People say that space is empty, but that is just a designation. We cannot identify space as anything since it is devoid of characteristics. In the same way, the nature of mind is said to be luminous, but the nature of mind cannot be attributed any definable characteristics. The nature of mind is just like space, and emptiness is all encompassing. Nothing is left out of it, nothing is extrinsic to it.

-- Tilopa

遇不到善知识的原因

达照法师

受三皈依的人，只有三条戒，就是：皈依佛，不皈依天魔外道；皈依法，不皈依外道的经书典籍；皈依僧，不皈依外道的徒众。受五戒了，就不能杀生、偷盗、邪淫、妄语、饮酒。再进一步，在家居士可以受菩萨戒，也可以受八关斋戒；出家僧众就受沙弥戒，再进一步就受比丘戒、比丘尼戒，然后也受菩萨戒。这些都要按照一定的规矩去学，学起来条条框框也是比较清楚的。但是戒律有开、遮、持、犯。戒定慧这三学，只有你有智慧、有定力了，持戒才会满分、才会到位。定和慧都不够的人，持戒可以打打基础，做一个好人，但是以后修起来，可能反而成为固执。但是这个固执，起码比那些坏的固执要好得多。

戒定慧三学是“摄心为戒”，然后“因戒生定”、“因定发慧”，有这个前后的次序。先要学戒，然后再学定。实际上，戒是人品道德的养成。一个人修行路上障碍重重，遇不到善知识，是什么原因？就是因为他福德不够；持戒不严，也是他福德不够；做人、做事，表现出到哪里别人都不喜欢，这是福德不够。福德、因缘、善根这三者，福德是最关键的。你能够学佛，说明因缘有、善根有，但如果福德不够，你就是遇到善知识了，善知识也会错过。有些人遇不到善知识，那是因缘不够，福德也不够。

宗喀巴大师告诉我们：“不是这个世界没有善知识，是你不具备弟子相。”你不能当一个好的弟子，善知识如果现前了，反而会害你，因为你对善知识也会起怀疑、起诽谤，还在善知识那里挑三剔四。那么挑来挑去，自己以愚痴的眼光去挑别人，甚至挑善知识，所以这样一来，善知识不能现前，在你的眼中再也不会有善知识，这是福报不够的人。如果具备了弟子相，善知识不远千里都会来求你。不是你能够度善知识，而是善知识能够度你。“迷时师度，悟时自度”。

观世音菩萨也讲得很清楚：“应以何身得度，即现何身而为说法。”应该以哪一种身可以度你的，观音菩萨就会现哪一种身来度你。现在家居士身、童男童女身、比丘比丘尼身，甚至是以宰官（当官的人）、国王大臣身能度你的，他都可以现这些身来度你。我们大家想想，观音菩萨有没有来度你呀，为什么不能来度你啊？他现什么身都度不了你了，没办法了。他如果现一个大富长者居士身能度你，他就现居士身来度你了；他要现一个要饭的人能度你，他就现要饭的人来度你；他要现一个很有福报的善知识、出家比丘或者比丘尼身来能度得了你的，他马上就会现这个身来度你。但是他现所有的身都无法度你的时候，他不能度你。我们要生惭愧心啊，遇不到善知识，一定要生惭愧心啊！

修行的基础，一定要培养福德、培养定力。福德不够的人，第一他就根本遇不到善知识，遇不到的；第二呢，遇到了也会擦肩而过。因为某一个小小的误会，以自己浅狭的知见，会去评判善知识，那么这个结果就非常可怕，所以即便遇到了也会错过，这是非常重要的一点。

我们在持戒这个方面，就是包括了培养福德。什么是福德？大家在生活当中亲身体会去感受一下，什么是德，什么是福？一个人无论走到什么地方，大家都喜欢他，他的所作所为别人都会尊重他，这就是他的福德。你到这里嫌这个地方吵，不够安静；到那个地方，安静了，又嫌那个地方事情多；再到一个安静的地方，又嫌供养少；在那里又嫌护法居士不来，这种人到什么地方都不会受欢迎。他只会挑剔，他的身上长满了像刺猬一样的刺，只会去刺伤别人，这样的人是没有福德的。

