您知道吗？一个盘子里蕴含着“大道”
您知道吗
？
一个盘子里
蕴含着“大道”
Do You Know? An Entire “Great Way” is Contained within a Single Plate
Please click to play audio
中国文化的沧桑和厚重感，不仅因为历史悠久，更在于它体现了人与自然、与天地之间的关系，儒、释、道的文化涵盖了世间生存与出世间解脱的一切义理，是祖先留给我们最珍贵的无价之宝。
契约——人类文明的标志。一个成熟社会的标志就是有契约精神。我们受佛戒就是与佛建立一种承诺 ——“君子一言，驷马难追。”宁舍身命，不会忘掉自己的承诺，这就是贵族的精神和品质，也是人类文明的标志。
由“戒”而得“定”，由“定”而发“慧”,由“慧”进而能超出三界永得解脱。所以“戒”是从地球文明跟宇宙文明接轨的基础，是我们生命境界提升的根本。
同样为人，你洗一个盘子，如果能够想盘子为什么是圆的，那就不一样了 —— 圆代表天。你如果能想到自己拿的不仅是一个盘子，拿的是一个天，那天又是什么呢？这样越想越不得了。
几千年的良渚文化、赤峰红山文化里面，帝王的陪葬里有圆形的苍璧。在一个人的坟墓里面有这样的陪葬品，这就是在告诉他：肉体的死亡不是真正的死亡，人不是肉体死亡就结束了，就没有了。
反而我们活着的人，因为对肉体的执着自我认知往往是狭隘的，我们对宇宙的认知也受到肉体感官的局限。
当一个人的精神从肉身中脱离出来的时候，他对天的认知反而是多维的、丰富的，这时候就是以此来提醒他不要忘掉念天。
我们受八关斋戒，就讲“六念”：念佛、念法、念僧、念戒、念施、念天。
念天，我们洗盘子的时候就要想到：我们捧到的不是一个盘子，而是我们人类文明的一种智慧，圆代表天，所有的菜、饭都托在一个盘子里，天地长养万物，它如天一样承载着万物。
这时候你会发现，人类在物质文明里，就蕴含了对超自然的宇宙真相的探索和描述，我们老祖先怕我们忘掉，所以将天地宇宙的大道和智慧遍布在我们的生活中的各处。
Do You Know? An Entire “Great Way” is Contained within a Single Plate
The depth and gravitas of Chinese culture arise not only from its long history, but even more from the way it discloses the relationship between human beings and nature, between humanity and Heaven-and-Earth. The traditions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism together encompass the full range of principles concerning life within the world and liberation beyond the world. They are the most precious and priceless legacy our ancestors have entrusted to us.
Covenant—the hallmark of human civilization. A mature society is characterized by a spirit of covenant. Receiving the Buddhist precepts is to establish a vow, a solemn commitment, with the Buddha—“A gentleman’s word cannot be chased down even by four swift horses.” Better to relinquish one’s body and life than to forget one’s pledge, this is the ethos and virtue of the noble, and it is a mark of human civilization.
From precepts comes concentration; from concentration arises wisdom; and through wisdom one transcends the Three Realms, attaining liberation forever. Therefore, the precepts are the very foundation by which earthly civilization connects with cosmic civilization; they are the root of the elevation of our life’s spiritual horizon.
Likewise, as a human being, when you wash a plate, if you can wonder why the plate is round, everything changes—roundness signifies Heaven. If you can realize that what you hold is not merely a plate but a “Heaven,” then what is Heaven? Pursue this contemplation, and the more you ponder, the more wondrous—and boundless—it becomes.
In the millennia-old Liangzhu culture and the Hongshan culture of Chifeng, the tombs of kings contain round azure bi-discs. Such grave goods, placed within a person’s burial, are telling him: the death of the body is not true death. A human being does not simply cease to be when the body perishes.
On the contrary, we who are alive often have a narrow self-understanding because of our attachment to the body, and our knowledge of the cosmos is likewise constrained by the limitations of the bodily senses.
When a person’s spirit leaves the physical body, his understanding of Heaven becomes, on the contrary, multidimensional and rich. At that time, it serves to remind him not to forget to keep Heaven in mind.
When we receive the eight precepts of a one-day vow holder, we speak of the “Six Kinds of Mindfulness”: Remembrances of the Buddha, the Dharma, the Saṅgha, the precepts, generosity, and the Heaven.
Recollecting the Heaven: when we wash a plate, we should think—what we hold is not merely a plate, but a wisdom of human civilization. Roundness signifies Heaven. All dishes and rice are borne on a single plate; as Heaven nurtures the ten thousand things, so the plate, like Heaven, bears all things.
At such moments you’ll find that within human material civilization there already lies an exploration and depiction of the supernatural truth of the cosmos. Our ancestors feared we might forget, so they wove the Great Way and wisdom of Heaven-and-Earth throughout every corner of our daily life.
英文翻译：贤护；
英文朗诵：善伊；
