Winston Churchill said, “Those who never change their mind, never change anything.”
Once upon a time, there was a man named Gu Xiong. Because his family was poor, he worked as a teacher in a private school. He gave all the main income he got every year to his father. Because his father was very wasteful, the owner of the school felt sorry for his poverty and gave him all the income of the year at once, and said: "Your father doesn't know, you can use this money to buy land and plan for the autumn harvest." Gu Xiong said: "How can I bear to change my usual filial piety to my father for a few loads of rice?" So he gave all the income to his father. Later, Gu Xiong gave birth to a child named Gu Jiming, who passed the imperial examination at a young age.
In the Song Dynasty, there was a man named Yang Chen in Huangyan County (now in Zhejiang). When he was young, one day he saw someone printing "Taishang Ganying Pian" and wanted to help with the printing, but he had no money. So he used the only money he had to help print the 17th edition. Soon, he dreamed that the gods told him: "Just like the 17th edition you helped print, you can get this ranking in the exam." Sure enough, after the exam results were announced, he passed the exam and became the 17th Jinshi. Yang Chen became a Jinshi in the Shaoxi period of Emperor Guangzong of the Song Dynasty, and was promoted to Doctor of the Imperial College, which was equivalent to a professor at a national university.
Follow the norm: Kindness nourishes the liver. Justice nourishes the lungs. Rites and music nourish the heart. Wisdom nourishes the kidneys. Honesty nourishes the digestive organs.
Go against the norm: Anger hurts the liver. Sadness hurts the lungs. Resentment hurts the heart. Fear hurts the kidneys. Blame the heavens hurts the digestive organs.
Follow the norm or go against the norm depends on the mind. The root of everything is to treat the mind first. The best doctor is to treat the mind.
A very heart-wrenching poem written by Tao Yuanming:
Your prime years will never come back, and the morning of a day will never come back.
Encourage yourself in time, because time waits for no one.
The ancient philosopher said that hearing that someone has done something wrong is like hearing the name of one's own parents. It can be learned from others, but cannot be spoken by the mouth.
◎When Confucius talked about the happiness of benefit, he must have said that he liked to talk about the good deeds of others. The so-called Tao is praise and publicity. It is difficult for people to say good words and do good deeds. If a person has a good point, everyone will publicize it, then the good person will be more motivated, which is the meaning of being kind to others. Therefore, the saints talk about goodness, which can change the social atmosphere. When ordinary people talk about goodness, they can influence foolish and stubborn people. The key is to praise and publicize people's strengths, and not to hide people's kindness.
◎The word "good" has many meanings, whether it is goodness in words or goodness in actions, great goodness or small goodness, and what is seen and heard from far and near. The word "promote" also has many meanings, whether it is verbal or written propaganda, whether it is self-promotion or teaching others to promote.
It takes two years to learn to speak, and a lifetime to learn to shut up. People start learning to speak at the age of two, but it takes a lifetime to learn what to say and what not to say.
Once, a temple held a chanting activity, and lay Buddhists came to participate. After the activity, the master asked two of the lay Buddhists how they felt. One of the lay Buddhists said, "Master, this Buddhist activity is so wonderful and great." The other lay Buddhist said, "This Buddhist activity is not done well." The master asked why it was not done well? He said, "There is a monk over there who is not chanting, and there is another monk over there who seems to be dozing off." Later, the second chanting activity was held here. During the activity, the master paid attention to the performance of the two lay Buddhists: One lay Buddhist, no matter what happened around him, he was in his own mind, resting on the Buddhist scriptures. He had forgotten himself and his surroundings. He sang happily and chanted happily behind the monks. He was also very happy and joyful to hear the master's teachings. He didn't know that there were others around him, and he didn't know which monk was chanting or not. The other lay Buddhist, he didn't read the scriptures with his heart, he looked around, sometimes looking at the watch, sometimes looking at which monk was not chanting, and which monk was sleeping. He didn't have any insights or enlightenment. Because he was always finding problems in others. He didn't use the Buddhist scriptures to reflect himself. The Buddhist scriptures are a mirror. The mirror is to observe yourself, not to look at the faults of others. The Heart Sutra reminds us that the Buddhas of the three ages can only be liberated by wisdom. Where does wisdom come from? It is to observe and reflect on oneself in depth, so that wisdom can be obtained. The Sixth Patriarch Huineng said, "If you are a true cultivator, you will not see the faults of the world." This sentence means that there is no absolute right or wrong in the world, only the right and wrong that we distinguish with our discriminating mind. The Taoist classic "The Great Chapter of Response" says: Seeing the faults of others is like seeing your own faults. Seeing others make mistakes is as sad as if you have made mistakes yourself. Confucius said: "We should overcome our own faults, not attack others' faults." "The Wenchang Emperor secretly does good things" says: Seeing others' faults is the root of all evil, and seeing oneself's faults is the door to all good deeds. Only seeing the bad of others is the root of all evil; being able to clearly see your own faults is the root of all good deeds. The heart is the source of all good, and the heart is the master of all virtues. If you focus on the faults of others, you will be filled with negative energy. When you observe your own faults, forgive others and have compassion on others, your heart will be filled with positive energy. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can drive out darkness. There are two sentences on the website founded by Lori Deschene that are reposted by people all over the world. One of them is: Don't let anyone or anything dim the original light in your heart. (Another sentence is: If you light a lamp for others, it will also light your way.)
