Disclaimer: My translations are not official nor endorsed by 2OR, so please just treat it as a ‘fan-based’ translation based on my understanding of his teachings. The Buddha-Dharma is profound. No matter how you convey it, it won’t be completely perfect. Because the Buddha-Dharma is an experience, it’s an awakening 【佛法深奥无比，怎么写，都不会是究竟圆满。佛法是一种悟】. I am not an enlightened being like Master Lu, but I will treat his teachings with my utmost respect and do my best to convey and translate it to the best of my (limited) abilities for my friends and people who can’t read Chinese. Please enjoy, and I hope it serves as a good filler until the official English version comes out.
关于世界末日的问题。末日是个大劫，这个大劫一定会来，什么时候来呢，不知道。因为劫气还没有形成，说明还有很多人在做好人、在做好事、善事，在修心、念经，在救人。曾经有很多预测，世界末日是2000年，现在已经是2010年了，至少推迟了10年。师父曾经给你们讲过，大的是大灾难，小的是小灾难。小灾难对于一个人来讲，只要他在这个地方死了，或者是他被灾难所困扰了，对于他个人来讲就是世界末日。如果一架飞机即将坠毁，对于飞机里的乘客来说就是世界末日。我们要尽量好好修心，等有劫来的时候，让我们这些好人都活着吧。在劫中走掉的，基本上不属于大好人，及有修之人。
Regarding the question of the occurrence of doomsday, doomsday is classified as a great tribulation. This great tribulation will definitely occur one day, but when? We don’t know. It’s because the ambience of the tribulation hasn’t taken form yet, which indicates that there are still many good people in this world who are performing good deeds, virtuous deeds, cultivating their mind, reciting sutras and saving others. There once were many predictions predicting that doomsday would occur in the year 2000. Currently, it’s already the year 2010, so at the very least it has been postponed by ten years. Master has said this before; a great disaster is a great tribulation, a lesser disaster is a lesser tribulation. Regarding lesser tribulation, to the person, if they died or they have been severely affected by the disaster, then it’s likened to doomsday to them. If a plane was going to crash soon, then to the passengers inside the plane, it’s already doomsday for them. We must cultivate our mind as much as possible, so when a tribulation approaches, the good people like us can live. People who die during tribulations are basically people who aren’t considered good (from the perspective of the Buddha-Dharma) nor are people who cultivate themselves.
举个例子，地震中死掉的，有些是好人，这人顶多是个冤死鬼，而不能算个好人，好人绝对不会死在劫中的。比如，在地震时，有20多个孩子当时没去上学，就躲过一劫了。飞机失事，还能够有一个孩子活下来，这又说明了什么呢？还有人因为突然身体不好上不了飞机，结果飞机出事了。这种人算不算好人？这就是有福气的人。福大，量大，功德大。师父也不劝你们，你们尽自己的能力好好做，等灾劫时间到了的话，大家好自为之。
Let me use an analogy. Among the victims who died during an earthquake, some of them might be good, but at most they are people who were wronged, and can’t really be considered as a good person. A good person will definitely not die during a tribulation. For example, when the earthquake occurred, there were twenty children who didn’t go to school, so they avoided the tribulation. Or when the plane crashed, a child was able to survive. What does that show? There are also cases when a person suddenly became sick and was unable to get on board the plane, soon after the plane crashed. Do these kinds of people count as a good person? It shows they are blessed; they have great worldly blessings, great broad-mindedness and merits. Master won’t keep advising you. You must do the best of your ability to practise (Buddhism), so when you do encounter a tribulation, you remain safe and secured.
