要学好，冤孽找；
要成佛，先受魔。

If you aspire to virtue,
your karmic obstacles will seek you out.
If you want to become a Buddha,
 you must first endure the demons.

若不想好，则冤孽不会来找；愈想好，冤孽愈来找。因为从无量劫以来，生生世世所造的善恶业夹杂不清，因此一旦想要修道，所有的债主都来讨债。好像你本来是个普通人，借了很多钱，没有还清楚，在你未发财之前，这些债主知道你没钱，所以不会来找你；可是等你一发财，这些债主便登门来讨债了。为什么？因为你有钱了，若不向你要，就没有其它时候可以要回。

If you don't want to learn virtue, your karmic obstacles won't come looking for you. The more you aspire to virtue, the more intensely your creditors will search you out in order to settle old accounts. From limitless eons past until now, in life after life, we have created both good and bad karma. Therefore, once we resolve to cultivate the Way, all our creditors show up to collect the debts we owe. We can use the analogy of a person who has borrowed lots of money and hasn't returned it. When he doesn't strike it rich, his creditors don't seek him out, because they know he has no money. Once he makes a fortune, however, his creditors line up at the door to demand their money. Why? Because he's rich, and if they don't demand their money now, they might not get another chance!

所以在修道中遇到逆境，更应该向前勇猛精进，而不退失菩提心。所有的债主来讨债，就还他们，我们不能扛债不还的。我们将自己所得的功德，回向给冤亲债主们，令他们得到功德，而离苦得乐，了生脱死。

Therefore, when we encounter adverse states in the course of cultivation, we should work even harder and not retreat from our Bodhi resolve. When our creditors come to de-mand their money, we pay them. We dedicate our merit and virtue to our relatives, friends, enemies, and creditors, enabling them to attain bliss, end birth and death, and be free from suffering. We shouldn't refuse to pay our debts.

无量劫以来，生生世世因为各种不同的因缘，不知做错了多少事。单是今生仔细想想，我们杀了多少生命？做了多少不公平的事？你或许没有杀大的生命（譬如狮、象、马、羊、牛、鸡、犬等），但可能杀了小的生命（如青蛙、蚊虫、蚂蚁、苍蝇等），也可能你心里有杀念存在。

In life after life for countless eons, due to various causes and conditions, we have committed innumerable misdeeds. If we carefully consider just this life, how many small creatures have we killed? How many unfair things have we done? Perhaps we haven't killed any large creatures (such as lions, elephants, horses, sheep, cows, chickens, or dogs), but we probably have killed small living beings (such as frogs, mosquitoes, ants, or flies), or have harbored thoughts of killing in our minds.

好像小的时候，因为无知，杀了很多小动物、小昆虫，这都是无知之罪。一旦你将众生的生命夺取、伤害了，现在你想修道，牠们都会来讨债的。这种债不是一个、两个，而是无以数计，生生世世日积月累来的，这种债说也说不完。

For example, when we were small we may have killed numerous animals and insects because we didn't know any better. Such offenses were committed out of ignorance. But if we want to cultivate the Way, we will have to pay our debts. The debts we owe are not just one or two, but countless. In life after life, these debts have accumulated, and we could never finish discussing them.

所以我们不能不讲公道，说：“我修行了，可是我不认所有的冤业债。”你如果有这种思想，那永远都不会成道的，因为你心里不公平。心里若公平，就要认账，还债就没事了。所以说：“要学好，冤孽找。”你要学好，就好像一个暴发户，所有的穷朋友都登门来找你了，他们都想得些利益。

Therefore, we cannot be unreasonable and claim to cultivate while refusing to acknowledge our debts of karmic enmity. If you think like that, you will never attain the Way, because your heart is not just. If you were just, you would acknowledge your debts. After you pay them, there are no more problems. Hence it's said, "If you aspire to virtue, your karmic obstacles will seek you out." You are like someone who has just come into wealth, and all your friends are beating a path to your door.

