何谓善知识 What Is a Good Advisor?

一叶落岁之将暮

善知识依照佛法修行，恶知识依照魔法修行。
A good advisor cultivates in accord with the Buddhadharma;
an evil advisor cultivates in accord with demonic dharma.

浅言之，善知识就是有智慧的人，恶知识就是愚痴的人。善知识有正知正见，恶知识有邪知邪见。合乎佛法就是正知正见，不合乎佛法就是邪知邪见。善知识依照佛法修行，恶知识依照魔法修行，善恶的关键在这个地方来分别。
A good advisor is someone with wisdom; an evil advisor is an ignorant person. A good advisor has proper knowledge and views; an evil advisor has deviant knowledge and views. Proper knowledge and views accord with the Buddhadharma; deviant knowledge and views do not. A good advisor cultivates in accord with the Buddhadharma, an evil advisor cultivates in accord with demonic dharma. These are the criteria that differentiate good and evil.

善知识用“四摄法”来教化人。何谓四摄法？就是布施、爱语、利行、同事。这四种法容易和众生打成一片，令众生对于佛法发生兴趣，深信佛法。
A good advisor teaches and transforms people with the Four Methods of Conversion: giving, kind words, beneficial conduct, and cooperation. With these four methods, you can get along easily with living beings, inspiring their interest and eventually their deep faith in the Buddhadharma.

（一）布施：要想令人相信佛法，必须布施财和法给他，令他对你发生好感。

（二）爱语：就是不违背人情，不违背佛法，说些慈爱的话。

（三）利行：随起身口意行，令众生各沾法益。

（四）同事：对于应度的众生与他做同样的工作。

1. Giving: For people to have a good impression of us and to enable them to believe in the Buddhadharma, we give them both wealth and Dharma.

2. Kind words: We speak kindly, following the principle of not going against human feelings or against the Buddha-dharma.

3. Beneficial conduct: With our body, mouth and mind, we bring the benefits of Dharma to living beings.

4. Cooperation: We work alongside the same living beings we want to liberate.

这四种法，是联络感情的方法。你能言行一致，大公无私，以身作则，见义勇为。众生自然相信你所说的话，也就相信佛法是度生死海的宝筏。
These four methods are means to get in touch with and develop rapport with living beings. If you can be consistent in your actions and words, be selfless, set an example with your own conduct, and act courageously and righteously, then living beings will naturally believe what you say and will also believe that the Buddhadharma is a precious vessel for crossing the ocean of birth and death.

你们来到这里听经研究佛法，都是有大知识的人。要知道菩提自性本是清净的。本来清净，就是一法不立，一尘不染，不假造作，本来现前，本来具足。这个菩提自性，也就是佛性。这一点，各位要特别注意！
You people who come here to listen to Sutra lectures and investigate the Buddhadharma are all great learned ones. You should know that the inherent, enlightened nature is fundamentally clear and pure. Within the inherent nature not a single dharma is established, nor is it defiled by any dust. This nature is not produced; it is fundamentally apparent and fundamentally complete. This enlightened nature is the Buddha-nature. Everyone pay close attention to this!

每个人的佛性和诸佛是一样，没有什么分别。不过，我们太愚痴，被无明妄想所覆盖，所以佛性不现前。若能用智慧来处理一切事情，佛性现前，那就是善知识。
Everyone’s Buddha-nature is the same as that of all Buddhas. There is no difference. But because we are too deluded, shrouded by ignorance and idle thoughts, the Buddha-nature fails to manifest. If we could use wisdom to handle all of our affairs, our Buddha-nature would manifest, and we would be good advisors.

何首乌

说得对，说得好，随喜赞叹

何首乌

楼主，上面有一句话说：“若能用智慧来处理一切事情，佛性现前，那就是善知识”，请问这句话是不是代表“有了良好的智慧，才能显现出我们的佛性”这样的一个意思呢？

所谓的佛性，除了必须要有良好的道德修养，也必须具备良好的智慧，对吧？

开卷有益

何首乌 发表于 2-1-2025 01:18 PM
楼主，上面有一句话说：“若能用智慧来处理一切事情，佛性现前，那就是善知识”，请问这句话是不是代表“有 ...

   智慧一词，现实生活和佛学里面的意思很多人比较容易混淆，以至后来越来越多人加入自己现实生活的想法，又越来越糊涂了。

   现代的人如果没有接触过佛法，听到智慧一词，往往会想到那些博士，科学家，大学生，认为知识就是智慧，觉得那些穷人，社会底层就没有智慧，其实这样的想法是不实在的。
   很多佛经都不直接把智慧一词用在佛经里面，是因为佛经里面所指的智慧确实不同。
   简单一点来说，佛经指的是看透世间一切的法门，学佛的学的也是看透世间一切法。只有学会了，那么才可以说得上是智慧，不是表面上那些不是善就是恶这么简单的，假如真的这么简单，小学毕业，道德教育拿满分就成佛了。
   学佛凡事讲的都是因果，要知道前因后果，善和恶也是一样的道理，一味行善会增长了恶，一味行恶，也会贬低善的价值。这两个词是对立的，但是也是共生的，没有恶就没有善，没有善就没有恶。好像一个人，每天跟你拿钱过活，时间长了，就觉得理所当然了，那一天你没有给钱那个人，那么你在那个人眼中就是无比的恶人。一个热爱小动物的人，收养了很多小动物，每天给食物他们，时间长了，小动物没有了自己寻找食物的能力，那一天这个人离开了，这一群小动物就饿死了。
   修行的人到底应该如何识别善于恶才是主要的，了解什么是善恶，就没有善恶，善可以是恶，恶也可以是善，色即是空，空即是色。