Can you live forever

Chapter 292 Mahayana Hinayana, Steel Giant Vehicle

Before meeting Fa Hai, Zhang Zhixiang was not interested in Buddhism, and he basically did not study it, because there are differences in the fundamental concepts of Buddhism and Taoism. Taoism, especially Jindan Dao, emphasizes the dual cultivation of life and soul, while Buddhism emphasizes sacrificing one's life to cultivate one's nature.

Under the condition that dual cultivation of life and soul is the right way, it is inevitable to feel that the way of Buddhism is incomplete.

But when Fa Hai told him that what Buddhism sees is the sorrow of the world, and what Taoism sees is the joy of the world, Zhang Zhixiang suddenly realized that the two are not contradictory, but have different goals.

In this way, Zhang Zhixiang began to devote himself to reading Buddhist classics to understand Buddhism.

And after reading the Buddhist teachings, I found that... the theoretical system of the Buddhist school is extremely rigorous.

The foundation of all Buddhism is "dependent origin and emptiness", and there are three Dharma seals to verify the authenticity of all Buddhist teachings. The four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind are the Buddhist worldview. Truth is also the essence of Buddhist practice, and there are three rounds of sequential practice regarding the Four Truths...

Zhang Zhixiang is not a disciple of Buddhism, so naturally he doesn't care about Mahayana and Hinayana, and he has no views on Buddhist rules and sects.

Although Buddhists have always said that Mahayana Buddhism and Hinayana Buddhism are just two schools and not a progressive relationship, after Zhang Zhixiang carefully read Buddhism, he felt that it was a progressive relationship.

Why?

It is still the matter of the Buddha's death. When the Buddha passed away, he will save all those who should be saved. He realizes that his fate has been exhausted before he enters his death.

The Hinayana Buddhism adheres to this concept and believes that only "responsible ones" can become Buddhas, so they maintain the "original teaching" and pay attention to following the teachings of the Buddha, practicing step by step, and enlightenment.

You have practiced for many lifetimes and lived in the world, how can you say that practice is a personal matter and has nothing to do with others?
Since you have been touched by karma, how can you not pay it back?
The Hinayana Buddhism only cultivates the "Sravaka Vehicle" and "Fate Enlightenment Vehicle", but it owes the cause and effect. This requires the "Bodhisattva Vehicle" to repay it. It needs to develop Bodhicitta, so as to drive it to become a Buddha first, and then become a Buddha...

The reason is still the same.

Mahayana Buddhism has seen the defects of Hinayana Buddhism, so it has developed, but how to develop, Mahayana Buddhism only gave directions, saying that we should develop Bodhicitta and help sentient beings become Buddhas, but how can sentient beings become Buddhas?
The Buddha didn't say this, because after the Buddha passed away, Mahayana Buddhism began to divide, and it was divided into the Dazhong Department and Theravada Department, that is, Mahayana and Hinayana.

The things that the Buddha did not say, have not been able to find a solution since Buddhism was spread to China for thousands of years.

Therefore, there will be a phenomenon of "Buddha sect" in Mahayana Buddhism, which leads to the movement of exterminating Buddhism among the three martial arts and one sect. Buddhists seldom think about the reasons for these things, and even if they think about it, they still have prejudices.

But Zhang Zhixiang saw it clearly.

Because the way out of Mahayana Buddhism is not something that Buddhism can solve by itself. This is the category of Confucianism, and it also needs the participation of Taoism...

What Buddhism is good at is solving the relationship between "people and self", while Mahayana Buddhism wants to save all living beings, which is obviously the relationship between "people and people". Confucianism is good at this.

But can Confucianism answer this question?

The "Tao Te Ching" has a saying: Lose morality and then benevolence, lose benevolence and then benevolence, lose benevolence and then be righteous, lose righteousness and benevolence.

Confucianism's handling of the relationship between people is after the "lost morality". First, morality is the first line of defense to guard people's hearts. When righteousness fails, all that remains is courtesy.

Therefore, the context of Confucianism is that Confucius said to achieve benevolence, and Mencius said to obtain righteousness. After benevolence and righteousness gradually disappeared, etiquette was the main thing.

Therefore, today's Confucianism cannot solve this problem.

Confucianism can't solve it, not only because of the "weakness" of Confucianism, but also because even if the relationship between "people" is the main body, people are always between heaven and earth, and people are always related to themselves.

Therefore, it is still necessary to combine the three teachings to answer this question.

It's a matter of... civilization.

Naturally, monks of this era cannot answer such questions, even Yao Guangxiao, because Master Yao has never seen the decline. The place is bleak and lacks evidence, so Zhang Zhixiang is not as clear about the future of civilization as he is.

and so.

