An online community sharing the study and practice of Chan Buddhism
佛经是在佛般捏磐后,佛的弟子门把佛在各处讲经说法的内容汇编而成的经典。它是指导我们修行的指南针。对于如何阅读佛经,历代祖师早有所言。现结合我自己的经验,冒昧地谈一谈我阅读《六祖法宝坛经》的体验。
 
释迦牟尼佛在《金刚经》上告诉我们一个至理名言----“应无所住而生其心”。 据《六祖法宝坛经》介绍,六祖慧能听五祖弘忍大师讲解“应无所住而生其心”而大彻大悟。国学大师南怀瑾先生在其著作《金刚经说什么》中对“应无所住而生其心”做过详尽的阐述,并谈过“无所住即是定”的论断。
 
读了这些佛学经论,我承认在文字上或理性思维上能理解“应无所住而生其心”之意,但在文字上或理性思维所得并非佛理。因此,在实践中得不到任何益处。每当打坐的时候,对室内钟表的滴答声和室外儿童吵闹的声音非常反感,同时采取一切措施控制内心的妄念,其目的是想追求一个所谓“空”的境界。在日常生活中间,为追求内心的平静,总是克制自己,尽量不让自己的感官接触外界可能让人心动的东西。一旦出现妄念或烦恼,总想采取一切办法控制它们。有时适得其反,越是想控制妄念或烦恼,妄念或烦恼出现的越来越厉害。我想许多初学者都有这种经历。其实所有这些做法都是错误的,皆违背了“应无所住而生其心”之理。
 
最近,我从互联网上下载了英文版的《六祖法宝坛经》。由于有一些生僻的佛学上的生词,我阅读的速度比较慢。但我把整个身心都投入进去了,几乎花费了半天的时间在电脑上仔细阅读,当读到“应无所住而生其心”时而稍微有所领悟。当天夜晚阅读完毕,我去打坐,刚一上座就自然而然地初步体悟道“应无所住而生其心”之意。那时,我对自己的起心动念观照的了了分明,对外界的声音听的清清楚楚,但毫不执着。从此以后,行走坐卧时皆如此。至此,我才真正理解大珠慧海禅师在《顿悟入道要门论》中所言:“于诸法无所住,名禅波罗蜜,即是禅定”。根据自己的有限的体验,我曾写了一篇《无所住和禅》的英文文章,刊登在美国虚云禅院的网站上。其实,无所住之心就是我们们无始劫以来所具有的,但因执着、妄想而不能显现的真如之心。《顿悟入道要门论》言:“无住心者是佛心”。
 
因此,我认为求解就是用我们自己的整个身心去阅读、体悟佛经。求证就是用我们自己的修行实践为佛经作注脚。如果自己没有体悟到,仅在文字上或理性思维上解释佛经或为佛经作注脚,所得结果根本就不是佛理。诚如古人所言:“依文解字,三世佛冤”。
 
 

Sutras and Shastras

Since there is no difference between the Shakti and the one who embodies her, nor between substance and object, the Shakti is identical to the Self. The energy of the flames is nothing but the fire. All distinction is but a prelude to the path of true knowledge. The one who reaches the Shakti grasps the non-distinction between Shiva and Shakti and enters the door to the divine. As space is ...

Thus have I heard. One morning, when the Buddha was staying near Shravasti in the jeta grove of Anathapindika's estate, He and His company of twelve hundred and fifty monks went into the city to beg for their breakfast; and after they returned and finished their meal, they put away their robes and bowls and washed their feet. Then the Buddha took His seat and the others sat down before Him.

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There is a teaching (dharma) which can awaken in us the root of faith in the Mahayana, and it should therefore be explained. The explanation is divided into five parts. They are (1) the Reasons for Writing; (2) the Outline; (3) the Interpretation; (4) on Faith and Practice; (5) the Encouragement of Practice and the Benefits Thereof. Someone may ask the reasons why I was led to write this ...

