這世界上無論好和不好，都是教人覺悟。好，就是教你覺悟好的地方；不好，就是教你覺悟不好的地方。好和不好都能覺悟，便沒有問題了。若好的不覺悟，便執著在這個好上；不好的不覺悟，便執著在一個不好上。無論執著「好」或「不好」，都是一種執著，有這種執著，在道業上就不能有所成就。必須要把好和不好的都看破，順境逆境都能處之泰然，就可以不被境界所轄。金剛經上說：「一切有為法，如夢幻泡影，如露亦如電，應作如是觀。」世間上一切有為法，好像作夢一樣，並不真實。又好像水中的浮泡一樣，是不實在的。像影子一樣，看是有，卻捉不住。又如同露水、雷電，瞬息消逝。應作這樣觀察，才能真正的看破；看破之後，還要放下。如果放不下，執著這個，執著那個，便得不到自在。無論順境或是逆境，把它放下，毫不執著，才能得到自在。~ 宣化上人開示

I am not able to find the English version for this but during the serach, I found a page that contains many quotes from Venerable Master Hsuan Hua:

Words of Wisdom

This page is very well structured with quotes in different category, here is one of the many that I like:

If you constantly return the light to reflect upon yourself and observe your nature, you will bring forth the Paramita of Wisdom. These acts establish your merit. Apply the Paramita of Wisdom widely at all times and in all places, and transform it ceaselessly. Don’t be defiled by or attached to anything. Refrain from doing any profane and immoral thing. This is virtue.

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Yesterday, a group of us from London visited the Forest Hermitage. Many thanks to KC for driving me and it was a enjoyable trip. The temple and the surroundings is very nice, but since it was raining yesterday, we didn’t get spend much time outside. It was quite easy to get to from London, not too far after getting off the M40. We arrived at around 10am, offer food to monks at Forest Hermitage and had a talk with Ajahn Khemadhammo. We did help out a little like like cleaning the kitchen and brassing. Afterwards, we went to visit the Wood Cottage as well, a cottage very close to Forest Hermitage where retreats takes place every month.

Meditation on Snowdon – There will also be a Walk and Meditation event on 14th & 15th on Snowdon. It’s a sponsored walk and Meditation on the highest point in England & Wales to raise money for Wood Cottage. A poster, details and a form can be found here.

I only managed to took some photos inside, much more on Steven’s site.

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一切眾生。從無始來。迷己為物。失於本心。為物所轉。故於是中。觀大觀小。

一切含有靈性的眾生，從無始直到現在，都被無明所遮蔽，因此迷惑自己的真心，反認自己是物體。因失去真心，便為外境之物象所轉移，所以就在萬物中，見大見小。

什麼是『為物所轉』？為物所轉即是背覺合塵，和物合股，混合在一起，見到什麼境界，便執著什麼境界，執著一生，便失去主宰，隨境遷移，愈移愈遠，好像迷路，愈迷愈錯，動被物礙，見大見小，便給物象所轉了。

若能轉物。則同如來。身心圓明。不動道場。

『若能轉物』，什麼叫轉物？轉物便是背塵合覺，不被外境物象所轉移。要明白一切外境，皆是自己心裏所現，『一切唯心造』。既然是自己心裏所現，為什麼要被它所轉移？要跟它跑？明白這個道理，就找到自己的真心，便能背塵合覺，和如來一樣，得到楞嚴大定，就有光明，身和心都能圓滿光明，隨處都是不動道場了。

當人迷時，妄認四大為自身相，便被四大所縛而不圓，妄認六塵緣為自心相，就被六塵所障而不明，這便是認物為己。又妄認諸法心外實有，這便是迷己為物。所以動被物轉，若能轉物，則身為法性身，圓照周遍，心為妙明心，靈明洞徹。萬物身心，本來一體，所謂『天地與我同根，萬物皆我一體』——哪還有什麼執著？不執著便能如如不動，了了常明，和如來一樣，隨處都是不動道場，隨處都是圓照周遍法性身。

摘錄自 大佛頂首楞嚴經卷一淺釋 ~ 宣化上人講述

“From beginningless time until now, all living beings have mistaken themselves for things and, having lost the original mind, are turned around by things. That is why they contemplate bigness and smallness in the midst of all this.

