第二辑 直抵心灵的真相 Volume 2: Truth That Touches Your Heart
摘自《因果明镜论06》
Excerpt from The Mirror of Causality 06
很多人行善就跟做生意差不多: 一天做多少善事，积累多少的功德。甚至还每天记个账: 今天布施了几块钱，明天又帮了一下谁。好像有什么功德可得。
For many people, doing kind things is like doing business: each day they measure how many good acts they can perform and accumulate merits accordingly. They even keep a daily record: how much money they donated today and whom they helped on the next day. It seems as if they can gain some kind of merit from these actions.
然后本来没儿子的，生了个儿子，就觉得是福报。我们生儿子就一定是好事吗？说不定是,冤亲债主来讨债的。
And if they originally didn't have a son suddenly have one, they may consider it a karmic reward. But is it always a good thing to have a son? Perhaps it could be unsettled karmic debts from past relationships coming to be repaid.
世间人认为没有后代就不行，贪著生子。所以他觉得生儿子是福报。 其实生儿子有什么福报啊？大多是来讨债的。
People in this world believe that without descendants, life is incomplete, so they are eager to have sons. Therefore, they consider having a son as a karmic reward. In fact, what kind of blessing is it to have a son? In most cases, it is often about repaying debts from the past.
当然也有来报恩的。报恩的也没有什么，我们过去对他付出了，救过他的命，或者养过他帮过他，他这辈子来还债，仅此而已。
Of course, there are also those who come to repay kindness. However, there is nothing extraordinary about it. In the past, we may have made sacrifices for them, saved their lives, raised them, or helped them. In this lifetime, they come to repay those debts, and that's all.
当然如果过去他是个修行人，我们供养过他，那他投生到我们这里，来修行，来报我们的恩，那还算有点意义。
Of course, if in the past, he was a practitioner whom we made offerings to, and now he is reborn here to continue his practice and repay our kindness, then it can be considered to have some significance.
都知道供养三宝功德大，福报大，其实这里所谓的福，就是我们跟修解脱的人结上了缘，那么我们就有解脱的机会了，我们有真正脱离三界一切苦难的机会了。
It is widely known that making offerings to the Three Jewels [Buddha, Dharma, Sangha] brings great merits and karmic rewards. In fact, the term "reward" refers to the karmic affinity we establish with those who are on the path to liberation. By doing so, we have the opportunity to attain liberation ourselves, a chance to truly break free from all sufferings within the Three Realms.
我们如果只是帮助世间的人，即使是让所有人都过上幸福的生活，那也还是轮回啊。他可能会让我们轮回得更深，堕落得更深。没有用。
If we just help people in the world, even if it means making everyone live a happy life, it is still within the cycle of samsara (reincarnation). It may make us stay in samsara longer and descend deeper into it. It is futile.
这些都是有漏的善业，人天善法。真是不究竟，如果以此为究竟的话，那就是外道了。
All of these are virtuous actions with afflictions, positive actions in the realm of humans and heaven. They are not ultimate. If one takes them as ultimate, then it falls into the realm of outsiders (non-Buddhist practitioners).
十善业是我们解脱的基础。我们行善不是为了享福,而是为了获得暇满人身从而有机会修解脱道、菩萨道。闲暇圆满的人生也不是什么福，只不过是我们有缘碰得到正法,并且有时间、有能力来修习正法。
The Ten Positive Actions form the foundation of our liberation. We do not engage in positive actions simply to enjoy karmic rewards, but to attain a precious human life, providing the opportunity to follow the path of liberation and the path of Bodhisattva. A life of ease and fulfillment may not always be a blessing; it just signifies our good fortune to encounter the true Dharma and have the time and ability to practice it.
所以大家不要用贪心来修善业。十善业里面有一个就是不贪，十恶业里面其中一个就是贪，那我们用贪心来修善业，其实已经是颠倒了。
Therefore, we should not approach positive actions with a greedy mind. Among the Ten Positive Actions, one is "do not be greedy", while among the Ten Negative Actions, one is "greedy". Therefore, if we practice positive actions with greed, we are actually already heading in the wrong direction.
现在末法时代的人都是这样，以贪心来修善业，做一点善事都要获得一些好的回报，或者名声，或者今世的钱财、名利，满足我们的欲望。
In the current age of the Dharma-ending period, people tend to approach positive actions with greed. They do positive actions expecting some kind of favorable return, such as fame, wealth, or worldly gains, satisfying their desires.
我们得到了想得到的东西，以为这个是好事。其实这个并不是什么好事情，我们的善行如果都报掉了，将来就没机会修行了。
We think that obtaining what we desire is a good thing. Actually, it is not necessarily a good thing; if we exhaust all the rewards of our positive actions, we will have no opportunity for future cultivation.
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