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Lecture Four: Contentment Is the Foundation of Keeping the Way
“Lecture Four: Contentment Is the Foundation of Keeping the Way”
The third awareness: the mind is never satisfied, but seeking more will increase sins; Bodhisattvas are not good, always thinking about contentment, staying in poverty and keeping the way, only wisdom is karma.
The second enlightenment in this sutra says that excess desire is the root of life and death, and in the third enlightenment it says that contentment is the root of keeping the Tao. To leave life and death, you must first get rid of desires, and if you want to cultivate the Tao, you must first be content. Those who are not satisfied will never achieve success in Taoism.
Ordinary people are never satisfied with this dusty world. When they have a hundred money, they think about a thousand, and when they have a thousand, they think about ten thousand. When they become a county magistrate, they want to be a governor, and when they are a governor, they want to be a minister. .
There is a song about dissatisfaction, which is very appropriate to describe a person as “never satisfied”. Song cloud:
Busy all day long only for hunger, to be full and think of clothes;
Food and clothing are sufficient, but there are few beautiful wives in the house;
Marry a beautiful wife and a beautiful concubine, go in and out without a sedan chair and a few horses to ride;
The mules and horses are in groups and the sedan chairs are ready, the fields are not widely used;
Buy tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land, and have no official position to be bullied;
The seventh and fifth ranks are considered small, but the fourth and third ranks are still too low;
Yipin is the prime minister of the court, and he wants to be the king for a while;
I am content to be the son of heaven, and I hope that there will be no death in the world;
The delusion is always endless, and the coffin is long and covered with hatred.
A dissatisfied person is like living in a never-satisfied desire.
Many people spend their precious lives in distress and distress in the insatiable desire for fame, wealth and honor.
The misfortunes of the world and the sins of life are all caused by the insatiable mind. Although people know that “everything can’t be taken away, only karma is with you”, but if you live every day, you will always be greedy for this world.
Legend has it that Lu Dongbin, the son of the Buddha, converted from immortality to Buddhism, and wanted to test the roots of all living beings in the world one day. Can he be saved? He came down to the mortal world in the form of an old man. On the way, he happened to meet a child, so he stepped forward and asked:
“Little friend! Is there anything you wish for? As long as you express your wish, I can satisfy you.”
The child thought to himself that the most valuable thing in the world is gold, and he can do anything with gold, so he replied:
“I wish for a piece of gold.”
Lu Dongbin immediately pointed to the stone beside him with his hand, a big stone suddenly turned into gold, and Lu Dongbin said:
“Little friend, take this piece of gold as our meeting gift!”
The kid was stunned by Lu Dongbin’s turning stone into gold, but after thinking for a while, he said:
“I don’t want this piece of gold anymore.”
“Why not?” Lu Dongbin was also puzzled.
“I want your finger!” said the little boy.
“What do you want my fingers for?”
“Just now you said that you want to satisfy my wish. You gave me this piece of gold, but when the piece of gold is used up, if you give me your finger, when I ask for money, you can turn a stone into gold.”
This kid was greedy and didn’t know good people, which made Lu Dongbin really disappointed, and he also lamented the difficulty of all beings.
It is undeniable that all sentient beings are “never satisfied, but wanting more will increase their crimes.” The more greed, the more crimes will increase. But everyone never thought, “How many feet do you sleep at night in a building with thousands of rooms? With a huge sum of money, how much is the solar eclipse?” Behind those tens of thousands of wealth, I don’t know how many crimes are hidden! There are many traps lurking in the high position of reputation!
Illegal excessive demands that increase evil, roughly speaking, have the following points:
- The first is to steal other things, such as thieves, robbers, and bandits, who specialize in plundering other people’s property.
- The second is repudiation of debt, such as borrowing other people’s property and refusing to return it when it is due, repaying the debt, denying it, and benefiting oneself at the expense of others.
- The third is engulfing and depositing. If someone goes away for something, deposits something, and denies it when he picks it up.
- The fourth is cheating on the common wealth. For example, if two people are in business together, he wants to monopolize the profits they get together. If they make 10,000 yuan, he will only say 5,000 yuan.
- The fifth is encroachment due to convenience, such as stealing public property privately, or cutting corners, false public affairs for personal gain, and so on.
- The sixth is to gain by taking advantage of the situation, such as embezzlement and fraud, deceit and extortion, using prominent power to make the damaged people dare not stand up.
- The seventh is illegal business operations, such as opening restaurants, dance halls, or slaughtering for business, or selling killing tools (such as fishing gear).
When the human heart is not satisfied, illegal greed will not stop. Originally, wearing clothes was just to cover the body and keep warm, but the clothes of the rich strive to be made of silk and satin; their meals are only for satisfying their hunger, but the three meals of the rich must be delicacies from mountains and seas; Rich people insist on carving beams and painting buildings; in terms of enjoyment, nature’s landscapes and flowers are not enough, and they still have to dance and play cards. How can we satisfy our insatiable desires with limited material resources? Therefore, he had to ask for more illegally. As mentioned above, illegal demands, unscrupulous means, self-interest at the expense of others, is really a sin that grows to the sky.
In the life of desire, because the heart is never satisfied, so they have to make unlawful demands, but as the Bodhisattvas who practice Taoism say, they will “always think about contentment, live in poverty and guard the way, and only wisdom is karma”.
The number one hero in the history of Chinese Buddhism, Master Daoan of the Jin Dynasty, one day, a Dharma protector sent someone to give him a thousand hu of white rice as a meal for the temple, but there is no such a large rice warehouse in the temple, so it was hard , Master Dao’an vacated three buildings to put the thousand-hu white rice in.
