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Lecture 3 Desires Are the Root of Life and Death
“Lecture 3 Desires Are the Root of Life and Death“
The second awareness: too many desires lead to suffering. The fatigue of life and death starts from greed; with few desires and no action, the body and mind are at ease.
The first enlightenment in the “Eight Great People’s Enlightenment Sutra” refers to the Buddhist world view; from the second enlightenment to the seventh enlightenment refers to the Buddhist outlook on life.
When Buddhism talks about time, it has the past, present and future; when it talks about space, it has this world, other worlds, and infinite worlds in the ten directions; Although Buddhism contains a wide range of principles, what Buddhism talks about is still mainly about life problems.
When we talk about life problems, we will think of the necessary food and clothing, education, marriage and so on. In fact, although these problems are important, the biggest problem in life is the problem of life and death.
What everyone advertises today is seeking the happiness of mankind, but the development of science, the prosperity of art, the beauty of literature, and the progress of politics cannot completely relieve human suffering, because science, art, literature, and politics can only improve mankind. life, but cannot escape the birth and death of life.
All sentient beings are reincarnated in the three realms and six realms, undergoing life and death, and suffering endless suffering, all of which are caused by greed. Academic progress and material civilization cannot make people less satisfied. If there are more desires, suffering will naturally increase.
Su Dongpo said: “Man’s desires are endless, but things that can satisfy our desires are endless.” All academics improve people’s lives, but they also encourage people’s desires, so whether it is science, art, literature, or politics. , is a mixed blessing to mankind, it promotes the happiness of mankind, but also brings misery to mankind.
In a world where desires are hard to fill, everyone is vying for the pleasures of sensuality, money, and profit. They are not afraid of the pain hidden in the pleasures. This is because all living beings lose their original nature. In the cycle of life and death, they take pain as pleasure. Being imprisoned by desires, I don’t know how to seek liberation from Buddhism.
There is such a story in the classics: On the banks of the Ganges River in India, a group of women carrying fish cages were rushing home from the market. On the way, they encountered a heavy rain. At this time, the sky gradually darkened, but they were still five years away from home The journey of six miles, just when they couldn’t think about it, happened to be that the owner of a flower shop stayed at home for the night.
The house is full of flowers, full of fragrance. They worked hard all day and were very tired, but they could not fall asleep after lying down. The fragrance of flowers made them feel unaccustomed to it. Still can’t sleep. One of them was a wise woman who brought the fish cage and put it on the bedside. The fishy smell covered the fragrance of the flowers, so that they slept peacefully for a while.
The world imprisoned by desire is filthy and smelly. Everyone feels happy after living in it for a long time, just like the group of women who like to smell fishy smells.
Of course, desire is not necessarily completely bad. The scriptures say that desire can be divided into defilement desire and good dharma desire. The heart is impure, greedy for external fame and fortune is lust, and having the ideal of serving others to engage in social welfare work is also desire. Therefore, everyone should increase the desire for good deeds and reduce the desire for defilements.
However, what most people pursue is the desire for defilements, not the desire for good dharmas. No wonder the Buddha often had desires when he preached.
The desire that everyone wants to satisfy is either the desire to increase dependents, or the desire to be rich in resources; it is not the desire to be promoted and get rich, or the desire to live forever. In fact, can these desires really bring people happiness? The family desires of father and son, mother and daughter, teachers and students, staff members, husband and wife, brothers, relatives and friends, child servants, etc. are satisfied, but sometimes dear family members become enemies instead. “It’s not that enemies don’t get together”, brothers fight against each other, father and son turn against each other, couples get divorced, child servants harm the master, loving family members are worse than passers-by after falling apart, why do smart people have to satisfy their family desires?
In addition to the desire for family members, people also have a strong desire for resources. Food, clothing, housing and transportation require them to be rich. The more land and money, the better. Everyone hopes that the material resources can be increased. “Man dies for wealth, and bird dies for food.” Human life and personality are often ruined for the desire for capital. At the moment of wealth and lust, you can ignore the loyalty of friends, and ignore your conscience and morality. If you don’t become a human being, you will be dragged down by the desire to use money.
In addition to the desire for family members and resources, there is also the desire for self. Everyone always hopes for their own body to have a beautiful face, strong strength, and a long life. ? It is the three immortals mentioned by the ancients: meritorious service, morality, and speech. Under the illustrious achievements, I don’t know how much hard work I have endured!
Looking at people with many desires, the more troubles they have. Greedy for money, getting money is not necessarily happy, many people are busy for money; greedy for fame, getting famous is not necessarily happy, people are often tired because of fame; greedy for sex, getting sex is not necessarily happy, many people die for it; it can be seen that “too much desire is suffering” This scripture is like a morning bell to warn the world!
The ancients said: “When a person has no pursuit, he is self-exalted.” The state of no pursuit is the state of no desire. If a person can have no desire, his character will naturally be noble, and his suffering will naturally decrease. You look at those people in the field of fame and fame, you look at those living beings who are businessmen, in order to seek fame and fortune, they do not hesitate to flatter and talk sweet words. Everyone is a slave to desire and thinks they are happy. How sad it is!
Of course, Buddhism does not absolutely require people to abstain from sexual desires. Buddhism requires people to follow the middle way. Desires for family members, assets, and bodies cannot be indulged, but they cannot be completely separated. Desire to do good deeds and be free from afflictions.
