《永恒的甘露》--《妙法莲华经—普门品》讲记（二十） 传喜法师宣讲

　　烟台的海难发生在 1 9 9 9 年。当时快过元旦了,很多人都赶回去过节。船是下午一点钟开的,下午四点钟的时候海上起大风了,船剧烈地摇晃,船上有将近三百人,大家都很害怕。船发出求救信号,救援船六点钟赶到了,但由于风浪太大,船不稳靠不去,硬靠可能会发生两船相撞船上的人都很着急,大家穿好救生衣都等在甲板上,但是船摇晃的幅度太大,人们在甲板上被推来撞去,有的头被撞破了,有的手被撞折了。有一个小伙子帮了很多人,把撞倒的人扶起来,帮其他的人穿救生衣,他自己穿救生衣的时候,有一个女孩子也来帮他系救生带。后来才知道,这两个人都是学佛的,他们在这种突发状况下还能镇定,还能无私地帮助别人,真不容易。

　　一直折腾到半夜十点钟,还没办法获救,船长就喊大家回船舱睡觉。就在大家都去睡觉的时候,船因为颠簸而进水了,很多人被淹在水里,跑也跑不出来。这个小伙子当时一直在甲板上帮助别人,后来他跳到救生艇上又帮了两个人。救生艇坐满了,他就从救生艇上跳下去,把方便让给别人,自己爬到另一个橡皮筏上去,又救起两三个人。橡皮筏被浪一下子打翻了,那时候是黑夜,他也不会游泳,身上还带着李,狂风巨浪中他就捏着鼻子在海里沉浮。海水比重大,人不容易往下沉。他是信佛的,危急中就念观世音菩萨名号。漂啊漂,他自己也不知道漂了多长时间,忽然脚底下踩到东西了,他就挺着往前走,走着走着竟然看到海岸了,走到沙滩上,看到有灯光照过来,他就喊:救命啊,救命!接着就晕过去了。

　　人家把他送到医院,醒来之后才知道,他是第一个被救上来的,你说奇特不奇特?在大海中,他又不会水,捏着鼻子念观音菩萨名号,结果第一个获救,救生船救上来的人还没他得救快。后来医院里又送来一个人,就是帮他系救生带的女孩,二十多岁,一攀谈才知道这个女孩也是信佛的。那次海难死了两百多人,第一个被救的却是不会水的,后来这个病房里四个人中,有三个是信佛的,这个比例就很能说明问题了。

　　为什么入火不焚、入水不溺呢?水火是表相上的事,相也是由内在的心感召来的,见属火,分别心重的人眼睛都红红的。如果我们修行能够回光返照,息灭内在的水火,那么内火息灭,外火不侵,就不受外火所烧;同样闻到声尘时,能回光返照,内水息灭,外水不侵。关键是自心要定,不随外境转,就像夏天外面很热很热,有修行的人心定自然凉。心怎么定呢?我们的眼睛是不是喜欢东看西看?修行就是回光返照,悟到“见性”,称“性”而修。所以大家一定要相信,在火和水的灾难之中,要一心称念观世音菩萨名号,因为菩萨是果地的,早就修行成就了,我们求观音菩萨保佑,就能脱免这些灾难。

Eternal （Lecture on the Guan Yin Bodhisattva Universal Door）（20）

By Master Chuanxi

A shipwreck happened in Yantai in 1999. It was just before the New Year and the passengers were eager to return home before that. The ship started sailing at 1pm. At 4pm, it became very windy in the ocean and the ship rolled violently. There were about three hundred people on board who were very scared. The ship sent out a signal for help. A rescue boat came to help and arrived at 6pm. However, the wind and waves were so strong that the latter could not reach the former; for the two ships might collide if they tried to get closer. All the people on board were very nervous and they gathered on the deck with their life jackets on. However, the ship shook so violently that people bumped into each other. Some of them sustained head injuries; while some broke the bones in their hands. A young man tried his best to help many people who fell onto the deck to stand up. He also helped others to put on life jackets. While he was taking a life jacket for himself, a girl came and helped to tie the jacket for him. After the accident, people got to know that both the young man and the girl were Buddhists. It was really not easy for them to remain so calm during the sudden accident and help others so selflessly.

Until 10 pm, there was still no way to rescue the people on the ship. The captain asked all passengers to return to their cabins and sleep. By then, the sea water started to enter the ship since it was rocking serverely. Many people were trapped and unable to escape in the water. The young man had been helping people on the deck all the time. He even jumped onto the rescue boat and helped two people to get onto the boat. When the rescue boat became full, he jumped out of it to save the seat for other people. He climbed onto a raft instead and saved another two or three people. Unfortunately, the raft was capsized by a strong wave in the dark night. He had a backpack with him and could not swim. However, he pinched his nose and floated on the ocean. Because of the gravity of sea water, a human body will not easily sink. Since the young man had strong faith in Buddhism, he invoked the name of Guan Yin Bodhisattva at the critical moment. He didn’t know exactly for how long he had drifted. Suddenly, he stepped on something. He then tried his best to walk forward and eventually he saw the coast. There was light ahead and he kept walking towards it while crying for help before he fainted.

He was then sent to the hospital. After he woke up he was told that he was the first one saved from the wreck. It was amazing, wasn’t it? He did not know how to swim, but by invoking the name of Guan Yin Bodhisattva while he pinched his nose, he became the first person to be rescued. He was saved even sooner than those saved by the rescue ship. Thereafter, the girl who helped the young man to tie hislife jacket was sent to the same hospital. She was in her twenties. Interestingly, it turned out that she was a Buddhist as well. More than two hundred people lost their lives during the shipwreck. However, the first one to be rescued was a person who did not know how to swim. Moreover, three out of the four survivors in the ward were Buddhists. Such proportion is telling something about the truth.

Why do we say that fire cannot burn people; nor water drowns them? Because both water and fire are manifestation of external appearance that arises due to our mind. The attribution of our views is fire, thus people with a strong differential mind will have red eyes. If we can contemplate inwardly upon self-nature through practice and thus extinguish the internal water and fire, we will not get hurt by external water and fire. Similarly, if we can reflect upon self-nature when we hear something, we will not be harmed by external conditions either. The key is to compose our mind and not to be distracted by the external environment. In a hot summer, a good practitioner feels only coolness as his mind is tranquil. But how to get a settled mind? Our eyes are always busy looking at something, right? Practice is to contemplate inwardly upon self-nature so as to find the Buddha-nature that is within us. We must believe faithfully that we will be relieved from fire and water, as long as we invoke Guan Shi Yin’s name for help because the Bodhisattva is from the ‘fruit’ ground who had accomplished the complete fruition of merit long ago.

爱出者爱返，福往者福来。随喜转载，功德无量。