自心造淨土──1070407清明《佛說阿彌陀經》誦經法會 Build a Pure Land With Our Minds---Dharma Assembly of Chanting “The Amitabha Sutra” During The Tomb-Sweeping Festival on April 7, 2018 @ 中華清淨學佛協會

老師的話：

今日清明法會，我很榮幸也感恩在三寶的加持下，與清淨學佛協會的大眾、同學們，一同持誦<<佛說阿彌陀經>>。雖說我們也特別將今日誦經的功德迴向給眾人的往生親友，但我有感於長期看到個案或學生們終日辛勤工作，卻常常苦多於樂，煩惱不斷，決定一開場說了些話。我謹將這份拙見親自整理，公開在此。

From the Teacher:

Today’s Tomb-Sweeping Festival, I feel very honored and grateful to chant “The Amitabha Sutra” with the people and students of the Association of Pure Buddhist under the blessing of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. We also especially dedicated all the merits of chanting the Sutra to the deceased relatives. But for a long time I see my cases or students work hard all day; however, their sufferings are more than happiness, and they can’t eliminate their vexations; therefore, I decided to say something in the beginning of the Dharma assembly. And I wrote down the saying in person and make it public here.

大家辛勤工作、四處奔波，初衷是為了擁有溫飽等生活品質、實踐自我的快樂與成長，或是希望讓家人有好的生活品質，乃至跟周邊的人(父母、妻子、丈夫、兒女、朋友等)建立和諧相益的互動關係，但我們卻常常在沒有正見、正念之下，盲從於一些未經深刻檢視的價值觀，流於忙碌追逐名利，但突然發現，自己怎麼變得不快樂、與身邊在乎的人之間變得疏離、甚至怨懟，這時候或許就是我們該停下來問問自己的時刻，問問自己所忙的是否已經偏離了初衷？是否願意覺知乃至修正自心，去經營一個外在與內在真正平衡的生活？一旦內在與外在失衡，工作與生活失衡，理性與情感失衡，可能造成一些無法彌補的傷害。例如錯失了陪伴孩子成長的機會，等到孩子人格出現了問題，想再要改變，為時已晚；或與伴侶摯友疏於溝通，毀壞了原本可以擁有的幸福；乃至身體透支生病等等。

Everyone works hard and gets around, the original intentions are to have quality of life, e.g. have enough food and clothing, gain happiness and growth of fulfilling ourselves, or give family good life quality and even build harmonious interactions with the people around us (parents, wife, husband, children, friends, etc.).

But without mindfulness and right views, we often blindly follow some values which aren’t reflected deeply and then are busy running after fame and fortune. Then, we suddenly discover that why do we become unhappy and alienated from the people around us and even complain with each other? Maybe it’s time to come to a halt and ask ourselves that Have what I am busy for deviated from my original intentions? Am I willing to aware and even cultivate my mind to manage a life which is truly balanced internally and externally? Once the internal and external overbalance, the work and life overbalance, or the rationality and emotion overbalance, it may cause some irreparable harm. For example, if the chance of accompanying children to grow up is missed, when people find that there is something wrong with the child’s personality, it’s too late to change; or we may neglect to communicate with our partners and close friends and then we would destroy the happiness which was originally possible; or we even overdraft physical strength and get sick, and so on.

這又跟誦經有甚麼關聯呢？我正是以此鼓勵大家帶著這樣的省思，暫時把自己從忙碌的慣性裡抽離，平靜真誠地來持誦《佛說阿彌陀經》，在誦經的過程，幫助自心再次歸零，除了領受經文的深意，誦經後繼續保持覺知、省視自心，真正去思惟何謂苦、何謂樂，如此誦經的功德，不只在往生後才到極樂淨土，當下，就可以創造一個現生的淨土，使自己與周遭的人得到快樂。

And what does it have to do with chanting the Sutra? With the saying above, I encourage everyone to take such reflection, temporarily pull yourselves out of the custom of being busy in daily life and chant “The Amitabha Sutra” peacefully and sincerely. During the process of chanting the Sutra, it helps our minds back to the beginning again. In addition to receive the deep meaning of the Sutra, if after the Sutra chanting, we can still keep aware, reflect our minds and truly think what is suffering and what is happiness, and then the merits of chanting the Sutra can not only make us go to the Pure Land when we pass away but also create a living Pure Land right now which makes ourselves and the people around us receive happiness.