A Spirit-Writing Teaching by the Living Buddha Ji Gong (濟公活佛)

Ji Gong — the Living Buddha, the Crazy Monk, the Holy Fool — is the most beloved figure in Yiguandao devotion. A Chan Buddhist monk of the Southern Song dynasty (1130–1209), he became an immortal folk saint and continues to descend through spirit-writing (扶鸞) at Yiguandao altars across the Chinese-speaking world. In spirit-writing, his voice is unmistakable: warm, colloquial, sometimes stern, frequently funny, and always direct.

This text records Ji Gong's extended teaching on the Five Precepts (五戒) — the foundational moral discipline shared across Buddhist and Yiguandao practice: abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, and intoxicants. Delivered across multiple spirit-writing sessions at a Taiwanese altar, the teaching is conversational and practical. Ji Gong addresses ordinary practitioners — temple volunteers, shopkeepers, homemakers — meeting them where they live, in the kitchen and the marketplace, in the habits they don't notice and the choices they think don't matter.

This is a Good Works Translation by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, rendered in the gospel register — plain, direct, warm — to preserve the Living Buddha's natural voice. The Chinese source text follows the translation for reference and verification. The complete text: Preface, Chapter 1 (On Killing), Chapter 2 (On Stealing), Chapter 3 (On Sexual Misconduct), Chapter 4 (On False Speech), and Chapter 5 (On Intoxicants). Twenty-one hands across six lives carried this text from Classical Chinese into English.

Preface

I wrote you all a check once — promised I'd come talk about the Five Precepts. Do you remember? You've all been waiting. Well, today your teacher has come to cash that check, so listen carefully. Some of you here are senior practitioners who've already taken the vow of purity. Some of you are new to the Dao. Whether old or new, take this as a reference.

The precepts are the root of supreme enlightenment — keep them with a pure and single heart. Whether or not you've taken the vegetarian vow, whether you walk the bodhisattva path or simply try to do a little good, you should at least understand where the karma of killing lies. Understand how a precept is kept. It will only help your practice. Whether you want to keep them perfectly, whether you want to score full marks — that's up to each of you. Your teacher just needs to give you these principles.

Today we'll start with killing. Now, when it comes to killing — asking you to take a knife and kill someone, or go slaughter an animal — I don't think anyone here does that. You've all taken the vow. You probably don't even keep animals at home anymore, right? But it's not just holding a knife and taking a life that counts as breaking the precept of killing. So much of it happens in the subtle places — in the stirring of a thought, the impulse of a moment.

And then there's the matter of contributing causes. You haven't noticed the contributing causes, but they make you guilty of assisted killing all the same. We practice the supreme unsurpassed Dharma, so body, speech, and mind must all be pure. Those of you who've taken the vow of purity — body, speech, and mind, all three. Body pure, mind pure, and then? Your mouth must be pure. Just eating vegetarian food — that's called "eating vegetarian." It's not "purity of speech." So when we say "pure speech and vegetarian diet," it means mind, mouth, and body all purified.

Where do you usually slip up? On contributing causes. One careless word. Say someone is killing an animal and you're standing right there saying: "Good! Good! That meat looks delicious! Well killed!" That kind of rejoicing in the impure — that's praising killing. So killing comes in many forms: killing by your own hand, having others kill for you, praising the killing, rejoicing in it. These are easy to commit, and in the subtle places you don't even realize it. Since we walk the bodhisattva path, we must guard against these smallest things. Otherwise, in the stirring of your thoughts, your consciousness is already unclean.

Some people say: "I won't kill anyone else — but surely I have the right to kill myself?" People often take their own lives too lightly. But think — getting a human body is not easy. The human form is precious! Five layers of kindness unrequited, and you talk of ending it all at every turn. But a person who commits suicide — this too comes from seeds planted in past lives, deep in the consciousness, seeds of self-destruction. So they become negative at every turn, wanting to swallow sleeping pills, wanting to end it all. Everyone, be careful — never plant the seed of suicide in your consciousness. A person who commits suicide will have at least seven consecutive suicides afterward.

Why are so many people killing themselves in today's society? Especially in those hotels — you have no idea. You check in thinking it's clean. Some young couple who can't work things out — they say, "We can't be born on the same day, but we'll die on the same day." And before long, the hospital delivers a pair of conjoined twins. These seeds, this karma — it is terrifying. Be careful, everyone.

The precepts are there to help you toward liberation, not to chain you. So when you first made your vows and started out, didn't it feel like chains? Can't do this, can't do that — especially when you first went vegetarian. Going out to eat: can't have this, can't have that. Social events, other people's celebrations — what a headache, right? It felt like chains.

The Buddhist rites and etiquette felt like chains too. But your precepts are the rails of a train — leave the rails and it's dangerous. The precepts are a boundary line — cross it and the red light comes on. A person should know what lies within their proper place. Step outside those bounds and you've broken a precept. Freedom is freedom that doesn't violate whose freedom? Yes! So you do need some discipline to guide you.

But if every one of you could hold a truly compassionate heart, then the precepts would have no power over you at all. So keeping the precepts is really about mastering yourself: no false speech, no greed, no stealing, no drinking, no sexual misconduct. This is to help you walk the path of the supreme bodhisattva. Don't treat the precepts as chains, and don't use them to measure others. Don't say, "Look at that vegetarian — look how poorly they keep it!" When someone sincerely tries to keep the precepts, you should let them adapt gradually. Over countless lifetimes, the seeds planted in your consciousness have accumulated for so long they're not easy to remove. Everyone has habits. Everyone has a temper, has patterns. These are the places where you're incomplete. You must use these precepts to gradually train yourself.

So what can the precepts do for a family? They bring harmony. If husband and wife both practice and both keep the precepts, they absolutely won't fall into sexual misconduct, and they won't fall into the other traps of lust, wine, wealth, and anger. If everyone in society kept the precepts, you wouldn't need police stations, wouldn't need courts, wouldn't need laws. To make a peaceful and harmonious society, everyone must keep precepts and discipline themselves, right? So don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of the precepts.

For every practitioner, the precepts are a necessary staircase on the path to the bodhisattva. The merit you build, the virtue you accumulate — if you don't understand the precepts, it's like having a stained garment that was never washed. The stain is always there. Take it out again and the stain remains. Lifetime after lifetime, these habits persist because you never removed them. They live in the field of your consciousness, and when those seeds sprout and meet the sunlight, they grow again. Cut the grass but leave the root, and when the spring wind blows it grows right back. Only through keeping the precepts can you pull them out at the root. And keeping the precepts depends on your awakened nature, your wisdom. So I hope every one of you can walk this path of the supreme bodhisattva.

Chapter 1. On Killing

Now let's talk simply about how to keep the precept against killing. "Of all the kinds planted by sentient beings, none surpasses a living soul. To save the lives of living things, first keep the precept against killing." Because human beings have a heart of compassion — that tenderness when you see another creature suffer — the bodhisattva's ten thousand practices all have great compassion as their root. To preserve the way of being human and the root of all right action, the first precept is against killing.

So killing reveals that a person has lost the heart of compassion. Where do you think the wars and disasters of this world come from? If all of Taiwan stopped killing and went vegetarian, within two years the harvests would be abundant. Farmers wouldn't need to spray pesticides — but we'll come to farmers later. They have merit, but they also have faults, and they must bear their share of karma. And the people who sell the pesticides? They help farmers grow abundant crops, but they also participate in the killing of countless lives. Their karma remains.

These subtle places are where people don't see clearly. Why do these situations exist? Because of the shared karma of all beings. You need to survive, and those small creatures need to survive too. So they come to oppose you. You want to eat, they want to eat. You kill them, and later they come looking for you. Grievance answers grievance. After countless ages, those creatures will be reborn as humans. Don't think that animals are forever animals. One day they too will take human form, and when they do, they'll come to oppose you. So it's not just the killing of one life that carries consequences.

These consequences come in the present life, in the next life, or many lifetimes later. It's like planting — some vegetables grow quickly, but if you plant apple trees, lychee, or longan, don't they take years to bear fruit? So some people say, "That person has done so many terrible things — where's the retribution?" Because they still have surplus merit from past lives, good deeds done in previous lifetimes that still shelter them from the reckoning. And some people work hard doing good and wonder, "Why do good people get no reward?" It's because the good you've done hasn't yet outweighed what you owe from past lives and lifetimes before. So understand: karma is absolutely fair — fairer than the law, fairer than any judge in any courtroom. Karma cannot be escaped.

Now what is "assisted killing"? Assisted killing is indirect. Say you see someone slaughtering an animal and you say, "Good! Kill it well! That meat is delicious!" Or say a woman already has several children and doesn't want another. She tells her friends, tells her husband she wants to abort. At that moment, can you speak? If you say, "Good, good — get rid of it," you've committed assisted killing. Even though you didn't do it with your own hands. We're talking about killing today, so we lay all these subtle points out openly. I hope everyone receives this teaching with a sincere heart.

Or say someone is having a birthday party: "Wow, what a feast! So much slaughtered! Wonderful!" Or your children are getting married: "We'll serve a meat banquet." What do you do? If you say, "Go ahead, go on and order it!" — then you've fallen into assisted killing. So what should you say? You say: "Your father and mother are Buddhist vegetarians and absolutely do not wish for any killing." As for how to handle the rest, you know in your hearts. I can only say this much. You need to hold firm. You take responsibility, right?

And if you sell Chinese medicine — there are often animal ingredients in Chinese medicine. If someone asks about it, you as the seller should hold this thought in your mind: "This medicine is only to heal the sick. I do not wish it to involve killing." Keep that intention of healing. But you must not tell the customer: "Oh, you should stew this with chicken, or turtle, or snake..." That won't do.

When you sell the medicine, just think: "May their illness be healed — that's enough." If they ask: "People say this should be stewed with chicken or turtle or pork. Doctor, is that true?" You cannot agree. Say: "That's a common folk belief. In our view, it works just fine taken on its own." And if they insist — "Everyone else says so. Why do you say otherwise?" — then say: "That's our view. If you want to follow what others say, that's your affair." Stress that it has nothing to do with you. After all, the sun blazes overhead, and each person must look after their own life. Otherwise, one sentence spoken — and countless ages later, when a city wall falls and the prisoners are lined up, and someone asks, "Can we kill this one?" and the bystander says, "Yes" — the head rolls. Your "yes" from ages ago — that assisted killing — the karma doesn't escape.

So why is it that children nowadays become thugs and kill the wrong person? They meant to kill one and killed another — killed the wrong one. And what happens then? This comes from karma accumulated over countless ages. You helped someone kill.

And the sellers of Western medicine — those who sell stimulants, glue, sleeping pills. They all bear karma. Sleeping pills are meant to help people sleep, with no intention of assisting in killing. But when someone buys two today and two tomorrow, be careful — what if they take them all and die? The sellers of addictive drugs — these are a form of slow suicide, hardening the blood vessels. The sellers of these things will not escape their karma.

So when choosing a livelihood, be careful. Never enter a trade that involves assisted killing. This is why "right livelihood" is so important. Right livelihood — in the Eightfold Path, it is essential.

We who have taken the vow of purity must be pure in body, pure in speech. You can't speak carelessly. If someone tells you, "Life is meaningless, I want to die..." and you say, "Oh, you look terrible anyway — might as well die!" — if they hear those words and actually do it, you contributed the cause. Never speak this way. You must use gentle words, loving words, to care for them and slowly bring them back from that dark place. Don't throw out careless words. One careless word from you might cost a life. So be careful, be careful.

If you see someone killing, don't rejoice in the impure. Don't say, "That meat looks delicious!" or "That's a rare catch — kill it and try it for the nutrition!" Not killed by your hand, but killed because of you. If you visit someone's home and the host is very generous and rushes to slaughter the family's own chicken to serve you — then you're in serious trouble. So whenever you visit someone, the first thing to say is: "Please don't kill anything on my account." Otherwise that chicken will go before the King of Hell and testify: "This person came as a guest, and because of them I lost my life." That debt will be settled with you. Understand?

There's another contributing cause of assisted killing — for those of you in business: don't sell knives or weapons, anything that helps in killing. People are impulsive. If someone grabs a knife in the heat of an argument — fwish! — the blade flies. It's dangerous. The knife seller bears some share of the karma. Selling cleavers, butcher knives, things of that sort — better not to. There are three hundred and sixty-five trades — you don't have to be in that one. And those in it carry karma from past lives. As for the electric slaughterhouses — chickens, ducks, that sort of thing — the person who invented the electric slaughterhouse, their descendants for generations will have no children. One machine, how many lives? Fwish — one goes in, one comes out. Fwish — the next, and the next. How cruel! These are designed by electrical engineers. Those studying electrical engineering, be careful — never design such things. It will not go well for you.

And don't sell alcohol. Don't buy alcohol, and don't buy it as a gift for others. Alcohol is the root of losing your true nature. Drink and drive — accident. Drink and go out — sexual misconduct. Every evil begins with the loss of your true nature, and that loss begins with drink. So I earnestly urge you: don't buy alcohol, don't sell alcohol, and above all don't drink alcohol. Those who drink will be born in the next life like the patients at Longfa Temple — minds unclear, unable to think straight. And if you buy alcohol as a gift, helping others create evil — the karma follows you into the next life too. So I urge you, no matter how poor you are, don't go into that kind of business.

Next: don't sell coffins. You probably won't sell coffins, but let me give you the concept. Why is selling coffins problematic? The coffin shop owner, when business is slow, taps his wooden stick and thinks: "No car accidents lately, no fires..." As if people dying in droves is good for business! That's cursing people to death. Cursing people to death corrupts the heart. Now, if you buy a coffin to give someone as an act of charity — that's fine. But you must never harbor the dark thought: "I bought this coffin to give away — why won't anyone die?" That's also unacceptable. The intention behind every thought matters.

One more point — the easiest one to violate: don't wear leather. Leather coats, leather belts, leather bags, things of that kind. Synthetic leather for a hundred and fifty dollars, that's fine. But the expensive ones — thousands of dollars — snakeskin, mink coats, cowhide, lambskin — it's best to avoid them. If you wear these things and end up before the King of Hell, and he gives you a pigskin to put on — you walk out as a pig. He gives you a beautiful feathered coat — off to the zoo as a peacock, or maybe a rooster. So leather goods, leather things of that sort — practitioners are better off not indulging. A bag for a hundred and fifty is fine. Shoes too. Synthetic leather won't have real hide mixed in. Belts too.

And those mink coats — ladies who love the Hong Kong leather bags, imported for thousands of dollars — this is not good. Do you know how mink fur is obtained? The mink is a deeply compassionate animal. It lives year-round in the ice and snow. The hunters who take its fur — they are worse than animals! They lie in the snow pretending to be dead. The minks, so full of love, come out in groups and surround the hunter with their own fur, pressing their bodies close to warm him back to life with their body heat. And when the hunter sees they've taken the bait — out comes the net. Every last one caught! You see — the animal has such love, and the human is so cruel. Worse than an animal. I urge everyone here: grow your compassion. Never wear mink. It does no good for your practice.

And be careful when lending money. You mean well, lending money, but you don't know what it's for. You could be contributing to killing. Your daughter-in-law asks: "Mother, lend me five thousand..." You don't know what for. She takes it to get an abortion. That's no good. So giving and lending must be done with wisdom.

The same goes for charitable donations. Out there, you'll find plenty of folk temples — spirit altars, you know? Not the orthodox kind, not the true deities. One here, one there, and when they open, they ask for donations. Be very careful. Does this temple offer vegetarian or meat sacrifices? If they're slaughtering pigs and chickens for the consecration — then your donation is assisted killing! The folk temple's grand opening, with puppet shows and pig roasts — every pig slaughtered there, you bear karma for.

Wisdom must lead all charity. The six perfections have wisdom at their head. Don't just give to anyone who comes asking. But if the donation is to a proper Buddhist temple, that's different. You give to a temple where people practice the Dao, where many are helped — that merit is great. As the saying goes: "In the door of the Three Treasures, merit is easily cultivated — one seed, ten thousand harvests." If the temple serves only vegetarian food, even if it doesn't do anything particularly meritorious, at least there's no killing. It won't bring that karma to you. And don't sell fishing rods or hooks. Every fish caught on that rod and that hook will come looking for you.

And you women — those of you whose whole family hasn't gone vegetarian, where only you eat vegetarian — sometimes the children come home, your husband has a day off, and you need to buy some meat for the family. If you have to buy fish, be careful: don't kill a mother fish. A mother fish carries countless eggs inside her. Kill that one fish and you must count every egg in her belly as well.

So do women carry heavy karma? Some of you don't accept it — "Nonsense, nonsense, women having heavier karma..." Ha! You won't even repent, and you call it nonsense! This is exactly how women so easily create karma. You can't always be in charge. And young men and women — I urge you: stop having barbecues. Barbecue this, barbecue that — of course, if you're grilling corn or vegetarian meat, that doesn't count. But don't grill real chicken legs, pork shanks, chicken wings. People eat too much of this, and in the field of consciousness, lifetime after lifetime, you can never wash it away. You'll dream of chewing chicken legs.

And you should know — pigs are the most attached creatures. Pigs are very good at "guarding their corpse." The pig's head, the pig's feet, the pig's liver — you take the whole thing apart and hang it up. Some people like to cure the meat, right? Cured meat that sits for three years without being sold — the pig's spirit stays right there, guarding its body, for three years! It waits until every last bit of flesh has been eaten or has rotted away before it goes to be reborn. Then someone says: "Teacher, then we should eat it quickly to help it move on! Eat it so it can be reborn sooner!" Oh, your merit is so great you can save a pig? What if you can't even save yourself? So I urge everyone — eat less meat.

And the pig butchers. You've heard the butcher's rhyme: "Pig, oh pig, don't blame me — you're just a dish for humanity. If no one ate, I wouldn't slay — go settle your debts with those who pay!" Back and forth they push the blame. See, people know killing is wrong and they still kill. They just can't let go of it! So why is there so much disease today? Cancer after cancer, every kind of illness. With medicine so advanced, there shouldn't be all these strange diseases. But the more advanced the medicine, the more the strange diseases! This can only be explained by the karma of killing.

And those who spray pesticides, spray insecticide — these are not good either. It's all shared karma between you. The creatures need to survive and so do you, right? The debts were tied in past lives. You need to eat, but they insist on opposing you. You kill them, and later they find you. If everyone stopped killing and went vegetarian, within two years the harvests would be abundant and disease would be rare. Look at people two thousand years ago — Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Kings Wen and Wu, the Duke of Zhou — did they have pesticides? No pesticides, and people lived just fine, and the harvests were abundant.

The more you kill, the more the insects multiply — you can't kill them all! Look at the tiger. The tiger eats people. Does anyone eat tigers? Very few! You'd be grateful just not to be eaten. Yet tigers aren't overpopulated, are they? They're endangered. But chickens, ducks, pigs — because so many people eat them, there are more and more! The bugs you spray can't be killed off either, because each spraying kills how many? So I urge everyone: keep your homes clean, and the flies and ants will come less often. These creatures share karma with you. They need to live too, right? They need to live, but they also disturb you. And all you do is kill them. You kill them, they kill you — just like eating lamb. People eat sheep, sheep die and become people, people die and become sheep. Round and round the cycle goes, never ending.

Everyone be careful. When it comes to killing, there is far, far too much to say. Today we've talked about the things you're most likely to encounter — the subtle places you don't notice, the things you don't realize, the things you easily stumble into. The big transgressions you'd never commit — no one here would take a knife to kill someone, set a fire, or rob a bank. And no one here would go slaughter an animal. But then why did the Buddha establish the precept against killing? Why these five precepts? Because there are still so many subtle places you overlook. That is why the precept must be established.

Now, killing has degrees — heavy and light. What's heavy? The seven inverse crimes: the lower killing the higher — parents, your master, your teacher's generation. That's an inverse crime. This absolutely leads to the three evil paths. Killing another person is a grave offense — killing between equals — also very heavy. Both lead to the three evil paths.

The lighter offense is killing animals. But you can't say: "It's a light offense, so I can kill. An ant is still far from Buddhahood — I can kill it." You cannot have that thought. The moment you do, you've broken the precept of killing. Slowly, slowly, you plant the seed of killing in the field of your consciousness, and it never leaves. Understand? Though killing has degrees, there are also mitigating circumstances. Say someone is mentally disturbed and accidentally kills — in terms of karma, that's lighter than deliberate killing, because they weren't in their right mind. And killing in defense of sages, or to save a great number of people — say, killing the enemy to save your country — the karmic weight is lighter. But there is still karma.

Why can't you kill a human being? Because humans are closest to Buddhahood. You suffer in this life, you hear the Dharma, you practice hard, you clear your karma — and you can attain it. Why is killing animals a lighter offense? Because animals are still far from Buddhahood, still have a distance to travel. But they do have the capacity to attain it. So you absolutely cannot kill them.

Now let me tell you the consequences of killing.

First: you fall into the three evil paths. Once you've fallen, it's very hard to turn around. So killing — never, never provoke it. You kill these beings, you kill these animals — think about it, each one is a life. During the festivals, you celebrate your "holiday" — but for the animals, it's a "holocaust." Grievance answers grievance, and sometimes the holocaust comes for you too.

Second: if reborn as a human, you'll be sickly and short-lived. Those who kill much, if they're reborn as humans, will certainly suffer illness and die young. Some people, it's not this ache, it's that ache — living like a medicine jar, inseparable from their pills. Nothing seems truly wrong, yet they're always sick, and no doctor can find the cause. So those who are often sick should release lives. And speaking of releasing lives — beyond freeing animals, there's the deeper release that comes from wisdom. Release the inner lives. "Sentient beings" means beings born from the gathering of afflictions. Afflictions control you and make you suffer. So first release those inner afflictions — let go of your attachments, your cravings, your greed, anger, and delusion. Release the inner "lives" first, then release the outer ones. So the practice of releasing lives works both inside and out. This is the wisdom way of releasing lives. When affliction arises, what happens? You necessarily fall into the evil paths. No one says that when affliction arises they feel like they're in heaven, do they? When affliction arises, isn't it like being in hell? So if you haven't released your afflictions, you're already dwelling in the hell realm. Release these inner lives — beings born from afflictions — let go of all the thoughts that rise up. That is releasing lives.

Third: everything you encounter will lack brightness. What does that mean? Your business, your dealings with people — nothing goes smoothly. Some people, no matter what they do, can't make money. The more they invest, the more they lose. But some people set up a little roadside stall and make a fortune. This relates to your accumulated merit. If you've killed a great deal, in your next life things and people will have no affinity with you. No brightness means no affinity. You can't save face. You go out and people don't want to be near you. You're in the middle of a business deal and someone else walks in and closes it instead. So if your business fails, it's alright — release more lives, stop killing, and accept your lot. When we harbor poison in our hearts, it goes on lifetime after lifetime. A person who kills — their heart turns cruel. Look at the butcher: kill pigs long enough and your face becomes a pig's face. Kill chickens and your face becomes a chicken's face. Kill crocodiles and your face becomes a crocodile's face. Kill anything long enough and your face goes dark. And in your consciousness, the thought of killing keeps rising — not just killing animals, but wanting to kill people. The seed of killing is too heavy. So in everything you plot against others, scheme to harm others. And this way, lifetime after lifetime, you cycle through the hell realm and the hungry ghost realm without end.

Fourth: the heart fills with fear. Those who kill carry fear in their hearts. When they fall ill — "Oh no, what's wrong? Should I go consult a fortune-teller, draw a lot, check my luck?" Walking down a dark road, they're afraid. They carry dread! They've killed too much. They know killing is wrong, but they can't stop. So when illness comes, they think, "Did I offend some spirit? Did I cross some ghost?" When really it's their own karma manifesting. Like eating a mother fish — all those eggs inside — when the time comes, it's like the bank on the last day of the year: settling all accounts. A person who has committed too much killing, at the moment of death, it's like the year-end reckoning at the bank. Some people die screaming horribly, bleeding from every orifice. Because all their karma has come due, all of it manifesting at once.

Fifth: nightmares. Those who kill have frequent nightmares. Not just dreaming of something pressing on your neck — but dreaming of eating a delicious chicken leg. Be honest, everyone — when you first went vegetarian, didn't you dream of grilling little birds? Of barbecuing meat? Of eating chicken legs and braised pork belly? Some of you couldn't hold back. A week of cravings, mouth watering — and you broke down and stewed yourself a pot. Some people take over ten years to truly give up meat. They always want it. Without the grease, they feel weak, their mouths water. The thought comes and they eat again. "Teacher, I'll just eat from the side of the pot, just the vegetables that touched the meat..." And the side-of-the-pot vegetables become meat-beside-the-vegetables. Chopsticks reach in and just happen to pick up a piece of meat. "I didn't mean to — it just came up with my chopsticks." This is simply having eaten too much! Think about it — in your whole life, how much meat have you eaten? Just the flesh, not counting skin and bones — could a truck carry it all? Some children are born vegetarian — one taste of meat and they spit it up. That's their karmic roots from past lives. Some were vegetarian even in the womb. Some people, on the other hand, keep eating until their teeth are nearly gone and still want chicken. Can't chew it anymore, so finally they'll eat tofu. "I can't chew the meat anymore, so I'll be vegetarian and eat tofu." Beings are that attached.

Sixth: when you've killed much, all beings turn hostile. You've killed so many of them in past lives that of course they despise you on sight. The pig butcher — people don't want to be near him. That fierce, murderous face. So if you've killed too much in past lives, in this life you have no human warmth. People see you and they just don't like you. "Why am I so unpopular?" you ask, despairing. It's the accumulated killing from past lives. And when you've killed too much, at the moment of death: terror, starvation — the ox-headed and horse-faced demons come to drag you away, and every creditor from every life appears. Some people die peacefully. Some die with a terrible expression on their face. Some die in accidents. This is the retribution for killing. What do you feel in your hearts now? Have you committed any of this? Not the big things — but the small ones? Yes!

Now let's talk about keeping the precept against killing. What are its rewards? If breaking the precept has consequences, then keeping it has consequences too.

First: keeping the precept against killing is practicing the gift of fearlessness. "Fearlessness" doesn't mean you're brave enough to donate large sums — it means you give animals and all beings freedom from terror. That is the gift of fearlessness. With this compassion, you don't kill them, and they aren't afraid. When you grab a chicken to slaughter it, plucking its feathers — doesn't it stare at you? You make it terrified. It is a life. It has its own family joys. To take it by force and kill it is too cruel. Those of us who practice should practice the gift of fearlessness.

Second: if reborn as a human, you'll have few illnesses and long life. This is the opposite of what we just said. Some people are naturally healthy. The healthy don't understand the suffering of the sick. "Always taking medicine — oh, stop exaggerating!" Some people look robust into their eighties and nineties. Others in their twenties and thirties can't live without pills. This relates to your karma from past lives.

Third: your compassion grows, and your afflictions diminish. With a compassionate heart, keeping the precept against killing, your afflictions naturally decrease — because you're healthy, you rarely create bad connections with others, so there's less to trouble you. And it severs the angry heart, removing the fever of resentment. All of this connects to your consciousness. Kill too much and your temper sours, turns violent. Have you ever seen someone who loves to kill but has a gentle temperament? "Refined and courteous" — who does that describe? A scholar, right? No one says a killer is "refined and courteous." And beings will draw near to you, and the good spirits will protect you. If you don't kill, beings naturally want to be near you — in past lives you created good connections with them. You freed them, you were kind to them, they like being near you. Some people find benefactors wherever they go. And the good spirits will guard you. Because you carry no killing energy, only compassion. Those who keep the precepts carry the heart of a bodhisattva. So the good spirits protect you easily. And you'll have no nightmares, and your sleep will be peaceful. After a long time without meat, you won't dream of chicken legs anymore. You won't dream of strange things pressing on you. Sleep peacefully, all night through, lying in the auspicious posture.

Fourth: in future lives, you'll have wealth and ease. Keeping the precept against killing — because you've cultivated merit, because you're free from illness, because you gave all beings the gift of fearlessness — you'll be wealthy and at ease. These are its benefits.

Fifth: dissolve old grudges, create new bonds of good. These are all connected. If you don't kill, naturally you won't harbor the urge to kill. You won't become a thug. A thug sees someone he dislikes, pulls out a knife — "What are you looking at!" — and that's killing. So dissolve the old grudges, and widely create bonds of good.

Lastly: those who keep the five precepts and make vows to practice merit will certainly be reborn in the Pure Land. This means ascending to heaven at the end of your life. Killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, intoxicants — keep all five precepts, and then practice merit and virtue, and you will certainly reach the Pure Land. Because all of these are seeds that pollute your consciousness. Remove those polluted seeds and you can be reborn in the Pure Land. So no killing is benevolence, no stealing is righteousness, no sexual misconduct is propriety, no false speech is trustworthiness, no intoxicants is wisdom — these correspond exactly to the five Confucian virtues.

So whether or not a person practices is related to karma. Any questions? Because this is very subtle. Some of you will say: "This can't be done, that can't be done — then I'd better not come listen anymore! If I don't hear it, I won't feel afraid!" The ant can't be killed, alcohol can't be bought as a gift — "I'd rather not know! What I don't know can't hurt me." But what you don't know is exactly what prevents your liberation. You'll still commit it either way.

So today your teacher has spoken on the precept against killing. If you can accept this, we'll continue with the rest. If you can't accept it — "Teacher, I'd rather not hear any more, I'll just be a simple vegetarian, I don't need to know the details!" — then we'll stop here at killing and not continue. Today was a simple talk, to give you the concept. For those of us who walk the path of the supreme bodhisattva, we must, in every stirring of thought, in every impulse, protect this good heart. In every moment, we must be one with all living things.

Some people say: "With all these animals and creatures, if we don't eat them, won't they overrun the world?" Let me ask you: the tiger eats humans — are humans born to be eaten by tigers? You say chickens and ducks and pigs are born to be eaten by you. Well, the tiger says you're born to be eaten by it. And mosquitoes love human blood — are you born to feed mosquitoes? When a mosquito bites you, do you kill it? Yes! See? Don't be selfish. Put yourself in the other's place.

Let me explain why karma works the way it does. Karma doesn't belong to just Buddhism or any one tradition — it absolutely cannot be escaped. To be born human is to be within the cycle of cause and effect. Think of water. Water in a reservoir is potential energy. When it flows down to the generator, it becomes electrical energy. Electrical energy becomes light energy. Light becomes heat. Water is not electricity. Electricity is not light. Light is not heat. But they are all one substance, one transformation of energy. So if your force is great, you rise. Without force, you descend. How could you not cycle through the six realms without practice? The six realms are all beings cycling through. Animals are not humans, humans are not mosquitoes — so why do the bodies keep changing? The same principle. Energy transformation. So you must practice to gain the force to break through karma and rise. Without practice, without merit, you descend. You have no power, so you fall. Today, since we are all practitioners, I hope everyone will be careful.

One more thing. You all have altars and Buddha images at home, right? When you have a Buddha image enshrined, be careful when changing clothes in the room.

And here's the most important point: if a Buddha image is old and worn, can you throw it away? If it's ceramic, can you smash it? If it's a painting, can you burn it? Can you? No! Then what do you do? Roll it up and put it away. Keep it.

No matter how worn your Buddha image is, if it can't be displayed anymore, you must roll it up and store it properly. Never burn it. If you burn it and throw the ashes in the garbage mixed with filth, that's disrespectful to the Buddha. This precept derives from the ancient rule against "drawing blood from the body of a Buddha" — to injure a Buddha's body and make it bleed meant falling into the three evil paths. Today, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are no longer physically in this world. What they left behind are images and scriptures. So the rule has evolved: do not destroy a Buddha image with a malicious heart. If the wife wants to pray and the husband doesn't, and the husband threatens in a rage: "If you pray again, I'll burn that Buddha image!" — that is destroying a Buddha image with malicious intent.

So if a Buddha image can no longer be displayed, roll it up. If you absolutely must dispose of it, that's more complicated — you'd need to take it to the ocean. The point is: it must never be treated as garbage. Understand?

Chapter 2. On Stealing

Last month we began with the precept against killing, and word must have spread, because this month there are more of you here. Good — come and listen.

The precepts are a root — the root of liberation from the cycle of birth and death. If you don't understand the precepts, you commit countless offenses without realizing it. Your income can't keep up with your spending. You work hard, you cultivate merit, but if you don't understand the precepts, you create invisible debts. The precepts give you a boundary — they reduce your offenses. No matter which school or tradition you practice in, everyone must be careful and keep the precepts.

If a person in Taiwan breaks the law, they face legal punishment. You can't say that Americans or Japanese who break the law should be exempt, can you? So every school and every tradition is the same — only the terminology differs. The Five Precepts cover very subtle territory. They operate at the level of thought — the stirring of a single intention — and you don't easily catch them. Gathered together, they are called the Five Precepts. So these are not terms that belong only to Buddhism. They are not a practice exclusive to one tradition. Every practitioner must watch their own words and deeds with care. Don't practice a "leaking method." This cup is meant to hold water, and you must let it fill — but if there's a hole in the bottom, the water drips away. If you don't keep the precepts and commit small offenses, it's like a cup with a leak: no matter how much you pour in, the cup never fills. No matter what school you belong to, the precepts protect your merit. They keep your blessings from draining away. You practice the gift of fearlessness in the kitchen, sweating buckets — performing all three kinds of giving — and yet if you don't understand the precepts, what a waste. Merit and virtue leak away, and your blessings diminish. So as I said: in Taiwan, breaking the law brings punishment. Every nation has its laws — only the names are different. Do you understand? Yes.

Disciples of the Heavenly Dao have their own supreme method, but this is something everyone must understand — just as you must understand the Heart Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, the Dao De Jing. Understand? Yes.

Society has become chaotic. You all watch the news and feel the same thing: the world is in disorder. Those with bad tempers curse at the television, but cursing accomplishes nothing. Rather than cursing at the chaos, we who are practitioners, religious leaders, and Dharma teachers must share a common understanding: we must take some responsibility. Especially those who teach the Dharma. When the human heart has lost its ancient virtue, when everything is in turmoil, we need to shoulder some responsibility. Don't just watch the news — parents murdered, robberies, thefts — and think: "This society is hopeless! Let the pure stay pure and the muddy stay muddy." Even standing in clarity, you still bear the responsibility to teach and transform. A religious leader is simply an educator by another name. To purify the human heart.

We keep the precepts to nourish the sacred embryo and grow the life of wisdom. When your heart is bright, the spirits and gods draw near. So keeping the precepts requires a lasting resolve — not "dew-drop resolve," the kind that evaporates the moment the sun touches it. The precepts must be held moment by moment. All of you have entered the Buddha's gate to practice — the great offenses you'll never commit. The small ones, in the subtle places, require your vigilance. Why do we teach the Five Precepts? Because every single one addresses things so subtle, so fine, that you can't even imagine how easily you commit them. Especially today's topic: the precept against stealing. Those of you who serve in the kitchen — listen carefully.

Before we begin, let me add one more point about last month's precept against killing. If an ancestor in your family has passed away, do not kill any living creature for the funeral. If there is killing for the death rites, that karma falls entirely on the deceased — because their passing caused the killing. It's best to hold a vegetarian funeral. If your whole family hasn't taken the vegetarian vow, at least eat vegetarian for forty-nine days. And husband and wife should observe separation for forty-nine days as well. This helps lighten the deceased's karmic burden. I make this point especially.

Now let us talk about stealing.

Stealing, at its most obvious, is theft — taking something when the owner isn't looking. Then there is robbery — taking by force when the owner IS looking. Robbing a bank, seizing another's property — that kind. Then there is fraud — deceiving someone. Old folks are the easiest targets, aren't they? Con artists love them. Retired soldiers with a little pension, duped through their weakness for women. Then there is extortion: young couples in the park, and thugs come to collect "protection money." That is extortion.

Then there is something called "taking by slander." You're going abroad and leave your belongings with a friend. No receipt — you trust each other. When you come back and ask for your things, the friend is greedy. "What things? You never left anything here. Show me a receipt!" This is taking by slander. "Slander" means falsely accusing; the friend denies having your belongings and curses you for accusing them. This is greed.

