Now, I will talk about “signlessness”. According to the Buddhist scriptures, there are ten types of “signs” in the world:
1. Sign of forms: The sign of all dharmas in the Human Realm. “Forms” represents the physical appearance of everything in the world, not the image of males and females.
2. Sign of sounds: Every sound you hear, which also have shapes and images. For example, when you call someone on the phone and hear their voice, you know whether they are male or female.
3. Sign of smells: What your nose can smell, which forms an image. For example, when you smell the fragrance of flowers, flowers will appear in your mind.
4. Sign of tastes: When you put something in your mouth, your tongue senses the taste and an image is created within your mind. For example, when you eat chocolate with your eyes closed, you will immediately get images of chocolate in your mind.
5. Sign of tangible objects: You can feel when you touch something. For example, when a blind person touches something, the contact will create an image in their mind so they can tell what they are touching. If they touch a person, the image of a person will appear. If they touch an object, the image of that object will appear.
现给大家讲“无相”。无相,在佛经里包含世间的十种相。
1、色相,即人间法相。并不是男女之色。色即是指人间一切事物。
2、声相,即听到各种声音。声是有形有相的。比如打电话时,听到声音就知道对方是男还是女。
3、香相,鼻子能闻到,就会形成一种相。如:闻到花香脑子里就会立刻有花的形相出来。
4、味相,嘴巴吃到东西,舌头尝到味道,就会有形相出来。如:把眼睛闭上给你吃巧克力,你一吃到就立刻会有巧克力的相出来。
5、触相,即触能感觉。比如:一个瞎子,用手一触摸就会知道,会有形相出来,触摸到人时,人的形相就会出来,触摸到物时,物的形相就会出来。
6. Sign of formation: Your appearance when you were born.
7. Sign of abiding: This refers to dwelling, such as the appearance of the place one is staying in, what direction it is facing, and so on.
8. Sign of dissolution: A term that is used when we talk about objects going through the state of decay and then emptiness.
9. Sign of male: Used to describe someone who looks masculine. However, sometimes we see men who look and think like women.
10. Sign of female: Used to describe someone who looks feminine. However, sometimes we see women who look and think like men.
6、生相,就是你生下来时的相。
7、住相,安住,比如房子住相不同,方位不同等。
8、坏相,不是说人的坏,是说物品会慢慢坏空。
9、男相,长得像男人,是男人相。而有的男人长的是女人相,形象思维像女人。
10、女相,长得像女人,是女人相。而有的女人长的是男人相,形象思维像男人。
“Signlessness” is devoid of “signs”. In other words, all the signs – even the appearance of all objects – that we see in the Human Realm are in fact “signless”. They are unreal. People often say, “Life is like a dream.” Indeed, life itself is signless. When everything comes to an end, it’s like being woken up from a dream. Is there a sign? You can’t see anything – everything is unreal. Once you wake up from your dream, you return to your world. Those who suffer will continue to suffer, and those who enjoy their lives will continue to do so. There is nothing in a dream that you can take away with you. This is signlessness in the Human Realm. For every sign in the Human Realm, with a beginning there will also be an end. When it ends, nothing is left. That is what signlessness is about. On the surface, it seems that everything has a sign, but when they end, it’s in fact signless.
无相就是没有相。就是我们人间一切相的无相。人间的相都是假有的,人常说:“人生就是一场梦”。人生就是无相,一切事情结束后,犹如梦醒之后,有相吗?什么都看不到了,全部都是假的,梦醒之后还是回到你原来的人间,受苦的继续受苦,享福的继续享福,梦里什么都没有得到,这就是人间的无相。人间所有的相,有开始就有结束,结束之后就等于没有了,就是无相,表面上看都是有相的,而结束了之后都是无相的,只要有始就一定有终,有开始就会有结束,最后等于没有,就是无相。
If you can control your perception and see the true signless nature of an object, which means to understand the beginning and the end of this world, then you are, essentially, awakened. Life – from our birth right up until our death – is just like a dream. When the dream ends, it becomes signless. There’s also a saying that “life is like a drama”. Every drama has a beginning and an end – and when it ends, does it continue to have a sign? It’s that simple. Another example: When you give away something as a donation, but you don’t say a word about it, that is “practising generosity without attachment to the notion of signs”. But if you say something about it, that’s “practising generosity with attachment to the notion of signs”.
