净土法语 / 第50集

第50集惠能大師給我們的啟示是什麼

What did Great Master Hui Neng reveal to us?

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惠能大師給我們的啟示是什麼 – 第50集

What did Great Master Hui Neng reveal to us?

我們看禪宗六祖惠能大師,他在黃梅八個月。到黃梅去參五祖,見面的時候,五祖問他的家庭生活狀況,知道他是個樵夫,在山上砍柴,挑到城市裡面去賣,這種生活很辛苦。問他,到黃梅來想求什麼?一般人上廟都求升官發財,都求好運。五祖問他,你來到這裡想求什麼?能大師回答他,我到這裡來只想作佛。

When the Sixth Patriarch of the Zen school, Great Master Hui Neng went to Huang Mei to learn Buddhism from Great Master Hung-jen (the Fifth Patriarch), Master Hung-jen asked him about his family background and found out that he was a woodcutter who went to the mountain to chop wood and sold them in the city for a living. This kind of life is very toilsome. Master Hung-jen asked him what he wished to pursue in Huang Mei. Most people go to temples to seek promotion, fortune and good luck, but Master Hui Neng replied the Fifth Patriarch that he only wished to become a buddha.

大概五祖忍和尚一生也沒有遇到這麼樣一個人,他到廟裡來是想作佛的。來作佛就要幫助他成佛,稀有的因緣。用什麼法子幫他?還是他的老本行,分配他到柴房裡面去破柴舂米,他在黃梅八個月,就幹這一樁事情。

Probably the Fifth Patriarch never met such a person in his life. Since he wanted to become a buddha, Master Hung-jen had to help him realize his aspiration because it was a rare causal condition. What method did Master Hung-jen use to help him? The Master assigned him to the firewood room to split firewood and pound the rice because these were his original jobs. During his 8-month stay in Huang Mei, he did nothing but this.

從《壇經》上的記載,我們知道這個人老實、聽話、真幹,這就是他所以能成佛的本分。我們不能成就,不老實、不聽話、不肯真幹,所以學佛學一輩子還是凡夫,念佛不能往生。

From the records in the Platform Sutra, we know that Master Hui Neng was an honest and obedient practitioner who truly practised. This was the reason he could attain Buddhahood. We cannot succeed in becoming a buddha because we are neither honest nor obedient and are unwilling to truly practise. That’s why we are still ordinary beings despite having learned Buddhism and chanted Amitabha Buddha’s name for a lifetime. We cannot be reborn in the Pure Land either.

那你有沒有想到,惠能大師行,破柴、舂米是無上法門,他破了八個月,舂了八個月,他開悟了。這是說哪一法不是佛法?破柴這一法是圓頓法,舂米這個法也是圓頓法,惠能大師幹出來給我們看到的。所以,宗門大德常說「會麼」,你會不會?會,哪一法不是佛法?

Have you ever thought that chopping wood and threshing rice were supreme methods for Great Master Hui Neng? You see, he became enlightened after doing those jobs for eight months. It means that all methods are possible ways to attain enlightenment in Buddhism. Chopping wood is a perfect-and-sudden-enlightenment method, so is pounding rice. Master Hui Neng had demonstrated this for us to see. That’s why the Zen great masters often said, “Do you know?” If you know how to cultivate, which method does not lead to enlightenment?

舂米、破柴都是佛法;不會,《華嚴》、《法華》、《無量壽》擺在面前也不是佛法。為什麼?你開不了悟,你頂多在這裡學一點佛學常識,對於戒定慧三學毫不相干。能大師每天破柴、舂米,裡面都是戒定慧三學,我們不會,人家會。

Both pounding rice and chopping wood are Buddhism. If you do not know how to practise, even if the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Lotus Sutra and the Infinite Sutra are placed in front of you, they are not Buddhism too. Why is that so? Because you will not gain enlightenment. At the most, you can learn a little bit of Buddhist knowledge here, but these knowledges are irrelevant to the Threefold Learning of precepts, meditative concentration and wisdom. For Great Master Hui Neng, splitting wood and threshing rice every day are cultivation of the Threefold Learning. He knew how to cultivate but not us.