师父不是吓你们，即使你们在师父身边，师父也不一定救得了你们。灾劫来临的时候，只能靠自己的功力和功德。那个时候，菩萨救得了的，就救了，救不了的，就走了，不管男女老少。你们看看自己的所作所为，你们自己有没有修行、修心，修到什么程度，还在求什么，你们就明白了。如果你们跪在这里，还在拼命地求自己的家人，或者求自己要赚钱、工作顺利、发财等，这个就是在修人间的小乘佛法。待会师父给你们具体讲这些问题，现在是铺垫。
Master isn’t here to scare you, even if you were constantly by my side, it’s not certain that Master can save you. When you encounter a tribulation, it all depends on your efforts in cultivation and your merits. When that time comes, if the Bodhisattvas can save you, then you’ll be saved. If they can’t, you’ll pass away regardless of whether you’re a male, female, elderly or a child. You must introspect yourself and everything you’ve done up till now. Have you been cultivating your behaviour? Have you been cultivating your mind? How’s your progress? Do you still have any desires? Then you’ll understand. If you kneel in front of the Bodhisattvas, and still praying for the well-being of your family members, or praying for a good income, career to be smooth-sailing, get rich etc., these are all considered as cultivating for worldly blessings and practising Theravada Buddhism. In a moment, Master will explain everything in detail regarding these problems. For now, it’s just a foreshadow of what’s to come.
师父首先给你们讲，多欲为苦。欲望越多，这个人就会越苦。今天我想要这个，没有要到；明天我想得到那个，又没有得到。举个例子，师父的欲望是什么？我想多救人，我没有救着，我会很难过。你们的欲望是什么？工作单位好一点，不要被炒鱿鱼。实际上有了这个欲望后，人就会感觉到苦了。如果一个人能够去除欲望，他就不会那么苦了。人生可以叫做“生死疲劳”，就是说生也疲惫，死也疲劳。人死的时候很痛苦、很难过的。当一个人要死的时候，他觉得他一辈子都完了、很累了。很多小说、电影里都有这样的描述，一个人最后躺在床上时说，“我在人间已经很累了，我要走了。”
Firstly, Master will explain to you, a lot of desires attract suffering. The more desires a person has, the more they will suffer. Today, they wanted to gain something but didn’t. Tomorrow, they want to gain something else but couldn’t. Here’s an example, what is Master’s desire? Master wants to save more people, but Master couldn’t, and so Master feels sorry. What are your desires? Maybe the environment of your workplace could be better and not get fired. Afterwards, when somebody has this kind of desire, they will begin to suffer. Life can be characterised as ‘a process of constant fatigue through life to death’. In other words, you experience constant fatigue when you’re alive, and you also feel fatigue during the days you know that you’re about to die. When a person is about to die, they feel a lot of grief; they can sense that their life is over and they feel very tired. Many novels and movies also depict this. When a person lies in bed in their final moments, they say, “I’m very tired about my life, I want to go.”
另一方面呢，少欲无为。就是说一个人要少一点欲望，把自己作为没有作为的，把什么都不要了，这样就会身心自在。人不要每天都为一些琐碎事情所困绕，叫“心无厌足”。就是说人心永远不会知足，也不会永远讨厌我满足了。你会讨厌你得到了某一样东西吗？你们看看，一个做生意的人，货来了，忙不过来，还是拼命地去做，等到没有货的时候，就开始天天求了。惟得多求。多求私事的人，会增长自己的罪恶。当一个人想求私事的时候，在自己的心灵中就求出罪恶来了，这个罪恶就是“贪”。一个人一旦有了贪心和嗔恨心，什么事情都做得出来的。大家要敬师重道，尊敬师父、重视法门，一定要好好地修炼。
From another perspective, few desires promote inaction. In other words, a person should have fewer desires and view their actions as inactions. To relieve themselves of attachments, this way, their body and mind feel liberated.
Andywin08 commentary on the concept of inaction:
In one of the core philosophies of traditional Chinese culture Taoism, a core ideology is the concept of the ‘Tao’ or the ‘Way’ 【道】. The connotation of it is ‘naturalness’, ‘acting in accordance with the principles of nature’, thus there is ‘action through inaction’ 【无为而无不为】. Understanding this, it’s easier to conceptualise how fewer desires mean that we aren’t enslaved to our desires and force ourselves to do things that go against our will but done for the sake of attaining what we desire. Instead, we feel completely natural. Whatever we do, it feels like we haven’t purposely done it because everything is natural. Thus, this is referred to as action through inaction.
