Third, (taking the secular bodhi mind as the bodhi path) is divided into two parts: first, thinking about the fault of "loving me"; Second, the merit of thinking "love him".
Ding Yi thinks that "love me" is wrong:
All karma is one.
In short, all the bad karma we encounter in reincarnation-pain, torture, poverty, disease, internal worries and so on. It all boils down to one thing.
In the past, when ordinary people encountered difficulties, for example, they suffered some physical or mental injuries, and their work was not smooth. Or their parents and other relatives have met some kind of danger and fate violation, and they are used to putting all the responsibility on some external factor-all because of someone ..., which leads to this kind of pain ... Sometimes people think that tangible existence hurts us, and sometimes people think that intangible existence hurts us.
However, from the beginning of practicing Mahayana Buddhism, it will be reversed. Whenever we are in trouble, pain, etc. We stop blaming others and blame ourselves.
The so-called self here means neither the present body nor the whole spirit, but a fundamental spirit and concept, that is, "love me".
There is a little difference between "I hold" and "I hold"-"I hold" means "people hold", which everyone has. And "love me" refers to the persistence of loving yourself very strongly from beginning to end.
Why put all the troubles and pains on the head of "love me"? Because all these troubles and pains are really caused by it, produced by it, created by it, and the source of all troubles and pains.
"Love me" has been buried in the heart of every ordinary person from the beginning, but we have never found its harm to us. Whenever we encounter pain and difficulties, we always go out to blame and look for factors, but in fact, external factors are only a help, not the main cause. The real reason is actually in our own hearts. It is very important that we realize this.
If we can deeply understand this point, then no matter how bad the environment is, our practice will not only not be lost, but even promote the progress of our practice because of these painful and difficult tempering.
For example, I am seriously ill, and we can deeply understand that although on the surface, this kind of pain seems to be caused by others hurting me or my own bad hygiene habits, these are superficial factors. In fact, if I didn't "love me", how could I get sick today? Like arhat, Buddha and Bodhisattva, they don't have these pains, because they have already overthrown and broken their love for themselves. Why? It is not because no one has harmed or slandered arhat and bodhisattva. As we all know, even the Buddha was slandered and beaten, let alone a bodhisattva. The reason is that they have no inner love for me, so they have no pain, not only mentally but physically.
But we ordinary people are not like this. When others hit us, we will not only feel pain, even if we just say something unpleasant, we will get angry immediately, and it will also lead to a series of inappropriate behaviors, which will lead to pain. If we don't take what others say seriously, what others say will have no effect on us.
There is a case in Buddhist scriptures: a man went to Sakyamuni Buddha and scolded him for a long time, endlessly. When he stopped, the Buddha asked him, "If someone gives a lot of things and the other person doesn't accept them, who does this thing belong to in the end?" "It must be his!" Sakyamuni Buddha added, "You have been cursing here for a long time today, but I am not affected. I didn't accept it. Then whose are these vicious words? " The man was suddenly speechless.
That's the truth. If we don't accept it ourselves, we won't feel anything strange even if the slanderous voice of others enters our ears. Only by analyzing the meaning of this sentence can our consciousness find the ingredients that are unfavorable to us and be unhappy. What caused this? Is to love my heart. Ordinary people just love themselves so much that they don't even want to hear a harsh word, which leads to these troubles.
In the past, we have observed my troubles. Here, we should not only observe my obsession, but also observe the fault of "loving my obsession" and find out how much harm it has caused us from scratch to today. In the past, because of insufficient understanding of this, I habitually put the blame on others, and all the shortcomings were blamed on others. This is our bad habit. It is precisely because of this bad habit that we will flow repeatedly in samsara and never get rid of it. Is the culprit that makes us cycle!
From the perspective of liberation, if the original love for me is replaced by bodhicitta and compassion, the result will be completely different. For example, Sakyamuni Buddha never considered his own interests from his initial initiation to becoming a Buddha. Everything he does, such as six paramita, is based on altruism. Sakyamuni Buddha can never say a curse for his own liberation, and can never pay something as small as a penny for his own liberation, but Sakyamuni Buddha has become a Buddha.
On the other hand, ordinary people like us have never come to this day and have never given up "loving me". Because I haven't given up "love for me", everything I do is for myself, whether it's secular work or business, or liberation, such as chanting, burning incense, worshipping Buddha, meditating and giving alms.
Every intersection in a big city is bustling with people. Why are these people rushing around? It can be said that apart from the incarnation of Buddha and Bodhisattva, pure mortals are all for themselves. We are also ordinary people, and of course we are in this ranks. Like them, we are in such a hurry from the beginning of reincarnation to today, but think about it carefully, what have we got today? Empty hands, nothing.
Although some people will think: I still have something to gain! I have a house, a car and money in the bank ... but these things are only for a short period of time at most, which makes our life more practical and comfortable, nothing else. However, no matter how good life is, it can't solve the problem of birth, illness and death; The place where the future incarnates can't be solved! With such busyness and hard work, although we can temporarily avoid the problem of food and clothing in the world for several years, more than ten years or decades, we have nothing else! When you die, even if you have more property, you can't take a penny. I think everyone should know such a simple truth.
