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.
今天跟大家继续讲，我们在生活和学佛学法当中遇到了挫折、失败，我们应该怎么样继续？很多人遇到挫折、遇到失败之后，是怨天尤人。实际上，要明白，困住我们自己身心的枷锁，实际上是你自己设下的陷阱。一个人为什么会遇到挫折和失败？你不要去怨天尤人，你想一想，是不是你把你自己困住了？是你自己设下的陷阱，是你一头栽进去的，并且在人间是一厢情愿地去苦尝悲伤的滋味。想想我们过去碰到这么多的灾，碰到这么多的难，我们经常在这些苦难当中，我们出不来，我们非但出不来，我们还在苦尝悲伤的滋味。那么这些苦难是谁给你们造成的呢？是我们自己设下的陷阱。我们这个陷阱又是怎么设下的呢？因为我们身上有枷锁。这个枷锁是什么？就是你贪心、恨心和愚痴心，把你自己的身体和心灵捆住的枷锁。
When we encounter setbacks and failures in our daily lives and our practice of Buddhism, how should we continue? When encountering setbacks or failures, many people blame and resent others. One must understand that the chains that bind their body and mind are actually created from the trap that they make for themselves. Why does somebody encounter setbacks and failures? Don’t blame others, start by thinking whether it was due to your way of thinking. It’s the trap that you made for yourself, you’re the one who rushed into it, and it was your wishful thinking that led you to experience the bitter taste of failure. Recall all the calamities and tribulations you faced in the past, when you were in the midst of it, you couldn’t think out of it. Not only that you couldn’t think out of it, you already feel upset and frustrated. So, who had created this suffering for you? It was your own entrapment. So how did we entrap ourselves? It’s because you have locked yourself up. What is this lock? It was your greed, resentment and foolishness that had locked up your body and mind.
很多人碰到困难，碰到失败，他没有转化为积极的能量，而去转化为消极的能量来自贱。就是说，很多人碰到困难的时候，在家里想不通了，他就会自杀；有些人想不通了，他会咒自己，天天叫喊着要报仇、要报冤。这个仇是什么时候来的？是你自己搞来的；怨是什么时候来的，是你自己搞来的，所有这一切，你的痛苦不会有丝毫的减少，因为有消极的能量。消极的能量是什么？因为当你不能认识这个错误的时候，当你不能理解你自己设下的陷阱，当你不能知道你自己所带的枷锁的时候，你是最痛苦的。所以，学佛人心中要常生愧疚，就是老要感觉到，自己对不起人家。有些人心里没有感恩、没有愧疚，由原来的磊落坦荡走向卑躬屈膝。什么意思啊？本来是想说什么就说什么的人，本来是学佛很认真的人，因为他心中有芥蒂，他没有愧疚感，他就走向了卑躬屈膝。因为要得到某种利益，他自己必须要向某些物质卑躬屈膝，他面对自己也抬不起头来了，因为他的身心受到捆绑，受到重创。
When people encounter setbacks or failures, they don’t have the energy to change it into a positive and motive force, but let themselves be engulfed in negativity and engage in self-harm. In other words, when people face difficulties, most of them would become mentally obstructed and may have thoughts about committing suicide, or curse themselves, or constantly think of taking revenge. Where do these negative emotions come from? They come from you. Everything, your suffering, will not reduce one tiny bit, and that’s because it stems from negative energy. When you aren’t capable of recognising something is wrong, then you won’t recognise the trap that you set for yourself. When you don’t know that you’ve locked yourself up, that’s when you suffer the most. That’s why Buddhists must keep a sense of shame within themselves. They must constantly feel that they have wronged others. Some people are devoid of gratitude and shame; they change from being open and upright to treating others with servile flattery. What’s the point? Originally the person is somebody who speaks from their heart and mind, originally they are very serious in practising Buddhism, but because their mind harbour some constraints, and they don’t have a sense of shame, they start to treat others with servile flattery. Because they want to gain something from somebody, they must treat them with servile flattery. They also can’t look up to themselves; it’s because their body and mind are bound and suffered a heavy hit.
