行的師父。因而於1990年上人返臺弘法時受三皈五戒。
值茲末法，亂象愈來愈多，更證明了上人所說《楞嚴經》的重要性。楊居士依教奉行，除了讓自己有分辨正邪的能力之外，更可幫助正法久住於世。 |
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Upasaka Yang Guo Qiang is from Taiwan. His father was a man who never lost his temper and always was willing to take a loss. After his father's sudden death in 1987, Upasaka Yang began to study Buddhism in hopes of emulating his father's spirit.
Upasaka Yang, still a student, rented a room upstairs from a Buddhist bookstore in 1989. The landlord invited an American layman to teach Dharma. Over twenty people reported miracles. Some mysteriously began to do taiji or dance. Others said they had opened their 'heavenly eye.' Upasaka Yang was the only one who did not experience any response, and that was because he recited the Shurangama Mantra daily. The lay teacher said that one need not be vegetarian to cultivate. He also privately told people, "I have such and such a pure land in the heavens. All of you are my concubines and Dharma protectors. I've come to save you and take you back."
Upasaka Yang found such talk very bizarre and didn't know what to make of it. He prayed to Guanyin Bodhisattva to give him the wisdom to distinguish right from wrong. Then he went downstairs to search for answers in the bookstore, which had over a thousand Buddhist books. The first book he picked up was the Venerable Master Hua's explanation of the Fifty Skandha-demon States in the Shurangama Sutra. That volume exposes the demons' deeds with crystal clarity. The Sutra's Four Unalterable Instructions on Purity make it impossible for a heterodox teacher to defend his claims.
Upasaka Yang realized that the confusion in Buddhism was caused by people. On the other side of the globe, an elder monk was striving to perpetuate the orthodox teachings of the Buddha. He had found a true teacher in the Venerable Master, whose credo was, "Freezing, we do not scheme. Starving, we do not beg. Dying of povery, we ask for nothing" and who had made eighteen great vows for the living beings of the Dharma Realm. Thus, when the Master went to Taiwan in 1990, Upasaka Yang received the Three Refuges and Five Precepts.
In this age of the Dharma's decline, there are increasingly numerous distortions of the Dharma, confirming the Master's emphasis on the importance of the Shurangama Sutra. By practicing in accord with the teachings, Upasaka Yang not only is able to distinguish right from wrong, but can help to perpetuate the Proper Dharma in the world. |
