Buddha crossing a predestined person: Dharma and wisdom in life

Chapter 72 Cultivating the Mind of Wisdom with the Buddha’s Mind——Great Enlightenment, Infinite Wisdom (1)
The state of mind is the same, consummation is a Buddha
The Buddha said: "The heart is not the mind, the heart is the state; the state is not the state, the state is the heart."It is neither idealistic nor materialistic, and the state of mind is the same.Buddha's wisdom is so complete!People who study Buddhism desperately want to cultivate selflessness. At that time, not to mention whether there is self and no self, everyone has no self, to what extent is there no self? "One regards oneself as a horse, and the other regards oneself as a cow." If you think I am a cow or a cow, if you call me a horse or a horse, you can call me what you want, as long as you are happy.Mr. So-and-so, Mr. So-and-so, your brother and my brother-in-law, these are nouns, they are all code names, and they are irrelevant.That is to say, people at that time did not have these names and appearances, and there was no difference between right and wrong, good and evil concepts, and they were in the state of "the same state of mind".

The Buddha also said: "The heart has no origin and the environment exists." He also said: "All appearances are illusory." Like dreams and bubbles, like dew and like lightning, you should contemplate like this.”In fact, the "falseness" of reality is not "nothing", but "temporary existence"; it is not "true existence", but "false existence".

Since all objects are illusory, how can the "mind" arising from the object ever be real?The suffering of human beings comes from using this illusory "heart" to cling to the ever-changing landscape, wishful thinking that the landscape conforms to the illusion that one's fantasy mind is chasing, and living in a state of triple distortion without knowing it. ——The illusory mind that arises based on the illusion as reality in turn requires the illusion to be reality, so it cannot be awakened to achieve "as it is"—live one's life with the original face of the universe and life, that is, not violate the nature of the universe and life Therefore, I live in constant turmoil and suffering. It is really "there is nothing in the world, and mediocrity disturbs it."

A traveler passed through a remote town and came to an inn to stay.At this time, another person just came to book a room.Unfortunately, however, there was only one room left in the inn.

"This is a double room," the waiter said. "If you don't mind, you can share this room?"

At first, both of them were unwilling, but since it was already midnight and it started to rain outside again, they reluctantly agreed, and after tidying up a little, they went to bed.In his sleep, one of them suddenly heard another person in the same room shouting, and hurriedly opened his eyes, the room was pitch black.

"What happened?" he asked in surprise.

The man in the room replied in a weak voice, "I'm sorry I had to wake you up. I have asthma. I don't feel very well right now and I have a terrible headache. If you don't want me to die, please Please help me open the window."

He jumped out of bed and turned on the light, but there was a power outage and the light didn't turn on.The patient continued to groan, "Air, air... I need fresh air. I'm dying."

He tried to find the window in the dark.It took a long time and finally found it, but I couldn't open it anyway.At the same time, the patient's voice became weaker and weaker.In desperation, he picked up a chair beside him and slammed it towards the window, causing the glass to shatter with a clatter.The patient stopped moaning immediately, then went on to say he was feeling better and thanked him.

Then, the two fell asleep peacefully until dawn.However, when they woke up, they were surprised to find that the only window in the room was tightly closed and intact, while the full-length mirror in the room was broken into pieces.

This story just illustrates the truth that the environment is born from the heart.As Milton said: "The heart is the world where you move. You can turn hell into heaven and heaven into hell."

In life, we face thousands of problems, but summed up, it is nothing more than joy and sorrow.Throughout the history of mankind, you can clearly draw a line, that is, behind all the diverse behaviors of human beings, there is a hidden motive - to move away from suffering and seek happiness.However, people in ancient and modern China and abroad, no matter from the spiritual level or the material level, whether they use science as a weapon or art, philosophy, or religion, their purpose is to explore the essence of life’s suffering and joy from the source, and then cut off the flow of suffering. , until great joy.Think carefully about the essence behind the phenomenon of our existence. Except for some people who cannot see through the inner meaning of the appearances of life because of their thick barriers and delusion, most people may come to some realizations if they calm down and think about it. : Oh, indeed.Aren't all the fabrications throughout the day and even in life for more happiness and less suffering?
So, how do we get rid of suffering and find happiness?The answer is: the person who tied the bell is needed to untie the bell.

Once upon a time, there was a man who was always very distressed. He heard that the Buddha could eliminate all sufferings, so he packed his bags and went to look for the Buddha.After listening to his narration, the Buddha said to him: "The only one who can truly liberate you is yourself."

