时间：01/11/2025 01/12/2025
地点：星湖禅修中心
主讲：龙示林
佛法修行
比丘闻莲喻坚固道心
佛陀在罗阅祇耆阇崛山时，一日，城中有五十位长者子亲诣佛所，礼拜佛陀，并且请佛为众说法。佛陀慈悲应允，为大众开示苦、空、无常、无我的道理。佛言：「世间夫妻即使恩爱白头，终不免生离死别；纵有荣华富贵，仍不免忧戚烦恼，难得自在。
汝等当知，世间之苦当急舍离，唯有清净涅槃，方能永断生死；唯有灭除众恶，才能永恒安乐。」长者子闻法欢喜，个个发心随佛出家修行。佛言：「善来比丘，须发自堕，法衣具足。」言毕，五十位长者子立即现出清净比丘相。
城中亲友听闻此一盛事，相约来到崛山供养赞叹，并且祈请佛陀及诸大比丘于次日午斋接受大众的斋供。次日，佛陀亲领法师到城里应供，用斋完毕，即为大众开示妙法，听闻者莫不法喜。然而，甫出家的长者子回到城中，看到亲眷，一时却萌生了恋家舍道的微细心念。
佛陀知道后，于回程途中，恰见田沟的污泥粪壤里，有五色莲花生长其中；花香溢满四周，掩盖了所有臭味，于是佛陀饶富深意地宣说一偈：「如作田沟，近于大道，中生莲华，香洁可意。有生死然，凡夫处边，智者乐出，为佛弟子。」语毕，便与大众返回崛山。
回到精舍，阿难尊者向佛请示：「世尊在田沟旁所说的偈语，弟子未能了达其义，愿世尊慈悲开示。」佛言：「阿难！你有看到那朵生于污泥粪壤中的莲花吗？」阿难答言：「有。」佛陀又开示：「人于世间辗转相生，寿命或长于百岁、或不满百年，世世苦乐齐受，饥渴寒热交替，热恼逼人，不得自在，犹如田沟中所蓄藏的粪壤污泥，臭秽不净。
若人能觉悟世间无常之理，因而发心学道，舍诸妄念，修清净行，亦如泥中能生香洁莲花。一旦修行成就，不仅能令自己得到解脱之乐，亦能救度宗亲族人，乃至一切有情众生；犹如此株香莲芬芳远扬，能掩远近臭秽恶气。」
五十位比丘闻佛说法，顿舍妄情染想，生坚固道心，精进不退。不久，皆证阿罗汉果。
Date: 01/11/2025 01/12/2025
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Shilin Long
Dharma Talk
The Monk Strengthened His Resolve Upon Hearing the Lotus Metaphor
One day, while the Buddha was residing at Vulture Peak in Rajagaha, fifty young noblemen from the city came to pay homage to him. After bowing respectfully, they requested the Buddha to deliver a teaching. Out of compassion, the Buddha agreed and expounded the principles of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self.
The Buddha said:”Even the most loving couples, who share a lifetime together, cannot escape the inevitability of separation by death. Even those enjoying wealth and power cannot avoid grief and suffering, nor attain true freedom. You must understand that worldly suffering should be abandoned urgently. Only the pure bliss of Nirvana can completely end the cycle of birth and death; only by eradicating all evils can one attain eternal peace.”
The noblemen, inspired by the Dharma, resolved to renounce worldly life and requested ordination to follow the Buddha’s path. The Buddha responded:”The virtuous monk,let your hair fall by itself, and let your robes appear complete.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the fifty young noblemen were instantly transformed into monks with shaven heads and donned robes, embodying the pure appearance of bhikkhus.
News of this event spread throughout the city, and relatives and friends of the new monks gathered to offer their praises and support. They invited the Buddha and the monks to accept alms at a grand meal the next day.
The following day, the Buddha led the monks into the city to receive offerings. After the meal, the Buddha gave another profound teaching, filling the listeners with joy and inspiration.
However, upon returning to the city, the newly ordained monks, seeing their families and loved ones, felt a subtle longing for their past lives. The Buddha, perceiving their thoughts, sought to guide them.
On the way back, they passed a ditch filled with foul-smelling mud and manure. Growing amidst this filth was a lotus flower radiating five colors, exuding a fragrance so pure that it masked the surrounding stench. The Buddha stopped and recited a verse with profound meaning:
”Just as from the ditch by the roadside,
Near the main path,
A lotus arises, fragrant and pure,
So too, though ordinary beings dwell in the midst of the burning fires of birth and death,
The wise aspire to transcend
And become disciples of the Buddha.”
After reciting this verse, the Buddha continued back to Vulture Peak with the monks.
Upon their return to the monastery, Venerable Ananda approached the Buddha and respectfully asked:”World-Honored One, the verse you spoke by the ditch—its meaning remains unclear to me. I humbly request your compassionate explanation.”
The Buddha replied:”Ananda, did you see the lotus blooming amidst the foul mud and manure?”
Ananda answered, “Yes, I did.”
The Buddha continued:”Living beings in this world are caught in the endless cycle of birth and rebirth. Their lives, whether lasting a hundred years or less, are filled with both suffering and fleeting joys, alternating between hunger and thirst, cold and heat.
They are constantly afflicted by the fires of suffering, never finding true freedom, much like the putrid mud and manure in the ditch.However, if one awakens to the truth of impermanence, resolves to follow the path, renounces deluded thoughts, and practices pure conduct, they are like a lotus blooming from the mud, radiant and fragrant.
Through diligent practice, not only can one achieve liberation and enjoy the bliss of freedom, but they can also inspire and save their family, relatives, and even all sentient beings. Just as the fragrance of the lotus spreads far and wide, dispelling the surrounding stench, so too does the light of awakening purify the world.”
Hearing the Buddha’s teaching, the fifty monks immediately abandoned their lingering attachments and defilements, strengthening their resolve and dedicating themselves to diligent practice. Before long, all fifty attained the state of Arhatship, realizing ultimate liberation.