我们大家看看自己，你哪怕在生活当中，在家庭里面，你用修行的借口去刺伤家里的人，这也是罪过的，你也是没有福报的。你为什么会刺伤他们呢？学佛在心里呀，你念佛一定要摆一个香案坐在那里，别人觉得摆香案很讨厌，你就偏偏要摆；别人觉得你今天不能到庙里去，这里很忙，我偏偏就要去，看你能怎么样，你这不把家庭搞乱了吗，这就没有福德啊！这样的人是没有善知识的，你到了善知识那里，善知识叫你这样，你偏偏要那样；叫你上天，你要落地。

培养福德最简单的一个标准：你到哪里，那里人都欢迎你。在庙里，一般来说你勤劳，多干活、多做事，大家在一起的时候，同样的活你多做一点，大家就欢喜了，你就培养了这种爱护大家的心了；分利益的时候，最好的分给别人，差的给自己，大家欢喜你了，没人跟你争了，无争第一；要念经的时候，你念的声音比别人稍微响一点，你心里想，要让大家轻一点，让大家能够安心。你的心量有多大，你的成就就有多大。你不要在那里念“闭口真言”，反正大家念，我不念，多一个少一个都一样。大家都不念了，就不一样了。这份心是很细的，你在时时处处只关注自己一个人，这种人的成就啊，这一生度不了任何一个众生！因为他没有注意他身边的任何一个人，只要你能够帮助身边的一个人，你都能够度这些人，你的心量就有那么大。

我想，我们古人啊，一万人讲法的时候，没有麦克风，大家却都能听到，因为古人的心量太大了，一包围下去，他的声音就很洪亮。你看现在人，用麦克风就这么点声音，还要吼着讲，心量太小了。你看，女众的声音都很低的，男众的声音都很洪亮的，这是业习呀。女众的声音要是很响了，人家说这个人不像女人了。心量小，你的所有一切都会小掉。心量有多大，你的慈悲就有多大，你的智慧、你的事业就有多大。如果你现在想，我一定要利益天下众生，这个观念一旦形成了，你以后的心量一定是观察天下众生需要什么，你努力的最终结果就能够利益天下众生。你如果想，“拔一毛利天下而不为”，那么连你身上的一根毛都没人要，也没人管，也起不了作用，这是很简单的道理。

According to mahamudra, developing the correct view means nothing more than cultivating a proper understanding of your own nature of mind.

-- Milarepa

Three Kinds of Laziness

by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

The Buddha described three kinds of laziness. First there is the kind of laziness we all know: we don’t want to do anything, and we’d rather stay in bed half an hour later than get up and meditate. Second, there is the laziness of feeling ourselves unworthy, the laziness of thinking, “I can’t do this. Other people can meditate, other people can be mindful, other people can be kind and generous in difficult situations, but I can’t, because I’m too stupid.” Or, alternatively, “I’m always an angry person;” “I’ve never been able to do anything in my life;” “I’ve always failed, and I’m bound to fail.” This is laziness.

The third kind of laziness is being busy with worldly things. We can always fill up the vacuum of our time by keeping ever so busy. Being occupied may even make us feel virtuous. But usually it’s just a way of escape. When I came out of the cave, some people said, “Don’t you think that solitude was an escape?” And I said, “An escape from what?” There I was — no radio, no newspapers, no one to talk to. Where was I going to escape to? When things came up, I couldn’t even telephone a friend. I was face-to-face with who I was and with who I was not. There was no escape.

Our ordinary lives are so busy, our days are so full, but we never have any space even to sit for a minute and just be. That’s escape. One of my aunts always kept the radio on, or the television. She didn’t like silence. Silence worried her. Background noise rang out at all times. And we’re all like that. We’re afraid of silence — outer silence, inner silence. When there’s no noise going on outside we talk to ourselves — opinions and ideas and judgments and rehashes of what happened yesterday or during our childhood; what he said to me; what I said to him. Our fantasies, our daydreams, our hopes, our worries, our fears. There is no silence. Our noisy outer world is but a reflection of the noise inside: our incessant need to be occupied, to be doing something.

