佛法最平等

The Buddhadharma is Completely Fair

在佛教里，一分功，一分过，丝毫不会差错。

In Buddhism, the retribution you receive for each share of merit and

each share of offense you create will not be off by a hairsbreadth.

佛法是很微妙的，在佛法里，感觉不到有什么好处，在佛法外，也不觉得有什么坏处。可是在佛教里，一分功，一分过，丝毫不会差错。佛教里，亦是最自由、最平等，没有专制，毫不偏袒。

The Buddhadharma is very subtle and wonderful. When you are inside the Buddhadharma, you can't detect any advantage, and when you are outside the Buddhadharma, you don't feel any disadvantage. But in Buddhism, the retribution you receive for each share of merit and each share of offense you create will not be off by a hairsbreadth. In Buddhism, there is also the greatest freedom and the greatest equality. It is not despotic or biased in the least.

为什么说最平等呢？因为一切众生，无论饿鬼地狱，凶神恶兽，恶人坏人，如果肯发心修行，回头是岸，都可成佛。不像外道说：「恶人坏人，永远都坏，无法可度；猛虎恶兽，性情残暴，亦不可救。」

Why is it said to be equal? It's because if any living being, whether it's a hungry ghost, hell-being, evil spirit, ferocious beast, wicked person, or bad person, brings forth the resolve to cultivate, then “a turn of the head is the other shore,” and that being can become a Buddha. Buddhists are unlike externalists who advocate that bad or wicked people are eternally bad and beyond redemption, and that ferocious tigers and evil beasts, being wild by nature, cannot be saved.

中国明朝时代，有莲池大师，他便收了一只老虎徒弟，护持左右。可是老虎是恶兽，人见人怕，所以大师就教牠出入不要直行，虎亦遵命，出入退行，人们也就不怕，知为善虎。老虎徒弟还会到各处为莲池大师化缘。人们见到善虎，还争相布施供养呢！所以虎亦能皈依三宝，护持佛法，亦可成佛。

During the Ming dynasty, there was the Great Master Lianchi who accepted a tiger as his disciple. This tiger disciple accompanied him around and protected him. As tigers are known to be vicious beasts, everyone was terrified upon seeing it. Thereupon Great Master Lianchi told the tiger to walk backwards instead of forward. When the tiger did this, the people felt assured that it was tame, and they were no longer afraid of it. The tiger went everywhere to raise funds for the Great Master. People all crowded in to make offerings when they saw this good tiger coming. So it is said that tigers can also take refuge with the Triple Jewel, protect the Buddhadharma and become Buddhas.

佛教最自由，因佛教里，只是劝人行善，不要做恶。做恶会自作自受，自取其报。但佛教不会强迫人去行善，亦不会说，你不听话，专造恶业，我会造一所牢狱把你关进去。因为一切唯心造，天堂、地狱，皆是依人的思想和业力造成。故佛法教人「诸恶莫作，众善奉行」，并阐明丝毫不爽的因果律，教人认识真理而超出轮回。

Buddhism gives people the greatest freedom, because in Buddhism, people are only exhorted to practice good deeds and abstain from evil deeds. If you do evil, you yourself must suffer the retribution. But Buddhism doesn't force people to do good, and would not say, “If you don't listen, and you keep making bad karma, I'll build a prison and lock you up in it.” That's because everything is made from the mind alone. The heavens and the hells are created based on people's thoughts and the force of their karma. Thus the Buddhadharma teaches people to “Abstain from all evil and offer up all good conduct,” and explains the law of cause and effect, which never misses by even a hairsbreadth. It teaches people to recognize the truth and transcend the cycle of birth and death.