First, the teachings of the orthodox method are "not depending on people according to the law". What is Dharma? Classic. What is a person? We don't rely on what he said and what he annotated. We focus on the classics. We study annotations and rely on the annotations of the ancients, but we don't rely on the annotations of the present. Why? Unreliable, not tempered by history. For example, master lianchi's "Sparse Money" has been circulating for 5 years. How many brilliant people have read it in these 5 years and think it is no problem, so we can believe it. If there was something wrong with it, it would have been eliminated long ago, because printing was inconvenient at that time and it needed to be copied by hand. The woodcut version is carved word by word, which takes a lot of time! If it's not real, who will pay? Who wants to circulate this thing? Therefore, this is the testimony of history, which proves that what he said is true and not false. The older things are, the more reliable they are, and so are the articles. Everything that has been handed down is a good thing. For example, Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan, great writers in the Tang Dynasty, did not know how many articles he wrote in his life. The best ones were handed down, and the second ones were lost long ago. Why? No one wants to circulate it. Therefore, the older these things are, the more real and valuable they are, so I advise you to look less at what people have now.
actually, classical Chinese is not difficult! The secret of learning classical Chinese is to read it, and read it often. Once upon a time, children were memorizing, and ancient Chinese could recite fifty or a hundred articles, so there was no word barrier. Now are we going to read "The View of Ancient Chinese Literature"? I'm telling you, you don't have to. Just read this sutra. Master lianchi's article is very shallow in classical Chinese, and it is also the best article. You can read this book every day for three years, and your classical Chinese will pass. Read a few paragraphs every day, and you don't have to read anything else. Not only classical Chinese is well understood, but also classics are well understood. Why? If you teach the truth, you can get the fruit, and if you can get one heart, it is the fruit. This is the Dharma.
-----------Amitabha Sutra's Notes (Episode 36) 1984/12 Taiwan Province Jingmeihua Library's file name: 1-3-36
Second, once upon a time, in the era of emperors, lectures were not freely spoken, and scriptures were not freely printed. If you want to print a sutra and circulate it, you need the government's approval. If you don't approve it, you can't circulate it casually. So in the past, the classics were all issued by the emperor. Even if they were annotated, they had to be given to the emperor first. How could the emperor have time to read them? He went to those mages and great laymen and experts to see if there were any problems. No problem, ok! The next imperial edict can be circulated and everyone can engrave it. If it is not promulgated by the state, it is decided to prohibit circulation. The sermon, either a mage or a layman, must also be approved by the court or local officials. Now it's democracy and freedom. You can print whatever you like, and no one interferes with you. Therefore, in modern times, the magic height is not only one foot, but also the Tao height is one foot. So we were born in this era, and what puzzles us most is this matter.
what should we do if we want to avoid this puzzle? The only way is to read ancient books. Ancient books have been tested by history, and they have been circulated for hundreds of years. If it wasn't really good, it wouldn't have been passed down, and it had been eliminated for hundreds of years. It has not been eliminated, and it can still survive today. It must have considerable value, so we read ancient books. Are ancient books difficult to read? Not difficult! As long as you have the patience to work hard for two or three years, this ancient text is classical Chinese, and you can read it. Especially in modern times, we can study by ourselves even without a teacher. The Selected Works of Ancient and Modern published by Mandarin Daily contains a lot of good ancient prose, with detailed phonetic notes, so you can really study by yourself. If you study the classics wholeheartedly, as long as you are willing to work hard to look up the dictionary, the meaning is not difficult to understand. You should know that the text of Buddhist scriptures is much shallower than that of ancient prose, and it was the simplest text at that time. Buddhism requires universal circulation, so don't use difficult words, for fear that ordinary people can't understand them. When translating Buddhism, it is considered to be popular and universal. Therefore, the text of Buddhist scriptures is called "variant text", which is in other words, the vernacular at that time and is easy to understand. There are many old women who read Buddhism. She can't read. She can read the scriptures. She knows the meaning of the scriptures. That's the reason.
this is talking about knowledge and experience. Learning Buddhism is really about being knowledgeable, which is true in theory! In terms of matters, there are limits, which we have to know. Nowadays, the way to learn in the world, like Hu Shizhi, has a metaphor: learning is like a pyramid. There is a vast area under the pyramid, and it has a top. This means that learning needs to be knowledgeable and specialized in one subject. This is the law of the world. Buddhism, that is to turn the pyramid upside down, Buddhism is to specialize first and then learn. When you are studying in a school, you have to learn dozens of subjects. The more you go to a higher institution, the more specialized you are in universities and research institutes, as if the pyramid had reached the top. This is the theory of the world. Otherwise, the ancients often used trees as metaphors. What does Buddhism seek first? Seeking roots and roots is the backbone, and then branches and flowers are born from the backbone, which is more and more extensive. Therefore, studying Buddhism is just the opposite of worldly laws and methods. First, you specialize in one subject, and then you can learn more and hear more. Therefore, being knowledgeable is not for beginners. Who is knowledgeable? Bodhisattva.
