12 Mindfulness Lessons Listened to at Tsinghua University

Chapter 3 Pain and Pleasure (2)
Zhou Guoping, a famous contemporary philosopher, said: "When we were young, we often moaned without illness, exaggerated our pain, and even boasted of our own pain. There are two reasons for this. One is that we are ignorant of life and have not experienced great pain. , treat a little trouble as a big pain. The second is vanity, which is especially prominent in young people. They regard pain as decoration and taste to show that they are different. It is only after we have really experienced the vicissitudes of life that we understand that life The small troubles are not worth talking about, and the big pain is unspeakable. We accept the pain as an integral part of the essence of life and carry on with it. If we must talk about it, we say something else, such as The weather. Xin Qiji's word cloud: but said that the sky is cool in autumn - this ending has a deep meaning, it is unspeakable, and it is a bitter humor."

Detachment is also suffering, precisely because it comes from suffering.But there is an essential difference between detached pain and non-detached pain. Although the former has bitterness and sweetness, it is pain and happiness; It becomes more and more bitter, and finally drowns in the sea of ​​bitterness.

Life is bitter, but life can also be joyful.Theoretically speaking, when suffering is resolved, happiness is produced.In other words, the less pain you have, the more joy you have.However, there are always some people in life who can't tell what is happiness and what is suffering, and even create a lot of suffering for a little happiness. Such people will live in sorrow all day long.

Such as house slaves.A friend of mine said: "If you don't buy a house, you're working for the landlord. If you buy a house, you're working for the bank. We're going to die as migrant workers." Regardless of whether what he said is reasonable or not, the tragedy is obvious.People should think ahead, think about it, if the bank didn't "help" you, when would you be able to live in a big house?Besides, you have already lived in a big house, and you still have so many emotions. Like me, there is no hope in the Year of the Monkey. Isn't the only way to go is suicide?
I certainly wouldn't be so stupid as to commit suicide over a house.Even if you give me a palace, I may not be very happy.I really admire the words of Tsinghua talent Gao Xiaosong: "Just don't buy a house. If you don't buy a house, the whole world is mine. You can live wherever you want. If you buy a house, only one corner is mine."

My friend Zhang Shaomin also wrote in the book: "Nowadays, people in the city or in the countryside are trying to find ways to live in big houses, which are comfortable and bright. But in fact, how many people are really open-minded? Open and bright It has nothing to do with the house. The ancient hermit, a small hut, and a clear spring are enough. Of course, there is nothing wrong with living in a big house, but by extension, why not expand your heart while living in a big house? Widen it into a grassland, designate more land for kindness, full of crops and forests, and luxuriant grass, why not do it? But in reality, the larger the house a person lives in, the smaller the area of ​​​​the soul. People say It's called 'narrow heart'."

Indeed, there are no house slaves in the world, only heart slaves.The house is not the problem, but the "house" of the heart is the problem.

4.If the heart is good, everything is fine

"We've had all kinds of trauma, but we should be happy today."

——Wang Zengqi (famous modern and contemporary novelist, essayist, once gave a speech at Tsinghua University)

It is said that Pavarotti, the late top three tenors in the world, once went to France to attend a concert.At that time, he had not yet become famous. In order to fight this battle well, he deliberately rushed to France one day in advance, stayed in a small hotel near the theater, and prepared to have a good rest.Unexpectedly, he had just fallen asleep when he was awakened by the crying of the baby next door.Pavarotti thought that the little guy would stop crying after a while, but after more than an hour, the child was still crying endlessly.

Pavarotti's patience had reached its limit, he stretched out his fist, and was about to smash the wall to protest, but just when his fist was about to touch the wall, he suddenly thought of a question: why this little guy has been crying for so long, and his voice is still As loud as it was at the beginning?Thinking of this, he lay on the bed and listened carefully, only to find that this child was actually a genius. Every time, when his crying sound was approaching a critical point, he would "pull" the sound back, so that his crying sound would be smoother. No cracking, no hoarseness of the vocal cords.And Pavarotti heard that the child did not speak with the throat, but with the dantian, so he cried for a long time, but he was not panting at all.Thinking of this, Pavarotti was very excited. He immediately tried to pronounce with Dantian like that child, and pulled back before singing to the highest point, keeping his voice loud and complete.After a try, the effect is very good.He couldn't fall asleep anyway, so he practiced for half the night listening to the baby's crying.On the second day, his brand-new singing skills conquered all the audience.

Life is so incredible.If you are in a good mood, you can hear the sound of nature even if it is noise.If you are disturbed, even if you go all over the world, you may not find a place that satisfies you.

Cultivate your mind!If you don't cultivate your mind, everything will fail.If one does not cultivate one's mind, great achievements will be accompanied by great disasters.

People must first cultivate a natural heart.

What is nature?It's very simple, if there is joy in life, there will be suffering, and if there is gain, there will be loss. Even if a person loses more and suffers more, it is a natural thing.If he is always sad, painful, and resentful about it, it is not a problem of life, but that he can't see it.