Then there is "taking by swindle." Say you have something valuable — a diamond, for example. Your friend sees it and admires it. They deliberately buy a fake one, and while handling yours — looking at it, touching it, passing it back and forth — they swap it. "This is mine," they say, and when you protest, "That real one is mine!" they answer, "Yours is the fake one." Deliberate. A swindle. These things happen in the world.

Of course, none of you here would do these things. The offenses I just described are more common among people outside. So what are the offenses that practitioners in the temple are more likely to commit? Listen carefully — these next ones are about you.

First: when you have troubles or difficulties, you come to the altar, kneel before the Buddha, and burn a big handful of incense to pray. Where did you get that incense? You just grabbed a fistful — very convenient, yes? But that incense should be your own. You've come to ask the Buddha for help, but before you've done any merit, you've already stolen from the Buddha. Think about it. You go to a doctor — you pay a fee. You come to ask the Buddha — you grab incense like it's free. That's convenient for you, but it's not convenient for the Buddha. The incense and offerings are purchased by the community for the deities. The owner is the immortals and Buddhas. So before any merit is done, you've committed theft from the Buddha. From now on, be careful. When you have troubles and want to burn incense, please spend your own money and bring your own incense. Pray with a clear conscience.

Second: telephone calls. Pay for your own calls. Don't just pick up the temple phone because it's convenient. Everything in the temple belongs to the immortals and Buddhas — not to any particular person, not to any abbot, not to any steward. No one has the authority to give these things away. Make your own calls. "You may let the Buddha take advantage of you, but you must not take advantage of the Buddha." Be careful. If it's a private family altar, that's different — a personal phone at a friend's home is another matter. What I'm talking about is public property in a public temple. Remember! Otherwise, when the phone bill arrives and it's hundreds of dollars, the complaints begin. Pay your own way. If you want to have one of those long, rambling conversations, at least pay for it. Domestic or international, all the same.

Third — and those of you in the kitchen, pay close attention: when you're doing the gift of fearlessness and cooking food, after it's done, you taste a spoonful to check the seasoning. That's fine. But if you're greedy and the food tastes good, and you taste it again and again — and by the time five of you kitchen workers have all tasted it to your satisfaction, the food is half gone. So after the food is cooked, before it's formally served, do not greedily taste extra helpings. One taste is enough to check the seasoning. If you need more than one taste, is there something wrong with your tongue? The temple's public supplies belong to the community of faithful donors. The owner is all the donors together. They gave it for everyone to use, but "everyone" requires order.

And after you've bought the supplies, don't start packing up bags to take home. Some kitchen volunteers or visiting members — they show special favor to certain people, and suddenly big bags and small bags are going out the door. That is not acceptable. Was it donated to you personally, or to the temple? You cannot take it for yourself alone. "But I contributed money! I give every month!" What you gave is your own act of giving — your merit of generosity. You can't say, "Because I contributed, I can take bags of supplies home." Once you've given, you've given. The heart of giving has already gone forth. To take it back is to harbor a thief's heart. So the movements of the heart must be very clear. Now, if after a Dharma assembly there are many leftover dishes that will spoil — that's different. Those can be taken home. But afterward, you should bring something of similar value back to the temple — fresh supplies for the next class or event. Leftovers divided equally and taken home — that's no offense. But the one who gave more can take a little more, and the one who gave nothing should take less. The owner is the immortals and Buddhas, not you! The donations were given for the sake of the Buddha, not for any person. If someone personally buys something with their own money and brings it to cook — that's different. And the offering fruit: don't eat it before it's been offered to the Buddha. All offerings belong to the immortals and Buddhas. You absolutely cannot use your authority to help yourself first or give it to whomever you please. Understand? Yes.

And the donations that come in — people specify how they want them used. Monthly support, frontier work, printing morality books, general temple expenses... Where the donor directs their giving is where it must go. If they say "buy incense," you buy incense. Monthly support goes to monthly support. Keep it clear. Don't mix the funds. And the cleaning tools for the main hall — don't use the same ones for the toilets. The hall's cleaning tools should be separate. What belongs to the immortals and Buddhas should be kept clean. I've seen the same mop used for the hall, the kitchen, the bedrooms, and the bathrooms. That won't do. Keep them separate. And the flowers offered to the Buddha — don't sniff them. "This one is tuberose — let me smell it. This one is a tulip — different fragrance!" Your nose isn't clean. You have a cold, sinusitis, a runny nose — unclean! Once you've sniffed it, it's no longer pure. These flowers are offered to the Buddha, not to you. Whether they're fragrant, the Buddha will know. And when buying incense, don't pull it out of the package to sniff before purchasing. These are all subtle places where you easily offend without knowing. Be careful. These are the offenses you're most likely to commit inside the temple.

Now, for those of you who work in government offices: envelopes, letterhead, stationery — it's convenient, so you use them for personal business. That's stealing from the national treasury. Civil servants, be careful. Whether you're in government or in a private company — private is private, and company is company. Don't use public property for personal purposes. If fifty people in a company each take a little, the boss goes bankrupt. We practitioners must guard our own precepts. Civil servants who take these things — they're taking from the tax money paid by every citizen. If you misuse public property, you owe a debt to every taxpayer. That is theft from the national treasury. And teaching others how to evade taxes, or how to trick public phones into giving free calls — be careful. Putting personal letters inside printed-matter postage — that too is stealing from the national treasury. Have you done this? Yes! You didn't even realize it. And now if you teach someone else, the two of you commit the offense together.

And if you steal, and the person you steal from is poor — so poor that the loss drives them to despair and they take their own life — then you've broken two precepts at once: stealing and killing. Very serious. You probably won't commit that particular offense, but I must emphasize it. Civil servants, company employees — everyone must be careful. And riding buses, boats, crossing bridges without paying — all the same: theft from the national treasury. And buying something at a discount because the seller agrees not to issue a receipt — the two of you conspire, you get it cheaper, no tax receipt — that's also stealing from the national treasury. Receipts should be issued as required. If you're evading taxes, where does the government get its money for public works? Where do civil servants' salaries come from? Issue the receipt. Whether you keep it or not is your business, but you must watch the seller issue it on the spot. Understand? Yes. It's not about winning the receipt lottery — it's about being a good citizen who follows the law.

Stealing is the most subtle of all the precepts. Of all the five precepts, the precept against stealing is the hardest to keep. There are so many, many places where you can offend without realizing it. If I went into every last detail, you'd get tired of it — "Can't do this, can't do that — I'll just flee to America and stop listening!" But if you refuse to listen, your blessings won't hold. Everyone comes to the temple hoping to accumulate merit and cultivate virtue. If you carelessly leak those blessings, isn't that a waste? You work so hard, and in the end there's nothing left. How strange — you go back to the Heavenly Buddha Academy and you're still just a trainee, still refining your qi. The reason is right here: your blessings all leaked away. You didn't do the work on your heart.

The precepts are essential. That's why in the three trainings — precepts, concentration, wisdom — precepts come first. Beings in the Dharma-ending age have dull roots. You can't see your true nature or awaken all at once. You can't keep the precepts perfectly from the start. Since you can't use your own nature as your teacher, you must use the precepts as your teacher. Even the Buddhas of the ten directions began with the precepts. Because the precepts are the root of cutting off all evil. Receiving the Dao merely creates a good connection. But keeping the precepts is the root of doing good and cutting off evil. Thoughts are as numerous as the hairs on an ox, but those who attain the fruit are as rare as the ox's horns. Why? Because there are too many thoughts — greed, anger, delusion, arrogance, doubt, the ten evils, and countless more — that haven't been removed. So attaining the fruit is as rare as the ox's horns.

Among all the methods of practice, the one thing they share in common is keeping the precepts. No matter what school or tradition — the precepts are the universal method. That's why your teacher teaches them today: so you'll understand, and hold them. Don't think that just keeping the ten great vows, or reciting the Wordless True Sutra, is enough for liberation. You recite every day, but your thoughts don't stop. The roots of evil aren't cut. "Cut the grass but leave the root, and when the spring wind blows it grows again." The roots of evil must be cut first. Only then can you nourish the sacred embryo and grow the life of wisdom.

There are certain situations that do not count as stealing. The precepts are strict, but they have their flexibilities. After hearing all this, you might think: "Nothing is allowed! I'll just retreat to a mountain cave and live alone, away from everyone." But a true bodhisattva is not afraid of trouble. A true bodhisattva — one with the bodhisattva heart, walking the bodhisattva path — lives in the crowded marketplace, unafraid of complications, transforming affliction into awakening. Only an arhat, a "self-liberating saint," retreats to the mountain cave — because he's afraid of being contaminated. We who practice the supreme method must use wisdom to discern what should and shouldn't be done. Although many situations can create a thief's heart, there are allowances. These are called "openings":

The first is "taking what you believe is yours." Say you come here for class on a rainy day and leave your black umbrella by the door. After class, you can't tell which one is yours — they're all black umbrellas — so you grab one and go home. This isn't stealing, because your own umbrella was taken by someone else who made the same mistake. You believed it was yours. This is called "taking what you believe is yours."

The second is "taking what you believe was given to you." Say you visit a fellow practitioner's home. They serve you tea and fruit and treat you generously. When you're leaving, you see a package on the table. You assume it's a gift for you, so you take it. But actually, it was meant for someone else. This is called "taking what you believe was given to you." There's no thief's heart, so it's not an offense. But you cannot deliberately see something you like and say, "Oh, I thought it was for me!" and walk off with it. That kind of intentional self-deception is not acceptable.

The third is "taking what is discarded." This means things of no value — trash. You're throwing out the garbage and you see a table or chair someone has discarded. Or perhaps they washed it and left it out to dry, and you thought they threw it away. You take it home. "Taking what is discarded" — this is not an offense. But you can't say someone left their Rolex watch sitting there and call it "taking what is discarded" — "I thought you didn't want it, so I took it." That doesn't work. Use common sense.

The fourth is "borrowing temporarily." Say you're at a friend's house and need a pen, some paper, or the phone. You borrow it briefly — use it and return it. As long as you put it back where you found it, that's fine. But you cannot slip it into your pocket and walk away. That's not borrowing — that's theft. "Borrowing temporarily" means you use it and give it back. This doesn't break the precept against stealing.

The fifth is "taking among intimates." Say you go to a close friend's house. Because you're so familiar with each other, you open the refrigerator — soda, fruit, snacks — and help yourself. Because you're close friends, they don't consider it stealing. But if you're NOT close friends, you can't just walk into someone's house, open their fridge, and say, "We're intimate friends — they won't mind." That's not intimacy — that's rudeness. Convenience becomes indecency. But among people who truly trust each other, where no receipt is needed — that can count as "taking among intimates." These situations are not stealing.

Now, what you steal also has degrees of gravity — light and heavy. If you steal from a Dao temple, from a Buddha hall — that's a heavy offense. Because the temple's property exists to benefit all practitioners. The property belongs to all practitioners, all devotees — not to just a few. Steal from the temple and you've committed a grave sin. "In the door of the Three Treasures, merit is easily cultivated — one seed, ten thousand harvests." I mentioned this last month. When you give to a temple, to a Buddha hall, the merit is immense — it reaches in all directions. But to create evil and break the precepts there is equally easy, because you feel so comfortable — you grab things and go! You think it's all there for the taking.

Why is giving to a temple so meritorious? Because it reaches all beings in the ten directions and three realms — all practitioners everywhere. It's like mathematics: one hundred divided by zero equals infinity, doesn't it? So it reaches the entire Dharma realm. You give a hundred dollars to the temple, and it benefits all practitioners — not just the ones at your altar, but at every altar everywhere. Because once you've given it, it's no longer private — it's public. And what's public benefits all practitioners equally. A bag of rice: you come and eat, he comes and eats, practitioners from other temples come and eat. So the benefit reaches all practitioners — one hundred divided by zero, infinite, filling the entire Dharma realm. But by the same principle, stealing from the temple is equally swift and grave. In short: a needle, a thread, a pen, a sheet of paper from the temple — don't touch them casually. If you must use them, give a little something back. "Let the Buddha take advantage of you, but don't take advantage of the Buddha." That way, you can't go wrong.

When you give, give without attachment. Don't keep accounts: "On the first and fifteenth I gave this much, at the Dharma assembly I gave that much." You gave to cultivate your field of merit, to practice generosity — not to make a transaction. Once you've given, there should be no attachment. Don't say, "I gave five thousand then, I gave ten thousand now." Some people say, "Teacher, I'm not attached at all! I give and let it go!" I say: you're not attached to small amounts. But large amounts? Would you be unattached to a million dollars? Small sums are easy. Large sums — that's where attachment lives. Why does the earth have gravity?

Because people cling! A rocket must overcome gravity to leave the earth. A person must overcome the pull of karma. How? First let go of your attachment. Only then can you break free from karma's grip. Attachment is your gravity — it holds you down. Everything you cling to binds you. Mass converts to energy, and that energy becomes karma. A person's evil deeds are quickly stored in the eighth consciousness, rapidly converting into karmic force. Where does a human being come from? Father's essence, mother's blood — genetics — plus karmic energy, converting into a new life. That's why siblings born to the same parents have different conditions — different wisdom, different fortune, different circumstances. Each follows their own karma, their own blessings. Beings arrive carrying an impure karmic body. Where there's attachment, there's waste — because it's impure. A Buddha arrives carrying vows, carrying compassion — clean. So the Buddha has no waste. The Buddha is pure.

Greed, anger, and delusion are a river of birth and death. Follow the current and you stay in the cycle. Practice means swimming upstream. Follow your habits and the six realms of reincarnation take you easily. Study the Dao — the Dao means "the Way," and the six realms are six roads. Everyone practices and asks: "Teacher, will I return? Will I go back?" I say: you'll go somewhere! The question is which of the six roads. Everyone "passes on" — even through the six realms, that's "passing on." The six roads support your endless cycling through birth and death. So what are we studying? We study the unborn and undying. We study the Dao that severs the cycle of the six realms.

Now let me tell you the karmic consequences of breaking the precept against stealing.

First: falling into the three evil paths. If you break any of the four major precepts — killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech — the first consequence is falling into the three evil paths. Getting a human body is not easy. Treasure it. Practice well. Once you fall into the evil paths, coming back as a human is extremely difficult. Say you're reborn as a pig — you must wait until your karmic debt is fully paid before you can return to human form. Oh — I forgot two more things: defaulting on mutual-aid savings is also stealing. And lending money at exorbitant interest — sucking people's hard-earned savings — that's stealing too. Default on your debts and in your next life you'll be reborn as a pig or a dog. A dog guards the house like a servant. A servant earns what — ten thousand a month? How much did you default? Calculate how long you'll serve. A pig sells for fifteen or twenty thousand. How many pigs until you've repaid the eighty thousand or the million? Only after you've repaid can you be reborn. So falling into the evil paths is truly pitiable.

Second: if reborn as a human, you'll be poor and lowly, or you'll have great wealth but cannot use it freely. This is karma at work. Why poverty in this life? Because in past lives you stole too much. So you're born poor and lowly, or you have money but can't spend it as you wish. Why? Have you ever given generously and then felt regret afterward? "I gave too much! He only gave ten thousand — why did I give twenty?" So when you give, don't let regret follow. Better to give a little more — it's your field of merit. But if regret arises, even though you gave to a Buddhist institution and earned blessings, in your next life you'll have wealth but won't be able to use it freely. That's the karmic consequence. Although you have plenty of money, it slips away — lost here, dispersed there, friends borrow it and never return it. Wealth that won't stay. That is "not being able to use it freely."

Third: crops, houses, and property will be struck by flood, fire, frost, and hail. Your grain, your produce, your real estate — easily devastated by natural disasters. Even what you have is as good as nothing. And when it happens, you'll think: "Everything is gone! Life is impermanent!" But this is karmic retribution. Wasn't that money earned through hard work? If you use it carelessly, spending blessings you haven't earned — it's like overdrawing your account before you have any income. You spent the blessings in advance. So even if you build some merit in your next life, you must first repay what you already spent.

Fourth: when others lose something, suspicion falls on you. Someone loses their belongings, and they look at you — you with the shifty look — and they think you stole it. A person who has never stolen walks freely everywhere. But if you've developed the habit of petty theft, of taking small advantages — when anyone loses anything, a needle, a thread, they suspect you. Because your face says "thief." This is a matter of character. So committing these offenses easily leads to false accusation. Say you lose two thousand dollars. You search everywhere. You start thinking: who was I with? You begin to sift through everyone you saw, everyone who came to your house. You go through your mental list. If the missing item is cheap, you let it go. If it's valuable, you won't rest. And if you're a person whose conscience is clean, who returns things you find — then no one will suspect you. But if you're known for taking small advantages, suspicion will always find you. So in daily life, be upright.

Fifth: the body suffers, and the heart fills with worry. Your body is always burdened with some kind of discomfort — not necessarily illness, but nagging problems that make life uneasy. Your mind is full of worry and vexation. So many miscellaneous troubles come your way that you can never feel at peace. A thief who steals from others — does he sleep soundly? Every knock on the door, he thinks: "Is that the police?" He can never sit still. If in a past life you broke the precept against stealing, in this life you're always restless, plagued by nameless anxieties.

These are the five kinds of retribution for stealing — a summary only. There are many, many more that we could discuss. But for those who keep the precept against stealing, there are also good rewards. If breaking the precept has consequences, then keeping it has consequences too. Those who keep the precepts have the protection of benevolent spirits. What are the good rewards?

First: your wealth accumulates and does not scatter. Your assets don't mysteriously disappear. You won't inexplicably fail in business. Some people make money at everything they touch — any investment turns a profit. Others can't make money no matter what they try. The more they invest, the more they lose. This is because they lack the blessing. They broke the precept against stealing in the past, so wealth won't stay. Either a wayward child squanders it, or it goes to the hospital.

Second: many people love and trust you deeply. You'll have good connections with others. Because you habitually show compassion to those in need, people see your generosity. They won't suspect you. Even if something goes missing and you slept in the same room, they won't doubt you — because they know your character. Your reputation is established through your daily conduct. They'll hold you in high esteem.

Third: your good name spreads far, and people in all directions praise you. If you keep the precepts strictly, your good name will certainly spread. No killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no false speech, no intoxicants — no temper, no greed, anger, or delusion. Practice is about educating yourself, not educating others. Don't take the ruler of the precepts and measure other people with it. Measure yourself tightly and your good name will spread. When people mention you, they'll raise their thumb. If you do well, it absolutely benefits you. "He's good, but... his temper's not great." Or: "He's good, but... there's that one thing." So do well, and it will serve you. As practitioners, even if those above us perform poorly, we still praise them. We still look with equal eyes. Don't speak of others' faults. Don't pick at their flaws. If those above you are imperfect, they have their own karma to bear. If you must speak of it, you create your own. And yet — even if someone's virtue is lacking, if they can break through the gate of lust, that alone deserves praise. Like a monastic — whether or not they practice well, the fact that they shaved their head and donned the robe is praiseworthy. Whether they practice well is their business. We must always maintain a heart that praises. If we discuss as a way of learning — "Should we emulate this, or improve upon it?" — without judgment, that's no offense.

Fourth: you stand among the crowd without fear, and no one dares to cheat you. When your heart is bright and open, you don't flinch. You don't think: "Did I do something wrong? Is there something I'm hiding?" Your conduct is beyond reproach.

Fifth: body and mind are at peace, and at death you ascend to heaven. Because you have no greed, no petty faults, no bad habits — of course body and mind are at peace. A living bodhisattva can be free and joyful, because they have no habits, no wandering thoughts, no karmic weight. They dwell in the Pure Land right here and now. And we ordinary beings — from this world of suffering, we too can cultivate our own Pure Land. We just need to remove what shouldn't be there: the greed, the anger, the harmful habits. Then you too can cultivate a Pure Land. In your heart, in your innermost space, keep clearing away. When a thought arises, first ask yourself: should this be here? So examine your thoughts first. Examine your own faults. If you're always clearing away, you won't be easily stained.

Stealing is the most subtle of all the precepts, and you can violate it so easily. What I've laid out today are the offenses you're most likely to commit inside the temple. As for the monastic traditions, they have their own monastic rules. I don't need to lay those out — you're not in a monastery. You're in the temple, in the Dao assembly. What I've given you today addresses what you're most likely to encounter. So keeping the precept against stealing is not easy. In the monasteries, the rules are even finer.

Whenever you're in the temple and want to use something, be careful. Coming to the temple for a meal is perfectly fine. Don't hear what I've said today and be afraid to come eat! The temple belongs to everyone. Everything there is for communal use. The toothpaste, the towels, the toilet paper that's set out — use them freely. If you have a stomachache, use as much toilet paper as you need. It's there for you. But don't be stingy either — give a little more. Generosity can break through miserliness. Why do I encourage you to give? Because people cling! Too much greed — and people's clinging is what creates mountains, rivers, and hard stones. A person whose temper is too stubborn is like a stone. Whose temper is too explosive — fire rises, and there are fires in the world. If you don't extinguish the fire of anger within, the fires outside won't stop. Wars won't end. Keep the precept against killing, and bombs can't kill you. Keep the precept against stealing, and fire can't burn you. Keep the precepts and benevolent spirits protect you. Keep five precepts, and five spirits guard you. Keep one, and one spirit guards you.

There are three more precepts to come. Which is the hardest to keep? The precept against false speech. And the precept against alcohol. The precept against stealing is one you break without noticing — but once it's been explained, you can correct it. The precept against false speech is much harder. Business people haggle and tell lies. I'll address that in the future.

Some people say: "I'll just keep three out of five — a passing grade of sixty percent. I'll keep the precepts against killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct, but skip false speech and alcohol. I drink a little socially." "Five precepts, keep three — I don't need a perfect score." And then it turns into keeping "who-knows-what precept" — lost track of what you're keeping altogether. It's best to keep them all. It strengthens your practice immensely. Without these karmic entanglements, liberation comes easily. Why do beings cycle through the six realms? Because a force of affliction controls you and keeps you turning. Without affliction, there's no karmic obstruction, and practice is swift. Isn't that so?

"A single fire of ignorance burns ten thousand miles of merit-forest." Everyone knows this saying. You work so hard accumulating merit, and then one blaze of ignorance rises — and that fire burns your true nature, not your money. Once your true nature catches fire, everything is ruined. Everything can be given up — except the temper. The path of patience is the hardest to walk. A person who flies into rage at the slightest provocation — this is connected to their level of cultivation. You may have done great merit, but one blaze of ignorance, one burst of cursing, and it's over. All beings flee from you. The people you've helped won't come near you anymore. This is the nature of beings in the Dharma-ending age — dull roots and big tempers. So I advise you: eat less chili pepper. I know — it's like asking for your life. Especially those of you from the interior provinces — you eat an incredible amount of chili, don't you? Chili opens the appetite, but it also inflames the temper. If you can give it up, give it up. If giving it up would kill you, then reduce it slowly. If you can give up everything else, surely you can give up this one small thing.

Beings in the Dharma-ending age have dull roots. Encountering the Dao and attaining the Dao is not easy. To guide one person takes two, three, even more visits of patient persuasion. And when the introducer finally brings them, it's not easy either. They come, look around, hesitate, and decide not to take the vow. Then the introducer goes back again — coaxing, persuading, practically dragging them to receive the Dao. You cannot refuse them! Did you hear? Everything in this work is duty, not authority. Your teacher never gives up on any being who can be saved. Beings in the Dharma-ending age have dull roots — they won't come just because you wave a fan. They need to be guided. Once they want to receive the Dao, you must see the Dao accomplished in them. The introducer must patiently, gradually help them understand. They don't know why this Dao is good, do they? It's like trial products these days — buy one, get one free, new products come with free samples. The introducer must slowly guide them. If they've taken the first step, you must give them a chance. If they receive the Dao and still don't change, still lack faith, still slander the Dao — then they have no affinity. You've widened the gate for them. You've given them their chance. If they won't come, let them go. "The Buddha's gate opens wide — those with affinity, come quickly. Those without, we won't force you." This is each person's own matter of life and death. If you don't believe, you don't believe. Don't be stubborn. Science and literature can solve many problems, but they can't solve the problems of the heart. They can't solve the problem of death. When you're sick, you go to a doctor. When you're dying — who do you go to? You come to your teacher, don't you? When death approaches, you burn a big handful of incense and call for your teacher. No one dies at ease unless they're a great practitioner, a high monastic, or a sage. Otherwise, when you're sick you go to the doctor; when you're dying, you absolutely must come to your teacher. Don't be stubborn — "I won't receive the Dao and that's that." The Buddha's gate is full of practitioners. You had the affinity to enter — at least come and look. If it's not for you, you can leave. In ancient times, seekers crawled on their knees to beg for the Dharma. Not like today, with heads held high as if someone owed you something. Grudging, reluctant. It's not like that. The Dao is still the Dao — exalted as ever. It's only because beings in the Dharma-ending age are so difficult that Heaven shows special compassion, allowing you to practice while still carrying your karma. No one asked you to renounce first. No one demanded merit before giving you a chance. They gave you entry to this convenient gate. Never abandon it. Since you have the affinity to enter, receive the Dao. "Don't wait for the emergency to grab the Buddha's feet."

If someone wants to receive the Dao, give them a chance. Don't shut the door in their face — that makes no sense. The Dao may be impartial, but it is not without feeling. All beings have feelings. The bond between teacher and disciple is like that of parent and child. Your teacher will never give up any being who can be saved. Unless they truly have no affinity — not a single hair of good roots — then let them go. If they won't practice or receive the Dao, others will. The earth won't stop turning because one person dies. The temple won't close because one person leaves. This is a great assembly. Understand? Yes.

Chapter 3. On Sexual Misconduct

The precept against lust:

"Why do some families carry honor through generations? Because in past lives they did not violate the precept against lust."

"Why do some lines die without heirs? Because in past lives they broke this very precept."

"These seeds of good and evil, people do not see — but they anger the judges of the unseen world and all the spirits."

"For this the penalty is suffering in the hells, and only after hundreds of thousands of ages is rebirth obtained."

Of All Evils, Lust Comes First

You're all living comfortably now. There's a saying: "When you're warm and well-fed, lustful thoughts arise." Of all evils, lust comes first. So a person's desires must be kept clear — don't let them grow heavy. Don't eat too much. You're eating rich food now — big fish, big meat. Three meals aren't enough, so you add snacks. From morning to bedtime, five meals a day. The girls eat too much and then run off to the weight-loss clinic. Think about it — material life is so abundant now, but it brings the opposite effect. Look at people in the old days. Plain tea and simple food, yet they were healthy and long-lived. Not like you now, getting every disease under the sun. You eat everything from sea, land, and air, and there's no health to show for it — only more illness. And when you eat your fill, all the other wandering thoughts come flooding in. Add to that the media blaring and sensationalizing everything — so even the young ones are doing every bad thing there is.

Today's society is truly pitiable. Beings tumbling through this ten-thousand-fathom red dust — pitiable. The poet Bai Juyi once climbed a mountain to visit the Bird's Nest Master and asked him whether living in the treetop was dangerous, whether he might fall. He never stopped to think about himself falling in this ten-thousand-fathom red dust. He was a duck on the seventh-month festival and didn't even know it. Always saying how pitiable others are. So we hear of people eating themselves to death, playing themselves to death — but we never hear of anyone dying from spiritual practice. Beings keep chasing the wrong things. Pitiable indeed.

The Five Precepts are a tremendous help to your practice. Receiving the Dao is only an assisting condition. If you've vowed to maintain a pure diet, you must give all these things up completely. If you can't bear to cut them away, you'll be trapped in the cycle of birth and death forever. Especially this matter of lust. Of all the forces in the universe that bind a person, lust is the strongest. It is more powerful than any drug. One taste and you can't quit. Those of you who are married know this. And even those who aren't married want to try — isn't that so? So today as practitioners, we'll lay it all out plainly and speak of it as far as is appropriate. If we don't speak of it, you'll have no sense of where the boundary lies.

The precepts are like a map. Look at the map and you know which direction to go, where you can go and where you cannot. Once you've spoken the rule aloud, you have a boundary for yourself and you won't overstep it. But whether you actually cultivate, whether you actually keep the precepts — that's up to you, isn't it?

The Buddhas of the Three Ages regard lustful thoughts as the most defiling thing in the world. Since we walk the bodhisattva path, we should practice restraint. But this does not mean that practice requires severing all relations between husband and wife. That's not what this is about. It means that even between husband and wife, there must be propriety and moderation.

Improper Desire Is the Root of Chaos

Lust has two forms: proper and improper. Improper lust is any abnormal relationship outside of marriage. It is extremely harmful. Every social problem originates from husbands and wives failing to observe proper conduct. The family is the foundation. If you can't keep your own foundation, every other problem follows. Problem children come from problem families. Problem families come from husbands and wives without a sense of responsibility — selfish, impatient, unable to hold their posts, indulging themselves.

So I advise you unmarried young people: when choosing a partner, inner beauty matters most. A pretty face is dangerous — you can't hold on to it! If a girl is beautiful, you're not the only one chasing her. If a man is handsome, you're not the only one who wants him. The other person doesn't care if there's already a marriage — they just want what they want.

Today's society has no regard for proper relationships. The law can't even manage it. Even if the law could, people would still want what they want! Lust defies all moral order, all ethics, all law — it negates everything. You see same-sex relationships, old men with young wives, old women with young husbands — all of these violate the natural order. Because once lust takes hold, nothing else matters — all six relations are treated the same. Even in ancient times, monks practicing alone in the deep mountains would sometimes develop improper relations with monkeys or goats. This shows you how lust violates all moral order, all right thinking. It is extraordinarily dangerous — like fire. Once it catches, there's no controlling it.

This must be treated at the root. The root treatment begins with purifying the heart — finding a way to dilute your desires. So when desire arises, it's no use banging your head against a wall or doing something drastic to suppress it. You must calm it from within. So as a rule — don't eat too much. When you're warm and well-fed, lustful thoughts arise!

At home, it's best to go barefoot. The coolness on the soles of your feet helps lower your fire. Human beings have feelings. Animals have feelings too. So the less contact, the better. To distance yourself from lust, there's no other method — you can only "stay far away." Any books, magazines, or movies that stir your imagination — don't touch them, don't go. These things defile your eyes. Young men are especially susceptible. A man's two eyes are up to no good from the moment he's born. That's why when a man dies, the eyes are the first to rot. Don't believe me? Dig up a coffin and look — the worms start at the eyes. Because they loved looking at these things. They loved it when girls dressed as lightly as possible so they could look a little more. These are all the fuses that ignite lust and corrupt your pure heart.

Every problem family originates from a pair of eyes that couldn't behave. So to keep your heart pure, read scriptures regularly. Best of all, memorize them — the Classic of Purity and Stillness, the Heart Sutra, the True Scripture of Maitreya, things like that. Commit them to memory, and when that kind of thought arises, subdue it immediately. This is how you gradually dilute it. You're all ordinary people. Everyone has desires. That's perfectly normal. But desires must be kept in check.

Propriety and Moderation

Not every religion demands you sever desire entirely. In truth, husband and wife are the foundation of Heaven and Earth. The husband is Heaven, the wife is Earth — this is the root of all proper relations. It's just that when people indulge without restraint, it becomes the chaos we see today, and families produce no end of problems.

To strengthen a family, husband and wife must treat each other with the courtesy of honored guests. Beyond the physical relationship, you must connect through heart and mind. If there is nothing between a husband and wife but that, what distinguishes them from animals? So even in marriage, there must be moderation.

"Proper" relations between husband and wife — for example, on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month, on the birthdays of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, or when an ancestor has passed away, you should observe a period of abstinence — forty-nine days — as a mark of purity. Your daily lives are so busy already. You should think: this kind of pleasure is fleeting and cannot satisfy any lasting happiness. Focus on your health, manage your family well, look after your wife and children. That part of life is just an accessory — it's not the main thing.

Human beings observe propriety, don't they? Among the Five Constants — benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness — it is propriety that maintains the order of the home. The gate of propriety, the path of righteousness — you must follow this path if your family is to hold together. So your teacher hopes that although you practice as householders, not monastics, you still cultivate the bodhisattva's outlook and pure conduct. Otherwise body and mind won't be unified — you want to recite the Buddha's name, you want purity and cultivation, but if you haven't passed this barrier, if you cling too tightly to it, you'll turn forever in the cycle of birth and death.

Lust is the root of birth and death. We must practice restraint. If you're married, tend your family well. If you're unmarried and looking for a partner, try to find someone who shares your path, isn't that right? We practice at home. What we practice is an ethical family — kindness flowing down, filial piety flowing up. It's not that you sacrifice by refusing to marry and call that "sacrificing for the Dao." That's not how it works. You must know how to manage the family you have now. Manage your present home well, and then you'll be able to manage a larger one. It's not that spending all day at the temple counts as sacrifice. That's not it at all.

The Family Bond Must Be Fulfilled

Between husband, wife, and family, this life has given you a bond. You must learn to bring that bond to completion. How? Not by running away.

Say your mother bore you as her only son, but you're out all day helping others. You treat your home, your mother, your career as burdens — entanglements. You go out helping others let go of their entanglements, but who's going to help you with yours? Don't you treat your family like a burden? Your parents, your children — as baggage? You tell others to let go, but are you going to stand in opposition to your own parents? Is that what you want? You tell others to drop their attachments and walk the bodhisattva path — but have you completed your own bonds?

So we must have a correct understanding of practice. Don't bring every problem to the lecturer, and don't expect the lecturer to consult the senior teacher, who then — what? Goes and looks it up in a book? Makes up an answer? Why not find your own answers? Their position is not the same as yours. The senior teacher is celibate. Naturally they want you to be celibate too — better if you never married. But how are you going to complete the bond with your parents, and with the other family you're connected to? All marriage must follow its own causes and conditions.

Also — none of you should go around praising marriage. Don't say how wonderful it is and urge someone to marry. But if someone has a genuine bond, don't oppose it either. Let every marriage follow its own natural course and develop naturally. Understand? That way you won't violate the proper order. Because their position is different from yours. You can guide them gently, but you must never make them suppress their feelings. Guide them slowly from the side. Everyone's circumstances and background are different.

As your teacher just said: if you're an only son and you want to be a bodhisattva, spending every day doing merit — I ask you, does your mother want to be a bodhisattva too? You leave her at home, alone and sick. She can go to hell while you ascend to the Western Paradise — can you sit easy as that kind of bodhisattva? Many things seem contradictory, but you need real wisdom to see through them. Leaving her at home, treating her as an entanglement while you go save the world — if you can't even save your own household, how will you save anyone outside it? So the foundation must come first. Only when the root is firm can the Dao grow. If you have a family, manage it well. Between husband and wife, between parent and child — manage it, fulfill it. And if you're not yet married, whether to start a family is your own affair. But once you decide to, you must be capable of managing your own home before you try to manage a larger one.

Weigh your own situation carefully. Your spiritual work needs tending, and so does your family work. When we say "abandon home and career," which home do we mean? Which career? We mean abandoning the walls between "your family" and "my family." Treat the elders of others as your own. Treat the children of others as your own. Abandon the distinction of "your home, my home" — not abandon your actual home and leave it empty.

So a practitioner must have the courage to take responsibility for the other's family too. Bring your partner along in practice. Have the courage to take on their family and help them — with the spirit of "If I don't enter hell, who will?" Isn't that magnificent? Especially you women who've taken the vegetarian vow — aren't you afraid of marrying into a family that doesn't? Aren't you hovering at the threshold, not daring to enter? This is exactly the problem! Think about it. If you have a bond with this person, you must accept it. Their ancestors for nine generations and seven lifetimes depend on you to help them. Slowly, patiently, and one day they'll stand on your side and eat vegetarian with you. With the spirit of "If I don't enter hell, who will?" — isn't that magnificent? You marry into the family and refuse to touch meat, refuse to cook for them — then where is your practice as a daughter-in-law? Unless you truly never touch it at all. But if in your heart you still have that longing, that desire you can't cut away — then what?

In your practice, you must have some wisdom of your own. How to continue walking the spiritual path. How to build a happy family. Practice IS building a happy family — it's absolutely not about severing this bond and creating future bad karma. If you don't fulfill this life's bond, next life you'll meet an even worse one, because you left this one incomplete. Understand? So it's the same for everyone.

