男女眾絕不能進入異性的住處，或其附近的活動範圍，除非有同性的陪同。上人加了一句說沒有例外。聖城內住宿的家庭另有住宿的規矩。這有兩個原因，因為在道場裡男女眾是分開得很清楚的，這是一般的規；上人對出家人的規矩是更不能到別人的寮房去。因為你到別人的寮房去聊天，到最後都是講是講非，講是講非當然是犯戒的。妄語戒裡面就有一個關於講是講非的，這是一個非常基本的戒。如果人到處講是講非的話，是會毀壞道場的。我認為每一個人都要擔起這個責任。
我為什麼說這個呢？因為過去並沒有那麼多的是非，因為上人會向大眾宣佈任何事情。既然大家都知道任何事情，就沒有什麼好說的了。即使上人要去哪裡，他也會在法座上告訴每一個人他要去哪裡，去做些什麼事情。有一次他身體不舒服，醫生要他喝牛奶，他在法座上也告訴大家因為他不舒服，必須要喝牛奶。雖然這是他自己一點點小事情，他會花時間和精力來告訴大家，所以大家就不會打妄想，想他在做些什麼事情。
那時我們每兩個禮拜或者一個月，就有四眾會議。在會議上，上人就會告訴我們在聖城發生的任何事情，甚至於也會糾正一些人。有人要是做錯了什麼事情，他會公開指責，大家都知道了就沒有什麼好講是非的。現在比較困難，我們四眾人比以前更多更複雜，每一個人都非常忙，我想我們能做的就是大家要在口業上注意，包括我自己。
我們這樣做是幫助道場，並不會浪費很多時間。因為通常講是講非講的都不是眞實的，所以我們會被所說的搞迷糊。
我們必須瞭解，在這裡的每一個人必須要幫助這個地方，不要傷害這個地方，這裡是世界上最安全的地方，所以沒有理由去講是講非。
第四點就是嚴禁私藏軍火、武器、爆竹，任何易燃物，或可能傷害身體的危險物品。這包括我們用的器具，尤其是馬力強的，要很小心不要傷害到任何人。所有住眾與訪客，包括出家和在家，必須先到總辦公室登記住宿，接受分配房間，不得在聖城的車上或室外睡覺。在住眾或訪客抵達或離開時，萬佛聖城保留檢查其行李的權力。在往昔佛教的道場，這是一個傳統。通常我們不這樣做，是因為覺得很不好意思。為什麼要這樣做，這為確定沒有人從道場裡偷東西。因為從道場裡面拿東西，果報是非常大的，即使你拿的東西是非常微小。這一點我們並沒有眞正盡到責任，常常我們的東西都不見了。
比方說我們有一百多把傘，是給訪客用的，現在都不見了。有些人來聖城會採樹上的水果或拔孔雀的羽毛，你們若是看到，要勸他不要這樣做，不要讓他們在這裡造業，這是關於盜戒的。其實在盜戒裡，如果你不讓人知道，把東西移開原位，這都是算犯盜戒的，就算這個東西還在聖城。如果你想借用什麼東西的話，你應該留個紙條說你要用來做什麼，拿到哪裡去，別人要用的話可以找得到。你用完以後，應該要歸還原位。你要是在聖城走一圈的話，你可以看到很多值錢的工具剷子等等都在地上。很多因為沒有還回去，放在那裡久了就壞了，這都是不好的。這是我們應該要注意的事。
所有出家在家住眾，必須在兩天前親自向執事申請，說明時間及目的地，得到執事同意後才能離開聖城，未經核准之前任何人不得擅自離開。剛才我談到有男孩女孩半夜開車出城，我不相信是經過核准的，所以他們更不一定履行他們的合約。上人進出聖城都簽進簽出，他不需這樣做，但是他還是這樣做。我沒有這樣做，我以後必須改進。
第八點是每一部車必須停放在指定車位，不得在總辦公室前後方停放過夜。為保持清靜安全，減少空氣污染，所有外來車輛不得超越指定範圍行駛，除非取得允許。聖城內車速不得超過十五哩，不得在聖城內駕駛摩托車，這方面辦公室必須要特別注意。個人物品自行負責，如有遺失或被竊，萬佛城不負賠償責任，這點大家必須要注意。
第十點，任何人未經教育委員會核准，不得私下開課充當精神導師或顧問。比方說有人因為他以前來過聖城，再來聖城時也不到辦公室去登記，就在城內到處告訴人，他讀過什麼書啊，還有錄音帶，要教人家一個特別的法。那你如果接受這樣的法，接受這種人來教你，你就是犯了萬佛城的規矩。
時間不多，住宿的規矩是很多的。我現在只講關於目前的問題。事實上每一個規矩都是我們目前的問題。
第一點，所有住眾必須居住於被分配的宿舍。學生必須先取得聖城或法界佛教大學的核准，才能在校外住宿。這表示說分配你哪個房間你就住哪個房間，住宿費必須一次付清，在搬入宿舍前必須先付清舊的欠款。再重複說一次，住眾必須住於被分配的宿舍，每個人必須負責自己房間的整齊清潔。聖城可以隨時檢查你的房間，房間牆上一律禁止使用釘子和膠帶，以免破壞房間牆壁。沒有經過執事同意，不可將傢具任意搬離原處。我希望你們每一個人好好看一看你們住的房間，有很多地方都有損壞；聖城的很多房間都有損壞，最主要的是住的人沒有好好照顧。你如果希望每一樣事情都要出家人僧團來幫你修理，那是不可能的。
當你維持修理你所住的地方，並不表示你喜歡紫色的就把房間漆成紫色的，因為這個地方並不是屬於你的。
待續 |
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Men may not enter women's residences or surrounding grounds and women may not enter men's residences or surrounding grounds, without someone of the same gender accompanying them. No exceptions will be made to this rule. The Venerable Master added the line that there will be no exceptions. There are also special rules for families living at the CTTB.
