Episode 70 — 我們如何擺脫生 老 病 死

「若無如是微妙法門」，凡夫怎麼能出離六道輪迴？「生死業海」就是六道輪迴，「彼岸」是西方極樂世界。到達極樂世界，你親自接受阿彌陀佛的教誨，在阿彌陀佛會下，我們相信不需要很長的時間，你就證得無上菩提，這個緣太殊勝！

“If such a marvellous method is not available”, how can ordinary beings transcend the Six Realms of reincarnation? ‘The ocean of karma’ is the Six Realms, while ‘the other shore’ is the Land of Ultimate Bliss. When you reach the Land of Ultimate Bliss, you will personally receive Amitabha Buddha’s teachings. Under the guidance of Amitabha Buddha, we believe you won’t take long to attain Supreme Enlightenment. This opportunity is too remarkable!

我們在六道不知道過了多少劫，時間太長，生生世世，天堂去過，地獄也待過，天堂跟地獄時間都很長，哪一道我們都去過，沒法子脫離，遇到這個法門機會就來了。「故大悲慈父，兩土導師」，大悲慈父是我們感恩，指的本師釋迦牟尼佛，也包括極樂世界阿彌陀佛，兩個都是大悲慈父，兩土導師。「憫念我等」，他們慈悲，憐憫我們在六道裡面太苦了。

We have been revolving in the Six Realms lives after lives for untold kalpas (an incredibly long time); we had been to heaven, and had been to hell too. The period in both realms is extremely long. There is no way for us to be liberated until we encounter this Dharma method. “Hence, the great compassionate fathers who are teachers of the two lands” --- ‘the great compassionate fathers’ refer to our original teacher, Sakyamuni Buddha as well as Amitabha Buddha of the Land of Ultimate Bliss, both of whom we are immensely grateful to. “They commiserate with us” --- they pity us for the enormous sufferings we are enduring in the Six Realms.

「開此淨土法門，妙顯苦樂二土，激揚沉迷眾生」，這完全是彌陀的恩德，開闢信願持名念佛求生淨土這個法門，非常巧妙顯示兩處苦樂不同，極樂世界樂，娑婆世界苦。佛給我們說八苦、三苦，這是把我們所感受的總結為兩大類。

“They introduced this Pure Land method and skilfully showed the difference between the two lands in regard to suffering and happiness to inspire sentient beings who are deluded.” This is entirely Amitabha Buddha’s kindness, for he had opened up the method of chanting Amitabha Buddha’s name with belief and vow to be reborn in the Pure Land. They had skilfully shown the difference between the two lands, whereby the Land of Ultimate Bliss is a place of happiness, while the Saha World is a place of suffering. The Buddha told us about the Eight Sufferings and the three kinds of suffering, thereby summarizing our feelings into two major categories.

八苦專講人間，我們現在在人道有生老病死，每個人不能避免的，生老病死之外有求不得、有愛別離、有怨憎會、有五陰熾盛，生生世世不能擺脫，這些苦極樂世界完全沒有。

The Eight Sufferings specially talk about the sufferings in the human realm. We are now in the human realm, whereby we are subject to birth, old age, sickness and death, and no one can avoid them. Besides, we have to endure the pain of not receiving what we seek, the suffering of being separated from our loved ones and meeting with people we hate, as well as the suffering from the instability of the five skandhas ^[1]. We cannot escape these sufferings for innumerable lives. However, such sufferings are completely absent in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.