“要成佛，先受魔。”佛是魔帮助他成道的，若没有魔，就没有佛。魔是来考验你，令你更进一步，所谓：

"If you want to become a Buddha, you must first endure the demons." Demons helped the Buddha attain the Way. If there were no demons, there would be no Buddha, either. Demons come to test you, to make you take another step forward.

欲穷千里目，
更上一层楼。

If you wish to see for a thousand miles,
You must go up another floor.

这也是来看看你的火候够不够？若是够，则千魔不改，万魔不退，不会退失菩提心。愈在难处愈精进，一切横逆交加，皆处之泰然，不觉得不公平，也不怨天，不尤人，能逆来顺受，修忍辱波罗蜜。所有魔障来了，都不与魔起敌对，自己吃一点苦不要紧，要发愿度魔，使其皈依三宝，发菩提心。我们对谁都不生怨仇心，如此可化干戈为玉帛，化仇恨为慈祥。

Demons test to see how strong your cultivation is. If it's strong enough, you won't waver or retreat in the face of ten thousand demons, and you won't lose your resolve for Bodhi. The greater the hardship, the more energetic you are. Even when surrounded by adversity, you remain calm. You don't feel mistreated, and you don't complain to heaven or blame others. You bear adversity and cultivate patience. That's the kind of skill you ought to have. No matter what demonic obstacles you encounter, you give no opposition. You're unafraid of suffering. You make a vow to cross over demons, and to influence them to take refuge in the Triple Jewel and bring forth the Bodhi resolve. You harbor no grudges. In this way, you can "beat swords into plow-shares," and transform hostility into peace.

我们应该在反面找好处，“行有不得，皆反求诸己。”不要为自己做辩护律师，无论什么事：

Always look for good in what appears to be the opposite. "If you fail to achieve your goal, seek the reason within yourself." Don't be so defensive.

真认自己错，
莫论他人非；
他非即我非，
同体名大悲。

Truly recognize your faults.
Don't discuss the faults of others.
Others' faults are just my own.
Being one with everything is called,
"Great Compassion."

同体亦包括魔，魔也是自性的一部分。若自性有魔，就会引进外边的魔；若自性无魔，外魔就不会进来。什么是自性魔？就是贪瞋痴。“若无猫食碗，则不招苍蝇。”魔因为觉得你有点油水，他可以混水摸鱼得些好处，所以来捣乱你，显他的魔通。

"Being one with everything" includes demons. Demons are also a part of our own natures. If we hold demons inside, they will be attracted from outside. If we are free of internal demons, external demons will not enter. What are the demons of our own natures? Greed, anger, and ignorance. "If the plate of cat food is not left out, the flies won't be attracted." Since demons feel they can get some cheap advantages off you, they come to stir up mischief and display their spiritual penetrations.

所以人的一举一动，一言一行，都要老老实实，言必忠信，行必笃敬，不打妄语。如果怕认自己错，尽是覆讳过失，这不是修道的行为。必须要开诚布公，很坦白慷慨地做事，本照义理道德良心去行事；若是与道德良心有不合之处，则绝不去做。

Therefore, in every word and deed, we must be true and honest. We must be trustworthy in speech, sincerely respectful in action, and not given to lying. One who always covers errors instead of admitting them cannot cultivate. We should be honest and up front about things, and work in an open and public-spirited way. We should cultivate righteousness and morality and do nothing that goes against our conscience.

凡是修道人必须具足真正的智慧。真正的智慧，就是不会自赞毁他，说：“你看我，我是最第一、最清高的，他们都是那么贱。”凡是自赞的人，已经是没有前途的，虽然活着，其实是已经死了。因为他违背良心道德，看不起他人，只知道有自己，这是诸佛菩萨所最不欢喜的人。若想得诸佛菩萨的欢喜与保护，则要言行一致，“言顾行，行顾言”，互相不矛盾。不要常夸自己如何好，一旦做事就坏了。

Cultivators of the Way need genuine wisdom. Having genuine wisdom means not praising oneself and disparaging others, saying, "Look at me! I'm number one. I'm the purest and loftiest. Everyone else is common and lowly." Those who praise themselves have no future. Even when alive, they are as good as dead, for they have gone against their own conscience and integrity. They look down on others and are completely wrapped up in themselves. Such people make the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas most unhappy. If you wish to make the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas happy and receive their protection, you must practice what you preach. Your words must match your actions, and your actions must accord with your words. There should be no discrepancy between them. Don't boast about your own virtue, then make a mess of things.

