宣化老和尚开示(中英文双语)：爱死病、新肺炎与欲、爱、情

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宣化老和尚开示(中英文双语)：爱死病、新肺炎与欲、爱、情

　　AIDS

　　爱死病

　　新肺炎与欲、爱、情

　　宣公上人开示

　　The New Pneumonia, Desire and Emotional Love

　　A Talk by Ven. Master Hu

　　万佛圣城╱一九九二年八月十四日 Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddhas/ Aug. 14, 1992

　　恒颐法师记录 Transcribed by D.M. Heng Yi

　　各位善知识，各位同学，各位同修，和各位同愿：

　　修行人的絶症与良剂

　　我们生在这个娑婆世界，是最不幸运的人。这个娑婆世界，是无有众乐，但受诸苦，人心不古，道德沦亡，人人都是自私、自利，你争我贪，你抢我夺，你害我，我害你，甚至于至亲骨肉也互相残杀。很多国家，家庭破碎了，人也将要毁灭了，这样的国而不国、家而不家、人而不人，所以这是我们最不幸的事。

　　可是虽然不幸运，我们在这个万苦交煎，万恶充满的娑婆世界中，还有一线的希望。这一线的希望是什么呢？就是佛法还在这个世界。佛法在世间，我们若能急流勇退，发大菩提，以至诚恳切的精神来修持佛法，那还有出离娑婆世界的机会；不然的话，我们还是在六道里头轮回不息，这一种的苦难永远脱离不了。

　　因为这样，我们修道要发大菩提心，要了脱生死的苦，这样才不负我们出家一场。否则我们还是照样穿衣服，吃饭，睡觉。和在家人虽然穿的有所不同，吃的不一样，可是心还是烦烦恼恼，争争吵吵的。一天到晚妄想纷飞，不是想东就是想西，不是求名就是求利，这样子是空过光阴，自己把精神都散了。若尽向外驰求，到外边去找真理，这样就是找到尽未来际，不改自己的习气毛病，是出离不了娑婆苦的。因为这样，我们每一个人应该立定目标，认清自己所应该行，所应该做的事。

　　我们在修道的时候，最重要是不争；不争是不和任何人争长论短，争是争非。可是，我们不能不知道真理，要知道何去何从，知道怎么样改变自己的毛病；不要把自己弄得一天不如一天，习气毛病一天比一天多，这样生出了分外的贪求，总也不知足，在什么境界上都觉得是烦恼的。所以才说「知足常乐，能忍自安」，知足才能常乐，我们不要不知足，若不知足，就是常苦。就像烙饼似的，烙饼的火过了，越烙越糊，越糊越烙，烙得饼都变成火炭了，这根本不能充饥的。

　　你若吃这一种火炭的饼到肚里，就好像把火炭吞到肚里去一样，甚至觉得四肢发烧，没有精神，为什么？就因为你不懂得卫生的道理，把火炭也吃了下去。什么叫火炭呢？贪心就 是火炭。所以我们无论什么也不要贪，要知足，要能忍，但这个无上妙法，人人都把它忽略了。所以不争、不贪就能福寿无边，你要是争、贪、搅、 扰，就罪孽不少，要想出离三界，也是无有是处的。

　　所以我们修道，就是要去除无始劫以来的习气毛病，这是要紧的。为什么我尽和人争论是非长短好坏？我是干什么呢？要这样的反求诸己，省察自己的行为到底如何。不要说是说非，争长论短，在这儿没有是非却制造一个是非，没有烦恼又增加烦恼，如此就是不懂得修行，不懂得出家的重要性。我们每一个人若能这样子，这一线的希望还不至于断绝；若你还是照常争贪，这可以说是绝望了，可以说是等于生了「绝症」、「癌症」、「爱死病 」、「肺炎」一样。

　　背道而驰，灾劫横生

　　现在有个新品种的肺炎，还有爱死病；这「爱死病」等都是一种劫运。所谓有刀兵劫、水火劫、瘟疫流行劫。而这些劫，是属于瘟疫流行劫。现在不仅是单单一个国家这样子，在全世界这种病都是蔓延不可救药。不但普通人没有办法，就连医生也是照死不误。谁要接近肺炎病人就连呼吸都可以传染。

