How to get rid of worries, Buddhism website

Liberation means to relieve worries and get rid of constraints, thereby gaining physical and mental freedom. Liberation in Buddhism means getting rid of the shackles of troubles and karma and returning to freedom. The Sanskrit word for liberation is (vimoksa). The realm of liberation can be divided into Mahayana and Hinayana. The realms are slightly different. According to Hinayana Buddhism, one must achieve the first fruition, second fruition, third fruition, fourth fruition and other fruition stages. To be called liberation, and the four fruits are the ultimate and perfect fruit of Hinayana, we must cut off our thoughts and delusions, leave the three realms, and achieve the fruit of Arhat (Sanskrit arhat). According to the Mahayana, in order to achieve the realm of liberation from the first level to the Buddha's fruition, each level of liberation gradually deepens, and the Buddha's fruition is the ultimate position of Mahayana Buddhism. You must diligently Practicing the Six Perfections, practicing righteously with the true meaning of the Middle Way, breaking through the confusion of dust and the confusion of ignorance, and thus attaining the Buddha's path.

The Nirvana Sutra says: "Nirvana in Sanskrit is called liberation."

The name of liberation is also called the meaning of nirvana. To realize the realm of self-nature nirvana, there are four levels of nirvana mentioned in the Theory of Consciousness-only Theory. They are described as follows:

1. Remaining nirvana.

2. Remaining nirvana.

3. Nirvana without a place to live.

4. The original nature is pure and nirvana.

The principle of liberation is emptiness, and the purpose of liberation is selflessness. As for truly verifying the state of liberation, it cannot be achieved by just talking on paper and talking about principles. Because theory is one thing, and empirical evidence is another. Just like a history, although it records the conditions of things in ancient times, the historical record itself is by no means equal to the conditions of things in ancient times; another example is the term "America" , refers to the country of the United States, but the term "America" ??is by no means the country of the United States. Therefore, it is not difficult to talk about liberation, but it is very difficult to realize liberation. Therefore, even though most people talk about great principles eloquently, if their physical and mental behavior is just another appearance, this is just a theory selling knowledge without actual verification, experience or experience from practice. effect.

So, how should the Buddhist method of liberation be verified?

Buddhism calls the method of practicing the path of liberation "practice", and it also attaches absolute importance to practice. If you do not practice, you will not be able to realize the realm of liberation; if you do not realize the realm of liberation, you will eventually fall into the realm of life and death and cannot be independent in life and death; people who cannot be independent in life and death, even if they learn Buddhism, even if they become monks, even if they think they are right, If you follow the path of Bodhisattva, you are just sowing seeds of liberation, waiting for the future to mature. After all, your current identity is still an ordinary person. Since he is an ordinary person, he is not a true Bodhisattva. Although he practices the Bodhisattva path, he still belongs to human and heavenly deeds.

Therefore, Master Taixu said: "If you don't ascend to the ancestral position, you cannot truly promote the Mahayana." The so-called ancestral position is the six-root pure position, which is the candidate for the holy position of Bodhisattva who is about to enter the first level. It can be seen from this that if we Buddhists do not focus on practice and seek liberation, but just pick up some wisdom of ancient saints and sages in words and sentences as a capital to show off, it is not very meaningful.

There are countless ways to practice the path of liberation. For example, in the Avatamsaka Sutra, there are many Bodhisattvas, each with his own door to liberation. The two great Bodhisattvas Manjushri and Samantabhadra each have countless doors of liberation.

However, there is one biggest principle in practicing the path of liberation, which is the three major paths of "precepts, concentration, and wisdom". From these three major paths, you can enter liberation that is not bound by life and death. Realm, so it is called "Three Wu Leak Learning". Leakage is the worry about life and death, it is the leaky hole in the ship of liberation. Now, let us introduce the practice of the three no leaks.

(1) Practice the precepts

The definition of precepts is that you cannot do what you should not do, and you must do what should be done. To sum up, it is Kassapa Buddha's verse in Volume 1 of the "Zengyi Agama Sutra", which is also commonly known as the Seven Buddhas General Commandments verse: "Do not do any evil, practice all good, and purify your mind. This is all Buddhism." This is. In the past life, the seven Buddhas closest to the present have common precepts for their disciples. If we truly meet this requirement, we will be a standard pure Buddhist. In fact, this is easy for a three-year-old child to say, but it is not easy for an eighty-year-old man to do it appropriately. There are strict requirements in the simplicity. What ordinary person can completely achieve it?

