The ancients created the word "good and evil" for no other purpose. Its sole purpose is to classify our bodies and mouths (that is, behavior, language and thoughts). Because it is the fundamental desire of all beings to get happiness from suffering, our ancestors paid special attention to this matter. Through observation and analysis, wise people find that the pain and happiness a person feels come from his body and mouth, not anything else.
For example, Xunzi's "Encouraging Learning" said: "When things start, they will start; When honor or disgrace comes, it will be like virtue. If you neglect and forget your body, disaster is a disaster. Strong self-restraint, soft self-restraint, evil in the body, resentment. As soon as the salary is paid, the fire will dry up; If the ground is flat, the water will be wet; Vegetation is born, birds and animals are numerous, and things are human beings. Therefore, Zhang and the bow and arrow are the quality of Yan, Lin Maofu is heavy, the trees are shaded by birds, and they are sour and sour. Therefore, there is trouble in words and humiliation in deeds, and a gentleman is cautious about what he stands for! " It means that the rise of a thing must have its beginning; Similarly, the arrival of a person's honor, disgrace, bitterness and joy can of course be seen from this person's body and mouth. Rotten meat will produce maggots, and dead fish will produce moths. If you are lazy and arrogant and don't control your body and mouth, disaster will happen. Hard things will be used as pillars, and soft things will be used to tie things. Similarly, if you have evil and filthy habits in your own continuation, it will certainly attract people's resentment against you. For firewood piled together, the fire always burns dry first; For seemingly flat land, water always flows to low-lying areas; There are many trees and grasses where birds and animals will live. This shows that everything in the world has its inherent law of development. Therefore, after the target is erected, there will be bows and arrows, after the trees grow luxuriantly, the axe will come to cut them down, after the trees become shady, the birds will come to roost, and after the vinegar goes bad, insects will be born. Similarly, improper speech will bring disaster, and careless behavior will bring shame, so a gentleman has always been very cautious about his body and mouth choice! It can be seen that the ancients have keenly observed that joys and sorrows all originate from their own mouths. In fact, Buddha Sakyamuni, the great awakened Buddha, has observed with his wise eyes that all the pain and happiness in the world depend only on his past body and mind.
Since some bodies and mouths will lead to happiness for themselves and others, and some bodies and mouths will lead to pain for themselves and others, in order to realize the demand for happiness from pain, people naturally need to classify all kinds of bodies and mouths and identify their consequences. Therefore, people call those body and mouth meanings that will lead to his happiness now and in the future "good" and those that will lead to his pain now and in the future "evil". So "good and evil" is the classification of a person's mouth and heart, based on the different consequences of pain and happiness caused by body and mouth. In order to accurately understand the definition of "good and evil", we need to grasp the extension and connotation of "good and evil"
Extension refers to the object to which a concept (vocabulary) is applied. For example, the concepts of men and women can only be used for people, not for other animals or objects other than people, so "people" is the extension of these two words. Similarly, the extension of good and evil is a person's body and mouth, not any other existence except body and mouth. For example, if we say that a person is a good person, it must be that his body and mouth often bring happiness to others; Similarly, calling a person a villain must be that the person's body and mind often bring pain to others. So the word good and evil is applied to one person's body and mouth, not to others. For example, good behavior is called "goodness, goodness", good language is called "goodness, goodness", and good mind is called "goodness, goodness".
When people use the word "good and evil", another phenomenon is to expand its extension, that is, to expand the concept of good and evil to the help of good and evil. For example, in order to release or help the poor, people donate money called "charity"; On the contrary, money embezzled by corrupt officials driven by nausea is called "stolen money" (another way of saying bad money). Knife is used by good people to do good, people will think it is also good, used to do evil, people will think it is also evil. In fact, the knife itself doesn't care about good and evil. It is only driven by different bodies and mouths that it has the name of good and evil. It is said that in Yuefei Temple, people made an iron statue of the traitor Qin Gui, knelt in front of Yuefei's statue and wrote a couplet saying, "Castle Peak is fortunate to bury loyal bones, but white iron casts traitors innocent." Castle peak and white iron were originally indistinguishable from good and evil, but they were also given the name of good and evil when they were used as the help of good and evil.
