Jan 29

Jan 29, 2018
慧淨上人法語
淨土宗宗風真諦

One Gatha says, “The greatest benefit is free from illness, the greatest wealth is contentment with your lot, the greatest relation is good friends, and the greatest happiness is Nirvana”. Through out our whole life, the greatest enjoyment is health and free from illness; the greatest riches is a heart that knows enough is better than too much. Our most intimate relation is not necessarily our family, but good and virtuous friend of our school, for husband and wife could be an awkward bedfellow, while father and son will depart in the future and wander around in accordance with respective karma, or even obstruct each other. 

So, our good and virtuous friends are those who bring benefits to our whole life and help us for emancipation of our reality body and sectarian life. “The greatest happiness is Nirvana”: the Land of Bliss is a realm of nirvana, where we can realize enlightenment once we are reborn there. As achievement of nirvana is the true happiness, so it says that “the greatest happiness is Nirvana”.

有首偈語說：「無病第一利，知足第一富，善友第一親，涅槃第一樂。」我們一生最大的受用是健康無病，最富有的是知足的心，跟我們最親近的是善友，是我們這個法門的善知識，倒不是家人，因為夫妻往往同床異夢，而父子至親，然而將來都各自隨業流轉，甚至有可能彼此障礙。

因此，對我們一生有益處、有幫助的，能使我們法身慧命得解脫的，是我們的善友、善知識。「涅槃第一樂」，極樂世界是涅槃世界，我們往生極樂世界之後就能夠證悟涅槃，而涅槃才是真正的樂，所以說涅槃第一樂。

Namo Amitabha!