佛誕開示
Let Us Emulate the Buddha”s Indomitable Spirit
佛爲求一切智，不惜生命而抖擻精神來修行。
我們怎可不勞而獲就想成佛？
In his quest for perfect wisdom, the Buddha dedicated his life to vigorous cultivation.
How can we expect to achieve Buddhahood without any effort at all
釋迦牟尼佛在過去生中，「叁祇修福慧，百劫種相好。」修難行能行的苦行，修難忍能忍的法門，爲衆生發菩提心，修一切智，不惜生命來教化衆生。生生世世都是忍苦耐勞，吃人所不能吃，讓人所不能讓，所以才得以成就佛果。
In his former lives, Shakyamuni Buddha "cultivated blessings and wisdom for three asamkhyeyas of eons, and planted the causes for his hallmarks and characteristics for a hundred eons." He undertook ascetic practices, doing what was difficult to do and enduring what was difficult to endure. He sought enlightenment and universal wisdom, and committed his life to teaching beings. In life after life, he toiled and suffered, eating what others could not eat, yielding where others could not yield. Eventually he accomplished Buddhahood.
佛不是一朝一夕修成的，而是修叁大阿僧祇劫，才示現「八相成道」：第一「降兜率」，兜率天是候補佛位的法王子所居處。第二「入胎」。第叁「住胎」，佛在胎裏仍是轉*輪教化衆生，爲所有有緣的衆生說法。第四「出胎」，佛出胎日是四月初八。出胎後，他一手指天，一手指地，說：「天上天下，唯我獨尊！」
The Buddha didn”t attain Buddhahood overnight. He cultivated for three great asamkhyeyas of eons before manifesting the Eight Signs of Attaining the Way. The first sign is the descent from the Tushita Heaven. The Tushita Heaven is where the Dharma Prince who will become the next Buddha dwells. The second sign is that of entering the womb. The third is that of dwelling in the womb. Even while in the womb, the Buddha turned the Dharma wheel and taught those beings with whom he had affinities. The fourth sign is that of birth. The Buddha was born on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. After he came out of the womb, he pointed one hand toward the heavens and one hand toward the earth, and said, "In the heavens above and the earth below, I alone am honored."
這是不是佛貢高我慢呢？我不是爲佛做辯護律師，他的確是夠得上這種稱號。他一出生就這麼說，這是向衆生們打招呼，要衆生知道。
Was the Buddha being arrogant
I”m not acting like the Buddha”s defense attorney, but the answer is no, since the Buddha was indeed qualified to say that. He said it to let beings know who he was.
佛出世當日，有九龍吐水浴佛。後來在宮裏學習世間技能，所有一般人會的技能，佛都不學自通，通達無礙。然後他出王宮，去遊四門，見到生老病死苦，覺得這是人生最大的痛苦，一切都是生住異滅，也是成住壞空。他感覺如此生老病死苦很沒有意義，所以舍棄國榮，而毅然出家，這也是一相。
On the day that the Buddha was born, nine dragons spouted water to bathe him. Being born as a prince, he began learning worldly skills in the palace. The prince mastered the skills of ordinary people without having to learn them. Later upon walking out of the four gates of the palace, the young prince witnessed birth, old age, sickness, and death and felt that these were great sufferings. He saw that everything comes into being, lasts for a while, and then decays and becomes extinct. Regarding the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness, and death as bleak and meaningless, he resolutely renounced his royal position and left the home-life.
佛修的頭陀行可以說是第一的，他在雪山六年，天天只吃一麻一麥，來維持生命不斷，他並沒有吃維他命Ａ、維他命Ｂ、維他命Ｃ、維他命Ｅ這些東西。
We can say that the Buddha was the foremost practitioner of ascetism. For six years in the Himalayas, he cultivated vigorously while living on a daily fare of one sesame seed and one grain of wheat. He certainly didn”t take vitamin supplements.
他如此用功修行，以後接受牧羊女供養的奶粥，到菩提樹下打坐，他便發願說：「若未修到正等正覺，絕不起座。」這樣坐足了四十九天，機緣成熟了，于是他夜睹明星而悟道，豁然證得不生不滅、不垢不淨、不增不減之本來清淨明體，妙明真心。
Later, he accepted an offering of porridge with milk offered by a shepherdess. When he went to sit in meditation beneath the Bodhi tree, he made a vow: "I will not rise from here until I have attained Proper, Equal and Right Enlight-enment." He sat there for forty-nine days, and then saw a star at midnight and awakened to the Way. He suddenly realized the original, pure, wonderfully bright, true mind which knows neither birth nor death, neither defilement nor purity, neither increase nor decrease.
到今天這個末法時期，我們身爲佛弟子，要做真正佛的弟子，要知…
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