amtbmonti

修淨土法門 最終極的目標 是爲了 了生死出三界 求生淨土 這個是我們 修淨土法門 建立在這個基礎上 爲什麽呢 因爲我們的佛陀 釋迦牟尼佛在世常常也提醒我們 這個國土脆弱 人命無常 無常 它的最後 都是苦的 不但我們居住這個環境 人 避免不了 有生老病死之苦 有八苦交煎 連三界 都也是如此 所謂的【三界猶如火宅】也避免不了的 這個道理我們一定要明白 所以 我們今天修淨土法門 最終極的目標只有一個 就是要求生淨土的 你要建立在這個地方 所以 很多人 我們看到現代念佛的人很普遍 念佛的人多 但是 他們初發心 而來念佛是不一樣的 譬如說 有人念佛是爲了什麽 爲了來享受 我到西方極樂世界幹什麽 去享受 因爲 西方極樂世界的福報太大了 動這個念頭來念佛 是不能往生西方淨土的 心不清淨 經上佛雖然爲我們説明 往生到西方極樂世界 我們的福報 我們的待遇都是跟阿彌陀佛是一樣 獲得:沒有生 老 病 死之苦 但是我們的目標不是在這個地方 我們今天來念佛 求生西方極樂世界的目標就是一個 到西方極樂世界去學本領的 學能力 到西方極樂世界 我們去培訓的 阿彌陀佛來培訓我們什麽呢 要我們去成佛 以後成佛 你有使命 什麽使命呢 就是要度衆生 不是去享受的 所以 很多人誤解這個道理 就算我們今天 念佛 不到西方極樂世界 用這個念頭來修行 就算不到西方極樂世界 他真的念佛 他真的有這個福報 但是 目標不是在這個地方 所以 西方極樂世界 就好像什麽呢 好像一個學校裡面 我們到那邊去讀書 讀書畢業了 畢業好了 做什麽呢 工作啊 你畢業好了 你不能呆在西方極樂世界的 你要出去工作 所以 在西方極樂世界成佛之後 你的家不是在西方極樂世界了 你的家在哪裡 在十方諸佛國土 看到哪一個地方有緣 你就在這個地方度化衆生 哪一個衆生跟你有緣 你就幫助衆生離苦得樂 所以 西方極樂世界只是給我們一個方便 一個好處 一個很好的地方 讓我們修學 將來成就了 那你家不是在西方極樂世界了 這個道理我們一定要明白的 所以 今天我們 念佛到西方極樂世界 可以説是一個很偉大的事業 不是我們想象的那種享福 福報 我們到西方極樂世界 每一個人都有這樣的福報 但是 真正的目的不是在這一個 所以 我們一定要明白這個道理 很多人 聽到這一句阿彌陀佛的名號 功德不可思議 所想的就是 在西方極樂世界享福 不是的 去學習 你這樣念佛 你才能夠往生西方極樂世界 如果用一種享受 享福的念頭 是不能往生的 這個道理我們一定要清楚 所以 你們很偉大 你們很了不起! 將來你們的使命 不僅僅是這個娑婆國土 是十方世界 你的對象都是這一些衆生 所以 我上個星期跟大家講過了 阿彌陀佛跟我們每個衆生的關係是非常密切的 所以 你們真的太了不起 你要直下這個承當: 我將來是要成佛的 不是去享福的 那這個功德不可思議了 像這樣的精神念佛 我相信 一萬當中 統統都能夠往生西方極樂世界 這個道理我們一定要知道 所以 釋迦牟尼佛在《彌陀經》裡面講得很清楚 肯念佛 肯受持 你們不是普通人 真的 不是一般人 如果不是大善根 大福德 大因緣 你會念佛嗎 你肯相信嗎 你肯發願嗎 是不可能的《無量壽經》講得很清楚的 過去你修的福報太大了 供養諸佛如來 你才會能夠遇到這個法門 歡喜 肯念 肯發願 這個道理我們一定要知道的 所以 回到家裡 你想一想 我將來要成佛的 所以 遇到什麽樣的事情 在我們的眼前 無論在善緣惡緣 那個是鷄毛小事 明白嗎 不要去計較 你越計較 增加你的煩惱了 隨緣 這個我們一定要知道這個道理的 所以 我每次想到這一件事情 遇到一些逆境的時候 惡緣的時候 雖然我們會有煩惱 但是這個煩惱很快就轉過來了 這個就是我們念佛的好處 真念 真修的好處 這個道理我們一定要知道 我相信 你能夠做得到 無論在什麽樣的境界當中 就算狂風大浪 你能夠禁得起考驗的 因為我們的目標只有一個 就是要成佛的 這些境界都是來考驗我 來磨煉我的性格 讓我這個心 讓我的業障趕快消除 業障消了 智慧就長了 這個就是我們修學佛法在這個日常生活裡面 我們一定要知道

A學悟法師20220312《地藏菩薩本願經》（七）好好念佛，就對了。人，要老實，老實的人煩惱少，不老實的人煩惱多。傻人，有傻福，這個道理 我們一定要知道。

(G)學悟法師20220320《三時繫念》（10）

(E)學悟法師20220320《三時繫念》（10）

(F)學悟法師20220320《三時繫念》（10）

(D)20_3_2022 三時繫念法會的功德利益 (四)學悟法師

(C)20_3_2022 三時繫念法會的功德利益 (四)

5_3_2022 三時繫念法會的功德利益（一）

Text: https://xuewufashi.blogspot.com/2022/03/review-11-on-ven-master-xue-wu-2022-02.html 《 It's not given from God, it's not from a heavenly being up above, it's by people, your society that gives you everything you have. So repay the kindness for those who actually give it to you.》 《All these fortunes come from Filial Piety》 《Treating everyone like their parents, this is the heart of Buddha.》 《In Chinese, there are five categories of fortunes五福: 1)Longevity長夀 2)wealth and high position富貴, 3)health and a peaceful mind康寧, 4)virtues好德 and 5)a Good Death善終 and all these fortunes come from filial piety, from a heart of love and respect towards your parents. This is true! Filial piety,, the love and respect towards elders, is the root of fortune.》

