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在我們金佛寺大家用齋的時候，沒有人講話，這是做什麼呢？也就是專一其心來吃飯，不打旁的妄想，只是注意吃飯。各位要知道，我們人要不會吃飯就會有病；你要會吃飯了，就不會有病的。你會吃飯就能消災延壽，增福長慧；你不會吃飯，就能生病，得一種治不了的病。現在世界上很多人都有一種怪病。為什麼？就因為他們不會吃飯。你看嚴重不嚴重？他們吃飯的時候打很多妄想。你看著「想」不要緊，你這一想，也就好像那個化學工廠似的，那個飯和那個妄想碰到一起了，就發生種作用。這種作用，你打好的妄想不覺得有什麼；你要打不好的妄想就生出一種毒來。
譬如你吃飯的時候，你打妄想，「我沒有錢，要販賣鴉片煙或者大麻，或者販賣種種的毒品，這可以賺很多錢。」一打這種妄想，那種毒氣，虛空裡它有一種毒氣，這個毒氣它也是電。這個電有種電光，很快地，無形中你肉眼看不見的，那種毒氣也是看不見的。你這一打這個妄想，它這毒氣就到你這兒來了，因為你請它進來的。進來了，然後天天有這個妄想，日積月累就生了一種怪病。或者生癌病，或者生種種的病，就因為不會吃飯。
會吃飯怎麼樣呢？我們吃飯的時候要平心靜氣，什麼妄想都不打，就用這個三念法、五觀法。三念是什麼呢？
第一念，我吃了這個飯，我「願斷一切惡」，把一切惡事我都斷了它，我才吃飯。
第二念，你就要想我「願修一切善」，所有一切的善事我都要去做去。這個願斷一切惡，就是不以小惡而為之，就是再小的惡事，你也不要去做去。願修一切善呢，就是勿以善小而不為。不要以為這個善事小，你就不做了。因為「泰山不卻微塵，自小堆成高山。」你要知道微塵雖然是小，積聚多了也能變成山。所以我們做善事亦復如是，也是這樣。
第三念，就是我惡事斷了，善事我修了，然後我「願度一切眾生」，願意度所有的一切眾生。
要有這三念，因為這三念都是利人的。你自己不做惡了，就不害人；你自己做善事，就利益人；你再度眾生，令人離苦得樂，這都是行菩薩道的一種思想。那麼這是三念，今天就講這三念。
你們明白這個吃飯，所以「願斷一切惡，願修一切善，誓度一切眾生」，有這三種念頭在你吃飯的時候這麼觀想，哪有時間講閒話呢？也不會打旁的妄想了。那麼吃了這個飯一定消災延壽，一定增福長慧的。所以你們到金山寺，不要以為，「哦！規矩這麼嚴，吃飯都不准講話，到了這個地方，好像到了監獄一樣。」不是那麼想法，這是真正叫你接著佛法來修行。 |
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No one talks while we are having meals at Gold Buddha Monastery. Why is that? It is because we do not strike up false thoughts but concentrate on eating. Everybody should understand that if we do not know how to eat, we will get sick. When you know how to eat, you are free from illness. By eating right, you avoid disasters and prolong your life. Your blessings and wisdom also increase. But if you do not know how to eat, you may become incurably ill. Nowadays a lot of people suffer strange illnesses, because they do not know how to eat. That's pretty serious, wouldn't you say? They engage in too many idle thoughts during meals. You may not consider thinking to be a big deal. Once you start thinking, however, the food and your idle thoughts combine to produce something like a chemical reaction. If you have beneficial thoughts, the reaction probably won't affect you. However, unfavorable thoughts can produce a toxic reaction.
For instance, if you have the following thought: "I have no money, but I could probably get rich if I sold opium, marijuana or other drugs." As soon as you entertain such thoughts during your meal, a toxic vapor will form. That poisonous vapor is like an electric current, invisible to the eye but travels quickly. Once you have such a thought, you attract that harmful vapor to yourself. If you have that thought every day, in time you will develop a strange illness. You can get cancer or other kinds of illness because you do not know how to eat.
What does it mean to know how to eat? We should calm our mind and spirit and not entertain idle thoughts when we eat. Instead, we ought to practice the Three Recollections and Five Contemplations.
What are the Three Recollections? First, when I take this food, "I vow to cut off all evil." You eat only after you have stopped all immoral deeds. Second, "I vow to cultivate all good." You are willing to practice wholesome acts. "To cut off all evil" means that no matter how small a bad deed is, you do not do it. On the other hand, "to practice all good" emphasizes that we should not think a small wholesome deed is insignificant and neglect to do it. Do not think a tiny good act is not important and fail to do it. "Mount Tai does not scorn a mote of dust, for high mountains are accumulated from small particles." We should know that although a mote of dust is minute, when a lot of dust accumulates, a mountain can form. The same applies to good deeds.
The third recollection you make after you refrain from bad deeds and practice wholesome acts is, "I vow to save all living beings." You aspire to liberate all living beings. We should observe these Three Recollections because they can benefit people. If you do no evil, you will not harm people. When you do wholesome deeds, you benefit others. Furthermore, we want to liberate living beings and help them to end suffering and attain bliss; this is the attitude one should have in cultivating the Bodhisattva Path. Today I'll just talk about these Three Recollections.
If you understand how to eat, then you will practice these three recollections to "cut off all evil, practice all good, and save all living beings." When you recollect these during meal, how would you have time to talk idly? You would not even strike up idle thoughts. When you have eaten the food, you will certainly have averted any impending disasters, your life span will be lengthened, and your blessings and wisdom will also increase. When you come to Gold Mountain Monastery, do not think, "Oh! The rules are so strict that we cannot talk during mealtime. I feel as if I have come to a jail." That is not the case. You are just asked to truly cultivate in accord with the Buddhadharma. |
