Lecture by Elder Yuan Yin in Hangzhou, November 12, 1990 | 2018-06-09 | Download | AI Translate
| 何为法身、报身、化身？临济祖师说：“一念清净心光即法身佛，一念无分别心光即报身佛，一念无差别心光即化身佛。法报化三身，本性全具，不用向外别求。 | What are the Dharma body, the reward body, and the manifestation body? Patriarch Linji said: “The radiance of a single thought of pure mind is the Buddha of the Dharma body; the radiance of a single thought of nondiscriminating mind is the Buddha of the reward body; the radiance of a single thought of undifferentiated mind is the Buddha of the manifestation body. The three bodies—the Dharma, reward, and manifestation bodies—are fully inherent in one’s own nature; there is no need to seek them separately outside oneself.” |
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| ”所谓一念清净心光，就是当我们不生一念时什么念头都没有而了了分明非同木石的灵知。要有一个念头存在，就不清净。同样，有一个佛念，有一个念咒的心，都非清静。须当能念之心与所念之咒一时脱落，能所双亡时，方是一念清净心光，这就是法身。我们修法老是说明心见性，就是见这个本性。 | The so-called radiance of a single thought of pure mind is the lucid spiritual awareness that, when not even a single thought arises, has no thoughts whatsoever, yet is distinctly aware and not like wood or stone. So long as even one thought remains, it is not pure. Likewise, a thought of the Buddha or a mind reciting a mantra is not purity. Only when the mind that recites and the mantra recited both fall away at once, when subject and object alike vanish, is there the radiance of a single thought of pure mind. This is the Dharma body. When we practice the Dharma, we continually speak of realizing the mind and seeing one’s nature; it is this intrinsic nature that is seen. |
| 一念无分别心光，就是报身佛。一念无差别心光，那就是化身佛。这分别心光和差别心光，分别在哪里呢？分别、差别不是同样的意义吗？怎么无分别心光就是报身佛，无差别心光就是化身佛呢？因为报身佛是光明身，一片光明，没有其它色相，更何有差别的相？所以说一念无分别心光是报身佛。 | The radiance of a single thought of nondiscriminating mind is the Buddha of the reward body. The radiance of a single thought of undifferentiated mind is the Buddha of the manifestation body. Wherein lies the distinction between the radiance of nondiscriminating mind and that of undifferentiated mind? Are discrimination and differentiation not of the same meaning? How, then, can the radiance of nondiscriminating mind be the Buddha of the reward body, while the radiance of undifferentiated mind is the Buddha of the manifestation body? Because the Buddha of the reward body is a body of light, a single expanse of radiance, without any other forms or appearances; how could it possess differentiated marks? Therefore, the radiance of a single thought of nondiscriminating mind is the Buddha of the reward body. |
| 要证果地报身佛，须悲智双运、广度众生、积累功德才行。我们证到本性以后，大悲之心就油然而生了。我们觉悟了，晓得世界上的种种现象都是虚假不实的、幻化的，如水中月影一样不可得，而不去造业，超脱了苦轮。 | To realize the reward-body Buddha at the fruition ground, one must unite great compassion and wisdom in practice, extensively liberate sentient beings, and accumulate merit. Once we have realized our intrinsic nature, great compassion naturally wells forth. Having awakened, we know that all the manifold phenomena of the world are false, unreal, and illusory, as unobtainable as the moon’s reflection in water. Thus we do not create karma and transcend the wheel of suffering. |
| 可众生不知道，业识茫茫地不断造业受报，出苦无由。大悲心不禁油然而生，发起大愿，广度众生。这个大悲是从大智生出来的，没有智慧生不出大悲心；没有大智也不能度众生。因为要度众生，须识众生的根基，方能对机说法，所以度生要智悲双运，不是懂得些理论即可成事的。功德圆满了，感得的报身是果德大光明的报身。 | Yet sentient beings do not know this. Bewildered by karmic consciousness, they continually create karma and undergo its retribution, with no means of escaping suffering. Great compassion cannot but arise naturally, and we bring forth great vows to liberate sentient beings extensively. This great compassion arises from great wisdom; without wisdom, great compassion cannot arise, and without great wisdom one cannot liberate sentient beings. For to liberate sentient beings, one must know their faculties and capacities, and only then can one expound the Dharma in accord with their needs. Thus, to liberate beings, wisdom and compassion must operate together; merely understanding a few doctrines will not accomplish the task. When merit is perfected, the karmically invoked reward body is the great luminous reward body endowed with the merits of fruition. |