In ancient China, there was an orchid monk who almost loved orchids like life. His Buddhist temple was filled with orchids of various colors. Pilgrims and tourists could not help admiring when they saw the orchids in the courtyard.After a long time, people have even forgotten the real Dharma name of the Zen master.

One day, Monk Lanhua was invited to the city to preach.Before leaving, he called the most responsible disciple to him and said that I was going to the city to teach the Dharma, and I would come back at night. You should take good care of these orchids for me and remember to water them.

Regrettably, this disciple was too nervous when watering the orchids. He accidentally knocked down the entire orchid shelf to the ground.Seeing the dead flowers and mud all over the ground, the disciple was so frightened that he didn't know what to do. He thought that these orchids were like the life of the master. When he came back and saw this scene, wouldn't he die of anger?
That night, when Monk Lanhua returned to the monastery, his disciples immediately reported to him what had happened during the day and expressed their willingness to be punished.Unexpectedly, Monk Orchid was not angry at all after hearing this, he just smiled calmly and said: "Since you didn't mean it, how can I blame you? I really like orchids, but the purpose of my planting orchids is to offer fragrant flowers Buddha, beautifying the state of mind of the temple and the public is not for anger. The world is impermanent, fleeting, nothing is indestructible, how can I cling to the things I love and don’t know how to let go? This is not the style of our Zen school what!"

The orchid monk does not plant orchids for anger, and we will not do anything for anger, but once things go wrong, or develop in a bad direction out of human control, we often cannot control ourselves, Either blame others or blame yourself, and the result of doing so will undoubtedly make things worse and worse.It is often too late to regret when you are calm.

We say that we must have a natural heart, but we do not mean that people blindly follow nature.In fact, some natural things can also be changed.It's just that if you don't calm down, it will only make things worse.Only by adjusting your mood first, can you turn bad things into good ones as much as possible.

Second, cultivate a free and easy mind.

The so-called free and easy means unfettered, free and uninhibited, unrestrained and unrestrained, and not anxious about trivial matters.A free and easy person will not care about petty gains, will not be obsessed with the past and the future, and will not care about other people's instructions... In short, he will find a way to make himself comfortable and happy without hurting others.The pride of Tsinghua University, Wen Yiduo, a well-known modern poet, is probably such a person, as can be seen from his famous poem "Mr. Wen Yiduo's Desk":

Suddenly all the still lifes spoke,

Suddenly, complaints arose on the desk:

Cartridge moaned "I'm dying of thirst!"

The dictionary shouted that the rain soaked his back;
The letter paper yelled and bent his waist,
pen said soot blocked his mouth

The brush said the match burned his beard bald,
Pencil complains that the toothbrush weighs on his legs;

The censer hums, these savage books

Sooner or later it will knock you down!

The big steel watch sighs and is about to sleep, rusting the bones;
"The wind is coming! The wind is coming!" the manuscript paper screamed;

The pen wash said that he clearly holds water,

How can I get used to smelly and spicy cigar ash;
The table complains that it can't take two showers a year,
The ink pot said, "I'll wash it for you every two days."

"What master? Who is our master?"

All the still life cursed with one voice,
"If life is such a mess,
It would be better not to live! "

The master bit his pipe and smiled obsessively,

"All sentient beings should be in their own places.

I never intentionally spoiled you,

Order is beyond my power. "

Is order really beyond the reach of poets?No, the poet has more important things to do - he still wants to shout for China!In fact, only those who have no pursuit will ask for this and that all day long. Once something does not conform to his so-called order, he will not be able to adapt, and he will not make the people around him happy!Obviously, the people around him don't make him happy either.Who can endure a "problem mother" for a long time!
Of course, cultivating the mind is a big topic, and it is definitely not something we can sum up in a few words, such as ordinary mind, calm mind, open mind, etc., and ten books will not be able to finish it.But everything remains the same, no matter how we cultivate, we must eventually cultivate a beautiful mind.If the heart is good, everything is fine.Life is always unsatisfactory, we can not control the weather, but whether it is windy or rainy, we should maintain a good mood.

5.Don't stand in the ocean and cry thirsty
Now almost everyone, especially some people who are still envied by everyone, are saying that they are a disadvantaged group.Ordinary civil servants, leading cadres, police officers and even some judges say they are vulnerable groups.If they are all vulnerable groups, what should workers and farmers do?

——Sun Liping (Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, Department of Sociology, Tsinghua University)
Once I was on the train, flipping through a magazine, and an article mentioned: The famous action movie star Jet Li was asked in an interview on a TV station: "Do you think you are rich?" Jet Li replied: "I am nothing. The wealthy class is at most a middle class." The author of the article concluded that humility can also sting people's nerves in many cases.

Even more tingling than this are the words of Mr. Sun Liping, a professor at Tsinghua University.But not to sting us, but to sting someone who deserves to be stinged.Once, he said in an interview with Nanfang Daily: "Almost all people, especially some groups of people who are still envied, are saying that they are vulnerable groups. Ordinary civil servants, leading cadres, police and even some judges They all say that they are vulnerable groups. If they are all vulnerable groups, what should workers and farmers do?"

(End of this chapter)