..续本文上一页ry minor, if we work together with others, they will come to help us and follow us. If we want to advise others, we should learn together with them, and do the same job with them. During the war, there was a group of youths who formed a choir and drama group. They went to villages to perform with the aim of encouraging the villagers to support them in the war. They achieved a certain degree of success but it was far short of their expectations. They analysed various causes and found out that the reason for the shortcoming was the vast discrepancy of the attitude to life between them and the villagers. Because of the gap, they could not come to a consensus on the war. This is reason why the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva appear in thirty-two different forms, in order to help and guide the uncountable number of characters of sentient beings.

　　The Four All-Embracing Virtues discussed above are the basic means of attracting and guiding others. They represent the principles of the mundane world. When we apply these virtues in the spreading of Dharma, we will achieve a better response. If we are practising Dharma and guiding others but fail to lead more people into the Dharma, it is probably because we have not perfected these Four All-Embracing Virtues. If we can act according to the Four Virtues properly, it will bring about an enormous effect. We should take up the responsibility of a Buddhist lay person, and do our best to guide others towards the path of Buddhahood, so that the luminosity of the Buddha will spread even further.

　　[Recorded by Ming Dao] (Translated by Mok Chung, edited by Ke Rong, proofread by Shi Neng Rong. (6-7-96))

　　1. "Ju shi" means a secular Buddhist devotee which is translated here as lay person. Literally, "lin" means forest and its meaning is further explained in the main text.

　　2. Literally, "chong" means thicket. "Chong Lin "refers to a Buddhist forest monastery.

《Dharma About Lay People for Lay People》全文阅读结束。