| 如善财童子见到弥勒佛（就是在我们要去的兜率内院，弥勒菩萨在那里），弥勒佛对善财童子讲：你根本智得到了（根本智就是证到的本性），但是差别智没有得到。 | For example, when Sudhana encountered Maitreya Buddha—Maitreya Bodhisattva dwells in the inner court of Tusita, where we are to go—Maitreya Buddha told Sudhana: “You have attained fundamental wisdom—fundamental wisdom is the intrinsic nature that one realizes—but you have not attained differentiated wisdom.” |
| 差别智是后得智，即在度生的过程中，将尘沙惑与微细无明消尽所得的大智慧。能随众生不同的根基、习气，教以相应的佛法，度他出苦海。这个差别智你没有，还要在世界上磨练，广度众生，方能圆满差别智。度生功德圆满，你就感得和我一样的报身了。我弥勒佛得到这个紫金身，就是广度众生，突然之间就生出来的呀！ | Differentiated wisdom is later-acquired wisdom: the great wisdom obtained in the course of liberating beings, as one eradicates the delusions innumerable as dust and sand and the subtle ignorance. One can teach the corresponding Buddhadharma according to sentient beings’ differing faculties and habitual tendencies, thereby ferrying them out of the ocean of suffering. You do not yet possess this differentiated wisdom. You must further temper yourself in the world and liberate sentient beings extensively; only then can differentiated wisdom be perfected. When the merit of liberating beings is complete, you will karmically invoke a reward body like mine. This body of violet-gold that I, Maitreya Buddha, have attained arose suddenly through extensively liberating sentient beings!” |
| 任何人证到的报身都是光明身，所以它是无分别的。化身则不然，化身是有相的，有相则有差别。如男女老少、草木鱼虫、日月天地，都有差别。 | The reward body realized by anyone is a body of light; therefore, it is nondiscriminating. The manifestation body is otherwise: it possesses form, and wherever there is form, there are differences. Men and women, young and old, grasses and trees, fish and insects, sun and moon, heaven and earth—all have distinctions. |
| 既有差别，为什么说一念无差别心光即化身佛呢？因为相虽有差别，而生起诸相的本体——法身是无差别的。一切众生都是佛，因为都有佛性；一切世界景象都是我们的佛性所成所显现的。 | Since there are distinctions, why is it said that the radiance of a single thought of undifferentiated mind is the Buddha of the manifestation body? Although forms differ, the fundamental substance that gives rise to all forms—the Dharma body—is undifferentiated. All sentient beings are Buddhas, because all possess Buddha-nature; all the scenes and phenomena of every world are formed and manifested by our Buddha-nature. |
| 无论什么好的境界或坏的境界，既然都是佛性所成所显现，那就平等无二了。故无论是我们五浊恶世，还是西方净土，都是平等无别的。世间诸有俱由我们一念无差别心光所化，所以一切事物就是化身佛。 | Whether a state is good or bad, since it is formed and manifested by Buddha-nature, it is equal and without duality. Thus, whether it is our evil world of the five defilements or the Western Pure Land, all are equal and without distinction. All worldly existents are transformed by the radiance of our single thought of undifferentiated mind; hence all things are Buddhas of the manifestation body. |
| 差别者在相上是有不同的，但生起诸相的性体是平等的，故一念无差别心光是化身佛。把这道理搞通了，就不致怀疑同一意义的无分别心光和无差别心光怎么既是报身又是化身了。 | Though distinctions exist at the level of appearances, the nature-substance giving rise to all appearances is equal. Therefore, the radiance of a single thought of undifferentiated mind is the Buddha of the manifestation body. Once this principle is understood, one will no longer doubt how the radiance of nondiscriminating mind and that of undifferentiated mind, which appear to have the same meaning, can be respectively the reward body and the manifestation body. |
