正法的代表（中英對照）　宣化上人著

佛弟子應誦持《楞嚴經》

Disciples of the Buddha Should Recite and Uphold the Shurangama Sutra

◎一九八三年一月開示於金輪聖寺

A talk given in January, 1983 at Gold Wheel Monastery

《楞嚴經》這是佛教裏一部照妖鏡的經，所有天魔外道、魑魅魍魎，一見到《楞嚴經》都現原形了，牠無所遁形，什麼地方牠也跑不了。所以在過去，智者大師聽說有這一部經，就向印度遙拜，拜了十八年，以十八年這種懇切至誠的心，求這一部經到中國來。   

The Shurangama Sutra is a Sutra that acts like a demon-spotting mirror in Buddhism. All the celestial demons, externalists, and the li, mei, and wang liang ghosts reveal their true appearance when they see the Shurangama Sutra. They have no way to hide and no place to flee to. And so in the past, when Great Master Zhi Zhe heard of the existence of this Sutra, he bowed in the direction of India for eighteen years. For eighteen years, he used this spirit of utmost sincerity to pray for this Sutra to be brought to China.

過去的大德高僧，所有這一些有智慧的高僧，沒有哪一個不讚歎《楞嚴經》的。所以《楞嚴經》存在，佛法就存在；《楞嚴經》如果毀滅了，佛法也就毀滅了。怎麼樣末法呢？末法就是《楞嚴經》先毀滅了。誰毀滅的呢？就是這一些個天魔外道。這些天魔外道一看見《楞嚴經》，就好像眼中的釘、肉中的刺一樣，坐也坐不住，站也站不穩，所以牠必須要創出一種邪說，說是《楞嚴經》是假的。

Of all the greatly virtuous and eminent monks of the past, all the wise and lofty Sanghans, there was not a single one who did not praise the Shurangama Sutra. Therefore, as long as the Shurangama Sutra exists, the Buddhadharma exists. If the Shurangama Sutra is destroyed, then the Buddhadharma will also become extinct. How will the decline of the Dharma come about? It will begin with the destruction of the Shurangama Sutra. Who will destroy it? The celestial demons and externalists will. They see the Shurangama Sutra like a nail in their eyes and a thorn in their flesh. They can't sit still, and they can't stand steady; they are compelled to invent the deviant theory saying that the Shurangama Sutra is false.

我們做佛教徒應該認識真理，《楞嚴經》上所講的道理，每一個字都是真經真典，沒有一個字不是講真理的。所以我們現在研究這五十種陰魔，更應該明白《楞嚴經》這種重要性，其他這些邪魔鬼怪最怕的就是《楞嚴經》。

As Buddhist disciples, we should recognize true principle. Every word of the doctrines in the Shurangama Sutra is the absolute truth. There isn't one word which does not express the truth. So now that we are studying the Fifty Skandha-demons, we should realize even more just how important the Shurangama Sutra is. The Shurangama Sutra is what the deviant demons, ghosts, and goblins fear most.

虛老活了一百二十歲，他一生，旁的什麼經典也沒註解過，只有註解這部《楞嚴經》。註解《楞嚴經》這個稿子，他是很注意地來保存，保存了幾十年，結果以後在雲門事變時，就丟了，這是虛老一生一個最大遺憾的事情。他主張我們身為一個出家人，都應該把《楞嚴經》讀得能背得出來，由前邊背到後邊，由後邊背到前邊，順背倒背，順倒都能背得出來，這是他的主張。那麼我知道虛老一生之中，對《楞嚴經》是特別重視的。

The Venerable Master Hsu Yun lived to be a hundred and twenty years old, and during his whole life, he didn't write a commentary for any Sutra other than the Shurangama Sutra. He took special care to preserve the manuscript of his commentary on the Shurangama Sutra. He preserved it for several decades, but it was later lost during the Yunmen incident. This was the Elder Hsu's greatest regret in his life. He proposed that, as left-home people, we should study the Shurangama Sutra to the point that we can recite it by memory, from the beginning to the end, and from the end to the beginning, forwards and backwards. That was his proposal. I know that, throughout his whole life, the Elder Hsu regarded the Shurangama Sutra as being especially important.

