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Second Lecture on the World View of Buddhism

“Second Lecture on the World View of Buddhism”

The first enlightenment: the world is impermanent, and the country is fragile; the four great sufferings are empty, the five Yins have no self; birth and death vary, and hypocrisy has no owner;

This is the first enlightenment that the “Eight Masters Enlightenment Sutra” explains that those who practice the Bodhisattva way and have done the cause of life and death should have.

In this passage, it can also be said that it refers to the Buddhist “view of the world”.

In the scriptures, “the world is impermanent, and the land is fragile” refers to the “view of impermanence”, “the four great sufferings and emptiness” refers to the “view of suffering and emptiness”, and “the five skandhas have no self” refers to the “view of selflessness”. “The mind is the source of evil, and the form is a hotbed of sins” refers to the “view of impurity”. Let me first talk about the “view of impermanence in the world”.

The world is called time and space. The time that explains the past, present, and future is called “shi”; the space that points out the ten directions of east, west, south, north, up, and down is called “jian”.

The so-called world means the universe. The time throughout the ages is “U”, and the space above and below is “Zhou”. My life exists in this infinite time and boundless space, so it is really necessary to understand the world.

The world does not only refer to the vast land. In Buddhism, the universe and human life are collectively called the world; , called “the world of sentient beings”.

“If you don’t see the water of the Yellow River coming up from the sky, it will rush to the sea and never return; if you don’t see the mirror in the high hall, the sad white hair will be like blue silk in the morning and snow in the evening.” Because we don’t know that the world is impermanent, it leads to a wrong understanding of the world, and puts All obsessions in the world are real, greedy, persistent, but who can defeat impermanence?

The “Diamond Sutra” said: “All conditioned dharmas are like dreams and bubbles, like dew and electricity, and should be viewed in this way.” Bad.” The wealth and splendor in the world are certainly like the three big dreams, that is, how many years can we live for the body that we wash and cherish every day? The world, the body, and the mind are all moving, changing, and constantly moving. “Changing fields and seas, seas and fields”, everything in this world, which one has eternity? Which one is real?

“Impermanence” is the reality of the world, everything is like clouds in the sky, bubbles on the water, empty flowers in the mirror, and the bright moon in the water. Since the world is impermanent, it goes without saying that the country is fragile. It is called “dangerous” when the country is insecure, and “fragile” if it is not true. Let alone the earthquakes in Taiwan and Japan. Every major earthquake, the loss of property, and the death of life are incalculable. A country like this Isn’t it fragile?

Now that we have explained the concept of impermanence in the world clearly, now we will explain the concept of suffering and emptiness of the four elements.

We often hear people who do not understand Buddhism say that “the four elements are all empty”, but the four elements are not called the “four elements” as “drinking, sex, wealth, and energy” as commonly misunderstood. In fact, the four great sufferings and emptiness are the essence of Buddhism’s explanation of the world.

The so-called “four majors” refer to the combination of the four elements of objects, ranging from the world and human life to a flower and a grass, all of which are formed by the combination of the four elements. These four elements are earth, water, fire, and wind. The nature of the earth is hardness, the nature of water is moisture, the nature of fire is warmth, and the nature of wind is flow. Of all the myriad phenomena in the universe, which one does not rely on the combination of the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind?

Take people as an example, the human body’s hair, claws, teeth, skin, bones, muscles are the hard earth element; saliva, pus, blood, phlegm, tears and defecation are the moist water element; body heat is the warm fire element; every breath is flow Sexual wind. The reason why human beings can survive is because of the harmony of the four elements. If the four elements are out of tune, they will be sick, and even if the four elements are scattered, it will be death. People are like this, so are flowers and plants. For example, to grow a flower, there must be fertile soil, suitable water, sunlight as warm as fire, and flowing water. If the air and the “wind” are too short, the flowers will not be able to grow and bloom.

Why is the human body, which is composed of the four elements, said to be suffering and empty? The philosopher Lao Dan said: “My great trouble is my body.” Our human body is actually the accumulation of all kinds of sufferings. In our hearts, there are the pains of greed, anger, ignorance, affliction, and in our bodies, there are those suffering from old age, sickness and death. Pain, in the family there is the pain of worrying about food and clothing and separation from loved ones, in society there is the pain of conflicts between right and wrong, resentment and resentment, in the world there are pains of wind disasters, floods, earthquakes, military disasters, etc. Suffering follows us closely; suffering tightly controls us, and we live in suffering.

Some people often hear Buddhism talk about suffering, suffering, and think that to learn Buddhism is to learn to endure hardship, or to learn Buddhism is to suffer. In fact, this is a wrong statement. Buddhism is a religion of happiness. We believe in Buddhism only for the purpose of avoiding suffering and obtaining happiness.

