茂田師兄 慈悲訓示
恩宥佛堂 · 2025.10.02 · 三天法會
20251002IDey1
本訓出自三天主考，卻通篇自署「茂田師兄」，以「為兄」稱己、以「弟妹」稱眾——這份謙抑的口吻，本身就是第一課。開篇借農事立喻：種子播於因地方能結果；田地荒蕪，先自省己過；耕耘再三，還須觀時；明師指出方向與明路，運用得當，助力方可得。中段點出時機之難得與責任之重：四難而今轉四易，三寶既已求得，卻要追問一句「否知行持內外關」——內修與外行兩道關口可曾把住？四生六道轉變不停，輪迴一圈又一圈，人生一世究竟立於何處。繼言白陽風雲之會、玉石分判而天不忍，故道因劫降至世間；弟妹當洗心革面、新民另作，同祈世界大同。末段最為切實：佛堂之中謹守佛規，肉眼不見並非無有，心正意誠自感佛仙；一人力量雖微小，集中力量勿輕觀。全篇僅一句露出主考本色——「為兄職責鑑班立 是非善惡記明然」——旋即又歸於兄長的溫厚，只囑以身示道、為眾模範，而後隱身不多宣。（此為沙訓：訓文由乩筆逐字寫於沙盤，無借竅錄音可循；鎮壇詩四句冠頂，直讀即「茂田師兄」，仙佛先以詩署名，再於吾乃自報。）
The speaker holds the office of Chief Examiner of the Three Heavens — the one whose charge is to grade the assembly — yet signs himself “Elder Brother Maotian,” calls himself your elder brother throughout, and addresses the hall as younger brothers and sisters; that inversion is the teaching’s first lesson. It opens in a field: seeds sown in the ground of cause bear their fruit, and when the field lies choked with weeds the fault is to be looked for in oneself — plow and weed again and again, and watch the season; a teacher points out the direction and the clear road, but the helping force comes only where it is applied fittingly. From there the substance turns to how rare this moment is and how much it therefore asks: the four difficulties have now turned into four easinesses and the Three Treasures have been received — but do you know how to practice them, holding both the inner gate and the outer? Four modes of birth and six paths turn and change without end, the wheel of rebirth one round and then another; in a single human lifetime, where do you take your stand? In this White Era convergence jade and stone are sorted apart because Heaven cannot bear to let them burn together, and so the Dao descends into a calamitous world — wash the heart, renew the face, renew the people, and the Great Unity of the world may be prayed for whole. The closing counsel is practical: keep the Buddhahood Precepts within the prayer hall; what the fleshly eye does not see is not therefore nonexistent, and an upright heart with sincere intent moves the immortals and buddhas; one person’s strength is slight and small, but strength gathered together is not to be regarded lightly. Exactly one couplet lets the examiner show plainly — my charge stands: to oversee this class; right and wrong, good and evil — recorded plainly and clearly — before the elder brother returns and leaves a single instruction: show the Dao with your own body, be the model, and say no more about it. (This is a 沙訓, a sand-teaching — written character by character through the planchette stylus, with no recording to retrace; the opening verse is an acrostic whose first characters spell the speaker’s own name.)
About this editionAI-assisted study edition — the Chinese original is canonical; English is pending our elders’ review.
鎮壇詩 Opening Verse · 沙訓 — not sung
開篇是一顆種子落地。「茂暢生機」說的是生機蓬勃通暢——那是種子本來就帶著的力量，不是誰額外給的；每一顆種子裡都已經有一整棵樹。下半句「因地還生結其果」有兩層可以一起讀：淺一層是字面，種子因為有土地才能再生長、結出它自己的果；深一層在「因地」二字——佛門把修行分成「因地」與「果地」，因地是還在下功夫、還在累積的階段，果地是成就顯現的階段，所謂「因地不真，果招迂曲」，起步時的存心若不真，結出來的果一定是歪的。所以這是全篇的第一個前提：你今天的一切是從前種下的，你將來的一切是今天正在種的。而且結的是「其果」——它自己的果，種瓜不會得豆；沒有人能替你播種，也沒有人能分走你的收成，或替你承受歉收。（本句的首字「茂」也是〈鎮壇詩〉冠頂的第一個字，見下三句。）
茂暢 names a vital force that is already surging and unobstructed — the power a seed carries in itself, not something added to it from outside; every seed already contains a whole tree. 因地還生結其果 can be read on two levels at once: plainly, a seed needs ground before it can grow again and bear its own fruit; and more deeply through 因地, the “ground of cause,” which in Buddhist usage is paired with 果地, the ground of fruition — the stage of accumulating effort as against the stage of manifest attainment, as the saying has it, that when the ground of cause is not true the fruit it draws comes out crooked. This is the premise the whole teaching rests on: what you have now was planted before, and what you will have is being planted now. And it is 其果, its own fruit — no one can sow in your place, take your harvest, or bear your failed crop for you. (茂, the first character here, is also the first character of the acrostic that runs down these four lines.)
第一句才把種子撒下去，第二句立刻掉頭問一件難堪的事：田荒了怎麼辦？「田地」在這裡當然是心田——雜念像草一樣長，長久不理，本來能長稻子的地就長滿了刺。這裡沒有替人找「環境不好」「時運不濟」的藉口，而是說「自省過」：先回頭看看自己的過失。田荒了，第一個要查的不是天氣，是有沒有人去耕。「耕耘再三」是接著開的藥方，重點在「再三」——除了草還會再長，翻了土還要再翻。修行最容易失望的地方就在這裡：明明改過了，同樣的毛病過些日子又冒出來；「再三」的意思是，那本來就是常態，農夫從不因為草會再長就不除草。「觀時多」是常常看時節：早一步晚一步都不行，而且時節不會等人——這半句已經先伏下了本訓「四難而今轉四易」的意思。
The field is the field of the heart: stray thoughts grow like weeds, and ground left long enough untended grows thorns where rice could have grown. No excuse is offered here about circumstances or bad luck — the instruction is 自省過, look first at your own fault. When a field lies barren, the first thing to check is not the weather but whether anyone has been plowing. 耕耘再三 is the remedy, and the weight is on 再三: weeds grow back, and soil turned once must be turned again. This is where cultivation most often disappoints — a fault corrected returns a few months later — and 再三 says that this is simply normal; no farmer stops weeding because weeds return. 觀時多 is watching the season closely, since a step too early or too late will not do and the season does not wait — already laying the ground for 四難而今轉四易 in the main teaching.
前兩句講自己這塊田，第三句轉到外援。有人給你指出方向、指出一條明白的路，這是修道人最大的一件便宜事，不必自己在暗處摸索一輩子。要注意這裡分成兩樣：「方向」是大體朝哪裡走，「明路」是腳下這一步怎麼落——知道方向卻沒有路，只能空想；低頭走路卻不辨方向，走得再勤也偏。兩樣都給了，才算完整。但下半句立刻把責任交還回來：指路的是老師，走路的是自己，而且不只是走，是要「運用得當」——把領到的道理用在對的地方、對的分寸上。用得當，這條路才真成了助力；用不當，指得再明白也只是聽過而已。這一層在本訓「得了亙古之秘寶 否知行持內外關」會再說一次。
The first two lines are about your own field; this one turns to help from outside. Having someone point out the direction and a clear road is the greatest advantage a cultivator has — it saves a lifetime of groping in the dark. Note the two distinct gifts: 方向 is which way to go overall, 明路 is where this next step lands. Direction without a road leaves you daydreaming; walking hard with your head down and no bearing takes you steadily off course; only both together are complete. Then the second half hands responsibility straight back: the teacher points, you walk — and not merely walk, but 運用得當, apply what you were given in the right place and the right measure. Applied well, the road becomes real help; applied badly, the clearest direction is only something you once heard. The point returns at 得了亙古之秘寶 否知行持內外關.