如果你能控制住自己让它无相,你的基本数为开悟。如果你能无相,明白这个世界的始和终,其实你已基本开悟了。人生就像一场梦,从生出来到死就像做梦一样,这场梦结束了就是无相。还有一句话“人生就像一场戏”,戏有开始就有结束,结束之后还有相吗?就是这么简单。又如:做布施,如果不说出来,就是无相布施,如果说出来,就是有相布施。
“Awakening of life” – we live to awaken our lives. If we can attain signlessness, we are getting close to awakening. So how do you awaken your life? The answer is to adopt signlessness. Treat everything in life as though it doesn’t exist. Or, in other words, treat it lightly. “Anything would do. I can give anything away.” Then you are closer to awakening. Let me share this with you: Often, spend time contemplating that everything comes and goes naturally. Whatever you encounter, whether it’s disaster, hardship, joy or good times, if it comes, it comes. It all comes naturally; but when it leaves, it will also leave naturally. That’s signlessness.
开悟人生,活着要把这个人生开悟,能无相就接近开悟了,怎样开悟人生呢?就是要无相,你把人生一切看得都像没有一样,很平淡,什么都可以有,什么都可以没有,就接近开悟。师父给你们讲一句话,要经常想一想,一切自然来,一切自然去。已经到来的什么灾啊,难啊,喜啊,乐啊等等,来了就来了,都是很自然的来,但是去了也是很自然的去,这就是无相。
A friend of mine no longer got along with his wife. I said to his wife: “Imagine that your husband goes on stage each and every day to perform, and you are among the audience. You can watch him indifferently as he performs. The show will end anyway, so why do you jump onto the stage and act with him too? Why are you so keen to regard all of that fake stuff on the stage as something real by fighting and arguing with him? In the end, you’re just as foolish as he is. He is unreal, and so are you. Do you think you can get something real out of this? In fact, you are merely taking the fake stuff and covering up the real part of you. In other words, when false is taken as true, true becomes false.”
我的一位朋友,夫妻关系不好,我对他太太说:你老公天天在台上表演,你是观众,你就冷眼旁观看他表演,演到最后总有剧终的时候,你为什么要跳到台上去和他一起表演呢?你为什么迫不及待地把舞台上假的东西,以为是真的,还要跳上去和他斗,和他闹,到了最后你和他一样的愚痴,他是假的,你也是假的,你能得到真的东西吗?你把假的东西遮住你真的东西了,所以假到真时真亦假。
On the surface, the awakening of life sounds like “I have awakened”. But if someone says to me, “Master, I have awakened”, that statement is false. People who have truly awakened will not say those words. If they do, they haven’t awakened. That’s because the symbol of the awakening of life cannot be recognised as having completely awakened. There is the symbol of life, and the symbol of the world – which are, after all, symbols. Therefore, the awakening of life itself is empty by nature. Once you truly comprehend such emptiness, are you still going to say: “I’ve done research and found that everything in it is empty”? In the end, there’s no need for research, as it’s inherently empty anyway. If you recognise this potential for awakening, and feel that you’ve awakened, then you haven’t truly awakened at all.
The reality of the Human Realm is that it is just a dream – a drama. It is all empty, and everything is illusory. When you pass away, none of it exists anymore. Awakening itself is the elevation of one’s level of spirituality. During the Shakyamuni Buddha’s time, he sat under the Bodhi tree and awakened to these insights. But the enlightenment of the Buddha absolutely cannot be compared to the awakening of us mortals. His potential for enlightenment is at the level of Buddha and Bodhisattvas, and what he is enlightened to is the inherent nature. Meanwhile, the awakening that us mortals experience is only a superficial phenomenon. For example: “I now realise why that person treated me so badly – it was because I used to talk behind their back.”
