恭禧！恭禧！新年快樂！今年的春節，我們打掃得特別乾淨，不但我們自己打掃了，老天還把我們洗了一洗；乾的來了，濕的也來了，等會我們灑淨就更乾淨了。今年我們環境的春節氣氛特別濃，佈置得特別好，是大家有目共睹的。請大家要特別注意的是，我們掃的樹葉和樹枝，不要把它丟到後山去。人家一看，「哇！你們後山是垃圾堆啊？」這是不行的，並且還是違法。我們昨天一直燒到晚上，不只樹葉，還有垃圾，瓶瓶罐罐都有。所以請各位告訴大家，不但樹枝樹葉不能丟，垃圾更不能丟，應該丟到垃圾堆或廢物回收處去。樹葉應該丟到哪呢？可以丟到南邊greenhouse（綠屋）外邊，倒在那也做堆肥。樹枝請你放到福居樓後路邊，那有一大堆的枯枝，可以倒那邊，樹葉可以腐化做肥料，樹枝必須燒掉。
昨天來了大約四、五十位鄰居，都是附近的農民，我們大家都做得很好，相信他們都有很好的印象。當然來的人也有些意見，是我們自己還沒有注意到的，我們就必須要加強，要努力改善。譬如有鄰居說我們有些人經常在採野菜時，走過他們的葡萄園，又走過另外一家去，就是過了兩家了。還有我們後面那個驢子也蹦到別人的家去了，孔雀也飛到人家屋頂去了，把人家種的花和菜也吃了。人家說，「怎麼你們人也管不了，動物也管不了？」我們連這些東西都沒辦法照顧，怎麼還建設後山啊？所以我們大家都要知道，當然我們會把籬笆重新把它做好。同時希望大家注意，採野菜時就在我們自己的範圍內，不要走太遠；你走到別人家去，就可能犯盜戒了。
另外，我們還會送一些孔雀到別的安全的地方去。我聽說孔雀可以活七十多歲——變孔雀王朝了！但是明天放生還是有兩隻白孔雀要放。這裡白孔雀少，還是放在這裡好了。
為什麼明天放生呢？因為最初我忘記了一件事情，就是上人特別交待我說，每個月要放生一次。我們一個月有時有兩次法會，那時都放生。但我看了一下月曆，今年一、二月都沒有特別大法會，所以我們特別明天放生；下個月也沒有大法會，我們就在上人紀念日那天下午放生。這是上人特別的交待，為長養我們的慈悲心。明天（農曆年）初一是新年，我們有「護世息災法會」，希望大家盡量參加，盡一己之力為世界祈禱和平。今晚我們灑淨，迎接新的一年。
今天下午我和劉果福居士去（福居樓）安老院拜訪，希望大家都能瞭解，人老了身心都有變化，不跟我們年輕人一樣。年輕力壯，要蹦要跳都可以，不曉得年老的痛苦，特別是冷，一冷就有很多問題。前天談到瓦斯費很高，擔心是不是用太多了？是不是應該把熱水器關掉，等用時再開？但等那時出來的是冷水，老人家怎麼受得了呢？還有，是不是暖氣不用了？不是的。老人家我們一定要保護他們，室內溫度要保持（華氏）七十度才行，是最基本的。這就是為什麼上人特別要舉行敬老節，並不是那一天大家吃吃喝喝就是敬老了。不是的，我們要在日常生活中去體驗，試著瞭解他們的痛苦，然後去幫助解決。
佛教講的慈悲是同體大悲，就是我們站在同一個身體的立場上，去瞭解眾生的痛苦，幫助解決問題，這是拔苦。聖城就是一個大家庭，上人是我們的大家長，他時時刻刻都是我們精神的領導。我們時時刻刻要迴光返照，是不是眞的往慈悲路上走？我們的智慧有沒有增長？特別在新年開始時，我們應該立下期許，過去的過去了，既然我們幸運遇到佛法，在佛道上走，就應該把佛法在自己身上貫徹力行，不要再像以前一樣糊裡糊塗過日子。
世間人不瞭解佛法，生時忙著造業，死時忙著投胎，忙啊忙，生也忙死也忙。我們遇到了佛法，知道如何來如何去，就應該努力；不然福報用盡，智慧卻沒有增長，就愚癡了。
在聖城，當然有許多地方需要改進的，大家都可以直言提出。譬如哪一處的燈太暗了或沒有燈，有人摔倒了，那就請你把地點標出來，我們會盡力解決，這也是幫助自己。
果義師的故事我想可以提出來。果義師大家都還記得吧？他以前要出家沒出成，後來得了肝癌剩下半年生命，他太太來請求我們讓他出家。出家後他住萬佛城，病危時送了醫院，方便他俗家到醫院去看他。他到醫院以後，雖有俗家陪他，但是他還是要回萬佛城，但是救護車準備好了在外邊等時，他就往生了。
他往生是在什麼時候呢？午供時，大家都準備去用齋了。我接到他往生消息時正唱到第二遍諸佛菩薩聖號，我馬上帶了一位沙彌就走了。我正想這時候誰會去呢？結果我們到醫院時，他在聖荷西的朋友已經在了，他們直接從聖荷西到醫院來看他。那麼當時就馬上給他助念，所以他走的時候是笑著走的。他剛走時眼睛張開嘴巴也張開，可是當我們給他助念時，他眼睛閉上了，臉是笑著的。他俗家很高興，還說，「我捨不得他，要帶他回家。」
他為什麼有這個福報呢？當他還是居士時，他上班到中午吃飯時，人家去吃飯他就到聖荷西佛學會去幫忙接電話，回答佛學問題。在中午這段時間他總是幫助大家，所以他的因緣就那麼殊勝，往生時在聖城來講是最難找人出去的時候，呵！他的朋友就來了，都是在聖荷西他幫回電話的人，來助念他往生。
所以我們不要小看幫助眾生，福德就是在幫助眾生中成就的。《普賢菩薩行願品》裡講，如果沒有一切眾生，諸菩薩不能成就智慧，阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。阿彌陀佛！ |