前三句講一個人怎麼種自己這塊田，最後一句忽然把鏡頭拉開——原來不是一個人在種。「兄弟姐妹」正是全篇的稱呼方式（弟妹）與說話者自己站的位置（為兄）：不說「爾等」，不說「眾生」，說的是一家的兄弟姐妹；「同心志」不只是聚在一起，是心與志向同一個方向。「九六」是這脈修道傳承自己的用語，不是古典成語——傳承中說從本源降下人間的原靈共有九十六億，故簡稱九六，在這裡是一切眾生的代稱。「渡顛簸」的顛簸是路不平、船不穩，畫出來的圖是：一群兄弟姐妹手牽著手，帶著所有人，穿過一段不平穩的路。四句連讀，首字正是「茂・田・師・兄」——這是「冠頂」，開場四句詩其實已經署了名；而這四個字也剛好是全篇的路徑：種下去（茂）→ 養護它（田）→ 有人指路（師）→ 一群人一起走（兄）。
After three lines about one person’s field, the frame suddenly widens — no one is farming alone. 兄弟姐妹 is how the whole teaching addresses the assembly (弟妹) and where its speaker stands (為兄): not “you people,” not “all beings,” but the brothers and sisters of one household. 同心志 is more than gathering together — heart and will pointed the same way. 九六 is this lineage’s own shorthand rather than a classical idiom: the transmission holds that nine billion six hundred million original spirits descended from the source into the world, so “the ninety-six” stands for all beings. 顛簸 is a road that is not level and a boat that is not steady; the picture is a crowd of brothers and sisters hand in hand, bringing everyone through rough passage. Read the four opening lines downward and their first characters give 茂・田・師・兄 — the acrostic (冠頂), the speaker’s name signed into the verse before it is announced. Those same four characters also trace the whole teaching’s path: sow it (茂) → tend it (田) → someone points the way (師) → walk it together (兄).
這一段開壇的四句詩，在開口之前先把名字種了進去：四句的第一個字直讀下來是茂、田、師、兄，正是降壇者的名號，這種藏頭的寫法叫「冠頂」。而「茂」是草木旺盛、「田」是田地——整首詩的播種、荒蕪、耕耘、結果，就是從這個名號長出來的。四句走的是一條線。第一句下種：「因地還生結其果」的「因地」可以兩層一起讀，淺一層是土地，深一層是佛門所說還在下功夫的因地，對著成就顯現的果地；而結的是「其」果——自己的果，種瓜不會得豆，沒有人能替你播種，也沒有人能分走你的收成。第二句掉頭問一件難堪的事：田荒了怎麼辦？答案不是怪天時，是「自省過」，先回頭看自己的過失（《論語》式的自省，不是泛泛的感慨）；而藥方「耕耘再三」的重點在「再三」——草除了還會再長，農夫從不因此就不除草；再加一句「觀時多」，時節不等人。第三句給外援：有人指出方向，也指出腳下這條明路；但下半句立刻把責任交還回來——「運用得當」，這條路才真的成為助力，用不當，指得再明白也只是聽過而已。第四句忽然把鏡頭拉開：原來不是一個人在種。「兄弟姐妹同心志」正是全篇的稱謂底色（弟妹／為兄），「九六」則是這脈修道傳承對從本源降下人間的原靈的簡稱，此處即一切眾生；「渡顛簸」畫出來的圖是一群兄弟姐妹手牽著手，帶著所有人穿過一段不平穩的路。種下去、養護它、有人指路、一群人同行——這條線，也剛好就是「茂田師兄」四個字。
This opening verse is signed before it is spoken: read straight down the first character of its four lines and they spell the name of the one who gives it, Elder Brother Maotian — a 冠頂 acrostic, which no English can reproduce and which explains everything on the surface of the poem. Because the first two characters of that name mean “lush” and “field,” the whole verse grows out of them: seeds, soil, weeds, plowing, harvest. The imagery is a signature unfolding into a teaching. The first couplet plants: what is sown comes up in the ground of cause and bears its own fruit — and the phrase carries two readings at once, the literal soil and the causal stage of practice as against the stage of fruition. Nothing here is mystical yet, and nothing is transferable: no one sows for you, and no one takes your harvest or bears your failed one. The second couplet turns and asks the uncomfortable question — when the field lies choked with weeds, whose fault? Not the weather, not the seed: examine yourself, in the reflexive sense the Analects gives that word. And the remedy is unglamorous, plow and weed again and again, because weeds grow back and a farmer does not stop weeding on that account, while watching the season closely, since the season does not wait. The third couplet supplies what self-effort cannot: a teacher points the direction and the clear road underfoot — and then hands the responsibility straight back, because the helping force becomes yours only when what was given is applied fittingly. Guidance pointed at is not guidance walked. The fourth couplet widens from the single farmer to the whole assembly and to a load no lifetime could carry alone: brothers and sisters one in heart and will, hand in hand, carrying the ninety-six — this lineage’s shorthand for the original spirits sent down from the source, the Eternal Mother’s children not yet home — across the rough passage. Sow, tend, be shown the road, walk it together: that line is also, exactly, the four characters of the name.
吾乃 Self-Introduction · 沙訓 — not sung
這一行短，但每一節都有講究。「奉 Φ旨」——奉的是老Φ的旨意：降壇不是自己興之所至要來，是領了旨才來的；連仙佛做事都要奉命，何況人。「入佛門 參叩 皇Φ」——進了佛堂這方聖地，第一件事不是說話，是向皇Φ參拜叩首；有職有位者進門先行禮，禮不是做給在座的人看的，是自己該做的，底下的人要學的正是這個。行完禮，第一句話卻是問候：弟妹們身體都安好嗎（「安躬」是身體康泰）——大可以直接開講，卻先問一句家常話，整篇的溫度是從這裡開始的。
「主敬存誠摒二念」是聽訓前該有的態度，七個字裡有兩個很深的來歷。「主敬」的源頭在《禮記》：「賓客主恭，祭祀主敬，喪事主哀，會同主詡」——一件事該用什麼心去做是有分別的，而面對神聖的場合，那個字是「敬」；到了宋代，程頤把「敬」講成一門日常功夫，《近思錄》所收的那句「涵養須用敬，進學則在致知」流傳最廣。敬不是低頭作揖的樣子，是心裡不散漫、不輕慢。「存誠」出自《易經·乾卦》文言：「庸言之信，庸行之謹，閑邪存其誠」——原文作「存其誠」，守住的是那個本來就在的誠，不是另外造一個誠出來。「摒二念」是禪門的說法：二念是相對、分別、對立的念頭，第一念是當下直接的覺知，第二念是心習慣性地跟上去評斷、比較、懷疑；摒二念，就是把評斷先放下，用一顆不加分別的心來聽。三個詞合起來是一套很具體的準備動作：收住心、守住真、放下評斷。
末了「再待為兄略言評」——「略言」謙抑得很，但那個「評」字是考核的人才會用的字。整篇的張力，在自我介紹的最後三個字裡就已經定調：位分是主考，口氣是兄長。
Every clause here is deliberate. 奉Φ旨 — the decree borne is the Eternal Mother’s: this descent is not personal impulse but a charge received; if even divine beings act under mandate, how much more a person. 入佛門 參叩 皇Φ — on entering the hall, the first act is not speech but homage with a kowtow to the Sovereign Mother; rank enters and bows first, and the courtesy is not performed for the room but simply owed — which is precisely what those present are meant to learn. Only then, and before any instruction, comes a household question: are you well in body (安躬 is bodily wellbeing)? The teaching could have begun straight into doctrine; instead its whole temperature is set by that one ordinary question.
主敬存誠摒二念 is the required posture for listening, and two of its three phrases carry deep pedigree. 主敬 comes from the Book of Rites (禮記), which distinguishes what each occasion is ruled by — a guest by deference, sacrifice by reverence, mourning by grief — and holds that what governs before the sacred is 敬; in the Song, Cheng Yi (程頤) made 敬 an everyday discipline, and the line collected in Reflections on Things at Hand (近思錄) — that inner nurture requires reverence while advancing in learning lies in extending knowledge — is the best known formulation. Reverence is not the posture of a bowed head; it is a mind neither scattered nor casual. 存誠 comes from the Wenyan commentary on the Qian hexagram (乾卦) of the Book of Changes: to be trustworthy in ordinary speech and careful in ordinary conduct, fencing out corruption and keeping one’s sincerity — the text reads 存其誠, keeping the sincerity that is already there rather than manufacturing a new one. 摒二念 is Chan usage: the second thought is the relative, discriminating, oppositional layer of mind — the first thought is direct immediate awareness, the second is the habitual half-beat later when the mind moves in to judge, compare and doubt. Setting it aside means putting evaluation down and listening with an undividing mind. Together the three make a concrete preparation: gather the heart, guard what is true, drop the judging.
