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兩岸法師齊合作•中國統一現吉兆
Dharma Masters From Both Shores Cooperate -
An Auspicious Sign for the Unification of China

宣化上人開示於1992年9月1日萬佛聖城
A Talk by Ven. Master Hsuan Hua on Sept. 1, 1992 at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas
恆頤法師記錄 Transcribed by D.M. Heng Yi

各位善知識:

在海外,萬佛聖城所行所作,都是其他的國家,其他道場沒有過的創舉。西方國家在一九八七年以前,沒有哪一個國家打過水陸空的法會,所以西方的這一些因戰爭死亡的將士、國民,含冤難申的冤魂,不知有多少?一九八七年我們在海外舉行水陸空法會,請了大陸的法師七十多位,這是西方國家第一次舉行的水陸空法會。

無論在水裡陣亡的;在陸上陣亡的;或者在飛機上陣亡的將士們,和飛機失事,輪船失事,和陸地上失事等等的孤魂野鬼,沒有地方收留,我們來超薦他們。這可以說是世界上從來沒有的,空前未有的,將來有沒有?那是一定有的,因為前邊有了,後邊就會跟著這條路來跑。

今年一九九二年又舉行第二次的水陸空法會。聘請十方大德高僧,這一些的耆宿老修行,來這兒舉行水陸空法會,作超薦的儀式。虛老在雲南傳戒打水陸的時候,梅樹上開白蓮花,有這種瑞相。在廣州六榕樹打水陸時,桃李樹上也開花,在七、八月的時候,桃李樹根木就不能開花的,可是竟然它就開花了,這都是一種祥瑞,菩薩給的吉祥預兆。這一次,我本來是請台灣的耆宿來打這個水陸空的法會,可是這裡邊又有種種的誤會,所以請了台灣的法師,又請了大陸的法師。為什麼有這樣的情形呢?就因為辦得陰錯陽差,弄得種種的矛盾就生出來。怎麼樣陰錯陽差呢?這是在今年春天的時候,我們這兒有一位叫果真的,就是恆實;一位叫果文,恆章。這兩個人到台灣去,就和妙法寺的方文和尚談起打水陸空的問題來。妙法寺的方丈就對他們說人不容易找,台灣的法師聽說萬佛城,都不願意來,說萬佛城一天吃一餐,又有這個規矩,那個規矩,他們自由慣了,受不了。雖這麼說,他也沒有說不來。當時他就說,內壇他負責請人管理;外壇的法師,就由萬佛城本身的法師來負責擔任好了。可是這兩位,因為語言不通的關係,聽也沒聽清楚就打電話回來給我說:「內壇沒有法師來,外壇他可以找。」就這麼樣弄的。我就想法子找內壇的法師啦!於是乎,當時就用長途電話和上海聯絡,我說:「請你們帶幾個人來這兒主持內壇。」大陸佛教方面也就很慷慨地答應了。就趕著辦手續,結果拿不下護照,這護照沒有根本就不能來。於是乎,我們又用種種的方法,結果得到護照了,頭一天得到護照,第二天就去簽證,拿出國VISA簽證,也簽妥了,有十八位出家眾,台灣有十九位,這兩方面都來了。你說危險不危險?一個國民黨,一個共產黨,這兩黨碰到一起,一定要開火,所以把我愁得晚上也睡不著覺,白天也吃不下飯。這個事情怎麼辦呢?到這兒來如果雙方面,話不投機半句多,互相打起來怎麼辦呢?互相來敵對,就打起來。若真要打了,我在中間,願當一個挨打的人,他們兩方面打,就打我一個人好了!

所以第二天我把他們兩方都請來了,大家一見面,這是菩薩的感應,誰也不願意打誰,大家都說共同合作,所以這個法會才做成了,如果不是這樣子,雙方面互相罷工,你說這個十方善信都已經來到這兒來了,他們都要回自己的國家去,你說這怎麼下台?