Recently I was talking with a very nice Australian monk who was once occupied with doing so many wonderful dharma activities that he became a workaholic. He would be up until two or three in the morning. Eventually he collapsed totally. His whole system fell apart and now he can’t do anything. His mind is also slightly impaired in that he doesn’t have very good concentration.

His problem was that his identity was connected with doing. As his work was for the Dharma it looked very virtuous. It looked like he was doing really good things. He was benefiting many people and carrying out the instructions of his teacher, but now that he can’t do anything, who is he? And so he is going through a tremendous crisis because he always identified himself with what he did and with being able to succeed. Now he is not able to do anything and is dependent on others. So I said to him, “But this is a wonderful opportunity. Now, you don’t have to do anything, you can just be.” He said he was trying to come to that, but he found it threatening not to do anything, to just sit there and be with who he is, not what he does.

This is the point — we will our lives with activities. Many of them are really very good activities but if we are not careful, they can just be an escape. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do good and necessary things, but there has to be breathing in as well as breathing out. We need to have both the active and the contemplative. We need time to just be with ourselves, and to become genuinely centered, when the mind can just be quiet.

It is not existent because even the Victorious Ones do not see it, it is not nonexistent because it is the ground of all of samsāra and nirvāna. This is not a contradiction; it is the path of the Middle Way of unity —  May we realise the suchness of mind free from extremes!

-- 3rd Karmapa Rangjung Dorje

佛说：人必须感念四种恩德

多识仁波切

佛教教义和思想道德戒律，我把它归纳为八个字：“无私无我”——没有私心，自己的心目中不是为了自己；“慈悲利众”，对众生奉献爱心、利益众生。

“无私无我，慈悲利众”这八个字就全部概括了佛教教义。人人遵守这样的教义，就是社会和谐非常有利的一个条件。

现在我们信仰佛教的人多，懂得佛教教义的人少，遵守佛教教义、戒律的人更少，所以才出现这样那样的问题。

现在时代变了，我们僧人的观念也应该改变，随着时代而变化，多做有益于社会的事，开展一些慈善事业。

《大乘本生心地观经》里面还说到四种恩，人应该感念的四种恩：父母恩、众生恩、国王恩、三宝恩。

现在来说，国王就是政府，我们佛教徒要报这个恩，他们提供了我们生存的条件，我们应该知道这个好处，报这个恩。国家对我们的好处，政府对我们的好处，我们处处要感恩，不要以为自己了不起。没有国家提供的这些条件，你能有现代化的生活吗？你们看有些弱小国家、贫穷国家的生活是什么样子？而我们现在起码可以丰衣足食，最低的条件我们起码都有饭吃，应该知足了。作为我们信佛的人应该讲良心，不要给国家找麻烦。

三宝恩，三宝就是我们的佛、法、僧。佛是我们的老师，教导我们的；法是我们的道路、思想；僧是同修，同一条道路的朋友。佛法僧里面的僧人，在汉地有许多人理解错了，三宝里面的僧，指的是见道以上的僧人，叫做“圣僧”，并不是我们一般穿僧衣的僧人。由于把三宝理解错了，汉地的很多人产生疑惑，说我们要供养三宝啊，但看了那些僧人的行为，我们怎么能起敬仰的心？我说你们错了，三宝里面的“僧”本来就不是这些僧人，他们是高层次的、修成了的僧人，才能算得上“三宝”里面的“僧宝”。并不是象现在这样，穿上袈裟、穿上僧服，认为高人一等。我们寺院僧人的形象要确确实实象一个佛教弟子，象一个传播佛教思想的人，通过我们的道德行为来影响群众，这才是真正的佛教徒。否则的话，在佛教信众里，逐步失去了对僧人信仰的话，佛教的信仰也就消失了，没有这个信仰了。

佛教的伦理道德从来没有要求人们去“接受神的爱和恩赐，服从神佛意志”。在佛教中众生是第一位的。因为佛教认为，个人成佛的目的是为了更有效地为众生的利乐服务，没有足够利众功德的人永远也成不了佛（《现观庄严论》）。

