天开寺宽见法师 The Sutra of Forty-two Chapters - 3佛說四十二章經 第3章 後漢 西域沙門迦葉摩騰 竺法蘭 同譯
Translated jointly by Indian Sramana Kasyapa Matanga and Dharmaraksa in the Later Han Dynasty
△ 中文 | 梭罗木木 英文 | 弘惠 00 : 30 开始
第3章 割愛去貪
Parting with Greed佛言。剃除鬚髮而為沙門。受道法者。去世資財。乞求取足。 The Buddha said: "Those who shaving their heads and faces become Sramanas and who receive instruction in the Way, should surrender all worldly possessions and be contented with whatever they obtain by begging.
日中一食。樹下一宿。慎勿再矣。One meal a day and one lodging under a tree, and neither should be repeated.
使人愚蔽者。愛與欲也。For what makes one stupid and irrational is attachments and the passions. 英文版经文转载自 菩提字幕屋，英译者 D.T. SuzukiEnglish version sourced from Bodhi Fansubs, translated by D.T. Suzuki △ 英文 | 释宏添 中文 | 梭罗木木 01 : 54 开始
法师讲解
Commentary: Parting with greed
The main purpose of this chapter is to understand the practice of dhūta. The word dhūta coming from Sanskrit means “energize”, or actually refers to ascetic practice. The Buddha said as long as dhūta practice exists in the world, Buddhism will last long.
There is a set of rules that ascetics should follow. This includes serving only one meal a day; food serving is only allowed for once during lunch but not any other time during the day. The reason behind is that one can overcome his craving through reducing food intake.
Ascetics need to obtain their food through alms begging, in the course of which, ascetics are not supposed to visit only the rich ones according to their preference. Instead, when they beg for alms, they shall find the benefactors from door to door sequentially, and such visit has a maximum limit of seven times. If one returns with an empty alms bowl, that means he is running out of bliss. Through alms begging, one can overcome his habitual tendencies such as greed and arrogance. Alms begging is also a manifestation of compassion and loving kindness to all beings through providing the benefactors with opportunities to make offerings to the three jewels.
In addition, ascetics shall stay under a tree for meditation at night. However, staying in a place for too long, one may become possessive about the locality and exploitative towards acquaintances. To avoid this, ascetics can only stay under the same tree for less than three days.
