要记住，要通达佛理。对佛教的理论要想得通，想得明白，要懂得佛理。佛教的理论有些人懂，可以讲出来，但是做不到；有些人呢，做得到，但是讲不出来。如果又懂，又不懂，又讲不出来，那就是无缘之人。世界上很多都是无缘之人，真的很可怜，救不了的啊。
Remember, you must thoroughly understand the Buddhist teachings. You need to think them through until they make perfect sense; you must truly grasp the core truths. Some people understand the theory and can talk about it, but they can’t put it into practice. Others can practise the teachings, but they can’t explain it. If someone neither truly understands nor can explain them, then they lack karmic affinity. There are many such people in the world; it is truly unfortunate, as it’s very difficult to guide and awaken them.
师父给大家讲，要合光即悟。合光即悟，就是和佛光接上，那么你就得到佛光普照，马上开悟。要无我无人，就是说，学佛的人要把自己忘记，没有我自己，我脑子里没有人了，什么都空了。当自己犯错的时候，自尊心很强的时候，要想到：“我有什么？我是谁呀？我做错事情不应该的？我有什么可强调的？要什么面子啊？我本身就是有很多污点才过来学佛的，我不是圣人啊。不是圣人，做错事情是正常的。”学佛的人，要把自己忘记，我就是学佛人，我就是菩萨，叫无我无人。这样的话，直至菩萨——因为你没有你自己了，你的境界才会上去，你才会到菩萨界。然后你的真性不能移动，也就是说，你的本性是不能移动的。所以很多人说“你忘本了”，什么叫“忘本”啊？你的良心被狗吃掉了，你真正的好人的本性都没了，吹牛、撒谎、欺骗、偷盗……你什么都来，你就是一个没有本性的人了。
I tell you all: you must “merge with the light and awaken.” This means connecting with the Buddha’s light. Once you are illuminated by that light, you can awaken instantly. You must achieve a state of “no notion of self” and “no notion of others.” This means a Buddhist practitioner must forget themselves—there is no “I” and no “others” in the mind; everything is empty. When you make a mistake and your pride starts to flare up, you should think: “What am I? Who am I, really? Is it so unthinkable that I made a mistake? What is there to insist on? Why am I so worried about my ego? I came to Buddhism precisely because I have so many flaws; I’m not a saint. Since I’m not a saint, it’s only natural that I’ll get things wrong.” A cultivator must forget the ego and simply think, “I am a Buddhist practitioner; I am a Bodhisattva.” This is what it means to have no notion of self and no notion of others. By doing this, you head straight for the Bodhisattva realm—because once the “self” is gone, your spiritual state can finally rise.
Furthermore, your true nature must remain unmoved. Your innate nature cannot be shifted. People often say, “You’ve forgotten your roots.” What does that mean? It means your conscience has been “eaten by dogs.” Your true nature as a good person is gone, replaced by bragging, lying, cheating, and stealing. If you do these things, you have lost your true nature.
要在心中没有是非。这个是非常有哲理的事情，是什么意思呢？自己心中没有对和不对的。你们做得到吗？没有是非，就是没有一个事情是对的，或者不对的，这样才能把自己忘记。因为你觉得这个事情你是对的，你一定进入“贪瞋痴”三毒中，你永远不会认为你自己是错的。所以师父经常劝徒弟，你们不要把任何一件事情先用自己的心来衡量“我对和不对”，没有什么对不对的。“这个事情啊，我要怎样怎样……”解释半天，没用。自己做错了，“哎呀，是他不好，他怎么样讲我……”一解释，你又错了，你叫错上加错。如果有两个人不开心了，两个人都跑到师父这里来讲。一个人说“师父，我错了”，还有一个人说“师父，是他不对，我根本没有说过他怎么样”，你看师父说哪个人不对？你们还要我讲吗？你们肯定和师父一样说那个不讲话、承认错误的人是对的，而另外一个人肯定是错的，明明有道理，也肯定是他错。
You must reach a point where there is no right or wrong in your mind. This is a very profound idea. It means reaching a state where you don’t categorise things as “correct” or “incorrect.” Can you do that? Having no right or wrong is the only way to truly forget the self. Think about it: the moment you decide you are “right” about something, you have already fallen into the Three Poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance. You will never believe you are in the wrong. This is why I often advise my disciples: do not rush to judge everything according to your own sense of right and wrong. There is no “right or wrong.” If you spend ages explaining, “I did this because of that…” it’s useless. If you make a mistake and immediately say, “Oh, it was his fault, he said this about me…” the moment you start making excuses, you are wrong again. That’s called “doubling down on a mistake.” If two people are unhappy and both come to me, and one says, “Master, I was wrong,” while the other says, “Master, it was his fault, I never said anything like that,” which one do you think I’ll say is in the wrong? Do I even need to tell you? You would all agree with me that the one who stays quiet and admits their fault is the one who is right. The other person—even if they have a “valid reason”—is definitely the one in the wrong.