------------Amitabha Sutra's Romance of Dispelling Banknotes (episode 37) 1984/12 Taiwan Province Jingmeihua Library File Name: 1-3-37
Third, there are too many such good things as ancient sages, which can't be read all one's life! So I often advise fellow initiates to read ancient books. I can't understand the classical Chinese in ancient books. It doesn't make sense! Your own confidence should be strengthened. If you don't have the confidence to read classical Chinese, you can't learn Buddhism! How can confidence in learning Buddhism be established? The year before last, there was an American who was studying for a doctoral program at National Taiwan University. He lived in our library for four months, and he spoke good Mandarin. He could read Hua Yan Jing and read the notes of Cool Master. He has only studied Chinese for four years, and I admire him very much. He is now in Shen Jiazhen, new york. It is not difficult to see! Foreigners can read and understand China's classical Chinese in four years. It is always more convenient for us in China to read classical Chinese than for foreigners!
how to learn classical Chinese? It's very simple. You can read the Amitabha Sutra for a hundred times from beginning to end, and the problem will be solved. If you don't know the words, look them up in the dictionary and read them for a hundred times, and you will have a good foundation in classical Chinese, and you will have no obstacles in reading everything. Once upon a time, when you studied ancient Chinese prose and recited it, you had the ability to read if you could recite 5 articles by heart, and you had the ability to write if you could recite 1 articles by heart. This was the teaching method in the past. Today, we don't have to recite classical Chinese, just read Buddhist scriptures. We read them every day, and after three years, we will naturally pass, so there will be no obstacles. You should know that classical Chinese is a key, a treasure of wisdom and experience accumulated by ancient sages and sages for 5, years, and it is a tool. If you get this key, you will benefit from Sanzang Classic and Sikuquanshu. This is all tested by history, and it is all true knowledge. Unlike things now, things have not been tested. You have this key, and the treasure is your own; You don't have this key, Si Ku Quan Shu and Sanzang Classic are available at home, and a pile of waste paper is piled up in that place and fed to bookworms, so there is no merit! So now people have invited Tibetan scriptures for home, but they don't read them themselves and refuse to lend them to others. My family has a treasure for Buddha statues and a magic weapon for Tibetan scriptures, thinking that the three treasures at home are enough to protect him. What is the protector? Check it carefully. The bug that grows in the book is the protector. The classics have all been eaten by insects, making a sin! If you don't read it yourself, you must lend it to others and circulate the dharma. How can Buddhism be stingy? How can you not give it to others? All the ministries and departments talk about circulation, and they all have a circulation point. I hope you can spread it for three generations and reach ten parties.
There are still some puzzling things, which are all crimes of creating a nose hell. After the classic, it is printed "All rights reserved. Reprinting will be investigated". This is the decision not to circulate. This experience belongs to me alone. In other words, he decided to go to A-bi Hell. How can classics do this? Look at the scriptures printed by Gu Dade. They must be printed with "Welcome to circulation, no merit" at the back. This must be the printing method. I hope you can circulate them. What is printed now is "no circulation, and the reprinting will be investigated", and the classics and ancient annotations are monopolized. This is an obstacle to the circulation of Buddhism and the destruction of the dharma body and wisdom of all sentient beings. It's like taking the copyright of Sakyamuni Buddha and the copyright of the ancients! When did Sakyamuni Buddha and the ancient monk Dade give you the copyright? I haven't heard of it! It is really puzzling. So I saw funny! Anyone who has this word in the back is a nose hell, which has been registered. Some really good students, I told him, we carry forward Buddhism, the ancient sages and sages should vigorously carry forward things, photocopy them to help them circulate, and welcome the reprinting of their own works, and also widely circulate them for the benefit of all beings.
-----------Amitabha Sutra's Romance of Dispelling Banknotes (Episode 45) 1984/12 Taiwan Province Jingmeihua Library File Name: 1-3-45
Fourth, the classical Chinese will gradually be lost in the future, which is the misfortune of our whole nation. I think the greatest legacy and the richest treasure left by our ancestors is classical Chinese, which is not found in any country or nation in the world. This invention is really amazing! The ancient ancestors knew that spoken and written words would change with the times. If the wisdom and knowledge of those people at that time were to be passed on to future generations for reference, how could they be preserved, so that future generations could talk face to face after seeing them, and then classical Chinese was invented. Language can change at any time, and classical Chinese will never change.
We read Confucius' books today, just like writing letters to our friends. Although we read books more than 2, years ago, we are still talking to each other, so we won't misunderstand the meaning. This is the advantage of classical Chinese. We look at the ancient writings of other countries, and those written 2, years ago, and we need archaeologists and specialized talents to identify them, which is not as convenient as that of China people. This is China's ancestors' thoughtfulness for future generations, which is not found in the whole world. If we throw away the classical Chinese today, how can we be worthy of our ancestors? These thousands of years, these are the thoughts, opinions and wisdom of sages. If we can master classical Chinese, this treasure belongs to ourselves, which really increases our knowledge and knowledge.
