不信 林鈺堂

科學難驗即判無,缺乏証據當存疑;
未曾親睹就不信,萬象何嘗移樽前?

有些人不信神佛,因為未曾親睹,或以欠缺科學証明為理由。缺乏証明,依科學原則只能存疑,而不能遽斷為不足信。科學是人類知識,極為有限。科學所不能知,所無可奈何的,無有窮盡。對於有修証體驗者來說,神佛的事真實不虛,而沒有信受與否的問題。至於要求親睹身歷才肯信者,先應明瞭世事不能全如人意,無人能合理要求事事親歷。再者,放棄世俗成見,依佛法修持,人人皆有可能親自體驗感應事蹟。若不循道而行,逐級而上,而只一味要求先見到目的地,似乎應先反省自己之要求是否合理。


                     二○○一年八月二日
                     養和齋   於加州



Not Believing Yutang Lin

Taking hard to verify by sciences as disproof;
Without evidence one should at most suspect.
Disbelieve whatever not yet seen by the eyes;
Have all things ever been brought to face one?

Comment:

Some people do not believe in gods or Buddhas because they have never seen one or because there is no scientific proof. Lack of evidence, according to scientific principles, justifies only suspicion but not hasty judgment of disbelief. Science as human knowledge is rather limited. What is beyond the knowledge and manipulation of sciences are limitless. To people with experiences of practices and inspirations Buddhas and gods are real beyond questions of belief or disbelief. As to those who demand personal experience as a prerequisite to their believing, first of all one should realize that not all things in the world would come one way. It is unreasonable to demand that all things must be personally experienced. Furthermore, if one could give up worldly prejudices and practice the Dharma accordingly, then it is within each and every person reach to have inspirational experiences of Buddhas or gods. If, instead of walking along the right path and making progress step by step, one just keeps demanding to see the ultimate goal first, then it would seem adequate for such persons to reflect first on whether their demand is reasonable or not.


Written in Chinese on August 2, 2001
Translated on August 10, 2001
El Cerrito, California


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