宣公上人：我們今天講一個正直無私的做官的人，他叫狄仁傑，字懷英，是唐代時候山西太原的人

宣公上人：我們今天講一個正直無私的做官的人，他叫狄仁傑，字懷英，是唐代時候山西太原的人，他非常的聰敏又勤學，精通五經四書，因為在古代是科第的制度，他就到京城去趕考。

在趕考的路上，有一次他住在一個店裏頭，這個店主人是一位新喪丈夫的寡婦，這個寡婦大約也是性情很剛強，因為剛強所以就把她丈夫給剋去了。

這回狄仁傑到她這個店裏住下來，她看見狄仁傑相貌堂堂，文質彬彬，精神也飽滿，很有一種尊嚴不可侵犯的樣子，相貌修偉，像一個大丈夫的樣子。這少婦因為新喪夫，於是她春情大動，用種種方法，把自己打扮得很時髦的、很摩登的、又很妖豔，就來誘惑狄仁傑。

狄仁傑因為是一個正人君子，不被美色所迷；所以他以很正當的道理開解她，令她把這淫慾的念頭停止了，所以也就不敢放逸了。

這樣子，因為這是一種陰騭的德行，所謂「善欲人見，不是真善；惡恐人知，便是大惡」。他能把這不正當的人感化得歸正途了，這都是有陰騭的，他以這種的陰騭感化，於是就中了狀元。

在京裏還沒有考試的時候，就有人在那兒預先來揣測，猜新科的狀元是誰呢？這麼來占卦問卜，得到的答案說「火犬二人之傑」。在沒有考試以前，就有這種的預言，可是，一般人也不一定知道是誰。考完了之後，才明白火犬就是「狄」字，二人是個「仁」字，之傑也是狄仁傑這三個字。所以這是很有靈感的。

在他初次做官到併州，非常的清廉，又公正，所以老百姓對他也非常的佩服。這時候因為他同僚，就是同事的母親有病，在他上邊的官正要調他到遠方去做官；因為這個人很孝順的，調他到旁的地方去，他因為掛著他母親有病，他不能湯藥親嚐，照顧母親，於是他也無法可想，就愁眉不展的。狄仁傑知道這個事情，就自告奮勇向上級來陳情，說因為他同事的母親有病，不能遠離，可不可以他替代到那個地方去；那麼長官覺得他這種思想是很好的，於是也沒有叫他替代，就另外派一個人到外邊去做官了。由這一點就見出狄仁傑他處處是幫助人，處處是為人做著想，他做官做得非常好。…所以他在武則天的時候做宰相，也把這個國家治理得很太平的。到七十三歲他就死了，武則天因為他死，也哭了。因為武則天一生對狄仁傑最敬畏，她一見到狄仁傑就很守規矩了，狄仁傑他這個正氣，就是武則天這樣子不守規矩的人，果然也是望而生畏。武則天就說，我這個廟堂中，朝堂裏邊沒有人了，為什麼上天把我國家的元老，把我國家的功臣令他這麼快就去了呢？所以她有無窮之嘆。這一段主要是說狄仁傑，他正念秉公不會有一點點的邪念。We will talk today about a righteous, unselfish government official—Di Renjie. He was born in Tang Dynasty, at Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. His other name was Huaiying. He was smart and diligent, and so he thoroughly mastered the Five Classics and Four Books. In ancient China, one had to pass imperial examination in order to become an official. Thus, he went to the capital to take the exam. On the way to the exam, he stayed at an inn where the owner was a widow who had recently lost her husband. Perhaps this widow was so staunch and unyielding that her husband died because of her personality. When Di Renjie stayed at her inn, she couldn’t help but be attracted to his dignified, gentle appearance and upright spirit. Hence, she dressed up in a stylish, bewitching, coquettish way to seduce him.

Being a man of honor, he was not confused by her beauty. Instead, he reasoned with her in a proper and righteous manner and put an end to her licentious thoughts. Consequently, she wasn’t bold as before. What he had done was a hidden virtuous deed that no one knew. A good deed is not truly good if you want others to know about it, whereas an evil deed is truly malicious if you try to keep it a secret. Because he created hidden virtue by influencing a person with improper intentions to reform, he took first place in the highest imperial examination.

Before the examinations took place in the capital, people were trying to guess who would come out first in the highest imperial exam. They divined by means of Eight Trigrams that the “the fire dog, hero among two people” would win. Most people did not understand what this prediction meant. After the exam, they realized that ‘fire’ 火plus ‘dog’犬referred to the character di 狄. ‘Two people’ 二人composed the character ren 仁, and ‘hero’ is jie 傑 so the phrase made the three characters “Di Renjie” 狄仁傑. Thus the prophecy was correct.

When Di Renjie first became government official, he worked in Bing District. He was honest, upright and fair, so all citizens admired him. At that time, the higher authorities planned to transfer his colleague to another place. His colleague’s mother was sick and as a filial son, the colleague was depressed thinking that he wouldn’t be able to personally take care of his mother and give her food and medicine if he were transferred away. He couldn’t figure out any way to deal with this. Hearing this, Di Renjye, volunteered to be transferred out in his stead. The higher authorities valued his considerate thinking, and assigned another person to take that position.

We can tell from this incident that Di Renjie was really a good official who was considerate and who always helped others. On the way from Bing District to fill a position at Taiyuan, he passed by Mt. Taihang. While looking east at the distant white clouds capping the peak of Mt. Taihang, he was reminded that his parents once lived there. He told his attendants that his parents’ house was under those white clouds. The idiom “house under the white clouds” evolved from this incident.

During the reign of Emperor Gao, the judicial court neglected to judge the cases brought before them, and thus the cases piled up like a mountain. Di Renjie was assigned to investigate those cases. In one year, he cleaned up the accumulated cases and finished over 17,000 cases. All the cases were dealt in a proper and appropriate manner, and they were all resolved fairly and impartially. All the people were pleased, and they loved and respected him. As the prime minister under Empress Wu Zetian, he governed the country until peace prevailed. Therefore, when he died at the age of 73, Wu Zetian cried because she held him in the highest regard. His presence caused her to behave decently. She was usually ill-behaved and licentious, but she respected and was afraid of Di Renjie’s honest and upright character. Wu Zetian said at his death, “There is no one in my royal court now. Why did the heavens take this meritorious elder so soon?” She was filled with endless lamentation. The main point of this section is that Di Renjie was a just and upright person who did not entertain the slightest bad thought.

❏圖片來源: 佛門網

❏文章來源:

Vajra Bodhi Sea 金剛菩提海 : Lectured by the Venerable Master Hua on January 2, 1987 http://www.drbachinese.org/vbs/publish/441/vbs441p015.htm

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