　　爱死病和肺炎病是有连带关系的，生爱死病和同性恋也有密切的关系。什么密切的关系呢？现在的人都是欲爱横流。今天有人用欲爱情来对对联，也正是说到爱死病的要害。生爱死病就是因为同性恋不合乎阴阳造化的道理；这是亡国灭种的行为，是互相摧残的行为，是互相暗杀的行为。它的害处，说不能尽，可是竟有这些妖魔鬼怪，在世界上兴风作浪，提倡同性恋。我虽没有计算过，可是我知道全世界，大约最少有一半的人类是有同性恋的趋向。全世界几十亿的人口里头，就每一个国家，都有一半的人有这样的倾向。这是一种破坏国家的行为、破坏个人的行为、破坏所有家庭的行为。这种行为是违背造化、违背阴阳道理的。本来一阴一阳之为道，偏阴偏阳之为极；偏阴或者偏阳，是一定会有绝症生出来的。我们这些人，都在这儿纵欲贪爱，为所欲为，连禽兽都不如了。

　　你看看那些禽兽，它是没有搞同性恋的；如果说把同性老鼠关在一起，它也会搞同性恋。那只是你逼着它，叫它那么做而已，它没有办法才搞同性恋。而你这些人类，没有人逼着你搞同性恋，为什么你又搞同性恋呢？这就是违背造化的一种理，才会生病。这些病就是给人的一种警告，叫你不要做这些事，你做这些事就会面临灭亡的。可是人还不醒悟，也不觉悟，在这儿一天不如一天。所以现在爱死病还不够厉害，而又另生出一种叫肺炎的病。以前的肺炎病还有药可医，但这种肺炎病，它的妈妈是爱死病，就是由爱死病而产生了这种肺炎病。说它是肺病，其实这是死症，要病死的。这个死病一生，无药可医，医生也束手无策，甚至于医生给你看病，也因同你一握手，这个肺炎就传到他那儿去。同你一说话，呼吸时传到医生那儿去了，连医生也都死了。所以护士、医生都没有自御防卫办法了。说戴上口罩，那呼吸气也一样的出入，还是一样的传染，口罩也不保险，这就是众生的业障到了，疾病来的时候就是同归于尽。

　　如何行持方是道？

　　什么样的人可以不死呢？就是真正修道的人。真正信佛的人，蒙佛的保护力量，才能免于这一些灾难。免于灾难是为了什么？是为了留住世界人类的种子。但如果在佛教里不自爱，还是会和一般人一样，没法子生存。除非住在山里头的老修行，看不见人，距离人所住的地方很远，这样的人才有机会存在。所以我们现在的人类不要「求」，这个「求」是求些什么呢？就是求男求女；男贪女爱的，这都叫求，向外驰求，总到外边去找快乐，找到了快乐，就是找死，是和死神来往了。

　　【编注：上人于今年八月十六日在洛杉矶金轮寺开示时，再度谈及爱死病造成的新肺炎，并教导大众勤诵大悲咒，庶几于瘟疫劫中求全。】

　　还有是不自利。我们为什么打妄语，说大话呢？就是因为想要自私、自利。你若没有自私、自利，不会打妄语、说大话来骗人，巧言令色，把话说得很动听的。孔子曾说：「巧言令色鲜矣仁」，巧言令色是没有仁德心。

　　所以我们修道的人，一定不要自满，不要自夸。为什么不要自满呢？所谓「满招损，谦受益」，你若自满，觉得自己了不起，那就有所损了；谦受益，对人要谦恭一点，对谁都要慈心下气，恭敬一切；你若是对人不谦虚，这就是贡高我慢。你谦虚，还要用真诚的心，但不须要太过谦虚。太过了，尽拍马屁，给人戴高帽子，这里头又怀欺诈，也都不是谦了。所以什么事情恰到好处，不要太过，也不要不及。所以你要能不自私，就不会打妄语、不会讲大话、不会尽那么虚假不实。我们修道的人，无论谁，有什么境界，都不要自以为是境界。

　　我在三十多年以前，曾经这么说过：我说人啊！将来都不是人了。现在的人身体皮肤都在换；有的人皮肤坏了，就拿狗皮肤来贴上，时间久了，就变了狗，因为你与这只狗合伙了。甚至，马、牛、羊、鸡、犬、猪等之皮。人就像一辆汽车似的，机件可以换；心、肝、脾、肺、肾将来都可以换。比如人换了一个狗的心，那行为和思想，就跟狗差不多了，所以这是很危险的，不要以为这个世界是好世界，好里头藏着种种的危机。

　　All Good Knowing Advisors, fellow students, fellow cultivators, and those with the same vows:

　　The Fatal Illness and Beneficial Medicine For Cultivators

　　We who are born in the Saha world are most unfortunate. This Saha world doesn't bring us any happiness; it only makes us undergo suffering. The minds of people today are not like those of the ancients; there is a drastic decline in morality. Just about everyone is selfish and self-benefitting. That is, you fight and I am greedy; you grab and I snatch; you harm me and I harm you; even to the point that blood relatives kill and harm each other. Many countries and many families are breaking up. Individuals are being destroyed. It is reaching the point that nations are no longer nations; families are no longer families and people are no longer people. This is our great misfortune. But although we are unfortunate, in the midst of the heat of these myriad sufferings, and the myriad evils that fill up this Saha world, there is one thread of hope. What is it ? It is that the Buddhadharma is still in the world.