Why is the pursuit and result of Buddha and all beings so counterproductive?
On this point, the theory of entering bodhisattva is very thorough. It is because ordinary people have a strong "love me" that everything they do is based on "love me". As long as there is "love me", no matter how great a good root is, it can be compressed to a very small size. Conversely, if you do it with altruism, it will become a great good root. This is the difference between Buddha and ordinary people.
For example, if we take a hundred dollars to set free, if it is purely selfless and altruistic, its good roots are great; On the other hand, if you mix your own health and longevity, the good roots will become very small.
Sakyamuni Buddha never needed the victory of intrigue between people. What he needs is a struggle with me, that is, a real victory in the challenge of "loving me". As practitioners, we should also follow the teachings of the Buddha.
As you can imagine, if we could have made a million dollars when we were doing business, but another person deliberately mixed up and ruined our business, then we would definitely hate him: I never hurt him, but he made me lose money for no reason. Since then, he has been my sworn enemy, and I must get back at him!
Similarly, we could get rid of it quickly, because the obsession of "loving me" bound us tightly in reincarnation, and because of the manipulation of the obsession of "loving me", everything we did became insignificant and meaningless, and finally we could not get rid of it, but ironically, we never hated it. This is an inverted and wrong concept of ordinary people. It is precisely because we are so upside down that we can never get rid of it.
For another example, if we could have been liberated long ago, but because there has always been a person who won't let us practice and let us get rid of it, we will hate him to death! Will regard him as their number one enemy. However, in fact, there is no such person outside, it exists in our hearts, and that is our own insistence. Because it is our own persistence, it is our own persistence. Most people think that every cell in our body and every idea in our spirit is good, so we don't hate it and don't want to dig its shortcomings. The problem is as simple as that.
So, who dug up these troubles? Buddha Sakyamuni. It was the Buddha who exposed all the faults of "love me" and then told us: See for yourself how serious the fault of "love me" is and how much harm it has caused you. Do you dare to go on like this? ! If we remain indifferent as always, we will only continue to flow in samsara and will never be free!
If we don't exchange "love me" and "love him", we will never get rid of it. All superficial Buddhist chanting and practice do not belong to Mahayana Buddhism. If we can exchange the two at any time, then from that time on, we will really start to get rid of it. To see the harm of "love me" and the benefits of "love him", this is from the aspect of liberation.
From a secular point of view, giving up loving me and loving him has many benefits. The ancients said: "People are inherently mortal, or heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather." Suppose a person is willing to sacrifice his life in order to save dozens of people. Let's not talk about the return of cause and effect in the afterlife. As far as this person's reputation, social status and impressions from all walks of life are concerned, they are far beyond others! Everyone will think that his death is more important than Mount Tai. On the other hand, if you give up your life for yourself-your reputation, your position, your property, then there is nothing to praise. People will only think that he is a fugitive, and this kind of death is lighter than a feather.
They all gave up their lives and suffered the pain of death, but why are the results so different? In this regard, we can cite many examples, or you can collect them yourself and think further.
In short, if you start from selfishness, even if what you do is great in itself, it will become meaningless. If it is based on altruism, the meaning of the same price is very different.
Then, we can compare the differences between them from the perspective of causality that is neither liberation nor secular. There is an example in the theory of entering the profession, which should be known to many people.
In ancient India, a mother and daughter crossed the river together, but unfortunately both of them were washed away by the river. At that time, my mother thought: it seems that I can't escape this robbery this time, but it doesn't matter if I die. As long as my daughter can live, I wish her to live; Similarly, as a daughter, I thought to myself: it seems that I can't live this time, but it doesn't matter if I die, as long as my mother can live!
Because both of them have this kind of kindness to each other, after being drowned by the river, with this kind of kindness at the end of their lives, both of them became heaven and man after their death. Anyone who has studied "All Abandonment Theory" knows that if you want to be reincarnated to * * days, only by practicing kung fu can you have high meditation power. But because mother and daughter love each other, you can easily reincarnate to * * days without practicing after death.
Think about it: if both mother and daughter are struggling for their own life and death when they fall into the water, it will be difficult to grasp the outcome after death without considering each other at all. If you have created good karma in the past, you may be able to generate good thoughts, but if you have created bad karma, you will definitely lose interest. Because of their love, sympathy and pity for him, their death became meaningful.
Then why can't everyone die so meaningfully? Why can't ordinary people love him? Who won't let us give it? Either an outsider or our own "love me", there is no other reason than this persistence.
Because we have "love me" in our hearts, it makes our birth, existence, death and so on meaningless, but it becomes the reason why we fall into hell, starve to death and so on. We should know that all the bad things in the world, such as illness, suffering, war and disaster, are not caused by altruistic motives, but by human karma. This * * * industry, on the basis of "love me", is engaged in killing, stealing, prostitution, jumping off buildings and other things.
Above, we simply expounded the difference between "love me" and "love him" from three aspects: liberation, secularity and cause and effect. When we think, we can think again and again in all directions.
