为什么好人要经历九九八十一难才能成佛，而坏人只需要放下屠刀就可立地成佛？这是在《秋言物语》的分享现场收到的提问。很高深的一个问题，也富有哲学性。
当时我从三个方面解答了这个问题。
其一，人的好坏不能一概而论，很难绝对区分。谁好谁坏、谁是谁非，在不同的时间阶段、不同的立场背景下，可能结论相反。好人也会做错事，坏人也会做好事，好与坏又有主观成分。社会越复杂，人群越不清晰，就越难分辨。如果再以佛家的轮回来说，就更复杂了。
其二，这个问题它预设了一个前提，就是认定苦难是一件坏事。
好人不应该承受苦难，应该一路顺风顺水走到繁花似锦处。其实不然。很多时候，苦难是由贪婪、嗔恨、傲慢、无知所导致的因果轮回，要回到本性善良、厚德承载状态，我们需要经历苦难。欢乐稍纵即逝，苦难才会令人深思，苦难是令人痛苦的，因为痛苦难忍我们才想要逃离。
而唐僧西行取经经历了八十一难的情况又有所不同，这八十一难并非他的业力，而是因为他发了大愿，想取经普度天下众生，想成佛。大愿之后必有大难，想要更进一步地提升自己，有所担当和成就，就必须让自己得到更多的磨砺，经历越多体悟越多。在这个过程中锻造心性、提升智慧、领悟正法。所以，有时候我们心愿越大、越精进，磨难反而越多。
其三，放下一把屠刀和经历九九八十一难，难度是一样的。比如一个罪犯要获得幸福生活，改过自新就可以了，而普通人需要努力奋斗。虽说幸福的体验级别不同，但两者所需经历的艰难苦困是同样的。当这两种人经受过同样的洗礼，就可以获得同等级的心境，就都成就了佛心。无论哪种方法，都是让自己到达彼岸的方法，因为每个人的天性和业力不同，所以不同的人有不同的因缘。
再说深一点，好人与庸人又不是一个概念。庸人不做贡献，不承担责任，根本没有拿起屠刀的能力与勇气，所以肯定需要不同级别的磨砺。而真正的好人，就是那些保护众生的人，比如我们的战士。南怀瑾曾说，“(你)连刀子都不敢拿，拿起来怕割破了手。拿屠刀的人是玩真的，真有杀人的本事，大魔王的本事，是一个大坏蛋，但他一念向善，放下屠刀，当然立地成佛”。有杀戮的本事而不去杀戮，一心向善，当然立地成佛。
解答完这个问题后，可能这个问题太深奥、太有趣了，我的思考并没有停止。有一天突然顿悟，其实，这把“ 刀” 也可以不理解为“刀”。我们的贪婪、嗔恨、傲慢、无知、执迷，一旦举起这把屠刀，不要劈向他人而是先劈向自己，刀刀割人心。无论所谓好人与坏人成佛，一样都只需要放下屠刀，所谓“一念天堂，一念地狱”， 如此看来，智慧的探索真是没有穷尽，也真是充满喜悦与满足。也许假以时日，我又有不同的领悟跟大家分享。
A Butcher Becomes a Buddha the Moment He Drops His Knife
Aspiritually impoverished person becomes a Buddha just by putting down his knife; yet good people must surmount numerous difficulties and dangers. How can this be? That’s one of the questions I was asked at thebook-signing conference. What a profound question!
Ibased my answer on three strands of thought. First, it is difficult to ascertain a person’s nature from a sweeping glance. No one is absolutely good; nor is anyone absolutely bad. We may arrive at a different judgement about the same people based on time spent with them and the perspective taken. Good people sometimes make mistakes, and bad people sometimes do good things. The judgment of good or bad is subjective. The more complicated a society’s structure, the more difficult it can be to distinguish between good and bad and motivation.
Second, the question assumes that difficulties and hardships must be negative events, and that good people should not suffer and instead live without complications. In fact, that’s not the case. In many cases, hardship is the result of greed, hatred, arrogance and ignorance, and people must endure such hardships to find their true nature, just as Dante must visit hell to reach heaven. Pleasures last a short time; but hardships make people think. Hardships are difficult to bear, and they motivate us to avoid them in the future. The difficulties experienced by Monk Xuanzang are not the same difficulties under discussion here. Master Xuanzang went through those hardships, not due to karma, but because becoming a Buddha was his greatest wish. He went on a pilgrimage to deliver all living creatures from torment. Sometimes the greater the aspiration, the more the hardships. He improved himself step by step and shouldered tough burdens. He survived bouts of temptation. He improved his mind and kept to the right track—the one that led to the destination.
Therefore, my third argument is that to live a happy life, a criminal will only need to turn over a new leaf, while an ordinary person must seem to make great efforts.Yet both undergo the same trial, and they attain the same state of mind, a Buddhist mind. No matter which approach is taken, both are bridges to the other shore. Due to varying temperaments and karmas, people’s initial motivations will differ. Nan Huaijin says, “(You) don’t even have the courage to pick up a knife because you fear that you may cut your fingers. Those with cleavers in their hands really mean it, they can kill, they have the capacity of devils, they are scoundrels, but as long as they turn over a new leaf and drop their cleavers, of course they can become a Buddha”.