The Home Is the Foundation of Practice

When you're out there working hard, exhausted, don't you want to come home to warmth? A good wife who has dinner ready, the children looked after? But if you come home from work at six, and there's a temple class at seven-thirty that you still haven't prepared, and you rush off without spending a moment of love on your family — I ask you, will your children's education succeed? If your wife, from the moment she opens her eyes to the moment she closes them, never once sees her husband — will she still sit quietly at home being your devoted helpmate? I ask you women — would you?

And let me ask the men: if your wife runs to the temple every day — first and fifteenth, six days a week — and you come home from a hard day's work to no dinner, no newspaper picked up, the children watching TV, floors unswept, laundry undone — do you still want this wife? Would you let her go to temple? Put yourself in the other's shoes!

So don't tell people to "let go of attachments." You say it's the parents testing them, that it's a demonic trial — you're calling the parents who love and protect them demons? Is that right? Parents who love, protect, and worry about their child when they're out — you call that a demon? That kind of thinking is wrong. You urge them to defy their parents, to resist to the end — I ask you, are you helping this person or destroying their family?

Home visits are good. But I've seen the way some of you do home visits — you sit down and it's like an insurance salesman. You're afraid of insurance salesmen, aren't you? Well, if you're afraid of them, just imagine how people feel when you sit down and launch into "the Dao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Dao" and "Laozi says, Confucius says." People are scared! The Dao is alive and natural. The Dharma is lively. Don't lock it into a formula. Don't push it like a product. Even a good product needs marketing, but let people approach it naturally, accept it freely. When you visit a family, do you even know what's happening in their home? How the husband and wife get along? So adjust your approach a little. Don't work from seven in the evening to the middle of the night only to drive the members away.

Family problems are the same — husband and wife must communicate and coordinate. Otherwise problems arise. Husbands, don't be so domineering. Don't come home, put your feet up, and treat your wife like a servant. I hope you'll get rid of that attitude. If your wife weren't supporting you from behind as an unsung hero, how would your family survive? So appreciate the difference between before and after marriage. Before marriage you were a carefree bachelor — clothes unwashed, closet a mess. After marriage you have a devoted partner tidying everything up. Wives do tremendous work. Husbands — remember your wife's birthday. Buy her a flower, even if it's just a morning glory or a globe amaranth. Buy a cake. Don't forget your mother's birthday, and don't forget your wife's birthday either. Husband and wife are one body, the closest bond. If a gap opens between you, every kind of problem follows.

A Model Family Is True Practice

In terms of spiritual practice, don't we all hope for a model family, a model marriage, model children that others can look up to? A model couple is a harmonious one, right? So that anyone who drops by your home can see it. Even if you rarely go to the temple, even if you don't bring many people to the Dao, if your home is a model of warmth and harmony, people will see that there is Dao in this household, and they'll gradually learn from you. It's no good if your home is a mess but you show up at the temple looking immaculate — that's just a mask, and when the mask comes off, it's not a pretty sight. Don't let some high-sounding reason make you neglect your family.

If you can abandon the parents who loved you, raised you, and nurtured you for decades in order to go save strangers — isn't that putting the cart before the horse? Of course, some parents aren't easy to communicate with. But ask yourself: have you truly put in the effort, the patience, and shown them through your actions enough to move them?

Some women rarely come out after they marry. You don't see them at classes or events — no sign of their "sincerity" or "service." But for years they've been quietly practicing, representing the Dao through their daily lives. Eventually the in-laws come around to their side, and nine generations of ancestors are helped because she walked that hard and bitter road. The spirit of Dizang Bodhisattva, fearless and enduring — do you have it? Do you dare?

So use your wisdom to discern these things. Don't say, "What do I do? I'm of age now, the teachers at the temple can't play matchmaker, I can't openly date — am I going to end up alone?" No. Just be proper and upright. Don't turn the temple into a dating scene. Don't say you came to receive the Dao because you're pursuing someone — that attitude is unacceptable. But if in the outside world you feel a genuine connection, develop it freely. Unless you hold a particular role and have made specific vows, your teacher will not stand in your way. Exercise your freedom. Just don't turn the temple into chaos. The temple and the altar are sacred — everyone who enters must observe the rules. Understood?

And young men and women — respect yourselves. The times may be open, but practitioners must be pure in conduct. Your marriage must have your parents' blessing. Only after your parents know and the proper rites are observed do you become a proper couple. Don't run around having casual relationships — that will create endless problems and make you look nothing like a practitioner. Understand? And don't stay out too late at night. Even if you're doing temple work, there are bad people out there, and your parents worry. Travel with companions — watch out for each other.

Don't let temple work make your family resentful. If you're at the temple every day with no time left for home, for your parents — that kind of "sacrifice" — your teacher will say you've worked hard, but I also hope you'll be more well-rounded. Otherwise your spiritual path won't last. Don't plunge in headfirst until your family falls apart.

After you've walked the temple path for a while, don't you get tired sometimes? Don't you stumble? When you're down and you've fallen — where do you want to go back to? Home, of course! But if you've ruined your relationships at home, if things have soured with your family — and one day you can't stay at the temple anymore — where do you go? Home won't comfort you. No one will ask after you. No one will care. And you can't swallow your pride to go back. Where will you go? So I urge you: if you want to walk the spiritual path, build your home first. Only then can you take care of the world outside. Many of you are whispering about this issue behind closed doors, aren't you? If you have questions, bring them out for open discussion. Don't look for answers in the wrong places just because you can't find them here. And don't just give up and stop coming — that's burying yourself.

The Dao Is the Root, the Family Is the Foundation

So practice and marriage must be handled well together. Bring the Dao into the family. The Dao isn't something that only works inside the temple. Aren't the Three Bonds and Five Constants the Dao brought into the home? The Three Bonds — ruler guides minister, father guides son, husband guides wife — have you fulfilled them? The Three Bonds and Five Constants are indispensable. If your family still isn't harmonious, think again. Don't use high-sounding reasons to rationalize your withdrawal from human connection. Practice is not living as a hermit. It's about harmonizing with others. And don't be selfish — ascending to heaven to become a bodhisattva while your ancestors, your parents, are left unattended in the mortal world. Help others with their attachments only after you've first resolved your own. Firm up your own foundation, and nothing will shake you.

What I've said so far is all connected to today's precept — the precept against sexual misconduct. I've spoken about it at length because it all comes down to family. A family is a foundation! The family is the foundation of the nation. Without a family, you're like duckweed floating on the water.

The family teaches you many things — gratitude for your parents, the struggle of life, the hardship of raising children. Your parents raised you with so much toil and sacrifice, and they had the courage to take responsibility for a family. Why don't you have the courage to do the same for the next generation? All your talk of "freedom," "ease," "fresh breeze," "bright moon" — it's easy words. If your own heart isn't steady and your family isn't well managed, these abstract ideals are just hot air.

Follow Your Conditions, Don't Cling to One Gate

Everyone's spiritual aspirations are different. If you're not someone of extraordinary capacity, find the gate that suits you — the path closest to your nature, the one that lets you walk steadily and properly. The sages and bodhisattvas are models. They left an example for us, but not everyone can be exactly like them. Everyone's roots and conditions are different; everyone's circumstances are different. Follow your own causes and conditions. Fixed karma is hard to turn. In this place, you walk with whatever good and bad karma belong here. Perhaps this family has nine generations of ancestors who depend on you to help them — perhaps you must briefly enter a kind of hell, walk a bitter road, to gradually guide them onto the path. Beings are brought to the Dao from every kind of circumstance, through every kind of gate. It isn't one method that saves them — it's a thousand.

If you have patience, love, and compassion, enter the family and guide them slowly. If you have a grander aspiration, if you can truly sever all attachments, and your parents support you — then go to the four seas and save beings everywhere. But before you do, ask yourself: the beings closest to you, the ones right behind you — have you first guided and cared for them?

Everyone plays counselor to others, but can't counsel their own family. They haven't truly cared for their own sons and daughters. Then when problems appear, they say: "How can it be? I practice the Dao — how did things end up this bad?" I ask you: was your first step steady? Was the mold you used the right one? Don't blame the Dao for producing obstacles. It's your own thinking that's off, and because of that, the ten thousand people behind you all go in the wrong direction.

You say you want to save beings from the sea of suffering. Fine — you make them understand, you bring them to practice. But if you haven't treated their suffering at the root, you've pulled them out of one sea of suffering and thrown them into another.

We say lust is the most binding force in the universe. Since that is so, we must do our best to sever it, to see through it. When you cannot sever it, use the Buddha's contemplation: see that the human body is the most unclean thing. However beautiful the young woman appears — think: when she catches a cold, her nose runs; when her stomach aches, she has diarrhea; when she's sad, she weeps. Are these not filthy things? Don't cling too tightly to fleeting pleasures. Of course they're unavoidable — but don't let them destroy your spiritual work, dragging you down forever. Some people marry once and it's not enough — they marry again, chasing a "second spring." These bonds, if you don't skillfully fulfill and hold them — if you just play along for a scene — then life after life, you'll never settle the debt.

The Consequences of Breaking the Precept

For householder practitioners, the restrictions on lust are not as severe as for monastics, who face much stricter discipline. You practice the way of proper human relations — the ethics of ordinary life. So long as you fulfill your human duties properly and don't go to excess, that's enough. For practitioners, the family is a safe harbor in the storm.

You'll sometimes see how cold and calculating the outside world can be. You'll sometimes feel that even the temple community is calculating. But it's not the temple that's calculating — it's the human heart. It's not the Dao that's bad — it's the human heart! Your true nest — gold nest, silver nest, none compares to your own shabby nest. Your own home is the only harbor that will always shelter you. Don't destroy the good relationships you have now. One day when you stumble, when you're exhausted and just want to rest — you won't even have an inn to check into.

What are the consequences of breaking the precept against lust?

First, falling into the three evil paths. The behaviors that lead there are the behaviors of animals, not humans — they violate the moral order. The first four precepts — killing, stealing, lust, false speech — all lead to the three evil paths.

Second, if reborn as a human, your spouse will not be faithful. Society is very open now. Sometimes you see a friend's beautiful wife or handsome husband and want to play around. Remember: a friend's spouse is not to be trifled with! If you trifle with another's marriage, sometime in a future life your own spouse and daughters will be trifled with in return. Tit for tat. When you go out to the countryside and find a bird building its nest or an ant colony — never destroy them. That is their home, their family order. Destroy it, and in some life your home will be destroyed too. Why are there so many divorces today? Tit for tat! It catches up to you eventually. Even animals have their proper bonds. If a bird nests under your eaves, don't disturb it. One small space for a nest won't disturb you. And the ants, the bees outside — don't destroy them for fun, wrecking their families.

Third, you will get a family you didn't want. If you want a happy family and harmonious relations, don't sow discord. Don't gossip between sisters-in-law. Don't be like a sparrow, pecking apart someone's good family bonds. Do that, and you'll get a family that doesn't listen to you — you'll get a fierce and terrible wife. Some men marry gentle, devoted women. Some men marry tigers. It's all karmic return. If not in this life, then in the next. Some sons are filial; some come to collect debts. So if you want a good family, if you want to marry someone kind and obedient — behave well. Never stray. Now that times are open and both spouses work, these things happen easily. In the office, one extra glance, a few extra words — and there it is. One thing leads to another, and before you know it, it's out of control. "Oh, I didn't mean anything — I just wanted to be friends." Friends first, and then... you know how it goes. Put yourself in the other's position. You're a woman too. You destroy someone's family, and yet you also hope for a secure home and a good husband someday. You sow destruction first, and the consequences will follow you — there's no escape.

The Dao Is Not Only Found in the Temple

So when choosing a partner: first, are they married? If yes, give it up — even if they're a Pan An or a Xi Shi, they're not for you. Understand? Best to find someone who shares your path. When you go to serve the Dao, your partner can take care of the home. When it's your turn, you take care of the home — watch the kids, do the laundry, tidy up. Don't be a saint in the temple and a tyrant at home. Some people are like that! It's all a mask. Spending all day at the temple with no time or love for home — anyone would complain. Eventually: "Guanyin stole my husband!" or "The teacher tricked my wife!" Please! Live well. Don't push the blame onto the immortals. I never asked you to camp out at the temple. So in the end — they won't let you bow to the Buddha, they won't let you eat vegetarian, everything stops. The divorce papers come out. All the problems start this way.

Practice was supposed to build a happy family. But when it ends in family collapse — did your teacher ask for that? No! It's your own mishandling, isn't it? Go home, cook dinner, do the laundry, pack the children's lunches. Use your remaining time for temple work. Don't fill Monday with flower-arranging, Tuesday with computing, Wednesday with lectures, Thursday with youth camp, Friday with something else, Saturday with something else again — not one moment left at home. Is that a home? Your husband will say: "I might as well move into a nunnery."

I'm saying this to give you a concept. The wrong attitude in the past led to many problems. Now you understand — it's not about spending eight days a week at the temple and calling that sincerity. That's not how it works. Even if you rarely come, but anyone who visits your home finds harmony, cleanliness, smiling faces — you've already brought the Dao home. You're already practicing. Don't worry about whether people say you're sincere or not. Whether they promote you or don't promote you — just walk your path and do your duty. Understand? Duty first. Don't say: "We haven't seen that person in three months — they must have fallen away from the Dao." How do you know? Someone who comes to the temple every day but rules like a tyrant at home — and you say, "What progress! They're about to become a lecturer! So diligent!" You can't judge sincerity this way. Merit isn't weighed on a scale. What matters most is knowing your own situation.

But don't use this as an excuse to be lazy either! Hiding at home watching soap operas, using the children as an excuse not to come. You have a duty! Birth and death are urgent. Bring the children along! The point is: only when your family is stable does your practice have meaning. If you're too lax and lazy and end up living just like any ordinary person — that's wrong too.

Practice is about transcending the ordinary right in the midst of it — arranging your steps, arranging your life. How to make the most of your time without wasting it. How to form good bonds, fulfill your vows, and not harm your family. So go home, lecturers, and ponder this carefully. Your teacher has given you the spear and the shield today. Go back and spar with both — there's truth in it and problems in it, or I wouldn't have spoken.

I've traveled the length and breadth of the land, and this problem is the most serious one. Especially for you unmarried young people — you desperately want to ask, desperately want to talk about it, but don't know where to turn. When you ask, the answers miss the mark. You think the senior teachers are old-fashioned. You won't ask the lecturers either, because they'll just go look it up in a book, or answer from their own position — and is their position the same as yours? The senior teacher is celibate. Naturally they want you celibate too. But can they solve the family mess left behind? You want this person to be pure — but have you first helped their heart break through? So don't encourage everyone to be like you. Let everything follow its own conditions. If someone wants to marry, don't praise it and don't oppose it. Let it take its natural course.

The Rewards of Keeping the Precept

Fourth consequence of breaking the precept: lust is the cause, birth and death are the fruit. Lust is the root of all birth and death. Why do those who walk the great bodhisattva path seek to sever this bond? Because without severing it, you only cultivate the human path. To truly transcend the three realms — this bond must be cut. But not everyone has roots sharp enough for that. Still, your teacher must tell you: if you want to escape the gate of birth and death, lust must absolutely be severed. Without severing it, you will turn in the cycle of birth and death life after life, because the bond keeps forming. But you can at least keep the basic precept — and that way you won't fall into the three evil paths. Life after life you may have a harmonious family and a partner who practices with you, walking the human path well and fully.

To transcend the three realms without cutting this bond is like cutting grass without pulling the root — when the spring wind blows, it grows right back. But severing this bond is extraordinarily difficult. Over countless ages and many lives of cultivation, most people still can't cut it, because it is a natural function of the human body. Since you can't escape it, yet must sever it — better to use gentle guidance. Better to guide the river than to pretend the dam holds when the heart is already flooding. If you hang up the name of celibacy while your heart is impure, and you go elsewhere to satisfy yourself in secret — or if you never satisfy it and become psychologically distorted — understand that lust is not sin. It is not evil. It only becomes evil when it exceeds its proper bounds. Understand?

And what are the rewards of keeping the precept against lust?

First, body and mind become harmonious, and you are forever free of turmoil.

Second, for those who keep the precept against improper lust, meditation deepens and real wisdom grows. If reborn as a human, your parents, relatives, spouse, and children will all be pure and harmonious — filial, friendly, and at peace. You'll be free of the faults that come through women, and all beings around you will be free of defilement and craving.

Third, you will be honored by humans and heavenly beings, and praised in every direction.

Fourth, for those who keep the precept against even proper lust, in the future when they attain Buddhahood, their appearance will be dignified and beautiful.

Fifth, liberation from birth and death, and swift attainment of awakening.

Why did the ancients sit in meditation? To gather the wandering thoughts and achieve stillness. Once you can be truly still, this bond can be cut. Conversely, without this bond, without wandering thoughts, you could sit down and enter meditation at once. So the old practitioners treated the sight of beauty as the sight of something deadly — they avoided it, feared it would wound them like a blade, and stayed as far away as possible. Because if the wandering thoughts don't cease, all the work you've done is undone. That's why they say: even a hero cannot pass the gate of beauty. And some say: "To die under the peony — even as a ghost, I'll be dashing!" Yes — dashing indeed, all the way to that depth. Your parents brought you into the world with great difficulty. The human form is not easy to obtain. Don't trade sixty years of life for thirty years of burned-out pleasure. Men! The character for lust (色) has a blade (刀) on top. So I hope all you men and brothers — keep this precept carefully, and you'll preserve your pure heart.

When you're married, you'll respect your wife. You'll see her as a remarkable woman — she manages your home, bears your children, educates them. Don't call her a worn-out old face when you haven't looked in the mirror yourself — you're sixty too! Sixty calling fifty-nine a hag — you're not much different. So many shameless old men out there — old and not cultivating becomes old and not blushing — no sense of shame! You have a devoted wife at home and you run off to find someone else — is that acceptable? So I hope those of you with families will manage them well. Wife, take pride in your husband — he works so hard outside to build a home. Don't make trouble for no reason. Support him from behind. And don't think that being young and pretty means you should play the field — when you invite gods in, they're hard to send away. One careless fling, and a happy family built with such effort — destroyed. For a moment's indulgence. How absurd. Who suffers? The children. Isn't that so?

Your teacher is a practitioner, and I have severed this bond. But I was once human too, and I know — people have feelings. I can't ask you to cut it all away. Since we are emotional beings, we must let feeling arise within the bounds of propriety. We must be reasonable. Propriety is the boundary. Husband and wife must keep that boundary between them. Don't say, "You're my husband, you're my wife," and then refuse to give each other any space. Treat each other as honored guests. Keep some distance and you keep the peace — too close and friction sparks, like striking a match against the box.

Of course your sacrifices and devotion are sincere. But the most important thing in this life is: how do you fulfill this bond? To fulfill it, you need courage. Don't run away. Even if a man marries a woman who isn't a practitioner and doesn't eat vegetarian — you can slowly guide her in. Walk together. Save her, and through her, save her ancestors for nine generations and seven lifetimes. With the spirit of "If I don't enter hell, who will?" — isn't that magnificent?

Act Within Your Means

If you can't manage it, don't rush to try. Some succeed and some fail — not everyone can do it. Often people cultivate to a certain level, practice for a while, and then the contradictions in their heart multiply. Because the moment they entered the temple, they vowed everything — vegetarian, celibate, sacrificial, pioneering — with no way back. And when they stumble, they can't extract themselves.

So men, cultivate within your means. Going beyond your means violates the Dao — it becomes reckless ambition. If you can't handle your own affairs, how can you help others handle theirs? If you can't cure your own cold, how can you cure someone else's cancer? It's impossible. First, stabilize the foundation. After practice, build a practice-centered family. Gradually, the whole household can go vegetarian, the whole household can keep the Five Precepts — because now you share one mind, one step, one conversation. Isn't that wonderful? But if in your home one person chants "Amitabha," another says "Amen," and a third calls out to "Allah" — that's trouble.

Let every marriage follow its own conditions. Your teacher won't offer congratulations and won't stand in opposition. Understand? Don't cling forever to the same old faults. Take the mirror and look at yourself first, not at others. Don't drag other people's flaws onto the table. I said it earlier — exposing someone else's faults is the most immoral thing you can do, hiding your own under the table while piling theirs on top. Think about it. The older you get, the more you should cultivate dignity.

So between husband and wife, what is proper and normal — there is no issue. If your heart isn't pure and desire arises in your thoughts, then go ahead and walk the human path well. Find a partner, marry, and together, great bodhisattva begets little bodhisattva, and little bodhisattva becomes a lecturer who helps others. Isn't that fine? Even Shakyamuni Buddha himself fathered Rahula — one of the Ten Great Disciples — who attained the fruit of an arhat! In the flow of causes and conditions, you must walk this stretch. Leave it unresolved, and next life it will find you again.

So when a senior teacher sees someone getting married, don't say they have heavy karmic debts. Never put that kind of pressure on them — it's their bond to fulfill. Don't look at married people with strange eyes. Everyone here who hasn't vowed celibacy will eventually marry. Does speaking a vow of celibacy make someone a bodhisattva or a Buddha? Can they truly sever it all? Of course not. It takes lifetimes of effort, slowly cutting, slowly overcoming. You all have families, children, a need for ethical order — and others don't? They do. Put yourself in their shoes. Use an ordinary heart to regard these things.

Chapter 4. On False Speech

The Precept Against False Speech

Why do some people come into this life with cleft lips?
In past lives, they spoke much falsehood and deceit.

Why do some people come into this life deaf and mute?
In past lives, they cursed their parents with harsh words.

Why do some people come into this life as pigs and dogs?
In past lives, they deliberately cheated and deceived others.

Why do some people come into this life coughing up blood?
In past lives, they stirred up conflict between people.

Listen to these five precepts, and many of you will find help in your practice. If you broke them before without knowing, now you must change. Among these five precepts, there are many subtle places most people miss. So if you think carefully, isn't it true you break them almost every day? The ancient sages examined themselves three times daily. They had many practices of self-reflection. That's why the sages of old made so much progress — because they paid attention to these subtle things. Everyone who practices has their own method. Practice means following goodness like water flows. Anything that helps your spiritual work, you should learn with a sincere heart.

The Beginning of All Evil Is False Speech

We say language is extremely important. A good speaker can make words shine like pearls, can speak moving things, can stir people's hearts — that takes skill. But a speech must be judged by its content. Does it nourish people? Some people speak very pleasantly, very humorously, but there's no real nutrition in it. The truly successful speaker is one who can use shining words and help people's spiritual path. That's real success.

If you want to speak fluently, your mouth must be very refined. This means you must not tell lies for three lifetimes. False speech is the beginning of all evil. Language has tremendous power. Words come out and no one expects you to pay for them or be taxed on them, so people just say whatever. Businesspeople lie the most easily. A merchant will say something costs a thousand dollars when it really costs five hundred. They'll say, "Oh, I wouldn't sell it to anyone else! It's foreign goods, smuggled stuff." Businesspeople lie constantly — it's the hardest precept for them to keep.

Young men deceive women through false speech too — sweet talk, flowery words. Psychologists say men who understand humor and have good speaking skills have a huge advantage. Three pretty words and she's following you around. So when a husband says sweet things to comfort his wife, that's kind speech — it should happen. But if he says those same pretty things to another woman, that's seductive speech — pretty lies, beautiful deceptions that make her go along with him.

Do salespeople need to tell lies? (Yes, they do.) Without lies, how do you sell products? In this commercial society, you can't survive without making money. So do this: visualize it this way: "Today I'm doing business, taking people's money. I'll give it as charity, I'll do merit for them. Otherwise they'd spend it at fancy restaurants eating seafood, or gambling, or playing mahjong, or seducing women — they'd use it to create karma. So I take it and use it for good instead. I give it as charity. I reduce their karma. But I can only do this through honest methods." So you make money through business and give it as charity to make up for the false speech. Otherwise, if you lie too much, it builds up. In the end, you won't be able to speak properly. Your words won't be heard. Some people speak brilliantly. Others speak unclearly — they have cleft lips or no tongue. That's because they lied too much in past lives.

So who in society doesn't tell lies? Politicians, teachers, movie stars, singers — everyone does it. Politicians swear and curse during elections to get votes. They promise they'll do this and that for everyone, then they get to the legislature and just argue with each other. That's human vanity — wanting quick wins with the tongue, using their clever three-inch tongue to win reputation and keep their position. That's selfishness. Teachers do it too. Education should purify people's hearts, but now educators have gone commercial. Movie stars — which one doesn't exaggerate? Which one lives truthfully? No one lives a real life. They're all just decorating themselves, living hollow lives.

Saving Others Requires Follow-Through

False speech comes out casually without thought. Who says when they speak a sentence, they take complete responsibility for it? Young man, when you're trying to seduce a woman, do you tell her you'll be completely responsible for her? When you sell something, is there after-sales service? No after-sales service means you're not taking responsibility. That's false speech — you don't want to carry the weight! Words come out like air and disappear.

So when we save people and help them, we need to include after-sales service. When we help people, we need to understand where their suffering is. We need to explain the Way clearly and objectively, not casually and confused like this: "Come seek the Way, and your illness will be healed! Keep a vegetarian precept, open a Buddha hall at home, and cancer will be cured!" These ideas are wrong. We should help people with what's real and objective. After-sales service is very important. Does an insurance company provide after-sales service? Not much. So don't recruit people like you're selling insurance. Only speak about what you can actually deliver. Don't say things beyond your real capacity.

A philosopher said: you tell one lie, you have to tell ten lies to cover it up. Tell lies every day, and it becomes a habit — you start liking to lie. We teach children not to lie, to be honest. But then we go home and lie ourselves. Lying is very bad. Even though it's abstract, the saying goes: "Disaster comes from the mouth, sickness enters through the mouth." Killing without bloodshed — that's what this mouth does. Don't sit around gossiping like old women, talking about who said what, spreading useless talk that wastes your life.

False speech is a hard precept to keep because in daily life, sometimes you want to say something humorous. But humor must not be vulgar. For example, you see someone very distressed, so you say something funny to relieve their suffering and make them happy. So false speech has room for exceptions. When people praise you as a great master, you can't act superior or arrogant. When people say you're good, be humble, or make a joke about it. Never say anything that makes them angry or hurts their dignity! Everyone in the world has the sickness of wanting praise. They love hearing compliments. If you praise them and they feel happy, that's fine. But if someone has plain features and you say they're very beautiful, that's falseness. They'll think you're mocking them or being sarcastic.

Speak Good Words to Plant Good Connections

Don't ever break up someone's marriage. Couples have many things outsiders don't understand. So don't tell someone: "What kind of husband did you marry? What kind of wife did you get? If I were you, I'd divorce her long ago!" Interfering in someone's marriage is the worst luck. If the couple reconciles later, they'll blame you for being a busybody. So keep your tongue pulled in rather than extended. Speak words that help people. Often use kind speech and soothing speech to water someone's heart. For example, a husband should often say comforting things to his wife: "You married me. I haven't given you great wealth, but at least I care about you. Thank goodness for you, my virtuous helpmate." When a woman hears this, her one weakness is that she wants to be cared for. She doesn't mind hardship — she just needs her husband's care. Care for her a little more, and the family becomes happy. Don't say things like, "I bought you with money" or act like a male chauvinist. Those families break apart easily.

So between people, between coworkers, don't reject each other or compare yourselves. That makes people live in a world of distress. Other people's words and actions affect you. Don't live at the mercy of what others do. When people speak good words often, they can plant good connections. Everyone likes to hear good things. When you often speak pleasant words that don't slander others, people naturally want to seek your advice, get near you. You won't have bad connections, so language is how people begin to make connections with each other.

According to fortune-tellers, some professions aren't very good: fortune-tellers, feng shui masters, Daoist priests, lawyers, judges. These people earn money with their mouths. So if you earn money with your mouth, you need to understand: how much truth is in what you say? A lawyer or judge — how much objectivity and fairness do they have? The ancients had a saying: "One lifetime as an official, nine lifetimes as an ox." That's very true. One sentence from you can decide someone's life or death. I'm not saying they shouldn't do these jobs. I'm just saying when you do work like this, be very careful. Keep a fair and objective attitude. Never take bribes.

Speaking in Certainty Carries Karmic Weight

Now judges and lawyers judge cases based on power. Twisting right and wrong leads to treating human life as nothing — that's very dangerous. Be careful. Fortune-tellers often aren't objective enough. Especially when advising people and giving suggestions, be objective. Use a fair position and gentle words. For example, if you think someone should do something, never say: "Your fate is fixed this way. If you don't follow my words, you'll receive this karma..." What is that? That's harsh speech. False speech includes what? It includes harsh speech, divisive speech, seductive speech, and lying. These four are all in the precept against false speech. Harsh speech is very serious. Especially when fortune-telling — if you know a little about fate, don't use words like: "If you don't practice, if you don't listen to me, you'll suffer this karma..." That's not objective. That's not how the Way works. "If you don't change this feng shui, in a few years you'll suffer this..." You know fate and divination — you can use these to inspire people's faith, to give them reference. Speak auspicious words. Never speak with absolute certainty. Those words wound people.

There are also Daoist priests (in Taiwan, called sifu gong). This profession is rare now, but it still exists. Daoist priests specialize in conducting rituals to help the dead. When your ancestors pass, you hire these priests to do ceremonies — can they really help them transcend? It's really just a custom, to give peace to the dead, though really it's to give peace to the living. It shows you tried to help them transcend. You burn paper money and spirit money, paper cars and paper houses to show you did your duty. But if the priest helps the ghost escape from the hell-king's judgment, then isn't the hell-king afraid of him? Then what about your karma and three-lifetime cause-and-effect — how does that get settled? We need wisdom.

We who practice know three-lifetime cause-and-effect. We understand previous causes and future results. When ancestors or family pass, you should know how to handle it properly. Don't just follow custom and burn paper money, hire someone to chant sutras. If the person you hire to chant is vegetarian, keeps precepts, practices — that's better. But if you hire someone who eats meat, chews betel nut, doesn't practice the speech precept, he's loaded with his own karma. How can he help someone transcend? Working in that profession isn't good either. You'll face karmic consequences. So try to do right livelihood. Try to choose work that won't create karmic debt.

Form Comes From Mind — Cultivate Wholeness

You can change your destiny through practice. About the precept against false speech — look at people who haven't lied for three lifetimes. When they stick out their tongue, it touches their nose. Go look in a mirror. If you stick out your tongue and it touches your nose, that's three lifetimes without lying. But I believe no one here does that.

Some of you may have studied face-reading. You know that if your eyebrows cover your eyes, you have great blessings in this life and receive your family's protection, and you also protect your descendants. But don't hear me say that and go home pulling out your eyebrows until you have none, then draw them in or get them tattooed on to change your face. That only treats the symptom. Real change is to transform from your heart.

Your destiny flows from your heart and is shaped by your heart. To really change your destiny, you must change from inside. If you only change the outside, you're just looking in mirrors every day feeling like you're beautiful. But your temper doesn't change, your habits don't change — how can your destiny change? You still speak harshly, still scold people, your relationships still don't improve.

So look at what's inside. A person who can let others come to know them, then interact with them, then give you their heart — that comes from long contact. They see your honesty, your wholesomeness, that you don't scheme. Right? Not from how you look on the outside. Outside is just an impression. To make people feel good about you for a long time, you must start with being wholesome.

I'm only speaking for reference. Don't go home calculating your fate or other people's fates. These are forms we've created through three-lifetime cause-and-effect. These can be changed too. For example, if your features aren't attractive, if you speak unclearly, if you have no eloquence, then start right now. Keep the precept against false speech. In the future, you'll have limitless wisdom and unobstructed speech. Everyone in the world dislikes having their privacy exposed. Psychologists say exposing someone's privacy is the most immoral thing. Don't say: "Oh, that person was terrible before, she had multiple husbands, she did this and that!" If someone has already changed, that's remarkable. So don't expose people's privacy. What are the karmic consequences of breaking the precept against false speech?

First, you fall into the three evil realms.

Second, you're often slandered. When you lie too much, or gossip about people too much, when you spread bad things about them and expose their privacy, in this lifetime you're constantly slandered. Your reputation suffers all kinds of injustice. So you often wonder why — wherever you go, you have no luck. People seem to reject you. Do you feel this? You're constantly getting slandered about your character. Modern society is very realistic. If you're a little wholesome, people often squeeze you out. Right? So start keeping the precept against false speech now. When you have spiritual power later, when people see you and respect you deeply, you won't suffer this pain or this trouble anymore.

Third, you get deceived by others. You experience being blamed and cursed.

Fourth, your words aren't accepted by others. For your words to be accepted, they must be true. Practice is about being honest. Use an honest heart toward others. When you want to advise someone, correct them, point out their mistakes — only then will they humbly accept it. Your attitude must be gentle too. Don't say: "Do what I say or don't — it's up to you." A person who speaks gently can turn things into perfect harmony. If your tone is bad, people dislike what they hear. People say "even ghosts don't like it." Even spirits prefer good words and gentle attitudes. If even ghosts don't like your tone, will people? So to have people accept you, to have them listen eagerly to the Way, you must be humble and objective in your speech.

Fifth, your speech becomes unclear. Some people are born with cleft lips or no tongue. When you lie too much, the muscles in your tongue get tight and stiff. You can't move the tone easily. So your speech becomes unclear — not that you can't express yourself, but the quality sounds like wind escaping, like you were born not speaking clearly. These are mostly karmic results from past lives, like cleft lips. False speech needs no tax, no responsibility. But in your next lifetime, karmic results bring these troubles. So keep this precept well.

Sixth, you don't achieve the fruit of practice. People who tell lies, no matter how much they practice, won't achieve the right fruit. Those who keep the five precepts may be reborn as humans in the next life. They may achieve perfect fruition. But if your five precepts aren't clean, aren't complete, if you break even one, you can't achieve the right fruit. So even if you practice hard, if you haven't removed false speech — if your words aren't true, if you call white black and black white, if you don't speak and act according to principle, if you're not sincere and don't practice what you preach — then of course you won't plant good fruit.

Seventh, your breath and mouth smell bad. When you lie constantly, you get bad breath. Some people have bad breath because of heat in their body. After you balance your qi, it goes away naturally. Some people are born with it and it can't be treated — when they open their mouth, people cover theirs, and people can only open theirs when this person shuts theirs. That's from telling too many lies in past lives. Your whole body can smell bad. These come from karmic results. In this lifetime, if you keep the precept well and practice, it will slowly get better. Most importantly, if you're vegetarian, these problems slowly decrease. If you eat meat, the smell increases and grows stronger. These are the karmic results of false speech.

Keeping the Precept Brings Good Rewards

So what good results come from keeping the precept against false speech?

First, your mouth stays clean. Like the Uposatha flower, which spreads fragrance everywhere — if you don't tell lies, if you keep the precept, your breath is fragrant, clean. You don't need to spray air freshener; it's naturally fragrant. But people like this are rare now! If you don't brush with toothpaste morning and night, bad breath comes out. The Buddha absolutely never tells lies. The Buddha speaks no empty words. The Buddha's tongue extends so far it can cover his whole face. Even if his teeth are burned, they don't break. He has a complete set of thirty-two perfect teeth. People who practice have all thirty-two teeth perfectly intact.

Second, you're respected and trusted by everyone in the world. Trust means people believe what you say. People say "a word of honor is worth nine tripods" — someone with credibility can do business without even using a seal. When you join a rotating savings group, you look for someone trustworthy and reliable to join, right? When people trust you, they follow you to do something. That's complete trust in your character. When you make beings trust you, it shows you're very firm about credibility. You're respected and trusted by the world.

Third, your own heart is happy, and others are pleased. When you don't tell lies, you feel honest. You're happy every day. You don't need to hide things, trick this person or that one. Every day you live in a real world. Others like you too — they know you're trustworthy and reliable.

Fourth, in future lives, you hear only pleasant sounds. You absolutely won't hear harsh words or coarse language troubling your ears. Toward people you respect, don't you avoid saying things that distress them? You don't go against them or hurt their pride, right? So your ears don't hear noise, don't get disturbed or harmed by those words. But be careful not to let young men who specialize in seductive speech deceive you. Those sweet words, that flattery — they're things you like. You need wisdom and reason. If you fall into that trap, once you step in, you can't step out. Young men, if you want to have a relationship with someone of the opposite sex, how should you do it? Be honest. Have sincere sincerity. Don't think you need to show your best side while everyone else wants her too, so you hide yourself. That's not true. Everything you should see clearly. Everything in marriage should follow its natural course.

