【修持轨理 The Meditation Session】皈依发心 Going for refuge and developing the spirit of enlightenment
【修持轨理】
第四个：
【既安住已，皈依发心，】
下面是皈依了、发心了，皈依跟发心是两件事情。
【决定令与相续和合。】
这个皈依也好，这个发心也好，要怎么办啊？这句话注意!要跟“相续和合”，而且决定要做到! 什么是“相续”？身心，就是我们的身心。为什么叫“和合”？或者说什么是和合？我们现在说皈依佛不堕地狱，然后皈依法不堕饿鬼，皈依僧不堕畜生，念过了。请问这样的皈依和合与否？跟身心和合否？不和合；跟嘴巴和合的，耳朵和合的。所以袓师告诉我们，这个叫入耳出口之学。他下面说得很有意思，“口耳之间短短数寸，曷以美堂堂七尺之躯”？我们这个身体堂堂七尺，你耳朵听见了，嘴巴里念出来这么一点点，这个一点点东西，没办法对你真正地身心有好处。
来源 SOURCE：
日常师父法语 22B 18’50”手抄稿第三册 P208L3
22B 18’50” Vol 3 of Master Jih-Chang’s Discourse P208L3
English Lamrim Vol 1, P94
【The Meditation Session】
【absorb yourself in the practices of going for refuge and developing the spirit of enlightenment.】
Next is about going for refuge and developing the spirit of enlightenment. To go for refuge and to develop the spirit of enlightenment are two things.
Whether it is going for refuge or developing the spirit of enlightenment, how do you carry it out? Pay attention to this sentence here! You need to "absorb yourself in the practices" in continuum, and you must be determined to do so! What is continuum? Body and mind, it is our bodies and minds. Why does it say "absorb"? Or what is absorption? We now say that, "We go to the Buddha for refuge and we will not fall into hell. We go to the Dharma for refuge and we will not fall and become hungry ghosts. We go to the Sangha for refuge and we will not fall and become animals." We just read through it. May I ask then, is this way of going for refuge considered absorption? Can you absorb your body and mind in this? There is no absorption. You can absorb the mouth and ear in this kind of practice. So the past masters tell us, this would be a kind practice that calls for only the few inches between the mouth and the ears. Then they go on to say something that is very interesting, "How does a practice that is only few inches between the ears and mouth compliment a body that is seven feet tall?" Our body could be as tall as seven feet. Though your ears heard this, and your mouth only chanted these few words, these few words cannot bring any real benefit to your body and mind.