| 我们认识了一念清净心光，毫不猜疑，就当下见性了。用不着到什么地方去找，它就在你自己面门上放光芒嘛！一念清净心光，就是根尘脱落，就是当我们修法时忽然能念之心与所持之咒一齐脱落，身心世界统统消融，但歇灭当中，不是断灭，而是了了分明的灵知显现。这灵知就是我们的本性，也就是法身、报身、化身。 | When we recognize the radiance of a single thought of pure mind without the slightest doubt, we see our nature immediately. There is no need to seek it anywhere; it shines right before your very face! The radiance of a single thought of pure mind is the falling away of faculties and sense-objects. It is when, in our Dharma practice, the mind that recites and the mantra upheld suddenly fall away together, and body, mind, and world all dissolve. Yet within this cessation there is no annihilation; rather, lucid spiritual awareness manifests. This spiritual awareness is our intrinsic nature, and is also the Dharma body, the reward body, and the manifestation body. |
| 至于要真正证到千百亿化身，能分身十方世界，广度千百亿众生，像封神榜那样的变现，那就非证成圆觉大智不可。就是说最最微细的妄念，也除罄尽了才行。我们的妄心、妄念分粗的妄、细的妄、微细的妄、极微细的妄。 | As for truly realizing hundreds of billions of manifestation bodies, being able to divide one’s body throughout the worlds of the ten directions, extensively liberating hundreds of billions of sentient beings, and effecting transformations such as those described in the *Investiture of the Gods*, this cannot be accomplished without realizing the great wisdom of perfect enlightenment. That is to say, even the most exceedingly subtle deluded thoughts must be utterly eradicated. Our deluded mind and deluded thoughts include coarse delusion, subtle delusion, extremely subtle delusion, and most exceedingly subtle delusion. |
| 极微细的叫微细流注，就像微细的水流，你看它不动，实际在运动！它下面动得太快太厉害，看起来反而不动了。把这个都截断了，不动了，那就能证到百千万亿个化身，度千百亿众生，起大妙用了。 | The most exceedingly subtle is called the Subtle continuous stream. It is like a minute current of water: you see it as motionless, yet it is actually moving. Beneath the surface it moves too swiftly and forcefully, and therefore appears still. When even this has been cut off and no longer moves, one can realize hundreds of millions of manifestation bodies, liberate hundreds of billions of sentient beings, and bring forth great and wondrous function. |
| 我们做功夫，就是要先断人我见，次断法我见。人我见，就是有人和我的区别。法我见，还有个法在。法我是什么呢？像罗汉，他们知道肉身、色身是不可得的，世界是虚幻的，要离苦得乐应离开这个世界。 | In our practice, we must first cut off the Personal-self view, and then cut off the Dharma-self view. The Personal-self view is the distinction between person and self. The Dharma-self view is the sense that there is still a dharma. What is the Dharma-self? Arhats, for instance, know that the physical body and material form are unobtainable, and that the world is illusory. Seeking to leave suffering and attain happiness, they believe that they should depart from this world. |
| 但他们于中又生了一个法我。他们以为有法可修，有生死可了，有涅槃可证。同时又以佛性的四大种性——地、水、火、风为我。 | Yet therein they give rise to a Dharma-self. They believe that there is a dharma to practice, birth and death to end, and nirvana to realize. At the same time, they take the four great elemental natures of Buddha-nature—earth, water, fire, and wind—as a self. |
| 我们的佛性本有七大种性，就是地、水、火、风、空、根、识，七大种性中以地、水、火、风最为主要。世界是地、水、火、风组成的，我们的身体也是地、水、火、风组成的。 | Our Buddha-nature inherently possesses the natures of the seven great elements: earth, water, fire, wind, space, faculties, and consciousness. Among these seven great elemental natures, earth, water, fire, and wind are the most principal. The world is composed of earth, water, fire, and wind, and our bodies too are composed of earth, water, fire, and wind. |