　　We have a chance to courageously climb out of that treacherous current. We can bring forth the great resolve for Bodhi and cultivate the Buddhadharma with the utmost sincerity. In that way we have the opportunity to leave this Saha world. Otherwise, we will remain in the six paths turning without cease and never getting liberated from that suffering. In light of that, when we cultivate the Way we must bring forth the great resolve for Bodhi. We must end the suffering of birth and death. Then we will not have left the home-life in vain.

　　Otherwise, we are just wearing clothes, eating, and sleeping like anyone else. Although what we wear and what we eat is not the same as lay-people, our minds will remain afflicted just the same as theirs, so that we will quarrel and fight and be full of false thinking all day long. If our thoughts are not flying off to this place, they will be floating off to that place; if we aren't seeking fame, then we will be seeking benefit. We would just be wasting our time. We would just scatter our energy by always seeking outside and going outside to seek for true principle. You can seek to the ends of time, but if you don't change your afflictions and problems, you will never get out of this suffering Saha world.

　　Thus we should all set our goals and clearly recognize exactly what we should be doing. The most important aspect of our cultivation is not to fight. We should not fight with anyone, not quarrel over people's long points and shortcomings, or gossip about people's rights and wrongs. We can't fail to know true principle. We must know where we came from and where we are going. We should know how to change our faults, rather than just becoming worse every day. If instead we let such habits and faults grow more and more numerous each day, giving rise to greed and seeking for what is external, we will never be satiated. No matter what the situation is, we only know how to get afflicted. And so it's said:

　　Knowing contentment, one is always happy;

　　Being patient, one is always at peace.

　　Knowing contentment you will always be at ease. So we should not fail to know contentment. If we don't know contentment, then we will always suffer. It's like frying a pancake. If the fire is too high, then the more the cake is turned the more it gets burned. And the more it burns the more you want to turn it. You keep turning it until the cake is burned to a crisp. It won't satisfy your hunger.

　　If you eat this cake that's burnt to a crisp it will be just like swallowing hot coals. You will even feel that all your limbs are fire, and that you have no energy at all. Why?

　　It's because you don't know how to preserve your life. What are the hot coals? Greed is like hot coals. Therefore we should not be greedy for anything at all. We should know contentment. We should be patient. This is the unsurpassed wonderful Dharma. But all of us neglect it. By not fighting and not being greedy one will have boundless blessings and long life. If you contend, are greedy, and are always inviting trouble, then you will have a lot of karmic offenses. Even if you wanted to leave the Saha World there would be no way for you to do so.

　　And so we must cultivate the Way and get rid of our afflictions and faults. We must get rid of the habits and problems that have gone on for beginningless kalpas. This is very important.

　　Ask yourself, "Why am I always arguing with people about rights and wrongs and long points and shortcomings? About good and bad? What am I doing?"

　　You should turn back and seek within yourself and investigate your behavior to determine what you are really like. Don't gossip. Don't speak about rights and wrongs where there are no rights and wrongs. Don't stir up afflictions where there are no afflictions. If you do that, then you don't understand how to cultivate, and you don't understand the importance of being a left-home person.

　　If each of us can be like this, then this thread of hope will not be broken. But if you contend and are greedy as usual, then there is no hope to speak of. Then you could be considered terminally ill - you have cancer or AIDS. You have the new pneumonia.

　　When the Way is Opposed, the Disasters of the Kalpa Appear

　　Now there's a new kind of pneumonia, in addition to AIDS. AIDS and the other illnesses like it are disasters which occur towards the end of a kalpa. We speak of the disaster of wars, the disaster of floods and fire and the disaster of epidemics. This disaster falls into the category of epidemics. Now not just one nation is like this. The entire world has been infected by this illness. It has spread to such an extent, and it is incurable. Not only do we ordinary people have no way to resist it, even doctors aren't immune, and die from it. Whoever gets near someone who has this pneumonia will catch the pneumonia from the air he breathes.

