Buddha crossing a predestined person: Dharma and wisdom in life

Chapter 41 Cultivate Inclusiveness with the Buddha's Heart——Swallowing Everything, Inching to the Universe (2)
Liu Bei gained power at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, occupying one side with Cao Cao and Sun Quan, presenting a long-term situation of the three kingdoms.As far as personal charm and strength are concerned, Cao Cao is a strong soldier, good at using troops, and good at power tactics; although Sun Quan does not have the authority of Cao Cao, but based on the superior terrain of Jiangdong, he is proud and capable, and it is not surprising that he can score a point in the world. Liu Bei is clumsy in the art of war and started from scratch, but he was able to contend with him. The reason for this is mostly related to his good at taking advantage of situations, strengths, and people.

According to legend, Liu Bei is a descendant of Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan, the son of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, so he always regarded himself as "Uncle Liu Huang".Liu Bei lived in poverty when he was young, his father died early, and he only sold shoes and weaved straw mats with his mother for a living. When he was 15 years old, he went out to study. Have a deep understanding of the meaning of "borrow".In 184 A.D., the Yellow Turban Uprising broke out, and people from all over the country rose up one after another. With the financial support of businessmen Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang, Liu Bei cast himself under Zou Jing's account.Soon, because Liu Bei was dissatisfied with Zou Jing, he abandoned his official position and fled.

During this period, Liu Bei was weak and lonely, and he also knew that it was impossible to lead the crowd to revolt alone, so he changed according to the situation, willing to make compromises, and depended on others. He was attached to Gongsun Zan, Tao Qian, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao and others successively. He has held many different official positions. These experiences may not sound pleasant to him after he ascended the throne, but this is precisely the performance of Liu Bei's ability to take advantage of the situation when he is weak and things are not going well.Since then, Liu Bei's ability to "take advantage of the situation" has been brought into full play when he discovers an opportunity.One of them is to use talents to help oneself become powerful.

Liu Bei has a gentle personality, likes to make friends, and has a good eye for talents, from his righteous brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, to Zhao Zilong, Xu Shu, and Zhuge Liang who made him even more powerful and saved him from adversity.In 207 A.D., Liu Bei was recommended by Xu Shu and Sima Hui, and learned that Zhuge Liang was knowledgeable and talented, so he and his sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei visited thatched cottage three times and asked Zhuge Liang to help him seek the world.In the thatched cottage, Liu Bei humbly asked Zhuge Liang about the general situation of the world. Zhuge Liang formulated a strategy to seize the world based on the political, military, economic, geography and human harmony at that time. This is the famous "Longzhong Dui".

Zhuge Liang analyzed for Liu Bei that Cao Cao had defeated Yuan Shao, had millions of troops, was powerful, and held the emperor hostage to make the princes fight against him, requiring both wisdom and force.Three generations of Sun Quan ruled in Jiangdong. The terrain is dangerous, the people are loyal and brave, and there are still a group of generals and good officials under him. Therefore, they cannot compete with him, but can only join forces with him to fight against Cao.Later, Zhuge Liang analyzed the situation in Jingzhou and Yizhou (now part of Sichuan, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Hubei, and Guizhou), and believed that Jingzhou was an important military location, and the owner Liu Biao could not guard it. Yizhou was fertile. Its owner, Liu Zhang, is cowardly and incompetent, so he can choose these two places first.

Zhuge Liang's incisive and thorough analysis enabled Liu Bei to distinguish the partner of cooperation from the various and intricate political forces, and finally established the great cause of being one-third of the world.From then on, with the help of Zhuge Liang's strategy and ability, Liu Bei gradually realized the great cause of revitalizing the Han Dynasty according to the plan of "Longzhong Dui".

The same is true in our life and work. Although we have repeatedly emphasized that self-reliance is naturally a necessary condition, but timely help from others can allow you to omit many steps and be closer to success.

Of course, this is not to make you depend on others for everything, but when you encounter insurmountable difficulties or when you are weak, you might as well use ingenuity, take advantage of the situation, develop with the strength of your opponent, and survive with the strength of your opponent .Those who have achieved great careers and great achievements in history are by no means completely relying on their own swords and guns, and they will never pretend to be heroes when they are alone and helpless. Instead, they rely on the strength they can rely on at critical moments , Many factors of victory are condensed together to finally achieve the fruit of victory.

