貧富

　　Rich or Poor

　　一位居士向我感慨道：“您經常教育我們要放下對金錢的貪戀，但我在修行當中卻時常感受到金錢的必要性。有錢可以供養僧衆、有錢可以救護生命，有錢可以印刷經書，有錢可以赈災救難……我們不能礙口識羞地否認金錢的利益。所以，有錢還是必要的。”

　　A lay practitioner said to me ruefully: “You have always instructed us to give up craving for money. But during my practice I often felt the necessity of money. For instance, with money we can make offerings to the Sangha, we can release live beings, print Dharma books, fund disaster relief, and so on. We should not deny the usefulness of money just because of embarrassment or shame. In my opinion, we need to have money.”

　　聽了他的一番話，心裏有種說不出的滋味。世人可以贊美清貧，卻不會讴歌貧困。“心依于法，法依于貧，貧依于死，死依于壑”的觀念，是不可能被世人接受的。

　　His words aroused in me an indescribable feeling of mixed emotions. In the secular world, honest poverty is respected, yet poverty itself is far from being extolled. The Kadampa”s maxim is unacceptable to ordinary people:

　　Base your mind on the Dharma,

　　Base your Dharma on a humble life,

　　Base your humble life on the thought of death,

　　Base your death on a lonely cave.

　　我不否認金錢的作用，但這種作用是極其有限的，它不能給世間人帶來思索、創造、欣賞的樂趣，更不能給修行人帶來究竟的解脫。

　　I am not here to negate the usefulness of money, yet its scope is very limited. For instance, the satisfaction a person derives from meditation, creativity, or from appreciating something, cannot be bought by money. What”s more, money will never bring practitioners the utmost liberation.

　　米拉日巴是著名的窮光蛋，連強盜光顧他的山洞，也找不到可以帶走的一針一線；石渠求學時期的法王如意寶也是身無分文，每天僅以分得的少許酸奶果腹；六祖慧能在五祖身邊時，也不過是囊空如洗的碓米和尚。他們卻證悟了鑽石也折射不出的光明；積累了有錢人做夢也想象不出的功德；成就了金錢無法交換的事業。他們以有目共睹的事實，睥睨著世間對功名利祿的盲目推崇。

　　Milarepa was notorious for being a poor wretch; thieves invading his cave found nothing to loot, not even a single needle or a piece of thread. Our beloved Guru Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche was penniless while studying in Shiqu and he lived on a paltry portion of yogurt every day. The Sixth Patriarch Huinueg, when staying with the Fifth Patriarch, was a destitute monk responsible for husking rice. Yet the brilliance of their realization surpasses that of a diamond; the merit they have accumulated is beyond the wildest dreams of the rich and wealthy, and their accomplishment is unmatched by that gained with any amount of money. With their undeniable achievement, they rise above proudly the blind worship that the worldly people hold toward fame and wealth.

　　世人雲：“窮則獨善其身，達則兼濟天下。”

　　An adage says:

　　In poverty, commit yourself to perfecting personal integrity.

　　In prosperity, devote yourself to the welfare of the world.

　　但是，修行人若能在靜處發無僞菩提心，不僅可以利益自己，一樣可以利益衆生。

　　But for a spiritual practitioner in solitary retreat, generating uncontrived bodhichitta will also bring benefit to other beings at the same time, besides merely benefiting the self.

　　以清淨心意幻供養諸佛菩薩，遠遠超過了以染汙心供養世間七寶的功德。對上師最上等的供養不是財物，而是修行。

　　To make a mental offering with a pure mind is far more meritorious than to make offerings of seven treasures with a tainted mind. The best offering to the guru is to engage in practice, rather than to give money or goods.

　　古詩雲：“夢裏堆藏總是金，一場富貴喜難禁。枕頭撲落忽驚醒，四壁清風無處尋。”不要被金錢所帶來的一些表象迷住了雙眼，滾滾紅塵中的富貴名利終究是南柯一夢。何苦于爲了金錢而投機鑽營，浪費了這萬劫不複的人生？

　　It says in an old poem:

　　I dreamed of having tons of money and gold and of enjoying thoroughly a life of glory and abundance.

　　Suddenly my pillow fell; I woke up and met with nothing but bare walls and the blowing wind.

　　Do not be blinded by the superficial circumstances money provides; all the fame, glory, wealth, and prestige in the ordinary world are but fanciful dreams. Is it worthwhile to waste our human life, which is beyond redemption once lost, on amassing wealth through trickery

　　壬午年七月十七日 　

　　2002年8月24日 　

　　17th of July, Year of RenWu

　　August 24, 2002