不要蹉跎歲月Do Not Let Your Years Slip By

你妳是否有聽過這句話「一寸光陰一寸金,寸金難買寸光陰」？

這句話的主角是光陰，配角是金。光陰可以買金，金卻不可以買光陰。因此光陰是主角，金是配角。更何況，主角的戲比較多比較重。在這當中，你妳是否有看出這句話的玄機？如果你妳看不出，也算是平常的。因為，吾活到這歲數，才看出端倪。這功勞應歸於學佛，蓋學佛本來就是要開啟我們的智慧啊！所以吾常說: 學佛真好。願你妳和吾一樣，早得智慧。

很多人把一生或大部份的時間，都花在追逐名利，那他她們最終會否追逐到？那可不一定。就算他她們成功地追逐到，他她們的雙鬢已白、臉上也佈滿在商場上「鬥爭」的痕跡。甚至年邁退休時，想要和家人或伴侶享晚年的時候，卻被診斷出健康狀況十分不理想。這樣的「人生規劃」，就違背了人人皆要的幸福、快樂及美滿，也是本末倒置的。你妳們不妨去考察全世界的歷史，你妳們一定會發現，從古至今未曾有人能永遠擁有人間的一切。

在有限的生命里，唯一值得我們去追逐的，是我們百年歸去之後，真正永恒的幸福，自在和快樂。那其實就是要修行。除此之外，我們在娑婆世界所做的一切都是在蹉跎歲月。

Have you heard of this Chinese saying, “An interval of time is as worthy as an ounce of gold, but an ounce of gold cannot buy you an interval of time”?

Time plays the leading role in this saying, while gold has the supporting role. You can use time to buy gold, however you can never use gold to buy time. Hence, the lead actor is Time, while Gold is the supporting actor. Typically, the lead actor would have more acts to play. Can you see the profound secret in this saying? If you cannot, that is only normal. Because having lived till this age, I have only just grasped the tip of the iceberg. I must give credit to learning the teachings of the Buddha, from whom we gain our wisdom! Thus I always say learning the Dharma is good. I wish that you, like me, will attain your full wisdom soon.

Many people spent their whole lives or most part of it chasing after fame and fortune. But do they achieve what they sought after at the end of the road? It is hard to say for sure. Even if they had gotten what they want, they would find themselves aged and white-haired, their faces lined with “battle scars” from the rat race. During their retirement, when they wish to spend their golden years with their loved ones, they may well be diagnosed with ill health conditions. This scenario is contrary to the happiness and bliss that they dreamt of and painstakingly planned for in the first place. You can take a look at the world’s history and are bound to discover that no one person can ever possess everything in this mortal world forever.

In the limited lifetime we have, the only thing worthy of our pursuit is the eternal bliss, joy and freedom that we can call our own when our time in this world is up. And that is only achievable through spiritual cultivation. Apart from that, everything else that we do in this Samsara world is a waste of time.