Commentary:

“From beginningless time until now, all living beings have mistaken themselves for things” “All living beings” includes beings born from wombs, from eggs, from moisture, and by transformation, as well as beings having form, beings lacking form, beings that have thought, beings that lack thought, beings that do not have thought entirely, and beings that do not lack thought entirely. All have mistaken themselves and considered themselves to be things. They do not know that things are basically objects within their true mind. “And, having lost the original mind, are turned around by things. Their true minds are not fundamentally lost, but they seem lost to them. They do not know that they still have their fundamental minds. Thus the fundamental, everlasting true mind is turned around by things, instead of it turning things around. That is why they contemplate bigness and smallness in the midst of all this. You look and say that the seeing is big and then that it is small. That shows that you are completely upsidedown. Ananda, you are very pitiful.”

“If you can turn things around, then you are the same as the Thus Come One.

Commentary:

What is meant here? To be turned around by things means to become attached to whatever outside appearance you encounter, to whatever state you’re in, and to get stuck in it. As soon as you ‘become attached, you run after things. Your self nature loses its control and pursues external states. Once it runs outside after things then the more it runs, the further away it gets. And the further away it gets, the more it runs. It’s like when you lose your way. The longer you are unable to find the way, the more nervous you become. And the more nervous you become, the farther away you go. The farther away you go, the farther you go down the wrong road. Following after things and being turned around by them involves the same principle.”

To “turn things around,” now; what does that mean? It means not running after things, but instead having things follow you and run after you.

“Things are inanimate,” you say. “How can they run after me? Living things can run after people, and we people can run after things, because we are animate. But how can things run?

Don’t be too rigid in your interpretation. Things turn you around, or you turn things around; if you do not run after things, things will be turned around by you: the meaning is that if you understand your true mind, then all external states are merely manifestations of the mind. They are things that are manifested from within your mind. Since they are in your mind, why do you want to run after them? Don’t run after them.

Basically, there is no separation between you and things. To turn things around is to understand that everything is made from the mind alone, that everything is a manifestation of the mind alone. To be turned around by situations is to “turn your back on enlightenment and unite with the dust.” To oppose the doctrine of enlightenment and form an association with external dust, mundane objects, is to be turned around by things. To turn your back on enlightenment and unite with the dust is to form an association with things. It is as when someone wants to open a business but lacks sufficient funds, and someone else offers to buy shares of stock. When you
turn your back on enlightenment and unite with the dust, it is as if you had formed a partnership with the dust. You have joined together with it. That is to be turned around by things. If you turn things around, you “turn your back on the dust and unite with enlightenment.” You oppose the things which you see now, you separate yourself from them and unite with enlightenment. It is like turning your hand over. The back of your hand represents turning your back on enlightenment and uniting with the dust. To turn your hand over is to turn your back on the dust and unite with enlightenment

Just turn it over. That is what is meant by turning things around. If you can turn things around, you are the same as the Thus Come One. Why is the Thus Come One called the Thus Come One? Because he turned his head around; he came to understand. He truly understands, and thus he is called the Thus Come One. If you understand your true mind, then you are the same as the Thus Come One.

Quoted from Shurangama Sutra: Text, Commentaries, and Articles – Volume 2

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Following the Vesak Day celebration at London Buddhist Vihara, this weekend there is a celebration at Leicester Square kindly organised by London Fo Guang Shan (FGS) Temple. It started at 12:30pm yesterday with opening speech from a few Venerable masters including a representative from London Buddhist Vihara, Ajahn Khemadhammo who gave a speech on “caring for the name and images of the Buddha“, and other VIPs include the Lord Mayor of London. There were quite a few events on the day, one of the main one is the Bathing of the Buddha, so what does it mean and why do we perform the bathing of the Buddha?