The closing 再待為兄略言評 is modest in 略言, “a few words” — but 評 is an examiner’s word, appraisal. The tension of the whole teaching is set in those last three characters of the self-introduction: the office is chief examiner, the register is elder brother.
這一行的次序本身就是教化。先「奉 Φ旨」——奉的是老Φ的旨意，降壇不是自己興之所至，是領了旨才來的；連仙佛做事都要奉命，何況人。再「入佛門 參叩 皇Φ」：進了佛堂這方聖地，第一件事不是說話，是向皇Φ參拜叩首——有職有位的人進門先行禮，這一禮不是做給在座的人看的，底下的人要學的正是這個。行完禮，第一句話才轉過來問候：「問問弟妹可安躬」——身體都安好嗎？「問問」的疊字是家常的、帶笑的，把前面的莊嚴一下子鬆開；他大可以直接開講，卻先問一句家常話，全篇的溫度就是從這裡起的。接著交代聽訓前該有的態度，七個字裡有兩個很深的來歷：「主敬」的源頭在《禮記》——「賓客主恭，祭祀主敬，喪事主哀，會同主詡」，一件事該用什麼心去做是有分別的，面對神聖的場合，那個字是「敬」；「存誠」出自《易經·乾卦》文言「閑邪存其誠」，是守住那個本來就在的誠，不是另造一個誠出來；「摒二念」則是禪家的說法，二念是心習慣性跟上來的評斷、比較、懷疑，摒二念就是先把評斷放下，用一顆不加分別的心來聽。收住心、守住真、放下評斷——這不是儀式，是能不能聽得進去的關鍵。末了「再待為兄略言評」：「略言」謙抑得很，那個「評」字卻是考核的人才會用的字。位分是主考，口氣是兄長——整篇的張力，在自我介紹的最後三個字裡就定了調。
This single line of self-introduction does everything in strict order, and the order is itself the instruction. The descent is made bearing the decree of the Eternal Mother, so nothing that follows is anyone’s private initiative — even one who holds an office acts under a mandate, which is the first thing the room is meant to notice. Then, entering the prayer hall, the first act is not speech but reverence: homage paid with a kowtow at the Sovereign Mother’s throne, before a single word is addressed downward. The bow is made before any bow is asked for, and it is not performed for the assembly’s benefit; it is simply what is owed. Only then does the line turn toward the room, and it turns with a doubled verb that sounds like someone leaning in — are you well in body? The whole warmth of the teaching begins at that question, asked by one who had every standing to skip it. What follows is the one condition set on listening: let reverence govern, keep sincerity within, set aside the divided thought. The first rests on the Book of Rites, where reverence is what sacrifice is ruled by, in a list distinguishing what each rite requires; the second on the Book of Changes — fence out what is corrupt and keep the sincerity that is already there, rather than manufacturing a new one; the third is the Chan formulation for the second thought, the reflexive judging and comparing that arrives a half-beat behind direct perception. Gather the mind, keep what is inside true, put down the verdict: not ceremony, but the difference between hearing and receiving. And the line closes on a modest promise of “a few words of appraisal” — except that appraisal is an examiner’s word. The office is Chief Examiner; the voice is an elder brother’s. The tension of the entire teaching is settled in that last phrase.
本訓 Main Teaching · 沙訓 — not sung
兩句話用了同一個字：「入班」。一個領旨入班，一個有緣入班；同一個班，一個從上面來，一個從下面來，在這裡碰頭。這是全篇第一次、也是最漂亮的一次「平位」——不說「吾來考爾等」，而說我們都是進到這個班裡的人。差別只在後面兩個字：一邊靠的是「領旨」，弟妹靠的是「有緣」。而緣分不是憑空掉下來的，是〈鎮壇詩〉第一句那顆種子結的果。
Both halves use the same verb — 入班, entering the class. One enters from above by decree, the other from below by affinity, and they meet in the same room. This is the first and finest levelling in the teaching: not “I have come to examine you,” but we are both people who came into this class. The only difference is the two characters that follow: one enters 領旨, by decree; younger brothers and sisters enter 有緣, by affinity. And affinity does not fall from nowhere — it is the fruit of the seed sown in the opening verse’s first line.
這一句把場合與格局說明白了。「三天法會天人護」是說這場法會天上的與人間的一同護持——看不見的那一半也在場，這一點到「肉眼不見非無有」會再正面說一次。「三曹共辦人鬼仙」是這脈修道傳承的核心說法：三曹指天曹、人曹、地曹，也就是下半句自己點出來的人、鬼、仙三類——人間的修士、幽冥的先靈、天上的仙真。「共辦」是說如今這一場普渡三邊同時在辦、同時得渡：人在人間修，能超拔已故的祖先；氣天的神仙也在尋機緣求得究竟的歸路。過去多半是各修各的、各了各的，如今是一起辦。對聽訓的人這有一個很實際的意思：你坐在這裡修的這一分功夫，不只是你一個人的事，上下三界都連著。
This line sets both the occasion and its scale. 三天法會天人護 says that this assembly is guarded by Heaven and by humanity together — the unseen half of the room is also present, a point stated outright later at 肉眼不見非無有. 三曹共辦人鬼仙 is a core claim of this line of transmission: the three courts are the heavenly, the human and the earthly — which the second half names directly as human, ghost and immortal: cultivators in the world, the departed in the dark realms, and the immortals above. 共辦 means this era’s work of deliverance is being conducted across all three at once: a person cultivating here can raise ancestors already gone, while the immortals of the heaven of vital breath are themselves seeking the affinity that leads to a final way home. Where each domain once worked separately, now they work together. The practical import for anyone sitting in the room: the effort you put in here is not your private business — all three domains are joined to it.
「法舟」是佛法之舟，載人渡過苦海。要注意動詞是「共同護持」，不是「共同搭乘」——這條船不是給你坐的，是要你一起扶著的，正是〈鎮壇詩〉「兄弟姐妹同心志」的接續。「五湖四海」原指遼闊的疆域，後來泛指天下各處（研究資料把出處指向唐代呂巖的一首絕句「斗笠為帆扇作舟，五湖四海任遨遊」，但這一條在我們比對的經典庫裡查不到實據，只作參考，不當定論）。用在這裡講的是傳的範圍：不分地域，凡有緣的都傳。這篇訓文本身就是一個例子——它是在印尼留下的。
法舟 is the vessel of the Dharma, carrying people across the sea of suffering. Note that the verb is 共同護持 — uphold and steer it together, not ride in it: this boat is not provided for your passage, it is something you are asked to hold up, which continues 兄弟姐妹同心志 from the opening verse. 五湖四海 originally meant a vast expanse of territory and came to mean everywhere under Heaven. (Research points its origin to a quatrain attributed to the Tang figure Lü Yán (呂巖) — a bamboo hat for a sail and a fan for a boat, roaming free to the five lakes and four seas — but we could not confirm this in our classics corpus; it is offered as reference only, not asserted as fact.) Here it defines the reach of transmission: no region is excluded, and whoever has the affinity receives it. This teaching is itself an instance — it was left in Indonesia.
