12 Mindfulness Lessons Listened to at Tsinghua University

Chapter 35 Wisdom and Idiot (2)
Another time, Dell attended a dinner party with some friends.At the banquet, a friend told a humorous story to add to the fun, and said at the end that this story just fulfilled a motto in the "Bible": "Man makes things happen, but God makes things happen." As soon as the other party finished speaking, Dell Frowning, he laughed from the bottom of his heart: This sentence comes from the Bible?I'm pretty sure he's from Shakespeare.So Dell immediately pointed out the error of the other party, but the other party did not accept it, and repeatedly emphasized: Impossible!Absolutely impossible!That statement must have come from the Bible.I dare to make any bet with you!
It just so happened that there was also an old scholar who had devoted himself to Shakespeare for many years—Dell's old friend Frank, and they invited him to comment, but Frank said in an unquestionable tone: "Dell is wrong, that sentence is From the Bible, this gentleman is right." Then he kicked Dale under the table.

After the banquet, Dale asked Frank on the way home: "You kicked me because you knew that line was from Shakespeare, right? Why did you say I was wrong?"

Frank: "Yes, that's Shakespeare, and I even know it's from Hamlet, Act V, Scene [-]. But Dale, I think you should understand that we're guests at a party, why do we have to find How about producing a proof to accuse others of their mistakes? Doing this will make them like you and have a good impression of you? Why don’t you save him some face? He didn’t ask for your opinion, and he didn’t want to accept your opinion. Why are you arguing with him? Dale, I want to tell you in the end that it is correct to avoid confrontation forever."

"Always avoid direct conflict!" - this is a lesson that everyone must keep in mind.The world is complicated, and we must also look at the world with a complex eye.For many things, don't let yourself be too sober when you should pretend to be confused; many times, you have to pretend to be confused when you are not confused.

4. Worry is Bodhi, wisdom is ignorance

No matter how the society develops, no matter how high the level of China's science and technology can be developed by Tsinghua University, being a good person will always be your strongest weapon.I believe that even after 200 years, good people will still be rewarded and good people will still get more opportunities.

——Bai Yansong (host of CCTV, once gave a speech at Tsinghua University)
Affliction is Bodhi - this is a Buddhist saying, which comes from the sixth patriarch Huineng.The so-called Bodhi, to the effect of awakening, comprehension, and wisdom.In other words, affliction is wisdom.This is not difficult to understand. People often say in life: People are forced out.Everyone has potential, both physical and mental.But only when afflictions come, especially when we have to face them, can our potential be brought into full play and the necessary wisdom be generated to relieve afflictions.Therefore, affliction is Bodhi.When a person has no worries, to a certain extent he also loses the need to generate wisdom, which means the end of wisdom.

So, where does "wisdom is ignorance" come from?Nan Huaijin said: Becoming a Buddha is a process of going up the mountain and then going down the mountain. At first you go up the mountain, and then you have to go down the mountain.At the beginning you are hardworking and promising-you need to acquire wisdom, but in the end, you must become non-working and inactive-you must give up wisdom and become a person without wisdom...If you don't give up wisdom, you are stupid .Becoming a Buddha is not an achievement of wisdom, on the contrary, it is an achievement of abandoning wisdom.

These words are very good, but they are too profound. In order to take care of some readers who lack basic research on Buddhism, we need to start from the original meaning of "foolishness": the so-called ignorance is confusion, obsession, and ignorance.Buddhists believe that greed, anger, and ignorance are the three poisons, which are great obstacles to practice and enlightenment, and must be avoided.How to quit?Generally speaking, through learning knowledge.But ignorance is not a lack of knowledge. We can see from the word "早" in ignorance that the word "早" is originally the word for knowledge, and adding a word of sickness to the word for knowledge means that there is something wrong with knowledge, which is ignorance.

Say a thousand, say ten thousand, it is better to find an example to see:
Once, the endless Zang nun approached the sixth patriarch Huineng and said: "I have studied Buddhist scriptures for many years, and there are still many things I don't understand."

Hui Neng said, "I'll listen to what you tell me, maybe I can help you."

The Zengzang nun couldn't help laughing: "You help me? You don't even know the words, and you haven't read the Buddhist scriptures. How can you understand the truth?"

Hui Neng replied: "Buddha and writing have nothing to do with each other."

Seeing Wu Wu Zangni looking at him in surprise, Hui Neng further said: "Buddha nature is like the bright moon in the sky, and words are like our fingers; fingers can point to the bright moon, but the fingers are not the bright moon itself, and the moon may not necessarily pass through it." finger."

What she said made endless Tibetans nod repeatedly, so she read the Buddhist scriptures she didn't understand to Hui Neng, and it turned out that Hui Neng really solved her questions for many years.

This story can be described as a true portrayal of "education does not represent ability".Why do many people have a lot of knowledge but can't change their own destiny?This is not a problem with knowledge, but a problem with people—they are too superstitious and stick to the knowledge in books.The so-called "it is better to have no books than to believe in books", the knowledge in books is just a manifestation of the wisdom of the working people for thousands of years.It might sound elegant and professional, but isn't it?If you can't understand some advanced terms, it's not because your level is low, but because some people or this society are not pragmatic.

Lin Qingxuan, a famous Taiwanese writer, told such a story: In a certain temple in Tainan, a young mother was praying to Buddha. Suddenly her son ran over and said, "Mom, I want to eat ice cream." The mother ignored her son and continued to worship Buddha.The son thought his mother didn't hear, so he said it again, but his mother still ignored him.The son shouted anxiously: "Mom, I want to eat ice cream, buy it for me quickly!" The mother turned her head angrily and said, "I'm so ignorant! Didn't you see that I was praying to Buddha? Buy ice cream after praying to Buddha." "But the son retorted: "Wait until you finish buying the ice cream before worshiping Buddha! The Buddha statue is here every day, but the ice cream sale will leave soon!"

