Lecture Record of the Yihai Year - Bilingual Books

Master Wang Xianglu | 2018-06-23 | Download | AI Translate

苦义既明其根，当可以言了生死矣。学佛人往往不明生死为何事，总以未死前尚是生，已死了始是死，并且死了再不来，便是真了生死，如此说法，真是盲人说瞎话，连因果轮回的道理亦不明白。	Once the root of the meaning of suffering has been understood, one may speak of liberation from birth and death. Those who study Buddhism often fail to understand what birth and death truly are. They invariably take life before death to be birth, and death after life has ended to be death; and they suppose that, if one does not return after dying, one has truly been liberated from birth and death. Such talk is utterly blind; it does not even comprehend the principle of karmic causality and rebirth.
要明白生死的理，先要明白是用什么东西来生死，这个东西，究竟是什么道理，明白了生与死，方才可以讲到了生死之法。报身是肉身，本是生灭无常，虽有亦属暂有，毕竟幻化不实，故名曰空。	To understand the principle of birth and death, one must first understand what it is that undergoes birth and death, and what, in the end, this thing truly is. Only upon understanding birth and death may one speak of the method for liberation from birth and death. The recompense body is the physical body; by nature it arises and ceases and is impermanent. Though it may temporarily exist, its existence is only provisional; ultimately, it is illusory and unreal. Therefore it is called empty.
如到变灭时，在凡夫视之，自然是死，在慧眼视之，未死之前，早已是死，未变灭时，亦早已变变灭灭，更谈不到奇怪。	When it reaches the time of transformation and dissolution, ordinary people naturally regard this as death. Yet in the vision of wisdom, it had already been dead before it died; before its transformation and dissolution, it had already been continually transforming and dissolving. There is therefore nothing remarkable to speak of.
至于不生不灭之性，永远存在，凡夫不能见，遂执为非有，慧眼人了了见性，见其恒常不变，更谈不到生死，故云涅槃生死等空华。盖已明白生死流转，即是幻心流转。	As for the nature that is unborn and unceasing, it exists forever. Ordinary people cannot see it and therefore cling to its nonexistence. Those endowed with the eye of wisdom clearly see the nature and behold its eternal immutability; thus there can be no question of birth and death. Hence it is said that nirvana and birth and death are equally like empty flowers. For one has understood that the revolving flow of birth and death is precisely the revolving flow of the illusory mind.
幻心流转如轮，在六道尘海中，忽上忽下，曰生死海，轮转不已，曰生死轮。此幻心作茧自缚，越缠越缚，曰生死缚，如梦之不醒，曰生死长夜。佛出世度众，只度这幻心，使其由迷转觉，曰了生死。	The illusory mind revolves like a wheel, now rising, now sinking, amid the dusty ocean of the six paths. This is called the ocean of birth and death. Its ceaseless revolution is called the wheel of birth and death. This illusory mind spins its own cocoon and binds itself, becoming ever more entangled and bound; this is called the bondage of birth and death. Its failure to awaken from a dream is called the long night of birth and death. When the Buddha appears in the world to ferry sentient beings across, He ferries only this illusory mind, turning it from delusion to awakening; this is called liberation from birth and death.
了者，了解也，证于理也，又了脱也，使其不造因受果，证于事也。此为人生唯一大事，故曰生死事大。然则肉报身，谈不到生死；法性常存，亦谈不到生死。	Liberation means understanding and realization in principle; it also means release, so that one no longer creates causes and receives their fruits: this is realization in actuality. This is the sole great matter of human life; hence it is said, “Birth and death is a great matter.” Yet the physical recompense body cannot properly be said to undergo birth and death; nor can the ever-abiding Dharma-nature properly be said to undergo birth and death.
只有幻心作怪，因迷而认妄为真，遂有轮转生死，如知是空华，不去当真，即无轮转，亦无身心受彼生死。	Only the illusory mind creates mischief. Through delusion, it takes the false for the true, and thus there is the revolving round of birth and death. If one knows it to be like empty flowers and does not take it as real, there is no revolving round, nor is there body and mind to undergo that birth and death.
不是造作出来的无生死，因本性原来是无生死，但凡夫不解生死之理，圣人只好依幻说幻，假定一个生死，下根人不明生死，只是怕死。小根人但求了生死，以为确有个生死可了。	It is not that a state free from birth and death must be fabricated, for the original nature has always been free from birth and death. But ordinary people do not understand the principle of birth and death, so the sages can only provisionally speak of illusion through illusion and posit birth and death. Those of lesser capacity do not understand birth and death; they merely fear death. Those of modest capacity seek only liberation from birth and death, believing that there truly is a birth and death from which one may be liberated.
