「如何」學習？─1090823中元法會 “How” to Learn? ---Dharma Assembly of the Zhongyuan Festival (Ghost Festival) of Chanting the "Sutra of the Original Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva" on August 23, 2020 @ 中華清淨學佛協會

在新冠疫情持續的狀態下，我們感恩仍能有俱足因緣請老師帶領我們持誦《地藏菩薩本願經》，進行一場殊勝的中元法會，為世界祈福，並迴向亡者及鬼道眾生。而且這是我們在今年初完成了之前一共十九次講座，學完了整本《地藏菩薩本願經》之後，第一次共同誦經，大家格外珍惜與感動。

In the continuing COVID-19 epidemic, we deeply appreciated that we still have the opportunity to invite the Teacher, Susan Duan, to lead us to chant the “Sutra of the Original Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva” and conduct a solemn Dharma Assembly of the Zhongyuan Festival (Ghost Festival) to pray for the world and dedicate the merits to the deceased and ghosts.

Moreover, it is the first time that we chanted “Sutra of the Original Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva” again together, after we completed the previous nineteen lectures of learning the whole “Sutra of the Original Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva” in the beginning of this year. Everyone specially cherished and moved.

會後，老師應我們請求，以老師獨到風趣又充滿智慧的比喻，做了簡潔又極重要的教導：

老師説我們在嚴峻的外境仍有這難得的人身活著，要好好珍惜並學習讓自己心靈成長的內容，這才是即便肉體消滅了，還能繼續帶到下一世的東西。

而進了三寶正信道場，學什麼的那個what，已經不用耽心了，就是學習佛教授的「明白之法」，但是重點是如何學習，也就是How。

After the Dharma Assembly, the Teacher gave us a concise and extremely important teaching with her unique and wise metaphor in response to our request:

The Teacher said that in the harsh external environment, we can still have the precious human body and are alive, we should cherish and learn the contents for spiritual growth which is the only thing one can take to the next life even if the body fades away.

We have been in the bodhimanda of correct buddhist belief, so we don’t need to worry about “What" to learn because we know that it is to learn “the methods of enlightenment“ taught by Buddhas. However, the key point is---“How” to learn.

老師指出學習時最怕的是，一者沒有記憶儲存功能，試想在電腦上做了一上午的報表文件，但沒法儲存，會是什麼樣的感覺？大家回答，生氣或哭泣。

再者，儲存的資料要「不失真」，否則原來是ABC，儲存完，變成BEH，這樣能用嗎?不但沒用，可能還造成誤解或損害。也因此，用心(儲存記憶)丶老實(照原本丶不失真）地學習，是十分重要的。

The Teacher pointed out that the most important thing to avoid when studying is: first, learning without memory function. The Teacher led us to imagine that when we had been writing a report on a computer for a morning, but it cannot be stored. What will we feel? The attendants answered, feel angry or cry.

Second, the stored data must be "undistorted". Otherwise, if you type ABC, but after storing it, it becomes BEH. Can it be used? The wrong data not only is unusable but also may cause misunderstandings or damage. Therefore, it is very important to study diligently (store memories) and with fidelity (based on the original, without distortion).

聽了老師用如此平易生動的比喻來回顧我們的學習，大家都感到很汗顏，也才明白我們為什麼有時花了時間學，卻事倍功半。感恩老師慈悲為我們開示，讓我們在嚴峻的疫情之下，外境動盪不安之中，知道了自己應該努力的方向(心靈學習)，當下心便安穩多了。感恩老師更因深知我們的根性---想學卻不知如何學，因此更以自身多年紮實學習的經驗教導我們「學習的方法」，我們才瞬間恍然大悟自己在學習上的「病灶」，大家都發心要將自己的身口意都「到場丶沒缺席」，依老師教的方法老實修，期許自己有一天能「升級」為自己的2.0、3.0版本。

After listening to the Teacher reviewing our learning state with such an easy and vivid metaphor, everyone felt embarrassed and realized why we sometimes spend time learning but get half the result with twice the effort.

We are grateful for the Teacher's compassionate teaching, letting us know the direction of life (spiritual learning) in the severe COVID-19 epidemic situation and the turbulence of the external environment, and then our heartsminds become more stable. We sincerely thank the Teacher for knowing our state of mind--want to learn but don’t know how to learn, and the Teacher taught us the "methods of learning" through years of solid learning experience of her own. Only then did we suddenly realize our "lesion" in learning, everyone made vows on the spot to make the behaviors, speech and mind “be present and not absent” and follow the methods taught by the Teacher honestly, hoping that one day we can “upgrade” to our own version 2.0, even version 3.0.