什么是正法住世？你老老实实去修行，不好虚名假利，不贪供养，就是正法住世。如果每个出家人能持银钱戒，能坐襌，能日中一食，能时刻搭袈裟，严持戒律，就是正法住世。正法住世，也就是时刻依佛所教，躬行实践。

What does it take for the Proper Dharma to exist in the world? If you honestly practice without coveting fame, benefit, or offerings, then the Proper Dharma exists in the world. If every left-home person observes the precept of poverty (not holding money), sits in meditation, eats only one meal a day, always wears the kashaya sash, and strictly observes the precepts, then the Proper Dharma exists in the world. The Proper Dharma exists in the world when we practice according to the Buddha's teaching at all times.

你们看看万佛圣城的出家人，都没有什么贪心，每个人都是默默耕耘，精严戒律，肃恭斋法，发大菩提心。我的愿力是无论到什么地方去，不准末法存在，只准正法住世。

Look at the left-home people at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. They have little greed, cultivate quietly, carefully observe the precepts, respectfully receive vegetarian meals, and bring forth a great resolve for Bodhi. My vow is that, wherever I go, I will only allow the Proper Dharma to exist; I will not permit the Dharma to come to an end.

末法，就是佛法跑到末梢上、枝叶上，远离根本了。在末法时期，真假难分，要具有择法眼，才可以分辨清楚。什么是正法？就是不贪名、不贪利、不贪色、不自私。

During the Dharma-ending Age, the Dharma reaches its end, its leaves and branches; it is far removed from the roots. In the Dharma-ending Age, it is difficult to distinguish the true from the false, unless one has Dharma-selecting Vision. To practice the Proper Dharma entails not being greedy for fame and benefits, not lusting after beautiful forms, and not being selfish.

末法时代的人都是邪知邪见，凡是对的他说不对，不对的他说是对；鱼目混珠，正法现前，他也不认识。所以在省庵大师的劝发菩提心文里说：“有教无人，邪正不分，是非莫辨，竞争人我，尽逐利名。”

However, people in the Dharma-ending Age have misguided views. They confuse right and wrong, mistaking fish eyes for pearls. Even if the Proper Dharma were presented to them, they would not recognize it. Therefore, Great Master Xing An said in his essay, "Exhortation to Resolve the Mind upon Bodhi," "There are teachings but no adherents. No one can distinguish the deviant from the proper; no one can tell right from wrong. We compete and struggle with each other. We pursue profit and fame."

至于竞争人我，他倒有本事，例如，跟人竞争造庙。你的庙高七十呎，我便要盖一间七十一呎的；你的庙高七十二呎，我便要盖一间七十三呎的，总要比你的庙高。他不会去比一比较，这个人的修行，是否比我高？修行，他不去比赛；造庙，他却去比赛。因地不真，果招迂曲，浪费施主的钱和米，结果领着大家都进了地狱。竞争造庙，有什么意思？造好后也没有人住，空空如也，多可怜呀！末法的现象就是这样。

People in the Dharma-ending Age excel at competition. For instance, they compete in temple building. "Your temple is seventy feet high? I'm going to build one that's seventy-one feet tall"; "Your temple is seventy-two feet high? Then I'm going to build one that's seventy-three feet tall. Mine will always be higher than yours." Instead of comparing to see who excels at cultivation, they compete to see who can build more temples. With such an attitude, they waste donors' money and lead people into the hells. If people do not cultivate honestly, they will get crooked results. What's the point of competing to build temples if no one lives in them? What a pity that we end up with so many empty temples! That's how the Dharma-ending Age is.

还有居士们供养出家人，切记莫生贪心。好像你去护持一个法师，我去护持一个法师，令出家人分开，不能同住修行，这就是破坏僧团。居士们彼此竞争，单独供养一个出家人，把那个出家人弄得迷迷糊糊，一个人住在小精舍里，无所事事－－到头来你有什么功德？

Laypeople shouldn't be greedy when making offerings to left-home people. If your attitude is, "You support that Dharma Master, and I'll support this one," you are breaking up the Sangha and preventing left-home people from living and cultivating together. If everyone competes to make offerings to a single monk, that monk will become really confused, living in his own little temple with nothing to do. In the end, what merit is there in that?