大根人知生死不在肉报身，只是幻心轮转，幻心才是生死。上上根人，却认识心不可得，本来无生死，亦无有涅槃，第为众生故，不偏于空，不废于有，要对之说了生死，使其自悟，知生死是我的迷惑幻心，要了生死，先了幻心，心知为幻。幻灭即了，是真了生死者。	Those of great capacity know that birth and death do not reside in the physical recompense body, but consist solely in the revolution of the illusory mind: the illusory mind itself is birth and death. Those of the highest capacity recognize that mind cannot be apprehended; originally there is neither birth and death nor nirvana. Yet for the sake of sentient beings, they do not incline exclusively toward emptiness or abandon provisional existence. They must speak to them of liberation from birth and death, enabling them to awaken by themselves and know that birth and death is their own deluded illusory mind. To be liberated from birth and death, one must first resolve the illusory mind. When the mind knows it to be illusory, the illusion vanishes, and liberation is attained. This is true liberation from birth and death.
生死假名有二，一曰分段生死，乃舍弃其分段而另转一生死者。例如人死，则抛弃此身之分段，转为牛羊矣，牛羊死，则牛羊之分段身亦舍弃矣，如是轮转，名曰分段生死。二曰变易生死，乃意境上之变易，例如由凡夫至罗汉，复转为菩萨，乃属意转，非是形迁，及常寂不动地，变易生死了，乃名圆照湛寂，方登佛地矣。	The provisional designation “birth and death” has two kinds. The first is segmented birth and death: one relinquishes one segment and undergoes another birth and death. For example, when a person dies, that person relinquishes the present bodily segment and is reborn as an ox or sheep. When an ox or sheep dies, its segmented body is likewise relinquished. Such continuing revolution is called segmented birth and death. The second is transformational birth and death, transformation in one’s mental state. For example, one proceeds from an ordinary person to an arhat, and then advances to become a bodhisattva. This is a transformation of mind, not a migration of form. Upon reaching the ground of eternal quiescence and immovability, transformational birth and death is ended; one then attains perfect illumination and profound quiescence, and only then ascends to the Buddha-ground.
总之分段身，系随爱根而受生，爱属何道，即受何身，爱起于幻心，幻心由迷而觉，不着幻境，即无身心受彼生死。是先了分段生死，再进而去其法执，即了变易生死。我人所修必先明心见性，证得根本智后，再勤除习气，方可真了生死。	In sum, the segmented body receives birth in accordance with the root of attachment. Whatever path one is attached to, one receives the corresponding body. Attachment arises from the illusory mind. When the illusory mind turns from delusion to awakening and does not cling to illusory objects, there is no body and mind to undergo that birth and death. One must first end segmented birth and death, then proceed to remove attachment to dharmas; this ends transformational birth and death. In our practice, we must first awaken to the mind and see the nature. Having realized fundamental wisdom, we must then diligently eliminate habitual tendencies; only then can birth and death truly be ended.
凡人生死，先由生起，先取境以为根据，譬如人见一猪，心中先生一个猪之影象，印入脑海，朝于斯，夕于斯，习之既久，因缘果熟，自然交会而变猪矣。	Human birth and death begins with birth. One first takes an object as a basis. For example, when a person sees a pig, an image of a pig first arises in the mind and is impressed upon the brain. One thinks of it morning and evening; after long habituation, when causes and conditions ripen, one naturally comes together with it and becomes a pig.
若一切不立，心中影象皆灭，纵有诸景，已知为幻，过而不留，不落痕迹，外境既无所附丽，性田即不起变化。十二因缘，不外爱取而入生死，根本乃在无明，转无明即是觉，觉知生之所以然，即可了知死之所以然。	If nothing whatsoever is established, all images in the mind vanish. Even should all manner of scenes appear, one already knows them to be illusory; they pass without remaining, leaving no trace. Since external objects have nothing upon which to attach themselves, the field of the nature undergoes no transformation. The twelve links of dependent origination enter birth and death through nothing beyond attachment and grasping; their root lies in ignorance. To turn ignorance around is awakening. Once one awakens to the reason for birth, one may understand the reason for death.
未知生，焉知死，生既不有，死又何依。人若了知生死是无明幻心所造，是理上了生死，若实行修持，求明心解缚，痛除自己习气，才是事上了生死。	Without knowing birth, how can one know death? If birth does not truly exist, upon what can death depend? To know that birth and death are created by the ignorant and illusory mind is liberation from birth and death in principle. If one actually cultivates, seeking to awaken to the mind and release its bonds, and painfully eradicates one’s own habitual tendencies, this is liberation from birth and death in actuality.
生死之事大矣哉，生死这个东西，就是无明幻心一念之动，起了作用，由微细而入粗分，坚固成性，习于不觉，易入而难出。然天下无难事，千里之行，始于足下，行者果能痛切生死为可怖者，则当拔除其根，先破无明，然未知无明为何物，又奈何？以下当细释之。	How great indeed is the matter of birth and death! This thing called birth and death is the stirring of a single thought in the ignorant and illusory mind, setting its activity in motion. It proceeds from the subtle into the coarse, becomes firm and established as one’s nature, and through habituation one remains unaware. It is easy to enter and difficult to emerge. Yet there is nothing difficult under heaven: a journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one’s feet. If practitioners can truly and earnestly regard birth and death as dreadful, they should uproot its source and first break through ignorance. But if one does not know what ignorance is, what can be done? This shall be explained in detail below.

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