沙彌尼近廉 講於2011年10月25日星期二晚萬佛城大殿 A talk given by Shramanerika Jin Lian on October 25 (Tuesday), 2011 at Buddha Hall of CTTB

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諸佛菩薩、宣公上人、諸位法師、諸位善知識：阿彌陀佛！今晚輪到沙彌尼親節近廉和大眾結法緣。在我的報告中若有任何不符合佛法的地方，請慈悲指正。我知道最近大家都很忙，也一定已經都累壞了，所以今晚我想和大家分享個故事，一個真實的故事。

Buddas, Boddhisattvas, Venerable Master, Dharma Masters and all good knowing advisors, Amitabha. Tonight is Sramanerika QinJie Jin Lian’s turn to tie Dharma Affinities with the assembly. During my talk, if there is anything not according with the Dharman, please kindly correct me. I know these days everyone is busy and worn out. So tonight, I would like to share a story with all of you. A true story.

他出生在越南一個有很多兄弟姐妹的大家庭裏，他是最小的一個。父母在他很小的時候就去世了，所以除了他們的名字，他根本沒有父母的任何印象。雖然他的大哥盡他的所能，從精神上和物質上來照顧這個家庭，但是他們卻還是極端的貧窮。有的時候甚至於幾天都沒有飯吃，沒有任何的機會接受任何一種教育，他願意做任何的事情，只要能活下去，他什麼都會做。用他自己的話說：「那個時候，我是真正的一個壞小子！」村子裏每個人都很怕他。

Born into a big family with many siblings in Vietnam, he was the youngest one. His parents died when he was very little, so he only knew their names without any other impression. Though his eldest brother tried the best to take care of the whole big family financially and mentally; they were still extremely poor, sometimes there was even no food to eat for several days. Without the opportunity to take any kind of education, he would do anything no matter what to make himself survive.  In his own words:” I was an extremely bad boy at that time, everyone in my village was afraid of me.”

當他十六歲的時候，戰爭爆發了，他應徵入伍。就在軍隊要離開他們村子的前一個晚上，有兩個女人要求見他。他覺得很奇怪，因為當他看到她們兩個人的時候，他知道他完全不認識她們，所以他認為一定是有什麼誤會。就在他準備轉身離開的時候，其中一個女人叫出了他母親的名字。他呆呆地站在那裏，認真地看著這兩個女人：其中一位的服裝很奇怪——他從來都沒有見過；另一位是普通的家庭婦女的樣子。那個叫出他母親名字的女人哭了，她說她是他已經去世母親的好朋友，這些年來因為她自己家也貧窮，所以她覺得非常抱歉，這些年來都沒有幫過他們一點點。現在又得知她最好朋友的小兒子要去戰場，很可能會在戰爭中死去，她再也不能袖手旁觀了，她真的想幫他，所以邀請了一位比丘尼來為他講法。

When he was 16 years old, the war started. He was recruited. One night just before the day they left the village, two women requested to visit him. He felt very strange when he saw these two women.  He was assured that he did not know them, so there must be a mistake, however, just when he wanted to turn back and leave, one of the women called his mother’s name. Frozen there, he took a good look at them. Two old women, one’s clothes were very strange, he had never seen before; the other who knew his mother’s name was quite common. The woman cried and told him that she was one of his deceased mother’s good friends. During these years, due to her own poor situation, she was very sorry that she could not help them a bit. So now knowing her best friend’s youngest son was going to the front line and probably would die in battles, she could not stand by the side any longer. She really wanted to help, so she invited one Bhikkuni to speak dharma to him.

他完全被這兩個女人給搞糊塗了，身為一個年輕人，當他聽到她們說：在戰爭中他很可能會死去的時候，他非常的生氣，真的好想去揍她們。但是在公共場合他沒有辦法，所以他裝著順從，想讓她們早點離開。其實他根本沒有聽那個比丘尼說的話，只是記得最終比丘尼一直、一直地要求他要念「南無觀世音菩薩」，說：在任何的狀況下，如果他需要幫助的時候，一定要念「南無觀世音菩薩、南無觀世音菩薩」。南無觀世音菩薩七個字也不是什麼大事。一般說來，他從來不接受任何人的建議，但是為了讓她們趕快離開，他同意了——好！只要有需要，他一定會念那七個字。那兩個女人非常開心，就離開了。

He was totally confused by these two women. As a young man, he felt quite irritated when he heard that he would probably die in battles; however he was not supposed to beat them in public as he wished. So he decided to be obedient and make them leave as soon as possible. He did not pay any attention to the Bhikkuni’s talk. He only remembered that at last the Bhikkuni insisted him reciting “Na Mo Guan Shi Yin PU SA” whenever he needed help. “Na Mo Guan Shi Yin PU SA” 7 words, not a big deal, normally he never accepted any kind of suggestion, however, in order to make them leave quickly, he agreed to recite the 7 words whenever he needed help. Those 2 women were delighted and left.

