佛诞开示
Let Us Emulate the Buddha”s Indomitable Spirit
佛为求一切智，不惜生命而抖擞精神来修行。
我们怎可不劳而获就想成佛？
In his quest for perfect wisdom, the Buddha dedicated his life to vigorous cultivation.
How can we expect to achieve Buddhahood without any effort at all
释迦牟尼佛在过去生中，「三祇修福慧，百劫种相好。」修难行能行的苦行，修难忍能忍的法门，为众生发菩提心，修一切智，不惜生命来教化众生。生生世世都是忍苦耐劳，吃人所不能吃，让人所不能让，所以才得以成就佛果。
In his former lives, Shakyamuni Buddha "cultivated blessings and wisdom for three asamkhyeyas of eons, and planted the causes for his hallmarks and characteristics for a hundred eons." He undertook ascetic practices, doing what was difficult to do and enduring what was difficult to endure. He sought enlightenment and universal wisdom, and committed his life to teaching beings. In life after life, he toiled and suffered, eating what others could not eat, yielding where others could not yield. Eventually he accomplished Buddhahood.
佛不是一朝一夕修成的，而是修三大阿僧祇劫，才示现「八相成道」：第一「降兜率」，兜率天是候补佛位的法王子所居处。第二「入胎」。第三「住胎」，佛在胎里仍是转*轮教化众生，为所有有缘的众生说法。第四「出胎」，佛出胎日是四月初八。出胎后，他一手指天，一手指地，说：「天上天下，唯我独尊！」
The Buddha didn”t attain Buddhahood overnight. He cultivated for three great asamkhyeyas of eons before manifesting the Eight Signs of Attaining the Way. The first sign is the descent from the Tushita Heaven. The Tushita Heaven is where the Dharma Prince who will become the next Buddha dwells. The second sign is that of entering the womb. The third is that of dwelling in the womb. Even while in the womb, the Buddha turned the Dharma wheel and taught those beings with whom he had affinities. The fourth sign is that of birth. The Buddha was born on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. After he came out of the womb, he pointed one hand toward the heavens and one hand toward the earth, and said, "In the heavens above and the earth below, I alone am honored."
这是不是佛贡高我慢呢？我不是为佛做辩护律师，他的确是够得上这种称号。他一出生就这么说，这是向众生们打招呼，要众生知道。
Was the Buddha being arrogant
I”m not acting like the Buddha”s defense attorney, but the answer is no, since the Buddha was indeed qualified to say that. He said it to let beings know who he was.
佛出世当日，有九龙吐水浴佛。后来在宫里学习世间技能，所有一般人会的技能，佛都不学自通，通达无碍。然后他出王宫，去游四门，见到生老病死苦，觉得这是人生最大的痛苦，一切都是生住异灭，也是成住坏空。他感觉如此生老病死苦很没有意义，所以舍弃国荣，而毅然出家，这也是一相。
On the day that the Buddha was born, nine dragons spouted water to bathe him. Being born as a prince, he began learning worldly skills in the palace. The prince mastered the skills of ordinary people without having to learn them. Later upon walking out of the four gates of the palace, the young prince witnessed birth, old age, sickness, and death and felt that these were great sufferings. He saw that everything comes into being, lasts for a while, and then decays and becomes extinct. Regarding the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness, and death as bleak and meaningless, he resolutely renounced his royal position and left the home-life.
佛修的头陀行可以说是第一的，他在雪山六年，天天只吃一麻一麦，来维持生命不断，他并没有吃维他命Ａ、维他命Ｂ、维他命Ｃ、维他命Ｅ这些东西。
We can say that the Buddha was the foremost practitioner of ascetism. For six years in the Himalayas, he cultivated vigorously while living on a daily fare of one sesame seed and one grain of wheat. He certainly didn”t take vitamin supplements.
他如此用功修行，以后接受牧羊女供养的奶粥，到菩提树下打坐，他便发愿说：「若未修到正等正觉，绝不起座。」这样坐足了四十九天，机缘成熟了，于是他夜睹明星而悟道，豁然证得不生不灭、不垢不净、不增不减之本来清净明体，妙明真心。
Later, he accepted an offering of porridge with milk offered by a shepherdess. When he went to sit in meditation beneath the Bodhi tree, he made a vow: "I will not rise from here until I have attained Proper, Equal and Right Enlight-enment." He sat there for forty-nine days, and then saw a star at midnight and awakened to the Way. He suddenly realized the original, pure, wonderfully bright, true mind which knows neither birth nor death, neither defilement nor purity, neither increase nor decrease.
到今天这个末法时期，我们身为佛弟子，要做真正佛的弟子，要知…
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