[道场是囚牢]

Sacred Institutions Are Prisons

接下来，我们应当谈谈那些庄严神圣、声名远播、普受赞扬的道场、学会、学院等，它们的名气令人们只要登记为会员，就摇身一变和道场一样响叮当。这种情形处处可见，人们一登记为该道场的一份子，便开始认为：“我们比别人优秀”、“我们是明智的一群，其他人都是愚痴的。”他们不经任何思索评论，便执持这些观念。如此一来，这些道场就变成囚牢了。因此恳请各位，千万不要认为解脱自在园是个圣地，否则它会变成你的囚牢。应该自由思考、仔细检核，然后精确地评估，只了解及相信真正有益的事，而不要陷落任何一个闻名的道场所形成的囚牢中。

We should continue with those institutions or establishments which are holy and sacred, or are famous and celebrated; or those that are rumored to be so elite and prestigious that anyone who becomes a member of one is prestigious, too. There are a number of such places and institutions around. As soon as someone registers as a member of that association or this organization, that institute or this establishment, they start to get ideas and feelings about it. They feel that "we're better than them" or "we're the ones who are right and the rest are stupid." They grasp and cling without the least bit of consideration or critical thinking. In this way, that institution, even that church -- we can't avoid saying so -- becomes a prison. So we beg of you, don't think that Suan Mokkh is some holy or miraculous institution, otherwise Suan Mokkh will become a prison. Please don't turn Suan Mokkh into your prison. You ought to think freely, examine carefully, evaluate critically. Understand and believe only what is genuinely beneficial. Don't get imprisoned in any of those prestigious or famous institutions.