幾十年過去以後，當他再回憶起這件事情的時候，他依然覺得非常的奇怪：怎麼會在新兵訓練營，兩個女人會來造訪一個壞小子？其中一個還是比丘尼！那是他第一次看到一個出家人。怎麼會？他會答應她們來念「南無觀世音菩薩」，那簡直是不可思議的！但是最不可思議的事情是：那七個字真正地改變了他的生活！幾十年過去之後，當他真的想感謝那兩個女人，想真心誠意地再聽她們說法。花了很多的金錢和精力，他都沒有辦法再找到她們，只知道一個在逃離越南的路途中死去了，另外那位比丘尼也杳無音訊，因緣真是我們凡夫不能掌控的。

Several decades later, when he recalled this, he still felt very strange. How come, in a new recruit’s camp, 2 women came to visit a bad boy, and one was a Bhikkuni? That was the first he saw a left home person. How come he would promise them to recite “Na Mo Guan Shi Yin PU SA”? That is unbelievable to him.  But the strangest thing is the 7 words really changed his life. Decades after that when he really wanted to thank those two women and sincerely listen to the Dharma, spending lots of energies and money, he could not find them at all, only knowing one died while fleeing from Vietnam, and that Bhikkuni had totally disappeared.  The cause and condition is really beyond our control.

他成爲了一名傘兵，並沒有接受良好的訓練，他和他的戰友們就開始了第一次的任務。當飛機機艙打開的時候，每個人都在顫抖。當他站在艙門口的時候，向外看去，那無邊的虛空……，他真的覺得他是在自殺。在極度的失望和絕望之中，他想起了那比丘尼的話，他真的想試一下那七個字：南無觀世音菩薩。閉起了他的眼睛，念起了這七個字，他被踢出了機艙。一陣巨風吹過，將他吹離了指定的目的地。很幸運，他安全地降落了。但同樣是那陣大風，幾乎讓他所有的戰友都死在了這一次的行動中——有些被吹進了大海淹死了；有些被吹到了敵人的軍營，立即被擊斃；有些人就摔死了……。很長一段時間，他認為他的倖存是因為他的幸運。一直到他開始相信佛教，開始相信佛法，他才意識到：那根本不是什麼幸運，那是感應，那是觀世音菩薩的感應，但那個時候他真的是太愚癡了，完全不知道那是什麼。

He became a paratrooper. Without being well trained, he and his colleagues performed their first task. Everyone was trembling when the door of the cabin opened. When he stood in front of the door, looking outside the vast emptiness, he felt as if he was committing suicide. In grave despair, he wanted to try the words of the nun “Na Mo Guan Shi Yin PU SA”, closing his eyes, reciting the 7 words; he was kicked out of the cabin.  A big gale blew him off the destination point. Fortunately, he landed safely. But most of his colleagues died in this mission because of that gale: some were blown into the ocean and drowned; some were blown into their enemies land and were shot immediately, some failed in landing. For a long time, he attributed his survival to luck, until he studied the Buddha Dharma; he realized that it was not luck at all, but the response from GuanYin Boddhisattva, but he was too stupid to learn that at that time.

得感謝那一次的登陸，他有了一個逃亡的機會。但是，就在他回到家的那一刻，他就被抓住了。做為一個逃兵，懲罰是非常嚴厲的，他被立即送往前線。而他知道：如果這一次他不趕快逃走的話，那他就完了！在去前線的路上，他得到了一個非常重要的訊息——有一位司機能夠幫人逃跑。付了足夠多的賄賂錢，這個司機給他指明了逃生的方法：在重型卡車的底部，兩個油箱當中懸著一塊很窄的木板。司機告訴他：「在晚上大家都睡覺的時候，你就藏在那塊木板上。第二天早上淩晨兩點，重型卡車就會離開，那個時候沒有人會發現。但是，一旦事情暴露的話，那你就會被當場擊斃。」他同意了。

Thanks for that landing; he got a chance to desert. But just when he arrived at his home, he was caught by the army. Being a runaway solider, the punishment was severe. He was sent to the battle immediately. And this time he knew he would be finished if he did not escape quickly. On the way to the battle, he got a very important information that there was a driver who could help people sneak away. Paid enough bribe, the driver showed him the way: at the bottom of the cargo between two big fuel tanks hung a piece of narrow wooden board. The driver told him to hide in that board that night when everyone was sleeping. The cargo would leave the next morning at 2 AM; no one at that time would be alert. However, if it failed, he would be killed on the spot. He agreed.