"But, it's me who is full of distress and confusion in my heart!" the man said puzzled.

"Think about it, who put the distress and confusion in your heart?" The Buddha smiled compassionately at him.

The man pondered for a while and didn't speak.

The Buddha continued to teach: "Whoever put it in, let someone take it out."

Life is a journey, and the bumpy journey is full of various painful pits.We humans have just jumped out of the first deep pit, and before falling into the second deep pit, this transitional period is happy, smooth and smooth.When I jumped into the second deep pit, I suffered as before, bumping into walls and fighting everywhere, trying my best to jump out of the deep pit.Once you jump out, take it easy, and after this transition period, you fall back into the abyss of pain.People, this is the way to complete the journey of life with more suffering and less happiness.

The person who tied the bell needs to be untied.In order to achieve the ultimate goal we are looking forward to in this life—to get rid of suffering and obtain happiness, we have to get rid of the strange circle of chasing happiness only at the material level, but actually have no happiness, and focus on the cultivation of the heart.Because everything is the game and appearance of the mind, if one learns to adjust the mind, prevents the mind from following delusional thoughts, chasing the outer edge, and maintains a state of being unmoved and clear, that person will definitely return to the state of mind. To the sea of ​​true pure, equal, enlightened blissful nature.

Breaking the cage of illusion, conforming to the natural laws of life in the universe, unchangingly following fate, following fate unchanged, exerting life energy to the extreme without wasting any meaningless illusions, talents will not come to this world in vain.

There is no natural Maitreya, no natural Sakyamuni

When it comes to the cause and effect of the three lifetimes, it is actually very easy to see. Let me tell you a way.You only need to look at our own life to know, especially our friends over middle age. The environment we encounter in middle age is the cause that has been ambush when we were young; for the result.

Buddhism believes that everything in the world happens, exists or disappears under the control of cause and effect.Nothing in this world is accidental.Some people say, I won the lottery right away, is it by chance?It's not accidental, because you have this blessing in your life, you will win the lottery; if you don't have this blessing in your life, it is impossible to win the lottery.Therefore, it seems accidental, but it is not accidental.In other words, everything in life cannot escape cause and effect.

From the perspective of sentient beings in the Ten Dharma Realms, becoming a Buddha has the cause and effect of becoming a Buddha, ascending to heaven has the cause and effect of ascending to heaven, being a human has the cause and effect of being a human being, and being an animal has the cause and effect of being an animal.The six paths or the four sages all have their causes and effects.The Buddhist scriptures say: "There is no born Maitreya, and there is no natural Sakyamuni." This tells us that Maitreya Bodhisattva is not born Maitreya Bodhisattva; The practice of robbery.Maitreya Bodhisattva is the next Buddha in the Saha world. He currently lives in the inner courtyard of Tushita. After a long period of practice, he can only become a Buddha when his merits and virtues are complete.In addition, the familiar Amitabha also created the Western Paradise after a long period of practice.

Another example is being a human being. There is a cause and effect for being a human being.You can see that people in the world are very different: men, women, old and young, tall, short, fat and thin, rich and poor, beautiful and ugly, all different.If you don't understand the principle of cause and effect in Buddhism, you will blame others all day long.oops!How could he be so lucky, he had all the benefits, how could I be so unlucky?My ability is not inferior to his?yes!In the real world, an official is not necessarily more capable than his subordinates. Isn't there many secretaries who are more talented and educated than their immediate superiors?Let's look at those emperors throughout the ages, there are many fools, but those civil and military ministers under the emperor, some of them are much more capable than the emperor!This is because the destiny is different, and the cause and effect of each person are also different.

People who don't believe in cause and effect will blame others.On the contrary, if you understand the principle of cause and effect, you will know that "everyone has a cause and a relationship, don't envy others".Everyone has their own karma, and everyone has their own karma, so there is no need to envy others.Destiny can be transformed by oneself, because life is impermanent.We must remember: life is impermanent.Today's emperor may be tomorrow's prisoner; today's rich man may be tomorrow's beggar.And many of the glory in the world are short-lived and fleeting.On the contrary, a poor person, as long as he works hard, will eventually have a prosperous time.When we understand the principle of cause and effect and the principle of impermanence, we will know how to design our own destiny and transform our life.