After discovering the fault of "loving me", no matter what we encounter in practice, we will immediately know that these are not other people's injuries, but our own problems, and they all deserve it. If you still don't repent, it is wrong to go your own way, and you will encounter more serious violations and fall into hell in the future. We must work hard to weaken and break "love me" in the future, so that all the pain and difficulties can not be a violation of our practice, but a help to our practice progress. In this way, no matter how bad the environment is, practice will not retreat, but will progress.
Second, I think the advantages of "loving him"
Cultivate great kindness in the public.
"Great compassion" means that for us, observing and cultivating all sentient beings is great compassion.
From the perspective of liberation, it is worthwhile to meet Mahayana Buddhism and have the opportunity to think and practice. From a secular point of view, a person's longevity, health, smooth career and so on, all the beautiful aspects come from all beings.
Take bodhicitta as an example. If there are no sentient beings, how can we initiate bodhicitta? There is no way. Because of all sentient beings, we can have compassion, save all sentient beings, and swear to become a Buddha to save all sentient beings. Both conditions of bodhicitta come from all beings. Without sentient beings, there can be no bodhicitta.
In addition, each of the six paramita also comes from all beings. For example, giving is giving money, Buddhism and fearlessness to all sentient beings. If there are no sentient beings, who will we give them to? There is no object to give. Similarly, the key meaning of keeping precepts is not to harm all beings. It is because of all beings that we can swear never to hurt them again. If there are no sentient beings, then what precepts do we still hold? So is humiliation. If there are no sentient beings, then what should we practice humiliation, and to whom should we practice humiliation? The same is true of diligence, Zen and wisdom, all of which are aimed at saving all beings.
The most important purpose of Mahayana practitioners is to become a Buddha. Where did the Buddha fruit come from? One is from Buddha, without Buddha, no one will teach us how to become a Buddha; One comes from all beings. If there were no sentient beings, we would not have bodhicitta and become a Buddha. From the perspective of liberation, both Buddha and sentient beings are equally kind and virtuous to us.
In addition, as we have repeatedly mentioned, all living beings were our parents, and when they were our parents, they were better to us than mountains.
If we can pay a little for all sentient beings, even just 10 or 100 dollars to buy things and give them to all sentient beings, its good roots will be very great. Everything you do for all beings, big or small, will become a direct factor towards liberation; Everything you do for yourself has no real meaning. From the perspective of becoming a Buddha, all beings have such interests for us, and we have no interests for ourselves. In particular, people who make bad karma without practicing all day are of no use except bringing bad karma to themselves.
If we can deeply understand the kindness of all beings, whether they beat us or scold us, no matter how unreasonable they treat us, it will never be a violation of our practice. This can be seen from the performance of many masters when they were criticized during the Cultural Revolution.
When someone or someone hurts us, how should we treat this sentient being? At that time, we should think: He used to be my mother, and when he was a mother, he was so kind to me. Now, although he has hurt me, it is because he has been defiled by stupidity, forgotten the scene of being my mother before, and didn't know that we used to be mother and son. Plus my own karma, he's here to hurt me now. Although he was kind to me in the past, today, due to my karmic call, he started his career again. If he knew that we were mother and son, he would never hurt me. So, even if he abused me so much today, I shouldn't blame him. Instead, I will try to get rid of his troubles and bring him relief benefits. I will repair him for myself.
Especially when we see poor and miserable sentient beings, if we can directly benefit each other, we must do our best to benefit this sentient being. If there is no way to directly benefit him, I must make a wish in my heart: although I can't directly benefit him now, I must return all my spiritual merits to him in the future and let him become a Buddha.
If the sentient beings who hurt us are non-human, ghosts and gods, etc. We must practice the ancient relic law. There is a practice in Pu Xian Guru Language Teaching: offer your body, blood, flesh and so on. Give these inhuman people, let them not only solve the problem of hunger and thirst, but also produce bodhicitta after enjoying the body.
It is also mentioned in the book: When practicing dharma in Gusari, you should really give your body. Because each of us is attached to the body far more than anything, if we can give the body, it will play a great role in accumulating resources and clearing karma.
In a word, you should know that all faults come from "loving me" and all fun comes from "loving him". From now on, we should regard "love me" as an enemy who hates bone marrow; And treat all sentient beings as relatives as deep as the sea, and cultivate compassion and compassion for them.
Gadang Sect's Great Delang Ritangba once taught future generations: "All profound teachings I have read are to blame myself for all faults and to attribute all merits and demerits to all sentient beings. The key to all this is that there is no other way than' I will accept failure and accept it, and victory will be dedicated to him'. "
The above is to observe the interests of all beings. If we can seriously practice this law, we will not only have no hatred for those who hurt us, but also feel pity for them when we encounter all kinds of violations from people or non-people in the future. If we can do this, they will not become our destiny, but our spiritual destiny. On the other hand, if we don't treat these beings correctly and easily resent them without knowing it, then this resentment will become the biggest violation of Mahayana Bodhi Road.
The most powerful way to turn evil into Tao is to turn troubles into Tao with bodhicitta.
—— Excerpt from "Seven Essentials of Cultivating the Mind" by Luozhu Kampo in Cicheng.