If you look at the history of India, you will know that when the Buddha lived, some lay people in Indian society were indulgent and happy people, trying their best to enjoy life as much as possible by “drinking today.” Ascetic. Ascetics not only sever sexual desire for men and women, but also use the most arduous methods to train themselves for basic necessities of life. For food, they only eat green moss in water, or grass roots, tree bark, flowers and fruits to satisfy their hunger. They don’t wear clothes and are naked all day long. Some sit on thorns or on the edge of hanging rocks; Lie down by the water or by the fire.
These useless austerities are vainly suffering themselves, and they cannot be freed by asceticism. Abandoning the desire for pleasure and being imprisoned by the desire for asceticism is ultimately not the way to liberation. Therefore, after the Buddha became enlightened, he issued his declaration of truth, asking ascetics to stay away from the two sides of asceticism (abstinence) and pleasure (indulgence), and follow the middle way of practice.
Replace greed with compassion, melt emotions with wisdom, and prevent defilements from arising in your heart. Naturally, you will not “suffer with desire.”
As the saying goes: “People with few desires will not be disappointed; people with greater desires will suffer more.” It is also said: “A person who is content is like heaven even if he is lying on the ground; a person who is not satisfied is like heaven even though he is in heaven.” It’s like hell.” We can get proof from Buddha’s disciple Da Kassapa’s practice in the tomb, and from Confucius’ disciple Yan Hui living in a back alley. Judging from these principles, suffering comes from excessive desire, and excessive desire is the root of suffering.
The scriptures say: “The fatigue of life and death arises from greed.” All living beings are in the cycle of life and death in the six realms. After death, they are born again, and after birth they die again. Doesn’t this kind of fatigue and hardship come from greed?
Take real life as an example, seeking greed all day long, working as a cow and horse for life, worrying about gains and losses from time to time, and worrying about anxiety, these all come from greed.
Greed is really terrifying! People who die in this world are often the result of greed. Look at the moths throwing themselves into the flames and the fish taking the bait, isn’t it motivated by greed? Look at those prisoners imprisoned for crimes of theft and adultery, aren’t they all framed by greed?
In the past, Zhang and Wang met for a trip. They picked up a gold ingot on the road, and they were overjoyed. On the way, the surname Zhang said to the surname Wang:
“The two of us met this piece of gold ingot. It is because the local city god has eyes and gave us a chance to make a fortune. We should buy some wine and vegetables to worship in front of the city god and thank him for his kindness.”
“That’s good. You go shopping for vegetables, and I’ll wait for you in front of the Town God’s Temple.” The surname Wang was also very happy to do so.
But at this moment, the two of them have their own ghosts in their hearts.
The person surnamed Zhang thought to himself: “This gold ingot is divided between two people, and one person only has half. How long can this half be used?”
The surname Wang also thought in his heart: “This gold ingot is divided between two people. One person only has half. How long can this half be used?”
Greed arises in the heart, and evil grows toward the gallbladder.
The one surnamed Zhang wanted to put some poison in the food and drink to kill the one surnamed Wang, so that he could get that piece of gold ingot all by himself! Seeing that there was no one in the Town God’s Temple, the man surnamed Wang prepared an ax to kill the man surnamed Zhang, so that he could get the gold ingot all by himself!
Zhang and Wang thought they had a clever plan, but the other party would never know it.
When Zhang bought food and wine and was praying to the City God, the ax surnamed Wang chopped off from the back of his head unexpectedly!
After Zhang’s death, Wang’s joy was extraordinary, and when he was about to run away with the gold ingot, he suddenly felt hungry, so he thought why not take the wine and meat offered in front of the City God to satisfy his hunger. He thought about it by himself, and suddenly he felt the world spinning, the medicine took effect, and he died soon!
Both Zhang and Wang wanted to get the gold ingot because of their greed, so they thought of harming others, but unexpectedly they harmed themselves! This is the retribution of karma, and it also shows that all evils arise from greed.
There is a proverb in our country that goes well, “Winds of fortune do not kill the poor.” Originally, wealth is not obtained through greed. To get rich, one must have the blessing of getting rich. It’s all miserable!
The blessing of getting rich comes from accumulating virtue and giving, not from greed!
Since excess desire is suffering, and since life and death and fatigue arise from greed, how can we cure it? The scriptures tell us that “with few desires and no actions, the body and mind are at ease.”
We have said before that desire is not necessarily completely sinful. The desire to do good deeds for the welfare of the society will not only be opposed by many people, but will also be praised by many people. No sympathy. Although the scriptures do not require you to completely sever desires such as fame, wealth, sex, food, etc., and in fact you cannot completely sever them, but the scriptures tell us to “fewer desires and do nothing”. Must be less. Those who have few desires have no flattery, those who have few desires have no false desires, those who have no desires will be upright, those who have no desires will be honest, those who have few desires and do nothing will not be burdened by the root dust, and the body and mind will naturally be at ease.
Gorgeous colors, slim singing and dancing, delicious food, and lofty reputations are extremely attractive, and often make people lose their minds. How can the body and mind be free and happy in the life of drifting in the sea! The fundamental countermeasure is to stay away from the sea of afflictions and desires, not to take risks in the sea of desires, to be vigilant, not to be tempted by it, and to practice Buddhist precepts with a calm and intelligent attitude. Although eating and drinking, but do not kill for the taste; although collecting money, but do not covet the law to get money by stealing; Talking nonsense; if you can have this attitude of less desire and inaction towards the world, you will be at ease physically and mentally, and there will be no disputes in the world.
