[宣化老和尚开示 Venerable Master Hsuan Hua's Talks]不要种地狱的种子 Dont Plant a Seed for the Hells
不要种地狱的种子
Don't Plant a Seed for the Hells
◎一九七六年十二月廿二日 开示于金山圣寺
A talk given on December 22, 1976, at Gold Mountain Monastery
关于《楞严经》的问题，我告诉你们一个实实在在的话，《楞严经》这是佛的一个舍利，这是佛的真身。有人批评《楞严经》，无论是哪一个，他要是菩萨，批评《楞严经》是假的，这个菩萨即刻就堕地狱；他是阿罗汉，批评《楞严经》是假的，这个阿罗汉他也即刻会堕地狱。不要说是一些凡夫俗子，什么scholar，什么学者，这些个都是垃圾篓里头的东西，他根本就没有资格明白这个《楞严经》，也没有资格来批评《楞严经》。所以任何人批评《楞严经》的，我不管他是谁，他都是地狱的种子。
Let me tell you the honest truth about the Shurangama Sutra. The Shurangama Sutra is the Buddha's sharira, the Buddha's real body. It doesn't matter who criticizes the Shurangama Sutra. If it is a Bodhisattva criticizing the Shurangama Sutra as being false, this Bodhisattva will fall into the hells instantly; if it is an Arhat criticizing the Shurangama Sutra as being false, this Arhat will also fall into the hells right away. Needless to say, those ordinary people, those scholars, are nothing but trash; basically they are not qualified to understand the Shurangama Sutra at all, nor are they qualified to criticize the Shurangama Sutra. Therefore, anyone who criticizes the Shurangama Sutra--I don't care who he is--is planting a seed for the hells.
《楞严经》这一部经，是整个佛教一部代表的经，若没有《楞严经》就没有佛教。所以佛才预先就说，法灭的时候，《楞严经》先灭；《楞严经》灭完了以后，其他的经典才继续地灭。所以我们佛教徒，要是想护持佛教，先要护持《楞严经》，到处来讲《楞严经》，说《楞严经》，翻译《楞严经》，念《楞严经》，并且主要地要诵〈楞严咒〉。这〈楞严咒〉就是佛的法身，有〈楞严咒〉的地方，就是有佛的舍利。
The Shurangama Sutra is a Sutra that represents the whole of Buddhism. If the Shurangama Sutra didn't exist, there wouldn't be any Buddhism. Therefore, the Buddha predicted that when the Dharma is in the process of becoming extinct, the Shurangama Sutra will be the first to disappear. After it disappears, the other Sutras will disappear in succession. As Buddhists, if we want to protect and support Buddhism, we first have to protect and support the Shurangama Sutra. We have to lecture on and explain the Shurangama Sutra in every place, translate the Shurangama Sutra, recite the Shurangama Sutra, and most of all, memorize the Shurangama Mantra. The Shurangama Mantra is the Buddha's Dharma-body. Wherever the Shurangama Mantra is found, that's where the Buddha's sharira is.
所以在前边我才说，我们佛教徒，无论哪一个，你也不能批评《楞严经》是假的，你不能这样说。你若这样说，就是地狱的种子，就是想要下地狱去了，在这个人世间不愿意做人了，想要去堕地狱、做饿鬼，将来做畜生去。你就动一个念，来说《楞严经》是假的，这都是将来入阿鼻地狱永无出期的一个因。知不知道怎么那么多的人下地狱？就因为他不相信《楞严经》。乃至于就现在的博士、学者，他们自己根本就无知识，没有资格来批评哪一部经典是真的，哪一部经典是假的，因为他没有择法眼呢！他也不认识佛法是怎么回事，就那么人云亦云。
I mentioned previously that none of us who are Buddhists should criticize the Shurangama Sutra and say that it is false. You musn't say that! If you say that, you are planting a seed for the hells; you are just trying to fall into the hells. You don't want to be a human being in this world; instead you want to fall into the hells, to be a hungry ghost, and to be an animal in the future. Just by having that one thought of saying that the Shurangama Sutra is false, you are sowing the cause for falling into the Avici Hell forever and never coming out. Do you know why so many people fall into the hells? It's because they do not believe in the Shurangama Sutra. Those Ph.D.'s and scholars who disclaim the Sutra nowadays are completely ignorant. They are not qualified to judge which Sutra is true and which one is false because they do not have the Dharma-selecting Eye! They do not know what the Buddhadharma is all about; all they do is echo the words of others.