So I advise you parents — let your children's marriages follow their natural course. Of course teach them right and wrong from childhood, teach them what's true and false. When they grow up, let them choose themselves. Don't give too much advice. Then they'll bring someone home and say: "Mom, is this person good?" You say, "No, not good." Everything isn't good. Then they say, "Well you said no, so I'll bring someone else. Mom, how about this one?" (Oh, this one is good, very good!) Then you'll fight like heaven and earth clashes, and you'll say: "This wife of yours — what kind of manners does she have?" And they'll say: "But you said she was good! I brought her to you and you said she was good." Then you have nothing to say, right? As parents, you need to see this clearly. Married couples should be sincere with each other. Don't say mean things in bed that destroy the family. If your mother's thinking doesn't match yours, be patient a bit, and the family becomes complete. Otherwise you fight all day — when does it ever end?

Fifth, you increase spiritual power and gain unobstructed eloquence. If you want infinite wisdom and unobstructed speech, you absolutely must keep the precept against false speech. Everyone wants to speak fluently and eloquently. People with good speech stand out anywhere. So people who understand humor have a huge advantage. To get this advantage, in this lifetime, listen to your teacher's advice. Don't commit harsh speech, false words, seductive speech, or divisive speech that breaks people's harmony. Practice the precept against false speech — these four things you must be careful about.

We talk about "clean speech and vegetarianism." Clean speech and vegetarianism are two different things. Vegetarianism is not eating meat. Clean speech is keeping this mouth clean — not saying those four bad things. That's clean speech. If you only eat vegetarian but your mouth isn't clean, that's not clean speech. Women, avoid scolding people. Men, especially taxi drivers, don't curse with vulgar language. Wives scolding husbands and children — have some measure. Don't curse every nasty thing you can think of — calling them worthless, saying they're a disgrace, everything! Women should keep good refinement. In your home, let your family feel you're a spiritual person. Keep this mouth well. Speak pleasant things to comfort your husband. Don't say: "You're a disgrace! Three times a week you go out and misbehave, drink, sneak meat..." Do you know what "meat" means in this context? It means something different! So don't immediately blame him. You need to be steady, to hold still. Listen to your teacher speak some worldly truth.

Your teacher today has already transcended the three realms. Teaching you worldly methods is something I do reluctantly because beings have so many problems. So I teach you worldly methods to help you resolve the conflicts in life. Your husband goes out and misbehaves, comes home late. You sit and wait for him. If he doesn't come home, you wait for the next day. When he comes home, don't blame him. Have his bath ready. Have his tea brewed. Greet him kindly. The first day he doesn't come home. The second day. The third and fourth — does he come home or not? If by the fourth day he still hasn't come, then this husband doesn't work! Then you accept your fate! You come to the Buddha hall to practice and teach the Way — handle your own affairs first. Do good things for your family. Let your in-laws and husband have nothing to criticize, nothing to pick at. Then you feel at peace. If he keeps criticizing and blocking you, wanting divorce, then be even more patient. Keep doing good. Do it until he's moved. If he still acts this way, then it doesn't work and you accept your fate! See it clearly! Three times a week, scare him a little, show some attitude. Three times a week fight with your husband, then run to the Buddha hall to hide a few days. Let him see what life is without a wife, let him think about it. But don't hide too long — if you hide too long, he'll say the teacher tricked him. That won't work. But this isn't a very good method. Today I teach you these things only out of absolute necessity. Otherwise you're unhappy at home and trying to practice, and you can't have both. So you try this method. If it doesn't work, you just have to accept your fate.

This is worldly truth. The world has too much that we can't help. Use worldly methods for worldly problems. Your teacher has transcended the three realms. Teaching you these things I shouldn't. But I see you have these problems, so I teach you small methods to handle them. You don't necessarily have to do this. Just don't lose hope or think you should die instead. And don't say words that make him lose faith. He's already suffering enough. If he really dies later, you broke the precept against false speech and the precept against killing. You become an accomplice to killing. So avoid speaking words that destroy others.

Stay Away From Harsh Speech and Reveal Good, Hide Bad

What else must we stay away from? Harsh speech — scolding people with rough, unpleasant words. Like construction workers who think they're very direct, but their speech is full of vulgar curses. Right? We must stay away from disturbing speech, destructive speech, words that make others suffer, that make their six senses spin wildly.

Language comes in many kinds. When your mouth opens, that's how much speech there is. If you had two mouths, what then? You'd fight with yourself, right?

Divisive speech breaks people's harmony. Listen to me — don't easily believe others. Don't easily tell others your innermost thoughts. In any situation, you'd best praise others, don't speak of their faults.

Everyone in the world easily believes others. After two or three months of friendship, you treat someone like a soulmate. I'm not saying don't trust others. I'm saying be careful and thoughtful with your speech. If you carelessly say something unpleasant about someone, or if it involves a third party, they immediately spread it like a radio station — here a little, there a little — and things get bad. If you don't want conflict, speak others' goodness. Don't speak their faults.

Think Carefully and Discern Clearly — Don't Speak Hastily

Before you conclude about something, you must observe carefully first. Don't jump to conclusions. Let me tell you a small story: Once Confucius's student was preparing his breakfast, cooking rice porridge, when something small fell from the ceiling. The student picked it up and ate it, thinking, "If the master eats this, he might get sick. Let me taste it first to see what it is." But Confucius saw this and told the other students: "Look at how disrespectful the cook is! The master hasn't eaten yet and he ate first." The students went and told the cook: "Hey! How could you be so disrespectful? The master hasn't eaten and you ate first. You don't respect the master at all!" The cook said: "I'm innocent! Something fell from the ceiling and I wanted to see what it was. I was afraid the master would get sick eating it." Confucius then called all his students together and said: "Come here, look at this. I'm called the supreme sage and teacher. I'm your teacher. I saw it with my own eyes and still wronged the person and twisted the facts. What about you — when you hear a word that's passed to you through a third person — will things still be facts? Will things get twisted?" That's how Confucius taught his students.

So when you judge something, investigate the truth carefully. Don't hear one side of a story from someone else and conclude that's how things are. Don't use suspicion to doubt things. When you advise someone or judge something, you must be sure. Get the facts clear before you act. Otherwise you'll mess up the whole situation, create conflict, harm others, and plant bad seeds. Even sages can see wrong. Even sages can twist facts. What about you ordinary people? You hear a few things here, a few things there, then you think you're clever and string it all together, assuming you understand everything from beginning to end. Really, you understand very little. You're looking at things from outside the door. If you don't want conflict, don't speak carelessly. Speak things that help people recover confidence. If someone is right, stand in their position and speak for them. Everyone wants others to care about them. Especially people who are discouraged — you must stand in their position to handle things. Never stand in your own position and insist on your own opinion, forcing others to accept you. That's selfish and doesn't fit together well.

The Tongue Like a Blade — Speak With Care

Divisive speech is like a knife. Though the tongue is soft, actually it's more dangerous than a knife. When a person becomes a spy for a country, don't they use their tongue? When a woman wants to destroy someone's home, doesn't she use her mouth? She coquettes toward a man, displays her charms, and breaks up a marriage. So one tongue is enough. One mouth is enough. How much conflict, how much resentment — all comes from this tongue, this mouth. "Disaster comes from the mouth." To avoid this disaster, you must be very careful about what you say. Speak words with real content. When the Buddha practiced, he never spoke a useless word. Every word hit the mark.

Of course, in society you need to compete and establish yourself. Inevitably you'll have conflict with people, or your temper will flare and you can't control yourself — you'll curse and say vulgar things. So afterward you need to repent yourself. All evil can only be fixed with a heart of repentance, a heart of shame. With shame and remorse, things can be saved. Without shame, without remorse, there's no saving that person. They think they're right about everything. They have no heart of shame. So the ancients often said: "Sitting quietly, constantly think of your own faults. In casual conversation, never judge others' wrongs." The ancients said this simply and it's very practical. But ordinary people aren't like that! Sit down and conflicts pour out.

We who practice stay away from politics. Of course, to be a good citizen we should love our country, cooperate with the government's policies, be a good national citizen. But never march in the streets with others, never join crowds stirring things up, spreading unnecessary language that disturbs people's hearts. Those things aren't good. The karmic results depend on how seriously you committed it. If you have children or relatives in politics, try not to get involved.

There are many professions that help people's spiritual work. Your mouth can save people. You can make people happy, or you can make people miserable. Don't build your own benefit and happiness on others' backs. Don't make excessive jokes at others' expense. For example, you see someone with plain features and say: "Ah! Your karma is deep. You got the results!" That's words that make others suffer. It's included in harsh speech.

Only "the supremely wise" and "the supremely foolish" are free from conflict. The supremely wise are transcendent people — people with transcendent wisdom. They see through all things of the world. They won't be disturbed by language, won't be shaken by sound waves. No conflict. And then there's the person who's foolishly practicing foolishly. They have no conflict because whatever you say, they don't care. They don't understand whether it's good or bad. So these two types — the supremely wise and supremely foolish — practice easily. You in the middle, not high, not low, not very stupid, not very clever — you're hard to teach. These sound waves, these frequencies from outside — you can't tune them right. Your radio receiver's frequency isn't aligned properly, so you keep getting shaken by these sound waves.

So "the wise person learns from the teacher's strengths; the foolish person looks for the teacher's faults." A wise person, you learn from another's strong points. For example, you follow a point-transmitter teacher. You look at their good points. If you look at their faults every day, pick at their problems — "this isn't right, that isn't right" — how can you practice? Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. If you're wise, learn their strengths. This person has a bad temper, but people with bad tempers are often very direct and upright. Look at the good side and learn from that.

About accommodating speech, soft speech, clever speech — the point-transmitters in front should learn more about this. Every being wants others to care about them. So speak more soothing words to care for them. Don't speak with a hard tone insisting they do it your way. That way you lose people's affection.

Some of the point-transmitters here — you know in your hearts. Never make your faults into special characteristics. That's not special. Try to be harmonious. You want others to care about you. Beings want the same. Care about them more.

Young people, when you save beings, use a compassionate heart. Don't let emotion be involved. Don't let them think you have romantic interest in them, let them get the wrong idea. You want to solve their problems, help them, and perfect them — you need to draw clear boundaries. If you have no interest in them but they think you do and fall into romantic confusion, that becomes a big problem! Young people tend to make this mistake. So emotion must be appropriate.

If there's no emotion at all, you become too hard, too lacking in human warmth. A point-transmitter toward lower practitioners must use a compassionate heart — treat them like your own children, like your own siblings. You struggled through to get here. So think of it from their perspective. Your later practitioners also want to be cared for as they come through. Young people, don't be too vain. Someone's a little kind to you and you think they're interested in you. Never fall into romantic feelings. I'm not saying you can't date. I'm just saying don't cause the other person confusion or misunderstanding. So keep distance from them. If you're interested in them, use sincerity in your relationship — a sincere heart, an honest heart that doesn't deceive. Relate to each other mutually. That's good too. If married couples practice together, that's also a good thing. Better than ending up with lots of problems.

About the five precepts — do you all have confidence? Though what I've said seems shallow, not moving, not subtle enough, look back — aren't you speaking falsely almost every day? Don't you lie like you eat? These disturb your spiritual work. So though I've spoken shallowly, like you drinking plain water that's bland, if you can correct these things, you'll genuinely help your spiritual work. If you keep all five precepts perfectly, the fruits you achieve in the future are limitless. Really keeping the five precepts truly is practice. If you don't keep precepts, you're just making a connection. You come to seek the Way, you understand nothing, research nothing, observe nothing — you're just planting good seeds, just entering the door. Real practice, real precept-keeping — that's true spiritual cultivation. To achieve the fruit in the future, you must work hard at practice — small persistent efforts. If you're doing business now and find it inconvenient to keep the precept against false speech, at least speak less. Gradually you'll keep one precept after another. Your teacher tells you: every precept you keep, one precept-protecting deity comes to protect you. If you don't keep precepts, not only do ghosts and spirits not dare come near you — even good spirits don't dare come protect you. Your mouth stays clean, and you'll definitely get infinite wisdom, unobstructed eloquence, beautiful form. You'll receive wonderful karmic rewards. Why did your teacher speak about the five precepts? Some of you may have heard them before. Some think they're not very attractive. But you must practice from the foundation up. If you don't even want to keep these foundational precepts, these small rules, what are you talking about studying sutras and talking about Mind-methods for? Those are less practical. Even though those Mind-methods can liberate you, if you can't even manage the most basic precepts and small faults, what are you talking about Mind-methods for? Why do we have repentance classes? Repentance classes are to wash clean these small faults you make.

Chapter 5. On Intoxicants

Foolish and reckless — what was the cause? In a past life, fond of drink and never sober.

Addicted to alcohol, you descend to the courts of the dead, where molten liquor is poured into your mouth as punishment.

But keep the precept against drink, and the reward comes: a clear mind and a peaceful spirit.

When a fortune-teller reads your fate, test him first — ask, "Is this foot stepping forward or back?" That alone will tell you whether he's accurate. Why bother with the full reading?

The heart can turn fate. Beyond the heart, there is willpower.

People are creatures driven by karma. You've all been studying the Buddha's way long enough to know this: human beings are produced by karma, and karma governs a person's entire life. All your habits, your preferences, your compulsions — change the name and they're called "karma."

Keeping the precepts and observing propriety — that is simply our duty.

Boys like to drink. Can't be parted from their wine, right? Nothing to do, and the first thought is a cigarette and a glass. The truth is, you won't die from not smoking or drinking. But the craving is there — that's karma. Karma isn't just illness or missing a limb. It's the thing you can't stop doing.

Karma can be turned, and fate can be turned. Don't think that because a fortune-teller says you'll have romantic luck or sudden wealth, it must come true. If you conduct yourself with propriety, where would romantic entanglements come from? Stop blaming the fortune-teller. And if he says there's windfall money, don't rush off to gamble, certain you'll win the jackpot — that's greed. With resolve and willpower, these habits can be changed. Some people are habitual liars, womanizers, careless talkers — lying costs no tax, so they do it freely. But an honest person has willpower and won't break the precept against false speech.

The five precepts may sound heavy, but they're really just the basic duties of a human being. A precept is propriety. Everyone must observe propriety. Propriety is the nation's law — when everyone follows the law, they naturally never run afoul of it, and there's no need for precepts. You know it's wrong to deceive people, so how can you lie or harm life? Compassion is human nature. We can barely save lives fast enough — how can we kill and eat them? So keeping precepts is a concept everyone should hold. It's simply observing propriety. Practitioners emphasize precepts because precepts are discipline — a boundary line. Stay within the line and you're observing propriety. Every person who has received the Dao is a practitioner and must emphasize propriety all the more, do better than others, and be an example. So every one of you must keep the precepts.

Some say your teacher is the Drunken Master — eating meat and drinking wine — so shouldn't your teacher go to hell? (The class says no.) Television and movies all show Ji Gong eating meat and drinking wine. So why does he tell everyone to keep vegetarian and abstain from alcohol? Wine isn't meat, and it isn't evil. "Everyone stop drinking, but only your teacher gets to drink" — does that make sense? Tell me: can you swallow a little bird into your belly and then deliver its soul upward? During Ghost Month, a duck can barely save itself — how would it deliver anyone? If you don't have the power to deliver beings, all you can do is keep the precepts yourself. And once you drink wine, can you keep your clarity? Will your tie stay straight? You can't compare yourselves to sages. The sages play in the human world. Later generations dramatized them and used that as an excuse. If you could swallow a chicken and send its soul to heaven, then by all means, grab the dung beetles, the geckos, the flies too — eat them all and send them all up! But you don't have that kind of stability. You haven't reached the sage's realm. So you'd better take it one step at a time.

The Middle Way begins with precepts.

There's a saying: "Principle can be grasped in an instant." Grasping principle in an instant means awakening to your original nature. But can you clear out all the habits, faults, and weeds in your nature at once? No — so you cultivate gradually. Gradual cultivation is a matter of stages, and it begins with the foundational precepts. Though receiving the bright teacher's pointing is the supreme method, the Middle Way still can't leave behind precepts, concentration, and wisdom — and precepts come first. That's the root. Don't think precepts are just elementary practice. Don't think that because you received the pointing and glimpsed your nature, you can skip straight to meditation. If you haven't cleared out all these habits and garbage — the entanglements accumulated over sixty thousand years — you'll have to pay them back through merit and service. "In practice, proceed step by step." You must take it day by day, be the monk who strikes the bell each morning, and use the Dharma, the Three Purities and Four Rectitudes, and temple etiquette to cultivate. The etiquette in the temple IS the precept. Do you understand?

The five religious sages use different words for "precepts," but what they practice is all the same. The myriad methods return to one — and that one is Principle. So the Middle Way can't leave behind precepts, concentration, and wisdom. Don't think that because you've received the supreme method, everything else can be thrown away. You only know how to go out and open new temples and develop — but have you turned inward and examined your own nature? How many worries, thoughts, and habits surround you every day, spinning you round and round? Why do people cycle endlessly through the six paths of rebirth? Because they follow karma, thoughts, and habits around the wheel. Your teacher has said before: the Buddha in a past life had achieved the Five Supernatural Powers and was still working on the precept of lust. Killing, stealing, lust — lust is the hardest to sever. Especially for men, whose habits run deep. Women have the five leakages and must cultivate five hundred years longer, and their freedom is more constrained — but women's karmic force is weaker, so they're actually easier to perfect, because women are less likely to kill, steal, or commit great violence. At worst, a woman breaks propriety with an affair. But men — killing, stealing, lust, lying, all of it — besides eating, drinking, gambling, and visiting women, men don't have many other hobbies. And those four hobbies contain every sin under heaven. So if men resolve to cultivate, they have the stronger will for it — since ancient times, sages and immortals have been the male example, because men's power of self-control is greater. Women are more devoted in matters of emotion — the love of children, of a husband — harder to let go. So men find it easier to renounce and cultivate. But if a man can't remove his habits and faults and doesn't practice the precepts, his opportunities for heavy karma are greater still. So in truth, men and women are evenly matched. Who cultivates faster depends entirely on willpower.

Practice means purifying the three karmas of body, speech, and mind. Body pure, mind pure, speech purer still. The mouth covers a lot — eating, drinking, speaking, all of it. So the mouth is included in the three karmas. Earlier we said killing, stealing, lust, and lying are all nature-precepts — precepts that protect your nature. Without practice, without keeping the five precepts, breaking any of these still means bearing karma.

Alcohol falls under the "consumption precept." Why is it called a consumption precept? Wine isn't meat. But it's included in the five precepts because it gives rise to every other evil. Drink until your mind goes dark, and killing, stealing, lust, and lying all follow. By the time you're sober again, the damage is done. So it must be stopped. That's why it's called the consumption precept.

Most people drink at least a little. Women like to add wine when cooking — it makes the food more fragrant. You think a little alcohol won't hurt. But drink long enough and often enough, and the habit becomes hard to break. For men, the first thought when there's a social occasion or a need to "nourish the body" is wine. But does a practitioner really need wine for health? Not necessarily. A monastic who eats only twice a day, nothing after noon, still glows with health. So a practitioner is best off not touching wine at all, because every kind of sin and fault comes from the clouded mind that follows drinking. In our practice, we must learn to be ruthless — to kill off every unwholesome habit. Let's lay out, one by one, the faults that come from being drunk. The Buddha, in his wisdom, set down the punishment for drinking for a reason. It must have been because monks or disciples under his care had violated propriety. That's why he codified it and commanded: you must stop.

The fourteen faults of drinking:

First: your wealth scatters and your merit fades. Keeping precepts strengthens virtue day by day — it never fades. The nation tells you to be upright and self-reliant. For a practitioner, that means keeping precepts. You can't be too comfortable — comfort leads to breaking precepts. "The gentleman loves others through virtue; the petty person loves others through indulgence." And from the standpoint of precepts: it's not that giving more to charity excuses breaking the rules, or that doing good deeds means you can act however you please. Merit can never cancel out broken precepts. Changing habits doesn't happen in two or three days. Quitting smoking and drinking overnight is simply impossible. But you must know: these faults damage your spiritual work. You walk the bodhisattva path. A bodhisattva cannot carry these habits, faults, thoughts, and garbage and still achieve the Way. A bodhisattva must have perfect, clear, luminous nature to complete the path. Drinking causes wealth to scatter. Nobody drinks alone — you need a group to make it fun. Today this person treats, tomorrow that person treats, and eventually it's your turn. Signing tabs at fancy restaurants — that's wealth scattering and merit fading. Without drinking, you could have kept your wealth, run your business well, looked after your family, preserved your clear and luminous wisdom, done many good deeds, and built abundant merit. But drinking clouded your mind, and your merit fades day by day.

Your teacher tells you: you must not only refrain from drinking — you must not buy wine for others. Don't think that giving it away absolves you. If you keep the five precepts and buy wine for someone else, you'll spend five hundred lifetimes without hands — born as a soft-bodied creature, an earthworm, a caterpillar. So when you travel abroad, don't buy wine for anyone. Better to seem stingy than to carry someone else's packages through customs — they might have wine inside, and if they've hidden contraband in it, you're the one in trouble. Don't drink, don't carry it for others, and don't give it as a gift. You're trying to quit — do you really want someone else's family in chaos because they lost their senses?

Second: your faculties grow dim and your wisdom retreats. You meant to study the Way, to learn to lecture, to improve. But after drinking, your mind goes hazy — how can you govern yourself? Where do you think the people in mental institutions came from? A great many got there through too much drink. When your six senses get close to the five desires and six dusts, you become dull and dim. Your faculties go dark. In the old days in Taiwan, the older generation had no education. Besides drinking, they had no recreation. They couldn't hear the Dharma. So their senses were dull. Older people were slower, dimmer. People today have good education — that's your blessing. Since you have this blessing, you should keep your six senses pure. Don't mix them with the five desires and six dusts and make them into a married couple.

The Tang dynasty poet Li Bai always said he needed wine for inspiration. But how did Li Bai die? Wasn't it in a stupor — seeing the moon's reflection in the water, jumping in to catch it, and drowning? Don't think drinking makes you dashing. Young men are the easiest to fool. Someone says, "A boy who doesn't smoke or drink — that's not manly, that's not cool, that's childish." And they stupidly go learn these bad habits. "Draw near vermillion and you turn red; draw near ink and you turn black." Remember: anyone who pushes you to smoke or drink is pushing you toward hell. Don't go near them. Better to be simple, to be "childish," to keep your five senses innocent. Innocence and purity IS the Way. You don't need to be fashionable. Drinking too much leads to liver cancer, diabetes, kidney disease — vomiting, can't eat proper meals, stomach and intestines ruined, stomach cancer and colon cancer all from drink. Disease comes from not caring for the body. Hair and skin must be nourished. Exercise. Don't eat the creatures of land, sea, and sky. And no wine! When you offer meat and wine at an altar, the genuine spirits and bodhisattvas smell it and flee. If you want the righteous spirits to protect you and avert disaster, your body had better be free of the smell of wine and meat. Don't set out wine and chicken with a copy of the Universal Gate Sutra on the side and expect Guanyin to come. If you want divine protection, stay far from wine and meat. Keep your body and mind pure. Keep the five precepts faithfully, and your body will emit a wondrous fragrance — wherever you go, you'll smell sandalwood, very auspicious — a sign that your heart is clear and always mindful of the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Don't cling to appearances, or you'll end up lying. Buddhas and bodhisattvas reveal themselves only under special conditions. Otherwise they remain invisible. If a genuine practitioner sees a buddha appear, they absolutely will not talk about it — much less you who haven't seen anything. Remember: cultivate honestly. Don't go dreaming about your ancestors coming to build a connection with you. Trust that the Dao is true, the Principle is true, and the Heavenly Mandate is true. As long as you sincerely perform the deliverance rites, your ancestors will truly be delivered. Don't look for white lotus flowers or white light in the sky, or white light shining from your roof. Just hold the image in your mind, and that white light will naturally be in your heart. Special photographs of light are rare blessings — don't try to force them. Like all blessings, they come when they come, not when demanded. Do you understand?

Third: anger increases, and quarrels and killing follow. When your mind is clear, you have reason. You wouldn't dare act recklessly. But after three cups, Dutch courage rises. Someone you hold a grudge against — hatred flares and you kill. Someone teases you — you can't take it, a slap, a fist, men beating each other, quarrels and killing. The sage said: "Wine emboldens." Killing, stealing, lust, lying — all of it follows. Everything without ethics or morality. In drunkenness, even your own sisters — you might break the precept against lust. Some men drink and think of their girlfriend, think until they go mad, and grab the nearest woman. Drunk, they write checks for thirty thousand, fifty thousand, and end up with a ruined household. Every sin is committed in a state of clouded mind. Nobody is born a patient in an asylum. Don't try to sample that life. But if you're drunk, you are — temporarily — a member. So never develop a taste for drinking. Don't let it stain you. The burdens of a life should not be too many or too heavy. Remove unwholesome habits and desires. Some people feel they aren't living if they can't drink, feel they can't speak without a toast. A practitioner must use wisdom to control it. Social occasions, business dealings, obligatory gatherings — you must restrain yourself. Find a way to manage it gracefully. Plenty of successful businesspeople don't need wine to close a deal. Tea instead of wine, soft drinks instead of wine — the real question is whether you are sincere and whether your will is strong.

Fourth: lust blazes and every desire follows. When drunk, propriety ceases to exist. You do whatever you wish. Drunk, you fantasize — floating up to heaven, imagining yourself a king, imagining beautiful women, reaching for the stars, everything you want. It's like taking speed or sniffing glue. They say a hit of glue and you float, everything goes your way, you're ecstatic. But when it passes? Back to the same as before. "Easy to pick up the poison, hard to put it down." Wine is like poison — one cup today, two cups tomorrow, and over time your tolerance grows. Smoking too. Eventually you depend on these things just to numb yourself. Blood vessels harden, nerves go rigid, you become a walking waste — a person of talent reduced to nothing. Your family worries. Your parents, your wife, your children, all anxious. You can't work, can't produce, can't earn. And you suffer. If you're not addicted, don't play the hero. If you already have the habit, quit it gradually. It will absolutely help your spiritual work. The brief satisfaction of a craving is false — like watching a movie, two hours and it's over, nothing but illusion. Like dancing until you forget yourself — but you still have to rest, or you'll be dead by morning. Pop stars get cheered every day, but the day the crowd turns on them, they want to die. These are all people living in fantasy, led by the five senses down the wrong path. Your eyes lead you to look at pretty things. Your mouth leads you to eat what you shouldn't and say what you shouldn't. Your ears lead you to listen to gossip. So don't be too idle — idle people attract trouble. Be busy with purpose. Right now, you're all doing meaningful work. When you're still, that's for contemplation, rest, turning inward. A person shouldn't live too luxuriously. The simpler your material life, the more it helps your practice. The more luxurious, the harder to leave unwholesome places. Life is short and not enough to use. Yet some people greet each other saying, "How do you pass the time?" The time needs passing? How empty, how meaningless that life must be! A truly meaningful life — like your senior elders who lived into their nineties — every second was precious. Young people should think: another year gone means another year older, a little less strength, a little less sharpness. Treasure every moment. Don't waste it. A genuine practitioner never wastes their life. In modern society, a little recreation to pass the time is fine, but keep it appropriate. Don't sit at your desk daydreaming about payday and where to spend it. That is no good at all.

Fifth: you lose your manners and expose what should be hidden. You go out in a suit and tie, hair neatly combed, looking sharp. But let me tell you — go down to that basement bar and come back up, and your tie won't be straight. Your speech won't be polite. Normally you carry yourself like a gentleman. Three cups later, profanity and foul language pour out. You've been chasing skirts outside, and then you come home drunk and spill every secret in front of your wife. So this temple is heaven for you; down there is the ordinary world. We won't call it hell — they're just ordinary people. But everything down there is chaos. Compared to them, you all have real quality. You may not dress extravagantly or eat fancy food, but every one of you is clean and presentable, spirited, here to receive the rain of Dharma. You won't make great mistakes.

Sixth: you leak secrets and ruin your career. The marketplace is a battlefield — you need wits, and yes, scheming. If you're talented, rival companies will poach you with high salaries, because you have ideas, ability, and can grow their business. But if you drink — three cups in, your company's entire business plan spills out. You were about to be promoted to manager, about to make the company a fortune. Your boss valued you. But because you leaked the plan and a rival beat you to it, not only is the promotion gone — you're fired. Some people think the company can't survive without them. "I'll start my own company and be my own boss." But the old boss, fool's luck or not, finds new talent. The business keeps growing. Your company collapses in two months, and you sit there asking, "With my ability, why can't I succeed?" It's a matter of blessings. Your boss had the blessings. You didn't. You could only use a little cleverness to scrape by. Without sufficient blessings, you simply cannot earn money.

Blessings matter enormously for a practitioner. If you have the means, give generously — build blessings for lifetime after lifetime. The growth of blessings is rapid. A seed in the Buddha's field multiplies — one seed, ten thousand fruits. A single tree seed is tiny, but after a hundred or two hundred years, that tree shades five hundred cars and shelters countless people. Small seed, great fruit. Today you give a hundred dollars to the temple without attachment, and your blessings will multiply endlessly. But give to a conventional temple and have your name carved on a plaque — "Lin Azhu, 300 dollars; Chen Datou, one Buddha statue" — and visitors bow before it day after day. How many blessings can you have, letting people bow at your name? They'll use them all up. Give without attachment. Whatever you bring to the temple, the immortals see it. Don't think they don't know. Some people bow again and again, as if the immortals can't hear their prostrations. Bowing is sincerity. Giving is sincerity. Don't cling to appearances. If you give on the first and the fifteenth, don't spend your time wondering whether someone took your money and bought incense with it or ate it. Once you give, let go. Better still if you don't need your name written down — "So-and-so, 100,000; so-and-so, 200,000" — your teacher appreciates it more. But the accounts must be clear. That's the temple steward's responsibility. Just don't let your heart ache over it.

Seventh: your parents grieve and your family shuns you. What parent would boast, "My son's a champion — he can drink a whole case of beer"? If your child had that capacity, would you announce it in the street? You'd worry he'd get into fights, that it would ruin his marriage. What wife wants her husband stumbling home drunk, the whole bedroom reeking? Drinking is hereditary. Your teacher hopes the gene for drinking stops at your generation. Don't pass it on. It damages your reputation and breaks your family. A woman who drinks is even more disgraceful — except in unusual cases. Many young women, disappointed in love or loosely supervised, say, "Nobody understands me," and drink until they're wrecked. A young lady of good family, educated through university, still drinking — and then her body is violated without her even knowing. So women must protect themselves especially. Parents should pay close attention to their children's behavior. Before they come of age, teach them well. Absolutely don't let them pick up bad habits. Once they're adults, let them develop freely and show what they're made of. Children shouldn't come home too late at night — your parents worry, and you put yourself in danger. Young women before marriage, never do anything beyond propriety. Protect yourself, and your future husband will respect you. Don't gamble your lifelong happiness on a moment's uncontrollable desire. Young men, be upright gentlemen. Don't be wolves. Confucius said: "I have never seen anyone love virtue as much as they love beauty." Meaning: nobody pursues moral cultivation with the same intensity they pursue desire. That's how powerful desire is. You can cultivate virtue slowly, but desire won't wait — you want to eat first, enjoy first. One sentence from the sage and the human heart is laid bare. "The gentleman is cautious about what is unseen and afraid of what is unheard" — this is the subtle place. "Nothing is more visible than the hidden; nothing more manifest than the minute." The minute is the threshold between good and evil — what you do when no one is watching reveals how deeply you understand the precepts and how precisely you keep them. A person who brags about how well they cultivate, how much they know — that person has a problem. The boastful lack virtue. The humble have it. In the eight trigrams, the hexagram of humility is the best. A genuine practitioner never praises themselves and never preens.

Eighth: you disrespect the Three Treasures and break your fasts and precepts. The precepts are the etiquette of the Buddha's house. Drink and you forget everything — morning devotions, evening devotions, all lost. You can't keep any precept. You can't respect the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. In our Dao, the Three Treasures leak out too. Meet a friend who hasn't received the Dao and they ask, "What was that initiation for?" "The Three Treasures." "Where are they?" And in a drunken haze you point — "Right here" — and the five sacred words spill out. Everything collapses. "Where's the Buddha? I can't see anything. Why am I still getting sick even though I pray and eat vegetarian?" Then your respect disappears. Yes, you can still get sick even while eating vegetarian and praying. Hold your faith. The karma accumulated over sixty thousand years runs deep. What you consumed in past lives hasn't been repaid. So illness and disaster still come. Take, for example, your point-transmitter who's been hospitalized for over a month. Has anyone said, "How can a point-transmitter suffer like this?" Being a point-transmitter doesn't make you immune to illness. Everyone has karma. So I urge you: cultivate your speech. No matter how much merit you accumulate, if you don't guard your mouth and curse freely, it's like water leaking from a cup. It drains away.

Ninth: good people distance themselves and bad people draw near. "Birds of a feather flock together." Once you drink, your good friends leave, because you're always talking nonsense — meaningless, nutritionless chatter. Whatever friends remain are drinking buddies who want to take advantage of you and talk about improper things. Your teacher once told you a story — I wonder if you remember. A disciple who loved gambling and drinking ended up accidentally killing someone and went to prison. After he got out, he was brought to receive the Dao. He started eating vegetarian, observing purity, walking the right path. Then his business failed and he fell in with bad companions. They took him out for a drink, then a game of mahjong — "we need a fourth" — and the old habits came back. In the end, drunk again, he was willing to do anything. He gambled until the car was sold, the house was sold, his wife divorced him, and he went back to prison for another free meal. People who like to drink will watch all their good friends slowly drift away.

The sage said: "Three types of friends are beneficial; three types are harmful." Making friends goes both ways — good friends are good, bad friends are bad. If you run into a pack of rogues, reach out to them only if you truly can. Otherwise keep your distance. If they have no good roots, don't try to convert them. If you do, you'll end up accommodating their habits and being dragged down by their karma. Your stability isn't the Buddha's — you'll be shaken. Because of human feeling, you'll follow along. Before you know it, you've put down roots in the neon-lit pleasure district, dragged there by karma. Good people go far away and bad people draw near. Your future goes dark.

Tenth: body and mind scatter and right concentration leaves you. Drinking prevents concentration. You chase wild thoughts — today wanting to get rich, tomorrow wanting a beauty, the day after dreaming of America. All fantasy, nothing real. Body and mind scatter naturally. You stop thinking about caring for your wife and children. Your career falls apart. Everything you do violates the right Dharma.

Eleventh: you commit many wrongs and turn from the right path. A drinker will never listen to good advice. They think drinking is fine, gambling is harmless, why not get something for nothing, why not lend at high interest, why not go dancing? Over time, they stop wanting to bow to the Buddha, worship, or save people. Gradually they feel they're no longer part of the temple community — just an ordinary person, disconnected from the Dao for so long it feels foreign. Some of you in the temple have thought: "I feel cut off from society." But that's wrong. Practice happens in society, not apart from it. You keep the five precepts within society, and through that you influence your family, your community, your nation. Not stealing, not gambling, not lending at usurious rates, not joining street protests, not swindling anyone, not visiting unwholesome places — that IS keeping the five precepts. The precepts aren't just personal. They're for the family, for society, for the nation. Is that living apart from the world?

You must adapt to society. Going on trips with classmates may feel awkward at first. Adjust gradually. You're an upright person — they won't give you a hard time. If someone pressures you to break a precept, walk away. Practitioners have fellow practitioners as companions. Outside there are outside friends. Each place has its own connections. In the temple, you have many companions on the path. You don't need to fear loneliness. This is a community too — and it's one that uses its good side, its bright side, to influence the darkness outside.

