未去殼的米 Unthreshed Rice

〖未去殼的米〗

學習佛法的人若沒有深入了解其真實的涵義，就有如一條睡在一堆尚未去殼的稻米上的狗。當牠饑餓的時候，牠會從那堆稻米上跳下來，尋找散落于四處的事物。雖然牠就睡在食物的上面，但自己卻毫不知情，這是為什麼呢？因為牠見不著米。狗不能吃未去殼的米，食物就在牠腳下，但牠卻不能吃，因為牠不知道那就是米。牠可能很久都找不到可以吃的東西，甚至致死……在那堆稻米上。眾生便是如此。不論我們學了多少佛法，如果沒有實踐，我們就見不到法；如果我們見不到法，便不知法是什麼。

Unthreshed Rice

People who study the Dhamma without penetrating to its true meaning are just like a dog sleeping on a pile of unthreshed rice. When it’s hungry, it bounds off the pile of rice grain and runs off looking for scraps of food. Even though it’s sleeping right on top of a pile of food, it doesn’t know that. Why? Because it can’t see the rice. Dogs can’t eat unthreshed rice. The food is there but the dog can’t eat it. It doesn’t know the rice. It might not be able to find anything to eat for a long time, and it may even die . . . right on top of that pile of rice! People are like this. No matter how much we study the Dhamma, we won’t see it if we don’t practice. If we don’t see it, then we won’t know it.