　　AIDS and new pneumonia have a connection. AIDS and homosexuality are very closely related. What is this close relationship? People of this age are drowning in the river of love and desire. Today someone used love and desire in matching his couplet. He gave an accurate description of how fatal AIDS is. AIDS comes about because of homosexuality, which does not accord with the principle of yin and yang. This behavior will destroy our nations and bring about the extinction of humankind. This behavior is a kind of mutual abuse. It is mutual assassination. One can never finish describing the harm that this behavior brings. But still the weird creatures and deviant demons continue to stir up trouble in this world. They come to promote homosexuality. Although I have not counted the number of homosexuals in the world, I know that at least half the people in the world have a tendency towards homosexuality. In this world with its population of several billions, half of the citizens of every country have homosexual tendencies. This behavior destroys nations. This behavior destroys individuals. This behavior destroys families and homes. This behavior goes against the principle of yin and yang. Originally one yin and one yang make the Way. Too much yin or too much yang becomes an extreme. Extreme yang will definitely bring about a terminal illness and extreme yin will also bring about a terminal illness. People are indulging in excessive lust, greed and love, doing whatever they want. Their behavior is not even up to that of animals.

　　Look at animals: they do not indulge in homosexuality. Some people say that if mice of the same gender are put together they will practice homosexuality. But that's because you are forcing them to behave in that way. They engage in homosexual conduct because they have no other recourse. But why are you indulging in homosexuality? Since this principle goes against what is natural, illnesses arise. These illnesses are warnings, telling people not to engage in this behavior. If you engage in this behavior you face death. But people still have not awakened. Every day they are worse than the day before. AIDS was not severe enough, so now this new pneumonia has come about. The original pneumonia was curable. But this new pneumonia's mother is AIDS. The existence of AIDS enables this pneumonia to occur. Although we call it a disease of the lungs, actually this sickness is terminal. When you contract this pneumonia, it is incurable. Doctors can't deal with it. Their hands are tied. It's even reached the point that if the doctor sees the patient and so much as shakes hands with him, the pneumonia is transmitted to him. Or the patient might speak to the doctor and pass the disease to the doctor through the breath. And the doctors also die. Doctors and nurses have no way to protect themselves from this illness. They wear masks but the breath can still pass through the mask. It can still be transmitted just the same. Masks are no insurance against this disease. This is a case of living beings' karmic obstacles arising. When this kind of illness occurs, it is destined to wipe out the entire human race.

　　How can we cultivate the Way?

　　Which people won't die? Those who truly cultivate and truly believe in the Buddha will receive the Buddha's aid and protection, escape the disaster, and then what? They will be prepared to sustain the seeds of the human race. But Buddhists who do not respect themselves can also catch this disease. They will also die of the fatal illness. They will have no way to remain in this world. Only those who live in the mountains and don't meet up with people, those who live far from the human population so that within a year they might not even meet another person, might still have a chance to remain in the world, because they do not draw near to others. So we of the human race should not seek. What is seeking? Seeking refers to seeking men and seeking women. It refers to the craving men feel and the love women feel. That's what is meant by seeking – seeking outside, always seeking happiness from outside. Finding this kind of happiness, you have found death. You become friends with death.

　　(Editor's remark: When Ven. Master Hua went to Gold Wheel Monastery, he talked about this issue again and instructed disciples to vigorously recite the Great Compassion Mantra in order to be protected from epidemics.)

　　Not benefitting oneself. Why do people lie and make false claims? It's because they are selfish and seek self-benefit. If you weren't selfish and seeking self-benefit, then you wouldn't lie and cheat people. You wouldn't use clever words and an ingratiating appearance to move people. Confucius said: "Clever words and an ingratiating appearance are seldom associated with humaneness." Using clever words means saying things that people like to hear. Crafty words and flattering expressions are seldom humane.

　　As cultivators, we certainly cannot be arrogant and boast about ourselves. What is meant by arrogance? Why shouldn't we be arrogant? It's said, "If you are arrogant, you will harm yourself. If you are humble, you will attain benefit." If you are arrogant and think that you are fantastic, then you will harm yourself. Being humble, you will receive benefit. If you are humble towards other people, then you will be compassionate, agreeable and respectful towards all. If you are not humble towards other people, then you will be arrogant and haughty. But you must truly be humble. You can't go overboard. If you go overboard, then you end up flattering others and putting them up on a pedestal. If you are like that, then you are being deceptive instead of modest. So no matter what it is, you have to do it just right -- don't go too far and don't stop short. If you can refrain from being selfish, then you won't lie or boast. You won't be phony and untrue. No matter who we are, when we experience a special state in our cultivation, we shouldn't look upon it as a special state.

　　Some thirty years ago, I said that in the future people will not be people. Now, people can have skin-grafts; a person might have some of his own skin replaced with skin from a dog. After a long time, that person will become a dog because he has already become partners with the dog. The same holds true for the skin from pigs, horses, cows, sheep, and frogs. The human body is like an automobile with parts that can be replaced. In the future, the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys will all be replaceable. So many parts get transplanted. For instance, after a person's heart has been replaced with a dog's heart, his thoughts and behavior will become dog-like. This is a very dangerous practice. You shouldn't think that this world is a good one. Hidden inside what seems good, there are all kinds of crises.

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