果舜行者出家的因缘

　　The Story of Cultivator Guo Shun”s Leaving the Home-life

　　念念莫忘生死苦，心心想脱轮循环。

　　In every moment, do not forget the suffering of birth and death.

　　In every thought, yearn to escape the wheel of transmigration.

　　果舜是吉林省哈尔滨市人，俗姓姚，以农为业。夙秉善根，感觉世界，万苦交煎，充满罪恶，乃萌出世之念，到处访求明师。有一天，在途中被日本兵(伪满时代)发现，认为是无业游民，强迫送到边界去做苦工。

　　Guo Shun was a native of Jilin (Lucky Grove) Province in China and made his home in the city of Harbin. His surname was Yao, and he was a farmer by occupation. His good roots from lives past led him to realize that the world was full of trials and suffering. His sensitivity to the evils that filled the world gave him the wish to leave the home-life. To realize this wish, he travelled about to seek wise teachers. One day (during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria) a patrol of Japanese soldiers found him, mistook him for a vagrant, and ordered to work in the countryside.

　　他被送到黑河劳工营中，时时想逃走，可是找不到机会。因为营房的四周，用电网围绕，如有逃者，不是被守兵枪击而死，就是被狼犬所咬死，纵使侥幸逃过此二关，也逃不出电网，一定被电所烧死。这等于人间地狱一样，苦不堪言。

　　He was sent to the Li River forced-labor camp. Imprisoned there, his only wish was to escape, but he never got a chance. An electrified fence encircled the camp, and any person who attempted to escape was either shot to death by the guards, or was savagely attacked by killer dogs that patrolled the perimeters. Even if by sheer luck one escaped the sentries and the watchdogs, there was still the electric fence that immolated anyone who touched it. The camp was a small hell on earth, dreadful to the extreme.

　　有一天晚上，果舜在梦中，见到有位长须老人对他说：「今天晚上是你出离樊笼的时机，在门外有只白狗，随牠而去！」果舜惊醒，悄悄走到门外，果然见到有只白狗，在等着他。于是乎他就跟随狗的后边，安全走出电网，逃回家乡。他庆幸死里逃生，又看破红尘，所以决心出家修道。

　　One night while sleeping, Guo Shun dreamed of a long-bearded old man who told him, "Tonight is your chance to escape this cage. There”s a white dog outside the door. Follow him and run away!" Startled awake, Guo Shun tiptoed to the doorway, and sure enough, saw a white dog waiting for him just outside. He walked behind the dog safely past the electrified fence, and made it all the way home without difficulty. Snatched from the jaws of death, he saw through the illusion of the material world and deeply resolved to leave the home-life to cultivate the Way.

　　民国三十三年冬天，我到大南沟屯为高居士的母亲治病。第二天，全屯传遍高母病愈之奇迹。这个时候，果舜听闻了，就想来拜我为师。他长跪不起，我见他很诚心，所以允许他的请求，满他的心愿，并对他开示：「在家修道不易，出家修道更难，所谓『大事未明，如丧考妣；大事已明，更如丧考妣。』修行人还要忍人所不能忍，受人所不能受，吃人所不能吃，穿人所不能穿。要勤修戒定慧，息灭贪瞋痴，这是沙门的本分。」又为他说一首偈颂：

　　念念莫忘生死苦，

　　心心想脱轮循环；

　　虚空粉碎明佛性，

　　通体脱落见本源。

　　In the winter of 1944, I went to the village of Danangou (Big Southern Ditch) to cure Upasaka Gao”s mother”s illness. The following day, news of the woman”s miraculous recovery spread throughout the village. When the story reached Guo Shun, he came to ask me to be his teacher. He knelt down and did not rise. Seeing his sincerity, I permitted him to leave home, thus fulfilling his wish. I gave him these instructions: "It is not easy to cultivate at home, and to cultivate as a left-home person is harder still. It”s said that,

　　Before the great matter is clear to you,

　　you feel as if you have lost your parents.

　　After you understand the great matter,

　　you feel even more as if you have lost your parents.

　　Cultivators must endure what other people cannot endure; they must take on what others cannot take on; they must eat what others are unable to eat, and wear what others are unable to wear. The Shramana”s duty is to diligently cultivate precepts, concentration, and wisdom, and to put an end to greed, hatred, and stupidity.

　　In every moment, do not forget the suffering of birth and death.

　　In every thought, yearn to escape the wheel of transmigration.

　　Obliterate empty space and understand the Buddha-nature.

　　Cast off the entire substance and see the original source.

　　又对他开示：「现在是末法时代，出家者多，修道者少；信佛者多，成佛者少。你既然发愿出家，必要发菩提心，做疾风中之硬烛，烈火内之精金，不可辜负出家…

《果舜行者出家的因缘 The Story of Cultivator Guo Shuns Leaving the Home-life》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…