..续本文上一页verything occurs due to prior causes and resulting consequences. Therefore, instead of owning up to their inescapable karmic debts, sometimes they don”t even acknowledge their debts to others; instead, they try to renege. Such unreasonable actions cause many troubles in the world -- you have your trouble, I have mine and they have theirs. Everyone has both wholesome and unwholesome causes and conditions, which are entangled and difficult to separate. Once in a while, when people encounter Buddhism, they will understand the truth a bit. 可是今天明白了，明天又糊涂了；后天又想明白，大后天又糊涂了。于是变成智愚平等的局面，智慧和愚痴平均，糊涂时便不想修道，明白时便想修道。可是修道的时候很少，糊涂的时候很多，因此所修的不及所丢的，智慧也一天不如一天；而愚痴却一天比一天增加，在无明驱使之下，便做出很多糊涂事。心里糊涂，进一步身上也糊涂了；心里有贪瞋痴，身上便犯杀盗淫，这些都是糊涂账，根本算不清！

　　However, while being clear about the truth today, they get confused by tomorrow; being clear the day after tomorrow, but a day later they get all mixed-up again. They go back and forth between clarity and confusion until they have as much wisdom as delusion. When muddled, they don”t want to cultivate the Bodhi Path; in moments of clarity, they are willing to cultivate. Unfortunately, the time spent cultivating is a lot less than the time spent being confused. As a result, what they gained from cultivation is a lot less than what they lost due to confusion. Day by day, their wisdom decreases as their delusion increases. Driven by their ignorance, they end up engaging in all sorts of mixed-up conducts. With confused minds, their bodies also become confused; harboring greed, hatred and delusion in their minds, they use their bodies to commit killing, stealing and sexual misconducts. They create an innumerable amount of karmic debts while they are confused, and these debts are really hard to repay! 所以，有时家庭眷属不和，父子不和、母女不和、夫妇不和、兄弟不和、姊妹不和、兄妹不和，种种问题就发生了。发生了，自己还不承认、不认账，反而觉得很受委曲。其实这都是前因后果的定律，以前种下的因，如今结果了，有什么好怨呢？所以“是故知命者，不立岩墙之下”，“不怨天、不尤人，下学而上达。”首先要明白因果，不要再种糊涂因果，要种清净的因果，要是道则进，非道则退。不要再把善恶混淆不清，是非夹杂不明，若能黑白分明，真假了然，便有机会返本还原，回复到本有的性净明体、妙真如性。

　　Given all these debts, sometimes disharmony arise among one”s family members -- between father and son, mother and daughter, husband and wife, elder brother and younger brother, elder sister and younger sister, or a brother and a sister. However, despite these family problems, one still refuses to acknowledge one”s mistakes and settle one”s debts; instead one feels he or she has been wronged somehow. Actually, all of this can be explained by the unchanging principle of cause and effect -- due to the causes one planted in the past, one reaps the consequence now. So, what is there to complain about

　　 It is said that “If you understand cause and effect, you would not stand next to a crumbling wall.” In fact, we should not “complain to the heavens or blame others” for our misfortunes. Instead, we need to understand the principle of cause and effect, and plant pure and wholesome causes instead of confused ones. When our actions accord with the Bodhi Way, we should proceed; otherwise, we should retreat. Do not confuse good with evil any longer, or mix up the right with the wrong. If we can distinguish black from white and be clear on what”s true and what”s false, then we have an opportunity to return to our inherent nature, our wondrous Buddha nature, which is pure and bright.

　　十二因缘

　　Twelvefold Conditioned Arising

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　　◎节自《心经非台颂解》．宣化上人讲述

　　Excerpt from The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra with Verses without A Stand and Prose Commentary by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua 十二因缘，就是说“我们人怎么样受生，怎么样死的这个道理”。

　　Twelvefold Conditioned Arising tells us that, "The way we die depends on the way we live."

　　《心经》中的“无无明，亦无无明尽，乃至无老死，亦无老死尽”，这是说“十二因缘”的道理；由这十二种的缘作为助缘，帮助人生了死，死了生。这“十二因缘”就是：无明缘行，行缘识，识缘名色，名色缘六入，六入缘触，触缘受，受缘爱，爱缘取，取缘有，有缘生，生缘老死。

　　The pass…

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