寻法

Seeking Dharma

作为一个修行人，为了寻求正法，而舍弃一切，持头陀行，是理所当然的。

It goes without saying that for the sake of pursuing the Dharma, a spiritual seeker should let go of all worldly belongings and abide by an austere life style.

释迦牟尼佛在因地时曾转世为喜法婆罗门，为了获得一个偈子的佛法，毫不顾惜自己的身命，纵身跃入火坑。那个佛陀以“抛头颅、洒热血”的沉重代价换来的偈子就是：“恒喜行布施，常受清净戒，精勤修善法，以智得胜法。”

Buddha Shakyamuni was once reborn as the Brahmin named Dharma Loving. For the sake of obtaining a one-verse Dharma he did not hesitate to give up his life by leaping into a flaming pit. The verse he paid for so dearly, by “risking life and limb without a care for flesh and blood,” is: “Always strive ardently to practice generosity and never commit transgressions of the pure precepts. Perform good deeds to the best of your ability and practice the supreme Dharma with wisdom.”

佛陀还曾转世为一婆罗门，那时正值遇无佛出世之际。婆罗门在一帝释天化身的罗刹前，听闻了八个字的法后，将偈子写于岩石、墙壁、树木之上，留与后人。为报答帝释天化现的罗刹赐法之恩德，毅然从树上跳下，以身殉道。以其求法的清净心，圆满了十二大劫的资粮。那八个佛陀以鲜血和生命换来的字就是：“生后灭已，寂灭为乐。”

Another time the Buddha was incarnated as a Brahmin during a period devoid of Buddha’s doctrines. From a raksas disguised by the god Indra, he received a few words’ teaching and immediately wrote it down on rocks, walls, and tree trunks in order to benefit future beings. He then leaped from a tree to his death to repay the raksas’s kindness of conferring the Dharma. In that instant, his pure intention of seeking the Dharma allowed him to accumulate vast merits that otherwise would take 12 great kalpas to accomplish. The teaching he paid dearly for with the price of his blood and life is:

When both becoming and cessation cease to operate,
Cessation of change with its bliss of perfect rest arises.

这些佛陀以“舍身忘死求正法”之发心求得的偈子，凝聚了先辈的广大悲心，包含了三世十方诸佛的加持。哪怕是片言只语，我们也应该认真地受持读诵，并为众生传授。

These Dharma verses, obtained by the Buddha with his zealous quest of “giving up body and life for the Dharma,” are the quintessence of the vast compassion from past great masters; they are fully imbued with the blessings of the Buddhas of ten directions and three times. We should study these treasures, even down to a single word or phrase, with veneration and make them known to others as well.

记得法王如意宝在传讲《白莲花论》时，讲到这些事迹，禁不住老泪纵横，用哽咽的声音告诫我们：“释迦牟尼佛为了浊世众生，不惜舍弃生命寻求正法。如果我们不好好修持，真是可悲可叹！”

I remember when our Guru H.H. Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche recounted these stories during the transmission of The Great Biography of Shakyamuni Buddha (the White Lotus), he often became so moved that tears streamed down his cheeks and his voice choked up. He advised us: “For the sake of beings in the degenerate times, Buddha Shakyamuni sacrificed his own life to search for the Dharma. If we are indolent in our practice, it’s absolutely sad and lamentable!”

如今我们值遇了与佛陀无别的大恩上师，并为我们传授了如海般的精妙佛法。若不珍惜，真是“枉来世间走一遭”了。

We have now met the supremely kind teacher who is indistinguishable from the Buddha and who has transmitted to us the ocean-like sublime Dharma. If we do not cherish this opportunity to the utmost, our trip to this world would be a total waste!

壬午年二月二十四日　
2002年4月6日　

24th of February, Year of RenWu
April 6, 2002