比丘近恭講於2012年10月31日星期三晚  萬佛城大殿  A talk given by Bhikshu Jin Gong on October 31 (Wed), 2012 at Buddha Hall of CTTB

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師父上人、各位善知識及在座的大眾：我是近恭，今天跟大家講法。如有講得不如法之處，希望您能夠改正我的錯誤，在事後或者在講的時候都很歡迎。

Ven. Master, great Assembly, all good and wise knowing advisors. I am Jin Gong, here to try to speak dharma for you. Of course you are welcome to correct my mistakes, either during or after this talk.

觀世音菩薩有千手千眼，當他聽到這個世間有人求救、有痛苦的聲音，他就會去幫助他們。如果有人對其他人伸出援助之手，幫助別人時，那我們也都隨喜功德。觀世音菩薩是沒有固定的形像的，他是會根據需要變化的。

Gwan Yin Bodhisattva has a thousand hands and a thousand eyes. Gwan Yin Bodhisattva hears the sound of suffering in this world and reaches out to help. Wherever someone reaches out with a helping had, we can rejoice in that merit and virtue. Gwan Yin can take many forms.

我們聽過修女德瑞莎（Mother Teresa）的故事；在1952，她在印度的加爾各答市創辦了第一個專門照顧臨終者的收容院（清心之家），完全免費，專門照顧窮苦的臨終者。這些臨終者在去世之前，就被帶到這個安寧的收容院，受到很好的臨終關懷，和醫療服務，讓他們能夠死得有一點尊嚴。

We have all heard of mother Teresa. In 1952 she opened the first home for dying in Calcutta India. It was a free hospice for the poor. Poor people who were dying were brought to this hospice. They were given medical care . They were given the opportunity to die with dignity.

德瑞莎修女是天主教的修女，但是她尊重所有臨終者自己的宗教信仰。所以當這些人要去世的時候，如果是回教徒，醫院的人就會幫他念《古蘭經》；如果是印度教徒，就能夠得到恒河的水；如果是天主教徒，在最後的時候就能夠領到聖禮。所以當每個人去世的時候，他們都能夠得到自己所希望的宗教儀式。

Now Mother Teresa was a christian. But she respected the religions of the dying people. The Koran was read to Muslims. Hindus received water from the Ganges. Catholics received the Last Rites. Everyone was given the appropriate ritual for their religion.

德瑞莎修女自己也講過：這些人雖然在活著的時候，有時甚至還不如一個動物。但是一個美好的死亡，希望能讓他們在去世的時候，能夠感覺自己像天使一樣，在一個被照顧，很仁慈，充滿了愛心的地方去世。

Mother Teresa said: “A beautiful death, is for people who lived like animals to die like angels—loved and wanted.”

當德瑞莎修女剛開始照顧這些印度的臨終窮苦人的時候，甚至連一個地方都沒有。後來，加爾各答市政府同意讓她使用一所印度教（卡裡）寺廟裡的一小塊地方。這個地方原來是專門提供給印度教徒朝聖時臨時的一個住處。後來這個地方變成了小偷、毒販或其他犯罪的人聚集的地方。不管條件如何，德瑞莎修女還是決定搬進去了，她就在那裡開始照顧這些貧苦的臨終者。

When Mother Teresa started her work with poor people who were dying, she had no place to care for them. The authorities in Calcutta offered her a section of the temple to the goddess Kali, this place had been dedicated for the housing of pilgrims. However, it was now full of thieves, drug addicts and other criminals. Nevertheless, Mother Teresa moved in and started taking care of the poor people who were dying.

隔了不久，就有很多謠言傳播，是關於德瑞莎修女的事情。這些謠言怎麼說呢？說她是一個外國人，而且是天主教徒；說她利用印度教的寺廟，去把所有的人改成天主教徒。所以，聽信這些謠言的人就開始抗議，也有很多人去報告警察，要求警察把德瑞莎修女從印度寺廟中趕走。

But soon rumors begin to spread about Mother Teresa. She was a strange foreigner and a Christian. She was using a Hindu temple to convert people to Christianity. Then people began to protest to the Calcutta city hall. Other people went to the police. They demanded that Mother Teresa be evicted.

