《楞严经》这是佛教里一部照妖镜的经，所有天魔外道、魑魅魍魉，一见到《楞严经》都现原形了，它无所遁形，什么地方它也跑不了。所以在过去，智者大师听说有这一部经，就向印度遥拜，拜了十八年，以十八年这种恳切至诚的心，求这一部经到中国来。
The Shurangama Sutra is a Sutra that acts like a demon-spotting mirror in Buddhism. All the celestial demons, externalists, and the li, mei, and wang liang ghosts reveal their true appearance when they see the Shurangama Sutra. They have no way to hide and no place to flee to. And so in the past, when Great Master Zhi Zhe heard of the existence of this Sutra, he bowed in the direction of India for eighteen years. For eighteen years, he used this spirit of utmost sincerity to pray for this Sutra to be brought to China.
过去的大德高僧，所有这一些有智慧的高僧，没有哪一个不赞叹《楞严经》的。所以《楞严经》存在，佛法就存在；《楞严经》如果毁灭了，佛法也就毁灭了。怎么样末法呢？末法就是《楞严经》先毁灭了。谁毁灭的呢？就是这一些个天魔外道。这些天魔外道一看见《楞严经》，就好像眼中的钉、肉中的刺一样，坐也坐不住，站也站不稳，所以它必须要创出一种邪说，说是《楞严经》是假的。
Of all the greatly virtuous and eminent monks of the past, all the wise and lofty Sanghans, there was not a single one who did not praise the Shurangama Sutra. Therefore, as long as the Shurangama Sutra exists, the Buddhadharma exists. If the Shurangama Sutra is destroyed, then the Buddhadharma will also become extinct. How will the decline of the Dharma come about? It will begin with the destruction of the Shurangama Sutra. Who will destroy it? The celestial demons and externalists will. They see the Shurangama Sutra like a nail in their eyes and a thorn in their flesh. They can't sit still, and they can't stand steady; they are compelled to invent the deviant theory saying that the Shurangama Sutra is false.
我们做佛教徒应该认识真理，《楞严经》上所讲的道理，每一个字都是真经真典，没有一个字不是讲真理的。所以我们现在研究这五十种阴魔，更应该明白《楞严经》这种重要性，其他这些邪魔鬼怪最怕的就是《楞严经》。
As Buddhist disciples, we should recognize true principle. Every word of the doctrines in the Shurangama Sutra is the absolute truth. There isn't one word which does not express the truth. So now that we are studying the Fifty Skandha-demons, we should realize even more just how important the Shurangama Sutra is. The Shurangama Sutra is what the deviant demons, ghosts, and goblins fear most.
虚老活了一百二十岁，他一生，旁的什么经典也没注解过，只有注解这部《楞严经》。注解《楞严经》这个稿子，他是很注意地来保存，保存了几十年，结果以后在云门事变时，就丢了，这是虚老一生一个最大遗憾的事情。他主张我们身为一个出家人，都应该把《楞严经》读得能背得出来，由前边背到后边，由后边背到前边，顺背倒背，顺倒都能背得出来，这是他的主张。那么我知道虚老一生之中，对《楞严经》是特别重视的。
The Venerable Master Hsu Yun lived to be a hundred and twenty years old, and during his whole life, he didn't write a commentary for any Sutra other than the Shurangama Sutra. He took special care to preserve the manuscript of his commentary on the Shurangama Sutra. He preserved it for several decades, but it was later lost during the Yunmen incident. This was the Elder Hsu's greatest regret in his life. He proposed that, as left-home people, we should study the Shurangama Sutra to the point that we can recite it by memory, from the beginning to the end, and from the end to the beginning, forwards and backwards. That was his proposal. I know that, throughout his whole life, the Elder Hsu regarded the Shurangama Sutra as being especially important.
