既愚且痴 Ignorance heaped up with foolishness

既愚且痴

Ignorance heaped up with foolishness

早上跟ㄧ位居士聊起，佛經是用生命讀完祂，不是用嘴巴唸完祂！

比方；佛法的「愚痴」兩個字，大家都知道怎麼寫，但是一個人的人生要歷經整個「愚痴」翻轉的過程，其中通過個人想法的考驗，對事情的態度、理解，是用歲月經歷才能懂得與寫下的！

半寄

This morning I was chatting with a layperson about how reciting the

 Buddhist scriptures is something you do not just with your mouth,

 but also with your very life!

For example, we all know how to read and write the Buddhist

 technical term “ignorance.” But for it to have a real impact on who

 you are, you have to experience it over time in your life, continually

 correcting your misconceptions about it by repeatedly revising your

 understanding. It takes a lot of time and effort!

 

更可能的是走過很多冤枉路才知道什麼叫「愚痴」！

還有一種叫既愚且痴的病---佛癡，

用自己的生命、人生讀完一部佛經！

華人說：中年以後才懂詩與詞，而佛經呢？

For some people, a solid understanding of ignorance only comes the

 hard way!

And then there’s another kind of fool and crazy illness called

 “fascination with Buddhism”, which urges one to devote his very

 life to investigating Buddhist scriptures!

It’s widely believed amongst the Chinese that you can’t fully

 understand poetry until you reach middle age. If that’s the case, then

 how old do you have to be to understand the Buddhist scriptures?

Master Ban Ji

Translated by Ken Kraynak