问：世情灾劫，日深月险，如何消灾化解，自救救人？

Q: The calamities in the world grow day by day, month by month. How can we quell them and save ourselves and others?

答：就是大家都不生气、不斗争，不你欺骗我、我欺骗你，不互相想要摧残，这个灾劫就都没有了。要团结一致，譬如不能弄出很多的党，很多的派。你这有党有派，就是不会团结的，真正大团结是无党无派的。在《书经》上说：“无偏无党，王道荡荡；无党无偏，王道平平；无反无侧，王道正直。”这是国家所需要的。

A: Simply don't get angry and don't fight. Don't cheat and hurt one another. Then the calamities will disappear. Everyone should unite instead of breaking into so many factions and parties. If you have factions, then you won't be able to unite. True unity--great unity--is without factions. In the Book of History (Shu Jing) it says, "Without factions or favoritism, the way of the kings was broad. Without favoritism or factions, the way of the kings was just. Without twists and turns, the way of the kings was straight and proper." That is what a nation needs.

问：每一个法师都强调自己的佛号最好，但是我们初学者到底念哪一个佛号才是正确？

Q: Venerable Master, every Dharma Master tells us that the Buddha's name he recites is the best. As beginners, what is the right Buddha's name for us to recite?

答：“十方三世佛，皆共一法身”，你念每一位佛，都是到极乐世界去的一条道路。佛是平等平等的，没有哪一个是真佛，哪一个是假佛，哪一个是活佛，哪一个是死佛。

A: All the Buddhas of the past, present and future, throughout the ten directions are of the same Dharma-body. You can recite any Buddha's name and be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. All the Buddhas are equal. There is no such thing as a true Buddha, a false Buddha, a living Buddha or a dead Buddha.

问：真的有阴魂附身吗？

Q: Is it really true that people can be possessed by spirits?

答：你问那个有阴魂附身的人去；我没有阴魂附身。我就是知道，我也不讲这个。

A: Go ask the people who are possessed. I haven't been possessed by a spirit, and even if I knew the answer, I wouldn't talk about this.

现在时间已经到了，我要退休了，你们各位愿意再晚睡一点觉，少吃一点饭，不打麻将的话，那么由我带着的一班人，他们讲得都比我讲得好，我虽然是个师父，我是向徒弟学习的，我是听徒弟话的。本来都是徒弟先讲，我后讲的，今天我因为要早一点退休，所以我就先讲了。我不知道这是你们各位的偏得呀？是意外呀？

My time is up, and I have to retire. If you are willing to stay up a little longer, eat a little less, and miss your mahjong game, then you can stay and listen to the people I brought along. They speak much better than I do. Although I am the teacher, I learn from and listen to my disciples. Ordinarily, my disciples speak before I do, but today I spoke first because I want to retire earlier. I don't know if this is your lucky chance--an unexpected coincidence.

因为我到什么地方，都是一个学校，一个佛教的学校，我训练这一些个徒弟，都比我会讲。为什么说比我会讲呢？他们都会讲中文，会讲台语，会讲日语，会讲英语，很多种语言都会的。我连中国话都不圆满、都不会，所以你们逼着我，要我来说，我就说一说。你们听得大约不很合逻辑、不很合你们的胃口，或者要作呕的样子；可是我已经说了，不管你们呕不呕！

Wherever I go, that place is a Buddhist school. That's how I train my disciples to be better speakers than I am. Why do I say they are better speakers? It's because they can speak many languages, such as Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese and English. On the other hand, I don't even know how to speak Chinese well. Since you insisted, I have said a few words, but you probably didn't find my words very logical or to your liking. Maybe you even feel like throwing up. However, I've already said them, and I don't care if you throw up!

一九九三年一月九日晚间

开示于台湾台北工业技术学院

A talk by Venerable Master Hua

in the evening of January 9, 1993,

at the Taipei Institute of Industrial Technology