《阿彌陀佛 那個光明不可思議的》 《這個美國人 他爲什麽會來念佛學佛呢 因爲他看到每一個念佛的人 每念一句佛號 口中會放光 只是這個光明 看你念佛的程度》 《這個美國人說 如果你念這句阿彌陀佛 你越安心的念 越虔誠 越恭敬 心不散亂 這個光明能夠普照整個大地! 是真的》 《如果我們今天念佛念的心散亂 阿彌陀佛那個光有沒有 有 但是像什麽 像蠟燭一樣 被那個風一吹 擺在我們面前 好像噗一下 噗一下 一閃一閃的這樣 有光 但是 有區別》 《今天你念阿彌陀佛 如果你的心越清淨 心越安 那整個光明能夠普照整個大地 你想一想 功德有多大!》 《這個美國人又講了一句話 他說 這些念佛的人 他常常看到什麽 諸佛菩薩在天空護念 我們看不到 但是有神通的人能看得到》 《我要坐飛機 我好害怕 我該怎麽辦 念阿彌陀佛 你要好好念阿彌陀佛 沒事! 爲什麽 諸佛菩薩護念》 《那個晚上 兩點多 我跟阿彌陀佛訴苦 我找不到別人 找不到人能夠訴苦的 跟阿彌陀佛訴苦》 《突然間 看到那個(天)花板 有一群的黑雲 那些惡鬼 羅刹 很凶的 往你的身邊去衝 要抓你的時候 老和尚那個時候叫我什麽呢？“趕快念阿彌陀佛! 你不念來不及了!” 》 《我才相信 那個時候我才念這句阿彌陀佛名號 整個黑雲 這些羅刹鬼 很凶的這些 臉上很凶的 整個一片 變成一片的光明》 《這些障礙 不要去理會》 《 一切都是老天爺最好的安排 我們不要去想太多 》 【一個人能夠肯相信 肯念佛 肯發願往生西方極樂世界】釋迦牟尼佛告訴我們【是諸善男子善女人 皆為一切諸佛之所護念 是故 念佛之人 有四十里 光明燭身 魔不能犯】 《若有衆生 念這一句阿彌陀佛名號 願往生淨土 彼佛 彼佛就是阿彌陀佛 即遣二十五菩薩 擁護行者 行者就是我們念佛的人 一切時 一切處 不令惡鬼 惡神得其便也》 《我今天念阿彌陀佛，小小聲，是不是也是這樣? 無論你念大聲，無論你念小聲，無論你是默念，都是一樣，都會放光！》 《因爲這個不是我們自己的力量，是仗著阿彌陀佛的本願，諸佛的加持，願力的護念。》 阿彌陀佛 那個光明不可思議的 你有沒有聽過我們師父上人講一個故事啊 大家有沒有聽過 師父在美國講經弘法的時候 有遇到一個美國人 這個美國人他有學過神通的 他會看到人 他旁邊有什麽人跟著他 他過去是做什麽 他看得到 然後人家問他: 你爲什麽要來學佛 來念佛 他才講出來他這個原因 大家有沒有聽過 你看 老和尚說 他這位美國人 在美國很多人在學神通 我們澳大利亞也是很多 只是我們不知道而已 很多 這個美國人 他爲什麽會來念佛學佛呢 因爲他看到每一個念佛的人 每念一句佛號 口中會放光 他口中會放光 我們 你要相信這個道理哦 只是這個光明 看你念佛的程度 這個美國人說 如果你念這句阿彌陀佛 你越安心的念 越虔誠 越恭敬 心不散亂 這個光明能夠普照什麽 普照整個大地! 是真的 如果我們今天念佛念的心散亂 阿彌陀佛那個光有沒有 有 但是像什麽 像蠟燭一樣 被那個風一吹 擺在我們面前 好像噗一下 噗一下 一閃一閃的這樣 有光 但是 有區別 所以 今天你念阿彌陀佛 如果你的心越清淨 心越安 那整個光明能夠普照整個大地 你想一想功德有多大! 所以 這個美國人又講了一句話 他說 這些念佛的人 他常常看到什麽 諸佛菩薩在天空護念 我們看不到 但是有神通的人能看得到 所以 你要相信 所以 很多人說 師父 我要坐飛機 我好害怕 我該怎麽辦 念阿彌陀佛 你要好好念阿彌陀佛 沒事! 爲什麽 諸佛菩薩護念 你真的念阿彌陀佛 你真正念阿彌陀佛 有沒有聽説念阿彌陀佛的人常常遇到這個災難 沒有啊! 沒有。真正念佛的人(念阿彌陀佛) 有沒有聽到墮在三惡道 沒有! 我跟大家講一個故事 這個是我親自 我不知道有沒有跟大家分享(過) 你看 我在臺南的時候 想要學習經教 很多障礙 我在那個地方差一點不想學了 (給)我一個印象: 爲什麽淨宗學會的道場會這個樣子? 整個印象就破壞了 我要去那邊學習的 我一個陌生人 你怎麽能夠對待我這樣 爲什麽這樣對待我 讓我很難受 那個時候。就算了回家了 乾脆結婚 娶老婆 真的 我那個時候有這種的想法 因爲我在這個印尼好好的 認識了我們師父上人 我對這個淨土法門剛開始我有懷疑 批評排斥 但是 我遇到我們師父上人為我解決這個問題 我想要學習 爲什麽遇到這樣的事情 我在印尼過得好好的 我幹嘛這樣受苦? 我真的很難受 那個時候。機票也買了 準備要回去了 不想住了 也不想幹了 那個時候我的父親講一句話: 好了 回家了 反正家門24小時開著 你什麽時候回家 我那個時候打算要回家了 不想幹了 哎呀 真麻煩 沒想到 那個晚上 兩點多 我跟阿彌陀佛訴苦 我找不到別人 找不到人能夠訴苦的 跟阿彌陀佛訴苦 然後很累 三點二十分 我坐在那個護法神 就是韋陀菩薩旁邊 坐在那邊 睡著了 睡著了之後呢 夢了一個夢 好像看得很清楚 看到什麽呢 看到有一位老人家 把我帶到哪裡去 帶到這個山上去了 到了這個山上 看到一個廟 這個廟裡面 有一位老和尚領眾這些大家在念佛 大概有二十幾個人 這個老和尚我不講 然後呢 我就進到裡面的時候 突然間 看到那個(天)花板 有一群的黑雲 那些惡鬼 羅刹 很凶的 往你的身邊去衝 要抓你的時候 老和尚那個時候叫我什麽呢"趕快念阿彌陀佛!" 你不念 來不及了 我才相信 那個時候我才念這句阿彌陀佛名號 整個黑雲 這些羅刹鬼 很凶的這些 臉上很凶的 整個一片 變成一片的光明 那個時候我才相信的 老和尚才跟我說 現在你相信了沒有 這些障礙 不要去理會 但是沒想到 跟大家念佛的時候 繞佛的時候 我就跟老和尚說 我要回家了 當我要轉身 要來問訊的時候 我看到這個道場的屋頂上面 很多護法神繞著 合掌 跟著大家在念阿彌陀佛 這個是我親眼看到的 當我起來的時候 我的旁邊有一位比丘尼 一位老比丘尼 現在已經往生了 我在臺南 最照顧的就是她 起來了 剛好四點多 要做早課 後來 我才去問我的老師 這個老和尚的名字我知道 因爲這位老菩薩告訴我的 我去問老師 他才跟我講 我才去找他的這些經書 但是所找到的 都是國語 我聼不懂 看不懂 沒想到 隔天早上 來了一對夫妻 是政府人員 在這個...工作的 他來找我 我不認識 他說: 師父 聽説 你要學國語 我來教你 我不認識的 所以 真的有時候 我在想 過去老人家常講: 一切都是老天爺最好的安排 我們不要去想太多 從那個時候 慢慢的 就留下了 到現在 所以 在這個地方 阿彌陀佛 這個光明是真的 不可思議的 因爲 我親眼看到的 親自而經過這種的經驗 所以 釋迦牟尼佛在《佛説阿彌陀經》跟我們講了一句話 很重要的 是什麽呢【一個人能夠肯相信 肯念佛 肯發願往生西方極樂世界】釋迦牟尼佛告訴我們【是諸善男子善女人皆為一切諸佛之所護念 是故 念佛之人 有四十里 光明燭身 魔不能犯】4931這個道理我們一定要知道 而且 不僅僅在《彌陀經》《十往生經》《十往生經》都是講《阿彌陀經》了 釋迦牟尼佛告訴我們什麽呢【若有衆生 念這一句阿彌陀佛名號 願往生淨土 彼佛 彼佛就是阿彌陀佛 即遣二十五菩薩 擁護行者 行者就是我們念佛的人 一切時 一切處 不令惡鬼 惡神得其便也】所以 念佛法門如果我們發心念佛 都是仗阿彌陀佛本願的攝受 威神的加持 護著我們念佛的人 魔不能擾 所以【霆震雷轟】這一句 我們一定要知道 不要覺得 我今天念阿彌陀佛 我小小聲 是不是也是這樣? 無論你念大聲 無論你念小聲 無論你是默念 都是一樣 都會放光 不是説 我念大聲那個光明能夠普照整個大地 沒有 無論大聲小聲都是一樣的 爲什麽呢 因爲這一個不是我們自己的力量 是仗著阿彌陀佛的本願 諸佛的加持 願力的護念 因此【歌詠讚揚紫金容 霆震雷轟】道理就是在這個地方。