If you get married at 30, live to 100 without getting divorced, and speak 50 words to your spouse every day, after 1.28 million words, your fate in this life will be roughly over. If you have a child at 35, and the child lives independently at 30, and speaks 50 words to you every day before independence, and 500 words to you every year after independence, and you live to 100, after speaking about 560,000 words, your fate in this life will be roughly over. If you work at 25 and retire at 60, and have never changed jobs during this period, your fate with the company in this life will be roughly over after about 9,200 working days. You can calculate how deep the fate is between you and the people and things around you. If you do subtraction, the remaining fate will become less and less, and the fate will decrease day by day; if you do addition, the days you spend together will increase, and the fate will deepen day by day. It is not easy to measure the depth and shallowness by frequency and time, because it is difficult to measure how much time together can move your heart. Some people may only say one sentence, but you may never forget it. Some people may say a lot, but you may not remember it. Meeting or not meeting, forgetting or not forgetting is also fate. Under fate, you are you and I am me. When fate is no longer there, the relationship between you and me will change. There is impermanence and there is permanence. Fate is impermanent, but cause and effect are permanent. It takes a hundred years of fate to be in the same boat, and cause and effect are real.
When Confucius visited the Zhou Dynasty's ritual temple, he saw a vessel and asked the temple keeper what it was. The keeper said, "The name of this vessel is probably YouZuoZhiQi". Confucius said, "I heard that a YouZuoZhiQi vessel will overturn when filled with water, tilt when empty, and become upright when filled to the middle. Is that true?" The temple keeper said, "Yes." So Confucius asked his disciple Zilu to take water to test it, and it was true. This painting was painted in the Ming Dynasty and is preserved in a small museum in Nara, Japan. A young Japanese Buddhist came here to visit and extended Confucius' doctrine of the mean. He believed that the principle of this picture is also the middle way advocated by Buddhism: not clinging to extremes, not empty, not full, but appropriate. Appropriate is the middle. He posted his thoughts on the Internet, and you can read it if you are lucky.
As long as I exist, there is the subject of reincarnation. Only when the ego disappears can the subject of reincarnation be eliminated and reincarnation can be stopped.
No self: refers to the absence of an independent and unchanging "I" or "self". All phenomena, including individual "I", are formed by the combination of causes and conditions and lack self-nature. Therefore, the existence of "I" is illusory, not real.
No one: further emphasizes that not only "I" is illusory, but also "others". The distinction and attachment between people are also because they do not see that people have no self-nature. In fact, there is no independent "other".
No sentient beings: From a broader perspective, all sentient beings are formed by the combination of causes and conditions, and there is no fixed entity. The existence of sentient beings is also relative and changing, not eternal and unchanging.
No life: Life refers to the existence of life or the continuation of time. No life indicates that there is no permanent life subject. Life and death are nothing but the gathering and dispersion of causes and conditions. There is no eternal "life".
Practice all good dharmas: that is, widely practice various good deeds, including the six paramitas of giving, keeping precepts, forbearance, diligence, meditation, and wisdom. No matter what kind of good deeds are done, they are all for the benefit of sentient beings, but when practicing, one must transcend all attachments and achieve a non-attached mind.
"Practice all good deeds with no self, no person, no sentient beings, and no life" emphasizes that when doing good deeds, one must observe with the wisdom of emptiness, not clinging to the reality of self, others, and sentient beings, nor clinging to the fixedness of time and life. Through such practice, one can achieve transcendence of secular good deeds and achieve a perfect combination of true compassion and wisdom. This practice not only helps personal liberation, but also benefits sentient beings widely, and is an important guide for the Bodhisattva's practice.
Yang Hu was causing chaos in the State of Lu. The King of Lu ordered his men to close the city gates and search for Yang Hu. He announced that anyone who captured Yang Hu would be rewarded, and anyone who let him go would be punished. The pursuers surrounded Yang Hu, and Yang Hu had no choice but to raise his sword and prepare to commit suicide. At this time, a gatekeeper dissuaded him, saying, "The world is big, you can escape, why commit suicide? I will let you out of the city." So Yang Hu was able to break out of the siege. With the pursuers behind him chasing closely, Yang Hu ran and killed with his sword and spear in hand. The gatekeeper took advantage of the chaos and let Yang Hu out of the city gate. After Yang Hu left the city, he returned, grabbed the gatekeeper, and stabbed him with his spear. The spear pierced his sleeve and injured his armpit. At this time, the gatekeeper complained, "I have no relationship with you. I risked being executed to save you, but you stabbed me instead. I deserved it. I encountered such a disaster. Later, the king of Lu heard that Yang Hu escaped from the city and was furious. He asked which gate Yang Hu escaped from and sent officials to arrest the suspected gatekeepers. The king of Lu believed that all injured gatekeepers had stopped Yang Hu and should be rewarded heavily; while the uninjured gatekeepers might have deliberately let Yang Hu go and should be severely punished. Among the injured gatekeepers who received rewards, the gatekeeper who let Yang Hu go was also among them.