Therefore, in the teachings of Lord Sakyamuni, the precepts are divided into levels: the ordinary five precepts and ten good deeds, the semi-ordinary eight precepts, the transcendent novice precepts and the full precepts, and the bodhisattva precepts for entering the world to save the world.

The content of these precepts is limited by the length of this article and cannot be widely introduced. If you are interested, you can read my book "Outline of Precepts".

Here, we can only introduce the popular Five Precepts and Ten Good Deeds. In fact, the Five Precepts and Ten Good Deeds are the basis of all precepts. If you can keep the five precepts and ten good deeds well, it will be easier to keep the other precepts. The so-called five precepts and ten good deeds, the five precepts are among the ten good deeds. If you understand the ten good deeds, you will also understand the five precepts. The content of the Ten Good Things is divided into three categories: 1. There are three types of physical karma: no killing, no stealing, and no sexual misconduct; 2. There are four types of verbal karma: no provoking, no harsh words, no lewd words, and no random talk; 3. There are three categories of mental karma: non-greed, non-anger, and non-wrong views. Completing the ten good deeds is called the purity of the three karmas. If the three behaviors of body, speech, and mind cannot be guided on the right track and cannot be kept pure, let alone practicing liberation, even a basic personality is defective. Therefore, the Buddhist practice method is based on observing the precepts as the basis of all methods. Don't be discouraged if you can't keep the precepts at first. As long as you persist and gradually become a habit, you will naturally become purified over time. If you are afraid of breaking the precepts and don't keep the precepts, or even oppose keeping the precepts, that won't work.

Among the ten good deeds, the mental karma category is accompanied by the precept of drinking alcohol, the previous two categories of body and speech, and the first four precepts of killing, stealing, sexual immorality, and delusion are the scope of the five precepts. Breaking the precepts is mainly based on completed behavioral facts, so breaking the precepts only with intention is not a serious crime. However, among the ten good deeds, mental karma has the strongest dominance. Therefore, the Buddhist spirit of keeping the precepts focuses on the inner intention and not on the chastity of the body. For example, if you are raped but do not enjoy sexual pleasure, it will not violate the precepts. Especially "wrong views", which are the main culprits of the Ten Good Deeds. The so-called wrong view means not believing in the cause and effect of good and evil. If a person does not believe in the cause and effect, he cannot learn Buddhism. If you don't believe in cause and effect, you may not necessarily be a bad person, you can even be a good person. However, the greatest evil person will definitely not believe in cause and effect. If you don't believe in cause and effect, you won't consider the issue of future karma. Although the issue of karma falls into the vulgar realm of utilitarianism, it does exist and has the effect of inhibiting evil and encouraging good deeds. Since the concept of karma is negated, the most evil can do whatever they want. Therefore, only those who firmly believe in cause and effect can keep the precepts pure and keep their minds stable.

Once the precepts are pure and the mind is stable, then we can talk about learning concentration. Master Taixu once said: "The precepts are the foundation of the Three Vehicles." If you believe in Buddhism and study Buddhism, if you take it lightly Keeping the precepts is not learning Buddhism. Even if you can meditate on gods and ghosts by chanting mantras and practicing meditation, it is just a heretic. (Please read my book "Outline of Precepts")

(2) Meditation

Concentration, that is, meditation. If precepts are to do good and avoid evil, concentration is the concentration of the mind. Photography, so the name of meditation is called jhana (quiet meditation or contemplation practice), also called samadhi (equal holding). In short, the state in which the mind is not distracted and stays in one place is meditation.

The practice of concentration can be said to be the universal requirement of all religions. If you want to get significant benefits from religion in both body and mind, practicing meditation is the best way. Various religious sects in India - Buddhism calls them heretics - all have experience in meditation. According to records in Buddhist scriptures, there are many heretics in India, and the highest state of concentration can reach the four voids of the formless realm. In China, Master Taixu said: "In Chinese books, only Lao Tzu has this state of mind." ("Introduction to Buddhism") Although Christians in the West do not have the method of meditation, they often use meditation in their prayers. Being able to have a mystical experience can be considered a type of meditation. Therefore, some people say that Buddhists cannot obtain the practical benefits of religion without meditation, or Christians without prayer. Although this may not be the absolute truth, it is not unreasonable either. This shows the importance of meditation to religious value.

