Before I really started studying philosophy, neither the western philosophy represented by Socrates nor the oriental Buddhism of Sakyamuni understood or seriously thought about such a question:

Are you a fool or an ordinary person?

If you don't know that these questions are related to the philosophy of life, you may be depressed or even furious if someone asks you such questions. Isn't this a provocation and an insult?

I didn't react until I felt something one day. This should not only be a frequently asked question, but also a question I often ask myself. Moreover, the answer is yes in most cases, without too much scrutiny! If you think you are not a fool, or others overreact, it may explain the problem.

One? Socrates' "ignorance"

Socrates famously said, "I know I don't know."

When Socrates was in his thirties, his friend Keller von prayed to Delphi with such a question: Is there anyone smarter than Socrates? The Oracle gave the answer: no one is smarter than Socrates.

Socrates was confused by the Oracle. How do facts prove that the conclusion of the Oracle is wrong? Socrates thought for a long time and came up with the simplest and most logical method. As long as you find someone smarter than yourself, the Oracle will naturally make mistakes. So, he chose a wise man recognized by the world to visit him and have a targeted conversation with him.

As a result, although many people think that the wise man is smart, even he himself thinks that he is smarter than everyone thinks; However, Socrates finally found that wise men are really smart in some aspects, but not in others. When asked about his unintelligent aspects, the wise man was not only unwilling to admit it, but also angry and even infected others. Even the people who watched this conversation were angry at Socrates' questioning.

Soon, Socrates followed suit and visited another famous wise man. The process and result of this experience are exactly the same as before. The wise man hates him, and his fans hate him as much as before.

Therefore, Socrates reached a preliminary conclusion: compared with the two wise men, three people didn't know and grasp the really beautiful and really beautiful things, but unlike them, they thought they knew what they didn't know, but they neither knew nor thought they knew.

The latter conclusion is crucial.

Because of this, Socrates thought that his intelligence was slightly ahead of the two wise men, so he could not prove the error of the Oracle on this issue.

This mr. socrates was born in 470 BC and died in 399 BC. Every time I open this page, I am often in a daze in the face of such old characters and situations. People and things 2300 or 400 years ago are unfamiliar and familiar, so I can't help asking myself: among Socrates, the wise man and the bystander, which one will be me?

From here, I can see how necessary and crucial Socrates' call is-"Man, know yourself!"

Two? Sakyamuni Buddha's "Have Me"

In the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha said, "Bodhi, where there is me, there must be me. And ordinary people think I still exist. Xu Bodhi, an ordinary person, is neither an ordinary person nor a famous ordinary person. "

Huineng, the sixth ancestor, used sixteen words when interpreting the above scripture: "If the heart can, it is an ordinary person; Weak heart, that is, very human. "

Descendants of native buddhas believe that the essential difference between "having me" and "having no me" is not in form, while the Buddha's "having me" is "self-pure and always happy", while the ordinary man's "having me" is greedy, angry, stupid, slow and suspicious-"ignorant and illusory me".

Interpret the "ability" pointed out by the six ancestors with daily truth: these two words describe an ordinary life mentality and posture-always feel that they are doing one thing, superior, and always feel that they can do anything.

In Buddhist scriptures, contrary to the concept of "what can be done" by ordinary people, Buddha is self-denial, not a god above the public. For example, the Buddha gave himself a firm and clear negative when answering the question of Xubodhi-

"White Buddha said: Buddha, Buddha got three bodhis, what is this?

Buddha's Word: If so, Xu Bodhi, I have three benefits and three Bodhi in Aunt Doro, and even I can't get it. My name is Aunt Dorothy, with three advantages and three bodhis. "

The "Aunt Dorothy, Three Happiness and Three Bodhi" that the master and the apprentice asked and answered in the dialogue of the Diamond Sutra is a Sanskrit transliteration, which means supreme enlightenment and refers to the highest realm, omniscient and absolutely correct understanding. In the basic teachings of the Buddha, you don't admit that you have something that doesn't exist in this world.

Every time I read this chapter, other scenes will often be reflected in my mind. In the clouds, good men and women prostrate themselves in front of the Buddha statue and worship it. Isn't this the biggest disrespect for Buddha?

Did the Buddha's faith create such foolish scenes and believers? It seems that there is a great risk of reading the same book wrong. Once you read it wrong, you are no different from a fool. We should always remind ourselves, remind ourselves, and often ask ourselves, have you read the Bible correctly?

Three? The way of awakening and liberation

There seems to be some truth in a famous saying, "Before God, everyone is guilty; According to the Buddhist scriptures, everyone is sick. "

To say the least, if you don't believe in God and are not a Buddhist, are you neither guilty nor sick?

I'm afraid not.