Of the Four Great Bodhisattvas, Ksitigarbha(or Dizang) Bodhisattva is the first in line, because this is what Buddhism is founded upon and the name is already telling us this, Earth Treasure. 4733 Buddhism is built on discipleship, we all know that. Teacher and student relationships are educational relationships, rather than religious relationships, because we must be aware: if it becomes a religion, it is superstitious by nature because it is all based on blind worshiping. If you look at the worldly religions, if they're not using education, it becomes superstitious. 4807 When we become superstitious in a sense, we are blind. Well, look at our current situation, we are already lost in our wandering thoughts, because we have so many wandering thoughts. We got confused with so many things happening around us. Are we going to add another layer of confusion to us, another layer of superstition to confuse ourselves further? There's no need for that. 4838 The purpose of Shakyamuni Buddha's Dharma is to help us to break through delusions and be awakened to the truth, because only when you're awake, knowing what is the Cause and Effect, what to prevent, when to do it, can you have real happiness, preventing yourself from falling into sufferings. Having a peaceful mind and a fulfilling life is the discipleship of Buddhism. 4908 Now that we know the foundation of Buddhist education is built on discipleship, but discipleship, Buddha also told us is built on filial piety, without love and respect towards your parents, how can you be respectful towards your teacher basically? 4933 Without this as a call, we can’t grow. For a person who disrespects the ones we should love the most, which is our parents, how can they be respectful towards the teacher? Impossible! Basic logic, when you look at students in the school nowadays, the way their disrespectful attitude shows towards teachers, then you understand that there is something lacking at home. 5017 It's not easy for a teacher because parents' home education has issues, teachers can only do so much. If they can't even respect their teacher, how can they learn anything? That means how can they be awakened to the truth? Say, if you are disrespectful towards Amitabha, your teacher, how can you gain enlightenment? How can you be liberated, without this awakening, how can you be liberated from suffering because you're not listening to anything he says? 5050 Like Shakyamuni Buddha, everything he taught us, every single word is not there just for the sake of it, everything is coming out from the True Nature. Buddhism relies on your respect in order to dig up the treasure of our True Nature, without that, how can we be awakened? 5113 If there is a lack of discipleship, it represents a lack of respect in general towards your own teacher and that means you lack love and respect towards your own parents. That means if you're not listening to anything because of a lack of respect, you just let it be, you don't even take in what they said, how can we achieve anything, how can we learn anything? That's why Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, everyone knows him already at this stage, represents filial piety. The sutra about him, Ksitigarbha Sutra, is like Buddhism's doctrine of filial piety. 5216 A person who is filial to his parents and respectful to his teacher is given the title Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. It's a title given if you are being respectful and loving towards your parents and teacher, if you treat your parents with a loving heart, if you treat your teachers with reverence and respect towards the teaching, then you are Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, (Dizang Pusa). This is the way you enter, this is how you begin your journey. 5244 Not just the parents of this life, the parents of past lives, many many past lives, that means all beginnings in general. You need to expand this loving heart from the people close to you towards everyone else, expand. With this foundation in your character, if you are like that, truly like that, then when you want to learn further and get better and more sophisticated in your learning, you progress very quickly. 5320 That's why all the Bodhisattvas or the Buddhas, when they try to turn the Dharma Wheel, are all born into the family of Emperors and Kings. You can imagine how big their merit and fortune is because they all cultivate this filial piety. In our case, if you want to have a good family or be born into a happy family or you want to have your children to be loving and respect towards you, then you need to start doing it towards your own parents. If we can't even be respectful and loving towards our elders, how can you expect, when you become an elder, to be respected by your youngest? 5414 So as young people, we must understand that. No matter how smart we are, how capable we are, never fall into the trap of arrogance, always remember your roots, only then can you grow very far. As a Buddhist, we need to learn how to love people, how to respect people. Especially in modern times, we need to learn, because it is unfamiliar and even unknown to people, how to be loving people. Next week, we'll talk about that in detail: How do we be filial? So that's it for today. 5502 So to recap, this was a basic introduction on where to start in learning Buddhism, explaining why we need to be respectful towards our elders, our parents and not just parents of this life, parents of many, many lives in the past. If your understanding is clear about these teachings, this principle, you will understand that all beings are your parents at one point in time and how can you harm your own parents, knowing that they are your parents. Even if they harm you, you will not have the heart to retaliate, because you are one. It's like the left hand harming the right hand basically. You can't. If you have this foundation of filial piety in your character, your cultivation, say, chanting Amituofo, the speed of your progress is very quick. Every day you improve. So this is the basic introduction we learned today: Where do we start in learning Buddhism? Filial piety. Where do we start from filial piety? How do we perform filial piety or love and respect towards our parents? We'll talk about it next week. So today we stop here. I hope that everyone could honestly chant Amituofo and be healthy so that you all can be peaceful and prosperous. Okay? Also, let's go to the Pure Land. Amituofo!