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Happy New Year! We have really cleaned and spruced up the place for this New Year, and not only that, but we also got a shower from Heaven. We have had both the dry and the wet. When we purify the boundaries shortly, the place will be even cleaner! As everyone can see, we have a lot of New Year spirit this year and the decorations are especially fine.
One thing I hope everyone will remember is not to throw leaves and branches in the back property. Otherwise, people will think it's a garbage dump back there. That would not be good, and it's also against the law. Yesterday we burned not only leaves, but all sorts of garbage, and we weren't finished until evening. So, please tell everyone not to throw leaves, branches, or garbage back there. Garbage should be taken to the garbage pile or the recycling center. Leaves can be dumped outside the green house for composting. Please take branches to the big pile of branches on the roadside behind the Tower of Blessings. The leaves can be composted to make fertilizer, but the branches need to be burned.
Yesterday forty or fifty neighbors, mostly local farmers, came to visit. I'm sure they were impressed because everyone did a good job of cleaning and preparing. They did have some opinions about things we haven't paid attention to, and we must work hard to improve those aspects. For example, some neighbors said that someone has been walking through their vineyard and also across another neighbor's land in order to pick wild herbs. The burros in our back pasture have also trotted onto our neighbors' land, and our peacocks have flown out and landed on their roofs and eaten their flowers and vegetables. People wonder why we aren't able to manage our own people and animals. If we can't even take care of these matters, how can we manage a construction project on the back property? Of course we will repair the fence, but at the same time, everyone should remember to stay within our own property and not walk too far when picking wild herbs. You may be breaking the precept against stealing if you trespass on other people's property.
Furthermore, we will be sending some of the peacocks to a safer place. I heard that peacocks can live to be over seventy—a peacock dynasty! Nevertheless, we will still be liberating two white peacocks in the Liberating Life Ceremony tomorrow, because white peacocks are very scarce here.