If we want to be human or ascend to heaven in the next life, we have to practice the five precepts and ten good deeds.The contents of the five precepts and the ten virtues are generally similar.Master Shengyan compared the Five Precepts to "the passport to heaven and earth" in "The Outline of Precepts".A passport is a small book for going abroad. With a passport, you can go abroad with a visa.Similarly, in order to achieve human and heavenly retribution, we must observe the five precepts and practice the ten virtues.

By practicing the five precepts and ten good deeds, one can achieve human and heavenly retribution.The ten virtues are the morality that a human being should have.That is to say, as a human being, one should have human morality.Confucianism talks about human ethics, and there are five ethics.Confucianism believes that if a person wants to behave like a human being, he must abide by the five ethics. The five ethics are what Mencius said: "Father and son have relatives, monarchs and ministers have righteousness, husband and wife have differences, seniors and children are orderly, and friends have trust."According to Buddhism, if a person wants to behave like a human being and conform to human moral standards, he must abide by the five precepts and ten good deeds.The five precepts and the ten good deeds are the basic morals of being a human being.The five rings do not kill, do not steal, do not commit sexual misconduct, do not lie, and do not drink alcohol; the ten virtues refer to no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no lying, no double tongue, no harsh speech, no frivolous speech, no greed, no anger, Do not have evil views.Regarding the content of the ten virtues, a detailed introduction will be made below.

The five precepts and the ten good deeds are the basic morals of being a human being.Because, only if we behave well now, can we be qualified to continue to be human in the next life.If you have obtained the human life in this life, and you don’t behave well, you will lose the qualifications to be a human being, and you will no longer be able to be a human being in the next life.It's like a person who is admitted to a university. If he doesn't study hard in the university and fails the test score, he will be ordered to drop out of the university.

Don't forget to give favors, don't forget to receive favors

The real generosity does not choose the object, which is "Bujian Futian".No matter what kind of person you are being donated to, I have helped you, and I am very happy inside, which is what our Chinese culture says "doing good is the happiest".Only those who are charitable can give generously. They are full of love and sympathy for all people, and do everything they think they should do. Only those who have this kind of fraternal spirit and do not consider any attached conditions can be called donors.

A gentleman should help people in need, and wholeheartedly help others out of danger.If the purpose of helping others is to get others in return, it is not sincere help.Only help those who can be rewarded, and hope that others will return with money and reputation.As for the reluctance to help those who are in trouble and need to be rescued, this is completely selfish, hypocritical, and not the behavior of a gentleman.It is sincere to give favors without expecting anything in return.Only when you have a clear conscience can your conscience be peaceful and beneficial to you.Therefore, helping others to solve their difficulties without expecting anything in return is truly helping others.

There is a historical story:
When Wu Zixiu was the county magistrate of Shouzhang, he tried a case of a big thief.Seeing that the thief is a good-looking talent, with a dignified manner, and he is not the kind of thieves, he wants to excuse him.However, the responsibility for this theft is serious and the law does not allow it. It is very difficult to save him from death.So, in the dead of night, he called the criminal to the county yamen hall and told him, "This county magistrate wants to save you from death, but there is no evidence to clear you of the crime. Tomorrow, you will be escorted to your superior for execution. I will arrange for you to be released on the way. You escape." The next day, Wu county magistrate took out 300 taels of silver and secretly told Jiecha to escape with the prisoner halfway.The superiors tracked down the matter, and Wu County Magistrate was dismissed from office due to his negligence in dispatching servants.

After Wu County Magistrate was dismissed from office, life was difficult, impoverished, and his family was very worried. They complained that Wu Zixiu should not have lost his job because of a criminal. Wu Zixiu told his family, "It is better not to save people than to save them. I lost my official position and were poor. It was meant to be, and I have no regrets."

A few years later, the criminal made great achievements in frontier defense, and his official position was obvious.Thinking of County Magistrate Wu's life-saving grace, and wanting to repay his benefactor, he wrote to invite Wu to come.Wu Zixiu didn't want to go, but his family insisted, so he had to go with his family.The criminals treated Wu Zixiu as his own father, and he stayed around all the time, even in the back hall for a few days.Seeing her husband acting uncharacteristically, his wife asked what was going on, and the criminal told his wife what had happened.His wife said, "You are wrong. I heard that the great kindness does not intend to repay. Wu Zixiu used your excuse to blackmail you. Even if you give him all our money, you will not satisfy his request. If you can't satisfy him , he will spread the past, can you continue to be an official? Why don't you kill him and give him money, so that the past will not be exposed, and it will be regarded as repaying him, and you will be grateful A good reputation must be reported.” The criminal listened to his wife’s words and conspired with his wife to kill Wu Zixiu.The couple's words were overheard by a chef named Fan in the kitchen.At lunch, Chef Fan’s food was not to the taste of the couple, and he was beaten twenty times. The chef was full of resentment, and told Wu Zixiu what he had overheard. Wu was shocked, abandoned his luggage, and ran away with Chef Fan that night. .The next day, when the criminal heard that Wu Zixiu's family had escaped, he couldn't catch up with him. He regretted it so much that he sent someone to send a thousand taels of gold as a reward, but Wu Zixiu refused to accept it.

