Three major problems that must be faced in life
Old Monk Jinghui
Dear monks and lay Buddhists: Everyone must have worked very hard these days!Buddhist rituals are very nervous, and they don’t eat at night and the weather is hot. The north is already wearing a cotton sweater, and there is still an electric fan here.I felt very tired today, and I think everyone must be uncomfortable.Such an environment raises a question for us: environment and life make us feel difficult to adapt and be free.We live in such an environment, whether we are aware of it or not, it seems that there are challenges everywhere, full of unfreedom and uneasiness. From a Buddhist perspective, this is suffering.Buddhism lists all kinds of suffering, the so-called three sufferings, five sufferings, and eight sufferings, and countless sufferings.People nowadays call this all a problem.Last month, I presided over a seven-day meditation in Shijiazhuang. On the first day of my lecture, I talked about three major problems that I have to face in my life.These three major problems are inevitable for everyone and exist equally.These three problems are survival issues, life issues, and life and death issues.These three problems have existed since humans and will always exist with humans.Although Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s great vow is to save all sentient beings, it is just Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s compassionate wish, and in fact, sentient beings cannot save them all.To say that sentient beings can save all the sentient beings is to eliminate the Dharma. Once all the sentient beings save all the sentient beings, there will be no sentient beings.Of course, some people will say that saving all sentient beings is transforming our suffering Saha world into the Pure Land of Bliss in the human world, but I believe that the causes and consequences of all sentient beings in the universe and the Dharma Realm are different, and it is impossible for them to become Buddhas one morning.Some cause and effect ripen early, and some ripen late, each with cause and condition. Therefore, even if every sentient being can become a Buddha, there will be a long distance in the time to become a Buddha. Zhang San and Li Si cannot become a Buddha on the same day.The problems and pains faced by human beings will exist with the existence of the entire life world.The so-called survival problem means that we start to have survival problems from the time we are born with a mother’s belly.From the time my mother was born with a belly, she felt all kinds of discomforts, so the baby cried as soon as she gave birth.Why?Because a baby has never been blown by the wind in his mother's womb and has not adapted to the environment outside the mother's womb, he will cry only if he suffers. This is suffering.In a sense, survival is basically passive. People must actively adapt to the environment of survival. Therefore, there is an idiom called "survival of the fittest". If you can adapt to the environment, you can survive. If you cannot adapt to the environment, you cannot survive and will be eliminated by the environment.This provides us with a very important revelation.When a person lives in the world, he must actively adapt to the environment.If you cannot adapt, the pain of survival will intensify, the difficulty of survival will increase, and the conditions for survival will be difficult to transform and improve.Human survival is a group existence.From humans to animals, they are manifested as individual life, but the life of any individual survives in a group environment.A life must adapt to the survival group, and every life must be able to adapt to the survival group.We must be able to cooperate with each other, be able to identify with each other, be tolerant, and be able to achieve success.If they are in opposition, it must be a very harsh living environment.In ancient times, people in ancient times had a lot of hatred between individual lives and were often in a state of hostility and hatred.Why?Because they all want to obtain the food, living environment, and even spouse they need to survive.Primitive humans gradually developed through fighting and killing each other, gradually gaining various tools to protect themselves, tools to obtain food, and tools to grow food and vegetables.Only when humans have gradually met the needs of the group, can they have the so-called ethical concepts such as propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame.That is to say, humans first seek to survive and then enter a state of life.Survival is mainly a dependence on matter, and it is completely a natural satisfaction.When we truly have life, we are not only material but also spiritual.Life can be divided into two categories: one is spiritual life and the other is material life.After humans entered modern society, they once were born, they spanned a harsh living environment as many as thousands, tens of thousands, and millions of years ago, and they spanned a modern living environment in one step.The blessings of human beings are getting bigger day by day, the environment for human beings to improve day by day, and life is enriching day by day.Life issues, no matter how rich material wealth is, how sound legal concepts are, and how powerful moral and ethical promotion is, people are always challenging various constraints and constraints in society.The so-called illegal and criminal acts, the so-called non-compliance with the rules, and the so-called struggle for freedom are actually challenging the standardized social life.Human beings are always not satisfied with the status quo, because human beings have all kinds of greed.Excessive greed will definitely have many negative effects.The driving force behind the defiled life of human beings is the three poisons of troubles - greed, anger, and ignorance.Greed is a desire.Humans have endless desires, and this desire also has a reasonable component.If all desires are sinful, there is no good deed in the world.Buddhism recognizes that there are good deeds in the world, such as practicing the ten virtues, stopping the ten evils, doing giving, cultivating blessings, etc.If these good deeds can be expanded to a certain extent, they will transcend personal selfish desires and become welfare, good deeds and good deeds shared by the public.Buddhism divides good deeds into worldly good deeds and transcendental good deeds.Good worldly deeds are all activities that focus on creating material and spiritual wealth shared by the masses. Good worldly deeds are good things that solve the problems of life and death.It can also be said that the good deeds in the world are all positive and positive activities that purify life and beautify life, and all the good deeds in the world that solve our problems of life and death.Buddhism separates the afflictions of the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance from the pursuit of good deeds.Buddhism believes that humans’ choice for active altruistic behavior is called the desire for good deeds, which belongs to the category of good deeds.Buddhism does not exclude the reasonable improvements of human living conditions and living environment.