Why are we holding a Liberating Life Ceremony tomorrow? I had forgotten that the Venerable Master had instructed me to liberate creatures once a month. Sometimes we have two Dharma sessions in a month, and we liberate creatures on those occasions. However, I saw on the calendar that there aren't any major Dharma events in January and February, so we will liberate life tomorrow, and in February we will liberate life on the Venerable Master's Memorial Day. The Venerable Master made this special stipulation to encourage us to develop compassion. Tomorrow is the first day of the (lunar) New Year and we will have a Dharma Assembly for Protecting the World and Quelling Disasters. I hope everyone will try to attend and pray for world peace. When we purify the boundaries tonight, I hope everyone will welcome the New Year by making a fresh start.
This afternoon I went with Upasaka Liu Guo-Fu to visit the Tower of Blessings (Senior Home). We should all realize that when people get old, their bodies and minds change and they are no longer like us young people. We are still young and strong and able to run and jump, and we don't know how hard it is for the elderly, especially when it gets cold. There are a lot of problems when it's cold. The day before yesterday we discussed the matter of the high gas bill and whether we are using too much and should turn off the water heater until it needs to be used. But how can the elderly take cold water coming out of the faucets? Is it the case that they should turn off the heaters? No.
We must protect the elderly and keep their room temperature at 70 degrees Fahrenheit at the very least. This is also why the Venerable Master sponsored the celebration for Honoring Elders. Honoring our elders does not mean celebrating with food and drink for one day. We must truly practice it in our daily lives. We should try to understand their difficulties and help them to resolve them.
Buddhism teaches compassion, the great compassion of oneness with all. That is, we must put ourselves in the same body in order to understand the sufferings of sentient beings and help to resolve the problems and alleviate those sufferings. The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas is a big family, and the Venerable Master is the head of the household. He is our constant spiritual leader. At all times, we should reflect and ask ourselves whether we are really walking down the path of compassion and whether our wisdom is increasing. At the beginning of the New Year, we ought to make a new resolve and let bygones be bygones. Since we are fortunate enough to have encountered the Buddhadharma and are now walking the Buddha Path, we ought to truly embody the Buddhadharma and not be as muddled as before.
Of course in the City there must be many places that need improvement. For instance, if you know a place that needs street lamps or a lamp that is not bright enough, please tell the Administration Office and we will try our best to improve the situation.
People who don't understand the Buddhadharma spend their lives creating karma, and then rushing off to rebirth after they die. They are busy both when alive and after death. Since we have encountered the Buddhadharma and are aware of how we come and go, we ought to work hard. Otherwise, if our wisdom has not increased by the time our blessings are used up, we will be deluded again.
I'd like to tell the story of Guo-Yi Shi. Does everyone remember him? His initial attempt to leave the home life was unsuccessful. Then, when he found out he had liver cancer and only half a year left to live, his wife came and begged us to let him leave home. After leaving home, he lived at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. However, when his condition became critical, he was taken to the hospital where it was more convenient for his family to visit him. Although his family was with him in the hospital, he wished to return to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. But when the ambulance was waiting outside to take him back to the City, he passed away.
When did he pass away? It was during the Noon Meal Offering before lunch. When I received the news, the assembly was chanting the Buddhas' and Bodhisattvas' names for the second time around. I immediately went to the hospital with a novice monk. I thought to myself, "Who would go to see him at this time of day?" When I arrived at the hospital, to my surprise all of his friends from San Jose were already there (they had come directly from San Jose to the hospital) and were reciting for him. That's why he was smiling. When he first died, his eyes and mouth were open, but after we recited the Buddha's name for him, his eyes closed and a smile came to his face. His family was very happy and wanted to take him home; they could not bear to part with him.
Why did he have such blessings? It's because when he was still a layman and working at a job, he would spend his lunch hour at the San Jose Lay Buddhist Association helping to answer the phone, when everyone else was eating. Since he spent every noontime helping others, he had such wonderful conditions when he passed away. Lunchtime is the most difficult time to pull people away at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, but all his friends came. All the people he had helped to answer phone calls for came to recite for him when he passed away.
Therefore, we should not underestimate the importance of helping others. Blessings are generated through helping others. As the "Chapter on Universal Worthy Bodhisattva's Conduct and Vows" says, without living beings, Bodhisattvas have no way to achieve the wisdom of annuttarasamyaksambodhi. Amitabha! |
