Master Wang Xianglu | 2018-06-23 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 凡初学佛，如木匠伐木，愈取大材愈好，小一寸，即失数尺之用，是以取法乎上，先立乎其大者。从教入者，每被无形封住，日后极难发展。从宗入者，非得明师量材，亦易入歧途。但料是不会小了，终必成大器。 | For all who are beginning to study Buddhism, it is like a carpenter felling timber: the larger the timber taken, the better; if it is even an inch too small, it loses several feet of usefulness. Therefore, one should aim for the highest and first establish what is great. Those who enter through the doctrinal teachings are often imperceptibly confined by them and find it extremely difficult to develop further later on. Those who enter through the school must have an enlightened teacher assess their capacities, or they too may easily go astray. Yet their potential will not be small; in the end, they will surely become vessels of great capacity. |
|---|---|
| 如造屋不论几间，地却先占十亩，大厦千间，即基于此，不以时间相论也。因缘时节，自然而致，促成之者，亦在左右，此所谓缘助是也。从此双车并进，各先著鞭，努力者，后来居上，亦未可知。人生第一福运在一闲字，非闲，即无分矣。兹当以数语供养于后： | It is like building a house: no matter how many rooms it has, one first sets aside ten mu of land. A mansion of a thousand rooms can then be built upon it; this is not a matter to be measured by time. When causes, conditions, and the proper time converge, it comes about naturally; those who help bring it about are also close at hand—this is what is meant by the assistance of conditions. From then on, the two carts advance together, each taking the whip first; those who strive may yet surpass those who came before. The foremost blessing in human life lies in the word leisure; without leisure, one has no share in it. I therefore offer the following few words: |
| 一、先衡自己年龄，享过，吃过，用过，世上一切，亦不过尔尔。所贵乎此大事者，先淡世缘，非断之也，心勿系也。 | I. First consider your own age. You have enjoyed, eaten, and used things; everything in the world is really no more than this. What is valuable in this great matter is first to grow detached from worldly ties—not to sever them, but not to let the mind become bound to them. |
| 此心超然物外，即是佛，于一切处，不离亦不著，人事往还，一切照旧，又是行所无事，即无心于事也，能如是，斯时时处处学佛矣。但理知而非证知，到其间，即无把鼻矣。故必赖乎法，以为缘助。（此段注重在平日用功，尤必活用。） | When this mind stands beyond external things, it is Buddha. In every circumstance, neither leave them behind nor become attached to them. Continue all human affairs and interactions as before; this is also conducting oneself as though there were nothing to do—that is, having no mind attached to affairs. If one can be thus, one is studying Buddhism at all times and in all places. But this is understanding in principle, not realization through direct experience; when the time comes, one will have nothing to take hold of. One must therefore rely on a method as an assisting condition. (This passage emphasizes daily practice; above all, it must be applied flexibly.) |
| 二、法应一时之机，用过应舍，如病人之于药也，愈即舍去。但药苦者利于病，此正吃时，勿以年龄衡也。有老于我十几岁者，亦在吃药，不经一番寒彻骨，不得透鼻香也。 | II. A method responds to the needs of the moment; once it has served its purpose, it should be set aside, just as medicine is discarded once a sick person has recovered. But bitter medicine benefits illness. While taking it, do not judge it by age. There are those more than ten years older than I who are still taking medicine. Without enduring a spell of bone-piercing cold, how can one attain the fragrance that fills the nostrils? |
| 而打坐本意，实在练个毅力耐心，无论何念，或善或恶，觉到便不理，经千万次，把无住功行，自然练熟，脱卸过来，平日遇事，即如是无住，朝于斯，夕于斯，造次颠沛皆如斯，不一曝十寒，不朝三暮四，决做到心无挂碍，即是究竟涅槃。 | The true purpose of sitting meditation is to cultivate perseverance and patience. Whatever thoughts arise, whether good or evil, once you become aware of them, do not attend to them. After doing this tens of thousands of times, the practice of non-abiding will naturally become well trained. Once you have cast off attachment in this way, then when matters arise in daily life, remain non-abiding in the same manner—morning in this, evening in this, in all situations and adversities likewise in this. Do not practice intensely for a day and then neglect it for ten; do not chop and change. Resolve to attain a mind without hindrance: this is ultimate nirvāṇa. |
| 所以坐的功行，在平日心地意境上考证。而心地意境，又在平日人事言行中考证。坐时用功，正为平日，平日用功，正为未来际永永无休之福。佛称世尊，所尊者何，即能使世人各得自尊其尊，同为世尊也。 | Thus, the practice of sitting meditation is tested and verified in the mind-ground and mental states of daily life. The mind-ground and mental states, in turn, are tested and verified in one’s everyday dealings, words, and actions. Practice while sitting is precisely for daily life; practice in daily life is precisely for the unceasing blessing of the endless future. The Buddha is called the World-Honored One. What is honored in this title? It is the ability to enable all people in the world each to honor what they themselves revere, so that all alike become world-honored ones. |
| 今世人反不尊其所尊，独尊于不实的生灭的无谓的衣食住，终日劳劳，尽此一生。呜呼，今年欢笑复明年，秋月春风等闲度，岂不伤哉？白居易作《琵琶行》有感于衷，此伊之入佛因缘也。 | Yet people today instead fail to honor what they should honor, and honor only the insubstantial, arising-and-ceasing, meaningless concerns of clothing, food, and shelter, toiling away their entire lives. Alas! This year’s laughter and joy return again next year; autumn moons and spring breezes are idly passed. Is this not sorrowful? Bai Juyi wrote “The Song of the Pipa” from feelings stirred within him; this was his karmic affinity for entering Buddhism. |