The good deeds are divided into two categories: worldly good deeds and transcendental good deeds. This is the perfect embodiment of the Buddha's great wisdom.The good worldly laws solve specific problems in secular life, and the good worldly laws solve the ultimate concern of life.In life facing these three major problems, Buddhism provides us with methods to face it correctly, deal with it, and solve it.There are thousands of problems that need to be solved in life, and every thought is a problem. In summary, there are only these three aspects.How to deal with and solve these three problems?Worldly knowledge, philosophy, ethics and morality also provide us with solutions to these problems.As one of the oldest religions, Buddhism’s main task is to guide sentient beings to improve their lives, improve their lives, and realize their lives, which is to solve the problem of life and death.There is also a process before solving the problem of life and death.In life, it is impossible for us to not eat, live in a house, interact with people, and do not have any social activities.Therefore, before solving the problem of life and death, Buddhism also raised a very important question, which is how to settle down.If you don’t know how easy it is to solve the problem of life and death if you don’t know how to settle down!The so-called "staying alive" means that life must have a correct life orientation, a correct value goal, and a correct life philosophy.From a Buddhist perspective, where should we settle down and where should we establish our lives?Buddhism first tells us: if a person lives in the world, he will be happiest to have faith, the freedom and freedom to have faith, and the destination to have faith, and the spiritual pillar will be there.Therefore, Buddhism advocates that we must deeply root our life in faith, and strictly follow the law of cause and effect when doing things.Having faith and talking about cause and effect is the foundation for our survival.The law of cause and effect is an unchangeable truth in the universe and life, and faith is the spiritual force that makes us invincible.If the spirit has strength and pillars, you can move forward bravely, make continuous progress, and overcome various difficulties in the journey of life.If we can understand the principle of cause and effect in our hearts, we can deeply understand that all things in the world and the various experiences in life are all chain reactions of causes and consequences, and all the laws of cause and effect are at work.Where does cause and effect come from?Cause and effect means planting melons and getting melons. Planting beans will bring good rewards. Good will bring good rewards, and evil will bring bad rewards.Only when we understand these simple causal principles of cause and effect very clearly can we carefully and selectively do things that are beneficial to ourselves and others based on the principle of cause and effect.Things that are beneficial to oneself and others are the so-called good deeds.Good deeds must meet the standards of not being harmed by self-interest.All goals that are in line with the immediate, long-term, and fundamental interests of oneself and others can be considered good deeds.Buddhism calls immediate interests "present good", long-term interests are called "later good", and fundamental interests are called "ultimate good"."Seeing good" is a good deed that can see the consequences of good deeds in life. "Subsequent good deeds" are beneficial to the achievements of good deeds in other life. "Ultimate good" is a good deed that is conducive to the liberation of life and death and the attainment of Nirvana.Buddhism classifies good deeds into three categories, which in layman's terms are immediate interests, long-term interests and fundamental interests.The fundamental interests that are in line with the immediate, long-term and fundamental interests of the broadest masses of society are the real fundamental interests.Although the fundamental benefits mentioned in the world are mainly based on worldly goodness, as a Buddhist disciple, being able to perfectly practice worldly goodness is also an indispensable condition for the perfection of one's own blessings and wisdom and the ultimate achievement of good deeds.The Buddhist philosophy is truly a perfect and unobstructed world. It is a practical principle that guides both self and others in life.On the issue of maintaining one's life, in addition to establishing faith, firm belief, firm belief in cause and effect, and doing things according to the principle of cause and effect, one must also have a conscience and use conscience to ensure the implementation of the theory of cause and effect and the unswerving belief principles.Then, all of this must be implemented in the moral behavior of life.Faith, cause and effect, and conscience are not empty, they are all real.If a person who has solved the problem of maintaining a living still has flaws in moral behavior, it means that faith needs to be further strengthened, the principle of cause and effect needs to be further implemented, and the conscience needs to be further expanded.Turn faith, cause and effect, and conscience into real moral life, moral behavior, and moral norms, that is the true implementation of life cultivation.To solve the problem of survival and to face life problems correctly, we must actively solve the problem of maintaining a life.Once the problem of maintaining one's life is solved, we have a clear goal at the beginning, so that the survival problem can be faced more correctly, and the life problem can be faced more positively.How to solve the problem of life and death?To solve the problem of life and death, Buddhism provides various methods of practice.All Buddhist practice methods, whether worldly good deeds, or transcendental good deeds, are intended to solve the problem of life and death.From the perspective of Zen Buddhism, the key to solving the problem of life and death is to understand the mind and nature.If one’s own mind is unclear and one’s own nature is not visible, it is useless to talk about the issue of life and death.Using Zen's method of enlightening the mind and seeing the nature to face and deal with the problems of life and death is the most active and ultimate way to solve the problems of life and death.Once you understand the mind and see the nature, you will realize that all dharmas are born and destroyed, your nature is empty, life and death are nirvana, troubles are Bodhi, and this shore is the other shore.The most active and steadfast way to solve the problem of life and death.Troubles are Bodhi, how is this?We are sitting in the lecture hall now, and everyone is looking for the answer.Is afflictions Bodhi?It seems that this equal sign between afflictions and Bodhi cannot be distinguished!It can be seen that troubles are Bodhi, and birth and death are Nirvana. It is a great question and a great skill.The so-called great knowledge means having a high degree of wisdom;The so-called great skill is to have a down-to-earth practical process.Without great wisdom and a down-to-earth practical process, this gap between afflictions and Bodhi is not so easy to fill.
