I once heard a mother sigh and say,' A woman like me, born in poverty and illiterate, is useless and boring to live in the world.' At that time, she had a boy who was less than ten years old. After hearing this, he seemed to feel a little scared and immediately said to his mother,' Mom, don't say such things. I need you very much. For me, you are the most important thing in the world! I can't live without my mother!' After listening to this, the mother realized that she plays a very important role in the child's mind, and she felt very comforted even though she was bitter, which is her determination of life values.
the outlook on life in the form of animal instinct
tells the son:' eating color is also.' In other words, diet, men and women are human instinct. Both civilized people and barbarians have their instinct for survival, that is, diet; Will also have the instinct to carry on the family line, that is, to have children. I long for my life to continue, and I can't live without food. At the same time, when I am physically mature, I am eager to get a spouse, so I have a husband and wife life. This is called human innate instinct, because it is very similar to other animals such as dogs, cats, mice and even fish. Therefore, if the purpose of human life stops here, it is the lowest level of outlook on life, which is the same as the instinct of ordinary animals.
Many people are at a loss about the purpose of life and think that life is a helpless regret. Since we have accepted life, we have to leave everything to fate and live quietly. Basically, this is still an animal instinct level outlook on life. Ordinary people often have these thoughts and are not easy to detect. Of course, no one likes to admit that he belongs to the level of this animal's instinctive form. However, I am often asked,' Amitabha, Master, why should I live and suffer in this world?' Why am I so bitter?' Teacher, how much debt does my predecessor owe? When will it be paid off?' Many people know that they are distressed, but they can't find out why they want to live, but they can't get rid of the burden of life. They can't live willingly and have to live helplessly.
Obsessed outlook on life
Many people mistakenly believe that life is to strive for endless satisfaction, so they have to fight blindly and be ignorant all their lives.
(1) Strive for self-security
Many people are eager for security because of their lack of security, so they use their savings, invest in real estate and buy stocks as security. I think that the more property I have, the more secure I am. For the sake of one's future, or the life of one's children and grandchildren, spend one's life, work hard, camp hard, and even die. However, it is doubtful whether tangible property and power can really bring the most reliable security for people.
in the Tang dynasty, a great poet, Bai Juyi, who lived in a satrap's official residence, went to visit Buddhist monk Daolin (called Buddhist monk Bird Nest) who lived in a tree in the middle of Mount Qin. When he saw the Zen master high in the tree, he shouted,' Be careful! Zen master's residence is too dangerous!' The Zen master did not care, but advised Bai Juyi to take care of himself, saying,' The danger of satrap is even greater than mine!' Bai Taishou was surprised. He was in a high position. He was a local governor and was protected everywhere. He didn't understand the Zen master's intention, so he asked the Zen master,' What's the danger?' The Zen master replied,' You should be careful. The four bodies, water, wind and fire, make trouble with you every day, wait at any time for birth, illness and death, be greedy and ignorant, and often oppose you. Isn't it dangerous?' After hearing this, Bai Juyi quite agreed with the Zen master, because as long as it is within the scope of impermanence of life and death, where does it come from?
(2) Strive for fame, profit, power, position and power
Whenever people are poor, they are extremely eager to get wealth. Once you have a rich family, you hope to get fame, and then you pursue the growth of power, power and social status. If you can reach the point where you are responsive and look to one side, you will think that this life is not wasted. However, the standard of desire is constantly improving, which is difficult to meet. Looking at one side and looking forward to looking at a country and even the world, the more you have, the more you are eager to get. So, all my life, I devoted myself to this endless pursuit and struggled hard, just to satisfy my insatiable desire.
(3) Fighting for vanity
Another worry of many people is that they often compete with others for height and length. Driven by competitive spirit, whenever my grades are inferior to others, I feel annoyed, constantly whipping myself and forcing myself to work hard, so that I am exhausted, in order to compete with others. Once you fail, you will feel sorry for yourself and feel miserable, and you will be trapped in your own troubles all your life. When you win, you are arrogant; After the failure, blame others. Regardless of success or failure, you are rolling in trouble.