The Dharma that Zhang Zhixiang wants to teach is beyond the cognition of Mahayana Buddhism today...

"There are three vehicles in Buddhism: the Vehicle of Shravakas, the Vehicle of Enlightenment, and the Vehicle of Bodhisattvas."

"The Shravakayana talks about the Four Noble Truths of the Origin of Suffering and the End of the Way, the Path of Enlightenment talks about the Twelve Causes and Conditions, and the Bodhisattva's Way talks about the Bodhicitta. In fact, it is a progressive relationship, which can be called the Three Turns and the Four Noble Truths. After all, it is still about the origin of suffering and the way of extinction. "

"What is the explanation of the Four Noble Truths?"

"Suffering is birth, old age, sickness and death, etc., collection is the cause of suffering, extinction is the elimination of delusion karma and leaving the suffering of birth and death, and the way is the right way to completely liberate and realize the state of Nirvana."

"Suffering is the result, gathering is the cause; cessation is the effect, and Tao is the cause."

"The so-called Buddhist practice is nothing more than understanding the cause and effect of suffering, and then cultivating one's own mind to eliminate suffering, go to the bliss, go to the other shore, and attain Nirvana."

"Yes."

"Everything is suffering, everything is to relieve suffering."

"What is suffering?"

"Buddhism talks about suffering, generally there are eight sufferings and twelve sufferings."

"The eight sufferings are birth, old age, sickness, death, not getting what you want, parting from love, meeting with hatred, and the flaming of the five skandhas."

"Birth, old age, sickness and death are the sufferings of nature. It is suffering not to get what you want. It is suffering to leave the one you love. It is suffering to meet the one you hate. The five skandhas are the five aggregates. , Seeking stimulation and satisfaction is also a kind of suffering.”

"These are the eight sufferings of life. If you add the four sufferings of sorrow, lamentation, sorrow, and distress, you will get the twelve sufferings."

"These twelve sufferings will occur, in the final analysis, our life. A person lives a lifetime, and there are three sentences-born inexplicably, living helplessly, and dying without knowing why."

"Everyone is like this. I was born inexplicably, I don't know how or why I was born. To live? To live helplessly. You pursue this, you pursue that, and what you often say is to pursue happiness and happiness. It can be seen that you all live I am not happy or happy. I am unwilling to die, and living is very painful, so I just live like this. When I finally die, I don’t know why and go away, that’s all. That’s why the Buddha said that everything is suffering.”

"When you can't see through the appearance of all things, can't penetrate the appearance, and realize the impermanence of all things, you can only suffer."

"But you know that all things are impermanent, and you know that all suffering is due to physical desires, but can you control it? If you want to lose weight, you know that eating too much is not good, but you are just hungry and can't control yourself. You want to eat Things, at this time, your thoughts and will are not yours, how can you still be you?"

"If you don't get enlightened, you are me and you are not me, that is, all dharmas have no self."

"All conditioned dharmas do not have you, and all non-conditioned dharmas do not have the concept of 'existence', let alone you, and you are truly gone. But all dharmas have no self, do you mean nothing?"

"Not really."

"The Three Dharma Seals are always the three axioms summed up by dependent origination and emptiness, and they need to conform to the concept of the wonderful existence of vacuum."

"When there is no action, there must be it, and when there is action, it must be empty. This is the reality of all dharmas. We eliminate birth, old age, sickness, death, not being able to ask, separation of love, association of resentment and hatred, and the five skandhas. Compassion, worry, and annoyance are the four kinds of suffering. For this purpose, we seek the cause of suffering and practice step by step, hoping to escape from the sea of ​​suffering.”

"But even if you succeed in cultivation, can you escape from the sea of ​​suffering?"

"Everything in the world is suffering, and the world is caused by the common karma of all beings, and all actions are impermanent. You just understand how you were born and why you die, but if you are alive, won't you be helpless?"

"Not really."

"Dependent origin is empty. Everything in the world is formed by chance. Even a grain of sand is closely related to the whole world. How can personal karma have an absolutely certain result?"

"People are in the world, all actions are impermanent."

"Since all actions are impermanent, the Hinayana cannot become a Buddha. Even the World Honored One has not yet become a Buddha. He is just waiting for us and all sentient beings! Ponds, lakes, and boats can be crossed, but what about the endless ocean?"

"Only a giant steel ship can ride the wind and waves!"

"There is no Buddha in the world, if there is a Buddha, all living beings are Buddhas!!"

(End of this chapter)