品味

　　Taste It

　　我不喜欢口头上的空头支票，嘴上说得再动听，若没有将之融入自己的行动，即使你会讲再殊胜的法，如果没有通过修行品味到其真实的味道，到死时只是种下一些善根，对今生来世没有多大的实际意义。

　　Issuing bad verbal checks has never appealed to me. The Dharma essence is meant to be experienced through genuine practice and be melded into daily activities. Failing to do so, no matter how movingly or profoundly one may talk about the Dharma; it will make little sense to current or future lives. At best, one is credited to have sown some good seeds in life.

　　《华严经》云：“比如聋乐师，能令他众乐，然自听不见，不修法亦然。河中大海上，具船之舟子，能度载他众，然自葬其中，不修法亦然。比如糖甜味，说不能感受，咀嚼可品味。如是空性味，说不能感受，以修可品味。”

　　The Avatamsaka Sutra says:

　　A Buddhist who does not put the Dharma into practice is like a deaf musician playing music to entertain others but not himself.

　　A Buddhist who does not put the Dharma into practice is like a boatman who ferries people across the waters but is drowned himself.

　　Sweet taste is experienced by mastication rather than by descriptions; likewise emptiness is realized by practice rather than by words.

　　可见，佛法的伟大也不在于停留在语言上，必须通过亲修实证，才可品出其真正的涵义。

　　Therefore, the Doctrines are not to be extolled only at the level of words; its greatness can only be appreciated by actual practice and personal experience.

　　一些学佛人，参阅了许多经论及祖师语录。可谓皓首穷经，博闻强记，但却只停留在文字上，于消除烦恼无有丝毫帮助，这无异于说食数宝。本可用来解脱自他的佛法于这类人，只起到了满足虚荣心的功效而已。

　　There are some Buddhists who have read extensively the scriptures and the teachings of lineage masters, but their knowledge remains at the level of words only. They are proud of their encyclopedic memories of the Dharma, yet they readily succumb to afflictive emotions. This sort of Buddhist is no different from a famished person describing sumptuous meals or a pauper counting others” money. The Dharma, the very sacred way to liberate oneself and others, is reduced in their hands to a means to satiate their vanities.

　　藏族也有一句谚语：“佛法仅仅知道不够，必须修行；食物仅仅拥有不行，必须食用。”我们应放下万缘，学以致用，日日夜夜品味法之胜味。既然手中掌握了通往解脱宝库的钥匙，就要想方设法打开这一宝库的大门。

　　A Tibetan proverb goes: “Merely knowing the Dharma is not enough; we must practice it. Merely possessing food is useless, we must eat it.” Therefore, we should let go of worldly trifles to practice the Dharma we have learned, so that we can savor the exquisite taste of the Dharma day and night. Now that we have in our hand the key to the treasure chamber of liberation, we should try our best to open the gate of this treasure trove.

　　壬午年七月十一日 　

　　2002年8月18日 　

　　11th of July, Year of RenWu

　　August 18, 2002