12月25日

人間佛緣 百年仰望
佛光星雲 ( 1927~ )

有人問我今年幾歲？
我反問地球：您活了多久？
地老天荒，我在哪裡？
萬千年的流轉，我又在何方？
盤古、女媧，或許我有見過，
因為隔陰之迷，現已無從思量；
嫦娥、玉兔，只是從故事裡飛奔的美麗篇章。
問唐堯虞舜已難知道，
探文武周公也無法端詳。
老子騎著青牛西去，
有人說紫氣在東方；
莊周南柯一夢，蝴蝶飛向北方？
如夢幻般的人士，在我近百年的歲月裡，
南北東西已不是地老天荒；
是在六道裡流轉？是在法界裡流浪？
問往事記載，已一片蒼茫；
這八十多年的歲月，我歷盡了多少滄桑。

北伐動盪的時代，
我帶著懵懂無知的生命來到世上，
扶桑的炮火，蘆溝橋的烽煙，
舉國的人民，失去了生命的保障；
到處逃亡，四處流浪，
逃亡到哪裡？流浪到何方？
所幸，佛陀向我招手，
從窮苦的偏鄉，一下子登上人間天堂。

石頭城伴著紅葉，深山古寺的叢林，
寂寞的童心，虔誠，如梯如崖，
我要不斷攀爬，不斷成長向上。
往事歷歷，樁樁難忘，三刀六槌的學習，
十八般頭陀的苦行，是我奮發的力量。
辛酸的生活裡，信仰始終讓我屹立增上。
遺憾的是，內戰的槍響，苦難的降臨，
加重了兄弟姐妹的傷亡。
戰亂的烽火，流竄南北四方；
是砲彈？是機關槍？
是生死吧！把我送到福爾摩沙。

我為《百年佛緣》寫下：
「吾母送子入佛門，要在性海悟法身；
兒今八十有七歲，弘法利生報親恩。」
我的心願是人間佛教的弘揚，
寄語諸佛光人，
正派、慈悲、承擔、服務，
要把佛光山打造為佛國淨土，
佛光永普照，法水永流長，
這就是我們永世的願望。
南無佛，南無法，南無僧。

──選自《百年佛緣》

December 25

Buddhist Affinities Across 100 Years
Venerable Master Hsing Yun (1927 - , Fo Guang Shan)
English translation: Miao Guang

Someone once asked how old I am this year.
I ask the Earth in return,
“How long have you lived?”
Until the end of the world, where would I be?
Hundreds and thousands of years in rebirth,
Again, where would I be?
Whether Pangu or Nuwa,
Perhaps I've met them before.
But because we live in two different worlds,
There is no way of recalling.
Be it Chang'e or the Rabbit,
They are none but moments in stories,
Too beautiful to be true.
There is no way of asking Tang Yao or Yu Sun in person,
Nor a chance to get to know Wen Wu or Zhou Gong.
While Lao Tzu went Westward riding a bull,
They still say prosperity lies in the East.
In Zhuang Zhou's dream,
Was the butterfly heading towards the North?
These people are but a dream to me.
Across the almost 100 years of my life,
North, West, East, and South,
No longer represent Earth's ends.
Had I been traveling in the six realms of rebirth?
Or I had been wandering across the Dharma realm?
If I were to refer to historical records,
It would be all but a grey area of uncertainty.
Throughout more than 80 years of my life,
I had been through so much.

In the chaotic times of the Northern Expedition,
I came into this world all confused and ignorant.
The cannons of Fusang, and the beacons of Lugou Bridge,
The entire nation had lost their securities in life,
Fleeing in all directions, leading a vagrant life,
Where can one escape to? Where can one drift towards?
Fortunately, Buddha has reached out to me,
I have thus renounced.
From a poor rural village,
I was suddenly brought into a world of heaven.

In a stone city accompanied by the crimson leaves,
An ancient monastery hidden in the
deep mountain forest,
For a lonely but childly heart,
Devotion is like a ladder, a cliff,
I must continue to climb,
Continue to grow and progress.
The past is so distinctively clear,
With every detail hard to forget.
Having to learn the skills of the
Three Blades and Six Mallets,
The 18 types of ascetic monastic practices,
Were my motivations for striving hard.
Amidst the bitterness of life,
Faith has kept me standing.
Regretfully, the gunshots from the Civil War,
Have brought forth suffering and calamities.
And enhanced the pain of separation of loved ones.
The beacon fires in the turmoil of war,
Spread hither and thither into all directions,
Was it the cannons? Or the machine guns?
Perhaps it was life and death that brought me to Formosa.

I wrote the following
In Buddhist Affinities Across 100 Years
“My mother had sent her son into the door of Buddhism,
Hoping that he could awaken to the Dharma body
Amidst the ocean of the phenomenal world.
Your son has now turned 87 in age,
Who shall repay your kindness by propagating the Dharma
And benefiting sentient beings.”
My vow is to propagate Humanistic Buddhism.
I place my hopes in every Buddha's Light member,
Be righteous, be compassionate,
Be responsible, and be of service.
Let us transform Fo Guang Shan into a Buddha's Pure Land.
May the Buddha's Light shine universally,
And the Dharma stream flow eternally.
Thus is our lifelong wish.

Blessed be the Buddha,
Blessed be the Dharma,
Blessed be the Sangha.

── from Bainian Foyuan (Buddhist Affinities Across 100 Years)