宣公上人: 向华严经中找智慧
古人有几句话说得很好：“看看鸡皮鹤发，渐渐行步龙钟”，不会走路了，头重脚轻，好
似喝醉酒。“假饶金玉满堂”，即使金子、银子、钻石、珍珠、翡翠、珊瑚、玛瑙、砗磲
、赤珠、琥珀等等的七宝充满你的仓库，“无常终是到来”无常鬼来到，一点人情也不讲
，说：“阎王现在请你赴宴去！”你说：“我不跟你去！”这不行的，一个锁链就把你炼
去。因为你认贼作子，染苦为乐，把本有的珍宝掉了，到外面收拾垃圾。本有珍宝要到哪
里找回来呢？要在《华严经》中去找。这是华严寺，《华严经》里充满了三千大千世界的
珍宝，无上正知正等正觉也在里头。你就是单单念“南无大方广佛华严经、南无华严海会
佛菩萨…”就功德无量，无量无边的珍宝充满你的保险库。所以即使只会一句一偈、一段
一品，或者全部会念，那你就是真正佛的弟子，佛想不承认你是弟子也不行，因为你深入
经藏，智慧如海。你的智慧不久将来和佛一样，我们既遇到这华严寺一尘不染，所以我们
要万虑皆空，把智慧装满。
所以昨晚我见有人会背《药师经》，有人会念《华严经》普贤菩萨十大行愿品，希望你们
把它熟读永远不忘记。这是我对你们的期望。我们失掉的智慧宝藏，要在《华严经》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
.