修行人不能依自己的习气来说话做事，如果照自己的习气去行，不但修不到行，更容易造口业。‘各人吃饭各人饱，各人生死各人了。’当你要临命终时没有人可以代替你，即使你的亲人、儿子，也无法代替你的生死。

We practitioners should not allow old habits and set patterns to take charge of our lives. If we do, not only will we be unable to make any progress in practice, but we also will create speech karma. "What one eats feeds oneself only. Similarly, the cycle of births and deaths can only be ended by ourselves." Nobody--not any of your loving family members or even your son--can die (or live) for you. 

 

现在的人不管在家、出家，生活都过得很好。其实生活过得好，放逸散漫，很容易招致灾难。如果更执着色、声、香、味、触、法，这个身躯被‘宠’坏了，病痛也较多。

Nowadays, most people, either lay practitioners or monastics, live a very comfortable life. Unfortunately, such enjoyable life may easily lead to being unchalant and wayward, which may likely bring about calamities. If one clings to the visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, and mental objects, hence spoils this physical body, s/he is also to suffer from all sorts of sickness.

 

修行就是要舍身，衣、食、住一切简单，要‘粗衣淡饭’、‘知足常乐’。若过于讲究衣、食、住，则和在家人无两样。要对这些衣、食、住看淡，才能去掉‘贪、瞋、痴’；若生活太充裕，则欲望大，贪念越多，身心皆被色、受、想、行、识五蕴束缚，在五浊中打滚而不自在。所以‘舍身’，当从衣、食、住着手修起。

To practice is to relinquish our attachments to physical gratification and live a simple life. If we are contented with simple food and clothing, we will be happy all the time. On the other hand, if we pay too much attention to the qualities of food, clothing, and housing, etc., then we will be no different from an ordinary person. Only by relinquishing all our attachments to physical satisfaction can we expect to eliminate our greed, anger and ignorance. A lavish lifestyle may induce more desire and arouse greediness. In due course, the five skandhas  (form, sensations, perceptions, volition, and consciousness) will have a firm grip of both our body and our mind. And as we immerse ourselves in the evil world of five turbidities, we can never feel at ease. Thus, "relinquishing attachments to the body" should begin with simplifying our clothing, food, and living conditions.

 

‘粗衣淡饭’，修行当从此处下手。然现代人却多讲究吃穿，整天为这些忙碌。本来是消业障的，现在反而把褔、慧吃下去，业障当然也随着而到了。

Practice should begin with consuming only "simple food and clothing". Unfortunately, people nowadays tend to pay a great deal of attention to what they eat or wear and often preoccupy themselves all day long for this. That we are born into the human forms is to reduce the negative karma, but we have drained our merits and wisdom accumulated in previous lives in profligate spending. Then, the karmic obstructions will naturally come forth.

 

什么是‘粗衣淡饭’？不是不吃饭，而是吃得饱不求好，穿得暖能遮身。至于睡眠，有精神就好，不要贪睡，睡多了容易昏沉。若执着不吃饭、不睡觉，把身体搞坏了，身心不能自在，则枉费来出家修行。

What is the essence of "simple food and clothing"? It doesn't mean that we should give up food or clothes. Instead, it’s about filling our stomach without caring about the quality, taste, or varieties of the food and keeping ourselves warm without caring about the design or style. As for sleep, we should just get enough sleep so as to be energetic. We shouldn’t oversleep lest we feel slumberous. If we insist on the extremes of no food or sleep, we may hurt our health and won’t feel at ease with our body and mind, which may totally destroy the purpose of becoming monastics..

 

世人被五欲所迷，希望吃得好，甚至不惜杀生以滋养身体，殊不知吃的可能是过去六亲眷属的肉，而且吃人一斤，一定要偿还十六两，因果逃也逃不掉。像这样子轮回到现世得为人身，依然在还债、讨债之中，死死生生，若不赶紧修行求解脱，永远也跳不出这轮回圈子。

Secular people are often driven blindly by the five desires. They are willing to kill just to satisfy their palate or get the nutrient, not caring to know they might be eating the flesh of their closest relatives from previous lives. Besides, they have to pay double for the meat taken. No one can escape the cause and effect. We have acquired human form in this life, but if we are still confined to the vicious cycle of dunning for and repaying debts we will be forever imprisoned in the cyclic existence, unless we practice diligently in search for the way out.

 

不要‘贪着’，只要过得去就好。不能因为东西多就拼命的吃，这就是有贪念；但也不能故意吃得少而饿肚子，那也是执着，必须依自己的食量而定。只要吃得饱就好，不要去分别好、坏。

Do not crave for more than we actually need. All we require is enough to sustain our life. If we try to eat more just because there is plenty food available, it only reflects the greediness of our mind. However, don't deliberately eat less and starve ourselves, for this is also a form of attachment. How much we should eat depends on how much we need. Therefore, we should just have enough food and, make no distinction of taste or quality.

 

吃得饱就好，若要求色香味美，放纵口腹之欲，这就是做嘴巴的奴才，不但增加肠胃的负担，也增加妄想、散乱与执着。所以一切要简单，只要吃得能饱，穿得能遮身、能御寒就好。

Eat only to sustain our life. If we indulge ourselves in the pursuit of satisfying our palate, our mouth enslaves us, which will increase not only the burden of our digestive system but also our sense of illusion, dispersion, and attachment. Life should be simple: eat so that we won't starve and wear so that we can cover ourselves and keep warm.

 

------Translated from Analects of Master Kuang-chin（编译自《广钦老和尚开示录》）