有人也對虛老提過，說：「《楞嚴經》有人說是偽造的。」老和尚說這末法怎麼叫末法呢？就因為有這一班人，弄得魚目混珠，是非分不清楚，教你這人都迷了，瞎人眼目，令人認不清楚佛法了。他在那兒把這個真的，他當假的；假的他又當真的了。你看這一些個人，又是這個人寫一部書，人也拿著看；那一個人寫一部書，他也拿著看，真正佛所說的經典，人都把它置諸高閣，放到那個書架子上，永遠也不看。所以這也就看出來眾生的業障是很重的，他若聽邪知邪見，就很相信的；你講正知正見的法，說了他也不信，說了他也不信。為什麼呢？就是善根不夠，根基不夠的關係，所以對正法有一種懷疑的心，有一種狐疑不信的心。

When someone informed the Elder Hsu that there were people who said the Shurangama Sutra was false, he explained that the decline of the Dharma occurs just because these people try to pass fish eyes off as pearls, confusing people so that they cannot distinguish right from wrong. They make people blind so that they can no longer recognize the Buddhadharma. They take the true as false, and the false as true. Look at these people: this one writes a book and people all read it. That one writes a book and they read it too. The real Sutras spoken by the Buddha himself are put up on the shelf, where no one ever reads them. From this, we can see that living beings' karmic obstacles are very heavy. If they hear deviant knowledge and deviant views, they will readily believe them. If you speak Dharma based on proper knowledge and proper views, they won't believe it. Speak it again, and they still won't believe it. Why? Because they don't have sufficient good roots and foundations. That's why they have doubts about the proper Dharma. They are skeptical and unwilling to believe.

我們萬佛城這兒要立楞嚴的壇場，最好你們誰發心把這部《楞嚴經》，天天能讀它，或者一個鐘頭、兩個鐘頭。能把它像讀書那麼讀，能記得又能背得出，把這《楞嚴經》、《法華經》，甚至於《華嚴經》都能背誦出來，這是最好的。誰能把《楞嚴經》、《法華經》、《華嚴經》若都能背得出來，那世界上這還是正法存在的時候。所以我們這兒萬佛城這麼好的地方，大家要發大菩提心，做一些個事情。不是說我們和人比賽，我們要出乎其類、拔乎其萃，要做這些事情。

Here at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, we will be setting up the Shurangama Platform, so it would be ideal if some of you bring forth the resolve to read the Shurangama Sutra every day for one or two hours. You can study it daily just as if you were studying in school, and memorize it so that you can recite it by heart. If you can recite the Shurangama Sutra, the Dharma Flower Sutra, and even the Avatamsaka Sutra from memory, that would be the very best. If someone is able to recite the Shurangama Sutra, the Dharma Flower Sutra, and the Avatamsaka Sutra from memory, then it will mean that this is still a time when the proper Dharma exists in the world. Therefore, in such a wonderful place as the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, everyone should bring forth a great Bodhi resolve to do these things.It is not that we are competing with others. We should be outstanding, rise above the crowd, and do these things.

我在以前有這麼一個心願，想要把《法華經》能背得出來，再能把《楞嚴經》也背得出來。在香港有位果一，就是恆定，他《楞嚴經》能背得出來，《法華經》我教他讀，他最後大約沒有完全背得出來，這是很遺憾的事情。我們這麼好的地方，大家要發大心，把佛經和戒律、《楞嚴經》、《法華經》和《四分律》、《梵網經》都能背得出來，這是最好的，那我們這兒一定是正法久住了。

In the past, I had a wish: I wanted to be able to recite the Dharma Flower Sutra and the Shurangama Sutra from memory. In Hong Kong, there is a disciple named Guo Yi (Heng Ding) who can recite the Shurangama Sutra from memory. I taught him to study the Dharma Flower Sutra, but in the end he probably didn't finish memorizing it, which is very regrettable. In such a fine place as we have here, everyone should bring forth a great resolve to study the Buddhist Sutras and precepts--the Shurangama Sutra, the Dharma Flower Sutra, the Vinaya in Four Divisions, and the Brahma Net Sutra--until he can recite it from memory. That would be the best, for then the proper Dharma would surely remain here for a long time.