So in order to repay the kindness of our mother, not only do we need to refrain from wrongdoing, we also need to prevent any wrong thoughts from arising in our mind, that your mind has to be right, righteous, clear, only then are you able to repay their kindness. 3934 With this filial piety in our mind, we have restraint in our conduct, we do not dare do something that hurts their heart and causes them to be sad. 3948 So what Buddha is trying to teach us in this is the power of filial piety, the power of love towards your parents, Mom. It stops you from doing something extreme, something bad. It helps you to have restraint. 40:14 If we go beyond that, how powerful is the virtue of filial piety? Buddha has mentioned once in the sutra: the drawing falls behind one's diligent pursuit of Bodhi. That means if you want to get full enlightenment, it's filial piety. This is how powerful it is. It usually takes a long time for normal people to be Buddha, but if you look at Amitabha Buddha, it only took him five kalpas, instead of infinite or three Big Kalpas that means it shortened the time, because Amitabha always think about all beings, he wants to build a Pure Land so that everyone can suffer less and quickly go to the Pure Land and this filial piety, this heart of love and respect towards all beings drives him to speed up his enlightenment. 4118 Also as you perfect this virtue towards your parents, towards every being, so does it drive your progression towards the perfection of Bodhi which is Buddhahood. For example, why do normal people nowadays all work so hard to make more money? Why? It is because they were driven by incentives, monetary incentives or other forms of incentives, without incentives they would not work so hard to want money in the form of prestige, especially money. Like, if I want to do business, my goal is to earn money. Same for Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, but the target of their incentive is filial piety, because the urge to relieve the sufferings of all beings is driven to speed up their enlightenment so that they can quickly help them, that's the intention. 4220 Buddha told us that the driving force behind our diligent pursuit of Bodhi (enlightenment) is filial piety, it nurtures us towards achieving the excellence of our Bodhi path. In other words, as we are perfecting the virtue of filial piety towards our parents, so does our progression towards the perfection of Bodhi - Buddhahood. Amitabha Buddha is the best example. Why does the Western Pure Land outshine all other Buddha’s Pure Lands in 10 directions? All Buddhas from 10 directions are praising this (Amitabha’s) Pure Land. They all praise it to a level where they say that he's the supreme among the enlightened, a Supreme King among the Buddhas to that level according to the Infinite Life Sutra because of these achievements, because of his heart. At our level, if we want to live a better life in the next life, next existence, we need to have huge merits, huge fortunes. How do we have a huge fortune? In Chinese, there are five categories of fortunes: (Long Life, Good Death …)（1)Longevity, 2)wealth and high position in society, 3)health and a peaceful mind, 4)virtues and 5)a Good Death） and all these fortunes come from filial piety, from a heart of love and respect towards your parents. This is true! Filial piety,, the love and respect towards elders, is the root of fortune. 4401A historical example, in the Han Dynasty, 1500 years ago, it was a very long era, about 300 to 400 years of the Dynasty's lifespan. It began when a Han Emperor wanted to fill the role of the Minister, he began by looking at the reputation of this person towards their parents, if they were being good towards their own parents, because if he or she could be loving towards people who have been kind to them. then obviously he knows how to repay kindness. They would be very loyal and very honest officials in the nation. The Han Dynasty was about 400 years in lifespan. There are very few Chinese dynasties prior to unification that lasted longer than the Han Dynasty because the Han Dynasty built its empire on the basis of filial piety. 4523 In Buddhism, this is why we have Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva as the first step, it's the first example we should learn when practicing Buddhism. It's trying to tell us Buddhism starts from filial piety and respect. Buddhism starts from appreciating the kindness shown by others, by paying them in return. Buddhism starts from respecting the teacher and their teachings. Buddhism starts from broadening the heart and mind and because of this we are able to liberate ourselves from suffering. From here we start to appreciate the compassion of Buddha. He taught us the root, the first important thing we should grasp. 4623 The spirit of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, is like what we mentioned just now, is like a big tree. Without roots, how can there be stems, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit? That's the root of our cultivation, basics of our cultivation, perfection of our practice. So the education system represented by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is perfect, well-rounded. No matter the content of the teaching or the methods of teaching, the way they teach and the content they teach, it's perfect, it's well-rounded. We should know that.