所以你們現在不要笑,這是一個危險的關頭,可是現在佛教互相碰面,但誰也沒有破頭,誰也沒有流血,這是中國將來統一的預兆,這是很吉祥,很好的現象,所以你們各位都應該為中國統一互相幫助,一致對外,我們不叫外國人來欺負的,也不叫我們中國是東亞病夫。這是為我們國家的佛教作先河,先共同合作,是國家統一的預兆,是值得我們紀念的一件事,你看共產黨、國民黨在這兒碰頭了,也不打架,這是以前沒有的事情。

現在有這麼些人到這兒來,我還要說一說我的思想和行為。這是以前萬佛城開光的時候,我對二千多名四面八方來的出家人、在家人講的話。那時我講的什麼呢?我說:「我現在要對所有人講一講一句真心話,實實在在的話,我這個出家人從有生以來所犯的毛病是什麼呢?我犯的毛病,最大最大的,就是看不起有錢的人。」當時這話一說出來,有一百多人包括馬來西亞的人在內,都要來清算我,說:「我們到這兒來,是恭賀你,來給你增光,你這麼講有錢的人,這是我們受不了的。」這要來同我理論這個問題。

當時他們一百多人聯合起來要為難我,要和我講道理,為什麼我講這個話?這麼說完了,他們就說我們這兒有個顧問,我們好不好去鬥爭,去問這個法師,這位顧問是誰呢?就是 Dhammananda,是錫蘭的一位南傳的法師。去問他,就說宣化法師這麼樣看不起我們這些有錢的人,這我們忍受不了,我們要去和他來辯論、來為難他、要清算他。達摩難陀法師看看他們其中有一個白頭髮、白鬍子的,有七、八十歲的這麼一個人,是代表。他說:「你活那麼大年紀了,怎麼還這樣地不懂佛法。」他說:「我在宣化法師旁邊坐著,宣化法師所說的每一個字,我認為都是正法,都是對的,你們想去鬥爭他,我現在就要走了,不和你們在一起了,你們的事情我不管了。」這麼一說,這一百多個人的鬥爭心就平靜下來了,所以達摩難陀法師那天替我解圍了。

All of you good and wise advisors:

The activities we have at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas cannot be found in other countries and other Way-places. Before 1987, no country in the West had ever held a Water-Land-Air Dharma Assembly. Thus, it's not known how many souls of soldiers and citizens who died in wartime, and spirits bound by enmity, exist in the West. In 1987, we invited over seventy monks from mainland China to hold the first Water-Land-Air Dharma Assembly in the West.

We want to rescue all the lonely souls who have nowhere to go, whether they drowned in the sea, were killed in an accident on land, or died in mid-air, whether in a plane crash, on a sinking ship, or in a car collision. This event is a first in the West, but it will not be the last. In the future, there will be other Dharma Assemblies to follow this precedent. Now, in 1992, we are holding a Water-Land-Air Dharma Assembly for the second time, and we have invited monks from all ten directions to come to the City. All the noble, lofty Sanghans have gathered to conduct this Dharma Assembly.

When the Venerable Hsu Yun held a Water-Land Assembly and an Ordination Ceremony at Southern Cloud Monastery, there was an auspicious omen in which the plum trees bloomed with white lotus flowers. When he conducted another Water-Land Dharma Assembly at Six Hibiscus Monastery in Gwang Jou, the peach trees bloomed, even though they had not done so for the last seven or eight years before that. This was also an auspicious omen, a sign of the good energy sent by the Bodhisattvas.