There are two reasons for this. One, of course, is that we're in a monastery. The genders are separated very clearly. But actually, this is a general rule. People, especially left-home people, do not go into each other's rooms just to talk, even if you are of the same sex. Why? If you go into someone else's room, you'll probably end up gossiping. Gossip, of course, is against the precepts. It's included in the precept against false speech. There are four kinds of false speech, and one of them has to do with gossiping. So it's a very basic precept. Gossip can destroy the Way-place. Now I feel that we all have to take responsibility for this.
In the past there was not very much gossip here, because Venerable Master would announce everything. Since everybody knew everything, there was nothing to gossip about. Even when he was going to go somewhere, he would sit up on the Dharma seat and tell everybody where he was going and what he was going to do. One time he was sick and the doctor told him to drink some milk, so he got up here in front of everyone and announced that he was going to drink some milk. These seem to be very personal, small things, yet he took time and energy to tell us all, so that we wouldn't have any false thinking about what he was doing.
We would have community meetings about every two weeks, at least once a month. At these community meetings, Venerable Master would tell us everything that was going on at the CTTB. He would also correct people at those meetings. If somebody was doing something wrong, that also would be discussed right out in the open and everyone would know. So there was nothing to gossip about. But now it's more difficult because our community is much more complex than it used to be. There are many more people here than before, and everyone is extremely busy.
I think we need to work on ourselves more, take more responsibility for our mouth karma, and that includes me. If we can do this, we can help the Way-place and not waste so much time because gossip is basically untrue. It's not factual, and we get confused if we listen to it or speak it.
All of us here must realize that everyone else here is helping us. No one here is trying to hurt us. It's one of the safest places in the world to be, and there's no need to gossip.
