平常心 Normality - 禮敬佛陀 Paying Homage To The Buddha
1-2-5. PAYING HOMAGE TO THE BUDDHA禮敬佛陀
Once, I gave a talk at a ceremony, I was sitting on the high seat. Laypeople brought in flowers and lighted candles and incense . It made me feel so hot, that I asked them : ‘Why are you doing this ?’. They answered : ‘To make merit’. So I asked further : ‘Hose much were the flowers?’ . They said : ‘5 baht a bunch’. I told them : ‘What can merit do, it spoils the economy !’.
有一次，我在一場典禮中演講，我坐在高椅子上，信眾帶著鮮花來並且燃燭、燒香，那讓我感覺很熱，于是我問他們：「你們為什麼要這樣做？」他們回答：「做功德。」我再問：「這些花要多少錢呢？」他們回答：「一把5銖。」于是我告訴他們：「你們做這些功德能干嘛呢！只是浪費錢，破壞節約的美德！」
I don’t forbid paying homage with flowers, candles and incense but understand the meaning of it too’. I told them that the flowers for worshipping the Buddha stand for smiling and cheerfulness, their fragrance is our non-anger, not pulling a long face, our faces will be as beautiful as flowers. 3 sticks of incense mean doing good with body, speech and mind, we light incense in order to do good. If we do it like this, there is bound to be fragrance. The 2 candles : why do we light candles in the daytime? They refer to our 2 eyes and 2 ears, knowing how to look and listen to good and bad things so we’re not deceived.
我並不是要禁止他們用花、蠟燭、香來禮敬佛陀，而是希望他們要同時了解這麼做的含意。我告訴他們禮佛的花代表著微笑及快樂，因為花香代表不生氣、不拉長臉，那我們臉就會像花一樣漂亮。三柱清香是代表要說好話、做好事、存好心。如果我們能這麼做，就一定會散發出芳香之氣。至于兩只蠟燭！明明是大白天我們為什麼還要點蠟燭呢？那是代表雙眼及雙耳，也就是說要去看或聽什麼是好事？什麼是壞事？而不致被外境給騙了。
Another time, I went to give a talk in Chaiapoom. There were many children who liked me and wanted to be with me, their parents send them to stay so I ordained them as novices and shaved their heads. Seeing a wound on the head, I asked : ‘What is this wound ?’. He said he took flowers to a Buddha statue and the statue fell on his head. I said : ‘The Buddha has no compassion for you at all! Every day you go to offer flowers, rice and water and pay respects !’. I taught him that a Buddha statue is convention, representing the meaning of good actions, good speech, good thoughts and peace/ happiness. The children understood ; they returned home and told their father but he didn’t agree and got angry. Thai people are like this : Buddhists according to tradition only ; they still don’t understand …….
又有一次，我去洽朋(Chaiapoom)演講，那里有很多小孩很喜歡我，想來跟我出家，他們父母把他們送來並留下來，于是我就幫他們剃度成為沙彌。我看到一個小孩頭上有傷口，于是問他：「這是什麼傷口？」他說他有一次拿花供佛，佛像不小心掉到他頭上而弄傷的。我說：「那佛像對你一點都不慈悲！你每天都恭敬地去獻花、供飯、供水和禮拜祂呀！」然後，我教導他佛像是傳統世間習俗，意思是要我們說好話、做好事、存好心以及安祥喜悅的意思。孩子們了解之後回家告訴父親，但他們父親不同意而且還發脾氣呢？！
泰國民眾就是這樣——大多數佛教徒只相信並因循傳統，他們根本不了解佛法……