学佛人心中要没有是非，因为只有因果。所以那些不懂学佛的人根本不理解这是非常有哲理的话，“说没有是非，那我们就跟着不好的事情做了？看见坏人，那我们也不去阻拦他了？”那是另外一个概念了。那是因为在人间，因为你是人，你才会有对错；我们是学佛菩萨，我们才认为人间是没有对错，只有因果。
A Buddhist practitioner’s mind must be free from “right and wrong,” because there is only cause and effect. Those who don’t practise Buddhism cannot grasp how profound this is. They might ask, “If there’s no right or wrong, does that mean we just go along with bad things? If we see a villain, do we not stop him?” That is a different concept entirely. You see, it is only because you are human that you see things in terms of right and wrong; but as we learn from Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, we realise that in this world, there is no right or wrong—there is only cause and effect.
要守戒。要用心戒，什么事情都要用心来戒。难啊，难受啊，很喜欢吃蛋糕的，已经胖成那个样子了，看见蛋糕嘴馋啊——咬咬牙，不吃。到结婚年龄了，一直没有结婚，看见男人，看见女人了，“哎呀，真想跟他谈恋爱”——必须克制。我教你们青年人怎么克制的？你们的意念一闪，我就马上把他拧回来。你不是说你要守戒吗？你不是说你一辈子交给菩萨了吗？你有一点点，我就把你拧过来，什么都不许有。那么其他佛友就可以了？来了一个听众，男孩子，我是刚刚在外面看见的。一个男孩子进来，好像蛮老实的，人也长得蛮帅的，还有三四个人围着他要去讲呢。你说，你们是学佛人啊？你们这些小女孩不给人家看得轻啊？看得重一点不可以吗？我对其他弟子不给他讲这么深，但是对你们徒弟，我必须讲这么深。
You must observe the precepts. And you must observe them with your heart—in everything you do. It’s hard; it can be painful. For someone who loves cake but has put on too much weight, seeing a cake is a struggle—you have to grit your teeth and refuse it. Or take someone who is at a marriageable age but still single; seeing an attractive person might trigger a desire for romance—you must exercise restraint.
How do I teach you young people to restrain yourselves? The moment a stray thought flashes through your mind, you twist it back immediately. Didn’t you say you wanted to keep the precepts? Didn’t you say you’ve dedicated your life to the Bodhisattva? If you stray even a little, I’ll pull you back. I don’t allow for any exceptions. Is it okay for other practitioners then? Just now, I saw a new young man outside. He looked honest and quite handsome, and immediately three or four girls were swarming around him to chat. Tell me, are you Buddhist practitioners or not? Don’t you young ladies care about your self-respect? Can’t you carry yourselves with a bit more dignity? I don’t speak this bluntly to everyone, but to you, my disciples, I must be this firm.
自己要自律啊！知道自己不能做的事情，不要去做；不该说的话，不要去说。如果你控制不住自己，你就不要跟自然界，不要跟天意去斗啊，你斗不过的。你只有学圣人，你才能超脱它，你才能离开它。举个例子，火车开过来了之后，你就算是一辆最好的坦克车，你就横在那里，你能跟它斗吗？它180码开过来，你开60码。你一撞，坦克车都被它撞翻了。它是火车啊，它后面有加动力的。只有什么办法？等到火车来的时候，把车开离铁轨，离开这个轨道。也就是说，我们不要在人道里跟人一样来受，而且我们要把这个境界超脱。我们已经到了菩萨的境界，我们不跟人斗了，那你才真正离开了人间的烦恼道。师父给你们讲谁不好就是给谁加持，点到谁就是给谁加持，我不经常讲谁他就得不到加持。
You must be self-disciplined! If you know you shouldn’t do something, don’t do it. If you shouldn’t say something, keep your mouth shut. If you cannot control yourself, don’t try to fight against the laws of nature or the will of Heaven—you cannot win. Only by learning from the sages can you transcend and rise above it.
Think of it like this: if a train is hurtling towards you, even if you are in the best tank in the world and you park right in its path, can you win that fight? The train is coming at 180 km/h and you’re doing 60 km/h. When you collide, even a tank will be flipped. It’s a train—it has massive momentum behind it! What’s the only solution? When the train comes, you get off the tracks. You leave the path of the collision. Similarly, we shouldn’t just sit in the Human Realm and suffer like everyone else; we must transcend this state. Once we reach the spiritual state of a Bodhisattva, we no longer fight with others. That is when you truly move beyond the suffering of the world. Remember, when I point out someone’s faults, I am giving them a blessing. If I don’t mention someone often, they aren’t receiving that blessing.