No firearms or weapons of any sort are allowed. Fireworks, flammables, or anything else that could possibly be harmful is strictly prohibited. This means that we should be careful using equipment, especially powerful equipment, and not harm living beings. All residents and guests, both Sangha and laity, must register at the Administration Office so that housing may be assigned to them. Visitors maybe subject to a housing fee that may or may not include meals.
Sleeping outside or in vehicles is not permitted. The CTTB reserves the right to inspect baggage of residents and guests when they arrive and depart. We're going to inspect your baggage. Actually, this is a very old tradition in all the Buddhist monasteries. Normally, we don't do that because it's embarrassing for us. Of course, one of the reasons that it's done is to be sure that no one is stealing things from the Way-place, because the retribution of stealing even a small thing from the Way-place is really, really extreme. We haven't really been upholding our responsibility in this matter, and so we constantly find things disappearing.
For example, we had a hundred umbrellas and now we can hardly find any of them. They were just for the guests to use while they were here, and now they've all disappeared. Some people come here and take the fruit and some people pull the peacocks' feathers out. They probably think these are small things. Now if you see people do these things, you should help them, not let them come to this way-place and create offenses. But this of course has to do with the precept of stealing. According to the precept of stealing, even if you moved something from its place without letting anybody know and you don't put it back, even if it's at the CTTB, it's still considered stealing.
If you need to borrow something to do some work, you should leave a note in the place where you took it from, and you should always remember to put it back. Sometimes if you go around the City, you will see all kinds of things lying around on the ground: shovels, tools, all kinds of valuable things that are being destroyed by the elements because someone just left them there and didn't return them. We should be mindful of this.
Next, both Sangha and lay residents of the CTTB must request permission before leaving the grounds. The request should go to their designated supervisor with their time of departure and time of return. This needs to be done at least two days before the planned trip. No one may leave without the supervisor's approval. I can't believe that the boy driving out at midnight and the girl driving the car out at midnight got permission to do that. So they breached their contract with the CTTB.
The Master used to make a point when he came here to always sign in at the office and always sign out. Of course he didn't have to, but he did it. And I have to admit that I myself am very sloppy about this and I have to improve.
Each automobile must be parked in its designated spot. No overnight parking is permitted in front of or adjacent to the north side of the administration building. The north side is basically the front of the building.
For the sake of maintaining a quiet, sagely, smoke-free atmosphere, automobile traffic beyond the barriers is limited to residents and students unless special permission is granted. This is something that the Office has to pay attention to. CTTB cannot accept responsibility for lost or stolen property.
Here's one to pay attention to. No one may teach classes or act as a spiritual advisor or tutor without permission from the Education Committee.
Suppose someone comes to the City, doesn't stop at the office, but just goes and finds a place because they've been here before and kind of know the City, and they go around telling people that they have just written a book and they have the tape, and they want to teach them a special dharma. This is against the rules. And when you accept these things and agree to be taught by this person, you are breaking the rules of the CTTB.
Time is getting short, and there are some important housing rules. I think all the rules are currently a problem. The first one says that all residents are required to live in the housing provided. Any arrangements for students for off-campus housing must be approved by the CTTB.
If someone assigns you that room, you have to stay in that room. If somebody assigns you to an apartment, you must stay there. All resident fees must be paid in full. All past due fees and bills must be paid before a resident can continue to occupy a dwelling. You can think about that one. To repeat, all residents are required to stay in their assigned room only.
Residents are responsible to keep their dwelling places clean and neat. Rooms are subject to inspection. No screws, nail, tape, or the like may be used on the walls to destroy the surfaces of the walls. And things should remain in the room where they were originally placed unless you get permission to remove them.
I would like you to take a look at the dwelling place where you're living and you'll see that it's falling apart probably. The buildings here are falling apart, because the people living in them are not taking care of them. Everyone expects the Sangha to fix all the buildings. I think that's a very extreme problem.
Now, when we're talking about fixing the dwelling, it doesn't mean that because you like purple paint, you paint the walls purple while you're living here. This place does not belong to you.
To be continued |
