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學佛先決的條件是什麼 - 第277集
What are the prerequisites for learning Buddhism?
彭際清居士,我們同學發心把他的資料查出來了,確實是貴族,家世非常顯赫。他十八歲考中進士,他的父親、祖父都是狀元及第,父親做過乾隆皇帝的兵部尚書,相當於現在的國防部長。
Our practitioners have taken the initiative to find out the profile of Upasaka Peng Ji-qing. He was indeed an aristocrat with a very prominent family background. He passed Jinshi at the age of eighteen. His father and grandfather were Zhuangyan scholars. His father was Emperor Qianlong’s Minister of War, which is equivalent to the current Minister of National Defence.
雖然很年輕考取了功名,家庭環境好,生活沒有憂愁,所以他一生沒做官。學佛、學儒、學道,真正成為一代通家,最後念佛往生淨土,《往生傳》裡頭有他。
Even though he achieved fame since he was a youth, he never became an official throughout his life because he came from a well-off family and had no worries in life. He had really become an expert in Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, but he chanted Amitabha Buddha’s name in the end and was reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. His achievement was recorded in the Biographical Accounts of Rebirth in the Pure Land.
他給《無量壽經》做了個註解,叫《起信論》,《無量壽經起信論》他作的,稀有難得。這幾句話說得非常好,告訴我們,我們想親近佛陀,親近佛陀福慧雙修,成就快,不會退轉,不會受到外面境界干擾。
He annotated the Infinite Life Sutra called ‘Treatise of the Awakening of Faith of the Infinite Life Sutra.’ This annotation is rare. These few words of him are very well said. He told us that we can accumulate fortune and cultivate wisdom simultaneously and swiftly attain Buddhahood by getting close to Amitabha Buddha because we will never regress and have no interference from the outside world.
我們今天業障太重,為什麼?從早到晚時時刻刻都受外境干擾,身心不安,這樣念佛,這樣學佛,不能往生,不能成就,只是跟佛法結個緣而已,其他都談不上。學佛、學中國傳統文化,先決的條件是什麼?
Our karmic obstacles are too heavy today. Why is that so? Because we are constantly being disturbed by the external environment from morning till night, and our mind and body are not at ease. We cannot be reborn in the Pure Land if we practise Buddha Mindfulness like this but are merely fostering an affinity with Buddhism and nothing more. What are the prerequisites for learning Buddhism and traditional Chinese culture?
也就是說,你具備什麼樣的條件你才有資格學習?條件就是放下欲望,放下貪瞋痴慢疑,你能夠學傳統文化;放下見思煩惱,你能夠學佛。這個東西放不下,它障礙你,佛菩薩來教你你也學不會,你也聽不懂,入不了境界。
In other words, what condition must you have to qualify yourself for these learning? You can learn traditional Chinese culture if you let go of desires as well as greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. If you let go of the afflictions of view and thought, you can learn Buddhism. If you do not let go of these things, they will hinder you from entering the Buddha’s state and understanding his teachings even if buddhas and bodhisattvas were to teach you personally.
The highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. The recipients are sometimes referred to in English-language sources as Imperial Scholars.
Scholars who achieved the highest score on highest level of the Imperial examination.
