快修

　　Practice Immediately

　　當今很多在家修行人，時常被各種瑣事所纏繞，父母、兒子、工作、家庭……時刻懸懸在念，始終舍不得放棄；而應當以修行爲主業的出家人，雖然披上了袈裟，卻整日忙碌于建道場、塑佛像、攝受弟子……執著一些名相上的善事，往內觀的時間實在是微乎其微。這些不正常的現象，令人生出無數感慨：作爲一名真正的修行人，應放下外緣，內觀心的本性。這也是曆代大成就者成功的要訣。

　　Many lay practitioners today are often entrapped in trifles—parents, children, job, family; they worry about these things constantly and have never learned to let go. Similarly, robe-clad monks and nuns who should be concentrating on Dharma practice are busying themselves with building Dharma centers, erecting Buddha statues, and caring for disciples. They are concerned about these token good deeds all day long, leaving little or no time for inward reflection. This is not a proper trend and I worry about it. To be a genuine Dharma practitioner, one should give up external affairs and realize the mind”s essence. This is also the secret of success from many past great siddhas.

　　《米拉日巴廣傳》中曾有這樣的一段描述：一次，至尊米拉日巴即將返回家鄉，在與瑪爾巴譯師依依惜別之際，譯師贈送了一段金玉良言作爲精神口糧：

　　In the Life Story of Milarepa, there is such a passage: Once Jetsun Milarepa was about to leave for his hometown; his teacher Marpa, bidding goodbye reluctantly, imparted to his student the following golden advice as spiritual sustenance:

　　“弟子啊！如果沒有舍棄塵世，將世間瑣事與勝法混爲一談，則修法必將荒廢。弟子當思輪回苦，所謂輪回之自性，

　　My heart son! Unless you renounce worldly affairs and never mix the supreme Dharma with mundane trivialities, your practice will be neglected or wasted.

　　My heart son, you should reflect deeply on the suffering of samsara, which is the so-called nature of samsara.

　　縱吾幻變生百舌，曆經無邊俱胝劫，不能盡數悉宣說，吾演妙法莫糟蹋。”

　　Even if I grow a hundred tongues with magic, and spend countless kalpas, I cannot completely describe all the sufferings. So don”t waste the marvelous Dharma that I have taught you.

　　米拉日巴一直牢記上師言教，離開上師後也依教奉行，最終圓證聖者果位。

　　Keeping these words firmly in his heart, Milarepa practiced accordingly and finally attained complete enlightenment.

　　不僅佛教的成就者們有此感慨，包括世間的智者，也深知貪戀榮華富貴，浪費大好時光，終將落得一場空的道理。《菜根譚》中雲：“一場閑富貴，狠狠爭來，只得還是失；百歲好光陰，忙忙過了，縱壽也爲夭。”生死者，呼吸之間也。

　　Not only great Buddhist masters feel this way, but also worldly sages who recognize that running after fame and money is a waste of valuable time and ultimately gains nothing. In Tending the Root of Wisdom it says:

　　Striving hard you seize power and wealth; yet finally you must give it all up, all gains are but losses.

　　To live to 100 years old is wonderful; yet rushing through it, a long life still meets its final end.

　　What we call life is something that hinges on this breath and the next, that”s it.

　　學會放下吧！

　　Just learn to let go of attachment!

　　壬午年正月初二　　

　　2002年2月14日

　　2nd of January, Year of RenWu

　　February 14, 2002