The art of "borrowing" is not only Liu Bei's patent. In fact, in today's market competition, "borrowing others to establish oneself" and "taking advantage of the situation" have become common strategies. Enterprises with weak development capabilities and technical capabilities rely on Strong corporate brands develop themselves.

In the view of courageous strategists, to borrow the strength of the opponent, one must be good at borrowing the strength of giants and the strength of the strong.

In the modern business war, Haier is good at cleverly borrowing the power of foreign local markets to realize its strategy of internationalization.Haier's decision-makers believe that internationalization is localization.For Haier to develop abroad, it needs to make full use of local forces and resources, so as to eliminate consumers' resistance to foreign brands, reduce non-tariff trade barriers in entry countries, and at the same time solve the problem of lack of international business talents.Therefore, Haier adheres to the strategy of "local design, local manufacturing, local sales, local financing, and local integration of wisdom".In the United States, Haier established a design center in Los Angeles, a production plant in South Carolina, and a marketing company in New York. The trinity, whose employees are mainly Americans, has formed a "localized" Haier.

Mengniu Group is also a master who is good at leveraging.In an influential marketing magazine, some experts made this kind of sentiment on Mengniu-in history, Zhuge Liang defeated Cao Cao by "borrowing" momentum, and now Mengniu has continued to write a good story about "borrowing" momentum to succeed.In the growth of Mengniu, there is a word of "borrowing" everywhere: in the early stage of starting a business, borrowing factories, implementing "virtual alliances" to quickly expand the market; after that, taking advantage of the "China Dairy Capital" and binding the industry leader "Yili" to start its own business At the same time, borrow social capital to develop their own strength. "Borrowing" fully demonstrated Mengniu's roundabout offensive strategy.At the same time, Mengniu concentrates its superior resources on market development and technology development, and outsources capital-intensive businesses such as raw material supply, production, and transportation, forming a value network based on brand advantages, and unswervingly accumulating its own brand advantages. So as to gradually grow in the market.

These two examples both reflect the idea of ​​"leveraging strength" emphasized by the Eastern Strategy.

Duan Yongji of Stone Group also has a deep understanding of this.He said: "How can we establish our industrial base under the premise that the Chinese market is increasingly occupied by foreign multinational companies? We can only follow the path of giants." A Chinese owner who joined the "BESTWEST" hotel management system in the United States said : "In the U.S. market, it is difficult for me to gain a foothold on my own strength. Although I have to pay some management fees (franchise fees) with my back against a big tree, I have a source of customers and a With the management system and various logistics support, the risk is small and success is easy.”

If you want to fly, you need to cultivate wind power. The way of wise people is to build yourself by borrowing from others.How to borrow it is naturally skillful. The key to "borrowing" is to prevent the strong from being effective, to lend strength to oneself, and to make it impossible for others to borrow strength.If you borrow it coincidentally, it will be of great benefit to your career; if you borrow it improperly, it may fall short.Therefore, "borrowing momentum" requires a clear understanding of the situation in front of you, and "borrowing strength" requires a transformation of power.Only by using the power of these two aspects, can the artistic function of the word "borrow" be brought into full play, and one's career and ideals will be even more powerful.

One thought, one thought
The "stopping at oneness" mentioned first in "University" means how to concentrate the mind, which is the greatest cultivation skill.All the confusion, troubles, and pains of our human thoughts are unstoppable thoughts.Stopping the mind is the basic internal cultivation, and then the external behavior must also be stopped, that is, to identify a goal, a direction, and a way of life, and stop at a certain point.Stop at one, avoid miscellaneous things, life is like this, career is like this, and life is like this.

Sometimes the reason why people become stupid is not that IQ is too low and knowledge is too little, it may be just the opposite: IQ is too high to be abused, and knowledge is too much to be useless.There are many people with high IQs in this world, only a few people use their IQs to achieve outstanding careers, and more people use their IQs to do stupid things that harm others and benefit themselves, and even do bad things that completely destroy themselves.There are many people who are rich in knowledge in this world, but those who use knowledge to achieve success are not necessarily more than nerds.

What is the reason?Because there are too many thoughts in the head.The smarter and more knowledgeable people are, the more ideas they have.But for a successful career, it doesn't take that much thought at all.For example, there are countless feasible ways to go to a place, but what is really needed is only one way.Whether it is the best road or not, as long as you go on it, you will always reach your destination.If you try every road, you may not be able to reach it in your life.There are countless feasible ways to do one thing, but what is really needed is only one way, whether it is the best way or not, it will always succeed.There are too many methods to know, but there is trouble in choosing, which delays the business.As the saying goes, "It takes three years for a scholar to rebel." It's not because they know too few ways, but because they have too many ways, so they hold meetings every few days to discuss, and the more they discuss, the less they can make up their minds.On the contrary, it is not as good as Chen Sheng, Wu Guang and his like, who just do what they say.Therefore, too many thoughts are nothing but thought garbage, occupying brain memory in vain.

