Who can talk about the meaning of Buddhism?

Historically, Buddhism, whether in India or China, was related to the well-being of human society at that time. Since the 20th century, China Buddhism has been initiated by Master Taixu. Master Taixu has such an opinion when explaining the Dharma of life. He said: "Buddhism is universal to all sentient beings, but it should be centered on' people' so as to adapt to modern cultural rationality. Although there is no life and death in Buddhism, in order to adapt to modern reality, Buddhism with the core of' seeking human survival and development' is the first meaning of life Buddhism. " In other words, Buddhism can only develop if it adapts to the requirements of modern human social life on the basis of the fundamental theory of Buddhism. Therefore, Master Taixu said, "Buddhism is composed of the truth awakened by the Buddha and the individual opportunities of the group. Therefore, Buddhism has two principles: one is to identify with the truth, and the other is to cooperate with the opportunity. If you don't agree with the truth, you will lose the body of Buddhism, and if you don't agree with the opportunity, you will lose the use of Buddhism. Truth is the' universal truth' that the Buddha has fully realized. Weather is the individual mind or ideological culture of a region, an era, a lifetime and a nation. " This is the essence of "Qi Li" and "opportunity" of Master Taixu's "Human Buddhism".

"Modernization" is a very complicated issue, involving not only material life, but also systems and concepts. From the perspective of material modernization, it is relatively easy to promote Buddhism by using modern science and technology (radio, television, internet, publishing and printing, etc.). ), and it is more difficult to establish a modern system, but for example, how to make the Buddhist spirit guide modern human society to be more harmonious and complete, and it is easier to transform "people's hearts". In other words, "earthly Buddhism" should pay great attention to purifying the most concerned problems in today's human society, and it is quite difficult to provide the best solution for it with Buddhism and achieve a great merit. Modern human society is facing many problems, which can be said to be a serious crisis of faith, moral decline, disillusionment and loss of conscience. The reason is that many people in society struggle for power and profit for selfish purposes, or it is caused by human greed and ignorance. These social phenomena are completely contrary to the purpose and purpose of Buddhism, and they are precisely the diseases that Buddhism wants to treat. Master Taixu said: "The purpose and purpose of Buddhism, simply put, is nothing more than self-interest and altruism. In fact, all kinds of work behaviors in the world are only mutual interests, and the difference is only what is and what is not. " If you get the "exact" method, you will "prove that the method is happy and happy, and never have to worry about ignorance"; There is no such thing as "exact".

Why is the war going on, why are innocent people killed, why is the environment deteriorating, and why are resources wasted or even exhausted? I think these are all evil phenomena driven by self-interest. Therefore, the urgent task of today's society is to strive for "lasting peace" and "common development". In my opinion, Buddhism will play an irreplaceable and most important role in the biggest problem of "peace and development" facing mankind. It is a reliable guarantee for today's human society to "live in peace" and continue to "develop together".

Buddhism helps the world with compassion, and the "five precepts" and "ten virtues" are all based on the premise of "not killing life". However, in the two world wars of the 20th century, hundreds of millions of people died. If there is another world war in the 21st century, mankind is likely to perish from the earth. This is a profound understanding of human society in the twentieth century, or implies the root of the profound crisis of human society in the last century. As the earliest advocate of "Buddhism on earth", Master Taixu called for "world peace" in 1935. Master Taixu specifically expounded "longing for world peace" in "Talking about Building Modern Buddhism in China", which said: "Desiring for world peace has also become an element of the trend of the times." Buddhism aims to save the world. It wants to save mankind from the suffering in dire straits, and everyone can be happy because of Buddhism. This is because everyone has Buddha nature, so it is possible to realize the concept of "one family under the sun, people and I are together" and build a pure land on earth. There is no distinction between high and low, or because people despise themselves, or because people despise themselves, or because people despise themselves. These are all mistakes in the mind and violate the truth of Buddhism. "Five Lights of the Yuan Dynasty" said: "Balance can often be reversed. The land is equal, so you can always carry it. The sun and the moon are equal, so the four seasons are always bright. Nirvana is equal, so there is no other way. People are equal, so there is no ambiguity. " This shows the essence of "equality" in Buddhism. When people are equal, there will be no struggle, greed, ignorance, social peace and world peace. There are two very important theoretical issues involved here: one is the principle of "equality of positions" and the other is the principle of "all laws are born". In 1990s, western philosophy raised the issue of "the other". To understand a culture, we need to look at it from the standpoint of "the other", observe each other and be subjective, so as to have a comprehensive and holistic understanding of things. In fact, this view has existed for a long time in China. There is a saying in Su Dongpo's poem: "I don't know the true face of Lushan Mountain, but toward which corner of the mountain." To know yourself, sometimes you have to stand outside yourself and stand on the position of "the other". However, people are often self-righteous, confined to a loophole in the point of view. There are mountains outside Fugui Mountain, and there are days outside, but they are blind and can't distinguish five colors. Fran? ois Julian, a French scholar, said in his book Updating the Research Methods of Cultural Anthropology and Reevaluating China's Cultural Tradition: "... I want to find the opposite of European thinking from an external standpoint, but I don't want to be an anthropologist, I just want to be a philosopher. I found this convenience in China because China provided me with an external perspective. " This shows that some European thinkers are looking for an "other" as a frame of reference to understand their own culture under the condition of "equal position" in order to make their own philosophy develop forward. Later, in order to further clarify his point of view, Julien wrote an article "Why can't Westerners study philosophy around China?"? ? He believes that because China's philosophy is very different from western philosophy, if we can look at western philosophy from the perspective of China's philosophy, we will certainly find many new problems, and we will make western philosophy go up to the next level. The idea of "communication and understanding must be equal" triggered by the Buddhist concept of "equality" can be applied to all aspects of human society more deeply and widely, thus eliminating barriers and contradictions and benefiting the world. Therefore, it is said that "peace should be built from equality". If different nationalities, different countries, different groups and even different people handle their relations with the concept of "equal position", human society will become a peaceful and quiet Buddhist pure land. "Human Buddhism" is undoubtedly the only way to solve the problem of human society moving towards "peace". ...