时间：12/16/2023 12/17/2023
地点：星海禅修中心
主讲：Lucy Zhou
佛法修行
佛陀初转法轮
有一次，佛陀在憍萨罗国首都舍卫城南郊的祇树给孤独园，告诉比丘们说：
「比丘们！当我在菩提树下证知：我的解脱已稳固而不可动摇，这是我最后之生，此后我不会再有新的来生了。那时，我想，我所证知的缘起法与涅槃境界，深彻而难知难解，宁静崇高而难证，而世人只欣乐『阿赖耶』，如果我教导他们这些真理，他们是不会了解的，只有徒增我的疲劳与困扰而已，我还是不说的好。
比丘们！当大梵天王知道我这样想时，他想：如来、正等正觉的心，已倾向于无所作为的不说法，这世界可就要亡灭了。
于是，忧心的大梵天王以神通来到我面前，劝我说法。
听完大梵天王的劝进，我了解他对众生的慈悲，遂以正觉者之眼，展望这个世间，看到各种不同根性与不同类型的众生，就像池塘中的各种各色莲花一样，因此我答应了大梵天王，给那些愿意张开耳朵的人，开启一扇不死之门。
于是，我开始考量，谁可以迅速体会这个法，选谁先说法好呢？第一位想到的是阿罗罗迦摩罗，但有位来自天界的众生在空中告诉我，他七天前已经过世了。然后，我想到郁陀罗摩罗子，但又有另一位天界的众生告诉我，他也在前一天过世了。接着，想起了当初伴我出家，护持我苦修精进的五比丘。
展开天眼，发现五比丘就在迦尸国波罗奈城郊的鹿野苑，于是，我就朝那儿走去。
途中，遇见一位名叫优波迦的邪命派外道，他赞叹我容光焕发，并探询我的师承与所修的法门。
我告诉优波迦，我是超越所有众生，无师自悟的解脱者。但这位优波迦外道，不相信地摇摇头走开了。
来到鹿野苑五位比丘处，他们远远地看我走来，相约不要对我热情恭敬地迎接，因为他们认为我已经堕落不再精进修道了。然而，当我一走到他们面前，他们立刻忘了自己的约定，纷纷起身热情恭敬地相迎，称呼我为道友。
我告诉他们，不要称如来为道友，如来是正等正觉者，而我已经证得了不死之法，让我来教他们这个法，透过实践，他们也能自证解脱涅槃。
五比丘质疑地问：
『瞿昙！即使你勤修苦行，都还不能获得超越常人的殊胜知见，更何况又回到以往多欲多求的生活，享受充分的饮食呢！』
我告诉他们，纵情欲乐，是低下的凡夫行为，但无意义的苦行，也非圣道，两者都是极端的二边，修道者都不应当学。离开这两个极端，有一趣向正觉解脱的中道，那就是『正见、正思惟、正语、正业、正命、正精进、正念、正定』的『八正道』。
接着，我详细地教导他们，应当听闻、思惟『苦、集、灭、道』等『四圣谛』：『苦圣谛』即人生的生、老、病、死、怨憎会、爱别离、求不得，都是不圆满的，都是苦，总括为五取蕴之苦，这是世间苦迫不圆满的真相；
『苦集圣谛』即为贪爱，是苦迫不圆满的形成原因；『苦灭圣谛』即是贪爱的止息，是苦迫不圆满的灭除；『苦灭道迹圣谛』即是正见到正定的八正道，是灭除苦迫不圆满的方法。
听闻、思惟此四圣谛，必导致开启智慧之眼；得智慧；得清明；得觉了。
又，我教导他们在听闻、思惟四圣谛之后，当修、当证，当证、当成就。
如果有人经『闻、修、证』三转『四圣谛』，即共十二相的修证，还不能彻底得到正觉解脱，我就不会自称是超越一切众生的无上等正觉者了。」
那时，当佛陀为五比丘说到这儿，五比丘中的拘邻憍陈如，当下远尘离垢，得法眼清净，证入了初果。
Date: 12/16/2023 12/17/2023
Location: Star Ocean Meditation Center
Teacher: Lucy Zhou
Dharma talk
The Buddha’s First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma
On one occasion, while staying at Jeta’s Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park, located to the south of Śrāvastī, the capital of the Kingdom of Kosala, the Buddha addressed the bhikkhus:
“Bhikkhus, when I realized beneath the Bodhi tree that my liberation was firm and unshakable, that this was my final existence and that there would be no further rebirth for me, I reflected as follows: the dependent origination and the state of nirvāṇa that I have realized are profound, subtle, difficult to see and difficult to understand—peaceful, sublime, and hard to attain. Yet people in the world delight only in ‘ālaya’ (clinging, attachment). If I were to teach them these truths, they would not understand; it would only bring me weariness and trouble. It might be better not to teach at all.