Therefore, Master Dao’an replied to a letter from Layman Quechao, which said:
“Thank you for giving us a thousand hu of white rice, but it has added a lot of trouble to our collection!”
Ordinary people always think there are few things, but Master Daoan thinks there are too many things. This is the mind of a saint, and this is the attitude of a bodhisattva towards the world!
Enlightened ascetics have the view of material desires in the world that the result of seeking too much is poverty, and the result of willingness to give is wealth. If there are too many things, the mind is enslaved by the body, and life will not be peaceful.
A person’s dissatisfaction causes his heart to dwell on external things. Therefore, when wealth is present, life is in the hands of wealth; Where are the richest people of all ages? What is the result of the seeker? If you can be content, your life will be stable, and you will have fun in your life.
In the past, when a man riding a mule was traveling, he saw a man riding a horse in front of him. He was very envious and greedy. Getting into the car, he thought about it carefully, and felt calm. He said:
“Others ride horses, I ride mules, look at me in front of me;
Looking back at the man pushing the cart, there is more than enough than the top and the bottom. ”
It can be seen from this that if we use those who are richer or more expensive than us as objects of comparison, we will naturally feel dissatisfied and have thoughts of dissatisfaction; If you come to compare with us, you will naturally be calm, so you will not create karma. “Contentment and happiness” is the best motto for ascetics.
An enlightened person will not ask for more illegally, because an enlightened person will always be content. An enlightened Bodhisattva does not want money, but an enlightened Bodhisattva is good at using money. No matter how much money you keep, it does not belong to you. It is yours to use the money for useful things. Therefore, enlightened people deal with wealth: two-tenths are used for charity, giving and support; two-tenths are used for daily necessities of life; two-tenths are saved for travel when old and sick are necessary; The remaining four-tenths are reserved for business operations, and the capital is used for profit.
In Buddhism, it is said that wealth is shared by five families: first, corrupt officials can use their power to rob you; second, ruthless water and fire, can destroy your wealth once; No matter how much wealth you have, unworthy children and grandchildren can go bankrupt if they eat, drink, prostitute and gamble. In this way, isn’t our wealth shared with the five families of corrupt officials, water and fire, thieves, swordsmen, and unworthy descendants? Those who can realize contentment will know that wealth and treasures do not necessarily belong to themselves, and enjoyment does not necessarily belong to themselves. Only when wealth is used with compassion and respect is it truly belongs to oneself.
In the Warring States Period, King Xuan of Qi wanted to worship Yan Chu as his teacher, and said to him:
“As long as Mr. Yan accepts me as a disciple, live with me every day, have beef, mutton and pork for meals, can take a car when going out, and reward your wives, concubines and children with beautiful clothes.”
Yan Cheng replied softly:
“Thank you for your kindness. I don’t want to be the teacher of the king. I would like to chew slowly when eating, which is like eating meat; move forward slowly when walking, which is like riding a car; keep my law and order, and do not commit crimes. Noble; pure and self-preserved, do everything with reason, and regard it as happiness.”
If Yan Cheng is content, he will not be insulted by the world.
Those who practice the bodhisattva way can be content with poverty, keep the way purely, and regard seeking wisdom and liberation as careers.
Like Master Huineng who pounded rice for several months like a day, like Zen Master Baizhang who did not work for a day without food, lawyer Hongyi could wear a padded jacket for decades, and monk Xuyun used water as a meal in Zhenru Temple and did not surrender to evil forces. Surrender, like this kind of spirit of keeping the poor and guarding the way, is the real understanding of life and the grasp of life!
Bodhisattvas who practice Buddhism do not necessarily have to live a poor life to be considered noble. In Buddhism, there are many rich and elderly people. If the greed in the heart is not eliminated, it is not enough to pretend to be ascetic on the outside.
In Buddhism, it does not teach us not to have money, but to use proper wealth for proper purposes, the more the better. If it is improper money, even a penny is not desirable.
In the past, the Buddha and Ananda were walking on the road once, and saw a pile of gold and silver lost by someone who didn’t know who was on the side of the road. The Buddha pointed to the gold and silver and said to Ananda:
“Ananda! Did you see it? A poisonous snake!”
“Buddha! I saw a poisonous snake!” Ananda replied.
After the Buddha and Ananda passed by, the father and son who were working in the field came to see what kind of poisonous snake it was, but they didn’t know it was a poisonous snake, but a pile of gold and silver. Don’t want to be ignorant, so they transport the gold and silver back to their homes, always thinking that they have made a fortune.
Soon, the king knew that the gold and silver in the treasury had been stolen, so he ordered a search, and a pile of gold and silver was found in the father and son’s house. This was irrefutable evidence, so the father and son were sentenced to death and put in prison.
The father and son thought it was wrong. Only then did they realize that the words of the Buddha and Ananda were not wrong at all. The father said to his son:
“Ananda! Did you see it? A poisonous snake!”
“Buddha! I saw a poisonous snake!” replied the son.
When the prison officer heard this, he thought it was strange that the father and son asked each other one by one, and interrogated them in detail, and found out that they had been wronged.
Collecting gold and silver harmed them, and remembering the questions and answers of Buddha and Ananda, who kept the way in peace, saved them again. It can be seen from this that non-divided wealth is not desirable, and living in poverty and keeping the Tao is the real stable life in life!
Gold and silver are poisonous snakes, but life cannot be without money, so gold and silver are also the accumulation of learning, it just depends on how you deal with it.
If money is used to benefit the public, and money is used to cultivate wisdom and life, then gold and silver are not poisonous snakes but pure wealth.
