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武帝又問。有等不善僧道及俗子。不務正事。作隊成群。打哄過日。冒借善事為端。提疏化緣者如何。
【白話】梁武帝又問：”有些品行不端的僧道和俗人，整日遊手好閒、結夥成群，打著行善的幌子四處化緣，這又該如何看待？”
Emperor Wu asked, “However, some unvirtuous monastics, practitioners, and laity do not exhibit proper behavior; instead, they form cliques, idling away their time and stirring up trouble in the name of doing good.” With their ordination certificates, they go about seeking alms. For such people, what would you say?”
誌公答曰。化緣者。其中有論。若是真正僧道。善人來化緣者。事因端正。不作偽事。或是創立庵宇。裝塑佛像。或修橋砌路。或供佛齋僧。或建修道場。或念佛誦經。或隱關坐禪。一切公用者。其事不偽。功德難量。
【白話】誌公和尚回答：化緣一事，真假有別—— 若是真正的修行人化緣，必是為了正當事由：興建寺院、塑造佛像； 修橋鋪路、利益大眾；供養三寶、舉辦法會；閉關修行、誦經念佛。這些善舉真實不虛，功德無量！
Master Zhi Gong answered, “For those mendicants, you need to discern who is genuine and who is fraudulent. When genuine ones are coming to seek alms, they have a proper underlying purpose and do not put on a pretentious front. Rather, they seek offerings for establishing a temple or monastery, making or gilding a Buddha image, building a road or a bridge, making offerings to the Buddhas, providing a meal for the Sangha, renovating or building a monastery, supporting sessions of Buddha-name recitation or sutra recitation, or supporting those who enter seclusion. All in all, anything that is beneficial for the public [temple, monastery, or sangha] and not done pretentiously will accrue limitless merit and virtue.
如或在世。懶惰過日。不務做個好人。不顧父母家鄉。投入山門。依然懶惰。飲酒吃肉。愚迷邪見。不聽師言。不肯屈下身心。參求明師口訣。不讀經書戒律。不知修行因果。不懼罪業報應。雖在山門。不顧常住。又不尊上禮下。不顧佛祖門風。只圖自己。身命之樂。又將提疏。各處化緣。冒端強化。忘因昧果。世人不能辨其真偽。見他來化。即施與他。他將施主錢米。不當重意。或將俗家。給送六親眷屬。或將結交朋友姊妹。契將為親。邪心熾盛。求情注慾。胡作亂為。污名一出。退息十方信施。敗壞佛祖門風。措陷一切好人。難行好事。如此者。古德云。是地獄抽芽。是畜生群聚。是光頭百姓。快脫袈裟來。快出山門去。且自做俗人。莫與我同住。
【白話】但若是那些懶惰成性之人，出家後仍不思進取：
- 不顧父母恩情，混入佛門卻飲酒吃肉
- 固執邪見，不聽師長教誨
- 不讀經律，不懂因果報應
- 不守戒律，敗壞寺院清規
- 借化緣之名，強索錢財，中飽私囊
他們拿到布施後：或接濟俗家親友; 或結交酒肉朋友; 甚至縱情聲色，玷污佛門清譽。最終導致：信眾失去信心； 真正修行人受牽連；善事難行。
On the other hand, some practitioners are the opposite: They are lazy, and idle their time away aimlessly. Before leaving the home-life, they had unvirtuous habits and did not strive to behave in virtuous ways. They did not care about their parents or hometown folks, leaving them behind to enter the monastic order. After having left the home-life, they are still lazy and still maintain their habit of drinking alcohol and eating meat. They pass their days away muddled and clinging to their wrong views. They do not follow their teachers’ personalized instructions, refuse to be humble and seek the guidance of a wise mentor, and do not read sutras or study the precepts. They do not cultivate virtuous causes to reap good karmic effects; they do not fear the evil consequences of their actions. Although they are still in the Sangha, they do not revere the senior monastics or are courteous to junior monastics. They do not care about the tradition of the Buddha or the Patriarchs. All they care for is their own comfort and enjoyment.
Furthermore, they carry their ordination certificates as they go about seeking offerings, sometimes even pressuring others to make offerings in the name of doing good. They forget or do not care about the Law of Cause and Effect. Worldly people may not be able to discern true from false, and when unvirtuous monastics approach them to seek alms, the donors make offerings. When they return with the offerings, they do not take them seriously; instead, they casually pass these items on to their families or relatives. They might use these items to befriend some people or to become ‘sworn brothers’ or ‘sworn sisters.’ In these interactions with worldly people, their wrong views flare up, driving them to seek affection or emotional fulfillment. They thus conduct themselves wantonly. Heading down the wrong path, they ultimately tarnish the reputation of the Sangha, or the Three Jewels. All donors in the ten directions become discouraged and upset, giving rise to retrogressing minds. Thus, the tradition of the Buddha and the Patriarchs is ruined, and other innocent people become adversely affected, too, and they are no longer able to carry on doing good deeds.
【白話】古人早就告誡：這等敗類是地獄的種子、畜生的同類！快快脫下袈裟，滾出山門去！既然要做俗人，就別玷污佛門清淨！
For these unvirtuous monastics, the ancient virtuous ones said, ‘They are the sprouts of the hells, the throngs of animals flocking together, being no more than bald worldly people.’ They should quickly disrobe themselves and return to lay life, quickly depart through the mountain gate, and no longer stay with us in the same place.