警察局長就同意說：「好，我同意把她趕走。」接著，警察局長就去現場調查一下。他到現場時，看到德瑞莎修女正在照顧一個很窮，病得很重的人；這個人受了很重的傷，傷口處都潰爛了，還有蛆從傷口裡爬出來，臭得不得了……，讓人幾乎沒有辦法忍受；德瑞莎修女就在那邊很有耐心地幫助病人塗藥。

The police commissioner promised to throw her out. He went to Mother Teresa’s hospice to investigate. When the police commissioner first saw Mother Teresa, she was caring for a poor sick man. This man had severe wounds. Worms were crawling out of his wounds. The smell was unbearable, but Mother Teresa was patiently applying medicine to the man’s wounds.

接著，德瑞莎修女很尊敬地接待這個警察局長，問他是否需要帶他在醫院的病房裡參觀一下；這個警察局長對她說不用麻煩她了，他自己去檢查一下就可以了。他檢查完後，就離開了這個地方。

Mother Teresa treated the officer with respect she offered to show him around the hospice. But the police commissioner decided to investigate by himself.

後來他又碰到很多人，這些人對德瑞莎修女都是很不友善的；這些人就問這個警察局長說：「你到底什麼時候把這個修女修女趕走啊？」警察局長就說：「哦！我已經答應你們要把這個女人趕走，而且我絕對會兌現我的諾言，一定會把她趕走。但是，只有一個條件－－在這種情況下，我就可以把她立刻趕走。什麼樣的條件呢？因為這個女人正在照顧很多的病人；如果你能夠請到你的媽媽，或者姐妹，把這個修女的工作接過去的話，那我立刻就可以把這個修女趕走。」

As he was leaving the hospice, he met many people who were hostile to Mother Teresa.“Well”, these people said, “When are you going to throw she out?” The police commissioner replied: “I gave you my word that I would throw this woman out of here. I intend to keep my promise to throw her out. However, I have just one condition, before I will throw her out. This woman is taking care of sick people, if you can get your mother and sisters to take over her work, then I will throw her out.”

在1982年，當時以色列的飛機去轟炸，還用大炮去轟擊，位於黎巴嫩貝魯特的一個西方人在巴勒斯坦的臨時住處，有點類似集中營那樣的地方，炸死了500多人，炸傷了幾千人。這時德瑞莎修女就來到了貝魯特，希望穿過邊界，去集中營幫助那裡面住的那些人，特別是很多的小孩子。可是，當地的軍隊不准她進去，因為當時炸彈還在轟炸，非常危險。

In 1982 the Israelis were bombing and shelling PLO strongholds in West Beirut, lebanon. 500 civilians had already been killed and many thousand had been wounded. Mother Teresa had come to Beirut. She wanted to cross the border and assist the children that needed help. She was not allowed to do this because the bombing made it too dangerous.

於是，德瑞莎修女就跟美國大使說，她明天就能夠進去。她說我現在在祈禱，希望明天能夠停火，這樣子我就能夠進去，幫助那些小孩子，我深信明天一定會停火。這個美國大使完全不相信她講的話。為什麼呢？因為當時並沒有進行調停工作。所以那個大使就不相信明天就會停火，他說：「這是完全不可能的事情！」

She told the US Ambassador that she would be able to go the next day. I have been praying for a cease fire she said. I am certain that there will be a cease fire tomorrow. The Ambassador did not believe her. There were no negotiations for a cease fire, it was impossible.

結果第二天就真的停火了，就像德瑞莎修女所預言的那樣，真的就發生。所以德瑞莎修女就有機會穿過邊界，進到集中營裡面救了36個小孩子；這些都是在轟炸時受傷的小孩，她把他們都救了出來。

The next day the cease fire she predicted actually happened. She crossed the border and rescued 36 children who were victims of the bombing.

德瑞莎修女一再嘗試，努力去教所有的人怎麼樣仁慈。下面就是一些她講的話，是針對墮胎的問題。她說：「目前對於世界和平最大的毀滅者，就是墮胎。墮胎是一種戰爭；這種戰爭是針對這些小孩子的。是什麼樣的戰爭呢？就是很直接地殘殺這些無辜的小孩子。是誰去殺他們呢？就是他們的母親；母親自己去殺自己的小孩子。

Mother Teresa tried to teach people to be humane as well. This is from a speech that she made: the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion. Abortion is a war against the child. It is a direct killing of the innocent child — a murder by the mother herself.

如果我們大家都接受這種現象的話，認為一個母親可以，甚至能夠親手去把她自己的小孩子殺死；在這種情況下，我們又怎麼可能有辦法，使這個世界上所有的人不去互相殘殺呢？

If we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?

