初学者的弘法利生事业

What is the ideal number of beings to be liberated each time? Given the right conditions, it should be as many as possible. With limited amount of money, the smaller the size of the beings, the bigger the quantity that can be bought. That means more lives can be saved and helped to attain liberation. On the other hand, liberating larger animals such as yaks and sheep or larger fish like silver carp are also meaningful. We can plainly see that these beings generally endure more pain when being killed due to their larger body. As we help them avoid this immense fear and pain, we also gather greater merit at the same time. The Abhidharma-kosha-shastra said so too. For example, which is a greater evil, killing an ant or an ox? Although they are both living beings, the dying pain of an ant is not as enormous as that of an ox, relatively speaking. Due to the large size of the body, animals like yaks and sheep suffer more physical pain when they die. It is therefore a relatively greater evil to kill large animals.

放生的数量当然是越多越好。小体积的动物，身体没有那么大，有限的钱就可以买很多，不但可以救很多生命，而且也可以让它们得到解脱。但放大体积的生命，比如牦牛、绵羊还有鲢鱼等等，也有很多好处。因为身体越大，死的时候痛苦也越大，这是我们现量可见的。我们使它们避免了很大的痛苦，所以功德也很大。这些在经书上有记载，《俱舍论》中也讲过。譬如杀一只蚂蚁和一头牛，哪个罪过大呢？本来两个都是畜生，但小虫子死的痛苦，相对而言没有牦牛被杀的痛苦大。牦牛、绵羊之类，因为身体较大，死的时候痛苦也很大，所以，杀害它们的罪过相对而言也要大一些。

Of all the beings we can liberate in this region, I think weather loaches are the most suitable because of their moderate size which allows us to buy decent quantity with relatively little money, and the extremely brutal death they suffer at the hands of their captors. But the prerequisite is that the location must be right for the survival of the loaches.

放生的动物，我认为泥鳅最理想，因为人们杀死它的方式很残忍，身体也比较适中，几块钱可以买到很多。但也要视当地情况而定，不一定非要放泥鳅。

For the beginners of Mahayana Buddhism, the ways to propagate the Dharma and benefit sentient beings are no other than liberating living beings. Unlike the Buddha who by turning the wheel of the Dharma each time could lead hundreds or thousands of the audience to the attainment of arhatship and inspire a mass audience to generate supreme bodhicitta, we are incapable of such feat. What we can do for the time being is to participate as best we can in the activity of liberating living beings either personally or by donating money to it when unable to attend. This is our way of benefiting sentient beings, of practicing offering of Dharma.

学习大乘佛法刚刚起步的人，弘法利生的事业就是这个。佛住世时一转法轮，现场有几百几千的众生成就阿罗汉的果位，几百几千的众生发无上菩提心等等，但是我们却做不到。我们现在只有根据自己的能力，每月积攒十元、五元或两元、一元，过段时间拿来放生，这是我们能做到的，这就叫做饶益众生，就是法布施。