| 他们修道发悟不执着肉身，改执佛性中元素——地、水、火、风为我，以为这是真的，而肉身子是假的。殊不知佛性中的地、水、火、风四大种性只是佛性的部分元素而非全体，如我人之有眼、耳、鼻、舌，非整个人体。 | Having practiced the Way and awakened, they cease clinging to the physical body, but instead cling to the elements within Buddha-nature—earth, water, fire, and wind—as a self. They deem these real and the physical body false. They do not realize that the four great elemental natures of earth, water, fire, and wind within Buddha-nature are merely partial elements of Buddha-nature, not its entirety, just as a human being has eyes, ears, nose, and tongue, none of which is the whole body. |
| 今误认为我有个物在，故为法执，而不得究竟。所谓种性者，乃“种子”能生义。譬如稻种种下去能生出稻子来，麦种能生出麦子一样。我们这个肉体既是四大种性生起的，世间的一切一切都离不开四大种性。 | Now, mistakenly believing that one possesses some entity, one falls into attachment to dharmas and cannot attain ultimate realization. The expression “elemental nature” means that a seed has the capacity to produce. For example, when a rice seed is planted, it can produce rice; a wheat seed can produce wheat. Since our physical body arises from the natures of the four great elements, everything in the world is inseparable from these four great elemental natures. |
| 罗汉和辟支佛经过佛法的洗炼，知道了由四大生起的色相都是假的，不可执取，但又误认四大种性为实我，殊不知一有住执，即非真实，何况四大种性乃佛性部分元素，并非全体。所以他们未真见性，被佛呵为焦芽败种。 | Arhats and pratyekabuddhas, having been refined through Buddhadharma, know that material appearances arising from the four great elements are all false and should not be grasped. Yet they mistakenly take the natures of the four great elements to be a real self. They do not realize that wherever there is abiding attachment, there is no reality; much less can the four great elemental natures, which are only partial elements of Buddha-nature and not its entirety, be real. Therefore, they have not truly seen their nature, and the Buddha reproached them as scorched sprouts and rotten seeds. |
| 我们用功既不能假执四大为我，也不能住在佛性上。一有所住，便落窠臼，所以真成佛者，连个佛影也无。假如你说“我成佛了”，那你未成佛，是成魔了。因为你还有个立脚点，胸中还有一个物，未曾空尽。 | In our practice, we must neither falsely cling to the four great elements as self nor abide in Buddha-nature. Whenever there is abiding, one falls into a fixed pattern. Therefore, one who truly becomes a Buddha has not even the shadow of a Buddha. If you say, “I have become a Buddha,” then you have not become a Buddha; you have become a demon. For you still have a foothold, still retain something in your breast, and have not emptied everything completely. |
| 我们的法身和虚空一样，一丝不挂，一尘不染，既无时间相，亦无空间相。所以我们做功夫，须剿绝一切，绝对不能有丝毫住着。但要真做到人我消灭，须证到七地菩萨才行。 | Our Dharma body is like empty space: utterly bare, unstained by a single mote of dust, without the marks of time or the marks of space. Therefore, in our practice we must cut off everything, and absolutely must not have the slightest attachment or abiding. Yet to truly eliminate the Personal-self view, one must attain the seventh bhumi of a bodhisattva. |
| “不动地前才舍藏”（不动地就是第八地菩萨），“金刚道后异熟空”（金刚道是第十地菩萨），到十地菩萨之后，法我才能取消。不然，还住在法我上。所以，常说“百尺竿头住的人，虽然得入未为真。 | “Only before the Immovable Ground is the store relinquished” — the Immovable Ground is the eighth bhumi of a bodhisattva — “and only after the Vajra Path is the maturation consciousness emptied” — the Vajra Path is the tenth bhumi of a bodhisattva. Only after reaching the tenth-bhumi bodhisattva stage can the Dharma-self be relinquished. Otherwise, one still abides in the Dharma-self. Thus it is often said: “One who stands atop a hundred-foot pole may enter, yet this is not the true.” |
| ”就是坐在竿头上还有个立脚点在。所以要“百尺竿头更进步，十方世界现全身”。十方世界都是你的身，立脚点也拿掉，法我就取消了。到这地步后，你就是圆觉大智了，可化百千万亿化身。我们做功夫，就是这么做的。 | For while sitting atop the pole, one still has a foothold. Thus one must “advance yet another step from the hundred-foot pole, and the whole body appears throughout the worlds of the ten directions.” The worlds of the ten directions are all your body, and when even the foothold is removed, the Dharma-self is relinquished. Having reached this stage, you possess the great wisdom of perfect enlightenment and can manifest hundreds of millions of manifestation bodies. This is how we practice. |
