《聽星雲大師說：吉祥草》

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHq0fQNDrVY&list=PLRcizuixTNe8wTPazpNAK3d72HKPq75T0&index=3

各位觀眾 Hello TV viewers,

大家平安吉祥 joy and peace to you all.

今天要和各位講吉祥草 Today I'm going to tell you about the Auspicious Grass.

在佛經裡面有一個故事 There is a story in the Buddhist sutra

就叫吉祥草的故事 called the Auspicious Grass.

經典裡面就說 The sutra says: 有一個婦人 A lady 她忽然把一個年幼小的兒子 had a little son 獨生子忽然死亡了 who was her only son. But he died at a sudden.

這個母親喪子之痛 The pain of losing her son 當然很難受 made her suffer a lot.

她就很不甘願 She was reluctant to lose her son 希望把我的兒子要救活 and hoped her son would come back alive.

當然說醫生能替人看病 A doctor might be able to cure a patient's disease,

不一定能救命 but might not be able to bring the dead back to life.

這個病好也要看你的病的程度 Whether one will get well depend on the severity of one's illness.

現在人都已經死了 Now her son already died,

這個醫生也回天乏術 the doctor just couldn't do anything about it.

她不得辦法就跑來去找佛陀 After all attempts to save her son had failed, she came to see the Buddha.

佛陀你要把我的兒子救活 She said: Buddha! Please save my son!

你佛陀是大智、大勇、大仁 You have great wisdom, great courage and great kindness. 這佛陀知道 The Buddha knew 對這樣的愚癡的想法 her thought was ignorant, 不合理的想法 not sensible, 是不對的 and simply wrong.

但是開導她也不容易讓她明白 It's not easy to enlighten her and make her come to her senses. 佛陀就方便的說 The Buddha then expediently said to her: 他說現在要救活妳的兒子 To save your son, now 只有一個辦法 there is only one way to do so. 妳要找到一個吉祥草給他吃 You must find an Auspicious Grass and have him eat it. 他能可以再活過來 He can come alive again. 啊佛吉祥草在哪裡呢 She said: Oh, well, Buddha, where is the Auspicious Grass then? 它是每一個人家都會有的 Every family has it. 但是問題就是說 The problem is that 妳要去找這個吉祥草 if you want to seek the Auspicious Grass, 要這一個人家沒有死過人 you must find it in a family who has never lost their beloved member 它的這個草才有用 else this Auspicious Grass would have any use. 才叫吉祥草 This is why it's called the Auspicious Grass. 喔那這個婦人聽了以後 After the lady heard of this, 就到張家問你家裡死過人嗎 she then visited a family and asked: Did anyone die in your house? 當然很不禮貌 This was a very impolite question. 到李家問你家死過人嗎 She went to another family and asked the same question. 你們說這個世間上 Is there any family who 哪一家沒有死過人 has not lost any of their family members? 長江後浪推前浪 Generation passes down to next generation 世上新人趕舊人 as time goes. 無常輪轉的世界 The world runs in an impermanent cycle, 等於春夏秋冬是氣候 like the climate of four seasons, 成住壞空是物質 like the formation, abiding, destruction and non-existence of materials, 生老病死就是人生的現象 or birth, aging, illness and death of a human life. 死了以後 After a person dies, 哪裡能復生呢 how can he come back alive again? 這個婦人一家一家的 This lady asked family after family, 家家都有死了人 and of course every family has lost their members before. 當然就沒有吉祥草 There is no Auspicious Grass. 所以她就很失望 So she was very disappointed. 但是這時候就悟到 By then she suddenly came to realize 原來死亡人人都有份的 death is a rite of passage for each person. 人不是生之可喜死之可悲 Human life is not just about the joy of birth and the sadness of death. 當你才出生的時候 When you are born, 就註定你必須要有死亡 you are doomed to die one day. 所以把生死看得要平淡一點 We shall take the matter of birth and death in a light way 生來了就讓他生 We accept it when birth comes, 死去了就讓他死 as well as when death arrives. 死也不是說沒有 It doesn't mean there is simply nothing after death. 死了以後還會再生 There is rebirth after death, 生死是循環的 as the cycle of birth and death 等於時辰鐘一樣 is like a clock 好像轉了一個圈子 that runs in an endless circle. 所以我們要把自己看成 We shall try to think we are 好像移民到別的地方去了 just immigrating to somewhere else. 不必為生死太過悲哀 We shouldn't take birth and death too seriously. 所以吉祥草 Therefore the story of Auspicious Grass 大家要瞭解 is to teach you this important principle. 阿彌陀佛 Amitabha! 祝福你們 May all you be blessed.