2024年4月29日 星期一
2024年4月11日 星期四
數字與佛典 Numbers And Buddhist Scriptures
南禪朋友好!
在了解佛典中常出現的百、千、億數字,是印度人擅長數學
而喜歡、甚至是掛在嘴邊的慣用「虛數字」後,我個人所講的
佛法就不再涉及無量無邊的用辭。
許多歷史的事實告訴人們 ,
五百世的福報連皇室貴族都已進入紙醉金迷的糜爛。
而五百世的惡報也讓人們失去重生的勇氣,
浮誇的數字只滿足文學手筆。
而更甚者是「起心動念」的剎那便可扭轉一切,數字進入不能
再小的單位。
從因緣法的觀念下手,一個想法升起,到著手改進,再到現實
開展已經不曉得是幾個百、千、萬、億的匯集!
如不能從「虛數字」裡擺脫恐怕會讓修行者沒完沒了。
看似摸不著邊的數字慣用其實是讓福與報「定型」,佛法教授
的業力是變動性,這涉及清楚的意義。
而哪一種福與報可在「人體」綿延百、千、萬、億「世」?
回歸「人體」(見入法篇,或參考YouTube南襌精舍善根的超
越)做佛法探討吧!
半寄
文獻參考。香光莊嚴第66期
http://www.gaya.org.tw/magazine/v1/2005/66/66all.htm
Numbers And Buddhist Scriptures
Greetings, friends of NanZen!
Hundreds of, thousands of, tens of thousands of, and
billions of are
commonly used inBuddhist scriptures. After realizing
that Indians,
good at mathematics and fond of numbers,are
accustomed to talking
about 'hyperbole numbers', I stop using terms
referring toboundless
when discussing the Dharma.
It shows in history that five hundred lives'
blessings lead the royal
family and nobles todebaucheries and
decadency; while five
hundred lives' of karmic retribution discourage
people from going
forward and getting reborn!
This kind of hyperbole
suits literature only (,but not Buddhist
Practice).
Another example of exaggerated numbers is
the statement that the
instant of "the rise of a notion"
can turn everything around, in
which numbers are minimizedto the
smallest units.
In accordance
with Nidānas, every accomplishment takes
accumulation and fulfillment of
hundreds, thousands, tens of
thousands, and billions
of conditions, from the rise of a notion, to
improvement and then to development
in reality.
The path will be endless if practitioners can't get
themselves out of
thetrap of the ‘hyperbole numbers',
Blessings and virtues are
indeed 'settled and finalized' with customary
use of ambiguous numbers. However,
karma in Buddhism preaches
and confirms variability.
What kind of blessing can last and go beyond
hundreds, thousands,
tens of thousands, and billions of 'lives' in
the 'human body'?
Return to the ‘human body’ to investigate
Buddhist
doctrines! (please refer to Entering the Dharma or Transcending
of
Virtuous Root
(Chinese subtitle only) on YouTube by
searching
for “NanZen Vihara
” and “ virtuous root” (南禪精舍 善根)
Master Ban Ji
Translated by Grace Jui-hsin Tsai
(Reference for your information)
http://www.gaya.org.tw/magazine/v1/2005/66/66all.htm
2024年4月5日 星期五
入法2 Entering the Dharma2
(照片來源Steve McCurry史蒂夫麥凱瑞)
入法2
南北傳的佛法有什麼好爭論呢?
走過敦煌絲路到土耳其的一路修行洞窟,道盡『苦集滅道』修
行路上的孤寂!
絕對不能想像少了空法入注的佛法,將會是如何的缺乏生命力!
而修佛法的行者,如沒被沙漠與孤陽旱過、烤過,(指苦、集、
滅、道的修持),怎會知生命面臨結束所產生的生存矛盾與掙扎。
Entering the Dharma 2
What’s all this contention between northern and southern Buddhism?
Walking the Silk Road between Dunhuang and Turkistan, staying in
the meditation caves along the way, penetrating the four noble truths,
you experience the loneliness of the path!
It is absolutely unimaginable how lacking in vitality Buddhism would be without the doctrine of emptiness.
