时间：02/21/2026 02/22/2026
地点：星湖禅修中心
主讲：龙示林
佛法修行
五百白雁听法
佛陀时代，舍卫国的波斯匿王对于三宝相当恭敬，他不但护持道场，也经常向佛陀请法。有一天，邻近的般遮罗国送了五百只白雁到舍卫国，波斯匿王为了给白雁找个合适生活的环境，于是将它们安置在祇桓精舍附近。
当天中午，精舍所有的僧众托钵回来，正趺坐聆听佛陀开示。忽然间，五百只白雁出现在僧众面前，并且井然有序地环绕在佛陀身旁。佛陀具足殊妙音声，虽然说的是一种语言，但不同的众生皆能随类得解。这群白雁似乎听得懂佛法，和悦的鸣叫声此起彼落，它们听完开示后，纷纷拍动着翅膀，兴高采烈地返回栖所。
数月之后，白雁的羽毛愈长愈密，它们离开了原本所栖息的水池，准备展翅高飞，寻觅另一处居所。飞行途中，经过了一个茂密森林，正当穿越树林之时，狡诈的猎人竟趁机布下罗网。初次外出的白雁，根本不晓得美丽森林里藏伏着险恶危机，它们就这样全数落入了猎人所设的大网。奇怪的是，身陷网中的雁群并未显得惊慌恐惧，也没有凄厉的哀鸣，反而发出了和听法时一样和谐的叫声。遇害的五百只白雁，由于曾经听闻佛法而种下善根，所以往生至忉利天成为天人。
投生成为天人的五百白雁，仍惦记着佛陀过去所开示的道理，更深深感念当时听闻善法的因缘。为了表达对佛陀的感恩，也为了再度听闻殊胜妙法，他们一同约定到精舍向佛陀请法。这一天，波斯匿王也来到精舍，他心想：最近为什么都没看见五百只白雁呢？佛陀知道国王内心的疑惑，特别在开示中为其释疑：「现前这五百位衣冠庄严的天人，就是那五百只白雁，他们因为深信佛法且心存恭敬，今天听了开示后，都证得须陀洹果。」
国王露出讶异的表情，请问佛陀：「这究竟是怎样的因缘啊？」佛陀说：「久远以前，在迦叶佛住世时，有五百位女子原本想求法受戒，但由于意志不够坚定，最后仍随顺自己的习气而屡屡犯过，致使多生以来流转于畜生道中。因为她们过去生曾亲近三宝，今生逢如来住世时，便能再与正法结缘。这就是白雁听法生天的因缘。」
Date: 02/21/2026 02/22/2026
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Shilin Long
Dharma Talk
Five Hundred White Geese Hear the Dharma
During the time of the Buddha, King Pasenadi of Śrāvastī was deeply respectful toward the Three Jewels. He not only supported places of practice but also frequently requested teachings from the Buddha. One day, the neighboring country of Pañcāla sent five hundred white geese to Śrāvastī. In order to find a suitable living environment for the geese, King Pasenadi settled them near Jetavana Monastery.
At noon that day, all the monks of the monastery returned from their alms round and were sitting cross-legged listening to the Buddha’s teaching. Suddenly, five hundred white geese appeared before the assembly of monks and, in an orderly manner, surrounded the Buddha. The Buddha possessed wondrous and subtle sound; although he spoke in a single language, different beings were each able to understand according to their kind. This flock of white geese seemed able to understand the Buddha’s teaching, and harmonious calls rose and fell one after another. After listening to the discourse, they flapped their wings and joyfully returned to their dwelling place.
Several months later, the geese’s feathers had grown longer and denser. They left the pond where they had been living and prepared to spread their wings and fly high in search of another place to live. During the flight, they passed over a dense forest. Just as they were crossing through the woods, a cunning hunter took advantage of the moment and set up nets. The white geese, venturing out for the first time, had no idea that dangerous threats were hidden within the beautiful forest, and thus they all fell into the hunter’s net.
Strangely, the flock of geese trapped in the net did not appear frightened or panicked, nor did they utter piercing cries. Instead, they produced the same harmonious sounds as when they had listened to the Dharma. The five hundred white geese that were killed, because they had once heard the Buddha’s teaching and planted wholesome roots, were reborn in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three as celestial beings.
After being reborn as celestial beings, the five hundred white geese still cherished the principles that the Buddha had taught in the past and deeply remembered the causal condition of having heard the wholesome Dharma at that time. In order to express their gratitude to the Buddha and also to hear the wondrous Dharma once again, they made an appointment together to go to the monastery to request teachings from the Buddha.
On that day, King Pasenadi also came to the monastery, thinking to himself: Why is it that I have not seen the five hundred white geese recently? The Buddha knew the doubt in the king’s mind and specifically resolved it during his teaching, saying: “The five hundred celestial beings before you now, dignified in attire and appearance, are precisely those five hundred white geese. Because they deeply believed in the Buddha-Dharma and held reverence in their hearts, after listening to the teaching today, they have all attained the fruition of Stream-entry.”
The king showed an expression of surprise and asked the Buddha, “What kind of causal conditions are these?” The Buddha said: “Long ago, during the time of Buddha Kāśyapa, there were five hundred women who originally wished to seek the Dharma and receive the precepts, but because their resolve was not firm enough, they ultimately followed their habitual tendencies and repeatedly committed faults, causing them over many lifetimes to wander within the animal realm.
Because in their past lives they had been close to the Three Jewels, in this life, when they encountered the time of the Tathāgata’s presence in the world, they were again able to form an affinity with the true Dharma. This is the causal condition by which the white geese heard the Dharma and were reborn in the heavens.”
