The final talk of the「廷驊法雨」講座系列2019: 法師與神父對談–安心與心安was successfully held at Chiang Chen Studio Theatre on October 18.  Co-organized by The PolyU Buddhist Study Group and moderated by Mr. Simon Vuo (伍成邦先生), speakers Ven. Hin Hung (釋衍空法師) and Rev. Thomas Kwan (關俊棠神父) have shared their wisdom on the topic with 160 participants.

Kickstarted by Ven. Hin Hung’s brief mindful practice, the audience prepared themselves well for the talk with moments of peace. Ven. Hin Hung then used a metaphor of “trees and forest” to illustrate that “heart” was an abstract idea and a “collective noun” of emotional, spiritual and many other elements. If one’s attention was focused on different matters, his “heart” would feel differently.

Ven. Hin Hung also expressed that it was normal for us to feel “uneasy” in view of the current social situation. In fact, reasonable level of feeling uneasy served the purpose of making ourselves alert under risky conditions. Still, it was crucial for us not to let such feeling affect our daily lives. First, we should be aware of and should accept ourselves feeling “uneasy”. It would then allow ourselves to see things from different perspectives, or even deeper understanding of the matter.

When asked Rev. Kwan if he himself would also feel “uneasy”, he told the audience that he would rather choose to feel that way because he “didn’t want to be absent from what Hong Kong people mostly feel in current situation”. However, he admitted that there were not much we could do to free ourselves from such feeling as we tended to establish our standpoint based on our intuition rather than rationality. For Rev. Kwan, to “wash away” such feeling by focusing on breathing during night prayer was the way out, while Ven. Hin Hung suggested that when we understood the world was imperfect, there would be enough “emotional reserve” for us not to worry too much.

With Rev. Kwan’s heart soothing prayer as the ending, the audience left the talk feeling radiance of peace and hope.

Dr. Tong Choi-wai, Professional Consultant of the Hong Kong Institute of Educational Research (HKIER) at CUHK has written a Chinese column on the talk which was published on Ming Pao:

不做缺席的菩薩

　【明報文章】上星期出席了由陳廷驊基金會舉辦的神父與法師對談。這已是同系列講座的第三場，題目是「安心與心安」。嘉賓講者包括關俊棠神父和釋衍空法師。在近月「反送中」事件的背景下，安心、心安確是每人每天都在祈盼的心情。所以當晚對談內容，很快也就轉到這個話題上。

衍空法師首先以生活化的語言作了個開頭。他言簡意深解釋了「心」的含意。面對每天令人不安的事件，他首先指出從不安到安心，我們先要接受生活中種種無可避免的不安情緒，然後認識這種不安。淡淡說來，可以感受法師觀看世事的那份安靜、理智；但想要做到「八風吹不動」的境界，相信殊不容易。在但求心安的目的下，法師就只能勸大家「轉台」，不要再看那些令自己不安的電視畫面。

關神父卻是有備而來。在講述他如何面對近日社會不安的說話中，神父說他選擇了「不安」，因為他「不想缺席」。對談主題本教人如何安心，關神父卻反過來示範自己如何選擇進入不安。無他，因為安與不安的最後抉擇，不在自己的日子是否過得安樂，而在乎別人的生活是否幸福。衍空法師為關神父的抉擇做了個佛學的註腳：無緣大慈，同體大悲；也就是大家熟悉那普度眾生的「菩薩心腸」。

兩位來自不同宗教的智者，最終都選擇了慈悲來解釋安心與心安。

Credit: 湯才偉博士；《明報》作家專欄 | 教育心語 | 2019/10/26