People shouldn’t be obsessed with trivial matters that occur in their everyday life, as this leads to an ‘unsettling mind’. In other words, the person’s mind will never be in a constant satisfied or contented state, nor would it constantly loathe contentment. Would you loathe something that you have gained? Take a look, when a businessperson receives their purchase orders, they become very busy and works hard to fulfil their orders. Once it’s all over, they start to pray for more. If the person simply prays to gain more and prays more for their well-being, then it will increase their potential of committing unwholesome deeds. It’s because when people pray for their selfish desires, their mind will attract unwholesome thoughts, and these unwholesome thoughts stem from ‘greed’. Once a person possesses both greed and hatred, they can do anything unrestrained. Everybody must pay respects to their master and adhere to their principles. You must pay respect to Master, and the Buddhist practice. Please cultivate yourself properly.
你们知道一个人的功德是怎么来的吗？举个例子，只要在师父的博客上发表一篇文章，有人点击，写文章、发博客的人就有功德了。良宵先生写的两本书，《一命二运三风水》和《天地人》，其功德之大就不用说了。只要有人看良宵先生的书，他的功德、福分就自动上涨。一个人只要度人了，写心得体会发表了，他的福分就会自动上升。这叫福分的因缘。福分就是靠自己平常种下的。把自己念经救人的经历写出来，就好比在复杂的路口树立了一个路牌，可以给迷路的人指引方向，这样就有福德了。与此同时，看到、读到这篇心得的人，就和你结下了一份缘。看了师父的书，就和师父结下了缘，看到你们写的体会，就和你们结下了缘。
Do you know where merits come from? Here’s an example. When Master has published an essay or article on my blog, and there are people who click on it, write their essay or article about, or share it with other people, all of this count as meritorious deeds. Mr Liang has written two books, ‘First is fate, second is fortune, third is feng shui’ and ‘Heaven-Earth-Man’, how great the merits gained from this doesn’t need to be said. As long as people read Mr Liang’s books, his merits and worldly blessings will automatically increase. That’s why as long as a person preaches, or write their personal experiences about their practising of Buddhism, their worldly blessings will automatically increase. That is the karma of worldly blessings. Worldly blessings depend on the karmic causes we regularly sow. You must write down your experiences about reciting sutras and saving others. It’s likened to planting a road sign at an area that has many complicated roads; it can help point people who are lost to the right direction. This way, you cultivate worldly blessings and refine your virtues. At the same time, people who see and read these books and gain valuable insight from it will also develop a karmic affinity with you. People who read Master’s books would have then developed a karmic affinity with Master. People who read your written experiences will also develop a karmic affinity with you.
很多人都想有贵人帮助，师父跟你们讲，贵人是怎么来的？贵人是从布施中得来的。当一个人在布施的时候，就是种下了贵人缘。当一个人帮助别人的时候，可能没有想到，总有一天，那个人也会帮助你的。一个人帮助别人越多，同时得到的帮助也越多。等你得到别人帮助的时候，你是不是就碰到贵人了？贵人就是通过自己做人得来的。曾经有一个人出国时，连护照都办不了，没有想到的是，就是他曾经帮助过的一个小朋友，现在在出入境管理处工作，帮了他。这就叫贵人缘，想都想不到的。师父跟你们讲，和任何人打交道，不要看不起人家，说不定哪一天他就是谁谁谁了。势利眼是要不得的，对谁都要好。大家说，这是不是佛法？这也是佛法，这就是缘，如何结贵人缘。
Many people want to get help from a noble-minded person, Master now explains to you where do these noble-minded people come from. Noble-minded people are attracted to your life through your act of giving. When a person performs giving, they are sowing the karmic cause that attracts noble-minded people. When a person helps others, they might not have thought that one day, they will help you in return. The more they do to help others, at the same time they will receive more help from others. When you received help from somebody, doesn’t it mean that you’ve encountered a noble-minded person? They come from how you act as a moralistic person. There was once when a person wanted to go abroad, there was an issue with their passport. Unexpectedly, somebody who they helped before worked at the immigration office, so they helped resolved their issue. This is considered an affinity with noble-minded people, it all happens unexpectedly. Master tells you, whoever you encounter in life, you mustn’t look down on them. Perhaps one day, they would become somebody of high importance. Snobbishness must be removed, you must be good towards everybody. So is this a Buddha-Dharma? This is also a Buddha-Dharma, this is also a teaching on how to develop affinities with noble-minded people.