This time, I originally invited the delegation from Taiwan to come hold this Water-Land-Air Dharma Assembly. Due to some misun derstandings, a delegation from mainland China was also invited. How did this happen? We made some mistakes in handling the matter, resulting in some contradictory conditions. Last spring, Heng Sure and Heng fang went to Taiwan to discuss the issue of the Water-Land-Air Dharma Assembly with the abbot of Wonderful Dharma Monastery. The abbot told them that it was difficult to find people to come; the Dharma Masters in Taiwan all knew that at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, people only ate one meal a day, and there were a lot of regulations restricting their freedom, so nobody wanted to come because they couldn't take it. Although he said this, he didn't decline to come. At that time he just said he could take care of getting people to conduct the Inner Platform, but that the Dharma Masters at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas had to do the outer platforms themselves. This was fine, but these two monks got the language confused, and called back to say, "The outer platforms are taken care of, but there's no one to do the Inner Platform." Thereupon, I tried to arrange some Dharma Masters to manage the Inner Platform. I called long-distance to Shanghai saying, "Please send some monks to come host the Inner Platform." The monks in mainland China very generously agreed to do so, and started getting the papers in order. At first they couldn't get passports, and without passports there was no way to come. We tried all kinds of methods, and finally got the passports. The very next day, they got visas to leave the country.

So altogether eighteen monks came from the mainland and nineteen monks came from Taiwan. Both groups came. Now, would you say this is dangerous? With the Nationalist party and the Communist party in the same place, there was sure to be a big explosion. That's why I've been so worried that I can't sleep at night or eat during the day. If a misunderstanding occurred between the two sides, and they started to fight it out, what would I do? I figured that it they really started to shoot at each other, I'll stand right between them and let them hit me instead.

But when they met face-to-face on the second day, it was a response from the Bodhisattvas, for nobody wanted to fight, and everyone said they would cooperate and work together. So this Dharma Assembly has been successfully completed. But suppose it hadn't turned out this way, and the two sides both went on strike. How could we have faced the devoted laypeople who have come from the ten directions? It would have been difficult to exit the situation gracefully. You shouldn't laugh, for this was really a dangerous affair.

But it has worked out and Buddhism has met here. There has been no bloodshed, no bruises, no fisticuffs exchanged. This is a very auspicious sign for the future unification of China. We should mutually help each other to work for a united China. China should not let other countries bully her, and China herself should not exclude others. This is a good sign for the unity of all nations, which deserves our commemoration. The fact that Communists and Nationalists have been able to join together under the cloak of Buddhism and not fight, is a very good sign for the whole world.

Now I want to tell all of you a little bit about my way of thinking and my behavior. I said the same thing to over two thousand left-home and lay people who had come from the four quarters to attend the opening ceremony of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. I said, "I want to tell you a bit of true talk right now, which is to say, as a left-home person my biggest fault is that I always look down on rich people." At the time, there were over a hundred Malaysians in the group, and they all got together and decided they were going to make their thinking known. They said, "We came to congratulate you and we are certainly not going to take this abuse from you." So they decided to struggle with me. The first thing they did was to get their advisor and say to him, "We want to overthrow this monk. Is it okay?" Their advisor was Ven. Dhammananda from Sri Lanka.

護世息災水陸空大法會
The Water-Land-Air Ceremony for Protecting the Wotrld

莊居士:師父上人、各位法師:我是莊果南,是洛杉磯的信眾,請師父印證一下我的看法對不對。在洛杉磯很多人學密的,也有學顯的。學密的,就是有些密宗的法師來的時候,他們去灌頂。學顯的就是上人到洛杉磯的時候,他們也去護持,但是最近有些人聽說上人是反對密法,我碰到這個問題,我就對他們解釋說,上人不是反對密法,因為密法也是佛法裡的一種,但是上人反對我們這些信眾以貪心的態度來學這個密法。因為一般的佛教徒,他想要接觸密法,就是貪即身成佛。他一天的戒律都沒有受,都沒有學,五戒是什麼他都不知道,他就想要受了密法後,可即身成佛,所以我個人的感覺是上人不是反對密法,上人是反對我們連基礎都不懂,就是不會走路,就想跑,反對我們這種貪心,我不曉得我這種解釋方法對不對?我個人的感覺,這個密法不是一般剛入門的佛教徒,簡簡單單就可以學。

