跑腿 林鈺堂

恰似有子萬事「足」,侍兩足尊跑腿忙;
奔馳法務未暫停,累積哩程計資糧。

俗謂:「有子萬事足」。嘗戲解此「萬事足」為萬事之跑腿,因為家中一有嬰兒即需不停為供應其生活必需品而奔忙矣。

佛,以其智悲兩皆具足,又稱「兩足尊」。由於佛視眾生猶如親子,吾人侍佛、學佛即需為種種服務眾生之法務而奔忙,又成一種「有子萬事足」矣。

為法務跑腿是修行者累積佛道資糧的妙方,因為它助成貫通佛與眾生的菩提管道。以近代飛航事例為喻,如此累積之哩程可望使將來往生淨土之品位「升等」。


                     二○○三年十一月七日
                     養和齋    於加州


Running Errands Yutang Lin

Just as having children one simply runs for all sorts of errands,
Serving the Both-Complete Reverend keeps one busy running.
Unceasingly taking care of Dharma matters, one after another,
As mileage accumulated counted toward upgrade in Pureland.

Comment:

A Chinese proverb says, "Having children one is satisfied with everything." The Chinese word used for satisfaction has another meaning of foot. Hence I used to joke about this proverb by interpreting it as saying: having children one becomes feet for everything, because once there is a baby in the house then one will have to keep running errands to maintain the necessary supplies.

Since a Buddha possesses both wisdom and compassion to their completion (satisfaction), a Buddha is also called as "Both-Complete Reverend." In Chinese the title is literally "Two Satisfaction (Feet) Reverend." Because Buddha regards all sentient beings as dearly as biological children, when we serve Buddha and learn to become Buddha we need to run all sorts of errands in order to provide Dharma services to sentient beings. Thus there is another type of "Having children one becomes feet for everything." Running errands for Dharma services is a wonderful way for practitioners to accumulate merits toward progress on the path. The reason is that such activities help form a Bodhi channel for communication between sentient beings and Buddhas. Citing modern practices of airline industries as an analogy, the mileage thus accumulated would help us gain upgrade of our lotus seats for rebirth in Pureland.


Written in Chinese and translated on November 7, 2003
El Cerrito, California


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