中观大师寂天在《入菩萨行论》中说：“产生一个利众的念头，功德胜过供养诸佛，何况投身于利众的事业。”“佛最关心的是众生的幸福，因此，帮助苦难中的众生，是对佛的最好的恭敬。”所以要报答众生恩。

最后是父母恩，无论是胎生或卵生，只要投生就有父母亲，全体生命轮流做过自己父母的次数何止一两次？但由于知识障的原因，只是隔世的母子互相不认识而已，现在自己周围的人甚至仇敌也不能排除曾经是自己父母亲的可能性。

父母对子女的恩爱，是任何一种恩爱都无法相比的，特别是母亲对子女的恩爱，就其深厚、真诚、无私、永久不变程度来讲都是无与伦比的。这种母爱不但人类，就连动物都是一样的，我们了解一下动物世界就会发现这种本能的母爱。

怀孕对母亲来说是一种极大的摧残，一个如花似玉的少女一怀孕生育就如害重病，变得苍老憔悴，生育时的痛苦更不待说，有的甚至把生命断送在血泊中。但由于伟大的母爱，她把生死痛苦置之度外，用自己的痛苦和生命换取子女的生命。孩子一生下来“哇”的一声叫唤，给母亲能带来无比的快乐和幸福感，在这刹那之间，她会把自己生育过程中的痛苦忘得干干净净。因此在佛教修菩提心七因果中，首先就要知母感恩。对父母生不起感恩的人，是无法生起菩提心的。

Controlling the position of one's body and keeping a straight back are not contemplation, but can in fact become an obstacle to contemplation. ...when leaving the body 'uncontrolled' is spoken of, what is meant is simply allowing the body to remain in an authentic, uncorrected condition, in which it is not necessary to modify or improve anything. This is because, since all our attempts at correcting the body come from the reasoning mind, they are all false and artificial.

-- Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

Heart Jewel of the Fortunate: An Introduction to Dzogchen, the Great Perfection

by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche

Homage to my teacher!

The Great Master of Oddiyana once said:

Don’t investigate the roots of things,

Investigate the root of Mind!

Once the Mind’s root has been found,

You’ll know one thing yet all is thereby freed.

But if the root of Mind you fail to find,

You will know everything but nothing understand.

When you start to meditate on your mind, sit up with your body straight, allowing your breath to come and go naturally, and with eyes neither closed nor wide open, gaze into the space in front of you. Think to yourself that for the sake of all beings who have been your mothers, you will watch Awareness, the face of Samantabhadra. Pray strongly to your root teacher inseparable from Padmasambhava, the Guru from Oddiyana, and then mingle your mind with his and settle in a balanced meditative state.

Once you are settled, however, you will not stay long in this empty, clear state of awareness. Your mind will start to move and become agitated. It will fidget and run here, there and everywhere, like a monkey. What you are experiencing at this point is not the nature of the mind, but only thoughts. If you stick with them and follow them, you will find yourself recalling all sorts of things, thinking about all sorts of needs, planning all sorts of activities. It is precisely this kind of mental activity that in the past has hurled you into the dark ocean of samsara. And there’s no doubt that it will do the same in the future. It would be so much better if you could cut through the ever-spreading, black delusion of your thoughts!

Now, supposing you are able to break out of your chains of thoughts, what is awareness like? It is empty, limpid, stunning, light, free, joyful! It is not something bounded or demarcated by its own set of attributes. There is nothing in the whole of samsara and nirvana that it does not embrace. From time without beginning, it is inborn within us; we have never been without it, and yet it is wholly outside the range of action, effort and imagination.

But what, you will ask, is it like to recognise awareness, the face of rigpa [wisdom]? Well, although you experience it, you simply can’t describe it — it would be like a dumb man trying to describe his dreams! It is impossible to distinguish between yourself resting in awareness and the awareness that you are experiencing. When you rest quite naturally, nakedly, in the boundless state of awareness, all those speedy, pestering thoughts, that would not stay quiet even for an instant — all those memories, all those plans that cause you so much trouble — lose their power. They disappear in the spacious, cloudless sky of awareness. They shatter, collapse, vanish. All their strength is lost in awareness.

