Precepts, concentration, wisdom

Precepts: refrain from doing evil and practice good deeds.

Concentrate, eliminate inverted and delusional thoughts, and enter the state of Samadhi Zen.

Wisdom, study diligently, think diligently, and observe the truth.

In Buddhism, precepts, concentration, and wisdom have more specific requirements and practices. Buddhism is actually the law of the world, and Buddhism is also the method of living, a way for people to live better, live more clearly, and live more liberated. In order to relieve the suffering of life, old age, illness and death, the Buddha set out to practice hard and finally became enlightened. The method he tells us is of course a way to relieve people from pain.

Buddhism has many levels, and there are many different versions of it depending on everyone’s understanding and acceptance. People often say that everyone's karma and wisdom are different, and this is the truth. Those who are of the highest level can empty all appearances and become Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; those who are of the highest level can escape life and death, escape from reincarnation, and cultivate the body of an Arhat, and will never be in danger of falling; those who are of the middle level can cultivate diligently and have no distracting thoughts in their minds. The Sotapanna who enters the stream reaches the Anagami who never comes; those who are in the middle vehicle do many good deeds, have kind thoughts, cultivate blessings in human and heaven, live a peaceful, happy and long life, and so on.

There will always be people who don’t believe it, and will laugh at these claims, calling them feudal superstition. Then this person is just not old enough to believe it. If he does believe it in the future, he will still be blessed. In fact, we only need to experience it a little bit to understand. When you do a good thing every day, when you no longer resent others, no longer complain about the environment, and choose to forget the unpleasantness, you will suddenly feel relaxed, happy, and comfortable. This is actually a blessing. Therefore, Buddhism is also the Dharma of the mind, and all worries and depression arise from the mind. If you think you are still yourself and can still control yourself, why can't you eliminate negative things from your consciousness instead of allowing them to overflow?

In fact, it’s not that we don’t want to eliminate it, but that we can’t do it. Why? People have become so accustomed to it that they are unconscious and unable to get rid of it. We carry, hold, and wrap up all kinds of thoughts and desires every day, with countless tangled connections, and all thoughts and emotions are immersed in them. And this messy hybrid monster is what we often call it. self conscious. If one day you calm down and sort things out, sort them into categories. All foreign objects should be excluded. Because these things that come and go tomorrow and are outside the body cannot be truly owned; all outsiders should be excluded. Because in the vast sea of ??people passing by in a hurry, how many of them are destined to be there? When you get rid of the messy things, there will be less left, and your mind will immediately become clearer. What Buddhism wants to teach you is to find the wisdom of yourself. When you understand the true nature of yourself, you will be freed from many entanglements and will naturally achieve stability and ease.

On this journey of returning to yourself, precepts, concentration, and wisdom are the ways of practice pointed out to you by the Buddha. Although there are three aspects of practice, they all use one mind, a pure mind and a pure heart, that is, a mind that can reflect and pursue the truth. Without this motivation, if you are still soaking in the world, experiencing pain and happiness, and not thinking about why, you will not be able to cultivate.

Generally speaking, we should abstain from killing, stealing, sexual immorality, lying, and drinking. Many people don’t understand that they can’t eat meat, drink alcohol, or engage in sexual desires. Isn’t this suppressing human nature? So much enjoyment and happiness are gone, what benefit can there be from practicing Buddhism? This is because a pure mind has not arisen. In fact, the Buddha's precepts are to prevent ordinary disciples from not practicing concentration enough. If they do some things, their hard-earned cultivation will soon be ruined. More often than not, it would be better not to practice, but to break the precepts after practicing, leading to more evil behaviors. Anyway, the pot is broken. An example of this is when a smoker quits smoking. Buddha said that precepts are just patches on clothes. If there are no holes in the clothes, there is no need for patches. The problem is that most people are riddled with holes and only practice cultivation if they want to be perfect. For truly pure practitioners, it is rare to break the precepts, and even if they do, it is for necessary reasons. Because their pure psychology and behavior naturally guide them not to do those unrestrained things. To quit or not to quit, no special attention is needed, it will happen naturally.

Ordinary people, don’t say anything like, “Wine and meat pass through the intestines, and the Buddha’s heart remains.” Because you have not yet reached the state of “the Buddha’s heart.”