Some people, in order to satisfy their vanity, look forward to others' respect. Although their income is not very rich, they do not hesitate to spend a lot of money on brand-name clothes, expensive cars and expensive jewelry to show off. There are also some people who are too rich to win or lose, and they are still trying to save face when they are clearly in trouble. This is called punching their faces to pretend to be fat, so why bother!
(4) Like a stupid dog
To sum up, all of the above are obsessed with life. In fact, many people are trapped in this level, and they can't even know how to save themselves. The situation is just like a stupid dog spinning around a thick trunk like a diameter ruler. He found a dog's tail on the other side of the tree, which was originally his own, but he mistakenly thought it was a wild dog, so he kept chasing it, thinking that he had to catch it, but he was pitifully exhausted. What's more, he didn't know why he was so exhausted!
a wise man's outlook on life
a wise man refers to a person with principles, goals and ideals. For example, great artists, scientists, politicians, philosophers and religionists.
(1) the artist's outlook on life
An artist puts his life into a beautiful time and space, which not only beautifies himself, but also beautifies the environment and the world. From the inner experience to the improvement and change of the environment, the inside and outside are integrated. They realized that the whole universe is nothing more than a complete and perfect artistic creation. In the process of creation, artists often go to great pains and hardships. Whenever a work is finished, or when appreciating a work of art, I am completely immersed in an almost perfect state, and I am very intoxicated. However, because they still can't leave the troubles such as greed and anger, when they return to the real world, when they are confronted with personnel disputes and emotional entanglement, their hearts will immediately become combined with ugly troubles, and it is often difficult to accept real life or even get along with others.
In Taiwan Province, there was once a master with outstanding martial arts and painting skills, but his family was not happy, his career was not smooth and his life was not happy. When he is practicing martial arts and painting, he can forget himself completely and immerse himself in the realm of tranquility, harmony and beauty, but he can't always practice martial arts and painting, so this experience is intermittent and not eternal, and it can't be used to rule out inner troubles. Therefore, in addition to artistic life, he will be accompanied by wine all day long until the end of his life. It can be seen that the world in the eyes of artists is beautiful, but it is illusory beauty.
(II) Scientists' outlook on life
Scientists devote their lives to the analysis and observation of all phenomena. It can be observed that the great universe is infinite, and at the same time, it is also observed that the minimal mass and quantity are infinite. This kind of wholeness with nothing inside and nothing outside is the existence of the whole.
The scientist's theory points out that our world is a material world, which is as big as the universe, boundless and infinite. Looking down upon it, the subtle quality and energy are almost non-existent and infinite. The life of the whole earth is formed by the infinite combination of all these. It is very close to the theory of "all laws are empty" and "color is empty" in Buddhism, but it is still not enough to represent the truth of the world as seen by Buddhism. Because, if we look at it from a scientific point of view, we still can't explain why human beings are born into this material world and where they will go after death, and we can't completely explain the incredible cause and effect and the incredible karma. Therefore, it is easier for many scientists to accept Buddhism and get close to it when they come into contact with it.
(III) Politicians' Outlook on Life
A great politician can devote his time, property and even his own life to saving the country and the people. In order to realize political ideas, you can devote your life wholeheartedly. They don't think about personal safety, but only about the happiness of the people. They have been able to put aside their selfish ego and serve the whole people. However, the different political ideas are political enemies, which often spell either you die or I live. Therefore, political ideals are always far from the real world.
(4) Philosophers' outlook on life
Philosophers take life as their roots in the ideas they invented and adhered to. The idea is to prove its rationality and credibility through logical thinking. Philosophers' discoveries, such as monotheism, idealism, materialism, humanism, existentialism and phenomenology, and now there are post-modernism theories, all of which can be combined with philosophers' own lives. In other words, their philosophy is their outlook on life and the world.
They live for their own ideas, and their lives are meaningful because of their philosophical ideas. Once their lives disappear, their ideas can still remain in the world and continue to push forward, which is equivalent to their lives and entering the immortality of the universe.
However, since ancient times, great philosophers have enriched the value of human life, but due to the test of time, their theories have been constantly improved and even denied each other, so that they have gradually evolved into only historical philosophical terms.
