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「說種種妙法」：給眾生說種種的妙法。「其心無所畏」：他們是無所恐懼的；說法，常常都現師子吼，所以無所恐懼。
我於伽耶城。菩提樹下坐。
得成最正覺。轉無上法輪。
爾乃教化之。令初發道心。
今皆住不退。悉當得成佛。
我今說實語。汝等一心信。
我從久遠來。教化是等眾。
「我於伽耶城」：釋迦牟尼佛說，我在摩竭提國這個伽耶城。伽耶，是梵語，翻譯過來，就叫「山城」，祇桓精舍就離這兒有五里路。「菩提樹下坐」：我在伽耶城外邊那菩提樹下打坐。在一開始打坐的時候，釋迦牟尼佛就發願；他說，我坐到這菩提樹下，如果我不開悟，我不起於座。這個「不起於座」，就是不到旁的地方去，就是在這菩提樹下來打坐。「得成最正覺」：在這菩提樹下，坐了七七四十九天；在第四十九天這晚間，他「夜睹明星而悟道」，他在這時候成佛。
怎麼叫「成佛」呢？成佛是不是和眾生就不一樣呢？不是的。成佛也還是和眾生一樣的；佛也是眾生，眾生也是佛。不過佛是已成的佛，眾生是沒成的佛；佛是已成佛的眾生，眾生是沒成佛的眾生。釋迦牟尼佛看見明星開悟了，他就很歎息，歎息甚麼呢？他說：「奇哉！奇哉！奇哉！」說了三個奇哉，這叫「三歎奇哉」。他說太奇妙了，奇妙甚麼呢？「一切眾生，皆有如來智慧德相。」他說，所有的眾生，他們都有成佛的種子、有成佛這種智慧、有成佛的這種德行、有成佛這種的機會。那麼為甚麼他們沒有成佛呢？這就發生了問題了，問題也就在這個地方。佛說：「但以妄想執著，未能證得。」
為甚麼我們人沒有成佛？就因為有妄想、就因為有執著。這一個「妄想、執著」，就把應該成佛的眾生給在前面擋住了。甚麼擋呢？就是這個「妄想執著」。它在前面這兒障礙住了，就好像甚麼呢？就好像我們人走路；這個路本來是應該通達無礙的，現在路中間有一道牆，把路給擋上，不能往前走了。
舉一個例子，就好像Germany，東德、西德中間，就有一道牆；東德的人也不能到西德去，西德的人也不可以到東德來，這就有一道障礙物在那個地方障著。我們人沒有成佛，這個障礙物是甚麼？就是這個妄想、就是這個執著！你一有了妄想、執著，佛的智慧就不能開了。不能開佛的智慧，所以你就沒能成佛；你若把執著和妄想都放下，就可以成佛了。
釋迦牟尼佛他怎麼成的佛呢？他就是把一切的妄想、執著都放下了。最初他在皇宮裏，那種享受是很豐富的，將來就做皇帝，還可以做轉輪聖王；他把它放下了，皇帝也不做了、轉輪聖王也不做了，把美貌的太太也放下了、把江山也都放下了！他看「生老病死苦」，這是太麻煩的事情；所以他就決定出家修道，要了生死。因為他把執著和妄想都放下了，所以坐到菩提樹下，四十九天就開悟了；我們人就沒有那麼個長遠性，沒有這一種恆心！
待續
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They speak various Wonderful Dharmas. They speak
all kinds of Wonderful Dharma for living beings, with no fear in their
minds. They have no fear. In speaking the Dharma, they always send
forth the lion’s roar, and they have no fear.
In
the City of Gaya,
Sitting beneath the Bodhi Tree,
I realized the most proper enlightenment
And turned the supreme Dharma-wheel.
Only then did I teach and transform them,
Causing them first to bring forth their resolve for the Way.
Now they all dwell in irreversibility,
And all shall become Buddhas.
I now speak the truth,
You should believe it with a single mind.
From remote time past to now,
I have taught and transformed these multitudes.
“In the City of Gaya…” Shakyamuni Buddha says,
“When I was in the City of Gaya…” “Gaya” is Sanskrit. It translates as
“Mountain City.” “In a place five miles outside of the city of Gaya, I
was sitting beneath the Bodhi Tree in meditation.”
When he first sat down to meditate, Shakyamuni
Buddha made a vow. What was his vow? He said, “Once I sit down beneath
this Bodhi Tree, if I do not become enlightened, I will sit here
forever. I will not get up.” He meant he would not go anywhere else. He
would remain seated in meditation under the Bodhi Tree.
I realized the most proper enlightenment. Beneath
the Bodhi Tree, I sat seven times seven—forty nine days. And on the
night of the forty-ninth day, he saw a bright star in the sky and
awakened to the Way. At night he saw a bright star, awakened to the
Way, and at that moment, he became a Buddha. What does it mean to
become a Buddha? When one becomes a Buddha, one is still the same as
living beings. Buddhas are living beings; living beings are Buddhas.
But Buddhas have already become Buddhas, and living beings have not yet
become Buddhas. Buddhas are living beings who have already become
Buddhas, and living beings are living beings who have not yet become
Buddhas. When Shakyamuni Buddha saw that bright star and became
enlightened, he sighed. Why? He said, “Strange, indeed! Strange,
indeed! Strange, indeed!” He said it three times. It’s said he sighed
three times, saying, “Strange, indeed!” His meaning was: “It’s very
strange! Extremely strange! Really strange!” What was strange?
He said, “All living beings have the virtuous
characteristics of the Thus Come Ones.” He said that the wisdom and
virtuous characteristics that Buddhas have, all beings have, too. They
all have the seed of Buddhahood. They have the wisdom of a Buddha, the
virtuous conduct of a Buddha, and the opportunity to become a Buddha.
And so why haven’t they become Buddhas? There’s a problem. It’s only
because of false thinking and attachments that they have not yet been
able to certify to and attain it.
Why haven’t we become Buddhas? Because we have
false thinking. Why haven’t we people become Buddhas? Because we have
attachments. It is because of false thinking and attachments that
living beings who should become Buddhas are obstructed. What obstructs
them? False thinking and attachments. These obstructions hinder them,
just when a person walking on a road comes upon a blockade, he cannot
go forward. An example would be the wall between East and West Germany,
which kept the East Germans from being able to go to West Germany and
the West Germans from being able to go to East Germany. So, too, we
people who have not become Buddhas have a blockade hindering us. What
is the blockade? False thinking and attachments. If you have false
thinking and attachments, you cannot open the wisdom of the Buddhas.
You have to let go of false thinking and attachments, and then you can
become a Buddha.
How did Shakyamuni Buddha become a Buddha? He put
down his false thinking and attachments. In the beginning, he was in
the Royal Palace with many pleasures. In the future he would have been
the Emperor. He would have been a wheel-turning sage king. But he put
all that down. He didn’t want to be an emperor. He didn’t want to be a
wheel-turning king. He renounced his lovely wife. He looked upon birth,
old age, sickness and death as too much trouble, and so he resolved to
leave the home-life, to cultivate the Way, and to end birth and death.
Because he had cast out his attachments and false thinking, when he sat
under the Bodhi Tree for forty-nine days, he became enlightened. We
people don’t have that much endurance and patience. We aren’t that
constant in our practice.
To be continued
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