上人:方才莊居士講,說我反對密法。我不但不反對密法,而且我是願意人去學密法,不過因為太密了,就有一些不可告人的事發生。不論是密宗、是顯宗,你修行就必須要去欲斷愛。

在密宗裡頭公開就說要修雙身,男女就恣意行淫,搞得不守戒律,這樣的密宗,我是不敢領教的。這樣的密宗,打著密宗的旗號,公開在這裡頭就專門恣意行淫欲不守規矩,甚至於比在家人還壞得多,且多數護世息災水陸空大法會有這個性病,這個性病差不離都是這一些個不守戒律的人,都是這樣子。這並不是反對,而就恐怕這些人墮到死人坑裡,還自己不覺悟。因為一時的貪心,也不明察是非,於是乎就自己墮火坑,被水淹死,被火燒死,或者將來墮地獄。本來自己因為要找一個好的道路,而出離三界,結果不但不能出離,而且還墮落地獄了,你說這有多麼冤枉。這不是反對,這是一種苦口婆心,一般迷昧的人不認識,就說我反對,我不但不反對密宗,天主教、耶穌教、猶太教,所有的宗教,我都不反對,只要你好好守教規,守這個戒律,哪個教都是教人為善的,都是向善走,不是教你去行淫欲,那就墮落地獄去了。所以這並不是反對,而是一種苦口婆心,「良藥苦口利於病,忠言逆耳利於行」,所以這個愚癡的人,他愚癡得再也沒那麼愚癡了,你和他說良藥,他也不服;說這個忠言,他也不相信,這個就是因為第一:沒有德行,第二:沒有善根,第三:他的業障障著他不信正法。

一些外道也居然就公開行淫欲,甚至於裸體,好像以前的 Rajneesh 在奧利根有六萬五千個英畝,在那兒自己成立一個小王國,各處用巴士抓人,抓到他城裡,就不准再出來。無論男女,不准正式結婚,可是行淫欲是隨便的,男女在那個城裡頭都不穿衣服,這樣一來,不知多少人去相信,尤其是有名的人,不知有多少。他財富也不知有多少,就這樣子,結果被移民局干涉他,說有不合國策的行為,把他攆回印度去。以前他在奧利根那兒也不講話,勞斯萊斯的汽車他有九十多輛,誰要送禮嘛,他就要勞斯萊斯汽車,以後汽車太多,他不用了,一天用一輛,一天換一輛。每天出來也不講話,這些不穿衣服的人,就跪到兩邊,他就揮手向兩邊示意,這兩邊的人就認為光榮得不得了了。就這樣子,也不知道他用什麼迷魂藥,把這些人迷得這個樣子。他在美國這兒說他自己是天主,是耶穌再來,這些無知的人就盲從,相信他,結果他被人攆回印度,他在印度也不知道什麼病就死了。現在信他的人都冰消瓦解,什麼也沒有了。有九十七輛汽車之後,他就不要汽車了,要什麼?要錶,每個錶最低限度要十萬塊美金以上。他的汽車,也最低限度要十萬塊美金以上,可是他一死了,什麼也沒有了,也不知道錢都跑到什麼地方去了,他的飛機也不知都飛到什麼地方去了,他這個巴士也不知道開到什麼地方去了,所有的財富都不知怎麼樣跑了?也不知它怎麼樣來的?所以最後也不知怎麼樣跑了。

 

Ven. Dhammananda looked at one of his group who was very old with a long white beard and he said, "You're so old and yet you completely misunderstand Buddhism. I have sat beside the Ven. Abbot, the Abbot of this monastery, and I feel that every word he says is the proper Dharma, every word he says is correct. And if you want to fight with him, then I'll tell you now that I'm leaving, and will no longer have anything to do with you. So you choose." At that, the anger of this group of Malaysians subsided, and Ven. Dhammananda resolved the crisis for me.