(5) Religious people's outlook on life
Religious people welcome the eternal and omnipotent God with their life, and combine it with their faith in God. Life comes from God's gift, and they should obey God's will and arrangement, expect God's favor and ascend to heaven, and live with God forever. God is the creator, and man is a creation, starting from God and returning to God. Man and God are not only one with each other, but also separate from each other. It is always incomplete in the world, and only by returning to heaven can it be perfect and eternal. This makes up for the shortcomings of artists, scientists, politicians, philosophers and other life views. Monotheistic religionists believe that although people are with God, they should each have their own eternal independent personality, otherwise they will inevitably lose the individual value of life and the emptiness of their own position.
Because of this, great artists, scientists and politicians tend to accept religious beliefs. Great philosophers, besides materialists, tend to have religious beliefs. Even if they don't believe in a god with a specific personality, they will believe in pantheism.
A down-to-earth outlook on life
A down-to-earth outlook on life can also be said to be a Zen outlook on life. This should start with self-affirmation, then improve yourself and reach self-melting.
(1) Affirming ourselves
This shows that our life must have a certain purpose, significance and value. That is, self-confidence, self-knowledge and self-affirmation. What is life? What is the use of life? Many people have the same question: Why do you want to come to this world? Why do things go wrong in life? In fact, if we can admit that we have come not only to be rewarded, but also to fulfill our promise, we will find that life itself is the reason, which is rich in content and worth cherishing.
Being rewarded means that besides this life, we have had many life processes in the past. All kinds of sins and blessings accumulated from the infinite past come to this life, then continue, and then come to life and the next life. Compared with many past lives, what we did in this life is very limited. Similarly, what we have received and encountered is extremely limited. In the present life, I have accepted the retribution and blessings brought by the past, and at the same time I have created many bad karma and good karma, and I am ready to continue to be rewarded.
when we know that this life is due to the accumulation of many past results, we can explain why what we have given and received in this short life is not necessarily commensurate, equal and balanced. Some people, although they don't make much effort, can be rich and prosperous. On the contrary, some people, despite their constant efforts, diligence, kindness and intelligence, are ill-fated, have a rough life and even have a poor life. Because, the reward of this life, whether good or bad, is to do the task of recovery and compensation for all its actions since many generations ago, some of which are for you to repay others' debts, and some are for others to repay you.
When I was a child, I had a question in my heart:' Why am I the only one born sick among many brothers and sisters? Is mom unfair or is there another reason?' After studying Buddhism, I know that I brought it all by myself. When I went back to Chinese mainland to visit relatives and reunite with my family in 1988, my third brother envied me and thought I was the most blessed and amazing one in the whole family. Later, I told him about my life: I drink boiled water every day and eat only green vegetables and tofu; I can only sleep for four or five hours every day. I have no holidays, and even when I am sick, I have to work sick. I don't have private money, and even I didn't have a bed in America. Third brother felt that he was more blessed than me. Because I believe that I owe a lot to all beings in the infinite world, and it is also a great blessing to repay them in time when I am able to repay them forcefully.
In one's life, people will always make a number of wishes and promises for a certain thing or to some people, and some of them are those without a specific object. I don't know how many similar promises have been made since the beginning of life. Therefore, life is alive, not only to be rewarded, but also to fulfill one's wishes. Being rewarded is to fulfill one's responsibility, and wishing is to fulfill one's promise. Paying debts is painful, and wishing is willing; Debt repayment is passively persecuted, and it is willing to be active and generous. Someone takes advantage of you everywhere and haunts you all the time, so you can think through the Buddhist concept, and it is best to make a wish, and then make a debt repayment; To wish is to keep promises and keep promises, and to pay debts is to be responsible and conscientious. Those who are sad and willing to help all beings are bodhisattvas, and those who bear the burden of repaying their debts are virtuous sages. If you can think like this, you will not feel sorry for yourself when you encounter adversity.
(2) Self-improvement
This is to teach us how to upgrade from an ordinary person to a sage and a bodhisattva. In the process of promotion, we should first put aside our self-interest and mention the interests of all beings. Ordinary people often suffer when they are unwilling to suffer. If we can take the bodhisattva's heart as an example, or learn to practice Bodhisattva's Tao by ourselves, we will know that Bodhisattva will make infinite efforts for all beings without persistent feedback; For the benefit of all beings, Bodhisattva doesn't care why she suffers, nor why she suffers. I will pay my time and money endlessly, even my precious life. This is Pu.