「亙」是貫通、延續，「亙古」指從遠古直到如今（研究資料把這個詞的雛形指向漢代張衡的〈思玄賦〉，同樣未能在經典庫中核實，姑且存疑）。「亙古之秘寶」是說：你所領受的這個東西，是從古到今一脈相承、從不輕易授人的。然後是一個很不客氣的問句——「否知」即「知不知道」：你知不知道要怎麼在內、在外去行持這道關口？「關」這個字用得妙，它既是關口、關卡（考核的人最熟悉的字），也是門戶：「內關」是心性上的那一關，起心動念過不過得去；「外關」是行事上的那一關，待人接物、辦事擔當過不過得去。寶物給了你，但關要自己過，而且內外兩關都要過。〈鎮壇詩〉「運用得當助力可」在這裡落成了具體的話：得到，不等於會用；會用，才算真的得到。這是主考的第一問。
亙 is to run through and continue unbroken; 亙古 means from remote antiquity down to now. (Research traces an early form of the compound to the Han writer Zhang Heng’s Rhapsody on Contemplating the Mystery (張衡〈思玄賦〉); this too could not be verified in our corpus and is left in doubt rather than asserted.) 亙古之秘寶, then, says: what you have received has come down in unbroken succession from the ancients and has never been given lightly. What follows is a blunt question — 否知 is “do you know or not”: do you know how to practice this at the inner and the outer gate? 關 is well chosen, being both a checkpoint or barrier — an examiner’s native vocabulary — and a gate: 內關 is the barrier of the heart, whether your arising thoughts and intentions can pass; 外關 is the barrier of conduct, whether how you treat people and shoulder work can pass. The treasure has been handed over, but the gates must be passed by you, and both of them. 運用得當助力可 from the opening verse becomes concrete here: receiving is not the same as knowing how to use it, and only using it well counts as having truly received it. This is the examiner’s first question.
第二問問得更根本：這一輩子，你要把自己立在哪裡？「立何處」不是問住哪裡，是問立身之處、安身立命的所在。人這一生總要有個站的地方——有人立在錢上，有人立在名上，有人立在別人的評價上；立錯了地方，地基一鬆，人就跟著垮。下半句給出這一生的真相：你的一生是借著各種人、各種事演出來的一場形象。「借」字是關鍵——人是借來的，事是借來的，連這副形象也是借來的，都不歸你所有；既然是借的，就有還的一天。但「借」也不是要人消極：修道人常說「借假修真」，正因為這一切是假的、是借的，才要拿它來修那個真的。你碰到的每一個人、經歷的每一件事都是道具，問題只在你用這些道具演出了什麼。
The second question is more fundamental: in this one lifetime, where will you place yourself? 立何處 asks not where you live but where you take your stand, where a life is settled and secured. Everyone stands somewhere — some on money, some on reputation, some on other people’s estimation; stand in the wrong place and when the footing loosens the person goes down with it. The second half states the plain fact of a life: yours is a set of appearances played out by borrowing various people and various events. 借 is the key word — the people are borrowed, the circumstances are borrowed, even this form is borrowed, and none of it is owned; what is borrowed has a day of return. But 借 is not an invitation to passivity: 借假修真, using the false to cultivate the true, is exactly why the borrowed matters — because all of it is provisional, it is what you use to cultivate what is not. Every person you meet and every event you pass through is a stage property; the only question is what you have used them to enact.
「四生」是佛門說的四種出生方式：胎生（人與獸）、卵生（鳥與魚）、濕生（蚊蟲一類）、化生（無所依託而忽然出現的）。「六道」是眾生依業力流轉的六個境界：天、人、阿修羅、畜生、餓鬼、地獄。合起來泛指一切還在生死中打轉、尚未解脫的眾生。「輪迴」是梵文 Saṃsāra 的意譯，本義就是流轉——像車輪一樣轉個不停。這兩句的口氣其實有一點疲倦：「多轉變」「一圈又一圈」——不是恐嚇，是陳述一件很累的事實。上一句才說這一生是借來演的一場戲，這一句說這樣的戲你已經演過無數場，而且每一場都下了台就忘。真正該怕的不是苦，是白轉：轉了那麼多圈，什麼也沒帶走。
四生 are the four modes of birth in Buddhist reckoning: from the womb (humans and beasts), from the egg (birds and fish), from moisture (insects and the like), and by spontaneous appearance without support. 六道 are the six destinies through which beings revolve according to their deeds: heavenly beings, humans, asuras, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell-beings. Together they cover every being still turning in birth-and-death and not yet released. 輪迴 renders the Sanskrit saṃsāra — the root sense is exactly this turning, wheeling without stop. The tone of the couplet is faintly weary — 多轉變, 一圈又一圈 — not a threat but the statement of an exhausting fact. The previous line said this life is a borrowed performance; this one says you have performed it countless times already, and forgotten each one on leaving the stage. What is genuinely to be feared is not suffering but turning for nothing: all those rounds, and nothing carried away.
語氣在這裡一轉，從無盡的輪轉轉向出口。「三寶」在這裡專指求道時所領受的三樣心法憑據（依這脈傳承的規矩，內容不對外宣說，此處也不細述），是修道人認為能夠了脫生死的關鍵所在；「時機遇」是說能遇上這個時機，本身就是難得。至於「超氣入象」四個字，需要老實說明：這脈傳承把宇宙分成三層——象天是有形有象的物質世界，氣天是神祇星宿所居、仍有氣數生滅之處，理天是無形無象、不生不滅的究竟實相，也就是靈性的故鄉；修行的路徑，一般的講法是「超象入氣、超氣入理」，一層一層往上超。而這一篇寫的是「超氣入象」，與常見的講法不同。
我們不作更動。這是沙訓，字是一筆一筆寫在沙盤上的，沒有借竅錄音可以回頭聽、沒有仙佛當場報過偏旁，唯一的見證就是原稿本身；凡是沒有把握的字一律照原樣保留，記錄下來交給前輩判斷——這是規矩，不是客氣。那麼照原樣讀，它可以怎麼讀？下半句「法聖賢」給了線索：歷代聖賢沒有一位是在無形之中成就的，他們都是在這個有形有象的人間，用一言一行做出來的。所以這一句可以讀成：超越氣數的牽纏，回到這個有形的人間來，像聖賢那樣一步一步做出來——不是往上飛走，而是落地。這樣讀，它與全篇最後一句「以身示道為模範」是同一個方向。但這只是一種讀法，不是定論；此處已列為待前輩裁定的存疑，原文一字未動。
The tone turns here, from endless revolution toward an exit. 三寶 refers specifically to the three heart-methods conferred at the transmission of the Dao (by this lineage’s rule their content is not spoken of openly, and is not detailed here), held to be the key to release from birth-and-death; 時機遇 says that merely to meet this moment is itself rare. As for 超氣入象, an honest account is owed. This transmission divides the cosmos into three tiers: 象天, the world of form and appearance; 氣天, where spirits and celestial bodies dwell and where vital destiny still arises and expires; and 理天, formless and imageless, neither born nor perishing — the ultimate reality, the spirit’s native home. The path of cultivation is usually recited as 超象入氣、超氣入理, passing beyond form into vital breath and beyond vital breath into principle, one tier at a time. What is written in this teaching is 超氣入象, which diverges from that usual formula.
We make no change. This is a sand-teaching, traced character by character on the sand tray; there is no 借竅 recording to replay, no radical named aloud, and the original tracing is the only witness. Any character we are not certain of stays exactly as received and is recorded for senior judgment — that is the rule, not politeness. So, read as written, how might it be read? 法聖賢 in the second half gives the clue: not one of the sages and worthies through the ages attained in the formless — every one of them was made in this world of form, by what they said and did. On that reading the line runs: pass beyond the entanglements of vital destiny and come back into this world of form, and be made, step by step, as the sages and worthies were — not flying upward but landing. Read that way, it points the same direction as the teaching’s last line, 以身示道為模範. But this is one reading, not a ruling; the line is logged as an open question awaiting senior judgment, and not a character of the original has been touched.
修道人常說人生有「四難」：人身難得、中土難生（生在有道可聞的地方難）、佛法難聞、明師難遇——四樣都難，難到幾乎不可能同時湊齊。「而今轉四易」是說如今因為天時的緣故，這四件難事都變容易了：人身你已經有了，地方你已經在了，道理你已經聽到了，指路的人已經在你面前了。這句話表面是恩典，底下是催促——難事變容易是因為窗口開著，窗口開著就意味著它會關，〈鎮壇詩〉「觀時多」講的正是這件事。「心中常存地與天」是這一段的收束：上一句說機會難得，這一句說態度要正，別把這份容易當成理所當然。天地在心中，人才不會輕狂；抬頭有天，低頭有地，做事才有分寸。
Cultivators speak of four difficulties in a human life: to obtain a human body, to be born in a land where the Dao can be heard, to hear the true teaching, and to meet a genuine teacher — four unlikelihoods that almost never coincide. 而今轉四易 says that because of the times all four have now become easy: you already have the body, you are already in the place, you have already heard the teaching, and the one who points the way is already in front of you. On the surface this is grace; underneath it is urgency — what is hard becomes easy because a window is open, and an open window means it will close. This is precisely what 觀時多 in the opening verse was about. 心中常存地與天 closes the passage: the previous half said the opportunity is rare, this half says keep your bearing right and do not take the ease as your due. With Heaven and earth held in the heart a person does not turn reckless; with Heaven above and earth below, conduct keeps its measure.
