Words of Wisdom - Where We Came from ? 从什么地方来的？

12.坐禅要有忍力

Chan meditation requires great endurance

● 回光返照息三毒

Turning one’s light inwards and reflecting within to extinguish the three poisons

我们现在坐禅，你要知道你从什么地方来的？你可以回光返照，看一看你自己尽打什么妄想？你若尽想：「哦，这个马尔瓦那(大麻)一用啊，就觉得神乎其神的，哦，到了天堂囉！这天堂花花绿绿的，beautiful（美丽）！」你打什么妄想，就知道你从什么地方来的。我看你打什么妄想，我也知道你从什么地方来的。所以你也不要欺骗我，我也不要知道你。我们这样回光返照，一照，知道你是从什么地方来的？

Now that we are sitting in Chan meditation, you can find out where you came from by “turning your light within” and seeing what kinds of false thoughts you have. If you keep thinking: “Wow, using marijuana makes me feel wonderful. I’m in heaven! Look at all these beautiful colors,” then just from such false thoughts, you can tell where you came from. I can also tell where you are from by knowing the kind of false thoughts you are having. So don’t [bother] lying to me, I don’t want to know where you are from. By turning our light inwards to reflect within [ourselves], we can immediately tell where we came from.

那么你要是从地狱来的，赶快把地狱这个门关了。什么是地狱的门？地狱的门就是贪心、瞋心、痴心。你要是从饿鬼那来的，你要赶快把饿鬼这个道挡住。怎么挡啊？就是把你贪心、瞋心、痴心停止了。要是从畜生道来的，也是这样子。把贪心、瞋心、痴心这三毒息灭了，就把地狱、饿鬼、畜生这三恶道停止了。

If you came from the hells, close the hell-gate quickly. What is the hell-gate? It is greed, anger, and delusion. If you are from the realm of hungry ghosts, you need to block the path of the hungry ghosts. How do you block it? By ceasing the minds of greed, anger, and delusion. The same applies if you came from the animal path. By ceasing the minds of greed, anger, and delusion, you can stop the three lower realms of animals, hungry ghosts, and hell beings.

我们现在这儿坐禅是干什呢？我们坐禅，就是消除我们以往的恶业，恢复我们本有的善业。恶业就是一种愚痴所造成的；善业就是一种智慧，有智慧就能成就你的善业。所以坐禅要有忍力，不怕苦二十一个钟头！

Why are we practicing meditation right now? Our meditation aims to eliminate our past bad karma and restore our original good karma. Bad karma is caused by delusion. Good karma is caused by wisdom. Wisdom can help cultivate good karma. This is why you should persevere in Chan meditation and not fear suffering from meditating for 21 hours a day. 

(revised by Claire Wang and reviewed by James Lin.)

Editor's Note:

Copy from the Official Website (Chinese) of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association - www.drbachinese.org