King Gong of Chu and the army of Jin fought in Yanling. The battle was intense, The injury of Prince Gong forced the battle to stop. Sima Zifan in the Chu army was thirsty and looked for a drink. At this time, the attendant Yanggu offered wine to Zifan. Zifan liked to drink and was overjoyed when he saw wine. Zifan took the wine handed over by Yanggu and drank it non-stop. Soon he was drunk and lay in the tent. Prince Gong planned to go to war with the Jin army again, so he sent someone to call Zifan. Zifan lied that he had a heart attack and would not respond to the call. Prince Gong drove to visit him in person, and as soon as he entered the military tent, he smelled a smell of alcohol. Prince Gong was furious and said, "In today's fierce battle, I went to the battlefield in person to win and was seriously injured. Now I was counting on Sima Zifan to be of use, but he has become like this. He really has no place for the country and the people, and he doesn't sympathize with our soldiers. I can't fight the Jin army anymore. "So he ordered the troops to withdraw and killed Zifan for delaying the war. The attendant Yanggu offered wine, not to harm Zifan, he really loved Zifan and wanted Zifan to be happy, but he didn't expect that it was Zifan who was harmed.
It is a common method for people with febrile diseases to eat and for those with heatstroke to drink cold water, but good doctors think that this will aggravate the condition.
Le Yang, a general of Wei State, led his troops to attack Zhongshan State. His son was captured by the people of Zhongshan and detained in the city. The people of Zhongshan tied his son and hung him on the top of the city for Le Yang to see. After seeing it, Le Yang said: "For the sake of the relationship between the monarch and the minister, I will be loyal to the monarch and fulfill my duties as a minister. I cannot have a private relationship for my son." So the troops under his command attacked the city more fiercely. The people in Zhongshan City cooked his son and sent someone to give Le Yang a pot of meat soup and his son's head. Le Yang stroked the head and cried and said: "This is my son! "After saying this, he knelt down in front of the messenger and drank a cup of meat soup. The messenger went back and reported: "Le Yang is a man who is willing to sacrifice his life for his integrity. There is really no way to deal with him." So Zhongshan State had to surrender to Wei State. Le Yang opened up a large area of land for Wei Wenhou in this war and made great contributions. But who knew that from then on, Wei Wenhou would distrust Le Yang day by day.
Mengsun went hunting and got a fawn, so he asked his subordinate Qin Xiba to take it home to cook. The female deer followed Qin Xiba and cried non-stop. Qin Xiba couldn't bear to hurt the fawn, so he let the fawn go and gave it back to the female deer. After Mengsun returned home and asked about the whereabouts of the fawn, Qin Xiba had to answer: "The mother of this fawn kept crying behind me, and I really couldn't bear it, so I took the initiative to let the fawn go and gave it back to the female deer. "Mengsun was furious after hearing this, and drove Qin Xiba away in a rage. A year later, Mengsun called Qin Xiba back to be his son's teacher. People around Mengsun asked: "Qin Xiba has offended you, why do you use him as your son's teacher now?" Mengsun replied: "I can't bear to hurt even a young deer, let alone a human being?"
In the past, there was a family in Song State who loved to do good deeds. They persisted in doing good deeds for generations. One year, a black cow in the family gave birth to a pure white calf, so the family asked the fortune teller about this strange thing. The fortune teller said: "This is a good sign. Use this pure white calf to sacrifice to ghosts and gods." Another year later, the father of the family became blind for no reason. Later, the cow gave birth to another pure white calf, so the father asked his son to ask the fortune teller again. The son asked: "I listened to the fortune teller's words before, and your eyes became blind. Why do you ask him now? "The father said: "The words of the saints often seem wrong at first, but will come true in the future, and the matter is not over yet, you can try to ask!" The son went to ask the fortune teller about this strange matter again. The fortune teller replied: "This is also an auspicious sign. It is better to use this pure white calf to sacrifice to the ghosts and gods!" After returning home, the son reported the fortune teller's words to his father truthfully. The father said: "Then do as the fortune teller says! "A year later, the son's eyes also became blind for no reason. Later, the State of Chu attacked the State of Song and surrounded the city where this family lived. At this time, all the food in the city was eaten up, and people could only exchange their children for food and split dry bones as firewood. All the strong men were killed in the battle, so the elderly, the sick, and the children went up to the tower to defend, and their tenacious resistance made it difficult for the Chu army to conquer the city. At this time, the King of Chu was furious, and after the city was breached, he killed all the people who went up to the tower to defend. Only this family did not go up to the tower to defend because the father and son were both blind, so they were able to save their lives. When the Chu army withdrew, the father and son's eyesight recovered.