修道人不要有自私心、自利心，要利益他人，不要尽损人利己，或看不起他人。每个人都应该回光返照，照照过去的事、现在的事，再照照将来。能念兹在兹，时刻不忘良心道德，时间一久，善根自然会增长，菩提心也会发得大，进一步就会去行菩萨道，利益众生，这是有连带关系的。

Cultivators shouldn't be selfish or seek to benefit them-selves. They should benefit others. They should neither hurt nor look down upon others. They should reflect mindfully upon themselves in regard to the past and present, and then contemplate the future. If you can be mindful in thought after thought, and maintain your conscience and integrity in every moment, your good roots will naturally grow. Your Bodhi resolve will expand and you will be able to practice the Bodhisattva Path to benefit all living beings. These functions are all interrelated.

人不要怕魔，而退失菩提心，魔障是考验。好像学生刚开始读书，觉得课程很难，可是时间一久，读得入门了，就不觉得困难了。你读小学、中学、高中、大学，开始的时候，都有这种情形发生。所谓：

You should take care not to retreat from your Bodhi resolve out of fear of demons. Demonic obstacles are tests. By analogy, when a student first enters school, he may find the courses difficult. But after a while, they become easier. This happens in elementary school, high school, and college.

不经一番寒彻骨，
怎得梅花扑鼻香？

If the plum tree did not endure
the winter's freeze,
How could her blossoms
smell so sweet?

十年寒窗无人问，
一举成名天下知。

For ten years, he studies by the window in
the cold, and no one inquires of him.
When suddenly he rises to fame,
the whole world comes calling.

在修行时，不要尽想出风头。出家后，还求名求利，是最要不得的。我们出家之后，一定要认真，脚踏实地来修行，栽培修植福慧。修福，就要利益人；修慧，就要多研究经典。常做利益人的事，就会生出福德。

When you cultivate, don't try to get into the limelight. It's totally wrong to seek fame and gain after you've left the home-life. After leaving home, you should apply your-selves seriously to cultivation with your feet planted on solid ground. You should foster blessings and wisdom. To cultivate blessings, you must benefit others. To cultivate wisdom, you must frequently investigate the Sutras. If you are always doing things to benefit others, your blessings and virtue will grow.

有人问：“要如何利益人？是否要用钱去做功德？”不需要。只要你心里没有杀心、盗心、邪淫心、打妄语心，不饮酒了，这都是培福的地方。所谓：

"How can I benefit others?" you ask. "Do I have to spend money to perform meritorious deeds?" No, that's not necessary. All you have to do is free your mind of thoughts of killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and lying, and refrain from taking intoxicants－these are all ways of fostering blessings.

慈悲口，方便舌；
有钱无钱都作德。

With kind words and skillful speech,
You can create merit whether or not
you have money.

你在口头上不骂人了，不说粗言暴语伤害他人，这也都是功德。我们处处要惜福，处处不舍福，处处修福修慧。修福慧非一朝一夕所成，而是时时刻刻、朝朝夕夕、年年月月，都要继续做下去，不能“一日曝之，十日寒之。”你若是这样子，永远不会有进步。所以我们要认定宗旨，勇猛精进，不要向后退，这是每个修道人应该具有的条件。

If you don't scold or berate others, you create merit and virtue. We should cherish our blessings and cultivate wisdom at every opportunity. The cultivation of blessings and wisdom, however, cannot be accomplished in a single day. The effort must continue moment-by-moment, morn-ing and evening, month after month and year after year. We cannot "sun it for one day and freeze it for ten." If you do that, you'll never make progress. Therefore, we must confidently set our goals, advance with vigor, and never retreat. These are the qualities that every cultivator should possess.

一九八二年六月十九日开示于万佛圣城