Twelfth: nothing goes as you wish, and sorrow increases. When you've done wrong, things don't go smoothly. Sorrow grows. If your conscience is intact, then after breaking the precepts against lust or theft through drink, your conscience will torment you. People have a conscience. So you repent every day, but you don't dare repent publicly. The struggle stays inside. Naturally everything feels wrong, and you think your luck has turned bad. But it's not your luck — it's your heart, which isn't at ease. When the heart is at ease, everything goes smoothly. Only when there's a ghost in your heart, when you feel guilty, does nothing go right. Trust what your teacher says — you feel the truth of this, don't you? A guilty heart breaks the temple rules and precepts. You hide and dodge. You can't act openly. Nothing works out.

Thirteenth: time is wasted and bad habits become unbreakable. Wine and lust go together. A drinker is always a lecher — believe it? Lost in wine, lost in desire. Time wasted. The habit becomes permanent. "Even heroes can't pass the beauty's gate." Forget heroes — any man struggles. Wine is just as hard to quit. If you see wine today and feel no urge, your teacher says it's because you kept vegetarian vows and the precept against drink for three past lives. Some people think going vegetarian is easy — they eat well and grow plump. But others can't go three days without meat before they're foaming at the mouth, drooling, weak all over. Some say they've been trying to go vegetarian for ten years and still can't. That's the lowest caliber of spiritual root. If you can go vegetarian right now and accept it, enjoy it, find it delicious — that means you practiced in past lives. You have good roots. Hold onto them. Don't let them rot. In the end, when the body breaks and life ends — if you couldn't let go of these small things, it's like being unable to step across a ditch. How will you cross the ocean of life and death? If you can't put down these habits now, how will you be unattached at the moment of death? A wise person is unattached. A person who keeps the fasts has a wise heart. An attached person has a fool's heart — just an ordinary being.

Fourteenth: when the body fails and life ends, you fall to hell. People walk toward sagehood carrying their karma. Before receiving the Dao, everyone carries karma and slowly cultivates, slowly burns it away. So on the path, there will be obstacles at every turn. Sometimes a fortune-teller is accurate, but you must not let fate steer you. If they say you'll kill your husband's luck, or fall into poverty, or fail at practice — so long as your heart is firm, you can turn it all around. Change your habits. Strengthen your will. That is your driving force. Energy equals mass times acceleration. Any engineering students here? Your teacher knows a little worldly science — don't think I only talk about the Dharma. This energy is karmic force. If karmic force keeps accumulating and you never reduce it, it stays stored in the warehouse — the eighth consciousness, the storehouse consciousness — and if you don't dissolve it, when the right time arrives and the right circumstance meets it, the karmic reckoning comes. How do car accidents happen? When time and space converge. How do illnesses come? When the moment arrives and the intersection of time and space hits you, karma manifests and adversity appears. So we must reduce our karmic burden. Then life can be complete. Practice doesn't mean abandoning everything. Married couples who practice should share a common understanding. Just keeping the five precepts, you can do so much good. Let's review the punishments for breaking the precept against drink. Since wine isn't meat, the punishments are fewer:

First, after death, you fall into the Hell of Molten Pouring.

Second, if reborn as a human, you will be foolish, reckless, and disbelieving of the true Dharma.

Now the rewards of keeping the precept against drink:

First, a clear and luminous mind, tranquil and at peace.

Second, you faithfully uphold the four heavy precepts and do not commit grave offenses.

Third, in future lives you are born in the human or heavenly realms, free from the three poisons.

Breaking the precept against drink: after death you enter the Hell of Molten Pouring. What they serve there is not fine wine or premium spirits — go and find out. If reborn as a human, you'll be foolish and reckless, without wisdom. Tell them about the Dharma and they can't hear it — they think it's nonsense. Like the old grandmother who says, "Meat is delicious — why would I pray? Where's the Buddha? I have no idea." That kind of root can't receive a single word. Even educated people may still reject the true Dharma, dull and dazed all the same. So in this world, there are many who are impaired, confused, unclear of mind. But keep the precept against drink and in future lives you will never suffer this fate. Your mind will be perfectly clear.

Dharma lecturers and teachers are people of great wisdom, eloquent speakers who can make decisive judgments, who think clearly — because they kept precepts in past lives. Their work succeeds and their lives are tranquil. Without clarity of mind, nothing goes well. If you spend the day chasing wild thoughts, there is no peace.

Why do people have split minds? Your teacher will explain. It's not just the patients in institutions who have fragmented minds. Everyone has a degree of mental fragmentation. In twenty-four hours, how many times does the monkey-mind change direction? Now thinking this, now thinking that, endlessly, restlessly. Concentration impossible. Things done in a haze. Sometimes you don't even know where you are or what you're doing. So everyone has some degree of fragmentation — it's only a matter of severity.

We say not killing is compassion, and everyone should have it. Not killing is easier; not eating is harder. Sometimes you still need to eat some. Say you just had surgery and need to recover — you bargain with your teacher: "Let me eat a little meat until I'm strong, then I'll pay it back." Can you really bargain like that? Since you insist on bargaining, your teacher has no choice. You deal with it yourself. Each person's karma is their own. What you eat, you carry. No need to negotiate.

If you faithfully uphold the four heavy precepts — killing, stealing, lust, and lying — as we've discussed in previous sessions, and if you also keep the precept against drink, you'll find it very hard to do things you shouldn't. In future lives you'll be born in the human or heavenly realms, free from the three poisons. If reborn as a human, you'll have great wisdom, and combined with the blessings of your generosity, your life will be abundant. So don't say all rich people are unscrupulous merchants who don't practice — many wealthy people practice deeply. Their wealth is the reward of generous giving in past lives. Yet nowadays it's the poor who give more easily. The rich think of investing — stocks, real estate — and can't bear to part with even ten percent. Then one day they're swindled and only then speak casually about how they should have given those hundreds of thousands away. Why didn't they think of giving before they lost it all? The blessings of giving grow invisibly. Give to benefit the world. Understand that generosity increases your blessings lifetime after lifetime. Lending money in the human world carries risk. But lending to heaven carries none. The immortals will never default on your interest.

Not killing is compassion. Not eating meat is even greater compassion, greater tenderness. Killing, stealing, lust, lying, drinking — in Confucian terms, these correspond to benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. Not stealing means living within your means — eating simply, whether rich or poor, living the same life. Why steal? Why gamble? Because you want a little more — a house, a car. With fewer desires, you won't commit these offenses. Gambling, loan-sharking, absconding with pooled savings — these all fall under the precept against stealing.

Colophon

The Living Buddha Ji Gong (濟公活佛) is one of Chinese folk religion's most beloved saints — a historical Chan Buddhist monk of the Southern Song dynasty who became an immortal figure in popular devotion. In Yiguandao, Ji Gong continues to speak through spirit-writing (扶鸞), and his voice — colloquial, humorous, stern when needed, always warm — is instantly recognizable. This teaching on the Five Precepts addresses a Taiwanese audience of ordinary practitioners, meeting them exactly where they are: in the kitchen, the marketplace, the family home.

This is the complete text. Translation covers the Preface, Chapter 1 (On Killing), Chapter 2 (On Stealing), Chapter 3 (On Sexual Misconduct), Chapter 4 (On False Speech), and Chapter 5 (On Intoxicants). Twenty-one hands across six lives carried this text from Chinese into English.

Chinese source text from the 善書圖書館 (Morality Book Library) at taolibrary.com. Translated in the gospel register by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Thirty-fourth Yiguandao text in the archive. Eighteenth seed from Bo's pipeline.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: 濟公活佛說五戒（序言・第一戒殺・第二戒盜・第三戒淫・第四戒妄語・第五戒酒）

Chinese source text from taolibrary.com (善書圖書館). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

濟佛說五戒

給大家開過一張支票，說要講五戒，不知道大家是不是還記得？（記得）大家也在期待著。那今天為師就來兌現這張票，大家注意聽。在座有的是立過清口的老道親，有的是新道親，那麼不管老道或新道，給大家做個參考。

戒是無上菩提本，應當一心持清淨。不管有沒有清口，你是修菩薩行也好，或者是你要隨便修個善，總是要瞭解一下這個「殺業」在那裡？瞭解一下戒律是怎樣一個持法？對你們的修行只有幫助。不管你們要不要修個滿分，要不要持個滿分，那隨你們個人，為師總是要把這些觀念給你們。

我們今天先講「殺」。說到這個「殺」，叫你們拿刀子去殺人家，或者去殺動物，在座的，我想是沒有這種現象，大家都已經是清過口的，甚至於說，現在在家裡也很少養動物，是不是？（是）但是，不是說拿著一隻刀子在殺生，才算犯了殺，許多都是在微細的地方，起心動念。

還有一個「助緣」的地方。助緣的地方你們沒有去注意到，那也是犯了一個「助殺」。我們是修無上菩提大法的，所以一定要身、口、意都要清。你們立過清口的人，身、口、意都要清，身清、心清、然後呢？「口」要清。不是說只有吃素，那叫做「茹素」，不叫「清口」，所以「清口茹素」，一定心、口、身都要清。

往往你們犯都犯在那裡呢？犯在那個「助緣」，一句話不小心啊，譬如說，人家在殺動物，你就是在那裡讚歎：「好！好！這個肉好吃！殺得好！」這樣子見濁隨喜，也就是讚歎殺。所以呢，「殺」有分很多種，自殺、他殺、讚歎殺、濁喜，這些都是你們容易犯到，而在微細的地方，你們不知道。既然我們是修菩薩行的，我們就要預防這些微小的地方，不然的話，你在起心動念的地方，你的意識就不乾淨。

有的人會說：「我不殺別人—我有權利自殺吧？」所以，往往人都會輕視自己的生命，但是你要想，得個人身不容易，人身難得啊！五重恩未報，你動不動就自殺，但是一個人會自殺，這也是累世意識裡面，他有種下自殺的種子，所以，動不動就很消極，想要吃個安眠藥，想要輕生，所以大家要注意，千萬不要在你們的意識當中種下自殺的種子。一個人自殺的話，最少會有七次連續自殺。

為什麼現在社會上有這麼多人自殺？尤其是那個旅社你們都不曉得，住進去以為乾淨，青年男女這個想不開了，兩個人怎麼樣呀？不能同年同月同日生，但願同年同月同日死。啊，不久以後，那個醫院就會有一對連體嬰出來。所以這個種子，這個因果，很可怕，大家要小心。

「戒律」是幫助大家解脫，不是給你們一種束縛。所以你們的願力立得多，你們剛開始起步的時候，是不是覺得很束縛啊？這個也不能做，那樣也不能做，尤其是清口的時候，到外面，這個也不能吃，那個也不能吃，應酬啊，人家喜慶的時候，你們就很傷腦筋了，是不是？覺得很束縛。

佛規禮節你們也是覺得很束縛。你們的「戒」就是火車的一個軌道，出了軌道就危險了；「戒」就是界線，出這個界線之外，紅燈就亮起來了。所以一個人的本份之內該怎麼做，超出這個本份之外，就犯戒了。所以，自由是以不妨礙他人自由為什麼？（自由）。是啊，所以呢！必須要有一點戒律來約束你們。

但是如果你們人人都能夠持著一種慈悲心的話，那戒律對你們產生不了作用。所以你們持戒就是降服自己，不打妄語、不貪心、不盜取、不喝酒、不邪淫，這是在幫助你們走向無上菩薩道之內，所以不要把它當成一種束縛，也不要拿來衡量別人。你說；「那個人吃素，吃素吃成那個樣子！」，你拿來衡量別人，一個人有心，發這個善來持戒，你要讓他慢慢適應，因為累世以來，大家所種下的那個種子，在你們的意識當中，已經累積得太久了，所以不容易除掉。每個人都有一些習性，每一個人都有脾氣、習性，所以這就是你們不圓滿的地方，必須要藉著這些戒律慢慢的來調服你們自己。

那麼說「戒律」可以幫助一個家庭怎麼樣呢？—「和樂」。如果夫婦兩個人都修行，都持戒律，那絕對不會犯到邪淫這般事情，也不會犯到其它酒、色、財、氣。所以如果社會上每個人都持戒的話，那這個社會不用派出所，也不用法庭，也不用法律，所以，要使社會和平、和諧，唯有人人持戒，約束自己，是不是？所以大家不要怕，不要怕這個戒律。

戒律在每一個修行人來說，是必定要的一個階梯，幫助你們走向菩薩道。你們立的德、行的功，戒律不清楚，還是一樣，等於說你的衣服沾了髒束西，你沒有把它洗乾淨嘛！不把它洗乾淨，你這個污點永遠都存在，你再拿出來的時候，污點還是存在。所以一個人生生世世都有這個「習性」存在，因為累世以來沒有去掉，所以，常常存在於你們這個意識田中，那個種子一發芽出來，碰到陽光它又萌芽。所以，斬草不除根，春風吹又生，唯有藉著「持戒」，你們根本的把它除掉，持戒必須靠著你們的覺性，靠著你們的悟性，所以希望每一個人都能夠行這無上菩薩道。

戒殺

我們現在就來淺談如何「戒殺」。如何戒殺了、「有情所種，莫過性命，為救物命，首先戒殺。」人因具惻隱之心，菩薩萬本，以大悲為本，菩薩萬行，以大悲為本，人為存人道以及萬行之本，所以首先要戒殺。

所以「殺」就顯示一個人沒有惻隱之心。現在世上刀兵劫怎麼來的？若是全台灣省你們戒殺吃素，不到兩年，五穀豐收。所以，農夫就不用灑農藥；等一下後面會談到農夫，有功德，但是也有過，也必須要負因果。再說，賣農藥的人，他可以幫助農夫五穀豐收，但是他也助殺了這些無量的生命，他的因果還在。

所以，這個微細的地方大家不清楚，為什麼會有這些情形？因為眾生的共業嘛，今天你要生存，這些小動物也要生存，所以它來跟你作對呀，你要吃東西，它也要吃，所以你殺它，往後它找你，冤冤相報，往後無量劫之後，它們還是會轉成人身。不是說這些動物，永遠就是動物，有一天，它也會轉成人身，轉成人身的時候，它來跟你作對。所以呢，不是說人去殺一條性命才有果報。

這個果報有現世報，有來世報，也有隔了好多世再報。比如說，你們種菜，有的很快的就種出來，有的種蘋果、種荔枝、種龍眼，那一種的是不是要隔好幾年，它才會長出果實來？所以，有些人說，他做了那麼多壞事，怎麼卻不見他的報應啊？因為他還有餘功存在，他累世做了善功、做了善事，所以還可以庇蔭他現在還不遭到「報」，那有些人，拚命做好事，奇怪好人沒好報，就是你做的抵不過前世、累世所做的那一些。所以呢，大家要瞭解，因果絕對是公平的，比法律還公平，比法庭那些判官所判的都還公平，因果是絕對逃不掉的。

那麼你說，什麼叫做「助殺」？助殺也就是「間接的」。比如說看到人家在殺啦，你說：「好！殺得好！這種肉好吃。」或是說這個坤道人家，有的家裡面已經好幾個小孩啦，他不想再要小孩啦，那怎麼辦呢？所以就告訴朋友、告訴先生說想要拿掉小孩，那這個時候你可不可以講啊？你不要說：「好、好，拿掉。」你就犯了助殺，雖然不是你親自把它殺掉—我們今天談的是「殺」，所以這個微細的地方，我們一律公開來談，希望大家用這種虔誠的心來學法。

[Source text for Chapter 1 (On Killing) continues in the source archive at Good Works Library WIP/Yiguandao Source Texts/濟公活佛說五戒 — Ji Gong on the Five Precepts.md, Section 2.]

2戒盜

上個月開始講「殺戒」，或許各方面有風聲，所以有興趣的人，這個月不妨來聽聽看。

戒律是一個根本，是超生了死的一個根本。不懂戒律你們犯了很多過錯，等於收入不夠支出，你們拚命的做拚命的修福，但是不懂戒律，無形中造成很多過錯。有這個戒律給你們作一個約束，來減少你們的過錯，也就是說不管在那一宗、那一門修行，大家都必須謹慎小心而要守著戒律。

台灣人犯法要受法律的制裁，總不能說美國人、日本人犯法可以不受法律制裁，是不是？所以說各宗各教通通一樣，只是名詞不同而已。總歸起來這個「五戒」裡面很微細，都是在起心動念之處，你們不容易發覺的。把它歸納起來叫作「五戒」。所以這個不是佛家修佛教的人專有的名詞，不是他們專修的一個法門，而是每一個修行者都必須謹慎小心自己的一言一行。不要修這個〔有漏法〕，這個杯子裝了水就必須讓它裝滿，不能夠讓它破洞，而你們不守戒律犯了一些微小的過錯，等於滴水不能滿，杯子有漏洞一樣。不管你修行是在那一個宗派裡面，這個戒律對你們來說，是修一種福報。能夠守住那個福報，不讓福報消失掉、漏掉了。無畏施在廚房裡面大滴汗、小滴汗，這樣子辛辛苦苦在做，你們三施齊行而不懂守這個戒律，那很可惜，就會漏掉很多功德福德，以致你們的福報變成減少。所以呢，台灣人犯法要受法律的制裁，任何一個國家都有他的法律，只是名詞不一樣而已。這樣分析你們懂嗎？（懂）。

天道弟子有他殊勝的法門，但是這一種法每一個人都必須要去懂，就像你們研究心經、金剛經、道德經，這些觀念你們都必須要懂一樣。懂嗎？（懂）。

社會上變得這麼紊亂。大家看了傳播媒介的報導，大家心裡面會起一個同樣的感受〔社會紊亂〕。脾氣不好的人，就會消極的罵他幾句，但是這種消極的罵法都於事無補，那麼與其你看到社會紊亂，我們身為一個修道者、一個宗教家、一個弘法的人，大家都必須有一個共識，必須要多多少少負一點責任。尤其是弘法的人，人心不古，人心那麼亂，更需要負起一點責任。不要看到傳播媒介，看到人心不古，那些殺父母，搶啦、盜啦、就起了一個消極的想法：這個社會紊亂沒有救啦！那麼清自清，濁自濁。你在清醒當中，你也必須要負一點教化的責任。所以宗教家也就是等於教育家的另外一面，另外一個名詞〔淨化人心〕。

我們持戒是長養聖胎增長慧命，心地光明鬼神會親近，所以這個持戒必須要發出有恆之心，不要發露水道心，這個露水道心，陽光一照射馬上就消失了。所以是要時時刻刻去堅守的，各位都能夠進入佛門來修行，大過是絕對不會去犯到，小過在微細之處就必須要小心。為什麼要講這個「五戒」，因為它開出來的每一條都是很微細很微細，而你們不容易去想像注意到的。尤其是今天要講的「盜戒」，「盜」，你們在廚房的無畏施要特別注意聽。

上個月講的「殺戒」在這裡老師再給你們強調一句，如果你們有祖先過世的，你們最好不要殺生，因為再殺生的話，這些業會通通由祖先帶去。因為他的後事而造成你們殺生，所以這些業通通歸於他。祖先過世你們最好能辦素的，那麼家裡面沒有全家清口的最好能吃素四十九天，那麼夫妻關係也隔離四十九天，這樣子能夠幫他減輕他的業力，這一點老師特別給你們強調。今天我們就來講這個「盜」。所謂盜就是〔偷〕，盜的方式比較明顯的就是「偷」，「偷盜」就是趁人家不小心的時候去「偷」。還有一個就是「劫」，在人家注意的時候你們強力的去「劫」，比如搶劫銀行，劫人家的財物這一類。再一種是「騙」，騙人家老頭子，老芋仔（台語）最容意受騙，對不對？金光黨也喜歡騙，退役軍人有一點退休金，喜歡上當在女色方面被人家騙了。還有一種是「脅」：〔脅取〕、「威脅」的「脅」。青年男女在公園裡面，人家來抽保護稅，這種叫「脅取」。

那還有一種叫作「詆謾取」，也就是要出國了，東西托寄給朋友，沒有寫收據，大家彼此互相信任，你回來以後要向他討回東西，朋友是貪心的人，他說：「沒有啊，你那有放在我這裡，有的話你拿收據來」。這一種叫「詆謾取」。詆是誣賴的意思，謾就是罵的意思，就是誣賴東西不還給你而且罵你說誣賴他，所以說這種就是貪心。

還有一種叫作「訛賴取」，訛就是故意的，比如說你這東西很貴重，打個比方說鑽石好了，你拿個鑽石朋友看到很漂亮，他故意買個假的，跟你混來混去摸來摸去，到時後他知道你的是真的，就把你的調換過來，他說這是我的，你說那個真的是我的，他說你這個是假的，就是故意啦！訛賴嘛！這是比較明顯。這些在社會中有啊，當然我們在座的是不會發生這些事情，前面講的這些，社會上的人是比較容易犯的。那麼我們在佛堂修行的這一些修士們比較容易犯的是那些？下面講的是你們比較容易犯的，你們就注意聽。在佛堂裡面，第一個有什麼疑難雜症，有什麼麻煩，來到佛前叩頭，燒大把香求佛，你們香從那裡拿？這樣抓來一大把很方便哦？這個香要自己帶來！你自己有了困難來求佛，你功德還沒做卻先盜佛物，這個想都知道。你要來求醫生總也要付個醫藥費，你來求佛這個香這樣抓來很方便，你方便佛可不方便。香啊，這個供物是大家買來供的，這個主人是仙佛。所以說這個功德還沒做，先盜佛物，這一點就嚴重的犯到「盜」，所以這一點你們以後要好好小心，有疑難雜症來求佛，求什麼燒大把香，希望大家花一點錢，自己買一把香來，求得心安理得。

再來第二點，打電話自己要付錢，不要說這個電話講得很方便，佛堂所有的財產，主人是仙佛，不是那一個，那一個住持、那一個都沒有權力作主。你打電話最好是自己投錢，這個是可以投錢，沒有投錢的那一個你們最好是自己付啊。你到佛堂來功德還沒做，先盜取佛堂的東西。「你可以讓佛祖佔點便宜，但不能去占佛祖的便宜」這一點要小心。如果是屬於家庭佛堂私人的財物，那這個另當別論。家庭佛堂朋友家中這個又另當別論，老師今天說的完全是公物，公共佛堂裡面的。記住啊！免得這個電話費單子到了，一看哇好幾百塊，又開始罵啦！你們自己去投錢。自己付錢，要講那個麵線話，又臭又長的，你們都心安理得，對不對？多少自己付，國內國外都一樣。

再下來廚房的無畏施，小心一點注意聽。無畏施煮東西，煮熟以後不知道味道調得好不好，恰不恰當，拿起來嘗一口，這個可以，你要是貪心這個東西好吃，你要多試幾口，等到你們有五個無畏施，通通試到滿意了，那東西也只剩下一半了。所以這個東西煮熟以後，在還沒有正式開飯之前，你們不得貪心多去嘗，調怎麼樣嘗一口就知道，你嘗那麼多口，難道你舌頭有問題？這個佛堂的公物是屬於十方善信佈施出來的，主人是諸善信，佈施出來的就等於給佛堂給大家來用，但是給大家來用必須要有個規矩。

還有，東西買來以後不要大包小包再拿回去。這個無畏施或有的道親到這邊來，對這個道親特別好，這個佈施得比較多，這個拿回家，拿回去。大包小包的拿，是不可以啊！你大包小包的拿，這倒底是人家佈施給你的，還是佈施給佛堂的？你一個人不能獨享。你說我有出錢，初一十五有出，那是你自己佈施的功德啊！你不能說因為你有出錢，你就能大包小包的拿，你佈施出來就是佈施出來，你那個心已經發揮出來了，再拿回去就變成有盜心了。所以起心動念這個心要分得很清楚啊！如果是法會開完菜剩很多，那另當別論。菜剩很多吃不完會壞掉對不對？這可以拿回去，但是拿回去以後呢，要想以後多買一些東西過來，這些差不多有多少等值，有多少的價錢，法會過後可以買一些東西過來，隨時有一些新鮮的東西存在這邊，給開班啦、或是有什麼事情有班啦，可以繼續吃這些新鮮東西。至於吃不完大家平攤拿回去這個不算犯，這個有佈施多拿一點，這個沒有佈施就少拿一點，這個主人不是你們，是仙佛啊！佈施出來人家是看在佛面，不是看在人面在佈施的是不是？如果是私人對像私人買的，那又當別論，你私人拿到這邊用，你拿到廚房煮了拿來吃那又另當別論。還有供果買回來，還沒有供佛之前你不要自己先拿來吃，所有的供物，是仙佛的，不是那一個人的，所以你絕對不能用你的權力，可以先拿來吃，可以給那一個人，懂嗎？（懂）。

還有人家道親佈施的錢，有說明要月助的啦，要開荒的啦，要印善書啦，要給佛堂用啦等等…，人家發心在那裡要用在那裡，不可以摻摻來用。人家發心要買香你就買香，要月助你就月助，要分清楚一點。打掃佛堂的掃具，不要跟掃廁所的混在一起，打掃佛堂的掃具應另外分開，那屬於仙佛在用的應該保持清淨一點。看那一支拖把，佛堂在拖、廚房也在拖、房間也在拖、廁所也在拖，這不太好，應分開一點。再來是供佛的花，供佛的花不要拿來聞，這一朵是夜來香聞聞看，比較香一點，那一朵是鬱金香，味道又不一樣，聞聞看，鼻子啊不乾淨，你感冒啦，鼻蓄膿、流鼻水啦，不乾淨啦！你聞過了不清淨。這些花是來供佛的不是供人的，香不香佛會聞啦！這個香要買時拉出來開聞看香不香再買，這個都不好。這些都是在微細處你們都容易去犯到的地方，不知道的地方，所以大家要小心一點。這是在佛堂裡面你們比較容易去犯到的。那再來，在外面上班的公務人員，信封啦信紙啦，寫得很方便，順便去用，這個盜取國庫，有沒有？作公務人員的小心一點。即使你們在公也一樣，私人就是私人，公司就是公司，你們不要把公物拿來私人用啊！公司或是團體裡面，有五十個人，這個也拿那個也拿，老闆不就虧掉了嗎？我們修道要守住自己的戒律，公務人員拿的，這些都是台灣民眾所有繳稅稅物，你如果盜用公物，就對所有繳稅民眾欠債，這就是盜取國庫。還教怎麼樣漏稅啊，教人家打公用電話怎麼樣才可以不用錢啊，怎麼樣撥會掉出來。教人家怎麼樣做可以漏稅，這要小心一點。印刷品中不要附帶信件，這個也是盜國庫。有沒有犯到了？（有）沒有說你們還不曉得，還做得挺高興的，你不會我來教你，兩人一起犯。

還有你們去偷，萬一偷到對方是貧窮的人啊；它為了這筆錢焦慮而去自殺死了，你同時犯到偷、殺，「殺」、「盜」兩條戒，很嚴重啊。這一點你們大概比較不會犯到，也必須給你們強調。那麼說公務人員要小心是不是？公務人員，公司行號大家都要小心一點，那麼坐車、坐船、過路，沒有付費用，沒有買車票，通通一樣是盜國庫。還有買東西時，賣東西的人算你便宜，不要開發票，那兩個說好，你算我便宜我不拿你發票，這個一樣是犯盜國庫。該開發票就開發票，你們若是要漏稅要逃這些，國家建設的經費從那裡來？政府少收入了，國家建設的經費「公務人員的薪水那裡來？那麼你開了發票了，你拿不拿是你的事情，但是你要當面看著賣東西的把發票開出來，懂嗎？（懂）當然不是為了對發票中獎，每次守法，是一個好國民。

「盜」比較微細，所有的戒律就是「偷盜」戒最微細最難持。很多很多地方，不小心就會去犯到。那麼開了太細太細你們也會嫌煩，這個也不行那個也不行，我乾脆逃到美國去我不要聽，不要聽你就是福報守不住啊！每一個人都希望來佛堂多做一點福報修一點福德，你不小心漏了這些福報，那不是很可惜嗎？你拚命做那麼多到最後沒有啦！奇怪，回去還是天佛院修煉員、練氣員，原因都是在這裡「福報都漏掉了！你在心上沒有下工夫。

這個「戒」對你們來說很重要。所以說，三學「戒」「定」「慧」，第一個就是要守「戒」，因為「戒」排在前面。末法的眾生大家根基比較鈍，不能一下就見性悟性，一下子就守很清淨的戒律，你無法以自性為「覺」，必須要以「戒」為師。即使是十方聖佛，祂還是從戒律先修起。因為「戒」是斷一切惡的根本，求道只是結善緣，而「持戒」才是行善斷惡的根本。念頭如牛毛，證果如牛角，為什麼？只因心念太多，貪慎癡慢疑、十惡、種種種種……太多了沒有去掉，所以你往生證果就如牛角一樣的少。

在修行的法門當中有很多很多種，但是唯一相同的就是守「戒」，不管那一宗那一派、「戒」絕對是共同的一個法門。所以老師今天才要講這個戒律，讓你們明白，去守著它。不要以為我們只要守著十條大願，或是唸唸無字真經，就可以超生了死，你每天在念，但是念頭不斷，諸惡的根源沒有斷，斬草不除根春風吹又生，所以，惡的根本絕對要先斷，才有辦法長養你的聖胎，增長你的慧命。

有幾種情況不在偷盜裡面。雖然戒律很嚴，但也有它方便的時候，大家聽了戒律之後覺得這樣不行那樣也不行，那要怎麼辦呢？跑到深山古洞一個人生活好了，不會受人家的干擾。真正的一個菩薩，他是不怕麻煩的，真正的一個菩薩心、修菩薩行的人，他是在鬧市裡面，他不怕麻煩，他能夠把這個煩惱轉為菩提。只有一個羅漢，一個自了漢，他才會跑到深山古洞裡，因為他要逃避它，怕被熏染了。因此我們修一個上乘之法的一定要有智慧來分辨，哪一種該做哪一種不該做？雖然說很多地方會讓你們造成一個偷盜的心，但是有些地方還是有它方便的，叫做開源：

第一個己有享：「己有享」是說這個東西不是你的，但是你把它當作是你的。譬如說你們來這裡上課，下雨天乾道拿的走黑雨傘，通通放在那邊，下課後認不清楚那一把是你的，是黑傘就拿一把回家，這樣子不算盜，因為你也有一把黑傘被別人拿錯，這種不算是偷盜，你認為是自己的，叫做「己有享」。

還有一種予己享：「給予」的「予」，己就是自己。「予己享」就是那樣東西人家並不是送給你的，而你以為是人家送給你的。譬如說到道親家裡，又是茶又是水果一大堆的招待，等到要回家時，看到壇主或是道親拿一包東西放在桌子上。以為那一包是要送給他的，拿著就走，其實那一包是要送給別人的，這個叫「予己享」。沒有偷盜之心這個不算，但是你不能說那個東西我看了喜歡，以為走要送給我的，拿了就走，故意有這種心就是不可以的。

還有一種叫畚帚享：畚帚就是「廢物」，也就是不值錢的東西。「畚帚享」就是大家都很勤儉，倒垃圾時在垃圾堆看到人家要丟掉的東西，桌子「或是椅子，還好好的，或許是人家洗一洗曬在那旁邊，你以為那是人家要丟掉的，「畚帚享」你把它拿回家，等到人家要去拿的時候，哇！不見了！是那一個給我偷去了？我是洗一洗曬在這邊的！你把它當作垃圾撿回來，這個不算犯戒，但是你們不能說人家的手錶，這個「勞力士」的放在那邊，於走「畚帚享」，我以為是你不要的，我拿走。這可不行，這可要看時候的。

還有一種叫暫用享：譬如說你到朋友家，需要筆啦、紙啦，或是需要什麼東西，電話啦，先借用一下，你跟他很好嘛！你借用一下，等一下就還給他，筆用一用還要物歸原處，你不可以順手牽羊帶走，這叫「暫用享」。東西暫用一下，等一下再還給人家，這種不犯盜戒。

還有一種親厚享：父母親的「親」，厚道的「厚」，「親厚享」。就是說你到朋友家，因為大家都很熟悉嘛！你把冰箱打開，汽水啦、水果啦、點心啦，拿出來就啃，拿出來就吃，因為跟朋友很好嘛！他不會認為你是偷盜的。如果不是很親近的，你不能隨便走到人家家裡，冰箱一開，啊，我「親厚享」，他跟我很好，他不會認為我是偷盜，這不行，這是隨便，這變成隨便，方便就出下流，不可以啊！如果大家彼此都很信任，不用寫借條，這可以當作是一種「親厚享」。以上這幾點不在偷盜裡面。

那麼所偷的東西還有分輕跟重。譬如說：你偷了道場的東西，佛堂的東西，這就犯重了。因為道場的東西是要利益所有修行人，這個權益是所有修行人、所有的道親，而不是只有某些人，所以你偷了道場的東西，你就犯了重罪。「三寶門中好修福，一粒種子萬粒收」，上個月曾說過。那你佈施在道場，在佛堂，它的福報很大，福報遍十方，可是，你要造業、要犯戒也很容易，因為你來了很隨便，拿了就走啊！你認為這個很方便，是要給大家用的。為什麼說佈施在道場福報會很大呢？

因為這是遍十方三界、遍所有修行者，等於是數學一樣，數學一百零除等於是無窮盡，對不對？所以這走遍虛空法界。你佈施一百塊在佛堂，等於說利益所有修行者，不只是你這一方的修行人，別的修行人、所有道場的修行人都算在裡面，因為你佈施出來了，這就不屬於私人的，屬於公物了。公物就是所有修行人都可以利益，一包米呢，你來了可以吃，他來了也可以吃，別的地方道親來的也可以吃，對不對？所以利益所有的修行者，等於一百零除，等於無窮盡，遍虛空法界。但是相同的，要造偷盜也很快。總而言之，佛堂的一針一線、一筆一紙你不要隨便動用，你要動用它，你就多少佈施一點。「給佛祖佔便宜，不要占佛祖的便宜」，就沒錯啦！

你們佈施要沒有執著的心，不要講我初一十五，開法會或是什麼時候拿了錢，你出錢是要作福田，是要佈施呢，還是要來這邊交易呢？因此你佈施出來就不能有執著的心，不能說我什麼時候五千啦，什麼時候一萬。有些人說老師啊，我都沒有執著呢，我佈施出去都沒有執著，沒有執著心啊！我說，小數目沒有執著，大數目還是有執著啦！你佈施一兩萬元很容易，尤其是有錢人，叫你佈施一百萬執著不執著？小數目不會執著，大數目還是會執著的，對不對？地心為什麼會有地心引力？

人會執著嘛！火箭要離開地球、上升，一定要脫離地心引力，那人要脫離業力的牽纏，一定要怎麼樣？先放下你的執著心，才能脫離業力的牽纏！人之會有執著，就像地心引力一樣，束縛著嘛！你種種都離不開執著，所以呢，質量化為能量，它就轉換為業力。人的造惡很快就輸送到八識裡面，它很快就轉換成一種業力。人是怎麼來的？父精母血的基因對不對？基因再加上一種業力，轉換成一種能量，所以兄弟姊妹生出來，條件都不一樣是不是？每一個人，智慧啦、命運啦、還有種種福報啦，通通不一樣，條件也不一樣。隨什麼？隨各人的業力，隨各人的福報。眾生是帶著不淨的業身而來的，有執著的心就會產生大小便，因為不清淨嘛！佛是帶著願力，帶著悲心而來的，他清淨嘛！所以他沒有大小便。

人貪嗔癡是一種生死流，要是順著心呢，就在生死流裡面，修行呢就要逆生死流。順著你們的習氣，很容易六道輪迴。學道、學道，道就是「路」，「六道」就是六條通往的路，大家修一修說；老師我會不會往生、會不會回去？我說會啊，只不過是六道不知道是那一道而已。大家都會往生，六道也都是往生的，六條通往的道路，支持著你們永遠在生死流裡面輪迴。因此學道學什麼？學這個不生不滅，學斷絕輪迴的「道」，斷絕這個六道輪迴。

下面來說犯盜戒有那一些業報？

一、墜三惡道：犯了殺、盜、淫、妄四條，第一個通通是墜三惡道。得一個人身不容易，可得要好好的珍惜去修，墜入三惡道後要想再轉回人身來，可沒那麼容易啦！比如說你轉到豬的身，你要等到業報完了之後才能轉回人身。剛剛還漏了兩條，倒人家會錢也算偷盜，放高利貸、吸人家的血汗錢也是偷盜。你倒人家的會錢，下輩子會轉豬啦、狗啦。狗替人家看門等於傭人一樣，傭人一個月多少錢？一萬多塊是不是？，你倒人家多少錢，看你當多久，把欠人家的會錢還完。那豬呢？一條賣一萬五、兩萬啦，看你賣到什麼時候，把你倒的那個一百萬或是八十萬還完。你才可以再去轉世，所以墜入這個三惡道是很可憐。

