The end of the world cannot be reached by moving your feet, because the end of the world is not in space. The end of the world is in the heart. When you realize that the reason you belong to this world is because of your entanglement with seeing, hearing, and knowing, you will find that the end of the world is not far away. The greatness of Buddhism lies in fundamentally explaining what the world is, what I am, why I exist in this world, and how to correctly feel my own heart in order to escape from the low-level reincarnation and entanglement.
Based on the law of dependent origination: due to ignorance, there are actions, due to actions, there are consciousness, due to consciousness, there are name and form, due to name and form, there are six sense organs, due to the six sense organs, there is contact, due to contact, there is feeling, due to feeling, there is craving, due to craving, there is grasping, due to grasping, there is existence, due to existence, there is birth, due to birth, there is sorrow, suffering, and the gathering of pure great suffering. If ignorance is extinguished, then all of these will be extinguished in turn, until the gathering of pure great suffering is extinguished.
Love each other, marry, have children and grandchildren, and live endlessly; the root of these births and deaths is the desire for lust.
Because lust never stops, there is the law of the jungle among the sentient beings born from eggs, wombs, moisture, and transformation in the world; the root of these births and deaths is the desire for killing.
Because people eat sheep, sheep die and become humans, people die and become sheep, and so on, and they eat each other, die and live again, and never stop; the root of these births and deaths is the desire for stealing.
You owe me your life, and I repay your debt. With this cause and condition, we will continue to live and die for hundreds and thousands of kalpas. You love my heart, and I love your beauty. With this cause and condition, we will not be able to break free from the bondage for hundreds and thousands of kalpas. It is precisely because of these three roots of killing, stealing, and lust that there is a continuous karma of inverted delusion.
When the Buddha was eighty years old, he fell ill during his last rainy season retreat in Bamboo Grove Village and suffered from severe diarrhea. At that time, due to famine in the area, only Venerable Ananda was by his side.
Seeing that the Buddha was ill and no one else was there, Venerable Ananda was worried and terrified, but he felt relieved when he thought that the Buddha had not yet left any instructions to the monks and would not enter Nirvana.
When the Buddha's illness improved and he could walk out of the room, Venerable Ananda was relieved and told the Buddha his thoughts.
After hearing this, the Buddha replied to Ananda:
"Ananda! I have always taught you without reservation. What else do you expect me to tell you? The Tathagata never considers himself a leader. Only when he considers himself a leader will he leave a will. I am old. My body of eighty years old is like a used car. It can only be maintained by constant maintenance. Therefore, you cannot always rely on me. You should rely on yourself and the Dharma, because there is nothing else to rely on.
How can you rely on yourself and the Dharma? That is to strive to focus on your body, feelings, thoughts, and ideas to stop all worries and troubles. After I enter Nirvana, those who can practice like this will definitely achieve the highest achievement. That is my true disciple."
After that, the Buddha continued to travel to the northwest. Finally, he accepted the mushroom offerings from the blacksmith Cunda in the capital of Malla, which caused more severe diarrhea. He barely made it to Kusinagara, where he taught the Eightfold Path to a Brahmin named Subha, and guided him to attain Arhat. Then he passed away between the twin trees in the Sala Forest in the city. Before passing away, he told the Venerable Ananda: "Ananda! If anyone among you thinks that 'the master's teachings are gone, and we no longer have a master to rely on', Ananda, don't think so! The sutras and precepts I have spoken since I became a Buddha are your master and your support." The study of the Dharma and the liberation from birth and death can only be achieved through one's own practice of the Dharma. Such legacy clearly shows the spirit of self-liberation in the Dharma.
Even if one becomes a Buddha, one still has to complete the cause and effect of the previous life in his last life. When the Buddha was alive, he experienced diarrhea, eating barley, headaches, back pain, and being attacked. Even for the last life of the Buddha who had already attained enlightenment, these things would still happen according to the cause and effect relationship. And everything has a previous cause. The reason why Buddhism is not theology is that the doctrine itself does not have any myths about the Buddha, but focuses on the explanation of the principle of cause and effect, and the justice of "suffering, the origin of suffering, the end of suffering, and the Eightfold Path" derived from it.
Sweeping snails brings blessings
Han Shineng, the Minister of Rites, was born in Changzhou, Jiangsu.
His ancestors lived on the flat land near the tomb for generations and were poor. His grandfather, Han Yongchun, liked to release animals, but because his family had no money, he got up early every day and went to the river with a broom to sweep the snails on both sides into the water to prevent them from being caught. Sometimes he endured hunger and swept for dozens of miles. He did this for more than 40 years without interruption.
In the Dingmao year of the Longqing reign of Emperor Muzong of the Ming Dynasty, Han Shineng dreamed of a golden-armored god who told him: "Your grandfather released animals, which was a great merit. From now on, your descendants will be noble for generations. You will be honored as a first-class official first."
Later, Han Shineng was promoted to the Minister of Rites and was ordered to go to Korea as an envoy. He was rewarded with a first-class court dress by the emperor. The descendants of the Han family were indeed noble for generations.
All encounters are reunions after a long separation
Beside the Three Life Stones on the bank of the Ling River, there grows a Crimson Pearl Fairy Grass. It is lovely but a little dry. The passing attendant Shen Ying couldn't bear it, so he irrigated the fairy grass with nectar every day, which made it last longer. After a long period of nourishment, the fairy grass finally lost its grassy form and turned into the Crimson Pearl Fairy.
Later, when the attendant Shen Ying came to the world, the Crimson Pearl Fairy followed him and vowed to return all her tears to him. After coming to the world, the attendant was reincarnated as Baoyu, and the Crimson Pearl Fairy became Daiyu.
