遇见更好的自己

文/化/释/说/第/六/篇

/ SECTION 6 /

 Appearances Originate from the Mind

主持人：现在到了提问环节，因时间有限，只能选几个主要问题。我浏览了下，其实很多问题，大家可以去网站、博客上搜，师父以前都开示过 

“学佛能让人变得漂亮吗？”这个问题是在座的年轻人比较关心的，学佛会提高你的颜值吗？会让你变成男神女神吗？

大家怎么看，学的比较好的，颜值都是非常高的，其实这个问题根本不用讲了，可以抢答。

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我们人生最大的缺憾是有生老病死，那么怎样在生命当中找到这个能超越生老病死的、不生不死的、永恒的频道？这就需要智慧。

As the greatest regrets in our life are birth, old age, sickness and death, how are we able to find then this channel in our life which is eternal, birth-less and death-less that will help us overcome them? For this, we will need wisdom.

请问我们生命当中有没有不生不死的？有。

Is there something which is birth-less and death-less in our life? 

Yes, there is.

如果找到了不生不死，你会发现“生老病死”，都只是过程、只是风景、只是境界。这个学问就是儒释道的核心，也是中华民族文化的核心。

If you have uncovered the birth-less and death-less within yourself, you will find that‘birth, old age, sickness and death’ are only processes, passing scenery and states of being. Such wisdom constitutes the core of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, as well as that of the culture of the Chinese race.

《中庸》开篇就说“天命之谓性”，我们叫“明心见性”之道。在“戒”“定”的基础上，最后发“慧”，了解每个生命当中的佛性，佛性是不生不灭的。有了不生不灭的智慧高度，再来看一切事，就像我们赵导前面讲的“五个字”——“那都不是事”，你就能够驾驭境界甚至超越。“戒定慧”三无漏学，在我们佛教里有非常详细的修习方法。

The opening passage of The Doctrine of the Mean says, ‘What Heaven confers is called nature’ . We call this the path of ‘the purifying of the mind and the seeing of our nature’ – the realization through the wisdom arising from the fundamental practices of morality and concentration that there is Buddha-nature in every sentient life, and that this Buddha-nature is birth-less and death-less. Once one is equipped with the vantage perspective of a wisdom that is birth-less and death-less, one is able to be unrestrained by states of being and even overcome them; and like what Director Zhao has mentioned previously, be able to look at things and say, ‘These are nothing. ’ In Buddhism, we have very detailed ways to train on the threefold non-outflow practice of ‘morality, concentration and wisdom’ .

主持人：因为时间关系，再问一个特别实际的问题：佛法这么好，能开发脑力，可使颜值变高等，我怎么学？众生根基有别、机缘不同，我怎么选，应该从哪个法门入手？

Moderator: Due to the time constraint, we will take another question which is especially relevant: how do I practise Buddhism if it is that good, not only triggering the brain power but enhancing my aesthetical value as well? Since myriad beings possess different mental capacities, meet with different opportunities and experience different conditions, how am I to choose which dharma-gate (method of practice) to begin with? 

传喜法师：这就讲到为什么学佛。我个人没学佛以前就跟大家一样，精气神没有，为什么？因为六神无主。

一个人虽然活着，但六神无主，没有心灵的那种朝向圣谛的自我回归。为什么要学习圣贤？圣贤说，每个人都有心，每个人的心都有佛性。我们没找到自己的“心”，自我是迷失的状态，自我迷失是最大的痛苦。一个生命如果自我是迷失的、是行尸走肉，又怎会不痛苦呢？

Master Chuan-XI: This concerns why is it that we wish to practise Buddhism. I was like everyone of you before I took up Buddhist practice. I was lacking in vitality, energy and spirit. Why? It was because I had lost control of my psyche.

Having lost control of one's psyche, one may still be alive but lacks the spiritual mind to strive towards ultimate reality such that one can return to one's true self. Why do we need to learn from the virtuous and sagely ones? It is because they said that in the mind of every person, there is Buddha-nature. Our ‘self’ is confused and lost as we have still not been able to find our mind. A confused and lost ‘self’ is the greatest pain and suffering. Living a life with a ‘self’ that is confused and lost is similar to surviving as a walking corpse. How can that not be painful and suffering?

“南无”可以使人回光返照。中国有个特殊的法器，叫“如意”，我们常说：“祝您吉祥如意！”“如意”是关照你回头如意。“回头”是回光返照，找到自我。不管儒家、道家还是佛教，“如意”是三教的一个共同表法，它是一个道具、一种提醒，“回头”的人找到自我就会如意。

‘Namo’ enables one to direct one’s contemplation inward on oneself. There is a special Chinese ceremonial ornament known as the ‘ruyi’ (meaning ‘as one wishes’ ). We always say, ‘I wish you auspiciousness and may you get what you have wished for’. ‘Getting what you have wished for’ relates to your turning around such that you may be able to find and return to your true self. Whether it is Confucianism, Taoism or Buddhism, ‘ruyi’ is a common symbol among the three religions – acting as an instrument to remind us that we would have gotten what we have wished once we have returned to our true self.

我们今天的主题为什么叫“遇见自己”？孔老夫子说：一个迷失的人如果闭门造车的话，没有好结果。自我迷失的人，胡思乱想，不如读圣贤书。你胡思乱想、上网、打游戏，不如出去做点好人好事，在利他中，会充实自我。自我充实的过程中，会有一个好的我。在培养这个好的“我”中，还会发现更高的状态是“无我”，生长了智慧才能超越“我”的狭隘，才能“无我”。

Why is the theme today ‘Meeting yourself’ ? Confucius said that no good will come out from a confused and lost person attempting to‘construct a carriage behind closed doors’. Instead of reading the books of the virtuous and sagely ones, one whose ‘self’ is confused and lost engages in aimless and wild thoughts. When you engage in kind deeds to benefit others instead of going on the internet to surf and play games, you will enrich yourself. In the process of the enrichment of the ‘self’ , one not only finds that one’s ‘self’ has improved but one also discovers that on a much higher level, there is the‘non-self’ . With the wisdom gained, one is able to transcend the parochialism of the ‘self’ so that the ‘non-self’ can be realized.

第一步是要找到“我”。我们的问题是，现在自我迷失在境外，迷失在金钱、感情里，这是我们凡人最大的痛苦。怎样让这个“我”回光返照、找到“我”，最后把这个“我”止于至善。

“大学之道，在明明德”，“明德”就是神圣的我、超越生老病死的我、永恒的我；“在亲民”，一个人去帮助别人，去做好事，发挥自己的正能量，躬身去实践；“在止于至善”，一个人不仅能够保持自我光明的状态，还能够带领他人也进入光明的状态，这叫“至善之道”。

The first step is to search for the ‘self’ . Our problem is that we are now confused and lost in the environment in which we find ourselves confused and lost in material wealth and relationships. Such is the greatest pain and suffering of us worldlings. How do we turn our contemplation inward such that the ‘self’ can be found, and after it has been found, let it become the best it can be?

‘The path of great learning is to illuminate one’s bright virtues’. ‘Bright virtue’ refers to the sacrosanct ‘self’ that has transcended birth, old age, sickness and death and is eternal. ‘In loving the people’ means to practice with humility by helping others and doing good deeds, such that one is able to spread positive energy and go about it with humility. In stopping only at ultimate wholesomeness, not only is one able to maintain the ‘self’ in a state of luminosity, one is also able to lead others towards brightness. This is ‘The Path of Ultimate Wholesomeness' .