In Buddhist practice, if you’ve never been scorched by the truth of
suffering, accumulation, cessation, and the path, then how could you
possibly know the conflict and struggle arising from confronting one’s
own mortality?
『走過絲路,必定得走過那沒有盡頭的絲路⋯⋯』
才會知時間(無常)是什麼!?
而空間(無我)將如何延伸!?
半寄
“To tread the Silk Road, you have to tread the Silk Road that never ends. . . .”
Then you’ll know what time (impermanence) really is!?
And how space (not-self) is extended!?
Master Ban Ji
Translated by Ken Kraynak
入法1 Entering the Dharma1
南禪朋友好!
入法1
首先敬輓與祝福在台灣因食物、地震受難大德!
Greetings, friends of NanZen!
First of all, I would like to express my condolences to the loved
ones of all those who died in the recent case of collective food
poisoning and earthquake in Taiwan.
入法1
我被問到一個問題,半寄師父認為佛法該怎麼修?
不假思索的我直接回答:入法。
記得個人早年時期,尋著線索找《南傳阿含經》,其中只要看到
跟「北傳」《阿含經》翻譯有所不同時,身心竟然會悸動!
那時年輕大腦可用,對佛經幾乎到了生吞活剝的地步,也感謝
時代的因緣,如果不是世界各地掀起佛法探討熱,很多不能解
開的佛法問題,可能會一直「玄」著!
釐清很多佛法疑問後,還記得第一個感謝竟是慶幸自己生在二
次戰後大量資料重新考證的年代,
藉助新的證據少走了很多冤枉路,還是感謝佛法大德們的貢獻!
Entering the Dharma 1
Somebody recently asked me how the Buddhadharma is to be
practiced.
I immediately answered, “By entering into the Dharma.”
I remember how surprised and excited I was many
years ago when I
discovered various inconsistencie between the āgama section
of
theChinese canon and
the modern Chinese translations of
corresponding sūtras in the Pali canon of Theravāda
(southern)
Buddhism.
Way back then, I read most of the Buddhist scriptures in
detail but was still
perplexed. Thanks to the rapidly growing interest
in
Buddhism throughout
the world at that time, I’ve been able to find satisfactory answers
to
most of the abstruse questions that had
been plaguing my
mind.
By consulting the large amount
of high quality scholarship,
philology,
and textual criticism which has been
carried out in recent times,
I have cleared up these confusions and
gnawing doubts, and this has
spared me the trouble of going down a
lot of dead ends. For this I
owe these Buddhist scholars a debt
of gratitude!
《阿含經》的「法次法向」提供一個重要觀念,尋著佛法的腳
步,一步步走,一步步入法,進而走入佛陀教導的世界,再進而走入無常、無我。
半寄
An important term in the āgama section
of the Chinese canon is
“practicing the Dharma in accordance with the
Dharma”
(dharmānudharma-pratipatti), one of the
four ways of becoming
intimate with the Dharma. This means gradually treading
the path
shown to us by the Buddha, step by step going deeper, in
time entering
into impermanence and not-self.
Master Ban Ji
Translated by Ken Kraynak
2024年3月30日 星期六
佛法最終的實現 Ultimate Realization in Buddhism
南禪朋友好!
《佛法最終的實現》
幾天前見到將近30年不見的老居士們,
大家感覺相見歡! 久違的大德們比我想像的用功!
我們交換了一些定力的修行問題, 講著、講著想起自己不是有寫《佛法最終的實現》 隨手送了一本英文版給將前往美國定居的大德夫婦。
對佛法很用功的佛學者,
我個人從剛踏入佛門那一刻起,就關注[四禪八定], 也算釐
清了一些相關的內容,有興趣的佛學大德們可以看看這本書。
我們南禪部落格這裡也有完整的英譯版。
半寄
有興趣的佛學大德們可以看看這本書。 我們南禪部落格這裡也
有完整的英譯版。
半寄
Ultimate
Realization in Buddhism
Some old laymen who I haven’t seen for almost 30 years visited me
a few days ago and we all felt joyful for this reunion.