讲到这里，师父要说，行者若带缠锁，也就是说，我们做人行为上如果带有缠住你的锁链；则处者若失桎梏，也就是说，你处理事情，你如果不懂得学佛能够看穿它，你就等于带上了桎梏，实际上就是枷锁，最后只剩下腐败的灵魂。师父希望你们每个人都好好地想一想，我们为什么不要做自己的奴隶？我们为什么做人会有时候抬不起头来？我们是作茧自缚，身心受绑受创。我们的心被人家绑住了，所以，我们才卑躬屈膝；我们要为了达到某一种利益，我们就会被人家所捆绑。
‘If the practitioner is tangled’, in other words, if we behave as if we are constrained. ‘Then it’s as if though they’re shackled’, if you don’t know how to use Buddhism to look beyond it, then it’s as if you’re shackled, and all that’s left is a corrupted soul. Master hopes that every one of you can properly think about it, why shouldn’t we become slaves to ourselves? Why is it do we feel like we can’t lift our heads? We had bound ourselves; we have tangled up our body and mind. Our mind has become enslaved by somebody else, that’s why we treat them with servile flattery. Whenever we want to achieve a certain motive, we become enslaved by someone.
所以，要懂善恶因果论。一个人活在世界上，必须懂得善恶因果。如果你不懂得善恶因果，现在的自己，你是一无所获；如果你懂得了善恶因果，你想一想，你只是过去，你现在的自己只是过去和现在的连接点。想想吧，过去的事情我们不是过去了吗？现在我们要做新的事情了，我们是不是连接点啊？我们接下去要做新的事情了，我们过去的事情还在做，实际上就是靠你这个人在做一个连接而已。
That’s why one must understand the principle of wholesome and unwholesome karma. As we live in this world, we must understand about karma. If you don’t, then the current you will not benefit from anything. If you know about wholesome and unwholesome karma, think about it, you are your past you. What you experience now is a connection point between your past and your current self. Think about it; the past has already passed, right? Now, you must do new things, so aren’t you at a connection point? We are doing new things, yet we’re also repeating the things we did in the past. In reality, you are the object that’s connecting everything.
你得到了什么呢？过去的全部没有了；你失去了什么呢？我还没有做呢，我有什么？这是个连接点，这个连接点就是让你得到无量的生死轮回之间。因为你过去做了很多，已经过去了，那么现在已经开始轮回了；你的将来，你现在又已经开始做了，你现在做的好事，将来轮回到天上；你现在做的坏事，再加上你过去做的坏事，让你轮回到了地府和地狱。所以，我们现在人的思想和行为都是被过去的业因感召和报应。
What have you gained? Everything you possessed in the past has disappeared. What have you lost? You haven’t done anything yet, what have you got? That’s the connection; it’s the connection that makes you perpetually trapped in the never-ending spiral of life and death. Because you did many things in the past, and it has passed, now you have started to repeat it all again. For your future, you are beginning the cycle now. If you do wholesome deeds, you’ll reincarnate in heaven, if you do unwholesome deeds, it will add on with the unwholesome deeds you did in the past, so you’ll reincarnate in the Underworld and hell. That’s why the thoughts and behaviour that we possess now is just a karmic consequence and attraction of past-life karma.