Socrates' famous saying "I know I don't know" also revolves around his core belief. He believes that human beings have a common problem, that is, they cannot recognize their own "ignorance." This kind of "ignorance" is especially reflected in the excessive concern and one-sided pursuit of things outside the body. Socrates found that human beings are generally sleepy and insensitive to self-awareness, so Socrates took the initiative to assume a role and called himself "the gadfly". Based on this, each of us may be stung by him.

Socrates, like a good doctor of mankind, pointed out sharply that "real man" is not a body, but a soul. Therefore, the problem of human beings lies in the soul, not in the body. In Socrates' sense, "looking for one's own well-being" means looking for the well-being of the soul.

In today's view, some ideas put forward by Socrates more than 23,000 years ago or more than 400 years ago are still irresistible, and it is inevitable that some people criticize him for singing high-profile.

He said: "Everything I do is to advise all of you, old and young, not only to pay attention to your body and property, but to pay attention to the maximum sublimation of your soul first." I want to tell you that virtue comes not from money but from virtue. Money and other people's welfare, whether public or private, all come from virtue. This is what I taught. "

In contrast, Buddha Sakyamuni (about 560 BC-480 BC), who was about 100 years earlier than Socrates, often used some extremely exaggerated metaphors and contrasts in his teaching and learning, and pointed out the only way to pursue Fu.

The Buddha said, "Bodhi, if all the kings of Mount Sumi were 3 billion billion billion billion billion billion years ago-

What Buddha means is that there are two kinds of blessings in the world. One is to support the Buddhists with seven treasures (a variety of rare treasures recognized by Buddhists) equal to the number of all the kings of Mount Sumi in the third millennium. The other is to read the Diamond Sutra and the Four Sentences Sutra and publicize them widely. In contrast, the latter is more than tsumoru times that of the former, and it has exhausted everything.

The Buddha also means that the world should pay attention to inner practice under the guidance of Prajna Paramita (the great wisdom to reach the other side of life) instead of clinging to reality and external merits, that is, get rid of the inner persistence of "I" and the external interference of "Fa", and the concretization of "I" will easily evolve into greed, anger and resentment. "Fa"-is all the representatives of color, sound, fragrance, taste, touch and law (the former "Fa" represents all the objective world; The latter method refers to the character of things.

Conclusion? Lessons from April Fool's Day

I first learned that April Fool's Day was in my freshman year. Although nearly forty years have passed, what happened that day is still unforgettable.

That day, in the public service advertisement column, a lecture notice appeared. The content is that a lecture on a dream of red mansions will be held in the largest public classroom in the school. The speaker was Professor Xue Pan, a famous redology expert in a university, and the time was just after dinner that day. Anyone who has read or understood A Dream of Red Mansions will basically think that it is an April Fool's joke. Surprisingly, many teachers and students didn't think much about meeting at the designated place on time and waiting for the class, which caused quite a negative event. Later, this mischievous classmate was quickly discovered, severely punished and deleted from the list.

At that time, I was a freshman in Chinese Department, so I didn't go to class, and I wasn't fooled by him, but I didn't understand the subsequent handling of things. I feel that the school doesn't understand humor and handles it too heavily.

Now I reflect on this old incident that happened on April Fool's Day. I feel that the protagonist in the incident, the classmate who caused trouble, did not accurately locate and evaluate the nature and relationship between himself and the environment. The university I attended was famous for its paramilitary management, but this smart-ass classmate joked about strict regulations.

It is true that as a young man, anyone can make mistakes, but some rules on the road of life cannot be easily broken. Once you make such a mistake that affects the trajectory of your life, the cost of correction and adjustment will be great. I still think of that classmate occasionally, especially on April Fool's Day. This lesson is extremely painful for young people, especially for himself.

It is worth pondering that at first everyone was fooled by him, but who was the fool? This seems to be a simple example that is not too big, but it can realize a lot of life truths, which is of course closely related to the thinking of this article. Confucius once said, "Learning is lacking in pleasure." It seems to reveal the original problem of the accident directly.

Furthermore, from the teachings of Socrates and Sakyamuni, we can still find the source of this person and this matter and the answer to rescue and remedy.

Socrates said, "You should control yourself".

Buddha said, "Looking back is the shore."

There are two kinds of landscapes in people's subjective intellectual activities, one is called great wisdom, and the other is called small cleverness. The former can lead life to the smooth road, while the latter makes people fall easily. That's the so-called cleverness that is mistaken for cleverness.

An ordinary person is determined to become a truly intelligent person. Sages and philosophers like Socrates, Sakyamuni and Confucius are probably unattainable heights and dreams. However, according to their teaching, we can still practice hard by taking the golden mean, reflecting on life and doing good deeds.

Tito of Normal University was written on March 3, 19651day (the day before April Fool's Day).