When Daiyu first saw Baoyu, she thought: "How strange, it seems like I have seen it somewhere, how familiar it is!"
Baoyu also said the familiar opening line: "I have seen this sister before."
We met once in this short life, and there were so many incense connections in the previous life.
A person will probably meet 29.2 million people in his life. He passes by countless people every day, and it is they who make up the most complete journey of your life.
Time makes people meet at the crossroads, not a step earlier or later.
Everyone around you may seem to meet you effortlessly at the street corner, but behind such a perfect fate, there must be deep coincidence.
"If there is no debt, there will be no meeting." Perhaps, it is really because of the debt that we once owed each other that we tried our best to meet in this life.
We gather because of fate, and we separate when the fate is over. When we repay the debt, the fate has come to an end.
There was a young man who was very sad because his girlfriend who had been in love with him for many years finally married someone else. He fell ill and could not get up.
One day, a monk came to his house and gave him a mirror.
Through the mirror, he saw the body of a girl lying on the beach.
The first man came over, took a look, said it was pitiful and left.
The second man walked over and covered the girl with his clothes.
The third man dug a pit and buried the girl.
The monk told the young man that your girlfriend was the girl on the beach in her previous life. You only covered her with a piece of clothes. As a way of repaying you, she fell in love with you for many years, but she will eventually marry the man who buried her.
"Meeting the person you meet among thousands of people, in thousands of years, in the endless wilderness of time, not a step earlier, not a step later, just caught up, there is nothing else to say, but to ask softly: "Oh, are you here too?" - Zhang Ailing
Zhou Hu, a servant of the Zhou family in Xian County, Hebei, was bewitched by a fox spirit and they were like a loving couple for more than 20 years. The fox spirit once said to Zhou Hu: "I have cultivated into a human form for more than 400 years. In the past life, I still have a karma with you that should be made up. If it is not fulfilled one day, I cannot ascend to heaven one day. When the fate is over, I should leave. "One day, she looked very happy at first, but suddenly she became sad and shed tears, and said to Zhou Hu: "On the 19th of this month, our fate will end and I should leave you. I have chosen a woman for you, you can give a betrothal gift to finalize the marriage." Then she took out silver and gave it to Zhou Hu, asking him to prepare the betrothal gift. From then on, she was more intimate with Zhou Hu than usual, and they were often inseparable. On the 15th, she suddenly said goodbye to Zhou Hu in the morning. Zhou Hu was surprised why she left early, and the fox girl cried and said: "The destined fate cannot be reduced or increased by a day, but it can be realized earlier or later by yourself. I leave three days of fate as room for us to meet in the future." After a few years, the fox girl came again, and left after three days of reunion. Before leaving, she sobbed and said: "From now on, we will never meet again!"
Master Xuanhua’s compassionate teaching:
In the temple, don’t talk about fate or fortune-telling. We Buddhists shouldn’t believe in fate. This fate is believed by ordinary people, but we Buddhists want to transcend fate and destiny, so we shouldn’t believe in fate. We shouldn’t be obsessed with money either.
Buddhism is a religion that advocates "selflessness". It does not allow the existence of face reading and fortune telling, and does not believe in Feng Shui. These tricks are contrary to Buddhism and run counter to it, so they are prohibited from circulation. If you believe in this kind of law, then there is the existence of "I", everything belongs to me, everything is planned for me, there is me but no one, which is not in line with Buddhism.
Buddhism is a religion that teaches people not to fight, not to be greedy, not to ask, not to be selfish, not to be self-interested, and not to lie. But Feng Shui teaches people to fight, teach people to be greedy, teach people to ask, teach people to be selfish, teach people to be self-interested, and even to lie.
As the saying goes, "A man made tofu and bought a field in a river valley. Money came from the water and went out from the water." A man made tofu for a living. In the process of making tofu, he had to press the tofu and squeeze out the soy milk. This was a necessary process. When the soy milk was squeezed out, he made tofu and made money. Then he used the money from selling tofu to buy a field. The location of this field was in a river valley. It was land by the river. As a result, when the river water rose, all the crops were washed away and nothing could be harvested. The meaning of this story is that the development of things is caused by cause and effect. The wealth that comes from the water will also be taken away by the water. So instead of asking about good and bad luck and fortune-telling, it is better to care about cause and effect. Focusing on controlling the "cause" is more reliable than inferring the "effect" in a superstitious way. Any idea of expecting the "effect" to change without changing the "cause" is unrealistic. In physics, there is a reaction force when there is force. When a force acts on a mass object, acceleration will be generated. This principle also reflects that cause and effect are universal laws of the world in which we exist.
The "Agama" in the Agama Sutra means the path to Nirvana passed down by the Buddhas. Its contents are mostly the conversations between the Buddha and his disciples, princes and other religious figures when he was in the world.
The Agama Sutra is the closest record to the Buddha's time. The Agama Sutra is divided into four parts, in the order of the long, medium, miscellaneous and incremental.
The earliest known Chinese translation of the Agama Buddhist scriptures is the "Sutra of Forty-two Chapters" translated during the reign of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty.
Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Chinese Buddhists have only followed Mahayana Buddhism and regarded it as a Hinayana Buddhist scripture. The Agama Sutra was not valued and shelved for a thousand years. At the end of the 19th century, influenced by the attention paid to the Pali Tripitaka by European and American scholars, the Agama Sutra regained its status and was highly valued by Japanese scholars.
Modern and contemporary Buddhist historians have repositioned the Agama Sutra as the original sacred text of Buddhism.
Modern researchers of primitive Buddhism have reconstructed the original teachings of the Buddha, with the Agama Sutra as one of the foundations.
https://www.dhammatalks.net/Chinese/Dhamma12.pdf