宣公上人: 向華嚴經中找智慧
古人有幾句話說得很好：「看看雞皮鶴髮，漸漸行步龍鍾」，不會走路了，頭重腳輕，好
似喝醉酒。「假饒金玉滿堂」，即使金子、銀子、鑽石、珍珠、翡翠、珊瑚、瑪瑙、硨磲
、赤珠、琥珀等等的七寶充滿你的倉庫，「無常終是到來」無常鬼來到，一點人情也不講
，說：「閻王現在請你赴宴去！」你說：「我不跟你去！」這不行的，一個鎖鍊就把你鍊
去。因為你認賊作子，染苦為樂，把本有的珍寶掉了，到外面收拾垃圾。本有珍寶要到哪
裏找回來呢？要在《華嚴經》中去找。這是華嚴寺，《華嚴經》裏充滿了三千大千世界的
珍寶，無上正知正等正覺也在裏頭。你就是單單念「南無大方廣佛華嚴經、南無華嚴海會
佛菩薩…」就功德無量，無量無邊的珍寶充滿你的保險庫。所以即使只會一句一偈、一段
一品，或者全部會念，那你就是真正佛的弟子，佛想不承認你是弟子也不行，因為你深入
經藏，智慧如海。你的智慧不久將來和佛一樣，我們既遇到這華嚴寺一塵不染，所以我們
要萬慮皆空，把智慧裝滿。
所以昨晚我見有人會背《藥師經》，有人會念《華嚴經》普賢菩薩十大行願品，希望你們
把它熟讀永遠不忘記。這是我對你們的期望。我們失掉的智慧寶藏，要在《華嚴經》找。
Ancient wisdom encapsulates this well: "Feathers and hairs of birds and beasts
, gradually, step by step, like the dragon's bell; unable to walk properly, fe
eling light-headed and heavy-footed, as if drunk." "Despite having halls fille
d with gold and jade," even if your treasury is filled with the seven treasure
s such as gold, silver, diamonds, pearls, jade, coral, agate, amber, etc., "im
permanence will eventually arrive." When the spirit of impermanence arrives, i
t shows no mercy, saying, "Yama (the lord of death) is inviting you to a banqu
et now!" If you say, "I won't go with you!" that's not acceptable; a chain wil
l bind you. Because you've recognized thieves as your children, found pleasure
in suffering, squandering your inherent treasures and instead collecting garb
age outside.
Where can one reclaim these inherent treasures? It's in the Avatamsaka Sutra.
This is the Huayan Temple, and the Avatamsaka Sutra is filled with treasures f
rom the three thousand great thousand worlds, with the unsurpassed perfect wis
dom and enlightenment within. Just by chanting "Namo Mahavaipulya Buddha Avata
msaka Sutra, Namo Avatamsaka Samantabhadra Bodhisattva..." the merits are imme
asurable, boundless treasures fill your treasury. So even if you only know a s
ingle verse, a single section, or can chant it all, you are truly a disciple o
f the Buddha. Even if the Buddha refuses to acknowledge you as a disciple, you
have delved deeply into the scriptures, your wisdom is vast like the ocean. S
oon your wisdom will be akin to that of the Buddha. Since we've encountered th
is Huayan Temple, pristine and pure, we should empty our minds of all worries
and fill them with wisdom.
So last night, I saw some people reciting the Medicine Buddha Sutra, some chan
ting the Ten Great Vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva from the Avatamsaka Sutra
. I hope you will study them thoroughly and never forget. This is my expectati
on of you. The wisdom treasure we've lost can be found in the Avatamsaka Sutra
.