第二是瞋恚，瞋恚就是脾氣。「千日打柴一火焚」，你打了一千天的柴，firewood你用一個火柴就把它燒了。打一千天，只需要一個火柴就把它燒了。你看看！這一根火柴就是脾氣。就是你有一千天的功德，你發了一回脾氣，把這個功德都燒去了。「星星之火，燒去功德之林」，常常跟你們講的，這就是瞋的壞處。那麼瞋是這麼壞，我告訴你，也有好的地方，怎麼樣子呢？你瞋，「喔！我為什麼不修行？我為什麼不能把自己的脾氣制住它？我為什麼不能把自己這個毒龍殺了它？」你說，這個瞋不好嗎？這個瞋恚是不錯的。這叫「克己復禮」，克己的功夫，這叫自制的功夫。你若有這種的瞋恚，也不錯的。
第三是什麼呢？是睡眠。這個睡眠也是一個最壞的東西，但是也是最好的東西。你睡得太多了，它是最壞的，把你睡得像個豬似的，一點都不聰明了，睡得愚癡了。那麼說：「若不睡可以嗎？」不可以，又要睡，你一睡，疲倦又都休息過來了，這也不錯的。但是不可以多，不可以貪，你貪多就是壞東西；你要是正相當，那它也是好東西。
就好像我們人若不吃飯，一定會餓得肚皮和你鬥爭，肚子裡邊就和你作戰起來了。它就咕、咕、咕響，說，「啊！為什麼你還不給我吃飯呢？」餓得腹如雷鳴！肚子裡頭打雷了，thunder。那麼太餓了不行，肚子裡頭有雷了。若是太飽了也不行，肚子裡頭又要颳颶風了，又要跑廁所去，不知幾十次，好像山崩地裂，那個海水流得不停止了。本來吃是好的，你吃太多就壞了，你若不吃也不行。睡覺也是這樣子，應該睡，怛是不應該多睡，所以睡眠也是一蓋。你要是不把它弄好了，就是一蓋；你要是把它弄好了，就揭開蓋了。你棄五蓋，就把這蓋打開，沒有蓋了。這是第三。
第四掉悔。掉悔就是人坐那兒，也不知怎麼樣子是好，坐也坐不穩，站也站不住，不知怎麼好了。不知怎麼樣好，這叫掉悔，前仰後俯的。這第四掉悔。
第五疑惑。疑就是懷疑的「疑」；惑就是粗惑、細惑那個「惑」，塵沙惑、無明惑那個「惑」。所以修道生出疑惑也是一種蓋。好像對法師所講的法，「法師講得都是方便法，這都是沒有什麼根據的，說法就是這麼樣靠不住的。」就生出一種懷疑來。叫你「呵五欲」，「哼！我看他也沒呵！」棄五蓋，「那個法師還貪心那麼大，也沒有棄。他的五蓋也沒有棄，叫我棄，我才不棄呢！」你看這生出懷疑來了。
還要「調五事。」「呵五欲」、「棄五蓋」，「 調五事」這個調就是調和的調，就是言字邊加上一個周字這個調。什麼五事呢？都是你一天所應做的事情。第一就要調食。你說你有一天沒吃過飯嗎？說我有過一次幾天沒吃飯，那是走難，被日本人把你趕得沒地方跑了，也沒有飯吃。香港那時候跑日本，人人都好久很多天都沒有飯吃，就餓死了。
這個調食，就是也不吃多，也不吃少，也不說是，「哦！我絕食了，絕食一個禮拜。」等到六天的時候受不了了，就吃。一吃吃了一大堆，吃得多，肚子裡面也沒有那麼多地方，就要辦「徙置區」，那個「徙置官」忙得不得了。「徙置」就是搬家。香港有「徒置區」，你吃得太多了，也就要辦「徙置」的工作了，把那個徙置的幫辦，白天晚間都要工作，這是不調食的關係。這第一，要調食。也不需要節食，也不需要那麼很沒有規矩的吃得太多了，這叫調食。
待續 |
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2. The covering of hatred. This refers to one's temper. Of temper it's said:
Firewood gathered in a thousand days
Can be completely burned up by a single match.
The "single match" points to our tempers. You may accumulate a thousand days' worth of merit and virtue, but if you lose your temper once, you burn up all that merit and virtue.
A spark from the fire of our nature
Burns up a forest of merit and virtue.
That's why hatred is so bad. But even though hatred is so terrible, I can tell you that it still has its good points. If you can hate things this way: "Why don't I cultivate?" "Why can't I control my temper?" "Why can't I kill the poisonous dragon within me?" could you say hating that way is not good? That kind of hatred is not bad! That's part of the skill of subduing yourself and returning to propriety. That's called the skill of practicing self-control. If you can make hatred work that way, it's not bad.
3. The covering of sleep. Sleep can also be very bad or very good. If you sleep too much, it's very bad. It causes you to become like a pig. You lose your intelligence. Too much sleep will make you stupid. So you wonder, "Is it all right not to sleep, then?" No, it's not all right not to sleep. When you sleep, your fatigue goes away. You feel rested, and so in that way sleep is not bad. You must not sleep too much. If you are greedy for too much, then anything becomes bad. If you use just the right amount, then anything can be good. For instance, if a person doesn't eat, then his stomach will have a battle with him. It will growl and ask, "Why haven't you fed me?" It will roar like thunder. If you don't eat enough you'll have a thunder storm in your stomach from hunger. If you eat too much, you'll get a tornado in your stomach, and you'll have to go to the bathroom one-knows-not-how-many dozens of times. It will be like mountains crashing together, the earth ripping open, and the waters of the sea flowing forth nonstop. Basically eating is a good thing, but if you eat too much it becomes a bad thing. If you don't eat at all, then that won't work either. That's how it is with sleeping, too. You should sleep, but not too much. If you don't sleep properly, it becomes a covering. If you sleep correctly, the covering will be removed. You will chase out the covering so that it is entirely gone.
4.The covering of restlessness. A person who is restless can't sit still and can't stand still and doesn't know what to do with himself.
5.The covering of doubt and delusions. "Delusions" refers to coarse delusions, subtle delusions, delusions as fine as dust and sand, and delusions of ignorance. If you give rise to doubt and delusions when cultivating the Way, it becomes a kind of covering. For instance, regarding the Dharma that the Dharma Master speaks, you think, "Everything the Dharma Master explains is expedient Dharma. It's unverifiable. Speaking the Dharma is like that—it won't stand the test." That's a kind of doubt. "He tells us to reproach the five desires, but I see that he hasn't reproached them. He tells us to chase out the five coverings, but the Dharma Master himself is so greedy. He hasn't chased his own out, and yet he's telling me to chase mine out. Well, I won't do it." Those are doubts. Reproach the five desires! Chase out the five coverings! Regulate carefully the five matters! The five matters are things you have to do every day.
The Five Matters
1. Regulating one's intake of food. Have you ever gone without eating for a day? You say, "I've gone without food for several days." That's when you were a starving refugee in Hong Kong, fleeing from the Japanese. At that time in Hong Kong, everyone was trying to escape the Japanese air raid and many people went without food for several days. Some people even starved to death. Regulating your intake of food means not eating too much, and not eating too little. It doesn't mean that you decide to stop eating altogether and fast for a week, but then on the sixth day you find that you can't take it any more, and so you eat—a lot. You eat so much that your stomach can't contain it, and the food has to move out. The "Relocation Bureau" is incredibly busy, day and night. That's from not knowing how to regulate your intake of food. It's not necessary to fast, but you also don't want to be unrestrained and eat too much.
To be continued |