People who believe in Buddhism should first understand suffering, and only after knowing suffering can they know how to pursue happiness. If suffering is not considered suffering, or if suffering is considered joy, how can such a person be willing to practice and study Buddhism?

Knowing suffering is the door to the Tao.

Once upon a time in a remote village, there lived an elderly couple. They managed their business hard and saved a lot of savings, but their knees were weak and they had no children. Worshiping from the east and begging from the west, but all failed. An elderly couple is eager to have a child, and wants to know the reason for their childlessness, but in the village, there is no one who knows how to ask. One day, a man who had not been a monk for a long time passed by here. The old couple were overjoyed when they saw it, and asked him to go back to make offerings. Very anxious, he really didn’t know what to say.

The old couple sincerely knelt in front of him, prostrated themselves on the ground, and did not lift their heads. This new monk was very anxious, because he was a monk, and it was difficult to say that he did not know the Dharma, and did not understand these principles. At this time, he suddenly felt that it was very difficult to be a monk, so he blurted out:

“It’s so difficult!”

When the old couple kneeling on the ground heard these words, they felt that these words were really wise. They thought that they could not get a son, “It’s so difficult!” I felt the same way, so I kowtowed like garlic and kept praying.

Seeing the devoutness of this old couple, the new monk really had no choice but to sit on pins and needles and sweat profusely. When he felt extremely uncomfortable, he blurted out:

“Bitter!”

To the old couple, this sentence sounded like the drums of the evening and the bells of the morning. They both thought it was right. At their age, they didn’t even have a single child. What a pain! Life is so hard!

The old couple was deeply moved when they heard this. They knelt on the ground and wept bitterly. The old couple cried for a long time, and then listened quietly to the teaching, but there was no sound. When they looked up, the monk master had left. They thought that this must be the living Buddha, who came to guide them and let them know that life is suffering. Since then, they have become devout Buddhists. Practitioners who earnestly practice Taoism, they are finally freed from the shackles of life.

Only when you know suffering, can you know how to seek liberation; suffering is also the precondition for learning the Tao!

The four elements are referred to as suffering and emptiness, because the sentient beings synthesized by the four elements, as well as everything in the world, are due to the combination of causes and conditions, illusory and unreal. Said “Four Great Sufferings and Emptiness”.

The scripture “the five skandhas have no self” is the “concept of no self” in Buddhism.

What are the five Yins? The five yins are synonymous with “I”. The five skandhas refer to form, feeling, thought, action, and consciousness. We are a combination of matter and spirit; the so-called matter is called “form” in Buddhism; the so-called spirit in Buddhism refers to feelings, thoughts, actions, and consciousness.

Color means change. Because tangible objects are all changeable and have obstacles, when they encounter harmony, they will attract each other, and if they have resistance, they will resist each other.

To accept means to accept. Knowing suffering is called suffering feeling; knowing happiness is called pleasant feeling;

To think means to take an image. Climbing to the outside world, recalling the past, and fantasizing about the future are all thoughts.

OK, it means pretentious. Manipulative actions resulting from taking images, sometimes doing good and sometimes doing evil, are all the power of action.

Knowledge means something else. For example, if the eyes can understand green, yellow, white, and black, the ears can understand likes and dislikes, the nose can understand smells, the tongue can understand sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy, and the body can understand cold, warmth, softness and hardness.

The physical body where my human karma is collected, born and died in the flow of time, is the self of the five skandhas. Yin means to cover. The five shades of form, perception, thought, and consciousness cover up our original Buddha-like nature. All living beings sinking into the sea of ​​suffering are clinging to the self of these five shades as their real existence.

The five skandhas have no self, which is what is said in the “Heart Sutra”: “When Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva practices the deep prajna paramita for a long time, he can see that the five aggregates are empty…” The five aggregates refer to the five skandhas. If you can see the five skandhas are empty, you can know the five skandhas I mean nothing

Now the body and mind of our five skandhas are clearly real. Our body, which is composed of color and mind, can move freely, go east to east, go west to west, and the pain and happiness we experience are real. Why should we What about the five yins without self?

It turns out that the self of the five skandhas is just a temporary combination of false causes and conditions, cannot live forever, and has no self-body, so it is said “no self”.

When it comes to “non-self”, everyone is always afraid. The sound of “no-self” is like an empty atomic bomb, which will blow up the “self” that is attached to the sentient beings, leaving no trace. Mahayana has no self-reason, how can it not be scary?

In fact, if we can’t reflect the emptiness and emptiness of the five skandhas, how can the true self appear? Get rid of the false, and the real will appear. When the dark clouds disappear, the bright and clear sky will appear.

Even people who have studied Taoism for many years, if they cannot understand the five skandhas without self, they will still be unable to obtain liberation, and will still be imprisoned by all falsehoods in the world.