二、若是生人中，貧窮下賤或多財資而不得自在使用：這就是告訴你們因果啦，今生貧賤為何因？前世偷盜太厲害了，所以生在人中貧窮下賤，或是很多錢財不得自在使用。為什麼會不得自在使用呢？你佈施以後有沒有生那後悔？後悔你佈施太多啦！啊喲！他才出一萬我怎麼要出兩萬，比他多一萬呢？所以佈施啊，佈施出來以後就不要產生後悔。你寧可多佈施一點，這是你的福田，但是生了後悔心，即使你佈施在佛門之中，有福報，來世縱然是有福報，但是你有很多錢財卻不得自在使用，這就是它的因果它的業報。雖然你有很多錢，一下子這裡散失掉，等一下那裡又散失掉了，一會兒朋友要來借，借一借又沒還，很多資財你都散失掉，這就是不得自在使用。

三、苗稼房產遭水火霜雹等災：苗就是五穀類啦，稼就是地瓜玉蜀黍之類，這些不動產之類，很容易遭到水災啦火災啦或是下霜雹這一類，很容易把你們掃得空空的。縱使有也等於沒有一樣，到那時你會想：「啊！所有的都沒有了，人生無常啦！」這些是業報，這些不是你辛苦賺來的錢嘛！對不對？你隨隨便便去用它，你沒有那個福報而先享用了。等於還沒有收入就已經透支了，你先享把這些福都享盡了，而來世即使你有做了一些福報，還得先還掉你前世已經用光掉的那些，先前透支的。

四、他人失物與己生疑：就是別人掉了東西，看你賊頭賊腦，就認為是你偷的。所以人啊！要是沒有犯了偷盜，走到那裡都很自在。而你犯了貪小便宜順手牽羊的壞習慣，人家一針一線丟掉，都懷疑你啊！因為你臉上「賊仔面賊仔面」（台語）「小偷臉小偷臉的」，這個就是人格的問題。因此說犯了這些不好的很容易遭人家誤會。譬如說你丟了兩仟塊，到處找都找不到時，你就會去想我跟那些人在一起，會去過濾這些人對不對？東西掉了總會去找，價值少的找不到也就算了，但是價值高的你就不會罷休。於是你就會開始過濾我跟那些人在一起，咋天晚上有誰到我家來過，於是乎你就開始去想啦。如果你是一個坦坦蕩蕩的人平常撿到東西，你都不會據為己有，想法子還給人家，那別人自然不會去懷疑你。要是你平常喜歡貪小便宜有這種不好的習性，人家就會懷疑你，所以做人平常就要廉潔啊！

五、身常受苦，心懷憂惱：身體常常會遭受到一些痛苦，並不是疾病而是有一些很煩的事情啦，讓你感到很不自在，心裡面產生一些煩惱憂煩，就是有那麼多的雜事來煩你，不得清心自在、逍遙自在啊。所以小偷偷人家東西，晚上睡覺安穩不安穩？聽到有人敲門就以為是警察來找他、或是人家來找他的麻煩，總是會坐立不安嘛，對不對？前世犯了這個偷盜戒啊，這一世就是會常常坐立不安，起這些無名的煩惱啊！

這是犯了盜會受這五樣的果報，這是一個歸納而已，其它還有很多很多談不完。那麼守著盜戒的人，就是不犯偷盜的，他還是有善報。你不持戒有他的報，你持戒當然也有他的報，所以持戒啊，有這個善神擁護。那麼有那些好的果報呢？

一、資財盈積，而不散失：就是你有財產啊，不會莫名其妙的，這裡失那裡失，也不會作生意容易失敗。有些人做生意很賺錢，隨隨便便做都賺，隨便投資也賺錢，有些人再怎麼作，就是不賺錢。那麼越投資呢，就越虧，就是因為沒有那個福報。因為曾經犯過盜戒，錢財守不住嘛！要不就是給家裡面的不肖子亂花掉，不然就是送到醫院去啦。

二、多人愛戀，深信不疑：這跟前面所說的有一點調過來。「愛戀」就是人緣好啦！就是說你平常看到可憐的人就會起一種憐憫的心，就會去佈施。那麼人家看到你就會覺得你很慷慨，很容易佈施這些善財，因此也不會起那種懷疑的心，即使他家掉了東西。而你跟他睡同一張床上，他都不會懷疑你，因為你平常佈施習慣，你平常做的這些他對你已經信任了。所以即使他存折掉了，你在他家過夜，他都不會懷疑你，而且對你非常推崇。

三、善名遠播，十方讚歎：譬如說你們持戒很嚴，善名絕對會廣播，殺盜淫妄酒、脾氣啦，貪慎癡啦。各方面都沒有啦。所以呢，這個修行是教育自己，不是教育別人，不要拿了戒律的尺來量別人，你自己把自己量得緊一點的話。善名就會廣播，十方就會讚歎你，人家一談到某某人的修行，大拇指就會翹起來。絕對是好的。不會說：「他好是好，不過呢脾氣不怎麼好。」要不然就是說：「他好是好啦，不過嘛又怎麼樣啦」所以你做得好絕對是對你有好處的。因此我們做一個修行者，上面的人做得再怎麼差，我們還是去讚歎他，我們還是用平等的眼光去看，不要說他站在上面他怎麼樣啊。不要講是非也不要去挑它的毛病，上面的人不好，他有他的因果。如果你還要講的話，你自己就口不清啦！並且還要背上因果，所以做得再怎麼不好，可是他可以破男女這一關，你們就跟不上啊。是不是？即使是他德性不夠，可是必須斷男女的，他能夠破男女這一關，這個精神就值得讚歎。就像出家人一樣他修得好不好且不論，他能夠把頭剃得光光披著那件袈裟，就值得人家讚歎。他修不修是人家的事情，我們隨時要保持一種讚歎的心，如果是用討論的方式，那就不算是說是非。比如說，這個道場跟另一個道場之間，這個道場很多人說他有這種毛病或是某個人他有某一點毛病，我們拿出來討論，是不是該傚法他或是改進，用討論的方式不加以批評，這個不算犯。

四、處眾無畏，人不敢欺：處在眾人很多當中呢，就是說心地光明坦蕩，不會畏首畏尾的，不會說我作了虧心啦，我那裡做得不好啦，你做得讓人家「無懈可擊」。

五、身心安樂，命終升天：因為你沒有這些貪，沒有這些小毛病，這些習性當然身心安樂自在。活菩薩能夠逍遙安樂自在，因為他沒有習性沒有念頭沒有業力。所以他絕對是處在這種極樂淨土裡面，而我們凡夫從這個婆婆世界可以修成淨土，就需要你去掉這些不該有的貪啦嗔啦。這些種種不良的習性，你一樣可以修一些淨土。在你的心你的方寸裡面，時時要澄清。一個念頭起來，先要問一問自己這個該不該有。所以先檢討自己的這些念頭，先檢討自己的過失。那麼你必會時時澄清這些，就不容易玷染你本身。

那麼偷盜是最微細的一點，你們很容易去犯到。老師剛剛開出來這幾條，是你們在佛堂裡面比較容易犯的。至於人家這個沙門裡面，都有一些沙門規矩。我不必開出來，是不是？因為你們不在沙門裡面，你們是在佛堂裡道場中，針對你們容易犯到的這些開給你們，所以說持這個盜戒不容易，沙門裡面更微細。

凡是在道場裹面，你如果要動用什麼東西最好小心一點，你來佛堂吃飯是可以的。不要聽到老師這麼說，以後上課不敢來吃飯。道場本來就是屬於大家的，所有東西都是大家公用的。放出來的牙膏、毛巾、衛生紙，你盡量用。如果你拉肚子，衛生紙盡量用沒關係。不要說不能用，但是你也不要太小氣，多佈施一點。佈施是可以破慳貪的，為什麼要你們佈施？因為人執著嘛！貪太重了，人的執著就造成山河大地，石頭硬硬的東西，一個人的脾氣太固執就像石頭一樣。對不對？結果脾氣太暴燥火氣上升，所以有火災嘛！你怒火嗔火不滅，外面的火災就不斷，戰火就連連。你持殺戒，不殺生，戰爭炸彈炸不死你。你持了不盜戒，火災火燒不死你。持戒有善神來庇護，持五戒就有五個善神，持一戒有一個善神。

後面還有三條戒律，最難持的是什麼？妄語戒，還有酒戒，這個盜是你們不小心去犯到的，一講開來你們可以改，這個妄語戒就很難了，做生意的人談價錢會打妄語，這個我以後會談到。

有些人說我持個六十分就好，我持三戒，殺盜淫妄酒，妄戒和酒戒我不要持，酒在外面交際多多少少會喝一點。「五戒持三戒，不用滿分」結果變成持個「不知那戒」（台語）不知道持到那裡去了。最好是持滿分，對你們的道力來說很有助長，你沒有這些業力牽纏，你就容易解脫。人為什麼六道輪迴？就因為有一股煩惱支配著你們繼續輪迴，沒有煩惱就沒有業障，修行就快。是不是？

一把無明火，能燒萬里功德林，不是大家都會說嗎？你辛辛苦苦累積那麼多，一個無明火上來，那個無明火是在燒你的自性啊！不是燒你那些錢財，自性一燃燒，所有的都破功啦！這個所有的都可以捨，就是脾氣不好捨。忍辱道是很難修的，一個人動不動就發脾氣，這就跟你們修行的功力有關係。你即使做了很多功德，可是你一把無明火上來了，於是你破口大罵你完了，所有眾生不敢親近你，你渡的那些人也不敢來親近你。所以啊！末法的眾生就是這個樣子，比較鈍脾氣又大。所以勸你們辣椒少吃，這樣子好像要你們的命一樣，尤其是你們這些內陸的外省人，辣椒吃得特別重是不是？辣椒吃多了是可以開胃，不過脾氣特別暴燥，能不吃就最好不吃。要是不吃會死的話就慢慢改，什麼都能捨，難到連這一點不能捨。

末法的眾生根器很鈍，我們見道成道，你去渡一個人不容易。你總要三番兩次的去循循善誘，同樣的引保師去引渡他的時候，也是不容易啊！好不容易帶來了，他看一看猶豫一下又不求道啦！等一下引保師又去連哄帶騙的把他騙來求道，你不可以說不給他求啊！有沒有聽到？所有事情是義務，沒有權力。老師都不放棄任何一個可救的眾生，何況末法的眾生，他根器鈍，他不是一說就來啦！扇子一搖就過來啦！不是那樣子的。他有心要求道，你還是要見道成道，然後引保師要慢慢下工夫去循循善誘，他不明理嘛！怎麼知道你這個「道」好，對不對？現在很流行試用品，對不對？買一送一，有新產品贈送一點試用品給他試試看，引保師也要慢慢的去引導他，也就是說他有這樣的一個行動行為，你總得給他一個機會，是不是？求了道他在外面不改或是對道一點信心都沒有，他又譭謗道啦！這一些就算他無緣，我們已在尺度上放寬了，我們已經給他機會了，不能說連機會都不給他，給他機會他不來那就隨緣。所以說：「佛門大大開，有緣的快快來，無緣的也不勉強你。」這是個人生死問題，你不信就是不信？不要那麼「鐵齒」（台語）人、科學、文學可以解決這種種問題，但是解決不了心態上的問題，解決不了生死的問題。生病找醫師，那死呢？要找老師對不對？你到要死的時候，是不是燒大把香來找老師，那一個死得很自在除非你是個大修行者，高僧大德，或是你們老前人。已經能夠有神通，生死來去自如，否則你生病就去找醫生，死了絕對要來找老師。你不要太「鐵齒」，說不求道就是不求道，佛門有那麼多人來修行，你有緣進來了，來看一看你覺得不好的話再隨緣。以前的人求法都是用爬的，要求老師，求師求法，跪著爬著。可沒有像你們現在頭抬得那麼高，高高在上，好像是人家欠你多少，心不甘情不願的來，沒這樣的事情。道還是高高在上，只不過是現在末法的眾生，沒有辦法，上天慈悲特別讓你們這些眾生，能夠帶業來修行。沒有叫你們先捨，沒有叫你們作功德之前，就給你們一個機會進來修這個方便法門，絕對不要放棄。你既然有這個緣份進來，就應該求道，「平時不燒香，臨時才來抱佛腳」。

人家要求道，要給人家一個機會，不能一下子把人家摒在門外，這個也說不通。道雖說是大道無情，但是還是有情，都是有情的眾生，師徒情如父子，老師永遠不放棄每一個可救的眾生。除非這個真的是沒有緣份，連一根頭髮的善根都沒有，那就隨緣啦！你不修不求道，別人還是要修要求道，地球不會因你一個人的死而停止在轉。道場也不會因你一個人停止而就不辦了，這是一個大團體，懂嗎？（懂）

3戒淫

淫戒

累代科名為何因？只為前生不犯淫。

身後絕嗣為何因？亦為前生犯了淫。

此善惡業人不曉，觸怒陰曹眾鬼神。

罪在地獄受苦刑，百千劫後方脫生。

◎世間罪惡淫居首

大家生活都過得非常好，有句話說：「飽暖思淫慾」。萬惡淫為首，所以一個人慾望要清，不要那麼重，不要吃太飽。你們現在大魚大肉，三餐正餐不夠，還要吃點心，一天到睡覺為止，要吃五餐，女孩子太胖還要去減肥中心。想到當今物質生活這麼富裕，但是卻給你們帶來反效果。你看以前的人，粗茶淡飯卻健康長壽，哪有像你們現在什麼病都來，現在海陸空全部吃光光，結果沒有健康，反而是越生病，而且吃得飽嘛，其它的妄念都來了，再加上傳播媒體大肆渲染，所以年紀小小，什麼壞事都幹盡了！

現在的這個社會實在很可憐，眾生在這滾滾的萬丈紅塵中是很可憐的，所以以前的白樂天（居易）跑到山上去看鳥巢禪師，問他說住在山上大樹上會不會危險掉下來，他都沒想到自己在這個萬丈紅塵會不會掉下去，所以自己是七月半鴨子都不知道，常常說人家很可憐，所以我們只聽說有人吃死的、玩死的，卻沒聽說有修行死的，眾生一直在追求錯誤的東西，實在可憐。

五戒對你們的修行來說非常有幫助，求道只是助緣而已。今天你立了願要受持清口，你這些東西都要全部戒掉，你捨不得割下這些東西，就永遠在生死裡輪迴。尤其是這個淫，宇宙當中最束縛人的就是「淫」，它比所有的毒品都還要厲害，嘗過一次就戒不掉，你們結過婚的人都知道，甚至沒有結過婚的人都想嘗一下，是不是？所以我們今天修行，就要把它攤開來適當地講，點到為止，不講的話，你們就沒有一個界限。

戒律就像地圖一樣，你看了地圖，知道往哪個方向走，哪裡可以去，哪裡不能去；所以呢，你講了，對自己就有一個界限。就不會去逾矩了。那麼修不修、持不持都在於你們，是不是？

三世諸佛視淫念為世間最污穢的事情，所以我們既然修菩薩道，應該要節制。但並不是說修行就要斷絕所有夫妻關係，不是這麼回事，而是說夫妻之間也要有一個禮制、一個節制。

◎邪淫妄念是禍亂之根

淫有正淫、邪淫之分。所謂邪淫，就是夫妻之外的這些不正常關係。這邪淫非常不好，一切的社會問題都是來自於夫妻不遵守規矩。家是一個根本，你的本都不能顧了，其他問題就全部都出來了。問題孩子也是來自問題家庭，問題家庭來自夫妻之間沒有責任感，彼此自私自利，不能容忍，不能守住自己的崗位，放縱自己。所以，勸你們這些未婚的青年，選對像要選內在美最重要，外在的好看很危險，你罩不住啊!漂亮的小姐你要追，別人也會追，這個帥哥你要，別人也要啊!那他管你有沒有結婚，他就是要。

現在的社會沒有倫常，法律也管不著；即使法律管得著，他還是要啊！所以淫慾是違背一切倫常、道德、法律，否定掉所有的一切，你們看有同性戀、老夫少妻、老妻少夫，這些都是違背倫常的。因為淫慾一旦發生，不管你三七二十一，六親通通一樣；甚至古代那些在深山裡獨自修行的羅漢，他都會跟猴子、羊等動物發生不正常的關係，可見這個淫慾是違背一切倫常、道德，違背一切正常的思想，是非常危險的，就像火一樣，一燒就沒法控制。

這個要從根本醫治，根本的醫治就要從淨心開始，怎樣來使你的慾望淡化一點。所以當你這個慾望起來的時候，不是說要去撞牆、去做什麼就可以克制的，一定要從你內心去平息。所以，平常不要吃太飽，飽暖思淫慾啊！

在家裡面，你們最好打赤腳，腳底下涼涼的，這樣可以降低你們的火氣。人都有感情，動物也有感情，所以你最好少去接觸。你要離淫慾，沒有別的辦法，你只有「遠離」。所以一切容易引起你遐思的書刊、雜誌、電影等，最好不要去碰，不要去，這些都是染污你們的眼睛。尤其是男孩子最喜歡，男人這兩個眼睛一生出來就不存好心，所以男孩子死掉以後，就是從眼睛先爛，不相信你們可以把那個棺材挖出來看，就從眼睛先長蟲，因為他喜歡看這些東西，喜歡女孩子穿得越涼快越好，他可以多看一下，這一切都是障礙你們淨心、引發你們淫慾的導火線。

一切問題家庭都是來自這一雙不守規矩的眼睛。所以你要保持內心的清淨，平常多看經書，最好是多背經典，比如清靜經、心經、彌勒真經這一類，把它背起來，當你心裡有那種念頭的時候，趕快把它降服掉，這樣子你才慢慢會去淡化。你們都是凡夫俗子，每個人都有慾望，那是很正常的，但是慾望必須要節制。

◎倫常以禮謹制節度

並不是所有的宗教都要叫你們斷欲。其實夫妻是天地的根本，夫為天、妻為地，這是倫常的根本，只不過你們把它放縱了，就變成現在社會的混亂，家庭都導引出很多問題。一個家庭要鞏固的話，夫妻之間要相敬如賓，平常除了這個關係之外，就要用心靈、思想來交融，是不是？夫妻之間如果只有這種事，那跟禽獸有什麼兩樣？所以夫妻也是必須要戒一點。

「正淫」是用在夫妻上面，比如說初一、十五、佛菩薩聖誕，或是說家裡面祖先有人過世，你應該戒個七七四十九天，表示清淨。你們每一天生活這麼忙碌，你應該想說，這種只是短暫的快樂，不能滿足你永遠的快樂，那麼你應該以身體健康為要緊，好好來經營你的家庭，好好照顧你的妻小，那只是生活中的附帶品，不是主要的。

人是守禮的，是不是？五常之中，仁義禮智信，有了這個禮才能夠維持家庭的秩序，所謂禮門義路，對不對？你要照著追條理路來走，你的家庭才能夠維持的很好。所以為師希望你們修行的雖然不是出家，是在家，但是也要有這些菩薩行的觀念和淨行，才不會變成身跟心沒有一致，你一心想念佛，想要來清淨、修行，但是你這一關沒有斷，或者是說太執著它，那麼你將永遠在生死中輪迴。

所以，淫慾是生死的根本，我們必須要有節制。結了婚的人就要好好的經營家庭，沒有結婚的人找對象，希望也要找志同道合的，是不是？我們在家修行，講的是一個倫理的家庭，是上慈下孝，並不是你犧牲不要結婚，就叫做犧牲辦道，不是這樣子啦！你必須要懂得去經營你現在的家庭，現在的家經營的好，才有辦法再去經營另一個家，不是說一天到晚在佛堂裡辦事，這就叫做犧牲辦道，不是這樣子。

◎家庭因緣要圓滿

夫妻、眷屬之間，今生今世與你是有一段緣，你要懂得去圓這個緣。要如何來圓緣呢？不是去逃避。你母親生你一個兒子，但你一天到晚在成全別人，把家裡、母親、事業當作是一種牽纏，你去成全別人，要別人放下牽纏，那請問你，你的牽纏誰來成全？你是不是常把家裡面這些當做包袱？是不是把父母親、兒子當作包袱？你要別人放下，卻要跟父母堅決對立嗎？是不是要這樣子？你要人家放下那層牽纏，要去行菩薩道，請問你，你自己的緣圓了沒？

所以，我們修道要有一個正確的觀念，你們在座的不要出了問題就去問講師，講師再去請教點傳師，那他們從哪裡找答案？回去翻書嗎？還是自己想？你們為什麼不自己去找答案呢？他們立場跟你不一樣啊!點傳師是清淨的，他們也希望你們清淨，不要結婚最好，可是你跟父母親這段緣，你跟另外一個家庭這段緣要怎樣去圓呢？所以一切的婚姻要隨其因緣。

此外，你們任何人不要去讚歎人家的婚姻，不要說結婚多好多好，去引導別人結婚；但是人家有一段緣，你也不要去反對。一切的婚姻要隨人家的因緣讓它自然去發展，懂嗎？這樣才不會違背倫常。因為他的立場跟你們不一樣，你只能疏導他，不可以讓他壓抑著，你只可以在旁慢慢去疏導，因為每個人的環境、生活背景都不一樣。

為師剛剛講過了，你在家是獨生子，你要成菩薩，天天在行功立德，那我請問你：你媽媽要不要成菩薩啊？你把她丟在家裡面，讓她天天在家生病，她可以下地獄，而你上西天去，你這個菩薩做得安穩嗎？很多事情想起來很矛盾，但是你要用真智慧去想，你這樣做就是一個自私的行為，你把她丟在家裡，甚至當做一種牽纏，你去成全外面的眾生，自己的家裡都沒有辦法成全，你哪有辦法成全外面的眾生？所以這個根本要顧，本立才能道生啊！根本你要先穩固了，你有一個家庭，就要好好經營，夫妻之間、父子之間，要好好的去經營、去圓；而還沒有結婚的，要不要成家是你們自己的事，但是一旦你想成家，你要有辦法有能力先經營自己的家，再去經營另一個家。

你們要斟酌自己的環境，你的道業要顧，家業也要顧，所謂拋家捨業是拋哪個家、捨哪個業？是不是該拋掉家與家這種隔閡的觀念？我家你家要老吾老以及人之老、幼吾幼以及人之幼，拋掉這種「你家、我家」的分別觀念，而不是要你把家裡全部捨光光。

所以，一個修行人要有這種擔當，去承擔對方的家庭。你帶著另一半一齊修行，他的家你也有勇氣去承擔、去成全，到了那種我不入地獄誰入地獄的精神，那不是很偉大嗎？尤其是坤道，你們吃素的是不是怕嫁到一個對方家裡沒吃素的？是不是在那邊徘徊不進啊？唉！這就是問題啦！所以你要想，你今天跟對方有一段緣，那就必須要認命，對方的九玄七租也靠你去成全，你要慢慢發揮耐心，相信有一天他們會站在你這邊，跟你一起吃素，這樣子你抱著我不入地獄誰入地獄的精神，不是很偉大嗎？你結了婚就不去切肉，不煮給人家吃，那麼你這個媳婦道行在哪裡啊？除非你全部都不去沾，但是你心裡又有那種罣礙，又有情慾斬不斷，是不是？

你們修行，必須要自己有一點智慧。將來要怎樣繼續走修行路，繼續經營美滿的家庭，修行就是在開創美滿的家庭，而絕不是說今天讓你們把這個緣斷掉，導致以後的一段孽緣。你今生這一段緣沒有圓，來世會再碰到一段孽緣，因為你這一世沒有去圓滿呀！懂嗎？所以呢，每一個人通通一樣。

◎家庭是修道的後盾

你今天在外面很忙、很辛苦，回去是不是希望有一個溫暖的家，有一個賢內助幫你的飯菜準備得好好的，小孩子照顧的好好的，是不是？那你今天白天在外面上班，六點下了班，七點半佛堂還有一個課還沒準備，你還來不及回家，就匆匆忙忙趕到佛堂，沒有一點時間、沒有一點愛撥給這個家庭，請問你的子女教育會成功嗎？你的太太從早上眼睛睜開，到晚上眼睛要閉上那一刻，都沒有看到自己的先生，請問她還會在家裡規規矩矩的做你的賢內助嗎？請問坤道你們會不會？

那麼我再問乾道，你的太太一天到晚跑佛堂，初一、十五也跑，一個禮拜跑六天，而你辛辛苦苦的在外面上班，一回家，飯也沒人煮，報紙也沒人收，小孩在看電視，地也沒人掃，衣服沒人洗，請問你還要這個太太嗎？你要讓太太上佛堂嗎？將心比心啦！

所以，不要勸人家放下牽纏。你們都說是父母在考你，這是魔考，你把人家愛他、護他的父母親當作是魔在考他，你這樣講對嗎？父母親愛他、護他，怕他在外面出事情，你把他們當魔，這種觀念就不對，你還勸他要堅決的跟父母反對，要對抗到底，請問你們這是成全人還是破壞人家？

你們做家庭拜訪是很好，可是我看你們那種家庭拜訪，一坐下去就像拉保險一樣，你們怕不怕跟拉保險的打交道？你們既然怕跟拉保險的打交道，可是你們一坐下來，就是道可道非常道，就是老子曰、孔子說，人家怕不怕？道是活潑自然的，法是很活潑的，你不要把他定在一個形式上，不要強行去推銷。一件好產品縱然是要推銷，但是你要讓人家自自然然的去親近它，去接受它；你到人家家裡拜訪，你有沒有瞭解他家庭發生什麼事呀？夫妻感情如何？所以你們做家庭訪問要稍微調整一下，不要辛辛苦苦的從七點多開始，到三更半夜回來，收到的卻是反效果，讓道親看到你們就退避三舍。

家庭的問題也是一樣，夫妻之間就是必須彼此要去溝通協調，這樣才不會出問題，先生不要大男人主義那麼重，一回到家就翹起二郎腿，喝茶啦!看報啦!把太太當作下女一樣來看待，這種不平等的觀念我希望你們掃除，要不是太太在背後扶持你，做一個無名英雄，你這個家怎麼成？所以你成家前跟成家後就要有所感觸啦!不一樣啦!成家前一個人吊兒郎當的在外面，衣服也不洗，櫥櫃裡亂七八糟，結婚之後有賢內助幫你整理，是不是？所以太太的功勞很大，做先生的要記住太太的生日，要記得買一朵花，那怕是喇叭花、圓仔花也好，記得買一朵好好慰勞她，再買一個蛋糕；媽媽的生日不可以忘記，太太的生日也不可以忘記。所以，夫妻本來是一體的，是最親密的，如果你們之間有了代溝，那種種問題就出來了。

◎模範家庭才是真有道

以修行來說，今天我們是不是也希望都有一個模範家庭、模範夫妻、模範子女給人家做模範？所謂模範夫妻就是和和氣氣的，對不對？如此一來，人家隨時到你家查訪的話，也看得出來。你平常雖然不常到佛堂，很少渡人，很少辦道，可是你在家裡樹立一個模範給人家看，也會知道這個家裡有道，人家慢慢的會向你學習，而不是說家裡像狗窩一樣，一到佛堂裡面卻整整齊齊，這只是虛偽而已，把你這假面具一拿下來，不能看啊！也不要因為一個冠冕堂皇的理由就疏忽了你的家庭。你能夠將愛你、護你、養你幾十年的父母丟在一邊，而去成全外面的眾生，是不是本末倒置？當然，有些父母不是很好溝通的，但你問問你自己，是不是下了苦心、下了功夫、用了耐心、用你的行動真正去表現出來，讓你的家人、父母有所感動，有沒有啊？

所以有很多坤道結了婚之後，很少出來，那麼你們所謂的誠心啦！辨道啦！都看不到她，都沒有她的一份；可是呢，幾年來她一直默默在做，一直以身代表道，到最後家裡的公公婆婆都站在她這邊，她的九玄七租也靠她走這段辛酸路而成全出來，這種地藏王菩薩大無畏的精神，你們有嗎？敢嗎？

所以有很多事情要自己用智慧去分辨，而不是說我今天怎麼辦，我年齡到了，道場裡面點傳師又不能當媒人，又不能明的去交個對象，那是不是走上不歸路？不會，只要你們正正當當的，不要刻意把道場當做談戀愛的場所，不要說進來道場是為了追求某個對象而來求道，這種觀念不可以。但是如果你在外面，自己覺得有那個緣，你們自己去發展，除了擔任這些特別身份與職責，立了特殊願立的以外，老師不會阻止你們，你們盡你們自己的自由去發揮，但是不要把道場搞的亂七八糟，道場和佛堂是清高的，來這邊大家一律要守佛規，知道嗎？

還有青年男女大家要自愛，雖然時代很開放，但是我們修行要潔身自愛，你們的婚姻絕對要得到父母的同意，父母都知道了，行過周公大禮之後，你們才能成為正式的夫妻，不要在外面隨便搞這些男女關係，這樣子一來你們會產生很多問題，二來不像個修道人，懂嗎？而且你們晚上不要太晚回去，雖然你們是在辦佛事，但是現在外面壞人太多，父母親都是會不放心的，你們最好有個伴，互相有伴回去。

辦佛事你不要讓家裡的人起反感，因為你天天捨在佛堂裡面，沒有半點時間放在家裡陪爸爸媽媽，這樣子的拋家捨業，老師雖然會說你們很辛苦，但是也希望你們更圓融一點，這樣子你的修行路才會走得更長遠。你不要一屁股栽進去，到最後家庭也破壞了。

你在道場裡面走久了，會不會懶懶的？會不會偶而跌倒？你在失意、跌倒的時候，你會想回哪兒？當然是家裡啦！但是你沒有把家圓融，你跟家裡人的關係都惡化了，有一天你在道場裡待不下去了，那我請問你，你要回哪裡去？回到家裡也沒人會安慰你，也沒人去問你，也沒人關懷你，你又拉不下面子再回去，你要去哪裡？是不是一個問題？所以，老師勸你，你要走修行路，家要先經營好，你才有辦法去照顧外面的芸芸眾生。你們私底下有很多人在討論這個問題，是不是？有什麼問題要拿出來公開討論，你不要在這邊找不到答案，就到外面去亂找答案，甚至說你找不到答案，就索性不來了，道場也不走了，那就變成你自己埋沒你自己。

◎道是根來家是本

所以修行跟婚姻要好好的運用它，把道帶入家庭裡面，道不是限於在道場裡面才可以用到。你們實行儒家思想、三綱五常，不就是把道帶到家庭裡嗎？三綱（君為臣綱、父為子綱、夫為婦綱）你有沒有做到？三綱五常缺一不可，你如果還不能圓滿家庭的時候，你就要反覆的想想，不要用冠冕堂皇的理由把你脫離人群的不圓滿合理化。修行不是離群索居，而是要在人群中去圓融這些團體，也不要太自私，自己上天堂去當菩薩，把你的九玄七租、父母丟在凡間沒人照顧。你要去成全別人的牽纏之前，先成全自己的牽纏，先顧好自己的本，這樣子才不會有所動搖。

前面講的這些和今天講的這一條戒律有點關係，所以附帶來說，因為都是牽涉到家庭問題。一個家庭是一個本嘛！家為國之本，你沒有了一個家，就像浮萍一樣啊！是不是？

這個家讓你體會很多，體會父母的恩，體會到人生奮鬥的歷程，也讓你體會到為人父母的辛酸，是不是？父母親辛辛苦苦的把你養育這麼大，它們付出那麼多，犧牲那麼大，他們有勇氣去承擔這個家，我請問你，你為什麼沒有勇氣去為你的下一代來做承擔呢？你們所謂的逍遙、自在、清風、明月，都是風涼話，你自己的心沒有穩固，家庭沒有經營好，你要談這些抽像的東西，都是一些風涼話。

◎隨緣而行莫執法門

當然每一個人修行的志向不一樣，如果你不是那種大根器的人，就要找適合你的法門，最接近你的法門、途徑來走、來修，這樣子才會穩、才恰當。所以，聖賢菩薩只是一個典範，是留一個典型在前面，但不是每一人都能夠像祂們一樣。每個人的根基緣份不同，修行環境也不一樣，你就必須要隨你的因緣而走，定業難轉嘛！你在這個地方，你就跟這裡的善業惡業走。或許這個家有它的九玄七祖必須靠你去成全，必須要你短暫的下地獄，去走那一段辛酸路，去引導他們，以致於讓他們慢慢的走上修行路。眾生在各種不同環境被渡上來，是怎麼渡的？不是一種法門可以渡的，而是千百種法門去渡他的。你今天有耐心、愛心、慈悲心，就要走入這個家庭去慢慢引導他們。你有更大的志向，你能夠斬斷所有的牽纏，父母親也支持你了，那你可以五湖四海去渡化眾生。那你要渡化眾生，也要先問你後面的這些眾生，跟你最密切的這些眾生，你有沒有先去開導他們，去疏導他們？

每個人都會當輔導員去輔導別人，但是自己的家都沒有去輔導，自己的兒子、女兒都沒有真正去關心輔導，到了問題出來了，就會說：「耶！我修道怎麼還會落到這樣一個不圓滿的下場？」請問你，你剛開始的那一步你踏得穩嗎？剛開始用的模子用得對嗎？所以不要怪這個道會有很多障礙，而是你自己觀念不對，以致於導向後面這些千千萬萬人觀念跟著不一樣。

你說要救眾生出苦海，沒有錯，你救他們明理了，知道要修道，但是沒有根本的去治他們的苦，你等於是把他們從這個苦海裡面抓起來，又丟到另外一個苦海裡面去，是不是這樣子？

我們說淫是天地宇宙間最束縛的事，既然是如此，我們就要盡量去斬斷它、去看透它。有時候不能斷，就要用佛的觀想力，觀人的身體是最不乾淨的，雖說外表是青春少女這麼漂亮，可是你有沒有想一想，感冒、流鼻水、肚子痛就拉肚子，傷心就流眼淚，這些是不是很髒很污穢的東西？所以短暫的這些快樂不要太過執著。當然是免不了，但是不要讓它破壞你的道業，永遠拖著你們，甚至於有的人結一次婚不夠，還要結第二次婚，還什麼第二春的。這些緣與緣之間，你不善於去圓融它、把握它，只是逢場作戲而已呀！逢場作戲，將來生生世世都沒辦法了的。

◎犯淫戒的惡果報

淫慾對你們帶髮修行的人來說，是沒有那麼多約束的，但對出家的僧眾是有比較多、比較嚴格的約束。你們在家是行倫常道、人情道、人倫的道理，所以只要把人倫道德、在家的人道行好，行得恰當就好，不要太過重。對修行來說，家庭是給你一個很安全的避風港。人情的冷暖有時候你也會看到，會覺得外面很現實，道場也很現實，其實不是道場現實，是「人心」現實，不是道不好，是「人心」不好！真正的金窩、銀窩，不如自己的狗窩。真正的窩是你們家裡的那個狗窩，才能讓你永遠得到一個避風港，所以你不能把你現有的良好關係破壞掉，等到有一天你跌倒了，你累了，想要回去休息幾天，你連個休息的旅館都沒有，連個休息的地方都沒有，這很重要。

那麼犯淫戒的果報有哪些？

一、墮三惡道。會墮三惡道的這些行為都是禽獸行為，不是人的行為，是違背倫常的。前面殺盜淫妄四條都會墮三惡道。

二、若生人中，妻不貞良。現在社會很開放，有時候你看到朋友的太太、先生很漂亮，想要戲弄一番，要知道朋友妻不可戲呀！你戲弄人家的夫妻，將來不曉得哪一世，你的妻女也要被人戲弄回來，會一報還一報的。你們到郊外去玩的時候，碰到小烏剛作巢臼，還有螞蟻的窩，千萬不要去破壞，這也是它們的家，也是一個倫理呀！你去破壞它，有一世你的家也會被破壞。現在為什麼離婚的人這麼多？一報還一報嘛！總有一世會報到你。所以動物也有它的倫常，你看到有鳥在你家屋簷下築巢，你不要去破壞它，你一個小地方讓它作巢，也不會干擾到你的居住空間嘛！外面的螞蟻、蜜蜂，更不要去破壞，不要因為覺得好玩，就弄得人家家破人亡。