Because of the role of meditation, on the negative side, it can suppress the unrestrained ego and self-desire; on the positive side, it can freely open up the world of our spiritual life. Since meditation is the concentration of the distracted mind, it can prevent the overflow of material desires and even eliminate desires and enter a state of desirelessness. The cultivation of meditation must also be a fact after freedom from desire. Therefore, among the three realms (desire, form, and colorlessness), the heaven of desire realm is the blessing rather than the heaven of meditation. The heaven of color realm after freedom from desire is the beginning of Zen heaven. . Therefore, if you want to realize selflessness, you must first be free from desire. If you want to be free from desire, it is best to practice concentration. Since meditation can renounce desire, the spiritual realm after renunciation is naturally a realm of freedom.

However, there are many realms of Zen. What is usually referred to is the ninth stage of concentration. It starts from the color boundary of the first, second, third, and fourth Zen, passes through the four emptiness concentration of the formless realm, and enters The concentration on the thought of cessation of feelings (also known as the concentration on cessation of cessation) is the realm of liberation and the realm of Arhat.

The outsiders only know how to cultivate concentration, but they don’t know that there is no self in the emptiness of nature. Therefore, even if they reach the eighth concentration, all matter and delusional thoughts are empty, and the word "I" is not empty yet, so they cannot escape from the life and death of the three realms. Waiting for their concentration Retreat, when you come out of concentration, you will go back to the whirlpool of life and death!

Practicing meditation is not a simple matter. If your knowledge and views are incorrect and mixed with delusions, for example, you must practice meditation in order to seek rebirth in the kingdom of heaven. , with the element of emotional belief, hating one thing and liking another, so his concentration can only make him reborn in heaven, and can only make him attached to concentration and happiness without any hope of liberation from life and death. This is not what Buddhism hopes for. What is usually called "possession" is another inferior category. It often regards illusions as miracles and realizations. Originally, two phenomena, illusion and concentration, may occur in concentration. However, illusions are different from samadhi. What arises from impure thoughts is illusion, which is most easily found in people with abnormal nervous systems. The illusions they saw were the same as the ones they imagined on a daily basis, but more fantastic. In fact, this was a reflection of their delusional thoughts. When you are not accustomed to concentration, your mind is too scattered, so it is not easy to notice. Once you calm down your mind a little, subtle delusions will take the opportunity to appear. This lack of reflection will lead you to think that it is a miracle. This is very dangerous. If you don’t get the correct guidance and correction, you can easily become a mentally disturbed patient, which is very unfortunate!

As for concentration, it is concentrating the mind. At one point, it spreads into one piece and expands into a ball. This concentrated undistracted mental power blends the external environment and becomes the internal environment of one's own mind. With the depth of concentration, one can expand and sense the mental power. The experience gained is the state of concentration. Supernatural power is the manifestation of concentration and the function of induction. However, the state of concentration does not allow distinction. It can only be experienced but cannot be described. Even if it is spoken, it will be different. Otherwise, it will be an illusion. If concentration has the effect of phenomena, it is already a magical power generated by concentration.

There are many ways to practice concentration. If we sum it up, it is nothing more than the practice and coordination of "Samatha-Vipassana". "Stop" refers to the settling, stability and stillness of the mind, and "viewing" refers to thinking based on the requirements of this stop. If you just stop and do not observe, you will be prone to withering and lethargy. If you just observe without stopping, you will be biased towards discrimination and become distracted. Therefore, we must advocate the "equalization of tranquility and observation" to produce the active use of Zen and enter the realm of concentration. .

In Chinese Zen forests, there is a famous saying: "Who is chanting Buddha's name?" It is usually regarded as the introductory skill of meditation. Of course, the practice of concentration must have meditation as the basis; but the acquisition of concentration does not necessarily rely entirely on meditation. Therefore, it is not called sitting meditation but called shenzen. The word "shen" is the skill of "viewing". To refer to "Who is chanting Buddha's name?" is to observe "Who is chanting Buddha's name?" Therefore, the place where Tiantai Sect practices is not called a Zen hall, but a Guanzong hall. This is the case in Guanzong Temple in Zhejiang.