Talking about filial piety, what does it look like in Chinese? In Chinese characters filial piety or Xiao(孝) in pronunciation, is a symbol. So every Chinese character is a symbol. What does this symbol comprise of? The symbol of elder on the top and symbol of young on the bottom, elder and young when you combine them, means elder generation and younger generation are one. It's what we call filial piety. The elder is above, on top. We're not talking about Laozi in Taoism. We're talking about a combination of these two words. It's called filial piety and this is where this word Xiao孝 in Chinese came from. If we want to go further with the meaning: Elder generations and younger generations, together they are one, one entity. They cannot be separated. You cannot be separated from your own parents, you cannot separate (yourself) from your own ancestors. That's the original meaning of filial piety, Xiao孝. 3043 That's why the patriarchs of Buddhism told us that the elder generations have their own elder generations, that means the past has no beginning, there's no origin, there's endless beginnings; the younger generations have their own younger generations, there is no end for the next generation, it will be infinite. So how can it be separated? The beginning and end are one.3110 So no matter what the situation is, the relationship between you and your elders, your parents, the relationship is there, you cannot be separated no matter good or bad. 3126 For example, when I met someone in the past, he told me he hated his father. He said: I really hate him. But I told him: “No matter how much you hate him, the fact is: he is your father.” For example, on the other hand, your children, no matter how much you dislike your children or because maybe they are not being good or something like that, they are still your children. This relationship cannot be separated. 3211 In Buddhism, filial piety has another word for it, if you perfect filial piety, it becomes Dharmakaya or the Body of the Truth. What does it mean for us? You want to be born in the Pure Land, you want to be liberated from sufferings, you want to sever the cause of life, reincarnation. Anything that happens in the world born from DharmaKaya, arises from this Body of the Truth. What does this Dharmakaya (break down to)? It’s called filial piety. 3307 For example, Buddhas of the past, present and future, of the ten directions, have attained Buddhahood that means perfection of virtues. Some haven't reached it yet, future Buddhas, but each of them, no matter where they are, when they want to begin this journey towards Buddhahood, they begin with filial piety, Xiao(孝). Why? It is because Buddha will always want to help all beings, just like being filial towards all beings, treating everyone like their parents, this is the heart of Buddha. If you are not filial, could you even get anywhere in Buddhism? 3403 Say Amitabha Buddha, he is now already a Buddha, even when he's a Buddha, he is still continuing the practice of filial piety. To whom? To all of us, to all beings. He keeps giving and helping and taking care of all beings, that's filial piety, love and respect. So we need to know filial piety is the ship that carries Buddha to Buddhahood. If you're born into this world with fortunes, into a fortunate family, where did this merit come from? Filial piety. 3448 So if you go back to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra, what is the special part about his symbol? In the sutra, the most unique part about him, the excellent part about him, is that he started his act of filial piety with his mother. *// 3518 For example, nowadays, we always have Mother's Day. No matter what country you are from, you always have Mother's day. Father's day is relatively not as popular as Mother's day, right? Why? It is because of mother's virtue towards us, the kindness they gave to us is immeasurable, always immeasurable. First thing is the kindness of giving birth to us, carrying us into this world, so if you read the sutra of How Hard It is to Repay the Kindness of the Parents, Buddha has a description: No matter how you repay their kindness, you still cannot reach full repayment to them and that means: a parent, a mother especially, how respected they should be, like how we should be respectful to them because of their kindness, (it will never be enough). In the Ksitigarbha Sutra, there are two famous stories, tales that represent this value. The first one is Brahman Woman, the second one is Bright Eyes, the woman with bright eyes. These are all about his past life, where he saved his Mom, her Mom, back then he was a lady, her Mom, both of these ladies, their Moms committed negative karma and were born in the Three Lower Realms and when they knew, when *this past life of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva knew that his mother was suffering, (s)he immediately used a lot of energy trying to get them back to the Three higher Realms. 3718 It was very touching and very sincere. Like Brahman Woman, in order to save her Mom to be reborn into the better realms, she was willing to sacrifice her life. Other than that, she also helped the Triple Gem, built the Buddha tower and helped the poor. All of these merits were dedicated to her Mom so that her Mom could be reborn into a better realm. 3755 All she could think about was to repay the kindness of her Mom and knowing that her Mom fell into the lower realms, was feeling urgent, like very very desperate to help her. Same goes for the Bright Eyes. To find people like that right now, in our society, is rare, it's very rare. Therefore, we need to rely on ourselves. It's very rare to find people like this. 3831 In the end, the lesson we need to bring home is that we need to rely on ourselves. Break all the evil deeds and do all the good deeds, so that at the very least, even if you do not manage to go to the Pure Land, you're not falling into the three lower realms. Who wants to go there, who wants to be an animal, a ghost or a hell being? 3859 Let's not talk about the three lower realms, even now, here, who wants to go and who wants to take suffering upon themselves?

《How do we preserve all these achievements_》 三2549 So going back to here is that helping yourself, you will always need to help others to help yourself but to help others you will need to get yourself sorted first, what you want, where you are going, what is the current state of your life, or in terms of personally, your habits, have you cultivated that habit that makes you available to accept missions, bigger missions or bigger responsibilities that will affect more people. If you haven't cultivated the good habits or a good foundation for that, which is as a person of virtues, and also a world view that is broad and inclusive and at the same time rational and understanding, not too extreme, then we can't lead the world in the direction that we want to. 2638 So it all relies on Dharma and respect among every single layer of relationships, up and down, down and up and down, down, up, left and right as well, like siblings, friends, colleagues, those things are there, doesn't matter what kind of ideology you have, anarchism or anything. That's all day, it will always be there, there will always be someone who needs to lead the rest unless everyone is Bodhisattvas and Buddha. In the Pure Land, everyone is a student. You still have one Buddha leading, but everyone's like equal, they have true democracy. They don't need to democratize anything, because they are wise people. They don't do stupid stuff, like vandalism or creating segregation or racism. Everyone looks like Amitabha. That is the world where you can talk about equality. But right now, in this reality, in this mud, we need to have orders and to have orders, we need to have law. But beyond just law, we need to have a proper human relationship to carry out, because 法外有情 beyond the law, there's humanity in there, love and parents and all of the bonds that we need to take care of right now, before next generation comes up and takes over the reigns because it will be miserable for them if we didn't put a good foundation for them. We need to work on this.

