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要怎樣才能避免災難 - 第230集
How to avoid disasters?
要怎樣才能避免災難？這就要靠佛菩薩。佛菩薩大慈大悲示現在六道，教化這些迷惑眾生，幫助他們斷惡修善，破迷開悟，就能化解三災八難。我們要明白，佛菩薩於我們有大恩德。過去的人知道，現在的人不知道。為什麼？
How to avoid disasters? This has to depend on buddhas and bodhisattvas. They manifest in the Six Realms out of great compassion to edify these deluded sentient beings by helping them to cease wrongdoings and practise virtues as well as ceasing delusion and achieving enlightenment so that the Three Calamities and the Eight Difficult Circumstances can be resolved. We must understand that buddhas and bodhisattvas have bestowed great kindness on us. People in the past knew it, but not the modern people. What is the reason?
過去從小有父母教你，有老師教你，有長輩教你，社會大眾都在那裡教你，你知道。知恩就曉得報恩，怎麼報？依照聖賢教育去奉行，斷惡修善，積功累德。特別是佛陀的教育，佛教導我們，沒有能力自己開悟見性，沒有這個能力，都求往生極樂世界，親近阿彌陀佛。
People in the past had been taught since childhood by their parents, teachers, elders and the community, so they knew the kindnesses of others. If we know the kindness of buddhas, we will know how to repay their kindness. How do we repay their kindness? We repay their kindness by following the saints’ and sages’ teachings (especially the Buddha’s teachings) by ceasing wrongdoings and practising virtues, as well as accumulating merits. The Buddha taught us to seek rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss to be close to Amitabha Buddha if we do not have the ability to become enlightened (i.e., see into our mind and true nature) on our own.
所以說「但得見彌陀，何愁不開悟」，只要見到阿彌陀佛，決定大徹大悟，明心見性，這就功德圓滿了。有能力自己覺悟的，好，但是怎麼好都比不上求生淨土。為什麼？
That’s why it is said, “If we have seen Amitabha Buddha, why worry about not becoming enlightened?” ---- as long as we have seen Amitabha Buddha, we are bound to attain Supreme Enlightenment (i.e., see into our mind and true nature) and our merits will be perfect. It is good if we have the ability to gain enlightenment on our own, but it is still not as good as seeking rebirth in the Pure Land. Why is that so?
自己修行時間很長，五十一個階級一步一步向上提升。要多長時間？要無量劫，很不容易，沒有像到極樂世界那麼快速。極樂世界是成佛的捷徑，是成佛最近的道路，一生當中就能圓滿成就，不用經過劫數，不需要。
Because if we rely on our own effort to cultivate, we have to take a considerably long time to gradually elevate our level of practice through the fifty-one stages. How long do we need to take? Unlike the swiftness of success we can achieve in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, we have to take immeasurable kalpas to succeed, so it is extremely hard. Reborning in the Land of Ultimate Bliss is a shortcut to attaining Buddhahood, so we can have perfect achievement in one lifetime without going through kalpas to cultivate.
There are two kinds of three calamities, namely, minor and major. The minor ones are wars, pestilence, and famine which appear during a decadent world-period. The major ones (大三災) are fire, floods and storms which can destroy the world.
The eight circumstances whereby it is difficult to see the Buddha or hear his teachings, namely, the hell-beings, hungry ghosts and animals, as well as in the long-life heavens where life is long and easy, and in Uttarakuru (the northern continent where everything is pleasant); the deaf, dumb and blind, a worldly philosopher, as well as in the intermediate period between the life of the Buddha and his successor.