【若有持是观世音菩萨名者,设入大火,火不能烧,由是菩萨威神力故。】
前面是总说, 下面是逐个说, 以“地水火风” 这些我们众生最常见的、 最怕的灾难、 苦难分别地来讲。观世音菩萨曾在 《大佛顶首楞严经》里面自己讲过: 久远劫前, “于时有佛出现于世,名观世音,我于彼佛发菩提心,彼佛教我,从闻思修入三摩地”。观世音菩萨在因地修这个法门时,“初于闻中,入流亡所”,而入三昧,因为修这个法门,最后证得和佛陀一样的果位。惟这个因缘我在这里补充一下:“观世音” 这个名字是观音佛给祂取的,这个法门也是观音佛传给祂的。这个法是以正思惟观智,反观能闻的闻性,不是我们现在用耳朵向外闻声,向外闻声就执著在外境的声尘了,而是用正思惟的观智回光返照,往内反观能闻的本性——是什么在闻? 之后再“入流亡所”,这样从闻性上下手来做功夫。因为闻性是无有生灭的,闻尘是有生灭的,所以我们的修行也要向观世音菩萨学,要能够回光返照,反闻闻自性。《楞严经》里面佛和观世音菩萨都这样教我们:修行,不要随着外面的根、尘去,要背尘合觉,回光返照,“反闻闻自性,性成无上道”。所以这里的“闻思修”不是简单的闻法、思法、修法,而是直接从闻性上下手,以正思惟观智,称“性”而修,从“性”上下手去修。这样子的“闻思修”,可以直接入三昧。“三摩地”就是正定。
Eternal (Lecture on the Guan Yin Bodhisattva Universal Door)(5)
By Master Chuanxi
If anyone who constantly invokes the name of Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva were to be thrown into a great fire, then He would not get burnt owing to the Bodhisattva’s awesome power.
The Buddha gives a general answer in the beginning and He will now explain in details the most common and horrible calamities caused by the Four Elements: earth, water, fire and wind.In the Shurangama Sutra, Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva says: Countless kalpas ago, a Buddha appeared in the world called Guan Shi Yin, under whom I developed Bodhicitta. That Buddha taught me to enter samadhi through a process of listening, contemplation and meditation.When Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva was practising this path to dharma door i.e. the Buddha’s doctrines or wisdom as the door to enlightenment on the causal ground, He “initially entered the inward flow’ and forgot the objective states through hearing”, and eventually entered samadhi. Because of practicing this dharma door, He attained the same state of fruition as Buddha. Here I would like to provide you with some additional information: the name of Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva was actually given by the Guan Yin Buddha, and the dharma door mentioned above was also taught by Him. This dharma door is to contemplate inwardly upon the nature of our hearing capability with the right thoughts and intent, instead of listening to the sounds from the external environment with our ears. This is because we would cling on to the external environment as our focus switched outwardly. Hence, we should contemplate inwardly and reflect upon the very nature of our listening capability with the right thoughts and intent, and try to find out what is the ‘thing’ that is listening. Practising in this way allows us to enter into the flow of hearing and forget about the place of origin. Because the self-nature is free from the cycle of birth and death, whilst sounds are subjected to the cycle, we should follow Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva andcontemplate inwardly and reflect upon the very nature of our listening capability. In theShurangama Sutra, both the Buddha and Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva taught us to practise in the following way: to turn our back against worldly things (dust) and unite with consciousness, i. e. to switch our focus back on ourselves rather than running after the external experiences and states. This is called ‘contemplating inwardly upon self-nature and attainment of supreme bodhi ’. Therefore, instead of simply hearing, contemplating and meditating the dharma, we should practice adhering to our self-nature and observing with right thoughts and intent. By doing this, we can enter straight into Samadhi, i.e. we can have a settled and undisturbed mind.
爱出者爱返,福往者福来。随喜转载,功德无量。