又是一組問句，而且與「否知行持內外關」是同一個句法——「否」在這裡是「是不是／有沒有」的問法，這位主考很習慣這樣發問。「認準根源於何處」不是問祖籍，是問那個靈性的來處，接的是〈鎮壇詩〉的「九六」：原靈從本源降下來，記得來處的人才知道要往哪裡回。「識透生死否相關」——生死這件事你看透了嗎？看透之後，它與你還相不相干？兩句要合著讀：認得根源與看透生死，本是同一件事。不知道自己從哪裡來的人一定會怕死，因為死在他眼裡就是徹底的消失；認準了根源，死就只是回程的一段路。這也正面回答了上一段「輪迴一圈又一圈」的疲倦——不認根源，就只能一圈圈轉下去。
Another pair of questions, in the same construction as 否知行持內外關 — 否 here asking “do you or don’t you,” the examiner’s habitual form. 認準根源於何處 asks not about ancestry but about the spirit’s origin, picking up 九六 from the opening verse: the original spirits came down from the source, and only those who remember where they came from know where to return. 識透生死否相關 — have you seen all the way through life and death, and once you have, do they still have any hold on you? The two halves must be read together: knowing your root-source and seeing through death are one and the same matter. Anyone who does not know where they came from will fear dying, because for them death is simple annihilation; once the root-source is fixed clearly in mind, death is only a stretch of the road home. This also answers the weariness of 輪迴一圈又一圈 head-on — without knowing the source there is nothing to do but keep going round.
「借今」是趁著現在。這脈修道傳承把救渡的歷程分成三個時期，如今是最後這一期，稱作白陽，也就是普傳、總收圓的時候。「風雲會」就是「風雲際會」——風與雲湊在一起，比喻難得的時機到來、英才聚合。「龍虎」本是道門內丹修煉的術語：龍常比喻心、神，性喜飛揚；虎常比喻身、精，性喜沉降；修煉的功夫就在「降龍伏虎」，讓心神安住、精氣凝聚。用在這裡可以有兩層意思——一是有才能、有修為的人紛紛應運而出，來輔助道務；二是修道人自身要把心與身都調伏好，用內在的成就來護持這件事。兩層並不衝突：能助道盤的人，正是先把自己的龍虎降伏了的人。「道盤」指整個道務的局面；這一句與「共同護持法舟駕」是一組——那裡說扶船，這裡說出力。
借今 is making use of the present. This line of transmission divides the work of deliverance into three periods, of which this is the last, called the White Era — the time of universal transmission and final ingathering. 風雲會 is the meeting of wind and cloud, the classical image for a rare convergence of the moment and of exceptional people. 龍虎 is inner-alchemical vocabulary: the dragon commonly figures the heart and spirit, which by nature want to rise; the tiger figures the body and essence, which by nature want to sink; and the work is 降龍伏虎, settling the spirit and gathering the essence. Two readings live here at once — that people of capacity and attainment are coming forth in answer to the times to aid the work of the Dao, and that cultivators must subdue their own heart and body and support this work out of inner attainment. The readings do not conflict: the people who can help are the ones who first subdued their own dragon and tiger. 道盤 is the whole field of Dao work; this line pairs with 共同護持法舟駕 — there, steadying the boat; here, putting strength into it.
這一句底下壓著一個古老的典故，而且是反過來用的。《尚書·胤征》有一句流傳極廣的話：「火炎崑岡，玉石俱焚」——崑岡的大火燒起來，玉和石頭一起燒成灰，形容不分好壞、同歸於盡。而這裡寫的是「玉石分判」：把玉和石分開來。一字之轉，意思完全翻了個面——不是同歸於盡，是要分辨清楚；「玉」比喻真心實修、經得起考驗的人，「石」比喻心志不堅或虛應故事的人，「分判」就是這場最後的甄別。「天不忍」三個字是這一句的心臟：上天不忍心讓玉和石一起燒掉，不忍心讓真心修行的人陪著一起毀滅，所以才有下半句——劫由人心造，而道正因為有劫才降下來；災劫愈近，道降得愈急。合起來的意思是很沉的：現在能坐在這裡聽訓，不是風調雨順的太平之福，是因為外面正緊。這也讓上一句「借今」的「借」字有了重量——這個「今」是借來的，不會一直在。
An ancient allusion sits under this line, and it is used in reverse. The Book of Documents (尚書), in the “Punitive Expedition of Yin” chapter, gives the famous line that when fire rages on the ridge of Kunlun, jade and stone burn together (玉石俱焚) — the image of indiscriminate destruction, good and bad consumed alike. What is written here is 玉石分判, jade and stone sorted apart. One character reverses the sense entirely: not perishing together but being told apart — 玉 figuring those who cultivate in earnest and can stand the testing, 石 those whose resolve is weak or whose practice is a formality, and 分判 the final sifting. 天不忍 is the heart of the line: Heaven cannot bear to see jade burn along with stone, cannot bear to let those who cultivate sincerely be destroyed alongside the rest — and so the second half follows: calamity is made by human hearts, and the Dao descends precisely because of the calamity; the nearer the disaster, the more urgent the descent. Taken together the implication is heavy: that you can sit here and receive this teaching is not the leisure of a peaceful age but a sign of how pressed things are outside. It also gives the 借 of 借今 its weight — this “now” is borrowed, and will not last.
語氣又轉回溫和。「洗心革面」是兩個典故合成的。「洗心」出自《易經·繫辭上》：「聖人以此洗心，退藏於密，吉凶與民同患」——聖人用這個道理洗滌自己的心，然後把它收藏在最隱微處，與百姓同其憂患；要留意後面那半句：洗完心不是為了自己乾淨，是為了能與眾人同甘共苦。「革面」出自《易經·革卦》象辭：「君子豹變，其文蔚也；小人革面，順以從君也」——改變要像豹紋換新那樣鮮明。合起來就是從裡到外徹底更新。而「另出天」三個字接得很有力量：把心洗乾淨、把面目改過來，不是回到原點，是走進一個從前沒有過的天地。修行不是修補，是重生。
The tone softens again. 洗心革面 fuses two allusions. 洗心 comes from the Great Treatise (繫辭上) of the Book of Changes: the sage washes the heart with this and withdraws into what is hidden, sharing the fortunes and misfortunes of the people — and that second half matters, because washing the heart is not for one’s own cleanliness but so that one can share the people’s hardship. 革面 comes from the Xiang commentary on the Ge hexagram (革卦) of the same book: the noble person transforms as a leopard’s markings renew, the small person changes his face and follows — change should be as vivid as new markings. Together they mean renewal all the way through, inside and out. And 另出天 is a forceful completion: washing the heart clean and changing the face you turn to the world does not return you to where you began — it opens a realm you have never been in before. Cultivation is not patching; it is rebirth.
