同情 林鈺堂

遭逢鬼靈無需懼,一旦過身皆相同;
宿緣匪淺來求助,功德迴向共解脫。

有些人怕鬼。其實一旦過身,彼此相同,又何需懼?當知此類遭遇,繫於宿世因緣。彼等處境唯艱,只能求助於宿緣深厚者,或向修行久者求施功德之迴向。吾人當本同情互助、慈悲普濟之胸懷,以種種修法、行善之功德迴向彼等。彼等一旦脫困,即不再示現矣!

或有因此等遭遇而暫停修法的。這是錯認事情因果的作法。修法不是此種遭遇之原因;菩提心不真切,迴向不普及一切,才是鬼靈不去之因。當利用此等遭遇為增上緣,努力進修,多作功德迴向,使彼等脫困而去,而行者之慈悲亦得以增廣、純化;這樣才是解決此類事情之正途。


                     二○○二年十月廿三日
                     養和齋    於加州


Empathy Yutang Lin

Ghosts upon encounter are not to be afraid of;
Once crossed over this body, we are the same.
Past relations not shallow, they come for help.
Dedicate merits to them to share emancipation.

Comment:

Some people are afraid of ghosts. In fact, once we crossed over this body, we will all be the same; so why need we be afraid of them? This kind of encounters is due to past karmic relationships. They are in desperate hardship with none to turn to for help, except to those connected in past lives through deep association or flesh-and-bone relations, or to advanced practitioners to ask for their blessing of merits. We should, based on empathy that yields mutual help and compassion that extends universal salvation, dedicate merits accrued from all sorts of good deeds and Dharma practices toward them. Once they are free from their predicaments through such help they would not appear again.

Some practitioners, upon such encounters, would temporarily suspend their regular practices. This is a mistaken approach that misplaces the causes of such phenomena. Dharma practices are not the reason for such encounters. The reason why they would not disappear is that the practitioner's Bodhicitta is not pure enough, and the dedication of merits has not been universal to all beings. A practitioner should make use of such encounters as an opportunity for more diligent practices, and an impetus for more accumulation of merits for dedication to those beings so as to enable them to become liberated from the ghost realm. Thereby the practitioner's compassion would also grow in expanse and in purity. Thus is the proper way to resolve such matters.


Written in Chinese on October 23, 2002
Translated on November 2, 2002
El Cerrito, California


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