..续本文上一页 else. The residents of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas are all wholesome and good people. Any evil-natured person, sooner or later, will voluntarily remove himself from the commu-nity. Such a person will not be able to remain here.

　　万佛圣城在西方从地涌出，将来全世界所有的佛教徒，都聚会到一起，共同在此地修行，共同研究佛法，令佛教发扬光大。既然能在万佛圣城出家修道，将来一定会成佛。为什么？所谓「近水楼台先得月」，你先到了万佛圣城，会先得道；后来的，便会晚一点。

　　The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas has welled up from the ground here in the West. In the future, Buddhists from around the world will assemble here to cultivate and investigate the Buddhadharma together. The Dharma will flourish and grow great. We who are able to leave the home-life and cultivate at the City of Ten Thou-sand Buddhas are guaranteed to become Buddhas in the future. Why

　　 There”s a saying that captures it: "Those who draw near the pagoda at the pond will get to see the moon”s reflection first. "Those who arrived first at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas will attain the Way first. Those who come later will attain it a little later.

　　有些人来到万佛圣城，觉得住不下来，因为他们觉得这个城市没有很多活动，很呆板，没有很多娱乐。但是你应该知道，只向外求娱乐，反而把你真正的快乐耽误了。在这世界上，要找假的，会把真的丢了；要找真的，先要放下假的。不可以又想修出世法，又放不下世间法，脚踏两条船，又要到江北，又要到江南，这是办不到的。

　　Some people come to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, but they feel they cannot stay. They may feel that there aren”t enough activities going on, or that the rules are too inflexible, or that there”s not enough entertainment. But you should realize that any entertain-ment that you seek outside of yourself will interfere with your own true happiness. In this world, those who seek what”s false will lose what”s true. If one wants to find what”s true, the first step is to put down what is false. It won”t work to cultivate world-transcending dharmas on one hand, and still be unable to put down mundane dharmas on the other. Such a person has one foot in each boat. He wants to go to the northern bank and also to the southern bank of the river, but that”s impossible.

　　现在打佛七，要一门深入，凭着真心、诚心、虔心，修念佛法门，不要空过一时一刻。要知道一寸光阴，是一寸命光，不用功，便增长罪业；真用功，便增长善根。要老老实实地念佛，才不致浪费光阴，生命才有点价值。

　　We are now holding a Buddha Recitation Session, and our goal is to concentrate intensively on this one method. We cultivate the method of reciting the Buddha”s name with a true, sincere, earnest mind. We don”t want to waste even a minute of time. We should realize that "an instant of time is an instant of life." If we fail to work hard, then our karmic offenses will increase. If we do work hard, then our good roots will increase. If we honestly recite the Buddha”s name, then we can say we haven”t wasted this time, and our lives will have some real value.

　　一九七九年冬开示于万佛圣城

　　A talk given in winter of 1979

　　at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

《弥陀佛七开示 Instructions During an Amitabha Buddha Recitation Session》全文阅读结束。