每件事情在那天晚上都非常順利地發生著，直到他終於成功地溜出他的房間，走向那輛重型卡車的時候，突然有一個人在他的背後拍了他的肩膀。他太緊張了，都沒有辦法發出任何的聲音。那是個男人——和他住在一起的另外一個人，那個人跪在他面前，請求帶他一起走，否則的話他就要大叫，那就沒有人能夠走。沒有第二個選擇，他只有為他付了雙倍的錢，來執行這一個不可能的任務。背靠背躺在那一片窄窄的木板上，兩個男人只能緊緊地把他們的背擠在一起，來保持平衡。巨大的輪胎就在他們後面滾動，一旦他們失去平衡、摔在地上，那他們兩個人就會當場被壓扁。

Everything went smoothly that night. Until he successfully sneaked out of his dorm to the cargo, someone behind him clapped on his shoulder. He was too scared to scream. It turned out to be the man who shared the same room with him. That guy knelt down and pleaded to join him, otherwise, he would yell out then no one could go. Having no choice, he had to pay double fee for this mission impossible. Laying back to back on that narrow piece of wood board, the two had to squeeze their backs tightly to keep balance. The huge tires were right after them, once they fell, and then both of them would be jammed.

那真的是一種巨大的折磨。直到今天，當他在回憶起那時的經歷，巨大的恐懼、巨大的折磨依然在他的心裏，依然在他的眼睛裏……，「南無觀世音菩薩」是唯一能夠救他的方法，念著「南無觀世音菩薩」的聖號，才能夠讓他忘記那不可忍受的噪音、令人窒息的粉塵和威脅生命的恐懼。他感到那個男人也好像在念著什麼東西，但是他的聲音太小了，聽不清楚。他很好奇，所以他聽了那個小小的聲音很久、很久，終於知道那個男人也在念「南無阿彌陀佛」！雖然他不知道「南無阿彌陀佛」是什麼意思，可是他很高興地發現：這前面兩個字和他念的是一樣的。最後他們到達了一個大城市，花了整整一天的時間，他們終於結束了他們恐怖的旅途。

That was a tremendous torment; even today, when he recalled this experience, the great suffering was still in his eyes. Reciting “Na Mo Guan Shi Yin PU SA” was the only way for him to forget the unbearable noises, the suffocating dusts and the life-threating stresses. He felt the other man was also humming something, but that sound was too soft to hear. He was so curious that he listened to that humming for a long time to figure out the man was reciting “Na Mo A Mi Tuo Fo”. Though he did not know what that meant, he was happy to notice the first 2 characters were the same as his. Finally, they arrived in a big city. It took almost a whole day long for them to finish the journey.

很多年以後，當他想再找到那個男人並幫他移民加拿大的時候，他才被告知：那個男人在他回家之後，由於那一次潛逃，巨大的痛苦一直在折磨著他，不久之後他就自殺了。他不能夠在精神上真正地解放自己，最後他只有用自殺的方式，在肉體上得到了解脫。最終，阿彌陀佛沒有救他，或者是他拒絕了阿彌陀佛的拯救？是「個性即命運」呢，還是定業不可轉？那真的是一個太大的主題，我們沒有辦法真正地討論清楚。

Many years after that, when he wanted to find that guy and help him to immigrate to Canada, he was told that man committed suicide shortly after his returning home. Tortured by that great suffering in that fleeing, he could not liberate himself mentally; finally he shot himself to set him free physically. Eventually Amitabha Buddha could not save him, or was it he that refused to be saved by Amitabha Buddha? Is personality the fate; or is fixed karma unchangeable? That is a huge topic, too big to discuss thoroughly…

他一心想回家找到他的大哥，請他幫忙離開越南。但是，噩運又一次跟他說Hello——他在半路上又被抓住了。第一次被抓住，做為一個逃兵，他被立即送往前線；第二次被抓住，做為一個逃兵，他就要被就地正法。但是他很幸運，那個長官沒有認出他，當長官問他名字的時候，他說了另外一個他同村人的名字。所以，當他在軍營裏看到那個真實的（同村）人的時候，他差不多都快昏過去了。每當長官查看點名冊的時候，他就在心裏發狂地念「南無觀世音菩薩！南無觀世音菩薩！」相同的名字、相同的住址、相同的父母名字……，但卻是兩個截然不同的人，住在相同的軍營裏六個月，沒有一個人發現有什麼不對。是不是又是幸運呢？那個時候，他自己都覺得很奇怪：為什麼他會這樣的幸運？

