75. The Sea of Desires Is Much Deeper than the Sea of Suffering

¹ Buddhism looks at life as changing constantly. Greed, anger and ignorance end up “in a sea of bitterness.” It is part of the life process of most people. This is because everyone looks to satisfy their material desires, which create a bottomless sea of desires, where people can never be satisfied.

¹ 佛家講人生無常。貪、嗔、癡的結果就是都讓人掉到苦海裡面去，這就一般人的生命過程。因為大家所追求的就是要滿足物質慾望。物質慾望就是慾海。

² The “sea of desire” is deeper than the “sea of bitterness.” Desire has no end to it. That is to say, human heart is bottomless.

² 慾海是沒有底的，人永久不會滿足。它比苦海還要深，因為人心沒有底。

³ Why does the word “desire” in Chinese have a “heart” radical [a root serves as a prefix or suffix] on the bottom? There are two desires that humans are born with, which do not involve the heart. One of them is to seek food, and the other is to seek a mate. To seek a mate refers to a male and a female coming together. These two basic desires are normal desires.

³ 為甚麼這個「慾」字下面要加一個「心」？人一生下來就有兩種欲望，是沒有「心」的欲望：一個是「求食」，求食就是飲食；一個是「求偶」，求偶就是男女。這兩種是基本也是正當的欲望。

⁴ However, as the world continued to evolve, humans have already surpassed these two basic desires. That is why a heart radical was attached to the basic word of desire in Chinese.

⁴ 但到了後世，人類不斷的追求物欲的滿足，已超出了這兩種基本欲望。這是為什麼要在「欲」字下加一個「心」字啊！

⁵ Everything is created from the heart. This is because all evil deeds in the human world originate from the heart. So to reform society, you have to start from the heart, and rebuild from the heart.

⁵ 一切由心造。因為人類社會一切的罪惡，都是從心而來，從心開始的。所以要改造這個社會，非得要從心開始不可。

⁶ Cultivating the Dao is to cultivate the heart. Religionists have to bear the responsibility for correcting and influencing people’s hearts.

⁶ 修道就要修心。只有宗教家有心負起糾正人心的責任，以感化人心。

The Anthro-Celestial Research College, the Anthro-Celestial Cultivation College, June 2, 1993

天人研究學院、天人修道學院－民國八十二年六月二日