要用心戒，什么事情要用心来戒。比如说喝酒，表面上我不喝了，我把两个手捆起来，没用，因为心里还想着。要在心里，“我不能再喝了”，那才是真正的戒。过去有一个小孩子咬指甲，他爸爸妈妈知道手指甲里面都是细菌，就给他手指甲那里擦辣椒，他照样吃，不怕辣。把他的手捆起来，他千方百计把手挣脱出来，往嘴巴里放，这个就不叫心戒。心戒的意思，就是用心来戒掉这个事情，就是说，用不着你是否来拉住我，我自己不会做这些事情。
You must observe precepts with your heart. Take drinking, for example. If you say, “I’m not drinking anymore,” and tie your hands together, it’s useless because your heart is still craving it. True restraint is when, from deep inside, you say, “I will not drink anymore,” and genuinely mean it. There was once a child who used to bite his nails. His parents knew there were germs under the nails, so they rubbed chilli on his fingers. He still bit them—he didn’t care about the sting. They tied his hands up, but he did everything he could to break free just to put his fingers in his mouth. That is not restraint from within. Observing precepts with your heart means using your will to quit. It means you don’t need anyone to hold you back or pull you away; you simply won’t do those things yourself.
要有境界，你才能成功地攀上善缘。你有这个境界了，你就能达到这个善缘了。要开悟，才能理解、上境界。什么意思啊？你开悟了之后，你才明白，什么是高尚的，什么是低级趣味的。我们学佛，如果你的境界到了菩萨的境界，你才看得出人是多么的肮脏啊。同样在人间，你怎么能看得出人类是多么的肮脏呢？你只有到菩萨的境界，你才能看得出人类是多么的肮脏：尔虞我诈，天天你争我斗，挑拨……要记住，要超越人界，你才能看清人界。所以世界上种种的善恶都不能影响到你的心。世界上，人家做恶事了，也不能够影响你；人家做了很多善事了，骄傲了，拍马吹牛，假装模范了，跟你没关系，不能影响到你的心。今天不管谁要做了，不能影响到你的心。我就是这么实实在在在做，我不管人家。我要么不做，我要做就做好。所以一定要明白，任何善恶，我们都不影响到自己的心。
You need a high spiritual state to successfully connect with wholesome karmic conditions. Once you reach that level, those positive connections naturally come within your reach. You must reach awakening to truly understand and elevate your state. What does this mean? It means that once you are awakened, you finally understand the difference between what is noble and what is base.
When your mind reaches the state of a Bodhisattva, you begin to see just how messy and “dirty” human behaviour can be. How can you see the impurity of the world while you are still stuck in the middle of it? You can’t. You must reach that higher perspective to see the Human Realm for what it is: the constant deception, the daily infighting, and the backstabbing.
Remember, you must transcend the Human Realm to see it clearly. Once you do, the various “good” and “evil” actions of the world will no longer disturb your mind. If others do wrong, it should not affect you. If others do good but become arrogant, boastful, or seek praise, that too has nothing to do with you—it should not disturb your mind. No matter what anyone does today, keep your mind steady. Just do your work honestly and sincerely, regardless of others. Either don’t do it at all, or do it properly. You must understand that neither “good” nor “evil” should disturb your mind.
要学圆满的智慧。什么叫圆满？你们有人连智慧都不知道，怎么圆满啊？你们告诉我，什么叫学智慧啊？学智慧，首先要学知识。什么知识呢？师父天天跟你们上课，就是讲这些知识——佛学知识。要明白，要先学知识，你才能理解。因为你没有佛学理论知识的话，你根本不能理解佛教。第二，要实践运用。我们学了知识，我们理解了佛法之后，我们要运用，也就是说，势在必行。然后，有了行为，有了思维，这两个理念行为都是正的之后，你才能转换成智慧。就像拜师一样的，你先要填表格，然后要让你自己的行为能过关，然后你才能有拜师的资格。要有智慧不容易啊。心中要明理的人，才能有智慧；心中要有本性的人，才能有智慧啊。
You must learn complete wisdom. But what does “complete” mean? Some people don’t even understand what basic wisdom is, let alone how to make it complete. So, how do we learn wisdom? First, you must acquire knowledge. What kind of knowledge? The things I teach you in my daily Dharma talks—Buddhist knowledge. You have to learn this knowledge first so that you can understand it. Without a solid foundation in Buddhist theory, you simply cannot grasp the deeper meaning of the teachings. Second, you must put it into practice. Once we have the knowledge and we understand the Buddha-dharma, we have to apply it. In other words, action is a must. Only when your actions and your thinking are both aligned with the right principles can they gradually transform into wisdom. It’s just like becoming a formal disciple: you need to fill out the form and submit it, then you need to ensure your behaviour meets the required standard, and only then are you qualified.