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So does our human life, because we're part of the universe, not some New Age stuff. It is a reality. Our life is a continuum. You can't just say: when you die, (it’s like) you are gone like a candle (burning out), this is one of the reasons why we need Dharma. This is a very serious misconception of the current world especially. 1442 So back to the point, being respectful. A person who gets respect is the person who always respects (other) people and is always respected by everyone, even though they don't get positions in terms of power in government or CEO companies, that is very narrow. If a person is respected in the community, even though they have no titles, anything, but they are treated like royalty in the sense that they are respected so much, it is because they are (the people who) themselves respect others. If you see someone who is being respected, or in the position of worthy or demanded respect, even though that person's morals and virtues are not that good, it is because in their past lives, they have cultivated respectful hearts, and hence they got what they sow, it is fair. 15:30 It's just that in this life, they are not aware of this. That’s why Dhamma is important. They're not aware of this, their eyes aren’t open. So they thought: I was born in a wealthy family and all that, so I should be above everyone else. They don't understand, I was born here because I cultivated so many lives of giving, just to get where I am, a person who can think like that is a Bodhisattva. So that's why we need to be aware of this. Okay, so why do we need to respect elders, because they are the ones who pass down the knowledge, pass down the foundation, and also remind the elders themselves to be worthy of respect. So don't do something that will cause more harm towards the next generation, which is not happening for our generation. Now, according to Master Chin Kung, as you can see, his era, he is 90 years old, 1920s, until now, they(we have) all forgotten about all that, or gradually forgotten about virtues and morals, and it becomes more and more prone to scientific development in order just focusing on the outside without the Human Development insight. So it naturally becomes chasing after wealth for the sake of wealth, without thinking about leaving, you know, what we call right now, the environmental movement, leaving something for the next generation. So, in case we think about nowadays, people, young people, don't feel respectful towards them. And then we will get old one day. We think about: Am I worthy of respect, have we done something deserving of respect from them. Back then, there was a concept of you have to respect us and all that. But right now, to gain respect, to be worthy of respect, we need to do something that truly benefits them, or do our job, as a father, act like a father, take care of the family, as a mother, act like a mother. People who do their job, who fulfill their basic duty, obviously, being devoted to their relationships, as a husband and wife and father and son, parents and children, teachers and students, in Confucianism, we call these the five relationships 五倫, if they all do their job, naturally, the respect will form, you don't have to ask them to respect you. You can, when they(your children) are young, we tell them: you need to be respectful to people, your movements and your mannerisms need to be taken care of. So, parents doing their job, the husband and the wife doing their job. Obviously we can't define in the old times, stay at home dads, that's not the era. What I'm saying is there has got to be someone to do the job. Be it the wife or the husband, whichever one, like, if the husband stays at home taking care of the children and the wife goes out to earn money, that's fine. As long as someone's doing the job, taking care of the children, educating them, it doesn't matter. Don't give the children to the nanny, it's not fair for the children, they need you, the parents. Don't mess up their life. Like in the 70s and 80s, we have that experimental period. I can see their costumes and all that this is personal opinion, by the way, but I have to say that because it reflects our societies. Like after those very strict 40s and 50s, I can see all that the way they wear and the mannerism is very stringent. And then 60s, start to liberate 70s and 80s become so weird, you can see the way they wear stuff in their hair. And then 90s were like, Okay, that's enough, way too much. And then back to now everyone's normalizing a little bit. So what I'm trying to say is, there was always a balance in the middle. And I tried to express this, using this to express what this respect is, the balance, balance of your love for that person at the same time, the mannerism you need to have.二2327

And obviously, this goes beyond just Buddhism. It can be one of those very public health or public decency and all that stuff, like morality and virtues, general decency, all these things can be propagated, the more the better, talk about moderation, we can talk about more modern things, like environmental consciousness, or being more whole-minded, not just focusing on profits or talk about ecology. All of these are very good, because they're protecting our environment in our hearts. But most importantly, it is the heart because without a clean, purified heart, everything we do will be tainted. No matter how pure the water is, when it goes into a cup full of mud, it will always be muddy. So that's why we need to reform and we need to learn how to accumulate merits. So other than Dharma we talked about being loving, because we didn't talk too deeply, too much in terms of what good can we do, we talked about what is good and what is not good. So I'll spare a bit of time just to talk about this. Being a loving heart, in our case, we can say vegetarianism, in the sense, it's coming out of loving hearts. A lot of people ask me why I am a vegetarian. I'm never a person who sits there and says, I am a vegetarian. I only do that when I eat and I ask for a diet. A lot of people are curious and ask why, and I just say, because I don't want to kill. That's how simple it is. People might do it for a reason of health, and all that. But this is also a way to show that you're not involved in the killing by adopting a diet that does not involve it. And everyone has a different level of acceptance to this. Some people just can't (accept it), because of cultures, or religion, or it’s part of their identity and stuff. Master Yin Guang did always advise people to gradually adopt this because it's not a matter of health only. Health is small, because we all will pass away. And no matter how good your health is, (we have) to pass away after 100 years old. It is the thing that awaits you after that, the karma debt that you have to pay. We're talking about Cause and Effect here. I cannot shy away from this topic. There is (a kind karma) in the middle, (which is not a merit or a fault), in Chinese we call it 無記業. But this(killing) is definitely not in the middle, you either have merit or fault. We are in a society, at least, in this part of the world, we have supplies. (This is) an agricultural society, we have food, we don't need to do that, hunting, killing and eating (meat). So if you can adopt that. It's good for karma. It's good for your heart. But in a more broader sense, beyond just diet 愛敬存心 it means that you need to leave a little bit of space for other people. Be considerate, put yourself into other people's shoes. Like at a late night, if you live in an apartment, don’t smoke on the balcony, which is what happened, and don't speak loudly on the phone. That's also a little bit of empathy. Empathy comes from compassion, which is a loving heart, the basis of all religions and all creeds and Brotherhood's. Without a loving heart, there's no family, there's no friendships, there's no country, nothing. Love for your nation, love for your people, that's why you have a nation, you have a community. So, always have that loving heart, do not get numb by the technologies, desires, all that. In Chinese …, all that impulses, all that sensory indulgence, do not get blinded by that. Keep that pure heart in there. Also, we talked about Giving. To do good, you need to start with Giving. That's why, in Bodhisattva's Six Parameters, the Giving Parameter is the first step. 1112 You start with giving away what is beyond your (necessary) needs, your basic food, your basic shelter, your basic (clothing), … and all that necessity is covered. What beyond that, we all start learning to give. It's common in all religions and all communities, because that is the first step of how one accumulates merit. They don't do it for the sake of merit, they do it and get merit naturally because of that. As you can see in a lot of wealthy countries, they usually have a habit of giving, and that's why they are wealthy. There's a reason behind it. They don't just get it from nowhere. Nothing happens without a reason. The reason why you were born in a wealthy country, the reason why this country is wealthy because they give. So merits are important, it preserves you and it makes your life less miserable. It makes your life better and happier.