After drinking a little wine, I couldn't figure out who it was. Where could there be a place for Buddha? We must pay attention to quitting, so that we can get rid of some bad habits and behaviors. Even if you have a relatively high level of awareness, it does not mean that there are no traces of your previous bad behaviors and habits. At this time, precepts can help you regulate your behavior. When the habit becomes natural, there is a sufficient margin of safety, and it becomes stable, you can do well without stressing it out.

Concentration, in a narrow sense, is the practice of meditation, and in a broad sense, it is the practice of thinking. Buddhism is a study of the mind, and the core is to cultivate from the heart. What binds us most deeply and cannot be liberated is actually external appearances. For example, my child loves nothing more than his bicycle. How cool should it be, what kind of stickers should be used for decoration, rear rack and water cup holder, color should be royal blue, etc. Riding such a bicycle makes me feel extremely happy and satisfied, and keeps showing off to the children; but if there is any slight damage, I feel sad, angry, and annoyed. People are like this, imposing their emotions on objects or others, worrying about gains and losses, thinking it's me. If we exclude external things, what am I?

Buddha taught the Dharma for 49 years in his life, and wanted to guide his disciples to a state of true self. It doesn't matter what its name is, because it is a state that is difficult to reach with words. It is called "Tathagatagarbha" in the sutras. This can only be obtained by empirical evidence. What the Buddha said was the front side of the moon. What the Buddha could not tell was the back side of the moon. But what the Buddha wanted to give you was the entire moon. So how do you understand the far side of the moon? This depends on meditation. When I was in middle school, it was popular to look at a three-dimensional painting. I stared at a bunch of dense patterns. After a while, a three-dimensional pattern appeared in front of my eyes. This feeling is very amazing. Some people can see it, but some people have a hard time seeing it. You can use words to describe the skills of how to see, but the real skills must be understood by the viewer of the painting himself. The same is true for Buddhist scriptures.

I found that many sutras are incomprehensible without the foundation of meditation. Even if I know what is written, I don’t know what it is expressing. There are often repetitions of some verses in Buddhist scriptures, and many people don't understand why. That is actually a way of expression in a meditative state. Therefore, when Master Xuanzang was translating the scriptures, he resolutely reacted and simplified the repeated scriptures. Perhaps, he not only wanted to preserve the meaning of the sutra, but also wanted to preserve the samadhi meditation of the Buddha when he lectured on the sutra. Without meditation and without cultivating thinking, one can only learn a superficial way of learning Buddhism.

Wisdom, people often say, comes from concentration. But in fact, wisdom is not the result, wisdom is still practice. Wisdom arises from concentration, which refers to the growth of wisdom in a state of concentration. Concentration can eliminate delusions. When the mind is cleared, wisdom is to increase righteousness. Wisdom, to put it simply, means that if you learn without thinking, you will be in vain; if you think without learning, you will be in danger. However, when advancing to the realm of "single", we usually talk about "viewing" and "illuminating", which means that we do not use superficial thinking, such as language, text, sound, image, etc. as elements. Don't think this is very mysterious. In fact, you just need to get rid of some concrete ways of thinking and let them disappear automatically. What comes back is "observation" and "photography". That feeling is like not thinking about it, but everything is transparent. It'll get better with more practice, just like riding a bicycle. It's not a big deal, and don't think it is anything special. In short, you have to learn, think, and solve your own problems on your own. When you no longer tie your thoughts to external things, you will find that your worldview has changed. In the past, many of the things people understood were distorted, ridiculous, and lamentable sights seen through a distorted mirror. You can now see the real situation directly, and you are no longer affected by the unpredictable external changes, which are transparent and insensitive to you. This is the birth of wisdom.

But don’t think that once you achieve enlightenment, you will instantly become one with heaven and man, and you will be so awesome that you can look down upon the world. There are many koans in Zen Buddhism, which tell many examples of great enlightenment. People think it is magical and long for it. First of all, these people all have a deep foundation in spiritual practice and have polished it thoroughly. All they need is a layer of window paper that can be broken by a blow. Secondly, even if you have the chance and become enlightened, it is just the beginning. It only means that you are on the right path. How far you can go is still unknown. Enlightenment is a good start, but it cannot replace practice.

In short, if you uphold a pure heart and pursue the truth, and make unremitting progress on the path of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, the future gains will be beyond your imagination.

2021-06-26