Bhikkhus, when the Great Brahmā King came to know of this thought of mine, he reflected: ‘If the mind of the Tathāgata, the Perfectly Enlightened One, inclines toward inaction and toward not teaching the Dharma, then this world will perish.’
Thus, out of concern, the Great Brahmā King came before me by means of supernormal power and urged me to teach the Dharma.
After hearing the Great Brahmā King’s exhortation and understanding his compassion for sentient beings, I surveyed the world with the eye of an Awakened One. I saw beings of various dispositions and capacities, like lotuses of many colors growing in a pond. Therefore, I agreed to the Great Brahmā King’s request and resolved to open a door to the Deathless for those willing to listen.
I then considered: who would be able to quickly comprehend this Dharma? To whom should I teach first? The first person who came to mind was Āḷāra Kālāma, but a being from the heavenly realm appeared in the sky and told me that he had passed away seven days earlier. Then I thought of Uddaka Rāmaputta, but another heavenly being informed me that he too had passed away the previous day. Next, I remembered the five bhikkhus who had once gone forth with me and had supported me during my ascetic striving.
With the divine eye, I saw that the five bhikkhus were staying in the Deer Park at Isipatana, near Bārāṇasī in the Kingdom of Kāsi. So I set out toward that place.
On the way, I encountered an ascetic of the Ājīvika sect named Upaka. He praised my radiant appearance and inquired about my teacher and the teaching I practiced.
I told Upaka that I had transcended all beings, that I was a liberator who had awakened by myself without a teacher. The ascetic Upaka, however, shook his head in disbelief and walked away.
When I arrived at the Deer Park where the five bhikkhus were staying, they saw me approaching from afar and agreed among themselves not to greet me warmly or show me respect, because they believed that I had fallen away from diligent practice and returned to a life of comfort. Yet when I came before them, they immediately forgot their agreement, rose from their seats, and greeted me respectfully, addressing me as “friend.”
I told them not to address the Tathāgata as a friend. The Tathāgata is a Perfectly Enlightened One. I had realized the Deathless Dharma, and I had come to teach it to them. Through practice, they too could directly realize liberation and nirvāṇa.
The five bhikkhus questioned me, saying:
“Gautama, even when you practiced severe asceticism, you were still unable to attain a superior knowledge and vision beyond that of ordinary people. How much less could you do so now, when you have returned to a life of desire and abundance, enjoying ample food?”
I told them that indulgence in sensual pleasure is a low and vulgar practice of ordinary people, but meaningless self-mortification is also not the noble path. These are two extremes, and a practitioner should follow neither. Avoiding these two extremes, there is a Middle Way that leads to awakening and liberation. That Middle Way is the Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
I then taught them in detail to listen to and contemplate the Four Noble Truths—suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation.
The Noble Truth of Suffering is this: birth, aging, sickness, death, association with what is displeasing, separation from what is loved, and not getting what one desires are all unsatisfactory; all are suffering. In summary, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering. This is the true reality of the oppressive and unsatisfactory nature of worldly existence.
The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering is craving, which is the cause of this oppression and unsatisfactoriness.
The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering is the cessation of craving, which is the ending of this oppression and unsatisfactoriness.
The Noble Truth of the Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, from right view to right concentration, which is the method for eliminating suffering and unsatisfactoriness.
To hear and contemplate these Four Noble Truths necessarily leads to the opening of the eye of wisdom: to the arising of wisdom, to clarity, and to awakening.
Furthermore, I taught them that after hearing and contemplating the Four Noble Truths, one should practice them; having practiced, one should realize them; having realized them, one should bring them to fulfillment.
If someone were to turn the Four Noble Truths through three phases—learning, practice, and realization—thus completing the twelve aspects of cultivation and realization, and still not attain complete awakening and liberation, then I would not call myself the unsurpassed, perfectly enlightened one who has transcended all beings.
At that time, as the Buddha taught in this way to the five bhikkhus, Koṇḍañña, one of the five, immediately became free from defilements; the dustless, stainless eye of the Dharma arose in him, and he attained the first fruit of the path.
