Lecture No. 0011
Global Lamrim II
Lecture No. 0011
Tape no.
1A 27:23 ~ 1B 00:50
Date
2018/05/07 ~ 05/09
Outline: Foundation
Topic: The situation of Buddhism in earlier times
Vol. 1 of Master’s discourse handbook P14 LL3 – P15 L4
[Master Jih-Chang’s commentary book 1, on page introduction-14]
Reincarnated Bodhisattvas like Master Tai-xu, with his aspiration and his disciples, applied Chinese lineages such as Tai, Xiang, Xing, Xian (台、賢、性、相), as well as Zen and Pure Land [lineages]. But the Vajrayana lineage had been broken for a long time in mainland China. The Vajrayana teaching once existed in the palace during the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Master Tai-xu sent his disciples to learn from the Japanese version of Vajrayana, and at that time, Venerable Da-yong also went. Later, Venerable Da-yong went to Tibet and Venerable Fa-zun went with him. Venerable Fa-zun translated the Chinese Lamrim. Actually, there was a group of practitioners that went to Tibet to learn their lineage, and among them, Venerable Fa-zun was the most extraordinary one. [01’14”]
The paragraph that we just listened to, described Master Tai-xu as the reincarnated Bodhisattva. Master mentioned that “but the Vajrayana lineage had been broken for a long time in mainland China. The Vajrayana teaching once existed in the palace”. Then, Master said that Master Tai-xu sent several disciples to study the Vajrayana practice, and one of them was Venerable Da-yong. Who else? The Chinese Lamrim text translator Venerable Fa-zun. Master said there were actually a lot more [than those who were mentioned here], but Venerable Fa-zun was the one who made the most outstanding contribution to introduce Tibetan Buddhism to China. [01’59”]
Speaking of Venerable Fa-zun, I’m not sure if new students are familiar with him, but senior students all knew him very well. In fact, he translated many many scriptures that were missing in the Chinese lineage. Today, I will mention the ones which are more familiar to us, such as The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment 《菩提道次第廣論》, Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment 《菩提道次第略論》, Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp of the Five Stages 《勝集密教王五次第教授善顯炬論》, A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages 《集密五次第教授攝要》, and the Practices of Lamrim Chenmo 《菩提道次第攝頌》, Essence of True Eloquence 《辨了義不了義善說藏論》, Commentary of Essence of True Eloquence《辨了義不了義善說藏論釋難論》, Lama Tsongkhapa’s Dependent Arising – A Praise of the Buddha 《緣起讚》, Commentary on Bodhisattva Vows《菩薩戒品釋》– which is focused on explaining the Bodhisattva vows, and Establishing 5 Paths & 10 Levels《地道建立》, 20 similes of Bodhicitta methods《二十種菩提心法》, Explanation of the 108 Dharma verses in Prajnaparamita Sutra《十萬頌般若經中一百零八句法的略解》，also Ritual of Guru Yoga《上師薈供法》etc. Venerable Fa-zun was also once honoured as Master Xuan-zhang of modern days! Of course, his translations also include, Ornament for Clear Knowledge 《現觀莊嚴論》, Dharma-dharmata-vibhanga《辨法法性論》, Seventy Stanzas on Emptiness《七十空性論》, Four Hundred Stanzas 《四百論》, Introduction to the Middle Way 《入中論》, etc. [03’09”]
