「生存、生活、死活」座談會剪影

        上星期有幸參與一個名為「生存、生活、死活」的系列講座，活動由校監衍空法師邀請一些人生閱歷豐富的嘉賓講者，到校分享他們的生命故事。是次講座嘉賓是常霖法師，他與校監及同學們在學校演講廳進行面談交流，分享如何「活好人生」。常霖法師出家前為香港著名專業攝影師，從事專業攝影工作超過五十年，他在2009年放下俗世的名與利剃度出家，現時經常以輕鬆易懂，融合生活藝術的方式帶領禪修活動，希望幫助多些人活出自在的人生。

        講座一開始，常霖法師便問：「你們知道『生存』與『生活』有何分別呢?」 同學們理所當然地以人類的基本需要來解說；接著法師再問：「那麼『生活』跟『死活』又有何分別？」同學們猶豫了一會，便說以生存意義來區分兩者最為合適，生活過得有意義的話，可以算是「生活」；否則便是「死活」。這個答案似乎也獲得法師的認同。隨後法師再問：「我們如何得知自己過的日子是『生活』還是『死活』呢？」這個問題可真難倒同學了，看到同學的反應，常霖法師便從「覺知」的重要性開始娓娓道來。他認為「覺知」是一種「清楚知道」的內心質素，能使內心時刻保持著警醒和澄明。我們在觀看世界萬物時，常會受到外界因素所影響，像蒙上了一層薄紗一樣，只能模糊地觀察事物，未能看清它的本質；如果我們能多「覺知」事物，那就不會輕易受環境及情緒影響，待放下執著便能在當下看到事物的本質。常霖法師與同學分享了自己的人生經驗，希望同學有所得著：

<嚴師高徒>

        常霖法師中學畢業後在理工學院就讀設計課程的第一年，有一位老師經常責罵他，讓他覺得自己好像做什麼事都不對似的，他氣得想要揍那位老師一頓。後來他索性豁出去，上課時，做什麼事都隨心而發，不再期望得到老師的認同或讚賞。不料到了學期終結時，老師對他說：「你覺得我一直以來都針對你嗎?那你還記得張老師麽？是他知道你考進來了，特地叫我照顧你的。」當時的常霖法師感動得幾乎哭出來，因為老師竟然用了一年的時間來破除自己的執念。因為修讀設計的人如未能解放自己，就容易局限了創意和思路，常霖法師後來「覺知」老師罵自己只是為了幫他從執著中解放出來，隨心發揮，培養向外探索(Exploring)的思維，以成就屬於自己的舞台。這事帶出的道理很簡單，就是我們若單從事件的表面或直覺去判斷事情，很容易會被自己的情緒影響而未能清晰地了解事物的本質，往往容易做錯決定或怪錯好人。其後，在場的一位同學也分享了個人經驗，指自己也曾憎恨過一位老師，但後來發覺事情並不是自己所看到的那樣，便不再執著並打消了怨恨老師的念頭，學會好好珍惜身邊人和事。

        最後，校監在講座上跟大家分享了廣結善緣的重要性，他叮囑同學在別人有需要時給予對方幫助和關懷，待人處事要銘記不可只從自己的主觀角度思考問題，要易地而處從對方角度出發，思考別人的困難，這樣才能廣結善緣，助己助人。

        這次講座讓我們獲益良多，暫時只輯錄點滴例子，希望日後有機會再與大家分享。

蘇家樑 校長
21/10/2021

21 October 2021

Awareness

     Last week, it was my honour to attend a series of lectures called "Survival, Life, and Fate". For the event, the school supervisor Venerable Sik Hin-Hung invited some guest speakers with rich life experience to the school to share their life stories. The guest of this lecture was Venerable Chang Lin. He had a face-to-face meeting with the school supervisor and classmates in the school theatre to share how to "live a good life". Venerable Chang Lin was a well-known professional photographer in Hong Kong before he became a monk. He had been engaged in professional photography for more than 50 years. In 2009, he put aside his worldly fame and profit and became a monk. Now he often leads meditation activities in an easy-to-understand way that integrates the art of life hoping to help more people live a comfortable life.

     At the beginning of the lecture, Venerable Chang Lin asked: “Do you know the difference between ‘survival’ and ‘life’?” The students naturally explained the basic needs of human beings. Then the Venerable asked: “So, what is the difference between ‘life’ and ‘fate’?” The students hesitated for a while, and they said that it was the most appropriate to distinguish between the two by the meaning of life. If living is meaningful, it can be regarded as ‘life’, otherwise it is ‘fate’. This answer seemed to be recognized by the Venerable. Then the Venerable asked, “How do we know if we are living ‘life’ or ‘fate’?” This question really embarrassed the students. Seeing their reactions, Venerable Chang Lin started from ‘awareness’, talking about its importance. He believes that ‘awareness’ is a kind of inner quality of ‘knowing clearly’ that can keep our hearts and minds clear at all times. When we look at all things in the world, we are often affected by external factors; like being covered with a thin veil, we can only observe things vaguely, but fail to see their essence. If we can ‘be aware’ of things more, we will not be easily affected by the environment and emotions, and when you let go of your attachments, you can see the essence of things right now. Venerable Chang Lin shared his life experience with these students and hoped that these students would learn something.

     Strict Masters and Skilful Disciples

In the first year of Venerable Chang Lin's design course after graduating from middle school, a teacher often scolded him, making him feel like he was doing something wrong. He was so angry that he wanted to teach the teacher a lesson. Later, he simply went out and did anything he wanted in class, and no longer expected the teacher's approval or appreciation. Unexpectedly, at the end of the semester, the teacher said to him, “Do you think I have always picked on you? Then, do you remember Teacher Zhang? He knew that you were admitted and asked me to take care of you.” Chang Lin at the time was so moved that he almost cried because the teacher actually took a year to get rid of his obsession. This is because if people studying design fail to liberate themselves, they will easily be limited in their creativity and thinking. Venerable Chang Lin was later ‘aware’ of the teacher who scolded him just to free him from attachments, play as he pleases, and cultivate his mindset of exploring, in order to achieve his own accomplishments on stage. The reason for this is very simple; that is, if we judge things from the surface or intuition of the event alone, we can easily be affected by our own emotions and fail to clearly understand the nature of things. We are often prone to make wrong decisions or blame the wrong good people. Later, a student also shared his personal experience at present, saying that he had hated a teacher, but later found that things were not what he saw, so he was no longer clinging to him, and he dispelled the idea of resenting the teacher and learned to cherish the people and things around.

     Eventually, the school supervisor shared with everyone the importance of making good relationships in the lecture. He urged students to offer help and care to others when they need it. While dealing with others, we remembered that we should not only think about problems from our own subjective point of view. From the perspective of the other parties, we should think about the difficulties of others so as to build good relationships and help ourselves and others.

     This lecture benefited us a lot. For the time being, we will only record a few examples, hoping that we will have the opportunity to share more with you in the future.

Mr. So Ka Leung

Principal