..续本文上一页, and they can also sink in water. Offenses can be created by the mind, and they can also be eradicated by the mind. A Buddhist repentance puts it aptly:
Offenses arise from the mind and
must be repented in the mind.
When the mind is gone, offenses are also gone.
With mind and offenses gone, both are empty .
That is called true repentance and reform.
忏悔必要改过，改过要自根本处下手，把罪福的本源──心，持正了。《大学》里提到「正心」的功夫﹕
不欺暗室，不愧屋漏。
Repentance involves changing one”s faults. Faults must be changed at their root. One must rectify the mind-the source of all offenses and blessings. The Great Learning discusses the skill of rectifying the mind:
Do not cheat even when alone in a dark room;
do not be ashamed of a leaking house.
《格言联壁》也有一联﹕
青天白日之节义，
自暗室屋漏中培来；
旋乾转坤之经纶，
自临深履薄处得力。
There is a proverb:
Righteousness resembling the blue sky and white sun
is nurtured in situations like a dark room or a leaking house.
The power to change the world comes from being
as cautious as if one were walking on a precipice or treading on thin ice.
这是教人要知道「戒惧谨慎」，独处暗室，一如在大庭广众间，里外如一，毫不欺瞒造作；就是在造次慌乱之时，或颠沛流离之际，亦必如是。
This is telling us that we should be as cautious and scrupulous when alone in a dark room as when we are in a crowd. Our inner thoughts and outer actions should correspond, so that we are not the least bit deceptive. We must be this way even when we find ourselves in chaos or wandering without a home.
《朱子治家格言》上亦说﹕「善欲人见，不是真善；恶恐人知，便是大恶。」我们做人若能心胸光明坦荡，不为别人的称讥毁誉造作，也不为自己的利衰得失逐求，自然就是个「大丈夫」，活得也才有意义。千万不要只顾一时的轻松光鲜，而令自己「遗臭万年」啊！
Mr. Zhu”s Guidelines for Managing the Household say, "Good deeds that are done for others to see are not truly good. Evil that is done fearing others will find out is great evil." If our hearts are bright and forthright, and we do not act in ways to seek praise from others or benefit for ourselves, we will naturally be great heroes and our lives will be truly meaningful. We should never let ourselves be tempted by momentary enjoyment or fame into doing something that will bring on eternal disgrace.
《弟子规浅释 Standards for Students 第五章﹕信 Chapter Five: LEARNING TO BE TRUSTWORTHY - 8》全文阅读结束。