Just imagine how a person devoted his whole life to studying Tibetan, mastering the language, and then commenced his [life-long] translation work. Why did Venerable Fa-zun want to do translations? That is to benefit the Chinese so that we can understand Tibetan Buddhism; he put in so much hard work in translating! Now the venerables in our monastery are also doing translations, and I have also participated in some of them. It is definitely a strenuous process; and not exaggerating at all to describe it as “turning every drop of painstaking effort into words”. Most of the time, they start on the translating task after they have finished their study of the Five Treatises, debating, and the morning and evening lessons. [03’46”]
Some of the venerables have been engaging in translation work for more than 20 years. They entered the monastery in their teens; now our venerables at the Scriptural Library are almost 40 years old, so they have learned Tibetan for more than 20 years. It is said among our venerables that some of them would even speak Tibetan in their dreams. One can tell how proficient they are in Tibetan. Even so, while translating we encounter some Tibetan local dialects, there is no way for us to understand what they mean. To find out their meanings, we have to ask Rinpoche or Geshe for help. Afterward, we realized that some expressions that are very clear to the locals would be beyond comprehension by us Chinese. Probably like I am from northeast China; an expression well known to the people of northeast China might baffle Taiwanese, and similarly people in northeast China may not have a clue about a simple expression in Taiwanese. Because of geographical gaps and language barriers, those translators on their quest to seek Dharma [in India or Tibet] have made tremendous contributions to the propagation of Buddhism! [04’48”]
Like in the past I have heard of a venerable who was on his way to seek teaching; he ran out of food and had nothing but a few beans to go by. He ate one bean each day, persisted in studying and translating, and managed to survive a whole week! Hence, we can imagine [what challenges the translators have to face] when seeking Buddha’s teaching. Take Tibet for instance, the first challenge will be the altitude sickness. Next is the local diet, then the language barriers, your body’s physical conditions, and all sorts of environmental challenges. The venerables have to endure all of these. The venerables in our monastery are blessed in that they don’t have to travel afar to study, they are able to learn Tibetan in our own monastery and do the translations together. Therefore, we must be thankful to our Master and the support from all our lay practitioners, that we now have the Scriptural Library. [05’41”]
