少恼　少欲　少病痛

Few Afflictions and Few Desires Means Few Illnesses

修道人最怕有烦恼，不生烦恼就没有那么多私欲；

私欲源于烦恼，而生出无明，随着就有病痛。

What cultivators fear most is affliction. If you're not afflicted, you have fewer desires.

Afflictions produce desires, which in turn produce ignorance; ignorance leads to sickness.

修道人最怕有烦恼，所以说：「烦恼无尽誓愿断。」断烦恼，对修行者是当务之急。什么境界来了，不生烦恼，这才是有定力。不生烦恼，就没有那么多私欲。私欲源于烦恼，而生出无明，随着就有病痛。没有烦恼，并不是没有人来惹你，所以你没有烦恼；而是有人来扰乱你、碰你、打你，你都不生烦恼，这才是真有定力。

What cultivators fear most is affliction. That's why we say, “I vow to put an end to my endless afflictions.”

Afflictions are an urgent matter that cultivators must attend to. If you can remain unafflicted no matter what happens, you have samadhi power. If you're not afflicted, you have fewer desires. Afflictions produce desires, which in turn produce ignorance; ignorance leads to sickness. You should be free of afflictions not only when no one is disturbing you, but even when people bother you, provoke you, or hit you. Then you truly have samadhi power.

一九八三年六月廿四日晚间开示

A talk given on the evening of June 24, 1983,

at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas