品味

　　Taste It

　　我不喜歡口頭上的空頭支票，嘴上說得再動聽，若沒有將之融入自己的行動，即使你會講再殊勝的法，如果沒有通過修行品味到其真實的味道，到死時只是種下一些善根，對今生來世沒有多大的實際意義。

　　Issuing bad verbal checks has never appealed to me. The Dharma essence is meant to be experienced through genuine practice and be melded into daily activities. Failing to do so, no matter how movingly or profoundly one may talk about the Dharma; it will make little sense to current or future lives. At best, one is credited to have sown some good seeds in life.

　　《華嚴經》雲：“比如聾樂師，能令他衆樂，然自聽不見，不修法亦然。河中大海上，具船之舟子，能度載他衆，然自葬其中，不修法亦然。比如糖甜味，說不能感受，咀嚼可品味。如是空性味，說不能感受，以修可品味。”

　　The Avatamsaka Sutra says:

　　A Buddhist who does not put the Dharma into practice is like a deaf musician playing music to entertain others but not himself.

　　A Buddhist who does not put the Dharma into practice is like a boatman who ferries people across the waters but is drowned himself.

　　Sweet taste is experienced by mastication rather than by descriptions; likewise emptiness is realized by practice rather than by words.

　　可見，佛法的偉大也不在于停留在語言上，必須通過親修實證，才可品出其真正的涵義。

　　Therefore, the Doctrines are not to be extolled only at the level of words; its greatness can only be appreciated by actual practice and personal experience.

　　一些學佛人，參閱了許多經論及祖師語錄。可謂皓首窮經，博聞強記，但卻只停留在文字上，于消除煩惱無有絲毫幫助，這無異于說食數寶。本可用來解脫自他的佛法于這類人，只起到了滿足虛榮心的功效而已。

　　There are some Buddhists who have read extensively the scriptures and the teachings of lineage masters, but their knowledge remains at the level of words only. They are proud of their encyclopedic memories of the Dharma, yet they readily succumb to afflictive emotions. This sort of Buddhist is no different from a famished person describing sumptuous meals or a pauper counting others” money. The Dharma, the very sacred way to liberate oneself and others, is reduced in their hands to a means to satiate their vanities.

　　藏族也有一句諺語：“佛法僅僅知道不夠，必須修行；食物僅僅擁有不行，必須食用。”我們應放下萬緣，學以致用，日日夜夜品味法之勝味。既然手中掌握了通往解脫寶庫的鑰匙，就要想方設法打開這一寶庫的大門。

　　A Tibetan proverb goes: “Merely knowing the Dharma is not enough; we must practice it. Merely possessing food is useless, we must eat it.” Therefore, we should let go of worldly trifles to practice the Dharma we have learned, so that we can savor the exquisite taste of the Dharma day and night. Now that we have in our hand the key to the treasure chamber of liberation, we should try our best to open the gate of this treasure trove.

　　壬午年七月十一日 　

　　2002年8月18日 　

　　11th of July, Year of RenWu

　　August 18, 2002