Speaking of the Scriptural Library, we would think of Master Xuan-zhang, Master Yi-jing*, and Master Kumarajiva*, as well as more recently, Venerable Fa-zun, Venerable Da-Yong etc, these remarkable translators. They dedicated their whole life’s efforts, illustrating the beautiful scroll of this lineage, allowing us to view its magnificent and be touched. Hence, revisiting our Master’s introduction, “Venerable Fa-zun was the most extraordinary one”, one would be deeply touched and feel the warmth upon hearing “Venerable Fa-zun”. Because he is no longer an unfamiliar translator but rather a great benefactor in our lives! [06’30”]
[*Master Yi-jing: CE 635-713 eminent monk translator of Tang dynasty *Master Kumarajiva: CE 334~413, a Buddhist monk and prolific translator of Buddhism texts from Sanskrit to Chinese. *CE = common era]
【全球广论 II 讲次: 0011】
讲次 0011
科判 道前基础
主题 民初佛法概况
音档 1A 27:23 ~ 1B 00:50
日期 2018/05/07 ~ 05/09
手抄页/行 1册 P14-LL3 ~ P15-L4 ( 2016 南普陀版：1册 P14-LL5 ~ P15-L3 )
手抄段落 所以像虚大师这种菩萨再来人……就是那“尊法师”。
所以像虚大师这种菩萨再来人，他有这样的愿心，结果他门下的弟子，除了我们本来有的台、贤、性、相各方面，以及所谓禅、净等等，关于密教部分，在我们中国内地已经失传很久；以前有，偏于宫廷方面，元、明以来一直都是这个样。后来虚大师就为了学这个，派了几个弟子，一部分向东去学东密，譬如当年的时候是大勇法师什么，实际上后来大勇法师也到西藏去。那么另外呢，跟大勇法师去的，是现在本论的作者——法尊法师。实际上真正到西藏去学藏密的还是有一堆人，而这个里边，结果对目前介绍这个藏密过来的，最了不起的一个大功臣就是那“尊法师”！ [01′14″]
刚才我们听这一段，说像虚大师这种菩萨的再来人，师父在这一段讲了：“密教的部分，在中国内地已经失传了很久了；以前有，是在宫廷里边传的。”然后讲到太虚大师派了几个弟子去学习密法，其中就有大勇法师啊，然后还有谁呀？就是现在本论的翻译者，法尊法师。但是师父说真正去学习的还有很多人，这里边对目前把藏传佛教介绍过来的，最了不起的大功臣就是“尊法师”！ [01′59″]
提到尊法师，新的同学不知道熟不熟悉，老同学都非常熟了。其实他翻译了很多很多我们汉传里边没有的。我今天讲一下大家比较熟悉的，譬如说：《菩提道次第广论》、《菩提道次第略论》、《胜集密教王五次第教授善显炬论》、《集密五次第教授摄要》，还有《菩提道次第摄颂》、《辨了义不了义善说藏论》、《辨了义不了义善说藏论释难论》、宗大师写的《缘起赞》、《菩萨戒品释》——就是专门解释菩萨戒的，然后《地道建立》、《二十种菩提心法》、《十万颂般若经中一百零八句法的略解》，还有《上师荟供法》等等。法尊法师也曾被誉为是现在的玄奘大师！当然这里边还有《现观庄严论》、《辨法法性论》、《七十空性论》、《精研论》、《四百论》、《入中论》、《入中论善显密意疏》、《入中论疏》，还有《阿毘达磨俱舍论释．开显解脱道论》等等。 [03′09″]
可以想像一个人一生啊，从去学藏文到精通藏文、到开始翻译。他为什么要翻译呢？就是为了我们这些汉土的有情能够了解藏传佛法，然后做了这么多辛苦的翻译呀！现在我们寺院的法师们也在翻译，我也有参与过一些。在翻译的时候可以看到真的是满辛苦的，说“滴滴心血化为字”一点都不过分！有的时候他们都是在比如学习五大论、辩论完了，早晚课之后再开始翻译。 [03′46″]
像有的同学从练习翻译开始，其实都有二十多年的学习生涯了。因为从十多岁到寺院，现在我们译经院的法师都快四十岁了，所以学了二十多年的藏文。有法师们传闻说，有的法师做梦都在用藏文说梦话，所以是非常熟练的。但是大家翻译的时候，还是会遇到比如他们当地的土话呀，我们就不明白了，觉得是什么意思呢？然后就要请问仁波切呀、请问格西呀，问了之后才会知道当地人都明白的一件事，但是我们汉族人就不懂这是什么了。可能就像我是东北人嘛！东北人都明白的一句话，要是讲给台湾人的话，台湾人完全不知道是怎么回事；同样，台湾人讲一句话讲去东北，东北人也不晓得是怎么回事。因为有地域的隔阂、语言的隔阂，所以译师、去求法的译师，就对佛教的弘扬发展，应该说建立了丰功伟绩呀！ [04′48″]
像以前听说也有一位去求法的法师，没有吃的，就只有几粒豆子，然后每天吃一粒豆子，坚持学习、坚持翻译，就这样过了一周啊！所以去求法的时候可以想见，比如说如果去藏地求法的话，首先就是高山症，再一个就是饮食习惯，然后语言关、你的体力、环境各方面的挑战，这都是译师们要穿越的。我们寺院的法师，好就好在没有去很远的地方学习，就在自己的寺院里学会了藏文，然后集体翻译。所以这要感谢师父的恩德、感谢广大居士的这种护持吧，才有今天的译经院。 [05′41″]
提到译经院，大家就会想到玄奘大师啊，想到义净大师啊、鸠摩罗什大师啊，然后现代的法尊法师、大勇法师等等，这些了不起的译师。他们辛辛苦苦地用自己生命点点滴滴的心血，描绘了这个传承的美丽画卷，让我们看起来非常非常地绚丽和感动。所以现在再看到师父介绍：“最了不起的大功臣，就是那《尊法师》！”念到这“尊法师”的时候，心里一阵的感动、一阵的温暖，因为他对我们来说，再也不是一个很陌生的译师，他是我们生命里的大恩人！ [06′30″]