..续本文上一页 go, I won”t have to worry about it any further."

　　方丈和尚一想，这话很有道理，便说：「好吧！答应你的要求，满你的愿。」从此之后，每逢打禅七，晚上每人可得两个包子吃。

　　The Abbot thought it over and decided that his request was reasonable. He replied, "Okay! I”ll grant your request." Thereafter, every time they held a Chan meditation session, every participant got two steamed dumplings to eat in the evening.

　　这位维那师父问方丈和尚：「我应到何处？」方丈说：「你到四川去，到那里去建道场，因为那地方的护法和你有缘。」于是他用神足力来到四川，看见有一个地方有两棵大桂树，枝叶长得非常茂盛，于是在树下打坐。后来被当地的护法居士发现，认为他是老修行，是有德行的高僧，于是便在桂树下建一所寺院，命名为「双桂堂」。他就在此堂传法授徒，后来有很多参禅者开悟，他也成为开山的祖师。

　　The Ceremony Master asked the Abbot, "Where should I go

　　" The Abbot said, "Go to Sichuan Province and set up a temple. The Dharma-protectors there have affinities with you." The Ceremony Master used his power of spiritual travel to go to Sichuan. Upon arriving, he saw two tall cassia trees. The leaves and branches were lush and abundant. He sat beneath the two trees to meditate. The Dharma-protectors and lay-people of Sichuan discovered him sitting beneath the tree and assumed he was an adept cultivator, a superior monk with real virtue. So they built a temple beneath the twin cassia trees and called it Xuanggui (Twin Cassia) Temple. That”s where he transmitted the Dharma and took disciples. Afterwards, many Chan meditators got enlightened there and he became known as the founding patriarch.

　　参禅，好像人饮水一样，冷暖自己知道，用功有上路自己知道，用功没有上路自己也知道。用功上路的人，应该继续努力；没有上路的人，更不可懒惰。在打禅七的时候，要把一切放下，所谓「提得起，放得下。」提得起什么？提得起「念佛是谁？」放得下什么？放下所有的妄想。能把所有的妄想放下，智慧便生出来；若是放不下妄想，所用的功就不会相应。

　　When we meditate, it”s just like drinking water. Only you yourself know whether the water is hot or cold. When you”ve made some progress in cultivation, you yourself know. If your cultivation hasn”t progressed, you also know. People who”ve made progress should continue to work hard. Those who haven”t made progress shouldn”t be lazy. In this period of Chan meditation, we should put down everything. That is to say, "Be able to pick this up, and be able to put that down." What do we want to pick up

　　 We want to pick up the meditation topic, "Who is mindful of the Buddha

　　" What do we want to put down

　　 We want to put down all our idle thoughts. If we can put down all of our idle thinking, then our wisdom will come forth. But if we can”t put down our idle thoughts, then there won”t be any response to our efforts.

　　在这七天之中，应该勇猛精进，不生丝毫懒惰的心，不生丝毫怀疑的心。大众一起用功，用功用到无人无我的境界时，便会得到自在。若能用功到非空非色，就和如来合而为一；若是没有明白非空非色的境界，应当生大惭愧心。为什么我用功得不到相应？这是无量劫的习气太深的缘故，所以心中想向菩提路上走，事实上却不愿意向前走，总想向后转。要知道习气重、业障深，更应该把妄想放下。放下妄想，并不困难，只要把自己忘了，便没有妄想。就因为有了自己，才忘不了自己。

　　Within this seven-day meditation retreat, you should be vigorous and courageous. Don”t be the least bit lazy, and don”t entertain even a shadow of a doubt. Let”s work hard together and arrive at the point where there are no thoughts of self or others left. Right at that point, we can become free. If we can bring our skill to the point of realizing "no emptiness and no form," then we can unite with the Tathagatas. If we still haven”t realized the state of no emptiness or form, then we should be truly ashamed. Why hasn”t our skill elicited any response

　　 Because our bad habits gathered from measureless eons in the past are simply too heavy. In our minds, we think we want to proceed on the road of Bodhi, but in reality, we don”t really want to advance, and we”re always retreating. We should recognize that since our habits are heavy and our karmic obstacles are deeply established, even more should we want to put down our idle thinking. It”s not that difficult to put down our idle thinking. All we need to do is forget ourselves, and then our idle thoughts will be gone. It”s just because we hang onto a self that we find the self so difficult to forget.

　　在禅堂里，用功修行，修到上不知有天，中不知有人，下不知有地。天地人都没有了，东西南北也忘了，这时候，一念不生，就全体现；全体大用，你都会得到。整天打妄想的话，功夫就不会相应。所以，要用功用到一念不生，行…

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