〖未去壳的米〗

学习佛法的人若没有深入了解其真实的涵义，就有如一条睡在一堆尚未去壳的稻米上的狗。当牠饥饿的时候，牠会从那堆稻米上跳下来，寻找散落于四处的事物。虽然牠就睡在食物的上面，但自己却毫不知情，这是为什么呢？因为牠见不著米。狗不能吃未去壳的米，食物就在牠脚下，但牠却不能吃，因为牠不知道那就是米。牠可能很久都找不到可以吃的东西，甚至致死……在那堆稻米上。众生便是如此。不论我们学了多少佛法，如果没有实践，我们就见不到法；如果我们见不到法，便不知法是什么。

Unthreshed Rice

People who study the Dhamma without penetrating to its true meaning are just like a dog sleeping on a pile of unthreshed rice. When it's hungry, it bounds off the pile of rice grain and runs off looking for scraps of food. Even though it's sleeping right on top of a pile of food, it doesn't know that. Why? Because it can't see the rice. Dogs can't eat unthreshed rice. The food is there but the dog can't eat it. It doesn't know the rice. It might not be able to find anything to eat for a long time, and it may even die . . . right on top of that pile of rice! People are like this. No matter how much we study the Dhamma, we won't see it if we don't practice. If we don't see it, then we won't know it.