How Did Lord Guan Do It

　　爲什麼關公能這樣？

　　where does concentration power come from

　　 it comes from cultivating patience. you must endure pain and hardship. do you feel pain

　　 Just ask, “who feels pain

　　” somebody says, “of course it is me who feels pain! i cannot trick myself.” you cannot fool yourself; isn”t it the same when trying to fool others

　　 That is why you must cultivate concentration power. with concentration power, you will have wisdom. This is real wisdom, not wisdoms learned from books. This is innate wisdom. sitting in meditation, you will suffer. if you persistently endure the suffering, just that is samadhi. if you have samadhi, and someone takes a cleaver and slices a piece of flesh from your body, you will think, “There is no pain; this is no big deal.” This is just like lord guan [of the Three kingdoms period] cutting through the bone to curb the poison. how did he do it

　　 he had samadhi. if he didn”t, how could he have “held a candle until dawn without giving in to temptation” [when he had to spend the night in the same room as another man”s wife]

　　 where did his samadhi power come from

　　 it was from cultivating for many eons.

　　定力從什麼地方修出來？就從「忍」修出來，你要忍痛，要忍苦忍難。痛嗎？問一問「誰痛？」有人說：「當然是我痛啰！我不能欺騙我自己。」你不能欺騙自己，你騙人不也是一樣的？所以要修定，有定就有智慧，這是真智慧；這個智慧不是在什麼書上學來的，這是你本來有的智慧。坐禅就是叫你受不了，你受不了，你再能忍，這就有定力了。好像有人拿把刀來，要把你的肉割下來一塊，你要是有定力「不痛，這平常事！」好像關公刮骨療毒，爲什麼他能這樣呢？就因爲他有定力。關公要是沒有定力，怎麼可以秉燭達旦不欺暗室呢？他定力從什麼地方來呢？是多生多劫修來的。