這是一段菩提比丘在2013年美國佛教會夏令營閉營典禮開示，雖然開示很短，但句句珠璣，因此特別整理出來和大家分享：

The BAUS summer camp of 2013 is coming to an end. But even though you’ll soon be going home, you should not think you are leaving the monastery. Rather, you should take the monastery with you: take it with you in your heart. And at home, you should try to apply the principles that you learned at the monastery to your everyday life, for the Buddha Dharma does not only flourish in a monastery. It flourishes best in the human heart, and we help it to flourish by putting the Dharma into practice in our daily lives.

美國佛教會2013年佛學夏令營已經接近尾聲。雖然你們很快就要回家了，但你們不應該認為你們是在離開莊嚴寺。反而，你們應該把莊嚴寺帶著一起走：帶在心裡一起走。在家裡，你們應該試著把在莊嚴寺學到的一些原則應用在每天的生活當中，因為佛法不止是在寺廟裡才興盛，在人類的心中會是最興盛的，當我們在日常生活當中實踐法的時候，我們就會幫助佛法興盛。

In Buddhism, we often use the simile of the lotus flower to illustrate how purification occurs in the midst of turmoil and trouble. The lotus flower grows up in the mud at the bottom of the lake, but it rises through the muddy water and emerges on the surface of the lake. Here it blossoms in the light of the sun and displays its beauty, giving delight to everyone who looks at it! So, you should make your heart like the lotus flower. Let it blossom amidst all the turmoil of your daily life.

在佛教裡，我們經常使用蓮花當比喻，說明在動亂和麻煩當中，淨化是如何發生的。蓮花成長在湖底的泥巴，但它穿出污水而浮現在湖面上。它在太陽光下開花並展示它的美好，讓欣賞者心喜。

In your daily life, there will be problems in the family, problems at school, problems with friends and neighbors, problems at work. All these problems are like the mud in the lake. As followers of the Buddha you should apply the Dharma to purify your heart, make your heart rise up through the mud and dirt of worldly affairs and let it blossom, showing its sublime beauty.

在你們每天的生活裡，問題都會發生在家庭裡、在學校裡，和朋友、鄰居產生麻煩，或在工作中發生問題。這些所有的問題就像湖底的泥巴一樣。做為佛陀的追隨者，你們應該應用佛法來淨化你們的心，讓你們的心從日常俗事的污泥中穿透出來，同時讓它開花來展示它崇高的美！

The sublime beauty of the human heart is manifest in three qualities:

人心的崇高之美，可以用三個性質來表明：

One is purity of conduct which means that you should try to live by the Five Precepts, which enjoin: not taking life, not stealing, not committing sexual misconduct, not speaking deliberate lies, and not using intoxicating substances that cloud the mind. By following the precepts, you will be sure that you are not harming any other living beings.

第一是淨行，那就是你們應該盡量實行五戒，它包括：不殺生、不偷盜、不邪淫、不妄語以及不食用會蔽心的酒藥等。遵守戒律，你們一定不會傷害到其他生命的。

The second quality is wisdom. Wisdom isn’t just a spark of illumination that comes through deep meditation. Wisdom is a practical capacity that you can apply in everyday life. In this context, wisdom means knowing how to distinguish what is good and what is bad, what is wholesome and what is unwholesome, what is beneficial to oneself and what is beneficial to others. Wisdom means knowing how to make the right distinctions and how to make the right choices.

第二個性質是智慧。智慧不是只有來自深度禪定的一個火花，智慧也是你們能夠應用在日常生活當中的實際容量。換句話說，智慧就是知道如何去區分什麼是好、什麼是壞、什麼是健康的、什麼是不健康的、什麼對自己有好處和什麼對別人有好處。智慧就是知道如何去做正確的區別和如何去做對的選擇。

The third quality, the third ring of petals in the lotus flower, is compassion. Compassion is the quality that causes one’s heart to be moved by the suffering of others. A compassionate person feels the suffering of others as one’s own. But just feeling the suffering of others is not enough. A compassionate person is ready to act, to help alleviate the suffering of others. And this is the quality that we need most in the world today!

第三個性質，也是蓮花的第三環花瓣是慈悲。慈悲是一種因別人的痛苦而使一個人的心，會受到觸動的性質。一個富有同情心的人，感到別人的苦難就像是自己的一樣。但只是感觸到別人的痛苦是不夠的。一個富有同情心的人，隨時都準備好去行動，去幫助、減輕別人的煩憂的。這是當今我們這個世界所最需要的一個性質！

So, to sum up, to live like a lotus flower in daily life we need three qualities.

First, we need the morality of the precepts as a guide to right conduct.

Second, we need wisdom to distinguish what is good and what is bad and to choose the good rather than the bad.

And third, we need compassion to make us responsive to the sufferings of others and to help reduce the suffering in the world. 

因此，如果我們每天要活得像蓮花，我們便需要有三個性質：

第一，我們需要有道德的戒律，以做為我們正當行為的準則。

第二，我們需要智慧去區別什麼是好、什麼是壞，以擇善去惡。

第三，我們需要慈悲，以使我們能夠照顧別人的各種困擾，並幫助減緩這世界上的諸多災難。

If you live in accordance with the Buddha Dharma, you’ll find that your life is truly beneficial, truly worthwhile for yourself, and truly beneficial for others—for your family, your school, your neighborhood, the country and the whole world. Your heart will be as beautiful as the most splendid lotus flower.

如果你們按照佛法過日子，你們將會發現到你們的生命是真正地對自己有益和有價值，同時對別人也是真正地有益－對你們的家人、學校、鄰居、國家以及全世界！你們的心將會像最燦爛的蓮花那樣美麗！

May you all have many blessings in the years ahead, and we hope to see back in the year of 2014!

Thank you very much!

願你們將來福報多多！同時希望2014年再見！非常謝謝！