You actually have this awareness within you. It is the clear, naked wisdom of dharmakaya. But who can introduce you to it? On what should you take your stand? What should you be certain of? To begin with, it is your teacher who shows you the state of your awareness. And when you recognise it for yourself, it is then that you are introduced to your own nature. Then, with the understanding that all the appearances of both samsara and nirvana are but the display of your own awareness, take your stand upon awareness alone. Just like the waves that rise up out of the sea and sink back into it, all thoughts that appear sink back into awareness. Be certain of their dissolution, and as a result you will find yourself in a state utterly devoid of both meditator and something meditated — completely beyond the meditating mind.

“Oh, in that case,” you might think, “there’s no need for meditation.” Well, I can assure you that there certainly is a need! The mere recognition of awareness will not liberate you. Throughout your lives from beginningless time, you have been enveloped in false beliefs and deluded habits. From then until now you have spent every moment of your lives as the miserable, pathetic slave of your thoughts! And when you die, it’s not at all certain where you will go. You will follow your karma, and you will have to suffer. That’s the reason why you must meditate, continuously preserving the state of awareness that you have been introduced to. The omniscient Longchenpa has said: “You may recognise your own nature, but if you do not meditate and get used to it, you will be like a baby left on a battlefield: you’ll be carried off by the enemy, your own thoughts!” In general terms, meditation means becoming familiar with the state of resting in the primordial, uncontrived nature, through being spontaneously, naturally, constantly mindful. It means getting used to leaving the state of awareness alone, divested of all distraction and clinging.

Now, how are we to get used to remaining in the nature of the mind? When thoughts come while you are meditating, let them come; there’s no need to regard them as your enemies. When they arise, relax in their arising. On the other hand, if they don’t arise, don’t be nervously wondering whether they will. Just rest in their absence. If, during your meditation, big, well-defined thoughts suddenly appear, it is easy to recognise them. But when slight, subtle movements occur, it is hard to realise that they are there until much later. This is what we call namtok wogyu, the undercurrent of mental wandering. This is the thief of your meditation, so it is important for you to keep a close watch. If you can be constantly mindful, both in meditation and afterwards, when you are eating, sleeping, walking or sitting, then that’s it; you’ve got it right!

The Great Master Guru Rinpoche has said:

A hundred things may be explained, a thousand told,

But one thing only should you grasp.

Know one thing and everything is freed—

Remain within your inner nature. Be aware!

It is also said that if you do not meditate, you will not gain certainty; if you do, you will. But what sort of certainty? If you meditate with a strong, joyful endeavour, signs will appear that show that you have got used to staying in your nature. That fierce, tight clinging that you have to phenomena, experienced dualistically, will gradually loosen up, and your obsession with happiness and suffering, hopes and fears, etc., will slowly weaken. Your devotion to the teacher and your sincere trust in his instructions will grow. After a time, your tense, dualistic attitudes will evaporate and you will get to the point where gold and pebbles, food and filth, gods and demons, virtue and non-virtue are all the same for you — you’ll be at a loss to choose between paradise and hell! But in the meantime, until you reach that point (while you are still caught in the experiences of dualistic perception), virtue and non-virtue, buddhafields and hells, happiness and pain, actions and their results — all this is reality for you. As the Great Guru has said, “My view is higher than the sky, but my attention to actions and their results is finer than flour.”

So it won’t do to go around saying you’re a Dzogchen meditator when all you are is a belching, farting lout!

It is essential for you to have a stable foundation of pure devotion and samaya, together with a strong, joyful endeavour that is well balanced, neither too tense nor too loose. If you are able to meditate, completely turning aside from the activities and concerns of this life, it is certain that you will gain the extraordinary qualities of the profound path of Dzogchen. Why wait for future lives? You can capture the primordial citadel right now, in the present.

This advice is the very blood of my heart. Hold it close and never let it go!

