【證嚴法師開示】
時光易逝, 無常吞噬, 我們要時時知道, 要覺悟無常, 無常每一個時刻, 每一秒鐘, 亳釐都未離開我們周圍.
Time flies by quickly and life is impermanent. We need to awaken to this truth and always keep it in mind. At any moment, impermanence is lurking around us.
黑鼠與白鼠“The Black Rat and the White Rat”
舉一個例子, 這個故事應該大家曾經聽過, 有一位平時守衛打獵的人在打獵, 有一天他忽然間有很多野獸, 從四方八面攻擊過來. 他一個要對付這麼多來自四方八面的獸頪, 野獸都攻擊過來, 他該怎麼辦呢?他趕緊攀住一根樹藤, 看到一口古井想要下去. 看到這根樹藤他趕緊抓住, 想要攀下古井裡, 這根樹藤剛好垂落古井裡. 攀著井邊要垂落下去時, 突然看到井底有四條蛇, 若是下去, 有四條蛇, 要爬上來四方八面有猛獸. 因此這時候, 他抬頭看著這條樹藤.
樹藤上有二隻老鼠, 白鼠黑鼠, 黑白二鼠正在囓咬, 咬那根樹藤, 他很擔心, 藤若是被咬, 老鼠不斷咬囓, 不停的咬, 這根樹藤就會斷掉, 看著牠們愈咬, 樹藤愈細了, 又看到井底四條蛇抬頭等著他, 這過程很緊張. 不過, 他緊張到嘴巴張開, 卻看到蜜蜂在樹上築巢, 蜂窩破了, 流出了蜂蜜, 此時正巧沿著樹枝滴下蜜, 正巧流入他的嘴裡, 因此嘴中的蜜, 一滴一滴一直流進來, 卻因此忘記黑白二鼠正在樹藤上囓咬, 也忘記了井底的四條蛇. 正抬頭看著他. 這時候全都忘記了.
There is a story that you may have heard of before.
Once, there was a hunter. When he went hunting one day, a pack of wolves appeared and began closing in on him. He was all alone, and the wolves were going to attack him. What was he to do? He started to run until he saw a vine hanging down from a tree into a well. So, he grabbed the vine and saw that it was long enough to reach the bottom of the well. As he was descending into the well, he suddenly saw four snakes at the bottom of the well. So, he was trapped. There were snakes below and wolves above. He kept looking down and up, not knowing what to do.
Then, he saw two rats, one white and the other black, gnawing at the vine he was clinging to. He was very scared and worried. If the rats kept gnawing at the vine, it would eventually break. Looking up, he saw that the vine was getting thinner; looking down, there were four snakes waiting for him. He was very scared. He was so scared that he opened his mouth wide.
At the time, it just so happened that there was beehive on the tree above and honey was oozing out of the hive and dripping right into his open mouth. As he was enjoying the honey, he forgot about the rats above that were gnawing at the vine and the snakes that were waiting for him at the bottom of the well. He’d forgotton all the dangers around him.
其實這個故事, 正是譬喻我們平時皆是無常, 黑白二鼠, 白鼠代表白天, 白天的時候就像那隻白鼠. 一直囓咬, 一直囓咬, 咬這根樹藤, 彷彿是分秒的時間, 分秒的時間正是如此不斷地流逝, 白天已娙過去了, 輪轉而來的就是夜晚, 夜晚的這隻老鼠也是同樣一直流轉而去. 所以我們平時的時間, 就好像那根樹藤一樣, 不論何時就是一直消逝. 時間的消逝, 也就是我們年紀的增長, 所以常言道, 不是增加一歲, 是我們生命又少了一歲.
This story teaches us that life is impermanent. The white rat represents the day while the black rat represents the night. As the white rat gnaws at the vine non-stop and the vine gets thinner and thinner, it represents that our day diminishes as time passes by second by second. After the day comes the night. The black rat gnawing at the vine symbolizes how nights are also slipping away like days. In other words, our time decreases continuously just like how the vine, becomes thinner and thinner. At time passes by, we increase in age. But as we grow older each year, the time we have in this world actually diminishes by one year.
井底的四條大蛇, 就是警惕我們四大: 地, 水, 火, 風. 四大若是一大不調, 我們的身體就會開始生病, 哪個部位有毛病, 就會破裂, 腫脹, 感染等等一直惡化, 這都叫做地大不調. 很多的病水不消, 或者是血液不調, 有的稱作白血病, 這也是水大不調和, 若是火大不調, 量一下體溫, 超過三十七度, 八度, 九度, 三十七, 八, 九度了, 甚至調達四十度, 若不趕快降體溫, 火大不調. 還有風大不調, 若是每天風大不調, 呼吸就不調和, 不論如何, 我們的身體四大若不調和, 就是不健康了, 不健康就像那四大蛇一樣, 我們體內若是不調和, 傷害就會很大, 我們人難道不是這樣嗎? 明明知道黑白二鼠囓咬那根樹藤, 明知時間有限, 我們到底能活幾歲沒有人知道, 因為無常. 何時那根樹藤, 藤根斷了, 就是命根斷了. 到底有多久, 我們不知道, 我們明知四大假合的身體, 若有一大不調和, 無常來得很快, 但是好似蜜水一般, 蜜滴入我們嘴裡, 蜜就如欲, 欲念, 我們若嘗到一點甜頭, 受到欲的誘引, 就會無了時地沉淪下去. 若想再回頭, 是不容易的事, 所以說來, 我們能得人身, 得聞佛法, 起了一念的覺悟能夠追隨佛陀的教法, 實在很可貴, 所以自己有所警覺, 也要教導別人有所警覺.
The four snakes in the well represent the four elements of earth, water, fire and air of our body. When one of the four elements becomes imbalanced, we will fall ill. For example, when we have a wound that fasters, swells, etc., it is due to the imbalance of the earth element. When we suffer form edema, or blood disease such as leukemia, our water element is in disequilibrium. When we have a fever and our body temperature rises above 37 or even reaches 40 degreed Celsius, it means our fire element is imbalanced. The air element is our breath. When the air element becomes imbalanced, we’ll have respiratory problems.
So, when the four elements of our body are imbalanced, we fall ill. Such an imbalance can cause great harm to us, just like the four snakes at the bottom of the well. Doesn’t the story say much about us? We all know that our time ticks away just like how the vine is being gnawed away. None of us knows how long we will live as impermanence may strike anytime. Our life may end at any time just like how the vine may break suddenly. So, we do not know how long our life will last. Although we all know that we will fall ill and even lose our life, when an element of our body become s imbalanced, we are still often tempted by our desires, which are like the honey dripping from the beehive into our mouth. When we give in to our greed, we’ll spiral downward without end, and it won’t be easy for us to return to the right track.
Therefore, we must know that it is truly rare for us to be born as humans and to lern and awaken to the Buddha’s teachings. When we are aware of the impermanence of life, we must also awaken others to this truth.
各位, 學佛沒有別的, 我們要了解, 提高警覺晝夜無常, 畫夜無常, 從身邊不斷過流逝, 四大毒邪在體內不斷侵犯. 只要我們某個部位一不調和, 真是苦不堪言.
In practicing Buddhism, we must always keep in mind that days and nights keep passing us by. As time ticks away second by second. We must also understand that when any of the four elements of our body becomes imbalanced, we will suffer unspeakably.
(Source: Da Ai TV Television 2014/1/26 - 證嚴法師說故事–Stories Told by Dharma Master Cheng Yen)
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