Freedom over Birth and Death Comes
When We Truly Escape Our Cage

生死自由　真出笼计

The owner pulled open the cage door and gently placed the little bird in his hand. It was still warm, not yet cold. In fact, because the bird was only pretending to be dead, of course it retained its body warmth. The owner peeked at the little thing, turning his hand this way and that. The bird didn't even quiver. Whatever angle he viewed it from, the bird appeared to be really dead. Its body was still warm; only its breath seemed to have stopped. Slowly he open his hand... PHLLRTTPHLRTTPHLRTT! The bird broke loose from his hand and flew away! It had escaped from the cage!

于是就把笼门打开，将小鸟拿出来放到手上，还是热呼呼地没有凉，因为它是装死，所以身上的暖气不会没有的。这主人把小鸟放在手里转着看，嗯！不动了，翻过来看，掉过来看，看来看去，看它真像死了似地，但身体还是热的，只是不喘气了。于是就把手打开看看。噢！把手一开，你说这只鹦鹉怎么样？它精神就来了，噗！噗！飞了！这只小鸟的出笼计灵了！ 可是我们现在都在笼子里呢！我们这个出笼计怎么办？

But we are still in a cage right now! How do we escape? As to human beings, you shouldn't think you are free. Don't misinterpret freedom, saying, "I am really free. If I want to eat, I eat; if I want to drink alcohol, I drink alcohol. I can do anything I please. I can ignore the rules if I want to! That's what I call freedom!" That's a misinterpretation of freedom. To be truly free, you must be free of birth and death, and then if you wish to fly into space, you can fly into space, and if you wish to burrow into the earth, you can burrow into the earth. If you can do that, you will gain the kind of freedom that the little bird gained.

我们人哪，你不要自以为是自由的，不要误解自由，说我愿意吃就吃，我愿意喝酒就喝酒，愿意做什么就做什么，我不守规矩也可以，这就是自由。这叫误解自由，真正的自由，要能生死自由，我愿意飞到天空就飞到天空，我愿意钻到地里就钻到地里；你若有这个本事，才是自由，就像那只小鸟。