..續本文上一頁living beings” attachments to external states, arising from greed, hatred and stupidity.
Living beings need the Buddhadharma to purify their minds. As Great Master Shen Syou of the Tang Dynasty said in verse, "The body is a Bodhi tree, the mind like a bright mirror stand. Time and again brush it clean, and let no dust alight." This is ”the state of ordinary people. The ultimate state of the Vajra Sutra is no-self, and the Buddhahood is merely a name. Nothing is certified to; only the self-nature is discovered. As the Sixth Patriarch Hwei Neng said inverse, "Originally Bodhi has no tree; the bright mirror has no stand. Originally there is not a single thing; where can dust alight
" Since there is nothing, how can there be defilement
Ultimately, even the Dharma must be renounced.
Although these are two different Dharma doors, in practice they require the same motivation of faith. In the Vajra Sutra, the importance of the faith is emphasized--if a person makes offerings with as many bodies as the sands in the Ganges River, his merit and virtue is not as great as that of a person who hears the Vajra Sutra and believes in it. From this, we can know that it difficult to have faith in the Vajra Sutra, especially since the Sutra tells us to put everything down. A worldly person without wisdom can hardly believe and follow such a principle. Since this Sutra is rather abstract, it stresses the importance of faith.
Faith is also of key importance in cultivating the harma door of reciting the Buddha”s name. This Dharma door is both supreme and easy. All you have to do is chant "Namo Amitabha Buddha" without stop and sincerely bow in homage. But perhaps since it is so easy and its merit and virtue is that special, people do not believe in it. Or even if they do, they still have a little doubt in their minds. Therefore, although it appears to be simple, you need firm faith and persistence in order to be successful.
以我個人經驗來說吧，我在參加佛七前擦傷了左膝，扭傷了右膝，在拜佛打坐時傷口流膿，假如不是一股信心支持著，依照往常的慣例，我早就倒下去了。不要說我這個特殊的例子，就是其他人也是靠著一股信念直到最後一刻。不必講別的，單是七天過午不食，早上四點起來做早課，一天一千拜，都是不容易的。信心是一個很大的力量，當你有信心時，不論是再苦的事情，都不再覺得苦，反而甘之如饴，會感到很快樂，會心甘情願地繼續下去。
我個人對信心本就有一些認識和經曆，因爲在還未成爲佛教徒之前，我是一個基督教徒。我之所以信教，是因爲向往《聖經》中描寫的天堂，我覺得和西方淨土很相近，只是人換成耶稣的彼得，而不是西方叁聖，那裏的人也是享有無量壽。所以在我聽到西方淨土後，我便立刻生起信心並且時常考驗自己，這種信心是從自己內心發出來的，而不是在別人逼迫下才産生的，那才算真正的信心。
像我們這些凡夫俗子，有時常會對經典不明白之處産生懷疑，像有人在閱讀《金剛經》空的法門，再去看佛七中，以誠心念越多越好，拜越多越好的法門時，心中可能會産生懷疑－既然一切要看空了，爲什麼拜佛，念佛卻要越多越好呢？爲什麼還要修福德呢？師父在《金剛經淺釋》中有回答這個問題，最主要是不種福德時就會造業，所以福德還是要修，只是在修時不要執著于福德相。我個人的想法是對我們這些凡夫俗子而言，沒有足夠的善根、福德、因緣，是沒辦法悟到空的境界，所以我們一定要靠做善事來修善根、福德、因緣。到了哪天悟了空了，那時事事都行中道，做善事便成了自然的舉動，不會著相，也不會有我在修福德的心。所以雖然一切皆空，但是福德還是要修的。
說到功德，精進佛七功德是很殊勝的，但有時在法會中起了爭念，要和別人比，誰拜最多，念最多，又時常將自我的利益做爲佛七的目的。這種人有時不但沒有修到功德，反而還會造業。當人起爭心或把自我利益放在前頭時，貪瞋癡叁毒就現在心頭，把自性都蒙蓋過去，因此容易造罪業，起煩惱。在佛七時，心中甚至不能有一個求的念頭，要爲其他人想，自己拜或念的數目，只是自己的進度、和別人沒關系。自己雖然把功德回向給衆生，但心中不可以起布施心，不能著布施相，更不能爲己，正如《金剛經》所講的，「菩薩無住相布施，福德亦複如是，不可思量。」大家應以此偈爲示，行真布施，修真功德。
經過粗淺的分析後，我們可以說這兩個法門是殊途同歸，大同小異，只是一些名字，而自性都是同一個。我們可以把《金剛經》看成是一個理論，精進佛七看成是個實行的方法，目的都是要我們衆生放下外務牽挂、放下執著，恢複本來的佛性，好能了生脫死，離苦得樂。我們只要有足夠的善根、因緣和信心，再依照法門好好實行，終可以了脫煩惱，發現自性，最後終可證得佛果。
Let me talk about my personal experience. Before the Session started, I scraped my left knee and twisted my right knee. Pus flowed from the wounds when I was bowing and sitting in meditation. If I didn”t have the inner faith to endure, I would soon have left the Session. All of us relied on this faith to persist until the last moment. During the seven days, it was already not easy to not eat after noon, get up early for the Morning Recitation, and bow one thousand bows a day, not to mention anything else. Faith has great strength. If you have faith, then no matter how difficult something may be, you will no longer suffer. On the contrary, you will be delighted and willing to continue.
I ha…
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