我們又怎麼樣才能夠說服一個媽媽不墮胎呢？我們必須要能夠說服她－－用愛來說服她；我們必須要提醒我們自己：仁慈、愛就是一種施捨、一種給予，一種不斷的給予；甚至於自己會覺得心痛也是要給予。在這樣的情況下，一個母親如果想要墮胎時，那她這時最需要的，就是能夠得到一些愛心；能夠有人教導她，讓她知道這個事情的嚴重性，使她能夠尊敬自己小孩的生命。

How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love. We remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love. That means to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, in order to respect the life of her child.

另外一方面，這個小孩的父親－－不管他是誰，如果這個父親對小孩沒有付出任何愛心的話，那從墮胎這個過程中，母親完全學不到愛心；她把自己的小孩殺死，只是為了解決她自己的問題。至於墮胎以後，這個父親就被通知了，可是他在整件事情的發生過程中，幾乎沒有承擔任何的責任。其實他應該也是把這個孩子帶到這個世界的主角，因為任何的責任負在他身上，所以他還是會繼續做同樣的事情－－讓其他的女人繼續面臨相同的麻煩。

The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble.

所以墮胎這件事，對這個世界沒有任何的幫助，只會造成更多的墮胎。任何國家，如果接受墮胎，而不教導國民以愛心對待小孩，反而通過一種很殘忍的方式，去殘殺小孩，得到他所要的東西。這就是為什麼世界和平與愛的最大破壞者，就是墮胎。」

So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.

下面是師父上人關於墮胎所講的話：「現在有很多疾病，幾乎沒有辦法救治。這些疾病並不是偶爾發生的，在這些疾病的後面，都是一些鬼。這些小鬼就是那些被墮胎的靈魂；因為他們還沒有機會變成人，就被殺害了，所以這些小鬼都很厲害，都充滿了仇恨。他們在這個世界上已經到處都是，他們的主要目的就是要報仇，就是要讓傷害他們的人痛苦，得各種奇奇怪怪的病。這些小鬼都很殘忍，很惡毒，很怨恨；因為他們被殘殺了，所以他們現在要報仇。」

Here is what the Venerable Master said about abortion: There are diseases which are hard to cure. These diseases do not happen by chance. Behind these diseases there are ghosts these little ghosts were fetuses who were aborted. They were killed before they had a chance to develop into complete human beings. So these ghosts have a grievance and want people’s lives in payment so now there are a lot of little ghosts everywhere trying to make people pay with their lives or causing them to suffer many strange diseases These ghosts are very ruthless and malicious. Why is this? Because they were killed first and now they want to take revenge.

其實，我們每一個人都可以協助觀世音菩薩做事，而且，很多人－－也可以是不同的宗教信仰，也可能是你，或者是我，我們都可以試著去幫助受苦的人；不僅是在當前這個時代，我們可以幫助那些受苦的人，使他們在未來可以少受痛苦。我們用什麼方法幫助他們，減少未來的痛苦呢？我們講法給他們聽。當所有的人了解了因果的重要，他們就會改變；一旦他們改變，就可以避免在未來受苦。所以我們在這邊念觀音聖號，是一種了苦的方法；我們學習佛法，也是為了要了苦；我們弘揚佛法，也是一種了苦的方法。

Anyone can help in the work of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva. It can be someone in another religion. It can be you or me. We can try to relieve the suffering that people are undergoing in the present. We can try to relieve the suffering that thy might have to undergo in the future. We can help people avoid future suffering by speaking the dharma. When people understand cause and effect, they can change and avoid future suffering. So we recite to end suffering. We study the the dharma to end suffering. And we can spread the dharma to end suffering.

下面還有一點時間，我跟大家提一下關於講經說法這件事。據我所知，我們沒有任何人比得上師父上人的講法好；雖然我們沒有那麼好，可是我們還是應該要盡我們的努力去講；雖然我們對佛法的了解不夠透徹，但無論如何，我們還是知道一些正法；如果我們努力去弘揚這些正法，還是會使很多人受益。 當佛陀在世的時候，他的弟子去各地傳法，弘揚佛法。常常有時候，當他們沒去傳法的時候，他們就不吃飯。

所以我們可以在佛殿講法，每一天我們的日常生活中，一有機會就應該多向身邊的人講佛法。我們不要怕我們講法不夠完美；只要我們有心幫助別人，使他們了解了佛法以後，他們將來就不會受苦。阿彌陀佛！