接着师父给你们讲，供养佛和供养穷人，福分是一样的吗？有人说不一样，有人说一样。其实你们没有把这个事情分开看。如果你是佛心佛语，如果你修心修行到了一定境界后，再去供养佛和供养穷人，是一样的。平等心就体现在这里。今天你拜观世音菩萨，你买了水果，这和你给穷人水果吃，你的心是平等的。在人间学佛，平等心是很重要的。为什么佛法把小孩子都称为小菩萨？年龄大的人称为老菩萨？因为你不知道哪一天他们修成了就是菩萨。难道他们还没有变成菩萨的时候，你就可以对他们不好吗？要用正思维来对待事情，而且福分是无量的，无量就是无边无际。供养佛、供养菩萨和供养好人，福分都是很大的。
Following on, Master tells you, when you are serving offerings to Buddha or a poor person, are the worldly blessings gained the same? Some people say it’s not the same, while others say it’s the same. In actual fact, you haven’t analysed it thoroughly enough. If you possess a Buddha’s mind and Buddha’s insight, if you have cultivated to a certain level of spirituality in your cultivation of mind and behaviour, when you offer to Buddha or a poor person, they are the same. Equality is manifested inside your mind. Today, you paid respects to Guan Yin Bodhisattva, you then bought apples and shared it with poor people, your mind is equitable. When practising Buddhism, an equitable mind is very important. Why is it that in the Buddha-Dharma, they call children ‘little Bodhisattvas’? And the elderly ‘old Bodhisattvas’? It’s because you don’t know when they will cultivate successfully and truly become a Bodhisattva. Surely if they haven’t become a Bodhisattva yet, it doesn’t mean you can mistreat them? You must use the right mentality to view these things, and worldly blessings become boundless and unlimited. People who serve offerings to Buddha, Bodhisattvas and virtuous people will attract great worldly blessings.
有些人光修智慧不修福。修智慧就是念经，不肯用行动去做。天天在念经，不出来帮助人家，只能修成阿罗汉，这是小乘佛法。我看你们很多人就是这样，自己念经念得挺好的，就是不度人。人家听众打电话问问题，就是度人做功德的最好机会。抓住一个机会，就得到一份功德。大家要懂得种福田，就是把自己的福气种在你心田里面。如果不懂得种福田，就没有福气，你心中就会很空。不肯做善事，不肯帮助人家，只知道念经，这和出家修行有什么不同啊。出家上山修行，就是想清净，想避开人世间的烦恼，不想和凡人接触。所以，阿罗汉和众生的缘很薄，光修自己也不行。另外一种呢，就是拼命地救度众生，自己不修智慧，就像很多法门，拼命地做善事，没有智慧，不知道做了那么多是为什么，这样也不行。
There are some people who just cultivate their wisdom and not worldly blessings. To cultivate wisdom is to recite sutras, but not willing to take action to perform deeds. They recite sutras every day and don’t come out to help others. The most they can cultivate up to is arhathood, that is Theravada Buddhism. I can see that many of you are like this. You recite sutras very well, but you don’t spiritually awaken others. When listeners successfully call into my radio programme and ask questions, it’s the best opportunity to perform meritorious deeds in spiritually awakening people. An opportunity grasped is an opportunity to accumulate merits. Everybody must know how to cultivate a fertile field of worldly blessings, which is to plant the seeds that sprout worldly blessings into the field inside your mind. If you don’t know how to do so, then you won’t be blessed, your mind will be empty. If you’re not willing to perform benevolent deeds, not willing to help others and only know how to recite sutras, what’s the difference between you and people who leave the home-life to cultivate? People who leave the home-life and go up the mountains to cultivate is because their want to be peaceful, and want to avoid being overwhelmed by the afflictions of society, and don’t want to interact with laypeople. That’s why the karmic affinity between arhats and sentient beings are very little. Just cultivating yourselves alone is not enough. Another type is that you dedicate your life to saving sentient beings, but they don’t cultivate wisdom. There are many Buddhist practices which focus on performing benevolent deeds, but they don’t have wisdom. They don’t know the reasons why they do it. This is also not good.
