Clarifying Doubts About the Pure Land (II)
淨土釋疑(二)
Question 46 : I have a friend who, like me, is almost fifty. When he was young, he pursued fame and wealth. Now that his family life is settled and his finances are stable, he has begun to pursue religion. As for me, I have been involved with religion continuously since childhood and have hardly ever stopped. When I was young, I also had many opportunities to pursue fame and wealth; but, I was unwilling to do so and instead devoted my energy to religion.
Over the past two years, I have found that the Pure Land teaching has brought great peace and stability to my mind. I truly feel that I have found what I need. Unfortunately, I now find myself caught in a conflict. I could retire in about three years; but, I want to give my children a secure home and make sure they have no worries about their future. So I really want to make one more big effort and earn more money.
On the one hand, I want to exclusively recite Namo Amitabha Buddha; on the other hand, this strong desire to provide my children with a secure life weighs heavily on me.
Answer to Q46 : (1 /3)
Earning money to support your children and leave them some property, so that they can live with fewer worries in the future, is a natural concern of parents everywhere. Unfortunately, the direction is completely mistaken.
If your children have blessings and merit, they will naturally have enough food and clothing in the future. If they lack blessings and merit, leaving them more money will only harm them. Therefore, the most important thing is to leave blessings and merit to your descendants.
Even if you have one million, two million, or several million dollars now, it is more important to use that money for charitable giving. In this way, you are leaving virtue to your children. There is a saying, “Wealth rarely lasts beyond three generations.” Therefore, the important thing is not to leave houses and property to your children, but to use these resources to help the poor and needy, and even to make offerings to the Three Jewels.
So after you retire, you will have an excellent opportunity to accumulate a treasury of merit and virtue for your children. In this way, whatever blessings they have in this present life can be preserved, and whatever blessings they lack can also be cultivated.
Anyone who observes the state of society today can see this clearly. Families whose wealth has lasted for more than three generations generally did not succeed simply by leaving tangible property to their descendants. Rather, they left behind intangible merit and virtue. That is what is truly practical.
(to be continued tomorrow)
第46問：我有一個朋友，和我一樣快五十歲了，他年輕的時候就在追求名利， 現在也家庭安定、經濟穩定了，就開始要追求宗教。而我是從小到現在一直 都接觸宗教，幾乎未曾斷過，年輕的時候也很有機會去求一些名利，可是我 都不願意，將心力都用在宗教上。這兩年覺得淨土法門讓我的心很安定，真的是找到自己需要的。可是現在讓自己矛盾的是，本來三年後就可以退休了 ，但我想給孩子一個安定的家，讓他們沒有後顧之憂，很想好好再去拚一場， 好好賺錢。所以一邊想要一心相續念佛，可是想給孩子安定生活的心情卻很重。
答：賺錢來養兒女，讓兒女有一些恆產，將來生活比較無憂無慮，這是天下父 母心，但方向完全錯誤。孩子有福德，日後衣食無憂，孩子沒有福德，留再多 的錢給他都害了他，所以留福德給子孫是最重要的。即使現在有一百萬、兩 百萬、幾百萬，更重要的是拿去佈施，這樣就是留德給他了，所謂「富不過三 代」，所以重點不是留房子、財產給兒女，而是把這些拿去救濟貧困，甚至供奉三寶，所以，退休之後，正好為你的兒女累積功德財，這樣的話，他們現世 福報能夠保持得住，沒有的福報，也會因此培植。這一點大家觀察社會的現 況就知道，富過三代的往往不是留有形的恆產給兒孫，而是留無形的功德， 這才是最實際的。
Namo Amituofo!
