..續本文上一頁善知識，我常說：

　　魔是磨真道，

　　真道才有魔；

　　越磨越光亮，

　　光亮更要磨。

　　磨如空中月，

　　空中照群魔；

　　群魔照化了，

　　現出本來佛。

　　Buddhas select other Buddhas; demons don”t select Buddhas. Demons, however, do help Buddhas. Buddhas teach living beings in a direct manner, while demons teach living beings indirectly, from the reverse side of things. From the flip-side they exhort you on, giving you a chance to bring forth great resolutions and to apply yourself to serious cultivation. Demons thus count as Good and Wise Advisors in an indirect way.

　　I”ve often said:

　　Demons polish the True Way.

　　Only when the Way is true do the demons come.

　　The more they polish, the brighter you get.

　　The brighter you get, the more they polish you;

　　Polishing until you shine like the moon in space,

　　Which glows in the sky and

　　Sheds light on the hordes of demons.

　　When those hordes retreat before your light

　　Your fundamental Buddha-nature appears.

　　所以對魔不要有敵對的心理，要把他當做助道的善知識。如是觀想，便心安理得無煩惱。有人來誹謗我們，那是我們的善知識。我們本來做得對，可是有人批評我們不對，那麼就要往對的更進一步去做，所謂「百尺竿頭，更進一步。」「見吾過者是吾師」，能說出我們毛病的這個人，就是我們的老師，應該感謝他，不可對他仇視。

　　We needn”t see demons as our adversaries. Treat them, rather, as our Good and Wise Advisors who aid us along the Way. If you can contemplate them from this viewpoint, then your mind will rest calm, and you”ll be free of afflictions. People who slander us are really our Good and Wise Advisors. When we”ve performed correctly, but somebody finds fault with our job, then we should strive to further improve, and take one more step from atop the hundred-foot pole. "The person who finds my faults I will treat as my teacher." An inpidual who can point out our shortcomings is our teacher. We ought to show him gratitude and never feel antagonism or hostility towards him.

　　諸佛不像我們那樣胡塗，你若是總戴著假面具，是不會被選爲佛的。你要真裏求真，真中更真，要「真真真真真真真！」有七個真，才有希望被選拔。所謂「七真八正」，在禅七中，七天要真修行，第八天就改邪歸正。這時，所有的習氣毛病都一掃而光，脫落淨盡了！

　　Buddhas would never be as muddled as we common people. If you always wear a phony mask to cover yourself, you”ll never get selected to be a Buddha. You must be true within true, and truer than true. You have to be true, true, true, true, true, true, true! Seven times true! Then you can qualify. This is to be "seven times true and eight times correct" [an expression which means one must be thoroughly genuine and proper]. During the seven days of the Chan session, you genuinely cultivate, and on the eighth day you straighten out any crooked views. All bad habits and faults get swept away completely, and you are flawlessly pure, to the ultimate!

　　一九八○年禅七十二月開示

　　A talk given during a Chan Session

　　in December, 1980

《禅堂是選佛的道場 The Meditation Hall Is a Way-place Where Buddhas Are Selected》全文閱讀結束。