There is really no secret to learning classical Chinese. Since ancient times, there is only one method: reciting. In the past, Mr. Li taught in Taichung, and his old man told us: "If you can recite 5 articles of Ancient Chinese, you will be able to read classical Chinese;" If you can recite a hundred classical Chinese, you can write classical Chinese. "So let's China since ancient times, what does primary education teach? Endorsement, the benefits of endorsement are here, laying the foundation of classical Chinese. In the early years of the Republic of China, the classical Chinese articles written by eleven or two-year-old children were all very good, but now the students in the Chinese department of the university can't write them.
I remember a lecture in a junior college. I photocopied some model compositions of primary school students in the early years of the Republic of China and posted them in this place for college students to see. Why does he write so well? Recite ancient Chinese! Now people refuse to endorse, and when they hear it, they have a headache. There is nothing they can do. They must endorse it. Now we encourage fellow practitioners who study Buddhism to pay attention to classical Chinese. Why? All the classics are written in classical Chinese. If we are lazy and don't want to read classical Chinese, and watch modern people translate the classics in vernacular Chinese, the classic translated in vernacular Chinese is full of mistakes, which is definitely not the original meaning. So if you really want to get the benefits of Buddhism, you must get this tool yourself.
----------Amitabha's Stories of Dispelling Banknotes (Episode 129) 1984/12 Taiwan Province Jingmeihua Library File Name: 1-3-129
5. Printing was not developed in the past, but it was invented in the Song Dynasty in China, and the cost was too high to engrave it with wooden blocks and brush one by one. Unlike now, printing is developed, printing things is too cheap, and it used to be difficult! Therefore, what the ancients left behind today can be said to have stood the test of the times and history, withstood the test, and withstood the criticism of the public. It is a really good thing to be passed down to future generations.
So I advise fellow initiates to look at the annotations of the ancients, not the modern ones. Why? Whether he is true or false in modern people, we have no ability to tell. Really, it's good for us. If we see a fake one, we'll be cheated! I don't have the ability to distinguish, so it's better to read the things of the ancients, which is reliable! Like our book, master lianchi has been away from us for more than 5 years. After the late Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, it has been 8 years since today. We can rest assured that there are many great monks and great virtues. So I don't look down on people's things, as many people know. I'm definitely not looking down on modern people. I have no vision. Don't be a fool! So think about it, the ancients were recognized by everyone and were more reliable. That's why I read the ancients' east and west. Today, if these works are handed down after another 5 years, they can stand the test, which is naturally a good thing. This is a standard we choose.
Ancient Chinese is difficult to read. In fact, it is a psychological function. It is not difficult to read it several times! I have read the composition of primary school students in the early years of the Republic of China, and the articles written by children aged eleven or twelve. Now, students in the Chinese Department of the university may have to look up his articles in the dictionary, and there are still many things he doesn't understand. Why can people at that time, but we can't now? It's not that people can't now, but that people refuse to read classical Chinese now. The secret of classical Chinese is nothing but reading and reciting. From the front desk, Mr. Li taught us that if you can recite 5 ancient texts, you will have the ability to read, and there will be no obstacles. You can understand classical Chinese. If you can recite 1 ancient texts, you will be able to write classical Chinese. He encouraged us to recite, so now I advise the students to recite the Infinite Life Sutra and the 48 chapters of the Infinite Life Sutra, which are only two short of the 5 chapters stipulated by Teacher Li, which is almost the same. If you can recite the Infinite Life Sutra, there will be no problem in your ability to read Buddhist scriptures, and there will be no obstacle to writing. Therefore, this should be done. You don't have to recite it deliberately. Reciting it deliberately increases the pressure. Read it at least three times a day, every day, and you will recite it after one year. You don't need to recite it, you will recite it naturally! Many of our fellow initiates will be able to recite it after studying for three months. From this, we can see that this is not a difficult thing, but we have to work hard on our own.
-The Romance of Amitabha's Scriptures for Dispelling Banknotes (Episode 223) 1984/12 Taiwan Province Jingmeihua Library File Name: 1-3-223
VI. "Reading the History of Scriptures, absorbing the experience of the ancients, taking part in learning and absorbing the achievements of today's people, is to read thousands of books, go to Wan Li Road and learn from Amitabha." Amitabha's achievements in wisdom and merit, even if scientists now hear about it, are also admired. Why? He is really in line with the spirit of science. Reading, modern beings have suffered so much, in fact, it is a mistake not to read. We, the ancient sages and sages of China, have really thought meticulously about the descendants of later generations, which is not found in any country or nation in the world, so we know the great kindness of our ancestors. The ancestors passed on their wisdom, their experience and their lessons from generation to generation, hoping that future generations would learn from this.