| 你们总问：“我们到家还差多远哪？”往前看，路途遥远得很。你就想：“哎哟，不得了，还相差很远很远哪！”就难免失去信心了。向后看，比比过去，看到自己进步了，心就安稳多了。 | You always ask, “How far are we still from arriving home?” Looking ahead, the journey is immensely long. You then think, “Ah, this is terrible—we are still so very, very far away!” and you will inevitably lose confidence. But look behind and compare yourself with the past: when you see that you have progressed, your mind becomes much more settled. |
| 所以，佛很慈悲，他说：“你们众生的气魄不够，胆量小，现一个化城让你们住住，休息休息，没到佛这个地步，先到西方极乐世界去安安身，歇歇脚，或到兜率天也好。 | Therefore, the Buddha, in his great compassion, said: “You sentient beings lack sufficient courage and resolve; your boldness is small. I shall manifest a conjured city for you to dwell in and rest awhile. Before you reach Buddhahood, first go to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss to settle yourselves and rest your feet, or go to the Tusita Heaven; that too is well.” |
| ”但大心菩萨说：“我都不去！地狱不空，我誓不取佛位，我要度尽地狱众生。”地狱并不可怕，你们证到时就不怕了。上面说一念无差别心光，地狱、天宫一般同，有什么美好、丑恶、享乐、受苦的差别呢！？ | But bodhisattvas of great resolve say: “I will not go anywhere! Until the hells are empty, I vow not to attain Buddhahood; I will liberate every being in the hells.” The hells are not frightening; when you realize this, you will not fear them. As stated above, in the radiance of a single thought of undifferentiated mind, hell and celestial palaces are alike. What distinction can there be between beauty and ugliness, pleasure and suffering? |
| 那时我们师父在北京说法。有两个不是人的徒弟，一个是狐狸，一个是蟒蛇。狐狸先来的，后又介绍蟒蛇来，来时是现人相的。他们说：“我们都做好事，给人采药、治病，从不作恶，想学佛法，修成正果。 | At that time, our teacher was expounding the Dharma in Beijing. He had two disciples who were not human: one was a fox and the other a python. The fox came first and later introduced the python, who appeared in human form when he came. They said: “We both do good deeds, gathering medicinal herbs and curing people’s illnesses. We never do evil. We wish to study the Buddhadharma and cultivate realization of the fruition of the Way.” |
| ”他们对师兄弟们讲：“你们得了人身，不好好用功，太可惜了。我们为了得到人身，就要修很长时间，才能现人身，才能修佛法。”一天师父讲法，让他们坐到前面来，前面还有两个位子。 | They told their fellow disciples: “You have obtained human bodies; if you do not apply yourselves diligently to practice, it is such a pity. To obtain human bodies, we had to cultivate for a very long time before we could appear in human form and practice the Buddhadharma.” One day, when the master was expounding the Dharma, he asked them to sit in front, where two seats remained. |
| 他们说：“不好来啊！前面有天狐啊！（天上的狐狸）”他是地狐。后来，我们师父回南方来，他们送行，送到黄河边说：“我们不能过黄河，只能送到这里为止，不能再送了，请师珍重！”这事你们听来似很玄虚，犹如听《天方夜谭》，但确系事实。因为一切众生都有佛性，他们也能成道。你们不能因未看见，就怀疑没有。 | They said: “We dare not come forward! There are celestial foxes in front!” They themselves were earth foxes. Later, when our master returned south, they escorted him to the banks of the Yellow River and said: “We cannot cross the Yellow River. We can escort you only this far and no farther. Master, please take good care of yourself!” This may sound exceedingly mysterious to you, like tales from *The Arabian Nights*, yet it is indeed a true occurrence. Since all sentient beings possess Buddha-nature, they too can attain the Way. You must not doubt its existence merely because you have not seen it. |
| 比如我们的法身，一些不修法的人因未看见，总说没有，但它是实有，大家经过如法勤修，亲自证得，就深信不疑。法身——佛性——确是真空妙有，具足万能的大宝藏，而且一切众生都具有，真实存在，而非虚无飘渺的。 | Take our dharmakaya as an example. Some who do not practice the Dharma, because they have not seen it, always claim that it does not exist. Yet it truly exists. Once everyone practices diligently in accordance with the Dharma and realizes it personally, they will believe without the slightest doubt. The dharmakaya—Buddha-nature—is truly true emptiness and wondrous existence, complete with the great treasury of limitless capacities. All sentient beings possess it; it truly exists and is not ethereal and insubstantial. |