Reciting Buddha's name is done with the heart, but whose heart is used? Of course when I recite Buddha's name, I recite it with my heart. The most important moment is the word "I". From the word "I", I can hit the nail on the head. He pokes the ground and asks: "Where am I?" My body and limbs are me? My internal organs are me? My breathing is me? My spirit is me? Look and see, where is my true body? In the end, it is elusive. Since "I" can no longer be found, the delusional mind becomes still. Once your mind is still, your body and mind will feel at ease, and you won't be too far away from the state of concentration. However, the general cessation of the mind does not necessarily mean entering concentration. If the time is not enough, once the scattered and discriminating mind stops, it will gradually enter a state of lethargy, which is not concentration but dryness and boredom. It must not be a lethargy, but it must be diligent and unremitting in maintaining a clear and clear state of mind. Therefore, after stopping, if you feel drowsiness coming, you should immediately start to meditate and think: "Who is reciting the Buddha's name?" If you continue in this way, as you become more proficient, you will naturally lead to concentration.

There is another koan: Master Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chinese Zen, taught Huiming meditation with this instruction: "Don't think about good, don't think about evil. When you are right, that is Ming. Your true face?" That is to say, when you are in a state of mind that neither thinks of good nor evil, that is the manifestation of your true nature. Let me ask: if we leave all thoughts about good and evil, wouldn’t we just be in a clear and empty state of concentration? That is also the manifestation of a state of selflessness. Therefore, Zen Buddhists also have a clear instruction for people to participate in Zen, which is to "participate without heart, mind, and consciousness." Without relying on the mind, mind, or identification, at this time, what else can exist in our mind? What about in the mind? These are all methods of enlightenment, methods that point straight down. Compared with the method of equalizing tranquility and insight, they are one level more direct and one level deeper. For ordinary people, in a short period of time, I'm afraid it won't be of much use.

Therefore, it is relatively safe to use the method of stopping and observing.

There are many other methods of meditation. According to the classification of Zongmi Zen masters in the Tang Dynasty, there are five levels of Zen: outsider Zen, ordinary Zen, Hinayana Zen, Mahayana Zen, and Tathagata Zen. They contain quite a lot of content and cannot be accommodated in the space of this article. Generally speaking, Chinese Zen Buddhism practices Tathagata Zen, which is a kind of meditation that brings the skills of concentration to life and integrates them into real life. Therefore, it is said in the scriptures that "the Tathagata is always in concentration, and there is nothing without time." Chinese Zen masters It is said that "when you are hungry, you eat, and when you are tired, you sleep", which are all manifestations of meditation. This makes Hinayana Zen, which is sitting in silence, all come alive. But this also has disadvantages, because although Tathagata Zen can be integrated with real life, it will not be useful unless it is a person with superior abilities. I would like to ask: How many people can achieve the "always in concentration" of the mind? Concentration is to absorb and relax the mind. It is concentration without being influenced by the external environment. Who can be like this? Seeing colors, smelling fragrances, hearing sounds, and even being touched. Wait, can you not be tempted? This is a very difficult cultivation skill. How can it be considered practicing Zen if you only verbally play a few Zen koans? Therefore, the safe way to practice meditation is to start with meditation and meditation.

Sitting in meditation is not the same as cultivating concentration. To practice concentration, it is best to ask someone who has already practiced meditation to teach it directly, otherwise it is easy to make mistakes. For example: contemplation of impurity, contemplation of compassion, contemplation of causes and conditions, contemplation of the aggregates and realms, and contemplation of counting breaths. These are the five meditations on the mind of the Hinayana, especially contemplation of impurity and contemplation of counting breaths, which receive the most attention. These concepts were learned under the guidance of teachers in places such as Thailand where it was spread to the south, and now in Europe and the United States. Learning from written books is unreliable.

However, those who practice concentration are best to start by sitting quietly. When sitting quietly, you must pay attention to the following things: first, you must have a quiet environment; second, you must have a calm state of mind; third, you must have a stable sitting posture. No matter you sit cross-legged on one leg, cross-legged or cross-legged, the main thing is to balance the center of gravity of the body and maintain a sitting posture that does not fall down. If the elderly cannot cross their legs, they can also hang their legs on the ground, but this is not sustainable. On the one hand, they will fall down, and on the other hand, adverse consequences will occur on the legs and feet due to the obstruction of blood circulation. Also, it is best to focus your eyes on a point two or three feet in front of your seat. Don't pay attention to it and don't give up on it. Otherwise, you will be distracted without falling into drowsiness. If your eyes feel uncomfortable, you can close them temporarily and then open them slightly.