Lin Qingxuan concluded that this mother may not understand what true belief in Buddhism is because she is too formal.True belief in Buddhism is to have a Buddha in your heart, not to kowtow devoutly in front of a Buddha statue.However, there are many people who worship the Buddha and kneel when they see the Bodhisattva in their daily life.I once expressed similar views to Lin Qingxuan with several of them, but instead of being recognized, they regarded them as fools!One of them even blushed and told me thickly: People like you who disrespect Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will have bad retribution, and Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will never let you go!I have always wondered: Could it be that the merciful Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, like some cult leaders, can't tolerate me, who has some disrespect for him?What's more, I have to say whether I really disrespected.

Stupid people often say that others are stupid - this is the law I have summed up.It can be seen that quitting dementia is inseparable from learning, let alone humility and introspection.

Most people envy wisdom, but as mentioned earlier, wisdom is actually a double-edged sword and the mother of ignorance.There are far more people in the world who have been harmed by wisdom than by ignorance.Almost all ignorance and absurdity occur on the premise that the person concerned thinks he is wise, or the person concerned uses the so-called "wisdom" as a reference and guidance.

For example, during the well-known "Great Leap Forward" period, people often claimed that a certain place produced tens of thousands of catties of wheat per mu.Such output is obviously contrary to common sense, but why do people believe it?Writer Wu Xiaobo believes that this is partly due to several articles by the famous scientist Qian Xuesen.Not long after the initial high-yield figure (2105 jin per mu) appeared in the newspapers, Qian Xuesen published an article in the China Youth Daily saying: "Has the grain output that the land can supply people reached its peak? Scientific calculations tell people: It's still far away!...Because the ultimate limit of agricultural production is determined by the solar energy per unit area per year. If this light energy is converted into agricultural products, it will be much higher than the current output. Now let's do the math: 30% of the solar energy that hits an acre of land every year is used by plants, and plants use these solar energy to make carbon dioxide and water in the air into their own nutrients for their own development, growth and firmness. 1/5 is considered edible grain, so the annual yield of rice and wheat is not only more than 2000 or 3000 catties, but more than 2000 times that of 20 catties!"

We cite this example here not to criticize Mr. Qian, but to further illustrate that superstitious belief in wisdom, especially superstitious belief in the wisdom of others and theoretical wisdom, is out-and-out ignorance.Confucius said: A wise man does not confuse, that is to say, a wise person does not confuse.The reason why some people copy what others say is that they lack the basic ability to distinguish, and the ability to distinguish undoubtedly comes from the learning of knowledge and the growth of wisdom.But this also shows from another aspect that wisdom does not necessarily equal ignorance.How can one judge the wisdom of another without possessing a certain amount of wisdom?
Ignorance actually refers to extreme wisdom.

5. It is difficult to be a family member if you are neither crazy nor deaf

What is it like to be a wife now?They are very good at getting angry-marrying in the past will make the family uneasy, there are many such examples, and when they return to their natal family, the father not only does not teach her, but even helps his daughter to vent his anger.Is it good or bad for a father to do this to his daughter?Do you love your daughter?Which one is a compulsory course in getting along with husband and wife?forbearance.If people don't know how to be patient when they get along with others, can they have a good relationship?impossible.Can we ask that all the habits, actions, and words of the husband and wife meet our requirements?That is impossible.Therefore, we must learn to be patient and tolerant. If we do not learn it, we will never be happy in our life.

——Cai Lixu (born in Taiwan, founder of "Haikou Xiaolian Chinese Studies Enlightenment Center", once gave a speech at Tsinghua University)
According to historical records, Guo Ziyi, a famous general in the Tang Dynasty, had a son named Guo Nuan. In order to "repay" Guo Ziyi's hard work, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty married a princess to Guo Nuan.Once, the young couple had a quarrel for some reason, and Guo Yuma couldn't quarrel with the princess, and the more they quarreled, the more angry they became, and finally he couldn't bear it and said, "What's so great about your father? It's not rare for us to be emperor!" The princess heard it Furious, he immediately went back to the palace to file a complaint.Guo Ziyi, who came here after hearing the news, was so frightened that he quickly put his son in confinement, and then pleaded guilty to the saint himself.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Tang Daizong said after hearing the princess's cry: "So that's the case. It's your fault. Why do you disobey women's morals and make such a noise in your husband's house? Do you know that if Guo Ziyi hadn't fought to the death, our Li family might have died early?" He lost his country! With his prestige and ability, he can indeed be an emperor!" After seeing Guo Ziyi, Tang Daizong comforted him again: "Aiqing! The ancients said: Don't be stupid or deaf, don't be a family man. When children quarrel, say How can we take it seriously when we are angry? Don’t take it to heart.”

"Don't be stupid or deaf, don't be a family member", and in some places it is written "Don't be crazy or deaf, don't be an uncle". Whether it is a family member or an uncle, they are all names for elders in ancient times.It means that to be an elder, you must have the demeanor of an elder.If you don't know how to pretend to be deaf and dumb, or pretend to be demented, you won't be a good elder.

Let's look at a real life example:
Chaoyang and Ami have been married for 3 years and haven't had a child yet, so the young couple are like children, arguing about trivial matters at every turn, but the quarrels are quarrels, and they will reconcile soon after the quarrels.It's really Liang Shan's brother - the more they fight, the closer they get.

This year's May Day, the two went to Chaoyang's friend Wenfeng's house to play for a whole day.Back home, Chaoyang touched his pocket—it was broken!The key was lost, so he hurriedly asked Amei to get a spare key.

(End of this chapter)