有人也对虚老提过，说：“《楞严经》有人说是伪造的。”老和尚说这末法怎么叫末法呢？就因为有这一班人，弄得鱼目混珠，是非分不清楚，教你这人都迷了，瞎人眼目，令人认不清楚佛法了。他在那儿把这个真的，他当假的；假的他又当真的了。你看这一些个人，又是这个人写一部书，人也拿着看；那一个人写一部书，他也拿着看，真正佛所说的经典，人都把它置诸高阁，放到那个书架子上，永远也不看。所以这也就看出来众生的业障是很重的，他若听邪知邪见，就很相信的；你讲正知正见的法，说了他也不信，说了他也不信。为什么呢？就是善根不够，根基不够的关系，所以对正法有一种怀疑的心，有一种狐疑不信的心。
When someone informed the Elder Hsu that there were people who said the Shurangama Sutra was false, he explained that the decline of the Dharma occurs just because these people try to pass fish eyes off as pearls, confusing people so that they cannot distinguish right from wrong. They make people blind so that they can no longer recognize the Buddhadharma. They take the true as false, and the false as true. Look at these people: this one writes a book and people all read it. That one writes a book and they read it too. The real Sutras spoken by the Buddha himself are put up on the shelf, where no one ever reads them. From this, we can see that living beings' karmic obstacles are very heavy. If they hear deviant knowledge and deviant views, they will readily believe them. If you speak Dharma based on proper knowledge and proper views, they won't believe it. Speak it again, and they still won't believe it. Why? Because they don't have sufficient good roots and foundations. That's why they have doubts about the proper Dharma. They are skeptical and unwilling to believe.
我们万佛城这儿要立楞严的坛场，最好你们谁发心把这部《楞严经》，天天能读它，或者一个钟头、两个钟头。能把它像读书那么读，能记得又能背得出，把这《楞严经》、《法华经》，甚至于《华严经》都能背诵出来，这是最好的。谁能把《楞严经》、《法华经》、《华严经》若都能背得出来，那世界上这还是正法存在的时候。所以我们这儿万佛城这么好的地方，大家要发大菩提心，做一些个事情。不是说我们和人比赛，我们要出乎其类、拔乎其萃，要做这些事情。
Here at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, we will be setting up the Shurangama Platform, so it would be ideal if some of you bring forth the resolve to read the Shurangama Sutra every day for one or two hours. You can study it daily just as if you were studying in school, and memorize it so that you can recite it by heart. If you can recite the Shurangama Sutra, the Dharma Flower Sutra, and even the Avatamsaka Sutra from memory, that would be the very best. If someone is able to recite the Shurangama Sutra, the Dharma Flower Sutra, and the Avatamsaka Sutra from memory, then it will mean that this is still a time when the proper Dharma exists in the world. Therefore, in such a wonderful place as the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, everyone should bring forth a great Bodhi resolve to do these things.It is not that we are competing with others. We should be outstanding, rise above the crowd, and do these things.
我在以前有这么一个心愿，想要把《法华经》能背得出来，再能把《楞严经》也背得出来。在香港有位果一，就是恒定，他《楞严经》能背得出来，《法华经》我教他读，他最后大约没有完全背得出来，这是很遗憾的事情。我们这么好的地方，大家要发大心，把佛经和戒律、《楞严经》、《法华经》和《四分律》、《梵网经》都能背得出来，这是最好的，那我们这儿一定是正法久住了。
In the past, I had a wish: I wanted to be able to recite the Dharma Flower Sutra and the Shurangama Sutra from memory. In Hong Kong, there is a disciple named Guo Yi (Heng Ding) who can recite the Shurangama Sutra from memory. I taught him to study the Dharma Flower Sutra, but in the end he probably didn't finish memorizing it, which is very regrettable. In such a fine place as we have here, everyone should bring forth a great resolve to study the Buddhist Sutras and precepts--the Shurangama Sutra, the Dharma Flower Sutra, the Vinaya in Four Divisions, and the Brahma Net Sutra--until he can recite it from memory. That would be the best, for then the proper Dharma would surely remain here for a long time.