开悟人生表面上听起来是我悟出来了,如果有人说“师父我开悟了”,这话是假的。真正开悟的人不会说“我悟出来了”,你悟出来了,讲出来了就是没开悟。开悟人生之后的象征,不能称为完全的开悟。人生的象征,世间的象征,因为本身就是这个象征,开悟人生本身就是空的,当你真正明白这个空的时候,你还会说:“噢,我原来研究出来了,这里面全部都是空的”,不用研究,本来就是空的。你认识到这个悟性,觉得自己开悟了,就不是真正的开悟,真正的人间就是一场梦,一场戏,都是空的,一切都是梦幻假的,当你走了,一切都不复存在了,悟本身就是境界的提升。当年释迦牟尼佛在菩提树下,悟出来了道理,释迦牟尼佛的悟,绝对不是我们凡人的悟,他是佛菩萨的悟性,他悟出的是本性。而我们人间悟出的道理是表面现象,例如:噢,原来他对我态度这么不好,是因为我讲过他不好。
The Buddha-dharma is profound, but that doesn’t mean profound things cannot be explained in the simplest way. Just like the Buddha-dharma, what I am teaching is profound, but I use the simplest and most easily accessible way to guide and teach you how to cultivate. Like physics and mathematics, once you have studied up to a certain level, you can simply make use of the mathematical equations and formulas to get the answer. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel by studying what other people have done before, or to deconstruct the well-established formulas or theories to complicate things further.
佛法是深奥的,但是深奥的东西不是一定不能用最简单的方法来解释。就像师父现在教授你们的佛法是深奥的,但是用最简单易行的修行方法来教授你们,开导你们。如物理学、数学,当研究到一定程度时,一定有公式可以填进去,填进去之后,你就成功了,你没有必要把前人研究出的东西,如公式、定律等再重新研究来使它复杂化。
“A fool’s mind is kept in their mouth, while a wise person’s mind is kept within.” To explain: A foolish person likes to talk recklessly about what they think, whereas a wise person keeps what’s in their mind to themselves without speaking carelessly about it.
愚者的心,是在嘴上;智者的心,是在内心里。一个很愚痴的人,他的心是在嘴上喜欢乱说话,而有智慧的人,他的心是放在内心里,而不是放在嘴上。
If you buy too many unnecessary items and squander your money, eventually you won’t be able to afford what you really need. Let me elaborate: If you spend most of your time reading books that serve no practical purpose, you won’t be able to read books that are truly beneficial to you. Moreover, if you read the kind of books that you should not, then how can you have the necessary attention for books on Right Dharma? If you listen to too much nonsense or pay regard to the superstitious, you will not be able to listen to and absorb the true Buddha-dharma.
购买太多不需要的东西,乱花钱,你慢慢就会买不起你所需要的东西。师父把这句话引申来给你们讲,经常看一些不需要看的书,你就看不进真正让人受益的书。你看了那些不该看的书,怎能看进正法的书。如果听了许多杂七杂八迷信的东西,就听不进真正的佛法了。
The longer we think about and cling to the misfortunes of life, the more harm they are going to inflict upon us. If you continue to be preoccupied with all the unfortunate things you shouldn’t even think about, the harm they inflict upon you will become even more forceful.
对于自身,生活中带来的不幸,你挂念越久,想得越多,伤害的力量就越大。你把那些不该想的事情,不幸的事情,一直挂在心里,给自己造成伤害的力量就越来越大。
When a person has awakened to a small degree, they must read more literature that can continue to guide their awakening – like Master’s teachings to disciples. After you have awakened, you will no longer get lost when reading the scriptures of the Bodhisattvas or all other literature. Then, you will be truly awakened. This is also known as “corresponding awakening”.
当一个人有点开悟时,要多看引导你开悟人的文章。犹如多看师父给你们徒弟的开示。当你开悟之后,再去看菩萨的经文,看所有的文章时,你就不会迷失方向,就会成为真正的开悟。也称相应开悟。
It is the sentient beings that I am aiming to help and awaken. The Buddhist teachings that I impart are something common people can all accept. They are concise and clear. As long as you follow the Buddhist practice and cultivate diligently, you will most certainly change your outlook on life. Read more of the content of my Dharma talk of the past. Corresponding to the circumstances you are in, every sentence in the text will help add to your awakening. Once you have awakened, every sentence you read along the path of your Buddhist practice can make you more awakened, and everything you see in this world will become wonderful.
师父救度的是众生,传授的佛法是普通大众都能接受的,言简意明,只要按照师父的法门好好修,一定能改变自己的人生观。多看师父过去开示的文章,每一句话都会给你相应的开悟。当你开悟的时候,你学佛的每一句话都是让你开悟的,你所看到的这世界上的一切都是那么美好。
![](http://duhnmz.yrepark.cloud/yun/a/CiAiXinLing/佛言佛语/7 白话佛法书籍-美图笔记/Eng Version/BHFF1/BHFF1-17-1.jpg)