But don’t watch it too difficult, everyone should have a spirit of confidence and resentment.Zen Buddhism tells us that as long as we dare to assume that we are Buddha now, do not have doubts about this thought, do not have a retreatment, and do not have a despicable mind, we regard our present body and mind as no different from the Buddha, and we do not have any distracting thoughts, and we will stick to it like this, with only this thought, no second thought, just this thought, and only this thought, and do three or five years of hard work, and then we will meet again. Troubles are Bodhi, and life and death are Nirvana, and it is very likely that we will be able to achieve it.Unfortunately, we have too much inferiority and too much worries!The first thought is that one can be confident and willing to appear, and the body and mind are no different from the Buddha, but the second thought is that one cannot be confident and willing to accept it, and it is sentient beings again!Therefore, sentient beings are still far from Buddha, and sentient beings are still far from Buddha.The question is very simple.Ancient ancestors became enlightened as soon as they heard the Dharma. When the Buddha was alive, many Buddhist disciples became Arhats when they saw the Buddha, and attained the fruit of enlightenment when they saw the Buddha. Why?His willingness to do so will not change, and his worries will be eliminated at the moment.We are not determined and are still waiting to go home!I am a Buddha, so I won’t go home tomorrow.So this distance looks very large, but it is actually just a little bit, but it can't be solved by just a little bit.The root of life and death lies in that little bit.It is an easy thing to understand the mind and see the nature and become a Buddha, but it is complicated.Zen Buddhism hopes to solve very complicated things in a very simple way, with one knife and two steps, and do not drag on the mud.You all come here to practice together without hesitation and have the intention to receive the eight precepts. Why?It is to challenge yourself and try every means to overcome your cowardice, cowardice and inferiority.Why don’t you eat at night?A self-challenge;Why get up at 4:30 in the morning?It is also a self-challenge.I think there will be many people who can't get up when they hear the slogan in the morning, but they will immediately become aware of it. They must challenge the slackness and the sensible heart. They must persevere to the end.If you are really proficient in your skills and have a high level of self-consciousness, and can adapt to all environments, there will naturally be no force and no trouble of inadaptation.These seem to be some very simple self-challenges in life, but in fact they contain very profound life philosophy and reflect the spiritual will of overcoming difficulties and facing victory in life.The three major problems in life can be solved and faced with three methods, which is the so-called "staying true to one's life, understanding one's mind and nature, and escaping one's life and death.If you don’t understand the mind and see the nature, you cannot escape from life and death.We must also have a correct understanding of the life and death.To escape from life and death does not mean to be a deserter on the shore of life and death.Being a deserter on the shore of life and death is the Hinayana realm, and the Mahayana realm is that one is life and death and one is to resolve life and death and overcome life and death.Suffering life and death in life and death in life and death in life and death in life and death.What is to overcome life and death?It means to develop the Bodhicitta and benefit the public.We must not understand life and death as a negative concept.The Nirvana attained after life and death in Mahayana Buddhism is called the Nirvana without dwelling.The so-called "Nirvana without dwelling" means achieving Nirvana without dwelling on Nirvana. You must return to the worldly and do extensive Buddhist rituals, and save sentient beings.There is a question here.If we work hard to resolve life and death, and still have to do Buddhist affairs on the shore of life and death, then can we not resolve life and death?no!Because inability to achieve life and death is in confusion, and in confusion, one cannot do something conscious.Only an enlightened person can do enlightened things.When we resolve life and death and do Buddhist affairs on the shore of life and death, we do not follow the karma, that is, we come with the vow, and that is, with the support of the vow, we consciously, freely, and clearly do good deeds that are beneficial to human and heaven - present good, future good, and ultimate good.The so-called pursuit of life and death is to seek enlightenment. Once enlightened, one will teach sentient beings in life and death, and cultivate the present good, future good, and non-leaking good, which is the identity of the enlightened person.Therefore, life and death cannot be resolved and life and death cannot be discussed in the same way.You must be bound to end life and death. Do not escape from life and death without escaping life and death. This is the perfect embodiment of the Bodhisattva spirit.I hope that every one of us who study Buddhism will learn the spirit of Mahayana Bodhisattva, the spirit of Buddhism, and the spirit of ancestors of all generations, find a place to settle down in the dust, understand the mind and see the nature of life and death, and then do Buddhist affairs on the shore of life and death to save sentient beings.