Whenever the main part of the intrinsic nature is stainless and not annulled, then this can appropriately be posited as the reasoning of the intrinsic nature . . . As for the main part of the intrinsic nature being stained, that would be for instance a sun crystal [used to produce fire by concentrating the sun’s rays] being hot to the touch. An example of the main part being annulled would be when for the deer [known as] “that which cleanses itself in fire” the main part of fire’s heat is annulled [i.e., when it is not burned although bathing in fire].

-- Rongzom Chökyi Zangpo

与其迷信不如无信

证严法师

人不能没有宗教信仰。一个人若没有宗教信仰，就好像一艘在茫茫大海中漂流的舟船，没有指南针，不知何去何从? 在风平浪静时，还觉得平安无事；一旦遇到狂风暴雨，没有指南针指示方向，分不清东西南北时，就会惊惧惶恐，不知所措。

所以，我们在茫茫人海中，一定要有一个正确的宗教信仰；如此，即使突然遇到危险或坎坷的环境时，仍能稳固地掌握人生之舵，平安地度过各种惊涛骇浪。

因此，信仰是非常重要的。但同样是信仰，却有不同的目标。现在的社会，人心非常复杂，有许多迷惑人的教团。我们若不能选择事理究竟圆满的宗教，也一样会迷失，无法走出邪道，趋向光明正大的康庄大道。

我常常说，「无信」与「迷信」两者，宁愿「无信」也不要「迷信」。无信之人，心中对宗教一片空白、全无概念，只要用理事圆融的道理来感化他，就能使他依正道而行；就像一张洁净的白纸一样，写上端正的字体，则字字分明、清晰可见。若是迷信之人，他已经误入迷途，即使以正信去教育，他的心仍会迷惑不清、 徘徊不定。

当今出现许多非正信的宗教，亦即是没有究竟教法的新教团。若有人想要入教，就必须立愿发誓，例如说：「我既然入教，就必须遵守教规，否则会遭……责罚。」等各种毒誓。如此，他的心就会受到束缚。尽管后来他知道自己的信仰并非真正究竟的宗教，而且已了解佛教的教法是透彻、明朗的真理，是人生正确的方向；但是，他却因畏惧邪教毒誓而不敢接近佛教。这是因为他的内心已经被迷信所缚，无法自在解脱。

所以，我才常常说，与其迷信不如无信。无信之人接受了佛教的教理之后，自然会萌发正念的道苗；而迷信之人，若要他转迷入正，则必须再花费一番功夫。因此，我们一定要谨慎地选择自己的信仰，不可因一念之迷而步步皆错。

有一对夫妻，年轻有为，是台湾新生代的企业家。这对夫妻问我说，他们想入佛门，但不知入佛门的初步基础。我告诉他们：「你们若想入佛门，首先在心灵上要有正确的了解。佛教是生活化的宗教，它能净化我们的精神和心灵，并教导我们如何预防心中存有自私不净的欲念。而这必须先从个人的修养做起，进而感化自己的家庭，使社会和睦安详；若能做到这些，就已经进入佛门的初机阶段了。」

许多人都误以为佛法深奥难懂，而不敢去亲近。其实，佛教的深奥是后世人为的，并非佛教本身的教理有多么艰涩。佛陀在世时，也是依照日常生活行为所需的准则，以及待人接物的道理为基础来教导弟子。但是，为什么后人会觉得佛法很深奥呢? 这是因为它源远流长，经年累月下来，由于人们对其尊仰、崇敬，难免有各种精深的描述。

如此代代相传，无非要使众生了解佛法是无上的妙法、是高深的道理，然后众生才会加以珍惜而保存下来。这只不过是为了适应世人的心理，所以学者、专家才会费尽心思，将浅易的道理化为深奥的文字。若往上推溯到佛陀的时代，佛法并不是那么深奥，而是真正平易近人、浅显易懂的教育，亦是我们日常生活中做人的道理而已。

因此，我们若能抱持「佛教是日常生活的教育、提升心灵的妙法」的心念，则进入佛门之后，自然能得知佛教的真正义理。