| 讲到真空妙有，非但佛性如此，一切事物无不如此。 | Speaking of true emptiness and wondrous existence: not only is Buddha-nature thus; all things are likewise so. |
| 例如一只杯子，它的体性是空的，因杯子无本体（不是本自有的），如玻璃杯，是用玻璃制成的，而玻璃也无本体，是矿藏开发出来的，矿藏是经过多少世纪地质变迁与气温压力等变化而成的，所以都无本体，犹如佛性无相可见，故名真空；但一切事物，本体虽无，而假相不无，能尽其用，如佛性妙用无边，故名妙有。 | For example, the essential nature of a cup is empty, for a cup has no independent substance; it does not exist of itself. A glass cup is made of glass, yet glass too has no independent substance: it is derived from mineral deposits, and such deposits arose through geological transformations over countless ages, through changes of temperature, pressure, and so forth. Thus, none possesses an independent substance. Like Buddha-nature, which has no form that can be seen, this is called true emptiness. Yet although all things lack an independent substance, their provisional appearances are not nonexistent and can serve their full functions. Just as the wondrous functions of Buddha-nature are boundless, this is called wondrous existence. |
| 上面说过，一切事物皆佛性所化所成，佛性是真空妙有，一切事物当然也是真空妙有了。 | As stated above, all things are transformed and brought forth by Buddha-nature. Since Buddha-nature is true emptiness and wondrous existence, all things are naturally also true emptiness and wondrous existence. |
| 或有人问：为什么地、水、火、风四大构成的人有情感，而四大合成的事物无有感情呢？答曰：如果一口气不来，这肉体还有情感吗？可见情感不在肉体上，而在灵性上。 | Someone may ask: Why do human beings, composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, possess feelings, whereas things formed from the four great elements possess none? The answer is this: if one breath does not return, does this physical body still have feelings? It is evident that feeling does not reside in the physical body, but in spiritual nature. |
| 人们之所以有人体、物体之别者，因凡夫的心量不广，只抟取少分四大，钻在肉壳子里以为我，而不能广遍一切物，故造成有情无情之别。 | The reason people distinguish between human bodies and material bodies is that the mental capacity of ordinary beings is not expansive. They grasp only a small portion of the four great elements, burrow into this shell of flesh, and take it to be the self; being unable to extend throughout all things, they create the distinction between sentient and insentient. |
| 其实，当一个人断气时，这肉体岂不也和木头、石块一样，哪里有什么知觉、情感！岂不也是无情之物？我们做功夫，做到身心、世界化空，证到尽虚空、遍法界广大无边的真性时，即能遍一切物，而无有情、无情之别了。 | In truth, when a person ceases to breathe, does this fleshly body not become just like wood or stone? Where then are its awareness and feelings? Does it not become an insentient thing as well? When we practice until body, mind, and world all dissolve into emptiness, and realize the true nature—vast and boundless, pervading the entirety of space and the Dharma realm—we can then pervade all things, and there will be no distinction between sentient and insentient. |
| 如“生公说法，顽石点首”，即是明证。所以说日月星辰、草木丛林、森罗万象无一不是我们的化身。劝大家赶快做功夫，勿要放逸贪玩，粘着声色货利，而置此大宝藏于不顾，辜负了自己，白白到世界上来走一遭，如入宝山空手而回，未免太可惜，太不值得，太冤枉了，望大家珍重！ | The saying, “When Shenggong expounded the Dharma, even stubborn stones nodded their heads,” is clear proof of this. Therefore, the sun, moon, stars, grasses, trees, forests, and the myriad phenomena are all the manifestation body. I urge you all to practice without delay. Do not become lax and indulge in play, clinging to sounds, forms, wealth, and profit, while disregarding this great treasury. Do not wrong yourselves by coming vainly into this world for a single passage, like entering a mountain of treasures and returning empty-handed. That would be far too regrettable, far too unworthy, and far too unjust. I hope you will all cherish this well. |