He wanted to go home to meet his eldest brother to ask him to help leaving Vietnam ASAP. But bad luck once again said “Hello” to him. He was caught on the way home. Caught the   first time as a run-away solider, he was sent to the battle immediately; caught the second time as a deserting solider, he would be shot on the spot. However, he was really lucky; the officer did not recognize him. When the officer asked his name, he replied with another name of his villager who he remembered. So when he saw that true person was also in that camp, he almost fainted. Every time when the officer was checking the name list, he would recite “Na Mo Guan Shi Yin PU SA” in his heart crazily. With the same names, same addresses, same parents’ names, these two different persons lived in the same camp for 6 months, and no one was aware of the unusual coincidence. Was that luck again? At that time, he himself was also wondering why he had so much luck.

當然，這位菩薩的寵兒又一次得到了一個機會溜走了。這一次他成功地回家，遇到了他的大哥，得到了大哥的幫助，順利地逃亡到加拿大。在加拿大也有很多很奇怪的事情發生，讓他最終相信了佛法，成了一個真正的、虔誠的佛教徒。他花了他所有的生命來宣揚佛法，建立自己個人的居士林。後來他遇到了上人，被上人的德行所感，將他的居士林捐給了法總，甚至在他年紀很大的時候，依然每天都會去華嚴寺幫助建設。

Of course as the darling of the Bodhisattva, he got a chance and ran away again. He successfully went back home and met his eldest brother, who helped him flee to Canada. And in Canada, many other amazing things happened to make him believe in the Buddha Dharma and become a very dedicated Buddhist. He put all his life to propagate the Dharma and founded his own Buddhism community, and later on he encountered VM Hua. Deeply moved by VM’s virtuous practice, he donated all his community to DRBA and even in his old age he still helped a lot to construct the Avatamsaka Monastery in Calgary, Canada.

實際上，是我個人非常有幸，能夠與這位老人一起工作了三個月。但是直到我搬到聖城，在無意中打開一本紀念上人的紀念冊的時候，我才明白他是一個多麼奇特的人。在那本書裏我看到一張照片，在那張照片上，一個中年人穿著一身黑袍，看上去更像是一個道士，而不是佛教徒，他看上去像極了在香港鬼片裏的那個「鬼見愁」（專門殺鬼的道士），照片裏他領著上人參觀華嚴寺。

It is me who actually is lucky to have an opportunity to work with him for almost 3 months in Calgary. But it was until I moved to CTTB, once I happened to open a book in memory of the VM Hua, and then I knew he was such a special person. I saw a picture: in this picture, a middle-age man looks like a Daoist ( like the actor who was good at killing ghosts) was leading VM to visit the Avatamsaka Monastery.

我非常震驚地看到相片中的他，和我真正看到的他完全是兩個人，我差不多不能夠把他們兩個聯繫在一起。當然，照片中的他是比現在年輕很多，但是，那個讓我感到震驚的不是年齡的問題，是那股氣，那種從他身上散發出的氣，只是在照片中，你就能夠感覺到他那時那股暴虐的殺氣。

It is me who actually is lucky to have an opportunity to work with him for almost 3 months in Calgary. But it was until I moved to CTTB, once I happened to open a book in memory of the VM Hua, and then I knew he was such a special person. I saw a picture: in this picture, a middle-age man looks like a Daoist ( like the actor who was good at killing ghosts) was leading VM to visit the Avatamsaka Monastery. I was shock to find out that man was him, same person but totally different feeling. I barely could connect the man in the picture with the man I met. Yes, he was much older. But the thing shocked me was not that, it was the energy emitting from him. Even seeing that picture you could feel his tyrannical personality.

但是，那個人——在卡加利〈加拿大〉我遇到的那位老人，卻是一個可愛的倔老頭，完全的兩個人。他臉上的每一條線都完全軟化了，現在的他，眼睛裏充滿了慈悲。我相信那就是觀世音菩薩的功勞——成功地將一個壞小子變成了一個好男人，我深深的知道：那是觀世音菩薩做的。我的故事講完了。阿彌陀佛！

But the person I met in Calgary is a very nice but a little bit stubborn old man. After many years practicing Guan Yin Boddhisattva really transformed him. The lines on his face totally softened. His eyes now are full of compassion and kindness.  I believe that is the great work of Guan Yin Boddhisattva. She successfully transforms a bad boy to be a good guy. I know that from the deep of my mind. My story is finished. Amitabha!