上一句才說「另出天」，這一句立刻說「另作聖賢」——新開的那一片天，是要拿來成就聖賢的。「新民」出自《大學》，這裡有一個值得說明的文字問題：《大學》開篇「大學之道，在明明德，在○民，在止於至善」，通行的古本作「親民」（親愛百姓）；宋代的程頤與朱熹認為應當作「新民」（使百姓革除舊習、日日更新），朱熹的《大學章句》就是這樣改的。兩種讀法各有道理，歷代爭論不休；這篇訓文用的是「新民」，走的是朱熹那一路。我們照原樣保留，不往任何一邊「改正」，只把這個分歧指出來。順著「新民」的意思讀：修道不能只顧自己好，自己更新了還要幫別人更新，一個人成了聖賢不算，要人人都立得起來。「世界大同」出自《禮記·禮運》：「大道之行也，天下為公。選賢與能，講信修睦……老有所終，壯有所用，幼有所長，矜、寡、孤、獨、廢疾者皆有所養……是謂大同」——這是儒門最高的社會理想。而用「祈」字，是說這不是靠一兩個人辦得成的，得眾人同求同做。從新民到大同，路徑很清楚：一個人更新 → 帶動別人更新 → 一整個世界更新。
另出天 is immediately followed by 另作聖賢 — the newly opened heaven is there so that sages and worthies can be made in it. 新民 comes from the Great Learning (大學), and there is a textual matter here worth stating. The opening of the Great Learning runs: the way of great learning lies in illuminating bright virtue, in ○ the people, in coming to rest in the utmost good. The received text reads 親民, to love the people; Cheng Yi (程頤) and Zhu Xi (朱熹) of the Song held that it should read 新民, to renew the people — to have them cast off old habits and be made new day by day — and Zhu Xi’s Commentary on the Great Learning (大學章句) prints it that way. Both readings have their case and the argument has never been settled; this teaching uses 新民, following Zhu Xi’s line. We preserve it exactly as received, “correcting” it in neither direction, and only point out the divergence. Read in the sense of 新民: cultivation cannot stop at your own good — having renewed yourself you must help others renew, and one person becoming a sage is not enough; everyone must be able to stand. 世界大同 comes from the “Li Yun” chapter of the Book of Rites (禮記·禮運): when the great Way prevails the world is held in common, the worthy and able are chosen, trust is taught and harmony cultivated, the old are seen through to their end, the able-bodied have their use, the young are raised, and the widowed, orphaned, solitary and disabled are all provided for — this is called the Great Unity, the highest social ideal of the Confucian tradition. And 祈 says this is not something one or two can accomplish; it takes everyone seeking and doing it together. The path from 新民 to 大同 is plain: one person renewed → others drawn into renewal → a whole world renewed.
要明白上天真正的慈心是什麼——回頭看「玉石分判天不忍」就懂了：上天的慈不是保佑你事事順遂，是不忍心你陪著一起毀掉，所以在最緊的時候把道降下來。明白了這一點，人才知道自己領到的是什麼。「人代天宣化有緣」是接著開出的責任：由人來代替上天宣揚教化，去成全有緣的人。這句話的底子是「天不言」——上天自己不開口，道理要靠人去說、去做出來；所以修道人不只是受益者，還是傳話的人。而這一句正好是全篇的一次自我印證：這篇訓文本身就是「代天宣」的產物——藉乩筆寫下來，人抄錄、整理、傳出去，每一個經手的人都在這條線上。
To understand Heaven’s true compassionate intent, look back at 玉石分判天不忍: Heaven’s compassion is not a guarantee that things will go your way, but an unwillingness to let you be destroyed along with the rest — which is why the Dao was sent down at the tightest moment. Understanding that, a person knows what it is that has been received. 人代天宣化有緣 is the responsibility that follows: people are to proclaim and transform on Heaven’s behalf, and bring to completion those with the affinity. The premise beneath it is that Heaven does not speak — the teaching must be said and lived out by human beings; so a cultivator is not only a beneficiary but a carrier. And this line is the teaching confirming itself: this very text is a product of 代天宣 — written through the stylus, then copied, edited and passed on, with everyone who handled it standing on that same line.
語氣忽然變得具體而實在：佛堂裡有佛規，要遵守，還要守得莊嚴。從「世界大同」那樣的高處一下子落到佛堂裡的規矩上，這個落差是刻意的——前面講的都是大願，這裡講的是眼前這一步；願再大，若連身邊這一方佛堂的規矩都不肯守，那個願就是空的。「以莊嚴」三個字不是要人板起面孔：莊嚴是由內生出來的，心裡有敬，行儀自然就端正——這一點「主敬存誠」四個字早就先說過了。規矩不是拿來約束人的繩子，是讓人心定得下來的框。
The register turns suddenly concrete: the prayer hall has precepts, they are to be kept, and kept with dignity. The drop from something as high as 世界大同 to the house rules of a prayer hall is deliberate — everything before this was great vows, and this is the step in front of you; however great the vow, if the rules of the one hall you sit in are not worth keeping, the vow is empty. 以莊嚴 is not a demand for stiff faces: dignity is generated inwardly — where there is reverence in the heart, bearing straightens by itself, which 主敬存誠 already said. Rules are not a rope for binding people but a frame within which a heart can settle.
這是全篇最貼近日常的一句提醒。肉眼看不見的，不等於不存在——這句話呼應「三天法會天人護」：那些護持的力量一直在場，只是看不見。人最容易鬆懈的時候，正是自以為沒人看見的時候，這一句就是說給那個時候聽的。而這句話從一位鑑察記錄的仙佛口中說出來，分量又不一樣：他其實可以說得很嚇人，但他沒有，只是平平地說一句「看不見不等於沒有」，然後把重點放在下半句。「心正意誠感佛仙」——心地端正、意念真誠，就能與仙佛相感應，這才是他真正要說的。全句的重心不在「你被看著」，而在「你可以接上」：感應不是求來的，是心正意誠自然通的；反過來說，心不正、意不誠，求得再勤也接不上。「心正意誠」正是「主敬存誠」的落實——那裡說的是聽訓前的準備，這裡說的是一生的功夫。
This is the teaching’s most everyday reminder. What the eye of flesh cannot see is not for that reason absent — which answers back to 三天法會天人護: the guarding presences have been in the room the whole time, merely unseen. People slacken most reliably at the moment they believe no one is watching, and this line is spoken to that moment. Coming as it does from one whose charge is to observe and record — admitted two lines later — it could easily have been made frightening; it isn’t. The statement is flat and unalarming, and the weight is placed on the second half instead. 心正意誠感佛仙 — with the heart upright and the intent sincere, one is in accord with the immortals and the buddhas, and that is the real point. The emphasis is not “you are being watched” but “you can connect”: response is not obtained by asking, it comes through naturally where heart and intent are true; conversely, with a crooked heart and an insincere intent, no amount of asking will reach. 心正意誠 is 主敬存誠 put into practice — there it was preparation for one session of listening, here it is the work of a lifetime.
他很坦白：一個人的力量確實小。這不是客套，是實話——三曹共辦、五湖四海、世界大同，沒有一件是一個人辦得動的。但力量聚起來，就不可小看。「勿」是禁止的口氣，比「不」重：不是「不太應該小看」，是「不可以小看」。這一句是〈鎮壇詩〉最後一句「兄弟姐妹同心志 攜手九六渡顛簸」的正面說明，也是給每一個覺得自己不夠格、幫不上忙的人聽的——你那一份確實小，但這件事本來就是靠許多小份湊起來的。「勿輕觀」同時也在說：別小看自己那一份。
The admission is candid: one person’s strength really is small. This is not modesty but fact — the three courts working as one, the five lakes and four seas, the Great Unity of the world: not one of them is within a single person’s power. But strength gathered is not to be looked on lightly. 勿 is a prohibition and heavier than 不 — not “ought not quite to underestimate it” but “do not.” The line is the positive statement of the opening verse’s close, 兄弟姐妹同心志 攜手九六渡顛簸, and it is addressed to everyone who feels unqualified and of no use: your share really is small, and this work was always going to be made of many small shares. 勿輕觀 says the other thing at the same time — do not think little of your own share either.
