钱字是从一金、二戈而成。有首偈颂说得很好：
The Chinese character for “money” (钱) consists of one “gold” (金) and two “spears” (戈). There’s a verse that puts it very well:
二戈争金杀气高
人人因它犯唠叨
能会用者超三界
不会用者孽难逃
Two swords fighting over gold－
the killing energy is high.
People are always getting into trouble
because of it.
Using it well, one can transcend
the Three Realms.
Using it badly, one will have a hard time
escaping one’s offenses.
戈是干戈，是一种武器。钱是用金属所铸造的。二人各持干戈来争金钱，所以造成杀人、放火种种的恶业；你争我夺，杀气高达云霄。
The sword is a weapon, and money (in the form of coins) is minted with gold. When two people armed with swords fight over money, all kinds of evil karma such as killing and arson are committed.
钱虽然是假的，可是人人为它所迷。不但人爱钱，就是鬼也爱钱。活人想尽办法，费尽心机来弄钱；鬼没有工作，不能赚钱，可是也有生财之道，他令人替他烧纸钱。其实，鬼不需要钱，烧纸钱乃是一种迷信，浪费金钱，将真钱化成纸灰，这种思想真是愚不可及！
You and I contend and fight, and the killing energy reaches up to the sky. Money is unreal, yet people go crazy about it. Not only do people love money, ghosts also love it. People think up every possible scheme to get money. Ghosts don’t work, so they can’t earn money. But they have their ways to generate wealth－by getting people to burn paper money for them. In fact, ghosts don’t need money. Burning paper money is a superstitious practice. It just wastes money, turning real money into ashes. It’s extremely stupid.
在亚洲有一种风俗，人在活着的时候，自己烧了很多的纸钱，认为在冥府银行存款，等死的时候，可以做个富鬼。或者用存款来贿赂阎君，减轻其罪。岂知阎君是铁面无私的法官，照公审判，不受任何的贿赂，想贿赂他，真是枉费一番心机。
In Asia, there’s a custom where people burn a lot of paper money when they are still alive, thinking that it goes into their bank account in the underworld, so that after they die, they will become rich ghosts. Perhaps they want to use the money to bribe King Yama into reducing their offenses. However, King Yama is a pitiless judge who metes out fair sentences and doesn’t accept bribes. It would be fruitless to try to bribe him.
凡是有这种思想的人，以为钱能通神，有钱处处行得通，所谓“有钱能使鬼推磨”，这是大错特错的想法。这种人死后，一定堕地狱。为什么呢？因为他在世时，一定做了违背良心的事，为了设法挽救死后的痛苦，所以就大量烧纸钱，准备给贪官污吏们红包，买个方便。这种思想，是欺骗自己，多么可笑！
If people think that money can make the gods listen and can make everything happen, just like the saying, “Money can make ghosts push the millstone,” they are totally mistaken. After such people die, they will surely fall into the hells. Why? Because while alive, they are surely doing many things that go against their conscience. So in order to save themselves from suffering after death, they burn large amounts of paper money. They are preparing to give red envelopes to the corrupt officials so they will be let off easy. They are just cheating themselves by thinking this way. How ridiculous!
钱把世间的人支配得颠颠倒倒，胡作非为，六亲不认，互相倾夺，乃至亲人变路人，甚至成仇人，多么可怕呀！因为这种关系，所以修道人要持银钱戒，免去这些麻烦。
何谓银钱戒？就是手不触钱，这才是真佛子，能守佛律，专持净戒。不但手不摸钱，心也不想钱，视钱为不净之物（钱上有细菌），将钱字抛到九霄云外，视为不祥之物。
Money makes people so muddled that they do all sorts of foolish things; it causes relatives to become estranged, to fight with each other, and to regard each other as strangers or even as enemies. How terrible this is! That’s why cultivators should uphold the precept of not handling money and thereby avoid these problems. This precept prohibits touching money with one’s hands. Then one is a true disciple of the Buddha, one who is able to observe the Buddha’s rules and uphold the pure precepts. Not only do one’s hands not touch money, one’s mind doesn’t even think about money. One regards money as unclean (there are germs on the bills) and inauspicious, and casts out the very thought of it.
修道人要为众生做福田僧，为了让众生种福，而接受供养。但不可攀缘，不可贪求供养，要随缘方便，不能有所企图。出家人为什么不成道？就因为财色二关打不破。财令人迷惑，色令人颠倒，这两种是障碍修道的绊脚石，令人沉迷无法自拔，甚至随波逐流。
In order to serve as a field in which living beings can plant blessings, cultivators in the Sangha accept offerings. However, they may not exploit affinities or be greedy for the offerings. They should expediently accord with the condi-tions and not seek anything. Why are left-home people unable to accomplish the Way? It’s because they can’t leap over the two hurdles of money and sex. Money deludes people and sex makes them muddled. These two stumbling blocks hinder people in their cultivation, causing them to flounder in confusion, unable to pull themselves out, so that they drift along helplessly.
无论哪位，凡是持银钱戒者，自己要特别注意，万分谨慎，手不触钱，心也不要想钱，不可阳奉阴违，贪图利养。如有这种思想和行为，要赶快纠正，不可明知故犯。凡是用“五邪命”方式来生活，都不是真佛子，乃是狮子虫，指佛穿衣，赖佛吃饭。总而言之，凡有攀缘心，就是贪财，都不够资格为佛子。
Anyone who upholds the precept against handling money should watch out and be especially cautious. You should not touch money with your hands or think about it in your mind. You shouldn’t pretend to hold this precept, yet still be greedy for offerings. If you have such thoughts, correct them immediately! Don’t deliberately commit offenses. People who follow the “five improper kinds of livelihood” are not true disciples of the Buddha; they are “parasites on the lion,” depending on the Buddha for clothing and food. In general, as long as you have opportunistic thoughts and are greedy for money, you don’t qualify as a disciple of the Buddha.
人人为钱，不知惹出多少麻烦来。可是会用钱的人，若多做些功德事，例如办学校、开医院等，对人群有利益，利人利己，便能超出三界，不受生死轮回之苦，而得到涅盘的真乐。若是不会用钱的人，只造恶业，做些伤天害理的事，难跳出三界，而堕落地狱。所谓“财色名食睡，地狱五条根”，切记！切记！不可错因果，因果是丝毫不爽，万古不变的定律；错了因果，定要受果报的。
People get into all kinds of trouble because of money. However, if people know how to use money to do meritorious works－founding schools, building hospitals, or doing other things that are beneficial to oneself as well as the society as a whole－they can transcend the Three Realms, escape the suffering of the wheel of birth and death, and attain the true bliss of Nirvana. For those who don’t know how to use it well, money will only cause them to create offenses and do things that harm heaven and destroy principles. They won’t be able to escape the Three Realms, and will fall into the hells instead. It is said, “Money, sex, fame, food, and sleep are the five roots of the hells.” Take heed! Be very careful not to make any mistakes in cause and effect. The law of cause and effect never fails. It’s a timeless and invariable law. If you make mistakes in cause and effect, you’re bound to receive the retribution.
一九八一年六月四日开示
A talk given on June 4, 1981
