The Sangha’s Mission is to propagate and uphold the Teachings; they strive for this mission with a fighting spirit
Hello everyone.
Today I would like to talk about “Memorizing Books”. Actually, in the very beginning, when the Sangha members in our monastery started to memorize books, they faced huge challenges. This is especially so for the young kids. They have to recite loudly for two hours, and most of the young kids disliked it; they felt it was arduous and therefore were not motivated.
Hence, 10 years ago, basing on the intention behind memorizing of books, I encouraged and motivated all the Sangha members to participate. In addition, those who have completed the memorization will train the next group. As a result, up till today, all of them have already completed memorizing the 《Interpretable & Definitive Sutra》. Moreover, many young ones have also completed memorizing this. I am very delighted [with their achievement.]
Today, I saw some of the young kids reciting [the Dharma scriptures] in class. There were quite a few classes also reciting during this period of time. After the class, I asked them, “How do you find reciting and memorizing the scriptures?” Some of the kids replied immediately, “very tedious”, so I asked them, “since you find it so tedious, why are you still doing it?” One replied, “This is because I want to become a monk. As a monk, I have to memorize all the Dharma scriptures. This is a must!” After hearing what they said, I was so touched by them. These kids already know “to strive for their mission” at a young age.
Actually a monk/nun is entrusted with the mission of propagating and upholding the correct, excellent teaching. To fulfill this, they will have to memorize the Dharma scriptures, expound the teachings as well as debate on the teachings. Thus, seeing the young kids who worked so hard on achieving their goals of memorizing the Dharma Scriptures, in my heart I was so touched and showed my outmost respect by saluting to them, salute to them, and salute to them!
出家人传持正法，为使命而奋斗
大家好，今天想说一下关于“背书”这件事。其实最开始我们寺院的法师们在背书的时候，也是遇到满大的挑战。尤其是对于预科班的小朋友，因为在教室里如果说大声背诵两个小时，也是有很多小朋友没有什么欢喜心，然后觉得很辛苦，所以也不是很积极。
所以在十多年前，关于背书课的动机的策励、鼓励大家，然后前面背过的再带后面的，所以到今天大家能把《辨了不了义》背完，而且很多小的都背完了，我是非常非常开心的！
像今天我去背书课的课堂上看一下，有一些小朋友仍然在背书，有好几个班的在背书课时间都在背书。然后他们下课的时候，我就问说：“你们觉得背书怎样？”有的小孩就直接说：“觉得挺苦的。”我说：”那这么苦，你为什么还要背呢？”他说：“因为我想要当个出家人，当个出家人就要背佛陀的教典，所以我必须得背。”他们有的时候讲到这些其实我满感动的，因为小小年纪就已经知道“为使命而奋斗”。
实际上，出家人一定有赋予着传持教正法和证正法这样的一个神圣使命，所以传持教正法就要背诵一些教典、讲说教典，然后论述教典、辩论教典。所以看到这些小的在这样地努力，我也在内心中深深地献上我的顶礼，再顶礼，再顶礼！