Don’t Let Your Life Be Shackled by Books

“Mahamudra: Essence and Practice” ( Book II)

Don’t Let Your Life Be Shackled by Books

◎Chen Yixin: Some eminent monks don’t encourage their disciples to read a lot of books on Buddhism.

●Xue Mo: Yes, they themselves seldom read those books. For the purpose of reading is not to turn the knowledge in the books into shackles that bind up your soul with all kinds of concepts. When people cover their eyes with knowledge and try to measure everything by the knowledge they have acquired, it will be a huge obstacle to their religious practice.

Nowadays, people have various afflictive hindrances: craving, ill-will, ignorance, doubt, jealousy – each is a blindfold. There is one more blindfold, i.e., cognitive hindrance. When all these blindfolds cover your eyes, you are unable to see any light. That way, you will get painfully trapped in the transmigration through the six kinds of rebirth. Therefore, the purpose of reading is to turn knowledge into nutrients for our practice and to gain some insight about our mind and nature. If a book gives rise to mistaken views, you’d better not read it.

For example, there was a Geshe who spent all his life thinking about the suffering of hell and transmigration because books told him to do so. When the pain of hell became an inescapable nightmare in his life, he was very much afraid of falling into hell after death. Indeed, if he didn’t practice very well, he would probably fall into hell. This Geshe is like a person holding a precious cup very tightly, who is occupied with the thought that he should by no means drop the cup but who does drop it in the end.

So you have to understand that the purpose of pondering over the suffering of transmigration and hell is to get away from it rather than to be immersed in its suffering. If you think of the suffering as an imminent disaster, as a sword hanging over your head, you will be living in pain and suffering and, when you die, there will be more pain and suffering waiting for you.

Ultimately, hell is called by your mind and behavior. When you die or when you are in the intermediate state, it suddenly occurs to you that you will fall into hell because of a wrongdoing you have done, then you are bound to fall into hell. There is no doubt about that. So, for some people, hell does exist. I’ll give you another example. One day, a starving man took a monk’s steamed bun without asking for permission. Afterwards, this man feared that he would fall into hell because he had stolen from a monk. From then on, he spent everyday in fear. Owing to his obsession, he indeed went to hell after death. In my eyes, hell is also a Pure Land of the Yidam and all the beings in hell are my mothers.

One more example, a friend of mind got sick pretty often and he found it was because a lot of demons were around him. Afterwards, he found in a book a method of visualizing a protecting shield. He practiced accordingly everyday. He was able to visualize the protecting shield very clearly. One day, he was sick again, probably because he failed to visualize the protecting shield as clearly as he used to. He had a surgery. After recovery, he told others that it was because he had failed to visualize the protecting shield clearly so that demons had found a way to come in. I never visualize the protecting shield because I don’t think there are demons in the world. All beings are mothers. Whether demons or animals, I will treat them as a son treats his mother. I am healthy. Demons don’t come for me because I don’t visualize the protecting shield.

Different minds lead to different results. If you think you are surrounded by demons who are bent on harming you, you are bound to be harmed. If you think this world is a Pure Land, then it is a Pure Land.

Therefore, the purpose of reading books is to turn what you read into nutrients rather than shackles. And its purpose is certainly not to disturb your mind or mess up your living environment. For me, reading is practice and practice is reading. Of course I am not attached to books. They are only one of the most important sources of nutrition to my soul.

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《光明大手印：实修心髓》下

别让书本变成生命的枷锁

◎陈亦新：一些大德并不提倡弟子看很多佛书。

●雪漠：是的，他们自己也很少看。因为看书的目的不是要把书上的知识变成枷锁，让自己用更多的名相、概念来捆绑心灵。当人用知识把自己的眼睛遮住，对待什么事情都用他的知识去衡量时，就会对修行造成了巨大的障碍。

现在，许多人不仅有各种烦恼障，比如贪婪是一道蒙眼布，仇恨也是一道蒙眼布，愚昧又是一道蒙眼布，怀疑、嫉妒等等仍是蒙眼布，还要再加上所知障，层层叠叠地蒙在眼前，你就根本看不到一点儿光明，就会往复在六道轮回的痛苦之中。所以，看书的目的是要把它变成修道的营养，并在心性方面得到一种启发。如果看了某些书后产生了邪见，就不如不看。

比如，有一个格西，按照书中的教授，他一辈子沉重不堪地始终在思维地狱的痛苦和六道的痛苦。当地狱之苦成为他人生中摆脱不了的噩梦时，他非常害怕自己死后会堕入地狱，要是他修得不好的话，他也许真的就会下地狱了。他好像一个抱着珍贵杯子的人，心里总想着不要掉下去，不要掉下去，最后杯子偏偏摔下去了。

所以，你必须明白，思维六道之苦、思维地狱之苦，是为了让你远离它而向上，并不是让你陷入痛苦之中。如果你把思维六道之苦，变成可能随时会降临的巨大的灾难，变成悬在头上的一柄剑，整天提心吊胆地担心着，那么活着时是痛苦的，死后肯定也会痛苦。

究竟地看，地狱是你的心和行为感召的。如果当你死的时候，或在中阴身的时候，突然想起你做了什么恶事，要堕入地狱，那你就肯定会堕地狱，那是毫不含糊的。所以，地狱对于某些人来说，确实是存在的。我再举一个例子，有一天一个人饿极了，在没有问别人的情况下，就拿了和尚的馒头吃。后来，这个人觉得偷了僧人的东西肯定会堕入地狱，就整天想这事，非常害怕。因为这一执著，他死后就真的堕入地狱了。但在我眼中，地狱也是本尊的净土，地狱的众生也都是母亲。

还有一个例子，有个朋友经常有病，他发现自己的身边有好多魔。后来，在书上看了防护轮观修法，就每天观修。每天他都把防护轮观得非常清晰。有一天，他可能观得不太清晰，就得病了，然后动了手术。出院后他就对人说，我的防护轮没有观好，魔进来了，让他动了手术。而我从来不观防护轮，我觉得这世上没有魔，所有众生都是母亲。魔也罢、动物也罢，我都会像一个儿子对待母亲那样地对待他们。我很健康，并不因为我没有观想防护轮，魔就会来欺负我。

这就是不同的心念产生的不同结果。当你觉得身边充满了魔，总想欺负你的时候，你肯定会受欺负。如果你觉得这个世界是净土，那么它就是净土。

所以，读书的目的，是让它变成营养，而不是变成枷锁，更不是了叫书中的知识弄乱你的心、弄坏你的生存环境。对于我来说，看书就等于修行，修行就等于看书，当然我也不执著书，书只是我的最重要的心灵营养之一。

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