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B20220313 三時繫念法會的功德利益 三

5349 So when the result was announced he got it, he just said that he got it, and it was in Beijing. Then he talked about other people being able to, 收斂 I'm talking about qualities of people who are deserving of merits. Mr. Ding was very humble, very careful. At the same time, he can withstand slanders without jumping at it straightaway. 5423 Because this kind of slander, like what Liao Fan talked about in the First Chapter, is like holding a flaming torch against the sky, one day it will burn out. If you're trying to rebut against that, or trying to debate against that, it will get muddier and muddier. It is like trying to use your muddy hand to wipe something clean. I forgot the other metaphor, but the thing is that sometimes you just (need to) leave it be, let it die itself. 5452 The other people, Mr. Feng, he also could hide his talent without showing it unnecessarily 收斂 虛己斂容 大變其幼年之習so he could empty himself, not full of himself, not full of whatever he was good at and he can hide, not hide but keep a low profile. When he was younger, Mr. Feng was a bit more arrogant or maybe more showy? So other case is Mr. Lee, as well. 李霽巖 He had a friend who was very strict, like, immediately criticized him in front of others and all that, like, what you did wrong, you are not good and all that. 5602 Yeah, right in front of his face, in front of everyone. He just talked about his weaknesses and all that. He could take it and take it without a face of anger. He could take it. And he didn't even mention a word. Imagine someone standing in front of you, in front of all your family and colleagues and all that, he just talks about all your problems and all that. Then he can just smile and take it in without a word. So he gave another summary. 5633 Every fortune has its beginning. So you can see how this person begins to have fortune and also, every disaster has its beginning. You can see how every disaster has its buds, buddings coming out. When these people who are behaving like that, you can see already, deduce, yes, like Sherlock Holmes, you can deduce what’s going to happen. 5658 This is all doable, guys. This is doable. They're not some magical property in our sense, it can be learned and if you are very, very adept at examining yourself and able to cultivate very good at controlling emotions and harnessing properly and cultivate, we call it cultivate, properly. Then, when you look at other people, you immediately know what kind of person is this, what kind of person is this, you don't need to think about it, you just see, you understand, you see the historical behavior of this person and then see, you can deduce where this person is going. 5735 Same thing. So this is very interesting. All of these fortunes and disasters, they're all together, 福兮禍兮 禍兮 福兮 in Chinese. If there's a disaster, it’s a blessing in disguise, there’s a blessing in the disaster, if there is a disaster, there's a blessing in there. If there's a fortune, the disaster hidden in there, if not managed properly. So, if your heart is truly humble, it's not full like a mountain, but as deep as a valley, is able to accept everything, then definitely you will be repaid 天必報之 (by the Heaven). So, he talked about how this person definitely got the good karma, good fortune of passing the Imperial Examination. 10122 So this is what happened. And yes, same thing, people who are very humble, they don't act, what he talked about before naturally admitting humbleness. They're not full of themselves. I think we all know, like, when you meet someone like that, they are just like that they're not acting or anything. They're just humble. I also want to confess a bit like, I get a little bit too doubtful of people. I need to learn from this, like, see things as they are. People sometimes are just like that. Just because we learned about Chapter 3, that they are not always on the surface, doesn't mean that we need to guess if this is real or fake? No, I think I have a conclusion that, an opinion, that we need to see things as they are like, yes, this person might be faking it or not, doesn't matter. If that person is truly humble, you will know. They will show it through their actual everyday life, whether you see or not. 10223 If this person is not, it's just putting a face eventually will have to be facing a test. Everyone has to be tested. And that test you will not pass if it's not real. So be real, and learn what is real and then you will carry on to your next life or the Pure Land, you still need it anyway in the Pure Land.