Later, due to the great grace of the emperor, Wu Zixiu was restored to his original post, and later he was promoted to the prominent position of the six ministers.The criminal led the army to conquer the Western Regions and was executed for the crime of delaying the war opportunity.This is his retribution for deceiving virtue and bullying heaven.

Only people with great wisdom in the world understand the principle of "obtaining one's self without asking". Therefore, if a person can do favors without asking for anything in return, he is far beyond the realm of ordinary people's thinking. Occasionally read Zhu Zijia I was very moved by the words in the training, "Giving benefits without thinking, and never forgetting the kindness".In real life, if one can stick to the principle of being a human being who does not expect anything in return for giving favors, and never forgets them for life when receiving favors from others, he will be able to accumulate great virtues in the world.Although some people know that it is good to do good deeds, they gradually become discouraged after doing good deeds because they do not receive blessings right away, and even doubt whether there is a natural principle that good and evil must be repaid in this world. The kindness is not pure enough.

Han Xin, a famous general of the Han Dynasty in China, lived in extreme poverty when he was young.One day, Han Xin couldn't find anything to eat, so he had to fish by the small river under Huaiyang City. At that time, many women were washing clothes by the river. Let Han Xin eat the meals he brought.Meal after meal, full of kindness, was eaten like this for more than ten days, every day.This made Han Xin both moved and grateful. He felt that his kindness was as heavy as a mountain, so he said to the washerwoman: "I will definitely repay you in the future." Unexpectedly, the washerwoman replied in a very flat tone: "A man should support himself , I only gave you food when I saw you were pitiful, and I would do the same when I saw others starving, so I don’t hope to get anything in return from you.”

After many years, the washerwoman herself did not know how many meals she had donated, and she had long forgotten this trivial matter, but Han Xin always kept her kindness in his heart.When he returned to his hometown after becoming famous, the first thing he did was to find the washerwoman back then and reward him with a lot of money.

Lao Tzu said in the "Tao Te Ching": "The highest goodness is like water, and water is good for all things without fighting. Teaching, doing nothing is beneficial." He believes that pure and kind people should be like water.Water benefits all things, nourishes the earth, does not compete for superiority, let alone asks for rewards, this is the most modest virtue.

The value of giving kindness without asking for anything in return lies in selflessness. If every benefactor has this kind of state of mind, he will give generously when he sees people in trouble; when someone is in trouble, he will give a helping hand; The act of repayment can be done with peace of mind, without complaint or regret.If it can accumulate many virtues in this way, the benefactors themselves will also benefit endlessly.

"The kindness of a drop of water is reciprocated by the spring" and "the kindness is not repaid" are the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation.When you receive favors from others, you should always remember them in your heart; when you give favors, you should forget them as soon as possible. This is my personal attitude.However, in the current Chinese society, this problem seems to be a bit serious. It is often learned in the media that many benefactors complain that the recipients are not grateful, and even cancel the help to the recipients because of this.

China's philanthropy always gives people the impression that it is full of money, especially the charitable donations of some companies.According to reports, corporate donations in China prefer education donations because other charitable donations cannot achieve immediate results and cannot expand the influence of enterprises.Building a Hope Primary School, setting up a merit monument, and the media reporting it again and again is equivalent to advertising, and charitable donations are used as advertising expenses.

Now some entrepreneurs have gone too far. They are not limited to making meritorious deeds. The media publicized them. They also demand praise from recipients.Donation requires a ceremony, allowing the recipients to stand on the stage in embarrassment to show their poverty; after the donation, the recipients are required to write thank you letters to them, visit them, and express their "grateful" hearts to them.If the recipients do not achieve their wishes, they will be very angry and cancel their funding on the grounds that they "have no sense".

(End of this chapter)