This is what should be done By one who is skilled in goodness, And who knows the path of peace: Let them be able and upright, Straightforward and gentle in speech. Humble and not conceited, Contented and easily satisfied. Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways. Peaceful and calm, and wise and skilful, Not proud and demanding in nature.

The Buddha's Teaching on Loving-kindness
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Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One together with many of the highest Bodhisattvas and a great company of Bhikshus was staying at Rajagaha on Mt. Gridhrakuta. The Blessed One was sitting apart absorbed in Samadhi Prajna-paramita. The Venerable Sariputra, influenced by the Blessed One absorbed in Samadhi, spoke thus to the Noble Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara:

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The Platform Sutra of Hui Neng became a pivotal treatise in the history of Chan, often used as a distinguishing mark of Souther School Chán.  An important resource for anyone interested in the historical devolopment of Chán Buddhism in China. The Master Hui-neng ascended the high seat at the lecture hall of the Ta-fan Temple and expounded the Dharma of the Great Perfection of Wisdom, and ...

By NA
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when practicing deeply the Prajna Paramita, Perceived that all five skandhas are empty&nbsp And was saved from all suffering and distress. O Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; Emptiness does not differ from form. That which is form is emptiness; That which is emptiness form.

The Heart Sutra -- "The Heart of the Perfection of Great Wisdom" Sutra

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By the Buddha

Sayings of the Buddha

Speak not harshly to anyone; those thus spoken to will retort. Vindictive speech begets sorrow, and retaliatory blows may bruise you.
-- Canto X.5

Even though a man be richly attired, if he should live in peace, calm, controlled, assured, leading a holy life, abstaining from inflicting injury upon all creatures, he is truly a brahmana, a recluse, a bhikkhu.
-- Canto X.14

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I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One, on a wandering tour among the Kosalans with a large community of monks, arrived at Kesaputta, a town of the Kalamas. The Kalamas of Kesaputta heard it said, "Gotama the contemplative — the son of the Sakyans, having gone forth from the Sakyan clan — has arrived at Kesaputta. And of that Master Gotama this fine reputation has spread: 'He ...

Death & Dying

By Chuan Zhi

When we recognize that the ego doesn't exist in any real sense but only as an artifice of the mind, there's nothing that needs explaining anymore: the notion of reincarnation is seen as nothing more than an intellectual game. The person, like the raindrop, merges into the sea of the Dharmakaya, a sea where individuality, in any mode of conception, is totally obliterated. Does one molecule of ...

By Carl Gustav Jung
Carl Jung was, and continues to be, a tremendous influence on matters of spiritual consciousness in the western hemisphere. He was deeply interested in the psychological and spiritual underpinnings of Zen Buddhism and other eastern religions and for many years collaborated with Zen scholars and priests such as D. T. Suzuki. Between them, an amalgam of psychology and spirituality took shape that ...
By John Donne
Perchance, he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. The church is Catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns ...
By Jalai Al-Din
I died from the plant, and reappeared in an animal; I died from the animal and became a man; Wherefore then should I fear? When did I grow less by dying? Next time I shall die from the man, That I may grow the wings of angels. From the angel, too, must I seek advance; All things shall perish save His face Once more shall I wing my way above the angels; I shall become that which entereth not the ...
By Chuan Zhi

My first encounter with a Zen teacher happened when I was in my late twenties. Zen had been an interest of mine for nearly a decade before this chance encounter with a person of Zen. I had never thought seriously about actually DOING Zen, but I liked reading the philosophies that came from Zen literature. Doing Zen was, well, something I thought I would never be able to do: it required detaching ...

By Michael Gellert
“Death,” Jung wrote in 1945 not long after his heart attack, “is the hardest thing from the outside and as long as we are outside of it. But once inside you taste of such completeness and peace and fulfillment that you don’t want to return.”1 Jung was speaking here of his out-of-body, near-death experience, whose gripping effect indeed made it difficult for him to return to the world of ...