If you don’t have the guidance of a skilled Zen master, you can practice the method of samatha and vipassanā mentioned above, but be careful: Never expect to obtain any miracles from the practice of concentration. If you have some distracting thoughts, something will definitely go wrong after practice. If there are no distracting thoughts but an illusion appears, then you must be alert, reflect back immediately, and observe where am I? When you can’t find me, the illusion will disappear naturally. Or just ignore all kinds of pleasant or terrifying illusions that are likely to appear. The so-called "not being surprised by strange things" will defeat the purpose of being strange. Don't think it's a miracle, and don't be afraid it's a demonic obstacle.

If some people are not used to sitting quietly, their minds are too scattered, their thoughts are too confused, and they cannot calm down, then they should practice other methods such as worshiping, reading, repenting, chanting the name of Buddha, etc. This is because they rely on Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Power, to support and guide our inherent self-power, select one door, or select several doors with a coherent nature. For example, those who practice Amitabha Pure Land should worship Amitabha Buddha statues, recite Pure Land sutras, recite Amitabha's holy name, and view the Western Paradise. All kinds of solemnities, this is the method of consistency. As long as you practice sincerely and persistently, you will gradually get better. Therefore, this is also a convenient method for cultivating concentration. This is a method of obtaining concentration from movement. For example, the method of reciting the Buddha's name in the "Amitabha Sutra" also seeks to achieve a single-mindedness, which is a type of concentration.

The most important things in practice are confidence, respect, determination, and perseverance; believe with all your heart, respect with piety, move forward courageously, and practice persistently. Don't be half-hearted, don't be eager for quick results, practice it regularly every day, practice it calmly, and you will definitely get results. Even if you practice for a long time without success, it is because your skills are impure, not because the Dharma is ineffective. Here, I would like to mention by the way: the current chanting in general monasteries often only focuses on the form of chanting and chanting, and ignores the practice of inner cultivation and edification, which really needs to be corrected.

(3) Cultivating wisdom

Hui means wisdom. The purpose of practicing Buddhism is to seek liberation. If you only practice precepts and concentration without practicing wisdom, you will still not be able to achieve liberation. The function of precepts is like medicine for treating diseases; the function of concentration is like medicine for tonic; the function of wisdom is like knowledge to guide life. After curing the disease and strengthening the body, one must have superhuman reason to accomplish great things. Therefore, the function of wisdom is greater than that of precepts and concentration.

As for the emergence of wisdom, it is also related to precepts and concentration. Usually precepts give birth to concentration, and concentration leads to wisdom. Wisdom then turns around to guide the observance of precepts and the practice of concentration. In this way, a spiral is formed. state and move towards the path of liberation. If you only cultivate precepts and concentration without cultivating wisdom, it is a blind practice that will not lead to liberation!

However, the growth of wisdom does not necessarily depend entirely on the nourishment of precepts and concentration. Therefore, the source of wisdom is usually considered Divided into four categories: hearing wisdom, thinking wisdom, cultivating wisdom, and realizing wisdom. The wisdom gained from listening to the Dharma (including reading) is called hearing wisdom; the insights obtained after thinking about it in one's mind is called thinking wisdom; and then one's own insights are put into practical practice, and what is gained from practice The experience is called cultivation of wisdom; if one can personally experience the true nature of this experience, it is the realization of wisdom. But I must point out here that among the four wisdoms, the other three wisdoms except hearing wisdom are all related to precepts and concentration, especially to meditation. Therefore, the realization of the path to liberation is simply impossible without the mutual use of these three learnings. Although some people with particularly high wisdom do not need to go through the rigid process of meditation practice and can achieve liberation once they are enlightened, they still have to have the power of concentration to promote their liberation, but it is very fast, so It is called the electric light metaphor. It can be seen from this that we do not need to criticize people who do not practice meditation as having no practice. As mentioned before, the Tathagata is "nothing without time", and true great concentration and deep concentration are by no means limited to sitting in meditation. This is the great concentration mentioned in the "First Surangama Sutra".

Organization: Chinese Contemporary Buddhism Network-Buddhist Culture Network