著作英譯
1991 佛七講話-1 Day 1
Ven. Zhiyu’s Dharma Talks for Buddha Recitation Seven-Day Retreat, First Term, 1991
Pay Reverence to Three Jewels and Filial Piety to Parents
To seek rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitābha Buddha, keep these important things in mind: pay reverence to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha—the Three Jewels—and fulfill filial duties to your parents. For we owe them a great deal of gratitude.
In the mundane world, parents deserve most gratitude of ours; transmundanely, we owe most gratitude to the Three Jewels. Parents give birth to our physical bodies; the Three Jewels raise our wisdom. In comparison, we owe the Three Jewels even more; therefore we should pay reverence to them in the first place. The physical body stays in the cycle of birth and death, but the life of wisdom goes beyond transmigration. Therefore we especially owe gratitude to the Three Jewels. Pay reverence to the Three Jewels and fulfill filial duties, then you are prospectively to be reborn to the Pure Land.
Now, how to pay reverence to the Three Jewels? How to fulfill filial duties to your parents? To pay reverence to the Three Jewels and fulfill filial duties to your parents, you should refrain from evildoing, perform good deeds, and purify your own mind. To refrain from evildoing means not commit the seven physical and verbal acts. The seven bodily and verbal acts refer to killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, insult, frivolous speech, and divisive talk. It is evil to commit these seven items, therefore they are called seven evil acts; if not, all the good deeds are already performed. Therefore, not to commit killing, stealing, improper sexual activity, lying, insult, frivolous speech and divisive talk is exactly to refrain from evildoing and perform good deeds at the same time. As for mental evils, if you do not give rise to greed, hatred, and delusion, you are keeping your mind pure.
Therefore, refraining from evildoing, performing good deeds, and purifying your own mind are actually the purification of the Three Karmas in bodily actions, speech, and thought. Karma sometimes refers to the seven evil acts alone; as for greed, hatred and delusion, they are also called perplexity. Perplexity and evil actions surely causes suffering; in suffering one cannot obtain rebirth to the Pure Land. For this reason, if you want to be born to the Pure Land, you ought to have your three karmas purified.
In comparison, mental karmas of greed, hatred, and delusion are all pervasive; bodily karmas of killing, stealing and sexual misconduct are the gravest, less than which are verbal karmas of lying, insult, frivolous speech and divisive talk.
A mental karma just arisen is called an “action of intention,” which has not appeared in behavior or speech yet. When the karma is carried out in physical deeds or speech, it is called an “intended action,” and will bring about retribution. There are two kinds of retribution—good karmas and evil karmas—and they are all confined in the Desire Realm.
An action of intention not yet turning into behavior or speech will not result in retribution, but there is one thing—it continues birth and death, inescapable, causing incessant rounds of existence in Six Destinies. So watch you do not commit mental evils. Be careful that concerning mental activities you do not think about right against wrong; to refrain from bodily and verbal evils, you should avoid making confrontations.
When arising, it is the mental activities of greed, hatred, and delusion that give rise to the seven evil acts; to rid, you first cut off the seven evils, and then greed, hatred, and delusion. This is just roughly speaking, though, for in each of the seven evils always consist greed, hatred, and delusion.
In your daily life, do avoid these ten evils. One thing you ought to note: to prevent physical evils, you should pay prostration homage to Buddha—to Amitābha Buddha—since in doing so you naturally ward off killing, stealing and improper sexual activities; to prevent verbal evils, recite Amitābha Buddha; to prevent mental evils, contemplate on Amitābha Buddha. Practicing in this way, you can keep all your three karmas pure, and accumulate an infinite amount of merit.
In this seven-day retreat, you kept reciting the name of and paying prostration homage to Amitābha Buddha all the time. But the point is you should be mindful of Amitābha Buddha. If you do not have Amitābha Buddha in your mind, you are only chanting with your tongue. Therefore what is crucial is that you should recollect the Buddha whole-heartedly. Do not just pay lip service without Buddha in mind. Your mind with the Buddha in it is the Buddha itself.
How to do to have Buddha in mind? Be pious. Recall Amitābha Buddha as if you are longing for your parents, calling after calling, and, unless Amitābha Buddha appears, you would never stop. It is exactly the way for practice during the seven-day retreat.
When you return home, watch that in your daily life you do not let your mind wander around. If you feel like thinking, think about merit, about benefiting sentient beings, so as to prevent mental evils; calculating solely for your own interests leads to offense in mental karma. Upon commitment of mental karma, continues the cycle of birth and death—the fragmentary and transformational birth-and-death.
In the cycle of fragmentary birth and death, you receive retributions in Six Destinies. In the cycle of transformational birth and death, one thing is obvious: you feel burdened, as if a heavy load in your mind. This burden originates from three sources: greed, hatred, and delusion. Try to recollect something that you feel upset about; isn’t it true that the more you think about it, the angrier you will get? Everything comes to an end if you stop thinking. This is apparent when talking about mental karma.
This burden will turn into action or speech when it gets heavy enough. Take two people in fight for example, they did not beat each other at the very beginning, they just thought. And the more they thought, the madder they got, until finally, when anger culminated, they burst into a fight.