全篇唯一一次，身分被亮了出來。「鑑」是鏡子，引申為監察審視；「鑑班」就是在班程進行時於無形中護持、監察的職責。所以這句話的意思是：為兄在這裡的職責就是鑑班——而是與非、善與惡，都清清楚楚記下來。到這裡，前面十七句的溫和口氣忽然有了底：原來這位一路稱「為兄」、開口先問身體好不好的兄長，就是那位記功過的主考。而這件事留到倒數第二句才說，不是拿來威嚇，是說給那些聽了十七句仍不放在心上的人聽的——這不是隨口的勸勉，是記錄在案的。「記明然」的「明」字有兩面：一面是清楚，不會漏、不會錯；另一面是坦蕩，他把記錄這件事當面告訴你，沒有暗記，也沒有算計。這正是主考該有的樣子：秤是公開的秤。
Here, and only here, the office is shown. 鑑 is a mirror, and by extension to inspect and examine; 鑑班 is the charge of guarding and overseeing a class from the unseen side while it is in session. So the line says: my charge here is to oversee this class — and right and wrong, good and evil, are all set down clearly. Only now does the gentleness of the preceding seventeen lines acquire its floor: the voice that has called itself 為兄 throughout, and opened by asking after everyone’s health, is the examiner keeping the ledger. That it is held back to the second-to-last line is not intimidation; it is said for those who have heard seventeen lines and still not taken them to heart — this was never casual encouragement, it is on the record. The 明 of 記明然 cuts two ways: the record is clear, missing nothing and mistaking nothing; and it is also open — the fact of recording is stated to your face, with nothing kept secretly and nothing calculated. This is what an examiner should be: the scale is a public scale.
最後一句，兩個看似相反的動作。「以身示道為模範」——用自己這個身子把道顯示出來，做出一個樣子來；前面十八句講了那麼多道理，落點在這裡：道不是講的，是做出來給人看的。這正是「人代天宣化有緣」最有力的形式——說一百句，不如活成一句。而下半句「隱身不多宣」，他自己就示範了這件事：要退到後面去，不多說了。這是全篇「位高而自處於低」的最後一筆——一位有權柄考核眾人的仙佛，說完該說的就把自己收起來，把場子留給要去實做的人。兩個半句其實是同一件事的兩面：身要現，人要隱；讓道被看見，別讓自己被看見。到這裡，「肉眼不見非無有」又有了新的一層意思——他隱了身，但他還在。
The last line holds two apparently opposite motions. 以身示道為模範 — use this very body to show the Dao, and make of yourself a model; after eighteen lines of principle, everything lands here: the Dao is not spoken, it is done where people can see it. This is the strongest possible form of 人代天宣化有緣 — a hundred sentences are worth less than one life lived. And the second half, 隱身不多宣, demonstrates that very thing: step back, say no more. It is the teaching’s final stroke of holding high office and taking the low place — the one with authority to examine everyone, having said what needed saying, withdraws and leaves the floor to those who must go and do it. The two halves are one matter seen from two sides: let the body appear, let the person disappear; let the Dao be seen, and not yourself. And with that, 肉眼不見非無有 gains one more layer — the form is hidden, and still present.
「哈哈」是仙佛慈悲的一笑，帶著暖意，從來不是嘲笑。而「止」這個字要特別留意：聖訓最常見的收尾是「哈哈退」（我告退了），這一篇寫的是「哈哈止」——停筆。為什麼是停筆？因為這是沙訓，字是透過乩筆一筆一筆寫在沙盤上的；同一次班程中十月一日那一篇的結尾寫得更明白：「止了乩筆別眾徒 哈哈退」——停下乩筆，向眾人道別。所以「止」指的是這支筆停下來，這篇訓文到此為止，不是中途的停頓。上一句才說「為兄隱身不多宣」，下一刻筆就停了。話說完了，人就收了——從頭到尾，這位兄長沒有一句多餘的。
哈哈 is the warm laughter of divine compassion; it is never mockery. And 止 deserves particular attention: the commonest close in holy teachings is 哈哈退, “I retire,” where this one writes 哈哈止, the halting of the brush. Why halting? Because this is a sand-teaching, its characters traced one stroke at a time on the sand tray through the planchette stylus; and the teaching of October first, from the same assembly, closes more explicitly still — halting the stylus and taking leave of the disciples, then 哈哈退. So 止 means this stylus comes to rest and the teaching ends here; it is not a pause in the middle. The line before said the form would be hidden and no more proclaimed, and in the next instant the writing stops. The words were finished, and the presence withdrew — from beginning to end, not one syllable more than was needed.
本訓十九句，最後以「哈哈止」收尾。開篇兩句用了同一個「入班」：他領旨入班，弟妹有緣入班——同一個班，一個從上面來，一個從下面來，在這裡碰頭；沒有說「吾來考爾等」，說的是我們都是進到這個班裡的人。接著把格局撐開：三天法會天上人間一同護持，「三曹共辦人鬼仙」——天曹、人曹、地曹三邊同時在辦，你坐在這裡修的這一分功夫，不只是你一個人的事。而「共同護持法舟駕」的動詞是護持，不是搭乘：這條船不是給你坐的，是要你一起扶著的。然後是主考的第一問：「得了亙古之秘寶 否知行持內外關」——東西給你了，你會不會用？「關」既是關口也是門戶，內關是起心動念過不過得去，外關是待人辦事過不過得去，兩關都要自己過。第二問更根本：「人生一世立何處」——立在錢上、名上、別人的評價上，地基一鬆人就跟著垮；而「借人借事形象演」說的是這一生借著各種人、各種事演出來的一場形象，既然是借的就有還的一天，正因為是借的，才要拿它來修那個真的。「四生六道多轉變 輪迴一圈又一圈」的口氣是疲倦的，不是恐嚇：真正該怕的不是苦，是白轉。出口在下一句——得了三寶，又恰好遇上時機。至於「超氣入象」四個字要老實說明：這脈傳承講的路徑通常是「超象入氣、超氣入理」，本篇寫的與此不同；但這是沙訓，字是乩筆一筆一筆寫在沙盤上的，沒有借竅錄音可以回頭聽，所以照原樣保留、列為存疑、交前輩裁定，一字未改。照原樣讀，下半句「法聖賢」給了線索：歷代聖賢沒有一位是在無形中成就的，都是在這個有形的人間一言一行做出來的——超越氣數的牽纏，回到人間如聖賢那樣做出來，這與全篇最後的「以身示道」是同一個方向。「四難而今轉四易」表面是恩典，底下是催促：難事變容易，是因為窗口開著；窗口開著，就意味著它會關。所以隨即補一句「心中常存地與天」——抬頭有天，低頭有地，做事才有分寸。
接著兩問並下：「認準根源於何處 識透生死否相關」。認得根源與看透生死本是同一件事——不知道自己從哪裡來的人一定怕死，因為死在他眼裡就是徹底的消失；認準了根源，死就只是回程的一段路。這也正面回答了上文「一圈又一圈」的疲倦。然後是時局：「借今白陽風雲會」的「借」字有重量，這個「今」是借來的，不會一直在；「龍虎齊出助道盤」可以兩層並讀——有才能有修為的人應運而出，同時也是修道人自身把心與身都調伏好，能助道盤的，正是先降伏了自己龍虎的人。而全篇的樞紐在「玉石分判天不忍」：《尚書·胤征》的名句是「火炎崑岡，玉石俱焚」——玉與石一起燒成灰，不分好壞、同歸於盡；這裡一字之轉寫成「分判」，把玉與石分開來，意思整個翻了面。「天不忍」三個字是這一句的心臟：不忍心讓真心修行的人陪著一起毀掉，所以才有「道因劫降至世間」。劫愈近，道降得愈急——能坐在這裡聽訓，不是太平之福，是因為外面正緊。語氣隨即轉回溫和：入班研真理，「洗心革面」是《易經·繫辭上》「聖人以此洗心，退藏於密，吉凶與民同患」與《革卦》象辭的合用，洗完心不是為了自己乾淨，是為了與眾人同其憂患；從裡到外徹底更新，「另出天」不是回到原點，是走進一片從前沒有過的天地。往下再推一層：「新民」用的是朱熹《大學章句》的讀法，通行古本作「親民」——這是一處真正的異文，我們照原樣保留，不往任何一邊「改正」，只把分歧指出來；順著讀，自己更新了還要幫別人更新，一個人成了聖賢不算，路徑是一個人更新、帶動別人更新、一整個世界更新，而「世界大同」出自《禮記·禮運》，用「祈」字是說這不是一兩個人辦得成的。「人代天宣化有緣」的底子是天不言：道理要靠人去說、去做出來——這篇訓文本身就是一個例子。而後從「大同」這樣的高處一下子落到眼前一步：佛堂之中有佛規，弟妹遵守以莊嚴；願再大，若連身邊這一方佛堂的規矩都不肯守，那個願就是空的，而莊嚴是由內生出來的，正是前面「主敬存誠」的落實。「肉眼不見非無有」呼應開篇的「天人護」：護持的力量一直在場，只是看不見；但重心不在「你被看著」，而在下半句「心正意誠感佛仙」——心正意誠自然通得上，這才是真正要說的。
末三句收束。「一人力量雖微小」是坦白話，三曹共辦、五湖四海、世界大同，沒有一件是一個人辦得動的；但「集中力量勿輕觀」的「勿」是禁止的口氣，不是「不太應該小看」，是「不可以小看」——這句話同時也在說：別小看自己那一份。緊接著是全篇唯一一次亮身分：「為兄職責鑑班立 是非善惡記明然」。「鑑」是鏡子，引申為監察審視，鑑班就是在班程進行時於無形中護持、監察的職責。前面十七句的溫和口氣到這裡忽然有了底——原來這位一路自稱「為兄」、開口先問身體好不好的兄長，就是那位記功過的。而他把這件事留到倒數第二句才說，不是拿來威嚇，是說給聽了十七句仍不放在心上的人聽；「記明然」的「明」既是清楚，也是坦蕩——他把記錄這件事當面告訴你，沒有暗記：秤是公開的秤。最後一句兩個看似相反的動作其實是同一件事的兩面：「以身示道為模範」——道不是講的，是做出來給人看的，說一百句不如活成一句；「為兄隱身不多宣」——說完該說的就把自己收起來，把場子留給要去實做的人。身要現，人要隱。全篇以「哈哈止」畫下句點：「哈哈」是慈悲的一笑，從來不是嘲笑；而聖訓最常見的收尾是「哈哈退」，這一篇寫的是「止」——停筆。因為這是沙訓，字是透過乩筆寫在沙盤上的，止的就是這支筆。上一句才說「隱身不多宣」，下一刻筆就停了：話說完了，人就收了。
The body runs nineteen couplets and halts. It opens by placing everyone with the same two characters — entered the class: one entered under decree, the others entered by affinity, and they meet in the same room. Not I have come to examine you, but we are all people who came in here. Then the scale is set: at the Three-Heaven Dharma Assembly, Heaven and humanity stand guard together, and the three courts work as one — human, ghost, immortal — so that the effort made in this room is understood to reach further than this room. Note the verb that follows: the vessel of the Dharma is to be upheld and steered together, not ridden. The boat is not there for you to sit in; it is there for you to help hold. And then the first of the examiner’s questions: you have received the secret treasure of all antiquity — but do you know how to practice it, and to hold both the inner gate and the outer? The word is at once a gate and a checkpoint, and both must be passed on your own: inward, whether your rising thoughts get through; outward, whether your dealings and your service do. The second question is more fundamental — in one lifetime, where do you take your stand? Stand on money, on reputation, on other people’s estimate of you, and when the ground shifts you go down with it. Meanwhile everything you take to be your life is borrowed: borrowed people, borrowed