《To be able to take in the pressure of being misunderstood without explanation》 Over here Liao Fan talked about careers or Imperial Examinations. He said that, in summary, arrogance brings failure, pride comes before one falls, like when you start to be too proud of yourself, your date of your fallen time will be there. So, humility will always benefit (you) every time, without fail. So he used the example of his era, which was the Imperial Examination, every time they went to (take) the exam, he would always look at these scholars, look at their mannerisms, behaviors, obviously at the sight, so they were behaving naturally. 4510 And he himself was also part of (those who took) the exam, like a person who was going to take the exam and he saw his classmates. He said someone called Ding Jing Yu Bing丁敬宇賓, Mr. Ding was very young but he was very very humble, natural, very humble. Mr. Liao Fan could see(observe) this because he himself had been cultivating a lot. So he could see other people if they're really cultivating. He talked to other people and said: Hey, look at Brother Ding, this year, he will definitely get one of the top marks. Back then top marks means you have your whole family condition elevated immediately. 4558 So everyone's like: Why do you think that? (Liao Fan) said: “Look at him, the way he behaves himself, carries himself. He's the person who can take all the fortunes.” Guys, what does it mean by taking all that fortune? Shouldn't everyone want fortunes? Right? We all want good fortunes. We all want good work, good jobs, good career progressions, wealth and all that, a comfortable life. But why did he(Liao Fan) say he(Mr. Ding) can take this fortune? Because even good fortune itself needs someone deserving to have it. 4639 There's a saying that if your boat can only take five kilograms of gold and if you put in 10 kilograms you will sink. Think like let that sink in. If you are only worth five kilogram of gold and you take 10 kilograms you will sink. So the work is to make the boat bigger, not getting more money in, you always have money coming in. The problem is when it comes, can you take it or it will go(flow) out or make you sick, or (drag) your whole family with you. 4710 So going back to the historical example, he said among these 10 people taking this exam, look at Mr. Ding丁敬宇賓, (he is) putting others before himself, considerate. Is there anyone as considerate as Mr. Ding? Walking, sitting, eating, always after people, Lao Zi always talked about: I have three, in Buddhism we call it the Triple Gems, he also has the Triple Gems that was Pre Buddhism in China. 我有三寶 一曰儉 二曰慈 三曰不敢為天下先 “I also have the Triple Gems.” Remember guys, that was before Buddhism came to China. “Number one: being frugal, being saving, saving, not spending lavishly. So being frugal. Number two: being compassionate, loving other people, respecting other people. The third one is do not dare to be the first in the world. Do not want to be the first in the world. Always be the number two, always number two, letting other people go(be the first). So I have these Triple Gems that keep me at the peak of my cultivation.” This is how we do it. This is how he did it. Is there anyone who are really respectful in their speech, fearful, in the sense of, they are not reckless, like Mr. Ding, is there anyone who could be humiliated without rebutting or be defamed or slandered without trying to clear their name, or without trying to debate as Mr. Ding, that means you can *hold this pressure without bursting, you can carry your composure or everything properly. That's a deep cultivation, guys. 4918 If everyone can do that, everyone can do that. Even the heavens and the ghosts, not just human and, and heavenly realm people, spiritual realm people, they will always protect this person, or how can this person not be fortunate, right?

《Humility is the way to preserve merits, keep a low profile all the time》 3517 All that meritorious reform has been done. How do you preserve them? How do you keep them growing and growing, without falling. So this is where we talk about humility. So Chapter Four is about humility. He began in the very iconic words, in I Ching(The Book of Changes). I believe in the West, everyone loves I Ching, I think. Not everyone, but I Ching is well known. Because it talks about laws of life, just like we're talking about laws of physics, you know, reaction, action, reaction and all that. 3556 But this is the same thing. It's an observation of how things work in terms of nature and human, nature and nature, human and human, the human and nature and all that relationships, it is about relationships, how it changes, how dynamic it is. 3614 So there, he picked a phrase, he saw, the heavens will always reward the one who is humble, and always take away from those who are full of themselves. Sounds like the Bible. I read the Bible yesterday as well. And they did talk about that, God will only reward the humble and take away from the people who are full of themselves. So same thing, it's an iron law, everyone knows, everyone should know. On the earth, we are talking about the physical one, the earth, right, we're always making something that is piled up like a mountain back into the common ground. So look at the mud, they will always flow to the ground, alright, not the other way around. So this is how it works in our world. That means if your heart is as deep as a valley, you can take even more 虛懷若谷, you can take more in. If you're already high like a mountain there, no one can fit anything more in there. 3723 So humility is the way to preserve it, keep a low profile all the time. Always have that, low profile, don't do anything flashy unnecessary, unless it gives a proper message, otherwise don't. Not just the sky and the land. Heaven as in the sky and earth as in the land. We're talking about the spiritual beings like the ghost, the gods, the spirits. They will always try to prank or not prank, punish people who are full of themselves and always try to benefit those people who are humble, who are keeping a low profile, who are not trying to show off. 3810 Humans always hate someone who is too full of themselves. They don't like someone who is full of themselves and they dislike arrogance. Always respect those who are humble. (When) people are humble, you feel very comfortable with that person. They don't get in your face all the time, right? This is more relatable, they’re humans. 3835 Someone who is full of himself, you can see even having a meal with them is so unbearable, they will be talking about everything just about themselves. Every time you try to bring up a topic, it's all about me, it's about me. So, reflect on that. Therefore, in I Ching(The Book of Changes), there is a Gua(卦). So eight opposites, just like what we read about in Chapter 3, the eight opposite of good deeds, I think he got inspiration from here and this is also eight pairs. If you want to summarize phenomena of the whole world, of the whole universe, they can be summarized into eight pairs, including science, including biology or whatever, the history, sociological, psychological, biological, scientific, and philosophy, everything can be summarized into these eight Gua(卦). 3924 Obviously, I'm not profoundly learning about this, but this summary I read. So everything has ups and downs, like Yin and Yang, right? And this is how the Yin Yang(陰陽) came from, by the way guys. Everything has its good and bad (sides), they always have opposites. When you have merits here, (you) always have some faults there, something like that. They will and unless you are a Buddha. 3947 So normal people will always have that. But among that there's only one Gua(卦), which is one of the signs, they're always positive, they will never be negative, which is humility, 六爻皆吉. So in Chinese it is called 謙之一卦 六爻皆吉. In a very simplified way, every phenomenon has its pluses and minuses, some have more pluses, some have more minuses. But this one only has pluses and no minuses. So as you can see in the history, people who made, in Chinese history, people who made huge achievements, like building the Han Dynasty, 張良, Mr. Zhang, and he, I think he read this as well. He's like: I finished, I helped this Emperor Liubang(劉邦) to build a nation. So the Han Dynasty, that’s why we are called Han Chinese here. As you can see, it is a very powerful dynasty. So they built a whole nation out of that, and then he retreated from the scene. He didn't take any dukedom or marquees, or any sort of prestige or fame. He just hid, without even being known, without even informing him(劉邦), he just hid from the public. He didn’t take the prestigious honor that he deserved, hiding and enjoying his little life in the mountains. ...