How do excess thoughts arise?As Chan Master Duanji said: "A heart grows from situation to situation, and the heart becomes disgusted." Seeing, hearing or thinking of any thing or a person, immediately follow this thing or this person to think about it, and produce various guesses , analysis, judgment, and feelings of joy, anger, sorrow, and joy also arise in the heart.For example, when you see a beauty, you imagine in your mind how to get acquainted with her, how to develop a relationship, how... and if the beauty does not move her heart, and even turns her eyes to each other, hurting her self-esteem, how to make her regret it.All these are commonly called "daydreams".The smarter and more knowledgeable people may have richer imaginations and more exciting "daydreams".This can also be regarded as a kind of thinking, and its process seems to be very logical, but in fact it is nothing more than delusions, delusions, false thoughts, and fallacies.These useless and even harmful things are often produced in the head, and people must become more and more stupid.

If you can reduce useless thoughts, you will be calm and clear, and your mind will be as clear as a mirror.When encountering a problem, he has a clear mind, takes his time and handles it appropriately.Such a person, seemingly not flexible enough, is actually a great talent.

There is a story:
In ancient times, the prime minister of Bohai Kingdom died, and the king wanted to choose one of two equally excellent ministers to be the new prime minister.The king left them both in the palace and had them each told: "Congratulations, I will announce you as prime minister tomorrow!"

Then, the king had them lead them back to their respective rooms to sleep, and then carefully observed the movements of the two from the next door.One of them was so excited that he stayed up all night.And the other person walked into the bedroom soon, then fell asleep quietly, snoring from time to time, until the servant woke him up the next day.

As a result, the second minister became prime minister, and the one who stayed up all night lost the election.

The king said: "When I heard that I was going to be a prime minister, I was so excited that I couldn't sleep. It can be seen that this person can't let go of things. To be a prime minister, you must have the strength to push a boat in your belly. Look at the other person, who can afford it and let it go , This is the real talent of the prime minister!"

Why can't the first person let things go?Because I have too many thoughts, my heart is full, and I still have thoughts continuously, how can I pretend?The second person's heart is not bigger than others, but he has fewer thoughts, so he will not be able to fill his heart, so he must be able to handle things with more than enough leeway. This is the real reason why he was elected.

How to reduce thoughts?Chan Master Duanji said: "If you want to have no boundary, you should forget your mind. If you forget your mind, your mind will be empty, and if your mind is empty, your mind will cease." This means that you should not only empty your mind of thoughts, but also your mind.If you forget your mind, you will naturally lose your thoughts.

However, such a realm, probably only a Zen master can achieve.Ordinary people can do it occasionally, but most of the time they can't.Because you are alive and have a job, it is not good to think too much, but it is also not good to have no certainty.How to strike a balance between the two?There are two methods: one is righteous thoughts, and the other is single thoughts.

The so-called "righteous thoughts" means correct thinking.For example, in the previous story about choosing a prime minister, the reason why the minister who failed to fall asleep must be thinking about how glorious it is to be a prime minister, how to burn the "three fires" to prove that he is competent, and so on.If you think this way, if you think too much about your own fame and fortune, your thinking will not be correct.The reason why the elected ministers are as indifferent as water is that they undoubtedly have thoughts of loyalty, dedication, loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.No matter what position he holds, he can be loyal and dedicated to his work, and he can be loyal to the emperor and patriotic, so the change of position will not cause great disturbance in his heart.

The so-called "one thought" is to concentrate on the things to be done in front of one's own eyes, rather than the rest.

One year, Hilton went to Guatemala to negotiate a business deal.After the business was negotiated, he went to the scenic spot with his entourage.In a very dangerous canyon, there is a roaring rapids at the bottom of the canyon. There is a rope bridge between the canyons. Several bare and dangling iron cables span the canyon. It is the only way to reach the opposite bank.Someone once stumbled and fell into the deep valley here, so the words "please be careful when crossing the bridge" are written on both ends of the bridge.The escorts were all afraid of accidents, and no one was willing to cross the bridge.Hilton did not listen to dissuasion, and walked onto the rope bridge calmly.With his hands behind his back, humming a little tune, he walked over leisurely.Then, he walked back leisurely and said to several escorts: "There is no problem, don't be afraid. The more you are afraid, the more nervous you will be. Don't always think about danger. Just think about the beautiful scenery on the other side, and we will be able to We have successfully reached the other side." Finally, under the leadership of Hilton, everyone successfully reached the other side.