circumstance, borrowed forms playing themselves out — and what is borrowed is returned, which is precisely why the borrowed is worth using to cultivate the true. The wheel that follows sounds tired rather than frightening — four modes of birth, six paths, one round and then another round — and what should be feared is not the suffering but the emptiness of turning and carrying nothing away. The way out arrives immediately: the Three Treasures received, the moment and the opening coincided. The line after that must be stated plainly: the ladder usually recited in this lineage moves beyond form into breath and beyond breath into principle, and what is written here does not. This is a sand-teaching, traced character by character through the planchette stylus, with no recording to retrace — so the characters stand exactly as received, the divergence is recorded for senior judgment, and not one of them is altered. Read as written, the second half of the line points the way: no sage or worthy ever completed the work in the formless — every one of them did it here, in a world of form, one word and one act at a time. Come out from under the pull of the breath-heaven and back into the visible world, and build it the way the sages did — which is the same direction as the teaching’s own last instruction. Then the era’s gift and its warning in one breath: the four difficulties have turned into four easinesses, and an opened window is a window that will close. Hence the counterweight — keep earth and Heaven always present in the heart, so that ease is never mistaken for entitlement.
Two questions come next and belong together: where does the root-source lie, and have you seen through life and death enough that they no longer have a grip? They are one question. Whoever does not know where he came from will fear dying, because to him death is simple erasure; whoever has fixed the source in mind finds that death is only a stretch of the road home — which is the direct answer to the weariness of round after round. Then the moment itself is named, and the borrowing is pointed: this present convergence of wind and cloud is on loan and will not stay. Dragon and tiger coming forth to aid the work reads two ways at once — capable people rising when the times call for them, and the practitioner’s own heart and body brought into order — and the readings do not compete, since the ones who can aid the work are the ones who subdued their own dragon and tiger first. The hinge of the teaching is the couplet that follows. The Book of Documents supplies the famous line: when fire rages on the ridge, jade and stone burn together, the good consumed with the bad because fire does not sort. This teaching changes one word — jade and stone are sorted apart — and gives the reason in three characters: Heaven cannot bear it. Cannot bear the jade to burn with the stone. And so the Dao, because of the calamity, descends into the world; the nearer the calamity, the more urgent the descent. To be sitting in this hall is therefore not the luck of a peaceful age but evidence of how tight things are outside. The register softens again at once: enter the class and study the true principle, and wash the heart, change the face, and another heaven opens. Both halves come from the Book of Changes — the sage washing the heart clean and withdrawing into what is hidden, sharing the fortunes and misfortunes of the people, and the outward face visibly altered — and the fuller quotation matters, because the heart is not washed for the sake of one’s own cleanliness but to be able to bear what everyone bears. Renewal, not repair: another heaven means a different order of life, not a return to the starting point. The next line reaches further still, and carries a real textual history — the received Great Learning reads love the people, and it was Zhū Xī who emended it to renew the people; this teaching follows the emended reading, and the variant is recorded rather than corrected in either direction. Read forward, it means cultivation is not permitted to stop at the self: one person renewed, others renewed through that one, and at last the Great Unity of the Book of Rites — held in the verb pray for, because no one or two people can accomplish it. That people must proclaim on Heaven’s behalf rests on the plain fact that Heaven does not speak; the teaching in front of you is itself an instance of it. And then, from that height, the text drops without warning to the step directly underfoot: within the prayer hall the Buddhahood Precepts stand, and keeping them is what holds the place in dignity. However large the vow, a vow that will not keep the rule of the room it is sitting in is empty — and dignity is generated inwardly, which is the earlier reverence and sincerity finally put to work. What the fleshly eye does not see is not therefore nonexistent, which answers the guarding presence named at the start; but the weight of the line is not you are being watched. It is the second half — when the heart is upright and the intent sincere, the immortals and buddhas are reached. That connection is not begged for; it is what an upright heart naturally completes.
The last three couplets close the ring. One person’s strength is genuinely slight — none of this, the three courts, the five lakes and four seas, the Great Unity, is within a single person’s reach — but do not regard it lightly is a prohibition, not a suggestion, and it cuts both ways: do not underestimate what gathered strength comes to, and do not underestimate your own small share of it. Then, once and only once, the office becomes visible: as your elder brother, my charge stands: to oversee this class; right and wrong, good and evil — recorded plainly and clearly. To oversee is, at root, to mirror — to witness and examine an assembly from the unseen side. Everything warm in the preceding seventeen couplets stays true, and this is also true: the record is being kept. It is held back until the second-to-last line not as a threat but for whoever has listened to seventeen couplets without taking them to heart — and plainly has two faces, unmistakable and also open, because the fact of the record is stated to your face. Nothing is written down in secret; the scale is a public scale. The final couplet’s two motions look opposite and are one thing seen twice: show the Dao with your own body and be the model, since the Way is not argued but demonstrated and one life lived is worth a hundred sentences — and then hide the form and proclaim no more, having said what needed saying and left the floor to those who will go and do it. Let the Way be seen; do not be seen yourself. The close is Ha ha — and here I halt: the laugh is warmth and never mockery, and the verb is the tell. The usual sign-off retires; this one halts, because this teaching was written rather than spoken, traced in a tray of sand, and what halts is the stylus. One line after saying he would hide his form, the writing simply stopped. Everything was said, and then the presence was put away.