Attaining wisdom is not easy. Only those who have reached understanding and clarity in their heart can have wisdom; only those who remain connected to their true nature can truly give rise to wisdom.
But really, what is there to this world? Who are you? Who were you before you were born? Who are you after you are born? Even a name is something that can be changed at will. And when the time comes to leave this world, who will you be then? You don’t even know where you are going. In daily life, if someone criticises you, you think, ‘This is terrible, I’m so embarrassed!’ But once you practice Buddhism, you must let go of those burdens.
多少事让人心痛、心罣碍，这是人间的多种苦。很多人碰到事情，心很痛，心中罣碍太多，又害怕，又牵挂，又有阻碍，这些都是人的毛病啊。人活在世界上，你知道你自己给自己带来多少痛苦吗？所以观世音菩萨在《心经》中说“心无罣碍”，叫你们无罣碍故啊。你们现在天天心中都有罣碍啊，罣碍我的孩子啊，罣碍我远方的男朋友啊，罣碍我的儿子能不能身体好一点，精神好一点啊……这都是罣碍。这人间又有什么呢？你是谁？出生之前你是谁？出生之后你又是谁啊？名字都可以随便改的。等到走的时候，你又是谁啊？你还不知道要到哪里去啊？日常生活中，你被别人讲了，“不得了啦，我没面子了”，学佛后就不要有罣碍。
So many things in life cause us anguish and mental burdens; these are the many forms of suffering in this human world. When things go wrong, many people feel deep pain. Their minds are cluttered with too many attachments—they are fearful, worried, and blocked. These are all common human flaws. Do you realise how much suffering you create for yourself?
This is why Guan Yin Bodhisattva says in the Heart Sutra: “The mind is free from all obstructions.” You are being told to be free from these hurdles. Yet, every day, your hearts are full of them. You worry about your children, you worry about your boyfriend far away, you worry about whether your son’s health or mental state will improve… these are all “obstructions.” But really, what is there to this world? Who are you? Who were you before you were born? Who are you after you are born? Even a name is something that can be changed at will. And when the time comes to leave this world, who will you be then? You don’t even know where you are going. In daily life, if someone criticises you, you think, “This is terrible, I’m so embarrassed!” But once you practise Buddhism, you must let go of those burdens.
人间的痛苦要有功德圆满的智慧去化解它。因为人间有很多的痛苦，必须要有智慧来化解它。就是想得开，想得明白，要开悟。因为想得开也是靠圆融的智慧。很多人不学佛一辈子都想不通，所以人间的嫉妒就不能解脱。如果一个人到现在还在嫉妒人家，说明他还不能解脱出自己。所以我跟很多小青年讲了，永远要记住：我们不嫉妒人家，我们只管耕耘，不问收获。至于人家有这个福德，人家有这个享受，那是人家的事情，我们不要去嫉妒人家。因为嫉妒实际上就是一种病菌，会使你伤风，会使你感冒，会使你生重病。很多重病都是由伤风感冒引起的。这个人本来体质就很差，再加上有病毒，有细菌，他会引发其它的病菌而产生重大的疾病。
The suffering of the human world must be resolved through complete wisdom and accumulated merit and virtue. There is so much suffering in life, and only wisdom can dissolve it. This means you must learn to let go, to understand clearly, and to become awakened. Being able to let go itself comes from balanced, well-rounded wisdom. Many people who do not practise Buddhism spend their entire lives unable to move past their problems, which is why they can never be free from jealousy. If a person is still jealous of others, it shows they have not yet freed themselves.
That is why I often tell young people: always remember—do not be jealous of others. We simply do our part and cultivate diligently, without worrying about the results. If others have blessings and enjoy good fortune, that is their own karmic reward; we should not be jealous. Jealousy is like a disease. It can weaken you, make you vulnerable, and lead to greater suffering. Just as illness can begin with something small and develop into something serious, a person who is already weak and then affected by negative influences can easily fall into deeper trouble.
我们要解脱争议。也就是说，我们要了解和脱离我们的争议。争议靠什么来化解呢？就是要随缘度化，随缘生活。我们做人要随缘：今天有的就有，明天没有的就没有。我们度化众生也是一样：我们今天能救他就救，不能救他就不救。要合光即悟，就是说要经常和菩萨的佛光接在一起，要和佛光一起，你就会变得非常的融合，马上开悟。
We must free ourselves from conflict and controversy. This means understanding the nature of disputes and distancing ourselves from them. How do we resolve conflict? By following conditions and adapting naturally, both in helping others and in living our lives. We must go with the flow: if we have something today, we have it; if it’s gone tomorrow, it’s gone. It’s the same when we guide and awaken others: if we can save someone today, we do; if we can’t, we don’t force it. You must “merge with the light and awaken.” This means staying constantly connected with the Buddha’s light. When you are in harmony with that light, you become naturally aligned with it and reach immediate awakening.