The disciples that I haven’t seen for ages were more diligent than I
supposed.
We discussed and shared viewpoints of concentration in Buddhist
Practice. Our discussion reminded me of my book Ultimate
Realization in Buddhism. So, I gave an English copy to the couple
who
are about to settle in the USA when they left.
Diligent Buddhist practitioners try to figure out the world which
eminent monks have seen after entering samadhi in the visible
Phaenonmena world.
I have been focusing on the four meditations and the eight
concentrations ever since the moment I became a Buddhist nun. And
I have clarified, to some extent, some ideas about them now. If you
are interested in these topics, you may visit our blog: Search For
Enlightenment with Nan Zen Vihara to read the whole English
version.
Master Ban Ji
(Translated by Grace Jui-hsin Tsai)
2024年3月28日 星期四
禪宗問答2 Questions and answers on Chan2
南禪朋友好!
禪宗問答2
Questions and answers on Chan2
在看繪畫、筆墨的時候,個人了解到每一次下筆作者手的穩定度至關緊要,每一筆不知道要練了多久,還有他背後的思想跟努力⋯⋯
禪宗公案短而有力,當然也伴隨背後的思想!
下面是我個人的看法,如讀者看到有人解釋;看到水中的倒影是『天人合一』的意思,
那就代表這個解讀者有儒家的想法!
當解讀者說;看到水中的倒影,想要發明玻璃、鏡頭,這個人是科學家(可以參照明代王陽明先生的看花)
In painting and drawing, it’s imperative for each stroke to be
executed with a steady hand. Each stroke has to be honed to
perfection with lots of practice; and we mustn’t forget the critical
background factors of effort and artistic conception.
A Chan gongan is both pithy and powerful; and, of course, its
meaning is also dependent on certain background concepts.
Now, as I see it, if somebody explains the inverted image as “the
unity of heaven and earth,” then he must surely be a
Confucian!
And if somebody says that the inverted image reminds him of the
invention of glass and the optical lens, then he must surely be a
scientist. (compare how the Ming dynasty scholar Wang Yangming
contemplated
a flower.)
體認水中的倒影體會到「無為」,這人是老莊學者。
stroke has to be honed to perfection with lots of practice; and we
mustn’t forget the critical background factors of effort and artistic
conception.
A Chan gongan is both pithy and powerful; and, of course, its
meaning is also dependent on
certain background concepts.
Now, as I see it, if somebody explains the inverted image as “the
unity of heaven and earth,” then he must surely be a
Confucian!
And if somebody says that the inverted image reminds him of the
invention of glass and the optical lens, then he must surely be a
scientist. (compare how the Ming dynasty scholar Wang Yangming
contemplated
a flower.)
體認水中的倒影體會到「無為」,這人是老莊學者。
想要解讀水中的倒影是佛法『本來面目』也可以看看《阿毘達
摩》中論師們的討論。
我個人修空法所以就參考《中觀論》
提供參考。
If for someone else the inverted image is interpreted as “non-action,”
then he must surely be a Daoist.
For a Buddhist, the inverted image is one’s original face; it’s also
worthwhile considering how this is interpreted in the
Abhidharma.
My own practice is based on the cultivation of emptiness as
expounded in the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.
讀者或許會想各個公案禪師的想法呢?
我個人絕不用第一人稱去解讀禪師的證悟,只因開悟的心路歷
程只有禪師們自己最清楚,
旁人去解讀可能都是畫蛇添足的。
禪師說:君心若似我,還得到其中。
問題是;沒有兩個同樣的我!
半寄
A reader might be reminded of any number of Chan masters who
used the gongan
approach.
We shouldn’t interpret a Chan master’s enlightenment based on our
own experience, for it is only the Chan master himself who fully
understands his own mind and how it was awakened;
For others to attempt to do so is
superfluous.
The Chan master says: When your mind is like mine, then you’ll get
what’s in it.
But here’s the rub: The Chan master is one of a kind!
Master Ban Ji
Translated by Ken Kraynak