三、得不隨意眷屬。要家庭美滿、眷屬和睦，就不要去挑撥離間，妯娌、小姑之間不要去挑撥，不要像麻雀一樣，把人家好好的家庭關係破壞掉，這樣你將來會得到不隨意眷屬，你也會得到那種凶巴巴的太太。有的人會娶到賢妻良母，有的人娶到虎姑婆，這是因果報呀！不會現世報，也會隔世報啊!有的兒子很孝順，有的兒子來跟你討債，所以你希望眷屬都好，希望將來嫁的先生是那種乖乖牌的，你就要好好的做，千萬不要紅杏出牆、外遇。現在時代開放，夫妻都是雙管齊下在上班的，所以這種事情很多，在公司行號裡你要是多看人家一眼，多聊幾句話，就對上啦！是不是？接踵而來的問題就出來了，那就一發不可收拾了。你說：「啊，我不曉得呀，我只想跟他做做朋友嘛！」做做朋友之後就……就這樣去了，對不對？你將心比心，你同樣是女人，你破壞人家家庭，你也希望將來有一個有安全感的家庭，一個好先生來照顧你，那你先破壞人家，將來的果報一樣逃不掉啊！

◎不是只有佛堂才有道

所以你們要選對象，第一個要看對方結婚了沒有？有結婚你就死心，管他是潘安也好、西施也罷，跟你都無緣，懂嗎？最好是挑個志同道合的，你去辦道，另一半可以幫你照顧家庭，改天換你來照顧家，照顧小孩、洗衣服、整理家裡，不要在佛堂行王道，回家行霸道。有啊！有人這樣子啊！這些是假面具，一天到晚泡在佛堂裡面，沒有一點時間、一點愛撥給家裡，任何人都會埋怨，到最後埋怨什麼？「是觀世音菩薩拐走我先生，老師騙了我太太」，是不是？拜託啊！你們要好好做，不要把這責任、罪過推到仙佛身上來，我可沒叫你們天天泡在佛堂啊！所以，到最後佛也不讓你拜了，菜也不讓你吃了，什麼都不管了，最後離婚協議書寫一寫，所有的問題都是這樣出來的。

原本修道是要開創一個幸福美滿的家庭，可是到最後變成家庭破裂，老師有沒有要你們這麼做？沒有嘛！是你們自己處理不當，對不對？回去飯要煮好，衣服要洗好，小孩便當要準備好，你有剩餘的時間才來佛堂辦事情嘛！你不要星期一插花、星期二計算機、星期三講課、星期四育樂營、星期五又什麼，星期六又是什麼，沒有一點時間留在家裡，這像家嗎？你太太會說：「我乾脆到尼姑庵裡去好了。」

老師這樣講是要給你們一個概念，以往這種觀念不正確，會導引出很多問題。現在你們懂啦，不是說一個禮拜八天泡在佛堂就叫做誠心，沒有這樣子的事情。即使你很少來，但是隨時察訪你的家裡，都是一團和氣，乾乾淨淨的，笑臉迎人，這個你已經把道帶回家裡去了，你就已經在實行道了，你不要在意人家說你有沒有道，辦道有沒有你一份，人家要提拔你也好，不提拔你也好，你就是行你的道，盡你的本份就對啦！懂嗎？本份要先做好，不要說：「唉喲！兩三個月沒看到那個人，耶，那個人退道了。」你怎麼知道人家退道了？這個人天天來佛堂行王道，回家裡行霸道，亂七八糟，可是你卻說：「哇!他進步了，他要當講師了，他很精進喔！」你不能用這樣子來評斷一個人誠不誠心，功德也不是用這樣來稱斤論兩的，最主要的是要斟酌自己的環境！

但也不要故意偷懶啊！躲在家裡面看電視連續劇，你故意不來佛堂，借口說今天要陪小孩。你要盡本份哪！生死也要緊呀，小孩可以把他帶來這邊，是不是？就是在不能讓你的家庭產生革命的前提下，你們來行道才有意義，才有意思；你如果太放縱自己，懶散，到最後還是過著和平常人沒兩樣的生活就不對了！

修行就是要在這種平凡當中去超越它、去安排你的步驟、安排自己的生活。怎樣充實才不會浪費時間，才能跟道親結善緣、行功了願，又不影響到你的家庭？所以講師回去要好好切磋琢磨一番，為師今天講的又是矛又是盾，你們回去矛跟盾切磋一番，這一定有其道理存在，也有他的問題存在，不然老師不會講這個問題。

為師大江南北走遍了，就這個問題最嚴重。尤其是還沒有結婚的這些年輕人，很想問，也很想講，可是又不知道去哪裡問，問了又答非所問，會認為點傳師是八股思想；你也不問講師，因為他不會回答，只會回去翻書，要不然就以自己的立場來回答，請問他的立場跟你們有沒有一樣？點傳師是清淨的，他當然要你清淨，問題是點傳師有沒有辦法幫人家解決後面家庭那一堆爛攤子？你要他清淨，你有沒有辦法讓他的心先突破啊？所以不要鼓勵人家跟你一樣，一切都隨因緣而行，人家要結婚，不要去讚歎，也不要去反對，一切都讓他順其自然就好。

四、淫慾為因，生死為果。淫是一切生死的根本。修大菩薩行的人為什麼要斷這一根、斷這一關呢？這一關沒有斷的話，通常只是修個人道而已，你要真正超脫三界，說實在的，這一關必須要斷，但不是每個人根器都這樣利。但是老師要告訴你們，你們要脫離生死關，淫慾絕對要斷，因為你這一關沒有斷，你生生世世都在這個生死中輪迴，因你這個因緣不斷在結！但你可以持個基本的戒，你至少不會墮三惡道，你生生世世或許都有得意的眷屬跟你一起修行，跟你一起同步，家庭美滿，可以讓你在這人道中行得很圓滿。

要超出三界，你這一關沒有斬斷，就好像斬草不除根一樣，那根還在，雜草還會再長出來。但你要斬這一關絕對不容易，累世修了幾劫，你這關都是斬不掉的，因為這在人體當中是自然的現象，那麼你既離不開它，但又要去斬斷它，倒不如用疏導的。與其掛一個清修的名，但你心裡不清，到外面亂七八糟的地方發洩，你不發洩也會心理變態呀！告訴你們，這種事情你沒去適當的疏導，就會導致很多心裡變態的，這不是罪過，不是罪惡，淫不是罪惡，只有當你超出它根本的範圍時，那才是罪惡，懂嗎？

反過來說守淫戒的果報有哪些？

一、諸身調順永離喧囂。

二、戒邪淫者，增禪定增實慧。若生人中，父母宗親、妻子、眷屬、純潔無雜，孝友增順，又離於女人所有過失，令諸眾生，無復染愛。

三、人天尊敬，諸方讚歎。

四、戒正淫者，當來成佛，相貌端莊。

五、解脫生死，早證菩提。

古代的人修行為什麼要坐禪？坐禪就是要收攝他的妄念心，能夠禪定，那你這個心就可以斷了；相同的，你沒有這一關，沒有妄念，坐著就可以禪定了。所以從前的修行人，視色如視惡一樣，看到色避而遠之，怕去沾染它，好像刀子會割傷他一樣，所以盡量遠離。因為如果這個妄念不息的話，那一切的功夫就會破功了。所以有句話說：英雄難過美人關。是啊！可是有的人說，牡丹花下死，作鬼也風流！哈!真的是風流到那種程度。要知道父母生你不容易，得個人身不容易，你不要為了短暫的快樂，一下子將六十年的壽命三十年就把它耗盡了。男人啊！就是離不開色，色字頭上一把刀，所以希望在座的乾道、男眾，這一條千萬要多修、要多戒，這樣你才能保持那清淨之心。

你結了婚會尊重你的太太，會覺得她是很了不起的女人，她替你持家生子，教育子女，是很了不起。你不要認為太太黃臉婆，你沒有先照鏡子，你今年也六十了耶！你六十歲，說太太五十九歲是黃臉婆，那你也差不多啊！所以外面有很多老不修……老而不修就變成老不羞……沒有羞恥心啊！家裡面的賢妻你放著不要，你到外面去帶那種，這說得過去嗎？所以希望你們有家庭的，要好好經營家庭，太太要以先生為榮，在外面那麼辛苦，建立一個家庭，千萬不要無理取鬧，能夠在後面幫他持這個家；也不要說趁著年輕漂亮，就想多交幾個，到時候請神容易，送神難啊!惹了一身麻煩，一個幸福美滿的家庭好不容易建立起來，為了你喜歡貪玩，弄到不可收拾，鬧離婚，你說好笑不好笑？吃虧的是誰？是小孩，不是嗎？

老師是個修行者，所以老師也斷這關。但是老師做過人，也知道，人都是有情的，也不能叫你完全斷，既然是感情的動物，我們就要發乎情，止於禮，一定要合情合理的，不要踰矩。這個禮是人的一個規範，夫妻彼此之間要守著一個禮，不要說你今天是我老公，你是我老婆，大家互不相讓，要相敬如賓，保持距離就可以以策安全，太親蜜了很容易產生磨擦，就像火柴和火柴盒要磨擦才會生火，你要保持距離就不會了。

當然你們犧牲奉獻是有你們的苦心，但是我們今生今世要怎樣來圓這個緣才是最重要的。要圓這段緣，你要有勇氣，不要逃避，即使男孩子娶太太，對方不是道親，也沒吃素，你也可以慢慢的去引導她進來，跟你同步，你要渡她，進一步渡她的九玄七祖，好像地藏古佛的精神：「我不入地獄，誰入地獄」的精神，學起來，那你們才了不起。

◎量力而為穩固根本

你們如果辦不到的，也不要輕易去嘗試，有人成功，也有人失敗，並不是每一個人都能成功；常常是修行功夫修到一個程度，也修了一段時間，但內心卻產生了矛盾。因為你一進來道場就清口、清修、捨身辦道、開荒下種、開荒辦道統統立下去，沒有一個後路，到最後跌倒了，也抽不出身。

所以你們乾道修道要量力而為，不量力而為就違背道了，變成你逞強，本身的事情都處理不好，還想去幫助別人處理，自己的感冒都還治不好，還要去幫忙別人治療癌症，可能嗎？是不可能的事情。所以自己的根本要先穩固，修行之後有個修行的家庭，慢慢的全家可以吃素，全家都持五戒，因為意見都一樣啦，腳步一致了，可以彼此溝通了，那不是很好嗎？若是家裡一個阿彌陀佛，一個阿門，還有一個阿拉，就很麻煩了！

一切婚姻隨你的因緣，老師不會給你祝福，也不會去反對，懂嗎？不要永遠都改不掉，鏡子拿來先照照自己，不要先照別人，別人的缺點不要抬到桌面上來講。老師剛講過了，揭發別人的缺點是最沒道德的事，自己的缺點放在桌面下，把別人的缺點都擺在桌上。希望你想一想，年紀越大，更要德高望重。

所以，夫妻之間正常的，是沒有關係。與其你心裡不淨，心裡起了這個動念，那你就好好的去行你的人道，去找個對象來結婚，兩個人一起大菩薩生小菩薩，小菩薩來做講師，還是可以成全人啊！是不是？釋迦牟尼佛還不是生了十大弟子中的羅侯羅，也是證了個羅漢果位呀！因緣當中你必須要去走這一段，你還沒了就把它放在那邊不管，將來來世還是會被你碰上的。

所以，點傳師看人家去結婚，也不要說人家冤孽深重，千萬不要給人家有心理壓力，這是人家的因緣，你不要用不正常的眼光去看結婚的人。你們在座沒有清修的，將來都要結婚，難道他嘴巴講的那一句話就是菩薩了嗎？就是佛了嗎？就能夠完全斷掉嗎？不可能的，所以他還是要經過一番苦功，累劫累世慢慢來斷、來克服。你們都有家庭，都要子女，也要一個倫理，那別人就不需要了嗎？別人也需要，所以將心比心，用一種平常心去看待這種事情的發生。

濟公活佛說五戒

5戒酒

酒戒

愚癡狂妄為何因？前世好酒不清醒。

嗜酒成性下陰曹，灌口地獄受苦刑。

善持酒戒有果報，神智清明享安寧。

當算命先生批八字時，你就先問他：「我這隻腳是進還是退？」這樣就知道他算得是否准，何必談八字。

心可以轉命，除心之外尚有毅力。

人都是因業力而來的，你們學佛都很久了，應有個觀念：人是業力產生的動物，也就是業力支配人一生的行為。人的各種嗜好、習性，轉換個名詞就是「業力」。

◎持戒守禮是本份

男孩子喜歡飲酒，離不開酒對不對，有事沒事就想抽根煙、喝杯酒。其實煙不抽、酒不喝也不會死，但他就是有這種惡習性，這即是業力。不是一定要生病、缺腳才叫業力。

業可轉，命也可以轉。可不要認為算命先生說有桃花運、有橫財就一定會有，如果你守禮，哪來桃花？莫將一切責任推給算命的。有橫財就去玩大家樂，一定中那最大獎，這就是貪念。只要有心、再加上毅力，這些習性就可以改。譬如有人習慣打妄語、騙女人、隨便說話，因為打妄語免繳稅金，但誠實的人，必有毅力，不犯妄語戒。

五戒雖然很重，事實上僅是為人的本份。戒即是禮，任何人皆須守禮；禮就是國家的國法，人人守法，自然不會觸及法律，也就不必持戒了。知道騙人不好，怎可打妄語、害生命？慈悲心是人之本，放生尚且來不及，怎可殺而食之？所以持戒是每個人應有的觀念，也就是每個人都須守禮法。修行人強調持戒，戒就是戒律、界線，人不超出界線，就是守禮。每一個求過道的人都是修行人，更須強調守禮，要做得比別人好，而且是標竿。所以你們每個人必須守戒。

有人說老師是醉翁，既吃肉又喝酒，那老師應下地獄是不是？（班員答不是）電視與電影都演濟公吃肉喝酒，但為什麼勸人持齋、戒酒？酒不是葷，也不是惡，要眾人不喝，只許老師我喝，有道理嗎？你們說你們能否把一隻小鳥吃入肚裡，然後將它超渡上去？七月半鴨子自保都不得，哪有辦法在此情況下超渡它？沒有能力超渡眾生，只有自己持戒。那麼酒喝下去，能否自保清明，領帶是否會歪掉，會不會？你們不能拿聖哲來自我比擬，聖哲遊戲人間，所以後人將他戲劇化，拿來借題發揮。如果能將一隻雞超升上去，那就用平常心將糞蟲、壁虎、蒼蠅都抓來吃下去，通通將他們超升上去！因為你們沒有足夠的定力，未達聖哲的境界，那只得按步就班了。

◎中庸之道戒為首

有句話說「理可頓悟」，理可頓悟就是悟到本性，但本性裡的習氣、毛病、雜草，你能將他一次清除乾淨嗎？不行，所以要漸修。漸修是層次的問題，也就是從根本戒律著手。明師一指雖是上乘法門，但中庸之道也離不開戒、定、慧，戒排在首位，就是根本之道要從戒律開始。不要認為戒是末法，認為受明師一指，就已經頓悟到本性，可以禪悟；如果這些習性、垃圾你沒有將它清除，六萬餘年來所帶的這些牽纏，你並沒有一層一層的去掉，就要靠行功了願去還它。所以「事宜漸修」，你必須按步就班，當一天和尚撞一天鐘，也就是藉著佛法、三清四正、佛規禮節來修。佛堂中的禮節就是戒，懂嗎？

五教聖人對「戒」所說名詞不一，但事實上所行的全部都一樣，所謂萬法要歸一，就是歸於一個「理」字。因此中庸之道也離不開戒、定、慧。不要以為得到上乘之法，其他就可以去掉；你們只知道往外面去辦、去開創，你有沒有往內觀照你的本性，到底有多少煩惱、念頭、習性圍著你們天天團團轉？人為何六道輪迥不息？因為隨著業力、念頭、習性輪轉。老師以前說過佛陀過去世曾證得五通仙人，他尚且還修了一個色字。殺、盜、淫，這個淫很難斷，尤其是乾道習性更多，坤道雖是五漏之體，少修五百年，也非常不自由，但坤道業力不強，比較容易修成，因殺人放火坤道比較不敢做，大不了不守禮法紅杏出牆；但是乾道殺、盜、淫、妄都來，因此乾道除吃、喝、嫖、賭外沒什麼其它嗜好，而這吃、喝、嫖、賭，就包括了十惡不赦的所有罪孽了。所以只要乾道肯下定決心，自古以來的聖賢仙佛都是由乾道做榜樣，因為乾道克制力較強。坤道對於情關比較專一，什麼兒女的情、先生的情都較不易放下，所以乾道也比較容易出家修道，但乾道如果習性、毛病無法剔除，戒律不去實行，相對造業的機會就較多且重。所以，其實乾坤兩道是半斤八兩，沒有說誰修的較快，完全要看意志力。

修行要身口意三業清淨。身清淨，心清淨，口更要清淨。口包括很多，如吃、喝、說種種都是口，所以口也包括在三業之內。前面提及殺、盜、淫、妄都是性戒。性戒是對本性有傷害的，人沒有修行，沒有修持五戒，犯了殺、盜、淫、妄一樣要背負因果。

酒屬喝戒，為什麼叫喝戒？酒不算是葷，但會被排在五戒之內，乃是它能衍生一切諸惡。喝酒神志不清，殺盜淫妄就樣樣都來；待神智甦醒，一切卻已成定局。所以必須戒止，因而稱為喝戒。

每個人或多或少都會喝一點酒，像坤道炒菜喜歡加點酒，這樣炒起來較香。你們認為酒精的傷害不會很大，但吃久喝多了，要改掉就不容易。乾道要應酬、補身體，最先想到的就是酒，但是一個修行人真的需要藉酒來補身體嗎？未必見得。一個出家人過午不食，日僅二食，一樣紅光滿面，因此修行人對酒最好不沾，因種種罪過錯都是因喝酒後神志不清而來的。我們修行就要學會格殺勿論，就是殺掉種種不善的行為。一個喝醉酒的人會有什麼過失行為，讓我們一條條將它理出來。以佛的智慧祂會訂製飲酒的罪例，一定有它的道理存在，一定是修行的比丘僧眾，或佛門弟子有犯到禮儀，因此才把它條理出來，叫你們一定要戒止。

◎飲酒過失十四條

且讓我們看飲酒有哪些過失與壞處：

一、貲財散失，福德漸減。持戒日強，德性絕對不會日減。國家要你們莊敬自強，也就是當一個好國民，就修行者而言，就是要持戒，不能太安逸，安逸就會犯戒，俗云：「君子愛人以德，小人愛人以敬。」而且從戒律上說，不是今天你佈施較多就不必守戒律，就可以胡作非為，功德絕對是抵不掉犯戒的。雖然改習性不是三天兩天的事，譬如抽煙、喝酒要馬上改掉是絕不可能的。但要知道，這些毛病有損你的道業，你們行的是菩薩道，菩薩是不能帶著這些習性、毛病、念頭、垃圾而成道回去，祂必定是一性圓明，才成菩薩道。飲酒會貲財散失，喝酒不可能一個人獨酌，必是很多人聚在一起才有意思，今天這請，明天那請，總有一天輪到自己請。海霸王、老爺酒店簽帳，如此為貲財散失、福德漸減，原本不喝酒可保有貲財，好好經營生意，照顧一家老小，更可保有圓明智慧，做很多善事，廣積福德，但因喝酒使智慧喪失，福德日減。

老師告訴你們，酒不但不能自己喝，也不能送人，莫以為送人喝就沒事。如果你持五戒的人，你買酒送給他人，你將會有五百世沒有手的果報，沒有手就是出生軟件動物加蚯蚓、毛毛蟲。所以出國不要替人買酒，情願壞心一點，也不要過關替人拿東西，因有人可能買了酒，裡面放違禁品，被查到你就吃不消了。不要喝也不幫別人帶，更不送別人，因你都想戒掉了，還希望別人神智昏昏的鬧家庭運動嗎？

二、諸根暗昧，智慧退失。本來有心學講道、學好，可是喝酒後神智昏迷，哪能自御？否則龍發堂那些人怎麼來的？全是喝酒過多引起。你六根親近五欲六塵，你就容易昏昧昏暗，諸根就暗昧，使人傻呼呼的。像以往台灣老一輩的，沒有受過教育，除喝酒外沒有一點娛樂，又不能聽聞佛法，所以六根昏昧，因此老一輩的人就較愚鈍，昏昧。現代的人受良好教育，這是你們的福報，福份。既然有此福份，就應保持六根清淨，不要跟五欲六塵混在一起，使成配偶。

唐朝詩人李白常說，有酒才有靈感賦詩，可是李白最終如何死的？還不是昏沉沉的見到水中月，跳入水中抓月才溺死的。不要認為喝了酒才瀟灑，男孩子最容易上當，只要被人一說：「這男孩子不會抽煙不會喝酒，不像男孩子，不瀟灑，長不大。」就傻傻的去學這些壤習慣。俗云：「近朱者赤，近墨者黑」。記住，以後要你抽煙喝酒的人，都是要你下地獄的人，千萬不要親近他們，寧可單純點、長不大，寧願五根意志單純，單純潔白就是道，不必趕時髦，學人抽煙。喝酒，飆車才叫拉風嗎？酒喝多了易得肝癌、糖尿病、腎臟病，會吐，正餐就吃不下，胃腸也跟著壞，胃癌、腸癌都是喝酒引起的。疾病的產生都是因為不會自我照顧身體。身體髮膚要會保養、養生之道有益身心健康，運動要多做，那些陸海空不要去吃它，陸海空聽得懂嗎？（陸地上會跑的動物，海裡游的魚蝦之類，天上飛的鳥類）（懂）還有酒啦！拜拜用三牲、酒禮，正神菩薩聞到此味就遠離了。要正神擁護你，替你消災難，你身上最好別有酒肉味。不要擺了酒、雞肉，旁邊擺個普門品，觀音菩薩決不會來。你要想得到諸神護庇，就須遠離酒肉。身心保持清淨，善持五戒，身上就會散發奇異香味，在任何地方，會聞到一股檀香味，很吉祥，這表示你心很清，隨時心裡想者佛、菩薩，莫執著形相，否則當心變成打妄語。佛菩薩會顯像是有特殊因緣的，否則絕對是在隱形之中，不隨便顯像給人家看。若真正修行者看見佛菩薩現前，絕對是不會講的，何況你們又沒有看到。千萬記住，老實修行，更不要想說夢見祖先跟你結緣。你絕對要相信道真、理真、天命真，只要你真心超拔，他絕對是被超拔上去，你更不要想看空中出現白蓮花、白光，或家中屋頂白光普照，你只要心中冥想，那白光自然就在你心裡面。照片那些是比較特殊的因緣，但是不能強求。這跟因緣一樣，是可遇不可求，懂嗎？

三、增長瞋心，鬥爭殺害。神志清醒的時刻，人就有理智，不敢胡作非為；等到三杯下吐後，借酒壯膽，那個人與你有仇，便瞋恨心起，殺人害命；人家跟你開玩笑，便受不了，一巴掌、一個拳頭過去，要是乾道便互相毆打，鬥爭殺害。聖人云：「酒醉膽大」，殺、盜、淫、妄都敢來了，一切沒有倫理道德的事情，甚至酒醉中連對親姊妹都可能犯到淫戒。更有些人喝酒想到女朋友，想瘋了，隨便抓個女的充當女友；喝醉了，三萬、五萬亂開支票，結果便傾家蕩產。所以說，所有罪惡都是在不清醒時鑄成的。沒有人天生就是龍發堂的成員，也不要去嘗試那種滋味；但是，如果酒醉了，就是暫時做了龍發堂的成員。所以千萬不要有飲酒這一嗜好，不要染上它。人一生的包袱不要太多太重，要去除不好的嗜好、慾望，有些人沒有酒喝就好似沒在過日子，沒有乾一杯就好像說不出話來。修行人必須要用智慧去克制它。不論社交、談生意、應酬，都要自我節制，想辦法去圓融它。有些大商人也並不是一定要喝酒才能談生意，以茶代酒，以飲料代酒都可以，最主要看你是否有誠意？意志力是否堅強？

四、淫慾熾盛，諸欲隨生。人在酒醉時，禮都不存在了，凡事都隨心所欲。醉酒時幻想飄然飛上天，以為自己是國王，想有美女就有美女，想摘星就有星星，要什麼有什麼，就像打速賜康，吸強力膠。聽說吸一吸強力膠就會飄飄然、隨心所欲、非常興奮；可是這過了之後呢，又回到以前一樣。俗語說：「染毒容易戒毒難。」酒就像毒，今天一杯，明天兩杯，日積月累，酒量就愈大。抽煙也是一樣，沒有辦法，到最後就要靠這些東西來自我麻醉，血管神經都硬化，變成跟廢人一樣，一個才子、才女變成一個廢人，屆時家人為你緊張，父母、妻兒子女也著急，而自己也要人家天天照顧，不能工作生產賺錢，自己又要受罪。如果你不是癮君子，勸你莫逞英雄，如果有此嗜好的人，勸你慢慢戒掉它，對你的道業絕對有幫助。那嗜好的短暫滿足是虛假的，就像看電影一樣，兩小時演完，它就不再演了，僅是個虛幻而已。像跳舞，跳到渾然忘我，可是總要休息，不然隔天就累死。影歌星天天受人喝彩，但哪天被人開汽水，就會活不下去，會自殺的，這些全是活在幻想中的人，被五官導引著走向幻覺錯誤的路。眼睛引導你看漂亮的；嘴巴引導你吃不該吃、講不該講的；耳朵引導你聽是非，所以人不可以太閒，太閒是非就來。人，忙要忙得有意義，像你們現在辦得十分充實，靜下來是要觀想、休息、返觀自照。一個人生活莫太享受，物質越淡薄，對你的修行越有幫助；越享受的人，就越不容易離開不良場所。生命的短暫是不夠用的，可是現在，有人見面就問你現在是如何打發時間？時間還用打發的呀！可見這人生遇得何等無奈、沒有意義。真正有意義的人生，就像你們老前人，活到了九十幾歲，他每分每秒都很珍惜。你們年輕人應該想到，過了今年，又老了一歲，過了今年，體力，腦力又衰退了一點，必須珍惜每分每秒，不要浪費。真正的修行者，是不會浪費他的生命。現在工商社會做些消遣打發時間可以，但要適當，不可在上班時間想入非非，想領了薪水要到哪兒去，到哪兒消費，這非常不好。

五、多失禮貌，形不隱匿。外出打領帶、穿西裝，再梳個西裝頭，很服貼。不要說到別的地方，我們這地下室，看你進去一趟再出來，領帶還會整齊不歪嗎？講話還會彬彬有禮嗎？平常像正人君子，一旦三杯下肚，什麼三字經、不該說的都出口了。在外面拈花惹草，喝醉酒回到家，在太太面前什麼秘密都洩漏出來，所以你們佛堂這裡是天堂，他們下面是凡間，我們別說他們是地獄，因為他們是凡夫，亂七八糟都來了。比較起來你們相當有氣質，雖然穿得不華麗，吃得不很好，但是你們每個人都整整齊齊，精神抖擻，來聽法雨滋潤，絕不會有大過失。

六、洩漏秘密，事業不成。商場如戰場，需要鬥智，更要勾心鬥角。如果誰能力強，別的公司就高薪挖角，因為你有Idea、有能力，能使公司業務蒸蒸日上。如果你喝了酒，三杯下肚，把公司那套企劃全部洩漏出來，原本你可升到經理替公司賺筆錢，或是本來公司老闆賞識你，但因你洩漏公司企劃而被別人打跨，這下子不但官升不成，還要被公司炒魷魚。有人認為公司老闆非要我不可，沒有我公司生存不下去；今天我要自組公司，自己當老闆，沒想到老闆傻人有傻福，公司仍有人才進來，業績一樣每日進步，而你自個兒做老闆不到兩個月，公司就垮了，便自怨自艾的抱怨：「以我的能力，為什麼不能成功？」這正是福報的問題。他人有這福報，而你沒有，只能用點小聰明賺錢罷了，福報不夠是無法賺到錢的。

福報對修行人是非常重要的，今天有能力就多行佈施，為你生生世世做福報，因為福報增長非常快。佛門種籽好修行，一粒種籽、萬粒收。一棵樹的種籽才一點大，經過一、二百年，它整棵樹可以蔭蓋五百部車輛讓多少人乘涼，這正是籽小果大。今天你毫不執著的佈施一百元在佛家，將來福報會不斷的增長，但是佈施在後天的寺廟，上面刻著你的大名，什麼林阿珠三百元，陳大頭佛像一尊，看看這善男信女天天來叩，你有多少福報，讓人家來拜，早就讓人拜光了。要你們佈施莫執相，你拿多少東西到佛堂，仙佛都有看見，別認為仙佛不知道。你來此叩頭，仙佛也知道。有些人一叩再叩，好像在拜樹木一樣，好像仙佛聽不到他叩了幾叩首似的。叩頭是個誠心，你佈施也是一顆誠心，不要著相。譬如初一佈施五百，十五佈施五百，你就不要去想別人有沒有幫你拿去買香或是拿去吃掉。你佈施出來就別著相，比方說希望寫某某拾萬，貳拾萬等，這樣老師比較欣賞。但是錢財還是要清，你佈施多少，這個佛堂有賬目，必須清楚，這是住壇人員的事，只要你們心中不要很不忍心就好。

七、父母不惜，眷屬嫌棄。哪一個為人父母的會說：「我兒子好能幹，能喝一打啤酒」？如果你們兒女有那種海量，你會不會當街來表揚他？反而會怕他出禍，跟人打架，夫妻情感不睦，對不對？哪一個妻子希望先生喝得醺醺的回家，整個房間臭得要死？喝酒是會遺傳的，老師希望這喝酒的基因到你們這代stop，不要傳下去，不但人緣不好，連家庭都會破裂。女人會喝酒更不成體統，當然，特殊的就另當別論。有很多女孩子情場不如意，或父母管教不嚴，常會說：「沒有人瞭解我，世人都不瞭解我」，然後就喝得不成體統。一個女孩子大家閨秀，讀到大學、大專程受，還去喝酒，到時身體被人糟蹋了都不曉得。所以女孩子對這方面更要潔身自愛。身為父母的應該多瞭解子女平常的行為，在未成年之前，就要好好的教育，千萬別讓子女染上惡習：到成年之後，再讓他自由發展，看他自己表現。做子女的晚上出去，也不要太晚回家，讓父母擔心，你自己也危險。女孩子在還沒有結婚之前，千萬別做出踰矩的事情來，要潔身自愛，將來先生才會尊重你。不要因一時慾望難以忍受，而把一生幸福都賭注下去。男孩子也要做個正人君子，千萬別做狼。孔子曰：「吾未見好德如好色者也。」意思是說，沒有一個喜歡修養自己德性，像好色一樣，可見這色的力量有多大。你修行德性可以慢慢培養，可是色關可不是慢慢來，你就先吃為快。所以聖人一句話就道破人心。「君子戒慎乎其所不睹，恐懼乎其所不聞」，這就是隱微之處；「莫見乎隱，莫顯乎微」，微也就是善惡之間交接之處，也就是在無人見到的地方你是為善為惡，就看你本身對戒律認識多深，你持得有多精。一個人光會誇耀自己修得多好，懂得多少，這個人就有問題，自誇的必沒有德性：謙虛的人有德，所以八卦中謙卦是最好的。真正有修行的人，他是不會讚美自己，不會自我臭美的。

八、不敬三寶，破齋犯戒。戒律是佛門的禮，如果喝了酒什麼都忘了，哪還記得三齋八戒─早齋、晚齋，每樣都不知，對不對？所有戒律都無法遵守。佛、法、僧三寶無法尊敬，我們道中的三寶也都洩漏出來，碰到一個沒有求道的朋友，問你求道做什麼？求三寶，三寶在哪裡？喔！醉茫茫說在這裡，五字……，什麼都洩露出來，一切都無法修持了。佛在哪裡，怎麼看不到？為什麼我吃齋、拜佛還是照常生病，這樣你就不會去尊敬。吃齋拜佛還是會生病的，你這信心千萬要把持得住。因為六萬餘年來的業力不知有多深，前輩子吃多少，還未還清，所以身體災難病痛就來了。譬如你們點傳師住在醫院一個多月了，有沒有人說：「點傳師怎麼還會遭受這種災難？」有沒有人這樣說？不是說當點傳師就不會生病，業力人人有，所以奉勸你們口德要修，你做了再多再多的功德，口不修隨便罵人，就像杯子漏水一樣，會漏盡的。

九、善人相遠，惡人相近。人云：「物以類聚」，喝了酒好朋友就離你而去，因你總是說一些五四三、沒營養的話，既使有朋友也是酒肉朋友，想佔你便宜的人，喜歡跟你談不三不四的話。以前老師跟你們講過一個故事，不曉得你們記不記得？就是有一個徒弟他喜歡賭博、喝酒，後來不小心殺人，被抓去坐牢，出獄後他被渡來求道；求道後也吃齋，清口茹素，走向正途。不幸生意失敗，遇到江湖中的壞朋友，被帶去喝兩杯、三缺一，惡習又來了；最後還是一樣，喝醉酒什麼都肯幹了。賭到最後，車子、房子都賣了，連妻子也離婚，他又重新去吃免錢飯。所以喜歡喝酒的人，好朋友慢慢的都會遠離。

聖人云：「益者三友，捐者三友」，交朋友是好亦好、壞亦壞，如果你碰上狐群狗黨，要能渡能勸才勸渡，不然你要遠離。如果他無善根，就不要渡他，否則沒渡到，你就必須順著他的人情，被他的業力牽引下去，因你們定力不似佛的定力不會動搖；人是有感情的，為了賣人情，你就跟著他去。到時你就在燈紅酒綠的花叢中又生根，又被業力牽去，所以善人就遠離，惡人就相近，這樣你前途就一片黑暗。

十、身心散亂，遠離正定。喝酒不能正定，你就胡思亂想，定不下心來：今天要發財，明天要美女，後天想美國……，都想些不切實際的東西，身心自然散亂，就不會想到要照顧妻兒子女，事業也跟著荒廢，做出儘是違背正法的事。

十一、多作非法，違背正法。喝酒絕不會聽從善意的勸導，認為喝酒很好，賭博簽大家樂沒什麼錯，認為可以不勞而獲，以為放高利貸，跳舞很好；久而久之，就沒想要禮佛、拜佛、渡人。慢慢的你會認為自己不是道場中人，是凡夫俗子，認為好像離開道場很久，跟道場已經脫節。你們在道場那麼久有沒想過：「我好像跟社會脫節了！」有沒有這種想法？其實不然，修行是在社會中，不能離群索居，是在社會中持五戒，來影響整個家庭及整個社會、國家。你不偷盜、不賭博、不放高利貸、也不走上街頭、騙人家，也不去那種不乾淨的場合，便是持五戒。持五戒不只是個人的事，而是家庭、社會、國家的事，這樣是離群索居嗎？

你們要去適應這個社會，譬如跟同學出去旅遊剛開始有點困難，你必須慢慢的調適，你是正人君子他們決不會為難你，如果他要為難你，要你破戒，那你就離開。修行有修行人的道伴，外面有外面的朋友，每個地方有每個地方的緣，在佛堂由你有很多道伴，不用怕孤獨，對不對？這也是個團體，而且這個團體是我們用善的一面、光明的一面，去影響外面的黑暗。