The solution is to “pull off the firewood under the caldron”—to remove the root cause. How to do that? You need to know that though you do not carry it out in physical action or speech, mental karma still causes birth and death to go on; since you are in the cycle of birth and death, you are not to be admitted to the Pure Land. So, always think about benefits for sentient beings and about merit. If you are able to refrain from committing mental karma for seven days, you certainly will not create physical and verbal karmas; without physical and verbal karmas, you deserve no retribution, and will obtain rebirth in the Pure Land.
The long and short of it, to obtain rebirth in the Pure Land or not is the creation of your mind alone. Therefore, “The unwholesome deeds committed in the past are due to greed, hatred, and delusion with no beginning”— greed, hatred, and delusion are the root; “they derive from the body, speech, and mind” —the Three Karmas have been aroused; during these seven days, everyone should, “for all of which I hereby repent.”
Now, let’s recite Amitābha Buddha.
禮敬三寶孝養父母
念佛求往生,有幾項事情要注意到,就是要禮敬三寶,孝養父母。因為三寶、父母對我們恩重。
世間恩,父母恩最重;出世間恩,三寶恩最重。因為,父母給我色身,三寶給我慧命。比較起來,三寶恩最重。所以,第一個要禮敬三寶。色身在生死,慧命脫離生死,所以三寶恩最重。禮敬三寶、孝養父母,就得往生。
那麼,云何禮敬三寶?云何孝養父母?禮敬三寶、孝養父母,就要諸惡不作、眾善奉行、自淨其意。諸惡不作,身口七支不犯。所謂身口七支,就是殺、盜、婬、妄語、惡口、綺語、兩舌。七項若犯,就是惡,所以稱為七支惡;如果不犯,就是眾善奉行。所以不犯殺、盜、婬、妄語、惡口、綺語、兩舌,就是諸惡不作、眾善奉行。至於意業的貪、瞋、癡,如果不生貪瞋癡,就是自淨其意。
所以,諸惡不作、眾善奉行、自淨其意,實在就是身口意三業清淨。業,就是七支惡;至於貪瞋癡,又稱為惑。如果起惑造業,一定受苦,身在苦中,不得往生。所以想要往生,要三業清淨。
比較起來,貪瞋癡意業最廣;殺盜婬身業最重;口業,妄語、惡口、綺語、兩舌,僅僅次於身業。
意業動的時候,叫「思業」,這時候,還沒現於身口。身口業要是動了,稱「思已業」,思已業要受果報。果報有二種──善業、惡業,都在欲界。
如果僅僅是思業,還沒現身口,沒有苦果報。不過有一點──續生死,生死不得出離,在生死六道裏頭輪轉不停。所以,大家要注意到,思業不犯。應注意一點,於意業不想是非;身口不犯,不作是非。
在生的次第,是由貪瞋癡生七支惡業;斷的時候,先斷七支惡業,再斷貪瞋癡。這個說法,不過是大略地說,因為七支惡裏頭,就有貪瞋癡。
大家平常日用,要十惡業不犯。有一點要注意到:身業不犯,就要禮佛,禮拜阿彌陀佛,禮拜阿彌陀佛,自然不犯殺盜婬;口業不犯,稱念阿彌陀佛;意業不犯,觀想阿彌陀佛。這個樣子,就三業清淨,功德無量。
七天念佛,大家一直念阿彌陀佛名號、禮拜阿彌陀佛。可是有一點,心中要有阿彌陀佛。如果心中沒有阿彌陀佛,你念佛僅僅在舌根。所以主要的,要一心想佛。不要嘴巴空念,心中沒有。如果心中有佛,是心是佛。
心中怎麼有佛呢?要虔誠。念阿彌陀佛,好比思念自己父母一樣,聲聲呼喚,不把阿彌陀佛呼喚出來,誓不罷休。七天念佛,就是這樣用功。
大家回去,平時心中不要亂打主意。如果想,就想功德,利益一切眾生,不犯思業;如果光為自己利益打算,犯思業。思業一犯,就續生死,續分段生死、變易生死。
分段生死,受六道果報。變易生死,最明顯一點,心裏有負累,負累就是感覺很重。這種負累,有三種方向,就是貪、瞋、癡。你不相信,你有事情,愈想愈生氣;如果不想,萬事皆休。這是思業很明顯的地方。
如果這個負累,到重的時候,它就起身口了。譬如兩個人打架,不是一下子就打起來;它是想,愈想愈生氣,到了最高峰的時候,就打架了。
解除的辦法──釜底抽薪。怎麼釜底抽薪呢?要知道,我雖然沒動身口,這思業續生死,既然續生死,不得往生。所以,大家總想有利益眾生,總想功德。如果你思業七天不犯,身口自然沒有;身口沒有,就不受苦報,就得往生。
說來說去,往生與否,在你自己唯心造!所以,「往昔所造諸惡業,皆由無始貪瞋癡」貪瞋癡是它的根;「從身語意之所生」,三業動了;七天當中,大家要「一切我今皆懺悔」。
現在開始念佛。