举个简单例子，如果你前世是个女人，你这辈子到了人间就算是个男人，你还会做很多女人的事情，你继续为着你前世的感召，就是感应和召唤，就是你前世的烙印还没有完全去除，你这辈子继续会做上辈子的很多的女人的事情，听得懂吗？你的报应也就是你上辈子的报应继续到你这辈子的报应，所以，你现在的报应就是上辈子的报应，而你上辈子的报应在这辈子又继续在报应着，再加上你的新业，你继续在受报。不要以为我们到了这个人间一无所有，我们所带的东西什么都没有，实际上，你带来的东西已经够多了，就像我们小时候养成的坏习惯，实际上对我们的一生已经造成了很大的伤害啊。
Here’s a simple example, if you were a female in your previous life, then even if you are a male in this lifetime, you would still do many feminine things, you would continue to be attracted to and attract the same things as your previous lifetime. In other words, your mark from the previous life hasn’t been completely removed. So in this lifetime, you would still do many feminine things like your previous life, you understand? Your karmic retribution is a continuum of the karmic retribution of the previous life. That’s why, the karmic consequence that you experience now is from the actions that you did in the past life, and in addition to the deeds that you in this lifetime, the karmic consequence of the deeds will be experienced in the future of this lifetime or the next lifetime. Don’t think that we have absolutely nothing in the human realm. You think that you didn’t take anything with you when you were born, but in fact, you have already brought enough. Just like the bad habits that you had cultivated when you were young, the consequence of that is that it has created a lot of the suffering you experience now.
我们小时候学会的不好的习惯，是不是结婚后给自己带来伤害？小时候不讲道理，结婚后继续不讲道理，对不对？小时候就是蛮横无理，长大后在生活上、在工作中也是蛮横无理，你是不是受到了报应？所以，会产生出对未来业果所产生的原因。也就是说，你过去的感召和报应，犹如你小时候做错的事情，你现在受到感应了，对不对？然后产生出来的未来的业果是什么？今后将来你到底得到了什么业，善业还是共业？因为这是你受到前世的感应和你今世的种因所受到的原因。
Do you agree that the bad habits that you’ve learned when you were young have caused a lot of trouble in your marriage? You were unreasonable when you were young, so you continue to be unreasonable after you’re married, am I correct? You were rude and unreasonable when you were young, so after you’re grown up and have to make a living, you’re still rude and unreasonable in the workplace. Isn’t this a kind of continuum of karma? That’s why it becomes a reason which creates a future karmic consequence. In other words, the things you attracted and your karmic retribution, for example, the wrongdoing that you did when you were young, you now feel the effects from it, am I right? Then what kind of karma will this create in the future? Is it wholesome karma or aggregate karma? It’s because that is an attraction of the karmic cause you sowed in the previous life plus also the deeds you committed in the present life.
师父讲来讲去一句话，白话佛法很简单，过去你们所造的因到今世还没有结束，又继续你们的因；你们年轻时候造的因和习惯，就注定了你们今后将来受到什么样的果报。一个女孩从小的时候就能够很懂事情，很能够谦让，她大起来一路顺风；另一个小女孩从小就斤斤计较，心胸狭窄，什么事情想不开，等到她长大了，她就是一路障碍。对不对啊？爸爸妈妈娇生惯养的孩子，到了单位里有几个好的？
Master repeat once more, Buddhism in plain terms is very simple, in the past, the karma that you sowed have not concluded yet so it will continue. The karmic causes you sowed and the habits you developed when you were young has decided what kind of karmic consequence you’ll experience in the future. If a young girl is very understanding and modest, she would be smooth-sailing when she’s older. If a girl is very stingy, intolerant and stubborn, then she’ll encounter many obstacles when she’s older. Am I right? If the parents dote their child, how would they behave well when they start working?
被人家欺负，回到家去哭好了。从小就很坦荡，做人、做事情心胸比较豁达的人，他在单位里，他做人永远会得到很多的方便。这就是说，你的果是由你小时候的因和你前世的因所造成的。大家听得懂吗？所以，不要把“因果”这两个字看成是一个抽象的概念，哎呀，因果啊，它不是抽象的，它可以通过你自身的观察和经历来改变，因为你自己在观察自己生活当中的因果、经历，你能够明白这个因果到底在你身上产生了什么样的效果。
When they get bullied, they can go home and cry all they want. If a person is big-hearted from when they were young, then they would act magnanimously when dealing with other people and things. So, in the workplace, a lot of things would be very accessible to them. In other words, your consequence was created from the habits that you’ve cultivated when you were young and also in your previous life. Do you understand? That’s why don’t treat ‘karma’ as some abstract theory. It’s not abstract; it could be changed from your self-observation and experience. It’s because after you have started to observe the cause and effect that occurs in your everyday life and your experience, you would realise how it affects you.