十二、多不遂意，增加憂苦。當你做了錯事之後，你身心不會很順利，會增加憂苦，譬如說，你良心不昧，所以你喝酒犯到淫戒、偷戒，良心就會譴責自己。人是有良心的，所以你天天在懺悔，你又不敢當眾懺悔，只有內心掙扎、懺悔，當然做事都覺得不遂意，會認為最近運勢不順：其實不是運勢不順，而是內心不夠坦蕩，內心坦蕩做任何事都會很順利。只有你心中有鬼、心虛，做事才不遂意，相信老師說這句話，你們內心都有同感，對不對？內心有鬼才會觸犯佛規、戒律，就會躲躲藏藏，做事就不坦蕩、不遂意。

十三、曠費光陰，惡習難改。酒色不分家，好酒者必好色，相信嗎？沉醉在酒中，也絕對沉醉在色上，曠費光陰，這惡習絕對改不掉。人云：「英雄難過美人關」，別說英雄，任何男孩子也難過這一關。酒也是難改，今天看到酒不會想沾，老師說是因為你三世持齋，且持酒戒。有些人以為吃素清口很容易，吃起來白白胖胖。但有些人三天不吃肉就冒白色泡沫、流口水、全身無力。有些人說要改吃素，改了十幾年還沒辦法，實在是下三流的根器。今天你能立刻清口，只要能接近素食，能接受、親近他，覺得很好吃，表示你前世有吃齋拜佛，有善根：不然你就會天天想到海霸王、海中天那兒去。善根要把持住，不要讓他爛下去，到最後身壞命終時，如果平常這些放不下，就好像小水溝都跨不過，屆時這一生死大海如何跨過？平常這些惡習放不下，臨命終怎會無所執著？有智慧的人是無所執著的，持齋的人是智慧之心，執著的人是愚夫之心，是凡夫俗子。

十四、身壞命終，下墜地獄。人都是帶業由凡夫走向聖賢之道。我們求道之前，每個人都帶著業在慢慢修，慢慢消業，所以修道中會有層層關卡。算命先生有時會很準，但在准的當中，你們不能隨命運而轉，例如他算你會剋夫、會落魄、會修不成，但是你的心能堅定，把它轉過來，把習性改掉，意志力加強，這就是你的原動力。質量等於能量乘加速度。你們讀工程系的有沒有？老師也懂得一點凡間的科學，不要認為老師光會講佛法。這個能量就是造業力，造業力一直累積，不去除一點，藏在倉庫(第八意識，阿賴耶識)你不化掉，時間一到，與空間(也就世間)交會點一湊合，這業報就來了。車禍如何造成？（時間、空間湊合）人的種種病痛如何來？都是時機一到，時空交會點一碰到，就找上你了，業力就現前，逆境也就現前。所以我們當減輕業力，這樣人生才能圓滿。修行不是要你們捨棄一切，在家夫妻修行要有共識，光持五戒就可以做很多善事。我們來複習一下犯酒戒的報應，它不算葷，所以它的報應較少：

1、死後，墮灌口地獄。

2、生於人中愚癡狂妄，不信正法。

再來說持酒戒的好處及果報。

1、神智清明，恬靜安寧。

2、善持四重，不犯重罪。

3、來世生於人、天道中，不墮三毒。

犯酒戒，死後到地獄中入灌口地獄。獄中不是瓊漿玉液，更不是五加、高梁，去了就知道。如果投生人中，就是愚疾狂妄，沒有智慧，跟他說佛法，聽不入耳，認為是胡說八道。譬如，跟老太婆說為何不吃齋、拜佛？老太婆會說：「肉那麼好吃，為何要吃齋、拜佛？佛在哪裡？根本不知道。」這種根器根本聽不進去，即使有知識的人，也是不信正法，依舊是癡癡呆呆的。所以在這世中，有很多低能智殘、神智不清的；若持酒戒來世絕不會遭受這種果報，神智會很清醒。

當法師，講師都是很有智慧的，口才一流，對事情能果決，且有判斷力，神智清楚做事情才能成功，生活才安適恬靜，這是前世持戒的緣故。在一天中，若是胡思亂想，就不得安寧。

為什麼有精神分裂，老師分析給你們聽：不是住在療養院的人才叫精神分裂，每個人多多少少都有精神分裂，一天二十四小時我們的心猿意馬變了多少次？現在想這，下刻想那，一直想，不停的想，所以意志不能集中，做事就恍恍忽忽，有時根本不清楚自己在什麼地方，做些什麼事。所以每個人多多少少都有精神分裂，只是輕重的差異而已。

我們說不殺就是慈悲心，大家都要有，不殺比較容易，不吃比較困難，多少還是要吃。例如剛開完手術，要補身體，就跟老師打商量，我先吃一些補補，等身體壯了，我再還回來，有如此商量的嗎？既然你要商量，老師也沒辦法，你們自己看著辦吧！老師不能強迫你們，個人因果個人還，你吃還是由你自己擔，不必商量。

善持四重就是前幾次所講的殺、盜、淫、妄，你不犯諸罪，最好又能持好酒戒，你就不容易做種種不應該做的事，來世轉生人道或天道中，不會墮入三毒。如果轉世到人道中，會很有智慧，加上佈施的福報，所以不能說有錢人都是奸商沒有修行，有錢人有修行的很多，那是人家前幾世修行佈施很多所得的福報。所以現在都是貧道才容易佈施，有錢都想搞事業、股票、房地產、要他佈施百分之十都很難。等到有一天被人給倒了，才講風涼話，才講當初為何不佈施個三十萬，怎麼不想在未被倒前先佈施呢？佈施這無形的福報在增長，濟利要濟天下利，要懂得佈施能使世世代代的你增長福德。在凡間放高利貸是有風險的，而放在天堂中的高利貸是沒有風險，仙佛不會倒你利息。

不殺是慈悲，不吃更是有慈悲心、惻隱心。殺、盜、淫、妄、酒，在儒家來說就是仁、義、禮、智、信。不盜就要安份守己，吃差一點，有錢沒錢都一樣過日子。為何盜？為何賭？那是想富裕一點，想要房子、車子，如果少欲就不會犯這些罪、過、錯。賭博、放高利貸、倒人會錢都是盜戒之內。

濟公活佛說五戒

4戒妄語

妄語戒

今生缺口為何因？前世多說是非人。

今生聾啞為何因？前世惡口罵雙親。

今生豬狗為何因？前世存心哄騙人。

今生吐血為何因？前世挑撥離間人。

聽了這個五戒，多少對你們道業上有所幫助，以前不知而犯過的，今後要將它改過來。在這五戒當中，有很多都是細微的她方，所以各位如果能夠細細的思想，是不是每天都有犯錯？自古聖賢都吾日三省吾身，三省四勿，有很多自誡文、省人的語言，所以自古的聖人為什麼會過多？就是因為這些細微的地方，大家要懂得去檢討，任何一個修行的，都有它的法門。修行是從善如流，任何有助於我們道業的，我們要用心去學習它。

◎罪惡開端是妄語

我們說語言非常重要。一個演講家，他能夠妙語如珠，能夠講出動人的話，能夠扣人心弦，那是他的口才，但是演講必須看他的內容，必須聽聽這些話是不是有營養的，有些人講話非常動聽，非常幽默，但講出來就是養份不太夠，所以呢，能夠說出那種妙語如珠，又增人道業的話，才是一個真正成功的演說家。

一個人想要口才流利，這張嘴非得要修得非常圓融，也就是要三世不打妄語不可。妄語是一切罪惡的開端，語言影響很重要，話說出來，是不必負責任的，也不必繳稅金，大家就盡量講。

生意人最容易打妄語，明明這樣東西才五百元，人家來買就說是一千元，還說：「剛才人家來買我都不賣咧！是港貨，是跑單幫的。」所以生意人打妄語最多，生意人要修這一條比較難。

那男孩子騙女色，也是打妄語－花言巧語。心理學家說，懂得幽默、口才好的男孩子，佔了絕大的優勢，三句就跟著你的屁股走了。所以男孩子說些美妙的話安慰太太，這叫愛語，是應該的：但是如果你對別的女人說，這叫綺語，綺麗的語，好聽的、漂亮的、美麗的謊言，所以人家就乖乖的跟你走。

業務員要不要打妄語？（要）不打妄語，產品怎麼推銷出去？這個工商社會，不賺錢也沒辦法生活，那麼你就做一個觀想：「今天我做生意，把眾生的錢賺過來，我替他佈施，我替他做功德，不然他會去海霸王吃海產、去賭博、去玩夫家樂，要不然就去騙女色，他會用這些錢去造罪，所以我把它賺過來，我替他用在善的方面，我替他佈施，消一些罪，但得以正當的方法才行。」所以做生意賺一些錢佈施，來彌補你打妄語這一部份，不然妄語打多了，積少成多，將來不會說話，話也不會有人聽。有些人講話妙語如珠，有些人講得唏哩糊糊，會兔唇或沒有舌頭，這就是妄語打太多的關係。

那麼社會上哪個不打妄語？政治家、教育家、老師、影歌星，每個都會打妄語。政治家為了高票當選，選舉的時候，斬雞殺猴、發誓，就是要得到別人的信任、投他的票，說選他出來他會為大家怎麼樣、怎麼樣，結果到立法院去當瘋人去了，去吵架。所以這就是人的虛榮心，逞一時口舌之快，用他三寸不爛之舌，贏得他的名譽，保住他的地位，這就是自私心。教育家也是。教育應該是對人心的一種淨化，可是現在教育家卻走向商業氣息了。影歌星哪個不是誇大其詞的，哪一個是真實？所以沒有一個是過著真實的人生，都是在修飾自己，過著不紮實的人生。

◎渡人成全要負責到底

妄語是隨口而出，不須經過考慮的，有誰說我講了這句話，我絕對對它負責？男孩子你要騙女色，你會不會對她說，你絕對會對她負責任？東西賣出去有沒有售後服務？沒有售後服務就代表不負責任，就表示你打妄語，不想把責任頂起來！話講出去就像空氣一樣，隨空而消失啦！

所以我們渡人、成全人，要附帶售後服務，成全人家，要去瞭解人家的苦在哪裡，要把這個道義很明瞭的分析給別人聽，不要隨隨便便、迷迷糊糊渡來求道，求了道你的病就會好了啦！你清口茹素，家裡開佛堂癌症都會治好啦！這些觀念不太正確，應該以實在的一面，客觀的分析，客觀的立場來成全人，所以售後服務很重要，保險公司有沒有售後服務？比較沒有，所以我們渡人不要像拉保險一樣，我們有多少能力就講多少話，不要講超出能力的話。

哲學家說，你講了一句謊話就要講十句謊話來掩飾它。天天講謊話，講多了，習慣成自然，就變成喜歡講謊話。我們教小孩不要說謊，要誠實哦，那你自己都在說謊。說謊非常不好，雖然它是一個抽像的來西，但是禍從口出，病從口入，殺人不見血，就是這張嘴巴。不要閒著沒事坐下來三姑六婆，東家長西家短，講些不營養的話，浪費你的人生。

妄語是一個很難持的戒律，因為日常生活中，有時候你想講一些比較幽默的話，幽默必須不帶著下流。比如說：你看一個人非常憂惱，你想講一些幽默的話，解他的憂苦，讓他快樂一下，所以妄語也有它開源的一面。人家說你非常的了不起，稱你為什麼大師，那你不可有種高高在上、不可一世的態度。人家說你好，你要謙虛，或者你用一種開玩笑的口氣，無所謂，千萬不可講到人家生氣了，或者傷到人家自尊！所以普天下的人都有一個大頭病，喜歡聽人家讚歎，喜歡聽好聽的，如果你稱讚他讓他能心情愉快，這種心態是可以的，如果他五官長的不怎麼好看，而你說他長的非常漂亮，這樣就是虛偽，那他一定認為你在挖苦他、諷刺他。

◎多講善語廣結善緣

千萬不要去破壞人家的和好，夫妻間有很多事情不是外人可以瞭解的，所以你不要對人家說：你嫁的那是什麼老公，你娶的是什麼樣的老婆，要是我早就把她休掉了！這個管人家夫妻的事情是最倒霉的，要是有一天人家夫妻合好了，會怪你多嘴。所以舌頭盡量往內收，不要去往外放，講一些讓人家能夠受益的話，常常善施語、滋潤語，滋潤人家的一個心，比如先生多講一些安慰語安慰太太：妳嫁給了我，我沒有給妳大富大貴，但至少我有關心妳，多虧妳這位賢內助。這樣她聽起來，女人的缺點就是愛人家關心，她跟你吃苦耐勞都無所謂，就是需要先生的關心，你多關心他一點點，這樣家庭會美滿，不要動不動說你是我用錢買來的，大男人主義，這樣家庭很容易破裂。

所以人與人之間，同事之間不要互相排斥，不要互相比較高下，這樣比較會讓人活在一個憂惱的世界裡面，別人的一句話一個舉動，都可以影響到你。那麼不要活在別人左右之下，人經常講善語也可以廣結善緣，比如，人都是喜歡聽好的，你常常講一些好聽的、不譭謗他人的話，那麼別人很容易去討教你，請教你，接近你，你也不會感到一個惡緣，所以語言是人與人之間結緣的一個開始。

照算命的來說，有幾種行業是不大好，像算命的、看風水、道士、律師、檢查官，這些都是靠嘴巴來賺錢的，所以你靠嘴巴來賺錢你就要瞭解，你講的實意有多少？律師、檢查官他的客觀性、它的公平性有多少？所以古人有一句話：「一世官九世牛」，是非常貼切，一點也不錯，你一句話就能判人生死。為師並不是叫他們不要做這種行業，只是你們在從事這種行業時要多加小心，要持公平、客觀的態度，千萬不要有賄賂的行為。

◎鐵口直斷要背負因果

現在的檢查官、律師都是在權勢上論是非。顛倒是非很容易帶來草菅人命的事情，這是非常的危險，必須多注意一點。算命的常常不夠客觀，尤其是要規勸人、建議別人的話，千萬要客觀，要以比較公正的立場、婉轉的話來規勸別人，比如一件事希望他這麼做，你千萬不要說：「你命就是注定這樣，你不照我的話，會受怎麼樣報應……」這叫什麼？這叫惡口，妄語裡包括什麼？包括惡口、兩舌、綺語、妄言，這四種都在妄語戒裡面，所以這惡口非常的厲害，尤其是算命，你懂一點命相，你用這樣的話：「你不修，你不聽我的話會怎麼樣，會遭受怎麼樣報應……」，這樣子不夠客觀，修道沒有這樣的事。「你這個風水不改，你將來會怎麼樣，幾年後會怎麼樣……」，你懂得命理、易理，你可用來啟發大家的道心，供人做參考，講一些吉祥話，千萬不要鐵斷，那種話會刺傷人。

還有道士（台灣話叫師公），師公這種行業現在很少人做，但還是存在的。師公是專門替人超渡的，你們祖先過世了，請這些道士、師公來做法事，能夠超渡嗎？這只是一種習俗，讓往者心安，其實是在世者心安，表示有替他超渡，花一筆錢，讓在世人心安，燒個銀紙、金紙，燒個紙車、紙房給他，表示盡到你們的心，那師公、道士替亡靈來超渡，那閻羅王不是怕他了嗎？那你們的業力、三世因果又要如何去清算呢？所以我們要有智慧。

我們修行的人，知道三世因果，懂得這些前因後果。有祖先親人過世，應該知道如何來辦理他的善後，不要隨便跟著習俗燒金紙，請個人來唸唸經，如果請來唸經的是吃素、持齋、有修行的師父那還好，如果請到那些在家的、抽煙、嚼檳榔的，或平時根本不修口業的，那他自己的罪業就一大堆，怎麼替往生者來超拔、超渡呢？從事這樣一個行業也是不好，這些將來會感應到一些因果。所以盡量從事正業，盡量選擇比較不會負因果的行業來做。

◎相由心生厚道為要

修道是可以改造命運的。說到妄語戒，你們看三世不打妄語的人，他的舌頭伸出來，會觸到鼻子，回去照鏡鏡子看看，如果舌頭伸出來可以觸到鼻子，這是三世不打妄語，但我相信沒有人會這樣的。

有些人可能去學過面相學，他從面相學上知道如果眉毛蓋過眼睛的，就是一生一世福報很大，比較受家人庇蔭，也能庇蔭他的後代。但你們不要聽為師這樣講，回去就一直拔，拔到沒半根，然後去用畫的、用紋眉的，來改造他的命相，這只能治標，真正治本是要從內心改造起。

命運是從心裡散發出來、影響出來的，真正要改造命運，是要從心改造起；如果只改造那個外相，只是每天看那鏡子，覺得自己是美女中的一個，看得很舒服而已，而你的脾氣沒改，你的習性沒改，那怎麼能改造命運？你惡口還是惡口，罵人還是罵人，人際關係還是不能改善。

所以，是看你的內在，一個人能夠讓人家從相知，進而相交，把心掏給你，那是必須從長久的相處中去看出你的誠實、厚道、不耍心機，是不是？而不是在你外表好不好，外表只是一個印象，你要長久讓人家產生好感就必須要從厚道做起，是不是？

為師講的只是供作參考，回去不要去算你的命，秤別人的命，這個即是說我們在三世因果當中，所改造來的一種形象，這些也是可以改造的，比如說你的五官長得不好看，你講話不清楚，講話沒口才，那你就從現在開始，守這個妄語戒，你將來才能辯才無礙。普天下的人都不喜歡自己的隱私被別人揭發出來，所以心理學家說，揭發別人的隱私是最沒有道德的事情，不要說：「啊！那個人他以前多壞多壞，他以前嫁過幾任丈夫，做過什麼！」今天人家已經改過來，已經很不簡單了，對不對？所以不要揭發別人的穩私。犯妄語戒有哪些果報？

一、墮三惡道。

二、多被譭謗。妄語打多了，或講人家講多了，講多了壞話，揭人家隱私，你這世常常會遭受人家譭謗，你的名譽在各方面就會遭受種種不白之冤。所以你常常會感到奇怪，走到哪裡，你都不得意，好像人家都會排斥你，有沒有這種感覺？常常會遭受人家譭謗你名節的事。現在社會很現實，你要是厚道一點，就常常被人家排擠掉了，有沒有？所以必須現在就開始守妄語戒，等將來你有了威德，讓人家看了很信服你，很尊敬你，你就不必遭受這樣的痛苦，遭受這樣的一個困擾了。

三、為他所誑。（誑即指賣的意思）會遭受人家指責、痛罵的一個果報。

四、言無人受。講話能夠讓人家接受，那必須實在。修行是要老實，用一個老實的心去對待別人，當你要規勸別人、指責別人、糾正別人時，人家才會虛心的接受。你的態度也要柔和，不要說：「叫你怎麼樣你就怎麼樣，不聽的話隨你。」一個人的口氣婉轉可以將事情轉換成很圓融的地步。所以，你口氣不好，人家聽了就討厭，人家說：「鬼都不喜歡」，連鬼神都喜歡聽好聽的，都喜歡態度柔和的，而你這不好的口氣，連鬼都不喜歡了，人會喜歡嗎？所以要讓人家接受你，講道要讓人家盡興的聽，你就必須在言語上很謙虛、很客觀才行。

五、語不明瞭。有些人一生下來就兔唇、沒舌頭。妄語打多了，舌頭的筋會不好轉，會抓得很緊，你要轉那個語氣不好轉，所以講話就會不清楚，不是不會表達，而是語氣裡你常聽到好像漏風，又好像一生下來就講話很不清楚，這些大部份是前輩子帶來的果報，如兔唇啦！妄語雖然不必繳稅金，不必負責任，但你來世的果報會帶來這些困擾，所以要好好的遵守它。

六、種不得果。打妄語的人再怎麼修行都不會得正果，而那些修持五戒的，來生可能再轉人身，他很可能功圓果滿。但是你如果五戒不清，五戒持得不圓融、不圓滿，其中缺一戒，就不可能成就正果。所以就算你再怎麼修，妄語沒有去除，你講話不實在，黑說成白，白說成黑，都不照道理去講，不照道理去做，不實在、不實踐，當然就種不得善果了。

七、口氣口臭惡。常常打妄語會遭到口臭。有些人口臭是因為火氣大，是不是？有些是晚上睡不好，等氣調過來之後自然就不會。有些人即是天生的，是治不好的那種，一開口人家就把嘴摀起來了，等你閉口，人家才能開口的那種，就是前世妄語打的太多了。還有身上會發臭，那些都是由果報而來，而你得到這些，這一世你就要好好的持，好好的修，最重要的你們吃素，這些便會慢慢減輕，如果你吃肉，你那臭氣會增長，會一直增多，這些是妄語的果報。

◎持守戒律有善報

那麼修持妄語戒有哪些好的報應呢？

一、口常清淨。如憂缽蘿香（是蓮花的一種，他能散發出奇香），你不打妄語，持妄語戒，口齒清香，不用噴安麗清香劑，它都會很香，但是現在這種人很少啦！早晚如果沒有洗黑人牙膏，就會發出那個口臭出來。所以說佛絕對不打妄語，佛無戲言，佛的舌頭伸出來可以把整個臉蓋住，就算牙齒拿去燒的時候也不會壞掉，而且是完整的三十二顆，有修行的人三十二顆牙齒全部都是好好的。

二、為諸世間之所敬信。信就是人講的話，是不是？人家說一言九鼎，有信用的人做生意也不用蓋圖章。你們跟會，也會找一個比較有信用、比較可靠的去跟，對不對？人家信任你會跟著你去做某一件事情，那完全是對你人格的信任。能夠讓眾生對你產生信任，就表示你在信用方面非常的堅持，所以為諸世間之所敬信。

三、自心歡喜，他人欣悅。不打妄語，自己覺得很誠實，天天都很高興，不需要去遮遮掩掩，騙這個，騙那個。每天都活在一個真實的生活圈子裡面，別人也很喜歡，知道你這個人很信實可靠。

四、未來生處，構文如意音聲。即是你聽到的，絕對都是悅耳的聲音，絕對不會有惡口、粗獷語苦惱你的耳邊。你們對著所尊敬的人，會不會講話去憂惱他？會不會去忤逆他？也不會去傷害他的自尊，對不對？也就是你的耳邊不會有這些噪音，不會有這些擾亂你、害你、煩惱你的這些話出現。但要小心不要讓專耍綺語的男孩子來欺騙你，男孩子這些綺語、花言巧語，都是你所喜歡的，你必須要有智慧一點、理智一點，如果讓自己中了這個圈套，一旦踏進去就踩不出來的。那麼男孩子如果要交一個異性朋友，你們要怎麼樣？要誠實，絕對要有這一份的誠心，你不要想你要追她，別人也要追她，你就要以最好的那一面表現出來，就盡量掩飾自己，這樣也不實在，一切都要看得開，一切婚姻你都得順其自然。

所以奉勸你們這些為人父母的，兒女的婚姻讓他順其自然，不要給他太多的意見，當然小孩子從小就要教，你要讓他懂得是非，懂得這些真假，等他長大了，你就讓他自己選擇對象，你不要給他太多意見，到時候他帶一個對像回來說：「媽媽你看這個好不好？」你說：「不好，不好。」你什麼都不好，那他就說：「不好是你說的，那我就再帶一個回來。媽媽你說這個好不好？」（啊！這個好好好。）到時候跟你戰得天昏地暗，你又說：「你這個太太都怎麼樣、怎麼樣，怎麼樣的沒教養……」「媽你當時說好的，我帶回來給你看，你說好的。」你就沒話說了，對不對？為人父母，就是這一點要看得開。那麼夫妻盡量要誠實相待，不要在枕邊說一些嘰哩喳啦的話來破壞家庭，如果說，媽媽的思想比較不能跟你溝通，忍耐忍耐一下，家庭就圓滿了，不然整天在那邊戰，戰到什麼時候呢？

五、增自威德，得無礙辯。你想要智慧無量、辯才無礙，一定要持妄語戒。每一個人都希望自己口若懸河。口才好的人，到任何地方都很出色，所以懂得幽默的人他是佔絕大的優勢，你要得到這樣一個優點，這一世千萬聽老師的奉勸，不要去犯了惡口、妄言、綺語、兩舌，破壞人和好的戒律，修「妄言」，這四點千萬要注意。

我們說「清口茹素」，清口和茹素是兩回事，茹素是吃齋，清口是你這張口要清淨，嘴巴不講這四種壞話，這叫清口。如果你光吃素，嘴巴不乾淨，那也不叫清口。所以女人哪，盡量不要罵人：乾道，尤其是開出租車的，盡量三字經不要罵出來。太太罵先生、罵小孩千萬要有個分寸，不要什麼難聽的話都罵出來，夭壽、死相，什麼都來！女人要保持一個很好的氣質，在家裡讓家人感覺你是一個靈魂人物，你這張嘴巴盡量的修好一點，盡量說一些好聽的話來安慰先生，不要說：「死相！三不五時去外面不規矩、喝酒、偷吃葷啦……」吃葷你們懂是什麼意思嗎？這個葷跟那個葷不一樣哦！所以你也不要一下子就責備他，你要穩得住、沈得住，聽老師說幾句世間的法。老師今天已是跳出三界外的人，教你們這些世間法是不得已的，因為眾生就有這麼多毛病，所以教你們這些世間方法，讓你們能化解一些生活中的紛爭。

先生出去外面不規矩，很晚才回來，你就坐在那邊等他，今天不回來，你等他到明天，等到他回來，你不要責怪他，洗澡水給他準備好，茶也給他泡好，再問候他一下。第一天不回來，第二天不回來，第三天、第四天看他回不回來？第四天再不回來，那這個先生就沒效了！你就認命了！你們來佛堂講道、辦道，你要把你自己份內的事處理好，先做好給家人看，讓婆婆公公先生沒話講，沒有挑剔的地方，這樣子你也心安理得。如果他再一直挑剔你，一直阻礙你，想跟你離婚，你就再忍耐，盡量的做，做到讓他感動，如果他還是這樣，就當是沒效了，你就要認命啦！看開啦！三不五時你把他嚇一嚇，給他飆一下，三不五時跟先生吵架，你就跑到佛堂來躲幾天，讓他知道沒有太太的煩惱，讓他去觀想觀想，但不要躲太久，躲太久他會說被老師騙過來了，不行。不過這不是一個很好的方法，今天教你們這些實在很不得已的狀況之下，不然你在家很不得意，又要出來修道，又想家庭圓滿，兩方面都不能圓滿，你只好用這個方法試試看，如果不行的話，也只有認命了。

這是說一個世間法，世間有太多的這種無奈。對世間的事情就用世間法，老師是超出三界外的修行者，教你們這些是不應該的，不過也是因為看到你們有這樣的問題存在，教你們一些小小的方法來處理，不見得要這麼做，千萬不要去墜落，或想不開死了算了；你也不要去講那些話讓他沒信心，他已經是夠苦惱了，如果到時候他真的死了，那你犯了妄語戒，又犯了殺戒，變成助殺，所以盡量不要講破壞他人的話。

◎遠離妄言隱惡揚善

那麼，我們還要離什麼？離惡口，惡口即是罵人，很粗獷、很不正聽的那種話。比如做泥水工的，他認為他很直心，講出來的話卻三字經、五字經統統有，是不是？我們要遠離擾亂語、破壞語，還有苦他語，避免擾亂別人的心，讓人家六神無主？

語言分很多種，嘴巴一張開，話就這麼多，如果生了兩張嘴，那怎麼樣？那不就自己跟自己吵架啦，是不是？

兩舌就是破壞他人的和好。大家聽為師一句話，不要輕易的去相信別人，不要輕易的把你內心的話告訴別人，任何場所你最好都稱讚別人，不要說別人的壞處。

普天下的人都很容易相信別人，跟你相交兩、三個月就把他當成知己一樣；不是叫你不要相信別人，而是叫你講話要謹言慎行；萬一你講一句對別人不好聽的話，或是牽涉到第三者，他馬上像廣播電台一樣，這邊講一講，那邊又講一講，那就糟糕了。不希望有是非的話，就盡量講別人的好，不要講別人不好。

◎慎思明辨莫妄下斷言

還有，你要對一件事下定論之前，絕對要先觀察清楚，不要隨便就下定論。為師講一個小故事給你們聽：有一次孔老夫子的學生在為他做早餐煮稀飯的時候，天花板上掉了一個小小的東西下來，學生就拿起來吃掉，因為他想，這個給老師吃了以後，恐怕老師吃了會壞肚子，我先吃吃看是什麼東西，結果孔老夫子在旁邊看到，就把這件事情告訴其他學生：「你看煮飯的多沒禮貌，老師都還沒有吃，他就先吃了。」那些學生就去跟煮飯的說：「喂！你怎麼可以這麼沒禮貌，老師還沒吃，你就先吃了，一點都不尊重老師。」煮飯的就說：「冤枉冤枉，我是因為天花板掉了一個東西，我要看看那是什麼東西，怕老師吃壞了肚子。」孔老夫子就召集所有的學生說：「來來，你們看看，我被人家稱為至聖先師，是你們的老師，我親眼看到都會冤枉別人，都會把事情扭曲掉了，何況別人傳到你耳朵的一句話，經過第三者，事情會不會是事實？會不會被扭曲掉？」孔老夫子是這樣教學生的。

所以你們在對一件事情下判斷的時候，千萬要調查實情，不要聽他人片面之語就斷定事情就是怎麼樣。不要用猜疑的心態去懷疑事情，你要對別人規勸建議，你要對事情下定論，務必要有把握，要把事實弄清楚再來處理，不然把整件事情弄砸掉，是非就出來了，考倒別人而結下惡緣。

所以聖人他都可能看錯了，他對事情都可能扭曲了，何況你們凡夫俗子，隨便這邊聽兩句，那邊聽三句就自作聰明把整個事情編串起來，以為事情頭尾自己最清楚，其實你沒有懂多少，你是在門外看事情。所以不希望有是非的話，就不要隨便講話，盡量講些讓別人能夠挽回信心的。他是對的，就站在他的立場為他說話。每個人都希望別人來關心，尤其是失意的人，你必須站在他的立場來處理事情，你千萬不要站在你的立場說你的話，硬要別人來接受你的意見，這樣子是比較自私不圓融的行為。

◎舌如利刀須謹言

兩舌，就像刀子一樣，雖然舌頭是軟的，但事實上它比刀子還厲害。當一個國家間諜，是不是靠舌頭？女人要破壞人家家庭是不是也是這張嘴巴？對男人撒嬌，對他施展媚力，然後破壞人家夫妻間之和好。所以，舌頭只要一個就好，嘴巴一個就好，多少的是非，多少的恩怨，都是由這個舌頭、這一張嘴巴說出來的。禍從口出，你要避免這個禍，你就得盡量三緘其口，講一些有營養的話。佛在修行的時候，他從來不講一句沒有用的話，句句中肯。

當然你們在社會上要跟人家打拼立足，難免會跟人家有爭有斗的，或脾氣一來你控制不了，你會粗口，講出髒話，所以你就要事後自己再懺悔。一切的罪惡唯有用懺悔心、慚愧心來修補，有慚有愧，事情才有挽救：無慚無愧，那你這個人也就沒救了，做任何事情，都覺得你最對，沒有一個慚愧心。所以古德常說：「靜坐常思己過，閒談莫論人非」，古德淺淺的兩句話就很實用，那凡夫不是呀!坐下來是非就出來。

我們修行是遠離政治的，當然我們當一個好國民要愛國，能夠做一個好國民跟政府配合政策，但千萬不要跟著人家走上街頭，也不要跟著人家起哄，宣傳一些不需要的、擾亂人心的語言，這些都很不好。為師只能說不好，果報就要看你們所犯的程度來定論，你們有兒女、親戚在搞政治，你盡量不要參與它。

能夠讓人家增加道業的行業很多，靠你的這張嘴巴可以救人，你講話可以讓人家得到快樂，也可以讓人家活得很不耐煩。不要將自己的利益、自己的快樂建築在別人的身上，也不要對別人開過份的玩笑。比如說，啊！看到人家五官長得不好看，就說：「唉呀！你的業力深重，得到了果報哦！」這叫苦他語，也含在惡口裡面。

唯「上智」與「下愚」沒有是非。上智即是超越的人，即智慧很超越的人，他視透了世間的一切，他不會為語言所干擾，不會為這些音波所動搖，沒有是非；還有一種笨笨修笨笨成的人沒有是非，你說什麼他都不管，他也聽不懂這一句是好還是壞，所以上智與下愚這兩種人好修行。站在你們中間這不高不低的，不是很笨的，又不是很聰明的很難修行。外面這些音波這些頻率，你們沒辦法調好，收音機的頻率沒有對準，常常就會受到這些音波的震動。

所以「智者從師之長，愚者求師之過」，有智慧的人你會跟著人家的長處來修，比如你跟著一位點傳師來修，你會看他的優點，如果你天天看他的缺點，挑剔他的毛病，這也不是，那也不是，那你怎麼修呢？每個人都有優點，也有缺點，有智慧的話，你就學他的優點；這個人脾氣很壞，但壞脾氣的人往往比較直心，比較正直，你就看好的一面去學。

說到調一語、順俚語，還有妙語，前面的點傳師要多學習一點。每個眾生都希望人家來關心，所以你們要多講一些潤語來關心，不要語氣硬邦邦的，一定要人家照著你的話去做，這樣就不得人緣了。

前面有幾個點傳師，你們自己也心裡有數。千萬不要把自己的毛病當特色，這不是特色，要盡量圓融，你都希望人家來關心你，眾生也是一樣，要多關心他。

年輕人，你們渡眾生千萬要用慈悲心，不要有感情的成份存在，不要讓他以為你對他有意思，讓他會錯意；你要替他解決問題，你要幫他什麼忙，要成全他，你就得盡量界線劃清一點。你如果對他沒意思，萬一他認為你對他有意思，而陷入感情的困境裡面，那時麻煩就大了!這是年經人比較容易犯到的，所以，感情要適當。

如果完全沒有感情，又太過生硬，太過沒有人情味。所以，點傳師對下面的人必須要用一種慈悲的心，對待後學就像自己子女，就像自己的兄弟姐妹一樣。你怎麼樣熬過來的，希望你將心比心，你的後學也是希望人家呵護著走過來的。

年輕人不要太過臭美，人家稍微對你好一點，你就認為人家對你有意思，千萬不要陷入感情裡面。為師不是說你們不能談，只是你不要讓對方產生困擾，產生誤會，所以你就要跟對方保持距離。如果你對他有意思，就要用誠心來交往，一顆誠實的心，不欺騙的心，互相交往，也是好事，夫妻一起修，那也是一件好事，免得到最後惹出很多的麻煩出來。

對這五戒方面，大家有沒有信心？雖然講的好像很淺，不夠扣人心弦，不夠美妙，但你們回想一下，你們是不是天天講妄語？說謊話像吃飯一樣多？這些都會擾亂你的道業。所以，雖然為師講得很淺，像你們喝開水一樣很淡，但你如果能把它糾正過來，對你們道業方面是有幫助的。你持五戒持得滿分，將來這些正果是不可限量的，確實的持好五戒才是真正在修行，你不持戒只是在結一個緣而已，來求道什麼都不懂，什麼都不研究，也不遵守，叫做結善緣、入門而已，真正去修，真正去持，才是真正的修善。將來要證果，在修行上就必須要下功夫，而且是點滴的功夫。如果你現在做生意，不方便持妄語戒，就盡量少說，將來慢慢一戒一戒的持。為師跟你們說，每持一戒就有一戒的善神來擁護，你不持戒的話，不只鬼神不敢親近你，就是善神也不敢來擁護你。口常清淨，將來絕對得到無量智慧、辯才無礙、相貌端莊，得到很好的一個果報。為師為什麼要講五戒，有些人或許聽過，有些人又覺得這沒有什麼吸引人的，但是你要從基礎來修起，這些基礎的戒律都不想去守了，還談什麼經典，談什麼心法，那些都是比較不實際的。雖然這些心法能讓你解脫，但是連這些最基本戒律，這些小過錯，你都沒辦法去注意它還談什麼心法呢！為什麼有這懺悔班？懺悔班就是要洗清你們這些小過錯。

Source Colophon

Chinese source text from taolibrary.com (善書圖書館), category9/c9022. Spirit-writing teaching by Ji Gong (濟公活佛), transcribed at a Taiwanese Yiguandao altar. Full text comprises seven linked pages covering a preface and five chapters on the five precepts. Text accessed and archived by Tulku Bo (墨), Session 111, for the Yiguandao Source Text Catalogue.

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