文／蓮生活佛 盧勝彥
有一弟子，擺地攤賣雜貨，但，時機不好，生意實在很差，所賺的錢，不夠養家糊口，吃飯也得省。
有一次到「自助餐店」，家人只能一人一碗白飯。
（自助餐店的湯是大鍋湯，自己拿湯碗去裝，不用多付錢）
於是，一家人拼命拿湯碗喝湯，吃白飯。
餐廳老板注意到了。
其他客人也很詫異。
弟子與家人吃到淚流滿面。也非常羞恥，但，無可奈何，沒有錢，苦也！他大叫師尊救命！
我在「三昧」中知道此事，心中非常難過，便入弟子夢中，教授他簡單的唸誦法，因為深一點的他不會。他沒有讀書，不識字。
唸誦法是：
出門生意經。
一賣就遇到觀世音。
東也一群佛。
西也一群佛。
南也一群佛。
北也一群佛。
佛。佛。佛。一切吉祥。
貨品全賣清。
那位弟子雖皈依，但，什麼經也不會，什麼法也不會修，什麼咒也不會持，但，實在家計快過不下去了，家中無隔宿之糧，已到三餐不繼的地步。
我入夢，授「方便生意經」。
擺地攤的弟子一醒來，卻記住了此念誦法，一柱香，擺地攤出門前唸七遍。
哈哈！人群一走過他的攤子，便停住腳步，不忍離去，隨手就買一件二件的。
生意果然有改變，比以往改好了幾倍，他唸越勤，生意越好，這簡簡單單的「出門生意經」，很好記，很好誦，他好喜歡，菩薩和佛就是這麼方便。
隨緣救眾生了！
The Street Vendor
Written by Living Buddha Lian-sheng, Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Amy Zhou
Edited by Jessie Loh and Jason Yu
Proofread by Lufang Hsiung
www.tbtts.org
I have a disciple who is a street vendor and sells odds and ends. However, times were not good and his business was bad. The money he earned was not enough to support his family and they also had to eat frugally.
Once, they went to a cafeteria where they could only afford a single bowl of white rice for each person.
(The cafeteria, however, had a big pot of soup, which each customer could drink from as much as they wanted for free.)
So, the family members filled up their bowls with soup numerous times, while eating plain white rice.
The owner of the cafeteria took notice.
Other customers were similarly surprised.
My disciple and his family ate until tears covered their faces, as they felt great shame and helplessness. Having no alternative and no money, they lived a bitter life! He cried for Grand Master to help!
I learnt of this incident in samadhi and my heart was filled with sorrow. Therefore, I entered my disciple’s dream and taught him a simple method of chanting, because he could not master harder methods. He had never attended school nor did he know how to read.
What I taught him to chant was:
The sutra of conducting business.
Meeting Guanyin in every transaction.
To the east, also a group of buddhas.
To the west, also a group of buddhas.
To the south, also a group of buddhas.
To the north, also a group of buddhas.
Buddhas, buddhas, buddhas. Everything is auspicious.
All the goods will be sold.
Although this disciple took refuge in me, he did not know how to chant any sutras or mantras and did not know how to do cultivation. His family was barely surviving; their home did not have food for the next day, and they were at the point of not eating three meals a day.
I entered his dream and taught him the method of convenient business.
The street vendor awoke and remembered the sutra. Every day, he burned a stick of incense and chanted this sutra seven times before going to work.
Haha! When the crowd passed by his booth, they stopped and could not bear to leave, and bought one or two items.
Sure enough, his business saw changes; it was several times better than before. The more diligently he chanted, the better his business. This simple “sutra of conducting business” was easy to remember and easy to recite. He liked it a lot; this is an example of the expedient means of bodhisattvas and buddhas.
This is saving sentient beings according to circumstances and affinity!