The so-called connotation refers to the nature or characteristics of the object referred to in the concept within the extension scope. For example, among people, those who are masculine are called men and those who are feminine are called women. Similarly, the connotation of good can lead to his happiness now and in the future, and the connotation of evil can lead to his pain now and in the future. Therefore, in body, mouth and heart, those who enjoy themselves are called good, and those who suffer from themselves are called evil.
"Tai Shang Induction" said: "There is no door to disaster and happiness, and people call it themselves; The report of good and evil goes hand in hand. " This sentence reveals the extension and connotation of good and evil. "It never rains but it pours, and people are ready to come out" means that the cause of misfortune and happiness is not the external environment outside their own mouths, but is determined by their own mouths, which reveals the extension of good and evil; "The report of good and evil goes with you" means that a good body will lead to happiness, and an evil body will lead to pain, just like a shadow follows your body. This sentence reveals the connotation of good and evil.
There are many synonyms for good and evil. For example, "good or bad, good or bad" is another way of saying good or evil. If a person can bring happiness to others, he will be called a good person. If you bring pain to others, you are called a villain; When we say that a person "doesn't know good and evil", it also means that he can't distinguish between good and evil in body, mouth and heart, so he can't make a reasonable choice. For another example, "merit" and "sin" are another set of synonyms for good and evil. Whether something has merit or not depends entirely on whether it can bring happiness to its present and future; One thing is innocent, depending on whether it can bring pain to his present and future. For another example, "happiness cause" and "pain cause" are another set of synonyms for good and evil, because good is the only cause of happiness and evil is the only cause of pain. In the four infinite minds, he said, "May all sentient beings be happy forever, and may all sentient beings be free from all kinds of sufferings forever." Among them, "pleasure cause" and "pain cause" refer to the body and mind of good and evil. For another example, "advantages" and "disadvantages" are another set of synonyms for good and evil, because advantages will lead to his happiness now and in the future, and disadvantages will lead to his pain now and in the future.
Therefore, anyone who doubts the judgment that "good is rewarded with good and evil with evil" must be a person who lacks understanding of the definition of good and evil, because "good is rewarded with good and evil with evil" is the definition of these two words. If you deny this sentence, it is equivalent to denying the definition of these two words, so these two words are not necessary at all. Therefore, anyone who uses the words "good" and "evil" must acknowledge their definitions-good is the body and mind that leads to self-happiness, and evil is the body and mind that leads to self-pain. In other words, "good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil."
What is the key to happiness from suffering? Is to distinguish which body is good and which body is evil. Suspicion that "good is rewarded with good, evil with evil" is just a fool's self-disturbance. If we think that a "good" thing has brought us pain, it can only show that our original judgment of good and evil about this matter is wrong; If something we think is "evil" brings happiness to our present and future, it means that our original understanding of good and evil about this matter is wrong.
Yu Jingyi, recorded in Yu Jingyi's Kitchen God, was a person who could not distinguish good from evil in his early years, but doubted that "good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil". In his youth, Yu Jingyi, although seemingly involved in explaining and cherishing words, advocated abstinence from lewdness and swearing, actually what he did was superficial, and his "sinister intentions" were deep in his heart, so he never got a good result. It was not until the kitchen god appeared and pointed out his mistakes that he suddenly realized that he could objectively judge the good and evil of his body, mouth and heart. He made up his mind to turn over a new leaf After three years of hard work, he finally changed his unfortunate fate.
Although the world is pursuing happiness and doesn't want pain, it can't tell what is good and what is evil. They often mistakenly think that evil is good and that good is evil, so they often encounter all kinds of pain unexpectedly. Although they pursue happiness, happiness is getting farther and farther away. The root of this situation lies in the inability to distinguish between good and evil, or ignorance of good and evil. Therefore, it is the key to happiness to learn to accurately distinguish good from evil by learning Buddhism.
-Master.