有一种非常好的修行方法，叫以果相因，就是以你的因来知道你的果，就是还没有做这件事情前，先把果想到。比如说，我今天对你们好了，我能知道你们对我的果。有一句话叫，众生畏果，菩萨畏因。菩萨害怕种下不好的因，菩萨早就知道果是什么了。而人呢，先去做这件事情，等恶果来了，就吓死了。当你信佛的时候，做任何善事的时候，做功德时，你要先想到你的果，然后再去想是不是去种这个因。这是个好方法。因为种因时，不知道果会是什么样的。等你知道果会是什么样的了，再去种因就不一样了。
A very good type of cultivation is called ‘Inspecting consequence to draw inferences to the cause’. In other words, by being knowledgeable about what karmic cause will create what kind of karmic consequence, then before something has occurred, first visualise that the consequence has happened. Here’s an analogy, today when I treat you well, I already know how you will treat me (the consequence). There’s a saying that ‘sentient beings fear consequences, Bodhisattvas fear causes’. Bodhisattvas are afraid of sowing karmic causes because they already know full well what the karmic consequences would be. Humans, on the other hand, would do something first, then when negative consequences occur, they become scared. When you have faith in Buddha, when you are performing any benevolent deeds or meritorious deeds, you must first think about your karmic consequences, and then decide whether you want to initiate this karmic cause. That is a good method. It’s because when you initiate a karmic cause, you usually don’t know what the karmic consequences are. But when you already know what the karmic consequences and then decide whether to initiate it or not, the mindset is completely different.
比如，你天天被老公骂，他种下这个因，总有一天，你会骂他，或者跟他反抗。如果你天天骂他，想想，如果一直骂下去，有一天，他也许会一提包就走了。一想到可能会有这个果，你也就不再骂他了。就不会去种这个因。今天我讲他坏话的时候，一定要明白等他知道后我会有什么果，这样就不会去讲他坏话了。
For example, you get scolded by your spouse every day, they have sown this karmic cause. Thus there will be one day when you will scold back or oppose them. If you scold at them every day, think about it, if you keep doing this, there will be a day when they will pack their luggage and leave. When you have thought about this consequence, you won’t scold at them again. You won’t sow this karmic cause. Today if we slander somebody, we must understand that if that person finds out, what would the consequences be. This way, you won’t slander the person.
师父前几次给你们讲了善事和功德的不同。今天告诉你们，见性是功，平等是德。做任何事情见到你的本性了，做出来就是功德。用心去做就是功德。学佛要平等。这个平等不单单是人间的平等，在心里的平等是最重要的。用平等心去对待别人。如果今天给师父打电话进来的是声音很好听的，师父多讲一点，如果是老太太，师父少讲一点，这就叫不平等。就是老妈妈打进电话，话也讲不清楚，师父也要好好地帮助人家。大家对每个人、对每件事都要从心里发出平等。这就是有德性。
Master has mentioned a few times about the difference between benevolent deeds and meritorious deeds. Today, let me tell you if you perform any deeds that manifest your inherent nature and do it sincerely, then it’s considered as meritorious. There must be equality when practising Buddhism. This equality doesn’t just refer to equality between every person, but also an equitable state of mind. That’s most important. You must treat everybody who you encounter with an equitable mind. If I decided to speak with somebody with a beautiful voice for longer and speak with somebody who sounds like an elderly lady shorter, then this is inequitable. Even if an old lady calls, and she couldn’t speak clearly, Master must help her properly. Everybody must learn to treat everybody and anything they encounter with an equitable mind. This behaviour is considered virtuous.
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