The reason why escorts are afraid is because they have too many thoughts: what if they slip and fall?What if there is a sudden gust of wind?What if you feel dizzy?The more you imagine various possibilities, the higher the risk factor and the less courageous you are.Hilton didn't think about this at all, he just wanted to cross the bridge to enjoy the scenery, and he didn't feel so much danger in his heart, so he was naturally calm.

Regardless of practice or management, calmness is very important.Laymen take "Mount Tai collapses in front and the color does not change" as the highest state of concentration, while monks take "no heart to the environment" as the highest state of concentration.The so-called "control the mind in one place, do everything", as long as you enter the state of tranquility, wisdom will be born continuously, and there is nothing that cannot be done.

Life inside and outside life is Zen

Especially in the remote and backward areas, I saw some old people in the dilapidated thatched huts, dressed in rags, starved of food, without a meal, and their lives were miserable.You asked him: "Why don't you live in your son's home for the elderly?" He easily replied: "I am doomed to be miserable in this life, and I have to accept my fate!"He understands the philosophy of life better than anyone else, just "admit it".

The so-called "recognized" means to face the reality and accept it bravely.How one treats reality with an attitude often reflects a person's outlook on the world and life.

Chinese Buddhism is known as Mahayana, and it is represented by Pure Land Buddhism and Zen Buddhism. The attitude of Pure Land Buddhism to reality is very similar to Theravada Buddhism, which is also disgusting and abandoning. The difference is that they also pursue a perfect world. highest ideal.Zen is completely different. Zen masters are good at discovering beauty. They can find happiness and freedom everywhere. A breeze or a moonlight can satisfy them. Zen’s attitude towards reality is to fully accept and never reject everything Since the existence of good and evil has been broken, of course it can be at ease everywhere.

Are there other attitudes?In addition to completely denying reality and accepting reality unconditionally, there is another different attitude towards life, that is, the courage to transform reality. This is a kind of commitment and challenge, and an attitude towards life that will never compromise or give up.Some people may wonder, is there such a type of Buddhist?In the history of Buddhism in China, there are indeed very few Buddhists with this quality, but it cannot be said that there are no such qualities. For example, Master Xuanzang, who traveled westward to seek the Dharma, had this spirit, but it did not form a climate, nor did it become a The tradition continues.

In fact, what we see most from Sakyamuni is the third attitude. Why did he vow to become a Buddha in the evil world of five turbidities?Why didn't he enjoy the freedom alone after becoming a Buddha, but worked tirelessly everywhere to save others?In addition to studying the Dharma taught by the Buddha, one must also learn the Buddha’s Dharma. Teaching by words and teaching by example are one.The greatest teaching is teaching without words. If you look at what the Buddha did with your heart, disciples should learn more.

Reality is not static. Buddhists should be brave enough to take on the responsibility of transforming reality. Don’t blindly evade it, and don’t blindly sing praises. A harmonious world must first start from facing reality with sincerity, not escaping or shrinking. Harmony is created by everyone , by no means close your eyes and imagine it.

To save yourself is to save the world, and to save the world is to save yourself.People should have ambitions, ideals, pursuits, and longings, just as the famous French writer and music critic Victor Hugo said: "The human mind needs ideals more than material." Because the ideal of life is for the ideal life.However, people in real life often regard the pursuit of an ideal life pattern as their only life interest and goal in life, and take an almost dismissive attitude towards the reality in life.Therefore, the distance between ideal and reality is constantly expanding in the mind, and I am stuck in a quagmire from which I cannot extricate myself.For many people, what is lacking in life is not the pursuit of ideal life but the acceptance and adaptation of real life.

The reality of life is in front of everyone, and no one can avoid it. The only difference is: whether to accept it actively or passively.The reality of life is not as beautiful as the ideal. It has sunshine, rain, flowers, thunder, severe frost, and dead leaves. It is joy and pain, success and failure, friendship and hatred... Intertwined and mixed together. a complex form.If you want to face life and accept the reality, you must first have the courage to face pain, failure, ugliness and other disgusting and inescapable phenomena.

(End of this chapter)