..續本文上一頁, and they can also sink in water. Offenses can be created by the mind, and they can also be eradicated by the mind. A Buddhist repentance puts it aptly:
Offenses arise from the mind and
must be repented in the mind.
When the mind is gone, offenses are also gone.
With mind and offenses gone, both are empty .
That is called true repentance and reform.
忏悔必要改過，改過要自根本處下手，把罪福的本源──心，持正了。《大學》裏提到「正心」的功夫﹕
不欺暗室，不愧屋漏。
Repentance involves changing one”s faults. Faults must be changed at their root. One must rectify the mind-the source of all offenses and blessings. The Great Learning discusses the skill of rectifying the mind:
Do not cheat even when alone in a dark room;
do not be ashamed of a leaking house.
《格言聯壁》也有一聯﹕
青天白日之節義，
自暗室屋漏中培來；
旋乾轉坤之經綸，
自臨深履薄處得力。
There is a proverb:
Righteousness resembling the blue sky and white sun
is nurtured in situations like a dark room or a leaking house.
The power to change the world comes from being
as cautious as if one were walking on a precipice or treading on thin ice.
這是教人要知道「戒懼謹慎」，獨處暗室，一如在大庭廣衆間，裏外如一，毫不欺瞞造作；就是在造次慌亂之時，或顛沛流離之際，亦必如是。
This is telling us that we should be as cautious and scrupulous when alone in a dark room as when we are in a crowd. Our inner thoughts and outer actions should correspond, so that we are not the least bit deceptive. We must be this way even when we find ourselves in chaos or wandering without a home.
《朱子治家格言》上亦說﹕「善欲人見，不是真善；惡恐人知，便是大惡。」我們做人若能心胸光明坦蕩，不爲別人的稱譏毀譽造作，也不爲自己的利衰得失逐求，自然就是個「大丈夫」，活得也才有意義。千萬不要只顧一時的輕松光鮮，而令自己「遺臭萬年」啊！
Mr. Zhu”s Guidelines for Managing the Household say, "Good deeds that are done for others to see are not truly good. Evil that is done fearing others will find out is great evil." If our hearts are bright and forthright, and we do not act in ways to seek praise from others or benefit for ourselves, we will naturally be great heroes and our lives will be truly meaningful. We should never let ourselves be tempted by momentary enjoyment or fame into doing something that will bring on eternal disgrace.
《弟子規淺釋 Standards for Students 第五章﹕信 Chapter Five: LEARNING TO BE TRUSTWORTHY - 8》全文閱讀結束。