Layman Jwang: Ven. Master, and Dharma Masters, I am a disciple from Los Angeles, and I want to ask the Ven. Abbot if my point of view is right or not. In Los Angeles there are many people who study the Secret School, which means they get their crown anointed. There are those who study the Manifest school too, come to attend and protect the Dharma Assembly when the Ven. Master goes down to Los Angeles to teach. Some people were passing the rumor around that the Ven. Master is opposed to the Secret School, and I said, I don't think so. I think the Ven. Master is just opposed to our trying to run when we don't even know how to walk. He is opposed to the greed in our minds. I don't know if my explanation is right, but I feel that these secret Dharmas are not something which are so simple to learn, especially if we have just entered the door as Buddhist disciples.

Master: Layman Jwang says that people say I am opposed to the Secret School. Not only am I not opposed to the Secret School, in fact, I want people to study the Secret School. However, if it becomes too secret, then some unspeakable things might happen. Regardless of whether you cultivate the Secret School or the Manifest School, you absolutely have to cut off desire and put an end to love. In the Secret School, there are people who openly practice what is called the pair dharmas, with men and women indulging in sexual conduct, and as a result, breaking the Precepts. This I don't approve of because they are borrowing the name of Buddhism and of the Secret School to practice lustful conduct and break the rules. Their behavior doesn't even come up to that of lay people's. There are some religious leaders who are infected with VD, because they do not follow the rules. It is only to be feared that they will fall to their deaths in the future without even knowing why. Because of the greed in their minds, they become confused about right and wrong, and cause themselves to be burned to death, or to drown, or fall into the hells in the future. What a shame, they wanted to find a good road, a way to transcend the suffering in the triple world. Instead they found a way to fall into the hells. So, it is not the case that I oppose the Secret School at all. On the contrary, what I am doing is trying my best to wake up confused people. Not understanding this, they say I'm opposed to it. Not only do I not oppose the Secret School, I don't oppose Protestants, Catholics or Jews, or any other religion, as long as you follow the rules. All religions teach people to become good, and to do good deeds. They don't tell you to indulge in lust, which will send you to the hells. But stupid people are so deluded that if you give them good medicine, they refuse to take it, and if you speak truthfully to them, they refuse to believe you. This is because (1) they have no virtue, (2) they have no good roots, (3) their karmic obstacles obstruct them from believing in the proper Dharma.

There are other religions in which lustful conduct is openly indulged in, too, to the point that they go around naked. One such group was organized by Rajneesh in Oregon. He had a small kingdom of 6,500 acres there, and he would drive buses around and just pick up people and take them to his town, but once they got there they weren't allowed to leave. The rules in the town were that marriages were abolished, but men and women were encouraged to walk around naked and enjoy relationships as they pleased. There were many believers, including many famous celebrities who wound up there. He had a lot of money and the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the United States found a way to get rid of him, saying he was violating the laws of the land. They exiled him back to India. While in Oregon, he used to maintain silence. In his garages he had over ninety Rolls Royce cars. If anyone wanted to send him a gift, that is what he asked for. He had so many Rolls Royces that he couldn't use them all. He would take a new car everyday, ride out, and wave to the naked people kneeling on both sides of the street, causing them to feel really honored. What kind of drug do you suppose he fed them to make them behave in this way? While in the United States he claimed to be Jesus come again, and to be God himself incarnated on the planet. And a lot of people believed him. But then he was exiled to India, where he got sick and died not long after. After his death, his believers all scattered. There was absolutely nothing left of the town. After owning ninety-seven Rolls Royce cars, he decided he didn't want cars anymore, and instead he wanted wrist watches. But the wrist watches had to be over $100,000, maybe a Rolex or something. The cars had to be over $100,000, too. But, wouldn't you know, after he died, there was nothing left. The money--who knows where it went. The airplanes--who knows where they went. The buses--where did they drive off to? Nobody really knows. All his wealth just trickled away. We don't know where it came from, and we also don't know where it all went.

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