Looking at the bright moon at night always
evokes deep feelings in us – its soft and quiet inner quality
together with its bright, pure and shining light. The fact that
we try to describe the moon in so many ways tells us about the
special feelings it brings up in us. The moon is often taken
to symbolize compassion and motherly love. Sometimes when we
walk alone at the night, the moon is our best companion, helping
us to pass a lonesome night which is difficult to bear.
Let your heart be like the moon – quiet and soft, luminous
and pure. Like the shining moon let it be full of motherly
love, compassion, altruistic joy and detachment. Let your
whole practice be like the moon in its constant transformation
– dark and bright, waxing and waning – guiding you towards
an ever more beautiful life. Practicing Buddhism and deepening
our understanding is to enlighten our own heart and mind,
but at the same time, to enlighten others as well, just like
the moon. What we call “clear illumination” is wisdom. Wisdom
clearly illuminates everything with purity and transparency.
During the day, the warm rays of the sun shine on everything,
and at night, the cool freshness of the moon generates sweet
dew which saturates and nourishes all life on Earth. In the
same way, let your heart of compassion saturate and nourish
all living beings like sweet dew; let it bring forth wisdom
and blessings. If you can motivate the people around you to
learn from Buddhism, to walk towards the bright path of wisdom,
towards the path of dedicating their lives to others, of using
their whole lives to enlighten others, then you shine as brightly
as the moon, just as full of the same love, compassion, altruistic
joy and detachment.
The true nature of our heart and mind is like the moon –
it is just as bright, pure and beautiful. It is reflected
everywhere, illuminates everything - which is just as bright
and shining. There is no place upon which the light of our
true nature does not shed its light; there is no place where
it does not appear. Shedding light is called “contemplation”.
There is no such thing as practice without contemplation,
and without practice there is no way for us to attain liberation.
In our daily lives, let us contemplate the fact that all
phenomena are short-lived and impermanent; that they are not
unchanging and forever. If your heart is at home with impermanence,
your life will not be troubled by so much gain and loss. At
peace with impermanence, your heart will shine like the moon,
without dwelling on anything. Not dwelling on anything means
to freely give without holding on to anything. It is just
like with the moon, which freely sheds its light on all without
dwelling on anything in particular, equally illuminating everything
with its brightness.
Let the light of your heart shine just like that. There is
in reality nothing worth getting attached to or rejecting.
It is only because of our discriminating consciousness that
we start developing likes and dislikes, distinguishing between
good and bad, yes and no, creating a lot of troubles in our
lives. If our heart becomes like the moon, we will be able
to let our enlightened nature shed light on everything. So
when you look at the moon, remember that its light is reflected
in the bright moon of your own enlightened nature.
Dharma Master Hsin Tao
(Translated by Maria Reis Habito)
心如皎月 覺性持明
看見明月總會讓我們有特別的感受，持柔、寧靜的內涵氣質；光明、皎潔的外顯特性，種種的描述，訴說著我們對明月的情感。月亮也常常被當做慈悲與母愛的代表，當我們獨自一人行走在外的時候，月亮可能就是最好的伴侶，陪伴著我們度過寂寞難耐的夜晚。
我們的心，要像明月一樣，寧靜、柔和、光明、純潔，也要像明月一樣具足慈悲、具足如母般的喜捨。修行佛法也要像月亮一樣，陰晴圓缺的改變，就是讓我們走向更美好的生命，所以我們參悟、學佛，就是要明亮自己的心，同時也像月亮一樣，照明別人。所謂的照明，就是智慧，智慧能夠照明一切，清清楚楚。
白天太陽的暖熱，普照萬物，到了晚上，月亮的清涼，水汽產生了甘露，滋潤萬物給與養分。所以我們的慈悲心，也要像甘露滋養眾生，成長智慧與福德。如果能夠導引周圍的人都來學佛，都走向智慧光明的路，走向「生命奉獻生命，生命覺悟生命」的路，那麼，我們就像月亮一樣的明亮清楚、一樣的慈悲喜捨。
我們的心性如月，是那麼的潔白、美麗，映照在任何地方，都是那麼的皎潔、明朗，無處不照、無處不顯，就叫做「觀照」，缺少了觀照就沒有修行，沒有修行就沒有辦法得到解脫。
在生活中我們觀照一切的現象都是短暫無常，並不是恆常不變的，如果我們的心時時在無常裡，生命就不會多有得失，就像月亮一樣明亮燦爛，不住一切法，不住一切法就是不取相布施，月亮就是不取相布施，它的光明遍照一切。
我們的心光也要這樣，沒有什麼好取捨，但是因為我們的意識分別，造成了我們的取捨、好壞、是非，造成了我們的煩惱，如果我們的心智像月亮一樣，也就能夠成就我們的覺性遍照，所以看到月亮就要想到，迴光返照到我們的覺性明月。
─── 心道法師