我说的是真话，出家人应该共同住在大丛林，互相用功办道，互相警惕策勉。单独住在小精舍里，愿意不用功，没有人管；愿意吃好东西，没有人管；愿意吃一点肉，喝点酒，都没有问题。居士们以为这是功德，其实是帮助那个出家人下地狱哩！你的功德跑到那儿去？我说的话都是大家不喜欢听的。

I am speaking the truth. Monks should live together in a large monastery so that they can cultivate diligently and alert and urge each other on in their practice. If a monk lives alone in a small temple, no one knows when he slacks off in his practice or indulges in good food. It won't be hard for him to eat a little meat and drink a little wine. Laypeople think they are creating merit when they give all their offerings to an individual monk. Actually, they are just sending that monk into the hells! What merit and virtue could the donors possibly attain? The things I say are things that no one likes to hear.

你们应该知道：要供养三宝，应该拥护大道场，应该护持真正修行的地方。不是你占着一个出家人，我霸着一个出家人，这种事并不如法。

You must understand that if you want to make offerings to the Triple Jewel, you should make them to a large Way-place--a place of true cultivation. It should not be that you make personal offerings to one monk and I make personal offerings to another. That is not in accord with the Dharma.

我说这番话，很多出家人一定很讨厌。为什么呢？因为他不自在了。在大丛林里，睡觉也不能随便睡，又不能随便吃东西，不能开斋破戒。单独一个人就可以为所欲为。当然，也有些人单独修行，是真正用功的，但目前来讲，这是少之又少的。

I am sure many left-home people are annoyed by my words, because I am hindering their freedom. In a large monastery, they cannot sleep or eat casually, nor can they eat meat or break the precepts. Living alone by themselves, they can do whatever they please. Of course there are true cultivators who live alone and work hard at their practice. However, nowadays, such individuals are extremely rare.

为什么居士要单独供养一个出家人？他以为有特别功德，没想到这是破坏和合僧。僧是和合众，就是大家要住在一起修行。你一个人住，怎堪称和合众，跟谁和合？老跟在家人和合，就变成在家人了。

Why would laypeople want to make offerings to a single left-home person? They think there is special merit and virtue in doing so. Little do they know that it actually destroys the harmony of the Sangha. The Sangha is a "harmonious assembly"--everyone lives together and cultivates. If you live alone, how can you call yourself a "harmonious assembly"? With whom are you harmonizing? If you are always harmonizing with laypeople, you will end up a layperson yourself.

我的话是苦口婆心，所谓“忠言逆耳利于行，良药苦口利于病。”法师不应该是“私家”的，应该是“公家”的。所以金山圣寺、万佛圣城等道场，常常住很多人，大家彼此勉励，劝善规过，不是竞争人我。

I am saying this out of deep concern. "Truthful words jar the ear, but  help one to act wisely. Good medicine is bitter to the taste, but cures sickness." Dharma Masters should not be privately "owned"; they should be accessible to the public. Therefore, there are always many people living at Gold Mountain Monastery, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, and our other temples. They encourage each other, exhort one another to reform, and correct each other's faults. They do not compete against one another.

为什么要赞己毁人？因为贪图供养。所以劝发菩提心文里说：“举目滔滔，天下皆是，不知佛是何人，法是何义，僧是何名？”要四位出家人以上合和相处，方称为僧，是和谐共住，无争无执，单独一个出家人不能称为僧。

Why would left-home people praise themselves and slight others? Because they are greedy for offerings. The "Exhortation to Bring forth the Bodhi Resolve" says, "The world is filled with people who don't know who the Buddha is, what the Dharma means, and what a Sangha is." A Sangha refers to a group of at least four left-home people dwelling together in harmony, with no disputes. One left-home person all by him or herself cannot be called a Sangha..

现在更流行另一种弊病：很多人不单不知道三宝是什么，有些居士还要设立四宝。不是居士们供养三宝，而是要三宝来供养居士。恐怕不久又会发明五宝、六宝、七宝，你看！这不是末法的现象是什么？

Another widespread problem is that many people don't know what the Triple Jewel is. There are laypeople who want to set themselves up as a fourth jewel. Nowadays, not only do laypeople fail to make offerings to the Triple Jewel (the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha), they expect the Triple Jewel to provide for them. They may soon come up with fifth, sixth, and seventh jewels. If this is not a sign of the Dharma-ending Age, then what is?

一九七九十一月开示