In the Song Dynasty, a Zen master Foyin from Jinshan was giving a lecture, and the audience crowded the dojo. At this time, layman Su Dongpo, who was officially awarded a great scholar, also came to listen to the scriptures. The Zen master said to him in a Zen language:

“There is no place for bachelors to sit here!”

Su Dongpo is also a person who has studied Buddhism and practiced Zen for many years. After hearing this, he replied:

“Why don’t you temporarily use the Zen master’s four great bodies as a seat?”

“Bachelor! Since you want the old monk’s body as a seat, the old monk has a question. If you can answer it, I will let you sit on it. If you can’t answer it, please take off the jade belt and leave it here at the gate of Yongzhen Mountain.” ?”

“Okay! Okay! Can you ask me?”

“Buddhism teaches that the four elements are inherently empty, and the five skandhas have no self. May I ask the scholar what seat should he take?”

Su Dongpo, a great scholar who is full of scriptures, asked Chan Master Foyin such a question, but he was speechless, so he had to leave the jade belt on his body. To this day, the Su Dongpo jade belt collected by Jiangtian Temple in Jinshan has become a rare and valuable antiquity!

This sutra says “the five yins have no self”, the best explanation is the scriptures in this sutra, why do you say “the five yins have no self”? Because “birth and death mutate, hypocrisy has no owner.”

We have said before that our human body is “born” by the combination of causes and conditions, and “perishes” when the causes and conditions are separated; the body and mind of sentient beings are constantly changing and “changing”. “Different”. The self in which the five aggregates are combined is “empty” but not real, “false” but not real, unable to be free, unable to be at ease, and “nothingness” is ruled by a “lord”

After talking about the concept of impermanence in the world, the concept of suffering and emptiness of the four elements, and the concept of selflessness of the five shades, we should finally talk about the concept of impurity that “the mind is the source of evil, and the form is a sinful nest”.

conscience! conscience! Although everyone clamors for people to have a conscience, there are still many people without a conscience. Those who commit adultery with the body, steal with the hands, and speak evil with the mouth, the one who dominates the body, hands, and mouth to commit crimes is the heart!

Those who hold sulfuric acid in their hands, ruin the people they once loved beyond recognition; personally use a knife to tear apart the corpses of the friends he had talked with late at night, don’t these horrific crimes originate from the heart?

Because a person has a selfish heart, his bright nature is blinded by selfishness, and the arrogance of selfishness is high. He can ignore any righteousness, reason and human feelings, and can do anything that harms others and benefits himself. In this world, everything from disputes between people in a family to wars in societies and countries is all due to selfish bewitchment!

In today’s society, the purpose of advocating scientific inventions and encouraging the progress of art is nothing more than to enhance the happiness of mankind, but this is still only a temporary solution, because science and art cannot completely stop human crimes, so after science and art, if Only by carrying forward Buddhism and using fundamental methods to excavate everyone’s conscience, get rid of the source of selfishness that creates sins, and prevent the mind from clinging to external environments, can the world achieve peace and peace, and human beings obtain real happiness!

People in the world usually love a beautiful body the most, and they are most concerned about a lot of wealth, but at the end of life, they cannot take away their body and wealth; When we bid farewell to the world, it is the “heart” that follows us closely!

There are many people who are busy enjoying the body, but few people are practicing for self-purification. No wonder there are so many defects in the world! The body and wealth are not ours, but the heart is our master!

The “Avatamsaka Sutra” says: “The heart is like a painter, able to draw all kinds of things;” It also says: “You should observe the nature of the dharma realm, everything is created by the heart;” “The heart is the source of evil”, but the heart is also the source of goodness. The so-called good and evil, It is only between our thoughts.

Because the heart is easy to create evil, so this promising figure is attracted. If it is easy to do evil and become good, even though you have a body, you will be purified and liberated immediately.

If you can visualize, introspect, and observe according to the principles mentioned above, you will be able to gradually escape from the sea of ​​suffering of life and death! Therefore, at the end of the scriptures of the first enlightenment, it says: “Observe in this way, and gradually leave life and death.”

What I talked about above is the first enlightenment in the “Eight Great People’s Enlightenment Sutra”. To sum up this passage, it is said that if you want to learn from Bodhisattvas who have liberated life and death and saved all living beings, the first thing you should realize is that life and the universe are both Unable to live forever, this world is full of unrest and insubstantial, karmic and predestined combination of the four elements and the five aggregates.

In fact, it is suffering, empty, selfless, arising and ceasing, mutated, hypocritical, and without dominion. The persistent delusional mind is the source of evil; the phantom body is the place where sin karma gathers. If you can understand the above principles, and often think and observe, you can gradually stay away from the samsara of life and death.