Thank You Shifu, For Everything.

「諸賢各自珍惜，
我們有這番同學菩薩道的善根福德因緣，
我們曾在無量諸佛座下同結善緣，
並將仍在無量諸佛會中同修無上菩提，同在正法門中互為眷屬。」

Master Sheng Yen (1930 - 2009)

Recent Reading

Bonfire Of The Vanities by Tom Wolfe

The timing is ironic -- Reading the book that coined the phrase "the Master of the Universe" in the midst of the financial crisis now sweeping the world. But the book is sheer genius.

Quotable Quote: "A liberal is a conservative that has been arrested."

快雪時晴帖

In Chinese calligraphy, the third century CE--corresponding to the Three Kingdoms (220-280) and Western Chin (265-316) period--witnessed the maturation of various script forms. Thereafter, applications for regular, running, and cursive scripts became increasingly widespread, flourishing to form a new trend. During the fourth century in the Eastern Chin dynasty (317-420), calligraphers thereupon strove to forge writing as an art form as they explored how to make brush strokes more natural and aesthetically pleasing. Pursuing the dual beauties of “skill” and “naturalness,” both ancient and modern forms of writing were combined to achieve a realm of utmost beauty and perfection in calligraphy. The most typical representative of this trend was Wang Hsi-chih (303-361), who was praised as the “Sage of Calligraphy” by later generations.

王羲之（303－361），祖籍山東，出身仕族世家，西晉末南渡，徙居浙江會稽。曾官右軍將軍，會稽內史，東晉永和年間（345－356）去職，與 東土名士盡山水之游。熱衷詩歌，音樂與書法。他學書歷程是由近而古，轉益多師，取資廣博，尤其精研體勢，將秦篆漢隸各種不同的筆法，融於真行草體中，形成 最佳體勢，所以唐朝人稱頌他「兼撮眾法，備成一家，為萬世宗師」。

這是一件行楷書短簡，前後都有署名具禮，內容是大雪之後 向友人問候。明代鑑賞家詹景鳳指出，此蹟筆法圓勁古雅，意態閑逸，對趙孟頫的行書有很深的影響。從用筆來看，此帖多圓鈍的用筆，點畫勾挑都不露鋒，結體平 穩勻稱，在優美的姿態之中，流露出質樸內斂的意韻。乾隆皇帝極珍愛此蹟，譽之為「天下無雙，古今鮮對」。乾隆十一年，他將此蹟與王獻之的「中秋帖」，王珣 的「伯遠帖」合稱「三希」，寶藏在「三希堂」中。此帖一般認為是唐代精摹本。

釋文：羲之頓首。快雪時晴。佳想安善。未果為結。力不次。王羲之頓首。山陰張侯。

Photo and text both by 國立故宮博物院 National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.

The City I've Loved and Will Always Love

"One constant in New York is the velocity of change. Attempts at freezing time here always fail. New York is too big, dense, various, too full of collisions large and small, artistic and commercial, too full of energy, desire and ambition, to ever remain the way it was. New York is not a museum disguised as a city. It's not Venice."

Pete Hamill, New York Magazine Oct. 6, 2008

達摩二入四行觀

夫 入道多途，要而言之，不出二種：一是理入、二是行入。理入者：謂藉教悟宗；深信含生同一真性，但為客塵妄想所覆，不能顯了。若也捨妄歸真，凝住壁觀，無自 無他，凡聖等一，堅住不移，更不隨文教，此即與理冥符。無有分別，寂然無為，名之理入。行入謂四行，其餘諸行悉入此中。何等四耶？一報冤行，二隨緣行，三 無所求行，四稱法行。

　　云何報冤行？謂修道行人，若受苦時，當自念言：我往昔無數劫中，棄本從末，流浪諸有，多起冤憎，違害無限，今雖無犯，是我宿殃，惡業果熟，非天非人所能見與，甘心甘受，都無冤訴。經云：逢苦不憂。何以故？識達故。此心生時，與理相應，體冤進道，故說言報冤行。

　　二、隨緣行者：眾生無我，並緣業所轉，苦樂齊受，皆從緣生。若得勝報榮譽等事，是我過去宿因所感，今方得之，緣盡還無，何喜之有？得失從緣，心無增減，喜風不動，冥順於道，是故說言隨緣行。

　 　三、無所求行者：世人長迷，處處貪著，名之為求。智者悟真，理將俗反，安心無為，形隨運轉，萬有斯空，無所願樂。功德黑暗常相隨逐，三界久居，猶如火 宅，有身皆苦，誰得而安？了達此處，故捨諸有，止想無求。經云：有求皆苦，無求即樂，判知無求，真為道行，故言無所求行。

　 　四、稱法行者：性淨之理，目之為法。此理眾相斯空，無染無著，無此無彼。經曰：法無眾生，離眾生垢故；法無有我，離我垢故；智者若能信解此理，應當稱法 而行。法體無慳，身命財行檀捨施，心無吝惜，脫解三空，不倚不著，但為去垢，稱化眾生而不取相。此為自行，復能利他，亦能莊嚴菩提之道。檀施既爾，餘五亦 然。為除妄想，修行六度，而無所行，是為稱法行。

By Bodhidharma

Three Hundred Years From Now

Angry in the ultimate dimension
I close my eyes and look deeply.
Three hundred years from now
Where will you be and where shall I be?

Looking at anger with the eyes of impermanence, we can stop and breathe. Angry at each other in the ultimate dimension, we close our eyes and look deeply. We try to see three hundred years into the future. What will you be like? What will I be like? Where will you be? Where will I be?
The reason we are foolish enough to make ourselves suffer and make the other person suffer is we forget that we and the other person are impermanent.

by Thich Nhat Hanh

愛別離苦

近別不改容，遠別涕沾胸。
咫尺不相見，實與千里同。
人生無離別，誰知恩愛重。
始我來宛丘，牽衣舞兒童。
便知有此恨，留我過秋風。
秋風亦已過，別恨終無窮。
問我何年歸，我言歲在東。
離合既循環，憂喜迭相攻。
悟此長太息，我生如飛蓬。
多憂髮早白，不見六一翁。

蘇軾 熙寧四年(1071 A.D.)九月

蘇東坡與其弟弟子由及家人共度中秋。這次中秋值得記憶，他後來一直思念不
已，因為其後六年他始終沒有機會和弟弟共度佳節。臨別時，二人難分難捨，子由送兄
長至穎河下游八十里外的穎州（今阜陽），到穎州在歐陽修相伴之下，又一同過了半個
多月。但是終須分手。在蘇東坡開船出發的前夜，兄弟二人又在穎州河的船上共度
一夜，吟詩論政，徹夜未眠。那天夜裡，蘇東坡寫了兩首詩來顯示他的心境，此其一。
次日凌晨，兄弟二人分手。蘇東坡對子由的深情確是非比尋常，後來，在寫給
他好友李常的一首詩中說：「嗟余寡兄弟，四海一子由。」

From 蘇東坡傳記 by 林語堂