..續本文上一頁h, and mind; and increase your efforts and tighten your skill in reciting the mantra. You should not tell others what kinds of responses you”ve had in order to get others to believe in you or to think highly of you. It”s enough for you yourself to know what responses you”ve had. If you keep advertising your own merits and selling your cultivation out on the streets, then you are wrong. If you act like that, you leave yourself open and the demons will attack. That”s like failing to put your jewels in a safebox. If you leave them at the doorway, then someone is certainly going to steal them. Therefore, we must be very careful in our cultivation of the Buddhadharma. Don”t let the heavenly demons and externalists have their way with you. But you can report your experiences to your fellow-cultivators if you are not doing it in order to get famous or rich or to make people respect and praise you.
在《楞嚴經》上說：你要是誦持〈楞嚴咒〉，有了功夫，有了受用，那麼八萬四千金剛藏菩薩和他的徒衆眷屬，就都常常隨從保護著你，令你遂心滿願。縱然魔王想找一個漏洞，想來找你的麻煩也沒法子。在過去五祖弘忍大師在湖北東山那個地方修行，他戒行精嚴，修行也特別認真。
The Shurangama Sutra says, "If you recite and uphold the Shurangama Mantra until you gain skill and can make it function, then eighty-four thousand Vajra Treasury Bodhisattvas and their retinue of followers will always stay near you and protect you, so that everything you hope for will come true." But the demon kings never give up searching for a hole so they can give you more trouble than you can handle.
有一次土匪把湖北這個城給圍上，弘忍大師忍不住了，就想要救這個城裏頭的老百姓，于是乎他就下山了，從東山那個地方到湖北城裏去。土匪一見弘忍大師來了，就嚇得丟盔卸甲望影而逃，爲什麼這樣子呢？因爲弘忍大師雖然是一個人下山來的，可是土匪就看到完全是穿金盔金甲的天兵天將，好像從天上下來的天神一樣，都穿著金盔金甲，手拿著寶劍威武奇揚的。土匪一見到這樣的情形就嚇得望影而逃，不用一刀、一槍、一箭，他們就撤退了。這是因爲弘忍大師他誦持〈楞嚴咒〉，所以土匪一見著弘忍大師就嚇得跑了。這也可以說是金剛藏菩薩顯聖，也可以說是弘忍大師修行的威德把他們都懾服了。那麼一個修道的人能不用一兵一卒，把這個土匪給嚇跑了，這就是有真正的功夫才能這樣子，若沒有真正的功夫，怎麼會有這樣的感應道交。
In the past, Great Master Hongren, the Fifth Patriarch, was cultivating in Hubei at EastMountain. He upheld the precepts strictly and cultivated with unusual intensity. Once when a group of bandits surrounded the city of Hubei, Great Mater Hongren could bear it no longer and decided to try to save the people in that city. He came down the mountain and walked into that city. As soon as the bandits saw Great Master Hongren coming, they were terrified, dropped their armor and weapons, and fled. Why
Because although Great Master Hongren came alone into the city, the bandits saw an army of heavenly generals and heavenly troops clad in golden armour. It was as if the gods themselves had come down to earth--all donning golden armour and carrying jeweled swords and other awesome weapons. That”s what caused the bandits to retreat in such haste. And so, without the use of a single knife, spear, or arrow, he routed the bandits. It was because Great Master Hongren recited the Shurangama Mantra that the bandits found him to be so terrifying. You could say that was a manifestation created by the Vajra Treasury Bodhisattvas or you could say it was the awesome virtue of Great Master Hongren that frightened them. That a cultivator was able to frighten the bandits into retreat without the use of a single soldier or weapon is verification of his genuine skill. How else could there have been such a response in the Way
因爲釋迦牟尼佛爲了保護我們現在所有一切初發心的學道人，所以宣示〈楞嚴咒〉，來幫助我們得到定力，令我們身心泰然，沒有什麼麻煩。所以我們時時刻刻不要忘了這個法，我們若能誠心專一誦持〈楞嚴咒〉，就是紹隆佛法，就是正法住世。
Shakyamuni Buddha proclaimed the Shurangama Mantra in order to protect of all of us who have brought forth the initial resolve to study the Way; to aid us in attaining samadhi; to help us be at peace in body and mind; and to keep us out of trouble. Therefore we should never forget this Dharma. We should recite and uphold the Shurangama Mantra with single-minded sincerity. By doing so we are helping to perpetuate the Buddhadharma, to keep the Proper Dharma long in the world.
《天地靈文楞嚴咒 The Shurangama Mantra--The Efficacious Language of Heaven and Earth》全文閱讀結束。