时间：02/10/2024 02/11/2024
地点：星湖禅修中心
主讲：Lucy Zhou
佛法修行
对佛陀最诚敬的供养
佛陀八十岁那年，抱病来到末罗国的拘尸那城。
那时，佛陀患了严重的腹泻，到城中的娑罗林就无法再走了，遂选择在林中的双树间入灭。
佛陀要求尊者阿难在双树间为他铺床，头朝北，面向西，双足交迭，保持正知正念侧卧。这时，娑罗树虽然不在开花的季节，却开起花来，花朵从树上掉落下来，纷纷落在佛陀身上。除了娑罗树花外，还有更多的曼陀罗花与栴檀香末，从空中飘下，落在佛陀身上，也飘满了附近的地面，空中还响起了乐声与歌声。
对这些奇异的景象，佛陀为尊者阿难解释道：
「阿难！这是一些栖居在娑罗树林，笃信如来的夜叉天神，以奇异的花来供养我，但这不是真正的供养如来。」
「那怎样才算是真正的供养如来呢？」尊者阿难问。
「只有能受持正法，实践正法，随戒、随法而行的，才算是真正的供养如来！」佛陀说。
于是，就有这样的偈颂，将这个情形记录流传下来：
「佛在双树间，偃卧心不乱。
树神心清净，以花散佛上。
阿难白佛言：云何名供养？
受法而能行，觉华而为供。
紫金华如轮，散佛未为供；
阴界入无我，乃名第一供。」
Date: 02/10/2024 02/11/2024
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Lucy Zhou
Dharma talk
The Most Sincere Offering to the Buddha
In the year when the Buddha was eighty years old, though already ill, he arrived at the city of Kuśinārā in the land of the Mallas.
At that time, the Buddha was suffering from severe diarrhea. Upon reaching the sāla grove outside the city, he was no longer able to continue walking, and so he chose to enter final nirvāṇa between two sāla trees in the grove.
The Buddha asked Venerable Ānanda to prepare a bed for him between the two trees, with his head to the north and his face toward the west. He lay on his right side, with his feet placed one upon the other, maintaining clear awareness and mindfulness. Although it was not the season for the sāla trees to bloom, they burst into flower. Blossoms fell from the trees and gently rained down upon the Buddha. Not only sāla flowers, but also mandārava flowers and powdered sandalwood drifted down from the sky, settling upon the Buddha and covering the surrounding ground. Music and singing were also heard resounding in the air.
Seeing these extraordinary phenomena, the Buddha explained to Venerable Ānanda:
“Ānanda, these are yakkha deities who dwell in the sāla grove and have deep faith in the Tathāgata. They are making offerings to me with wondrous flowers. But this is not the true offering to the Tathāgata.”
Venerable Ānanda then asked,
“What, then, is truly considered an offering to the Tathāgata?”
The Buddha replied:
“Only those who uphold the true Dharma, practice the true Dharma, and conduct themselves in accordance with the precepts and the Dharma—only these are truly making an offering to the Tathāgata.”
Thus, the following verse was composed and handed down to record this event:
“The Buddha lay between twin trees,
His mind undisturbed, serene and clear.
The tree deities, with pure hearts,
Scattered flowers upon the Buddha.
Ānanda asked the Buddha:
‘What is called an offering?’
To receive the Dharma and put it into practice—
That awakening-flower is the true offering.
Golden blossoms, wheel-like and bright,
Scattered on the Buddha are not true offerings;
To realize the selflessness of aggregates, elements, and sense bases—
This alone is called the foremost offering.’”
