..续本文上一页ter accumulating faith bit by bit, it finally became something very “solid.” It is in my blood, and it is impossible for this “solid matter” to dissolve easily.

　　However, as an ordinary person, when I see delicious food, if I am hungry, my mind will be wavered by it. When this happens, I also feel very ashamed, because I often give teachings on emptiness, but my actions seem not to tally with what I preach.

　　As such, if we talk about realizations, I myself cannot be considered to have any realizations, not to mention enlightenment. But I do have solid faith in Buddhism.

　　(7) Question: I am from the School of Humanity. Master, I feel that you have tremendous wisdom. Do you like to read poetry

　　 Do you read foreign poetry

　　Answer: I think I am not very good at composing poetry, but I do like to read it, especially poetry by Tagore and Shakespeare. I think they are quite good.

　　(8) Question: I am from the School of Humanity. I would like to ask a question about how much you sleep and the time you usually go to bed. As I understand, you seem to wake up at half past five in the morning and go to bed very late. According to the viewpoint of Chinese medicine, we should have a regular sleeping pattern; however, some renowned masters don”t sleep at all. I rejoice very much in those who don”t need to sleep at all, but I could never do that. My question is, should we follow advice from the viewpoint of Chinese medicine, which promotes a regular sleeping pattern

　　Answer: A long time ago, I was able to be disciplined regarding the time I rested and worked, and I woke up and went to bed in a regular routine. However, at some point, I started to get busier, with more things to do. Sometimes I was busy the whole day, and in the evening I hadn”t even completed my daily chanting. This extended my bedtime further and sometimes I had to go to bed very late.

　　Perhaps my physical body is slightly different compared to others. The amount of sleep I need is less compared to others, since my childhood. When I was at the Normal School, when others had already gone to bed, I was still reading a book. When others hadn”t woken up yet, I had already started to do some exercise and begun reading books again. This caused my roommates to doubt if I had slept at all, and many people admired me because of this. As such, my body seems to not cling to sleep very much. Previously, four hours of sleep a day was enough for me, and now that I am getting older, I try to have five to six hours of sleep a day.

　　However, for most people, it is better to follow the suggestions of Chinese medicine, especially as it says in the Yellow Emperor”s Inner Canon, to reserve the time between 11pm to 3am for sleeping, because this is when our body generates new blood and removes toxins from the body. Regarding Buddhism, the Vinaya Sutra says that practitioners should practice the Buddhadharma during evening (6-10p.m.) and post-midnight (2-6a.m.), but sleep during the middle of the night (10p.m.-2a.m.). I think this is very good.

　　Due to inpidual habits, everyone may have slightly different sleeping patterns. Balzac only slept for four hours a day. He slept from 8pm to 12am, then woke up at 12am, drank some coffee, and made full use of the quiet nighttime, working very hard on his writing. Owing to this, he was able to produce over ninety works, which have won universal acclaim. For him, the nighttime was the best and most joyful time to work, so when and how long to sleep varies for each inpidual.

　　Question: For us, before our enlightenment, worldly matters and non-worldly matters are equally important, thus we have to learn both worldly and non-worldly knowledge. However, this precious human rebirth which endows us with freedom and leisure is so difficult to obtain, and we only have …

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