On this day, Buddhists take part in the ceremonial bathing of the Buddha. They pour ladles of water scented with flowers over a statue of the baby Siddhartha. This symbolizes purifying one’s thoughts and actions. ~ The Basic Teaching of the Buddha

And in Chinese, this is called 浴佛:

浴佛偈：「我今灌浴諸如來，淨智莊嚴功德聚，五濁眾生令離垢，同證如來淨法身。」

A related Q&A about 浴佛 quoted from 佛學問答類編 – 李炳南老居士解答

問：四月八日各寺浴佛，既說世尊法身是一塵不染，何必用人代他沐浴？（林夢丁）
答：誠如所云，法身無相，安用浴為；此不過後世弟子，追念往昔，藉此儀式，表示敬心而已。

I didn’t manage to take many photos, but thanks to Jac for some nice photos, click for the photo below for more.

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第二度是持戒。佛教中最重要的是戒，什麼是戒呢？戒是「止惡防非」，止惡是停止一切的惡事，防非是提防所有的過錯，也就是「諸惡莫作」——所有的惡事都不要做，「眾善奉行」——所有的好事都要去做。

我告訴你們一件事：小時候，我是不懂算數的。一有錢就給了人，有一塊錢給一塊錢，有兩塊錢就給兩塊錢，這在一般人來說，是不是太愚癡了呢？其實這是幫助人，幫助人就是利人，利人就是菩薩發心，菩薩發的心是要對人有利益的，自己忍苦而勞，受點委屈都可以，這種利他的心就是菩薩心，菩薩心就是「眾善奉行」。

我們不要只願盤算著這一回我有沒有吃虧？有沒有上當？看看自己有沒有占著便宜？一切事情總要算算自己的利益，總想要佔便宜，但是到頭來卻發現自己吃虧了，所以我們應該為人家打算，不應該為自己打算，持戒的目的，也就是要做到「諸惡莫作，眾善奉行。」

那麼，戒有多少種呢？戒有很多種，基本的有五戒，在家學佛的皈依三寶之後，若想往前進一步，就要受五戒，受了五戒之後再前進是受八戒、十戒；受十戒就是沙彌了，受了沙彌戒後要正式做出家人，就必須受二百五十條比丘戒，比丘尼則要受三百四十八條戒。菩薩也有戒，菩薩戒有十重、四十八輕，重的犯了不能自行懺悔，輕的犯了還可以改過自新。

佛將入涅槃的時候，阿難向佛請示：「佛在世的時候，佛是我們的師父；佛入涅槃之後，我們以誰為師呢？」佛陀便告訴他們說：「我入涅槃之後，應以戒為師。」

所以，在家人要受戒，一定要向師長求，授戒也是一定從比丘受，在佛的戒律上比丘尼是不能授戒的。戒也有沙彌戒、比丘戒、菩薩戒等很多的名稱，任何人要想修道就一定要受戒，守護清淨的戒體就好像守護摩尼寶珠一樣，例如終南山道宣律師，因為持戒持得精嚴，便有天人來送供，可見持戒是最要緊的。學佛的人如果不守戒，就等於一個瓶子底下有了洞，水一裝進去就漏掉了，要是能守戒，久而久之就會成為無漏。

摘錄自 大佛頂首楞嚴經卷一淺釋

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This year for Mother’s Day, QuGee has decided to sing a song for all our mums. It was harder than I thought as I don’t sing often but it was definitely worth while. Will have some photos up later. Here is the lyrics:

《真的愛妳》

曲：黃家駒　詞：小美　編：BEYOND

-> Xiaoyun, Jac, YSS
無法可修飾的一對手　帶出溫暖永遠在背後
縱使囉唆始終關注　不懂珍惜太內咎

-> Kwok Hei, YGG
沉醉於音階她不讚賞　母親的愛卻永未退讓
決心衝開心中掙扎　親恩終可報答

-> Terry, Vincent, Kamil
春風化雨暖透我的心　一生眷顧無言地送贈

-> All
是妳多麼溫馨的目光　教我堅毅望著前路
叮囑我跌倒不應放棄
沒法解釋怎可報盡親恩　愛意寬大是無限
請准我說聲真的愛妳

-> Kwok Hei, YGG
仍記起溫馨的一對手　始終給我照顧未變樣
理想今天終於等到　分享光輝盼做到

Here are posts from QuGee related to this:

[Kamil] [Terry] [Jac] [Xiao]

Happy Mother’s Day

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