过去周阿姨脾气很倔，现在一想，她很多的亏就是吃在自己的倔脾气上，我因为有这个脾气不好的因，所以，我现在才会有这个果，对不对？你要观察，你就知道，所有的因果都在你身上在爆发着，从来没有离开过，小到吃坏了肚子，种下这个因，吃了不好的东西，肚子闹了。今天小马的父亲为什么会生这个重病？因为他的前列腺一直没有看好，这个小问题他一直没有去看好，导致了他身体根本没有看好，出不来了，对不对？那么这个因种下去了，他才会有今天这个果，到医院里去挂急诊，吃这么多的苦，就是自己因所造成的。那么因果不就是天天在我们身边吗？如果你有病的时候，你平时注意自己，你早点听师父当时讲你有这个毛病，早一点听，早一点多喝水，早一点多看看病，说不定他今天就用不着受这么大的痛苦了，而且给他造成生命危险。所有的因果绝对不是概念，所以要把因果看成我们具体生活在这个人间的依据啊。
In the past, Miss Zhou was very stubborn, but now that she thinks about it, most of the losses that she suffered stemmed from her stubborn personality. It’s due to the cause of her bad temper that had created the consequence she’s currently experiencing. Am I right? You must observe, then you’ll know that one’s experiences are created by oneself and is not isolated from oneself. When you were young, you didn’t eat right, that’s why now that you’re older, you get indigestion when you eat something bad. Why does Xiao Ma’s father have such a critical illness? It’s because he didn’t take care of his prostate gland. When it was still a minor problem, he didn’t treat it, so now it has caused an even greater problem, am I right? It’s because you have sowed the cause in the past and hence you will experience the consequence of the present. He needs to go to A & E in the hospital and have to suffer a lot, all of it was created by himself. At times when you’re ill, if you regularly care of yourself or heeded Master’s advice or went to have a health check earlier, then perhaps you could’ve avoided having to experience such pain now. That’s why cause and consequence is not a concept; you must treat it as something integral and fundamental to your daily lives.
今天他为什么能成功？因为他种下了成功的因；这个人为什么人缘这么好，大家都喜欢他？因为他种下了这个人缘好的因；今天这个人身体为什么好？因为他种下了身体好的因，他锻炼身体，他吃得健康。所有的一切，我们人活在这个世界上，就是在种因得因，种果得果，天天在因果中不断地轮回着。你们现在为什么学佛这么开心？因为你们想到了你们种下了菩萨的因，所以你们法喜充满，你们才会天天学佛学得开心。因为你们种下了这个善因，你们才能得到这个善果。所以，要用因果来看现世的一切遭遇。你们现在所遭遇的在单位里不顺利，家庭的不和睦，身体的不健康，所有的这一切遭遇，实际上你用因果这两个字来看，你就不会有不开心的意见了，你就没有异议了，你就觉得活在这个世界上，我没有什么可以生气的东西，全是有因果，因果之后，就开始轮回。
Why is he successful? It’s because he had sowed the seeds of success. Why is this person popular and everybody likes him? It’s because he had sowed the seeds of popularity. Why is this person so healthy? It’s because he had sowed the seeds of good health, he trains his body and eats healthily. As long as we live, we are responsible for everything we do, and everything ceaselessly repeats itself. Why do you feel happy when practising Buddhism? It’s because you know that you’re sowing seeds of becoming a Bodhisattva, that’s why you are filled with Dharma bliss and constantly feel happy when practising Buddhism. It’s because you have sowed a wholesome seed, and so it will bear a wholesome fruit (consequence). That’s why you must observe everything from the perspective of cause and consequence. When you experience hardships, conflicts in your relationships, an ill body, all of these experiences must be observed from the perspective of karma. Then you won’t be upset about it, and there won’t be any complaints. You would feel that there’s nothing to be angry about, everything is cause and consequence, and beyond that is just another cycle in repeat.
