佛沒有瞋恨心，魔卻有瞋恨心，不同之處就在於此。佛成佛是因為魔幫助他成佛的，因為佛在菩提樹下，將要證道時，天魔生瞋恨心，派魔兵、魔女來威脅、誘惑佛；可是佛不動心，用定力降伏魔力，所以證得佛位，因此佛是不瞋恨魔的。

魔成魔的原因是因為魔有爭強論勝的心，所謂：

The difference between Buddhas and demons is that Buddhas have no hatred, while demons do. The Buddha accomplished Buddhahood with the help of demons. When the Buddha was about to become enlightened beneath the Bodhi tree, the heavenly demons became furious. They dispatched demon armies to threaten the Buddha and demon women to seduce him. However, the Buddha remained unmoved and overcame the demons with his samadhi power. Thus, he realized Buddhahood. The Buddha doesn't hate demons. Demons become demons because they like to fight and quarrel. It is said,

爭是勝負心，
與道相違背；
便生四相心，
由何得三昧？

Fighting involves thoughts of
 victory and defeat,
And is in opposition to the Way.
Giving rise to the thought of
 the Four Marks,
How can one obtain samadhi?

魔爭不到第一，便生瞋恨心、妒忌心、障礙心。所以誰有這種思想和行為，就是魔，就永遠不能成佛。

When demons are frustrated in their struggle to be number one, they become angry, jealous and obstructive. Whoever behaves that way is a demon and will never be able to attain Buddhahood.

魔的神通力與佛的神通力相差無幾，不過佛的神通力是正派，魔的神通力是邪派。所謂「邪不勝正」，魔始終是不能勝佛的，所以就甘拜下風，五體投地，皈依於佛。

The spiritual powers of demons and the spiritual powers of Buddhas are pretty much the same. The only difference is that while the Buddhas' spiritual powers are proper, those of demons are deviant. It is said that “the deviant cannot overcome the proper.” Since demons are ultimately inferior to Buddhas, they humbly bow to the ground, and take refuge in the Buddhas.

佛是慈悲、有憐愍眾生的心，絕對不對付魔，而是用德行來感化魔，令魔心服口服。在八相成道中，有一相是「降魔」，其實不如說是「佛感化魔」，更為貼切。因為佛不會用什麼壓迫或強硬的手段來降魔，因為若是這樣，就有了我相、人相、眾生相、壽者相；有了這四相，就不能成佛了。

Buddhas feel pity and compassion toward living beings. They would never oppose demons. Instead, they influence demons with their virtue, until the demons are moved to submit wholeheartedly. One of the Eight Signs of Realizing the Way is that of “subduing demons.” However, it would be more fitting to say that Buddhas “influence and convert” demons, because Buddhas don't use force to subdue demons. If they subdued demons, they would have the view of self, the view of others, the view of living beings, and the view of a life span. Having these four views, they couldn't have become Buddhas.

那麼佛怎麼令魔王投降呢？因為佛具足慈、悲、喜、捨四無量心，無論魔王怎樣來侵害佛，佛仍然用慈悲對待魔，用德行來感化魔。佛明白前因後果，就算魔來損害他，他知道這是在往昔所結的怨仇，所以不計較，仍然心安理得來接受這種魔擾。

How does a Buddha cause demons to surrender? A Buddha has the Four Boundless Thoughts of kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. No matter how the demons attack and harm the Buddha, he responds with kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity and uses his virtuous conduct to influence them. Since Buddhas know the causes and effects of the past and future, when demons come to harm them, they know that it's due to feelings of enmity left over from former lives. Therefore, they don't mind it; they suffer demonic disturbances with perfect peace of mind.

魔是怎樣成魔的？是由恨、怨、惱、怒、煩五毒所成就的，這五種毒氣幫助他成魔。所以魔時時刻刻找人的麻煩，尤其對修道人，他視為眼中釘，一定要設法破壞出家人的道業。因為出家人修行成佛，他就少了一個眷屬，所以他要極力來破壞。凡是出家人，都要謹慎預防，不要中了魔的圈套，落在陷阱之中，永遠不能翻身。所以參禪的人，對境界弄不清楚，便是上魔的當，所謂「走火入魔」，這是一件十分危險的事。

How do demons become demons? Five kinds of poisonous energies—hatred, resentment, affliction, anger, and vexation—help them to become demons. That's why demons are always making trouble for people. They especially detest cultivators and see them as thorns in their flesh, so they try their best to destroy the cultivation of left-home people. They know that if a left-home person cultivates and be-comes a Buddha, they will lose one of their retinue, so they use all their might to ruin his cultivation. All left-home people should be careful and be on guard. Don't fall into the demons' snares. If you do, you may never get out. If Chan meditators fail to recognize states clearly, they will be taken in by the demons. This is called “catching fire and being possessed by a demon,” and it's extremely dangerous.

什麼是佛？就是講理，就是講因果；什麼是魔？就是不講理，不講因果。講因果是合理的；不講因果是不合理的。所以佛和魔的分別，最明顯的不同點就是：佛有慈悲心，魔有瞋恨心。

What are Buddhas? They are those who follow reason. Reason refers to cause and effect. What are demons? They are those who don't listen to reason. They don't heed cause and effect. To heed cause and effect is rational; not to heed them is irrational. The most obvious difference between Buddhas and demons is that while Buddhas are compassionate, demons are full of hate.

一九八三年十月九日開示