Before immeasurable kalpas, there was a country with very bad customs, called a country of abandoned old people. The king issued a decree and all the elderly were deported. A minister who served his parents was very filial. He secretly dug a basement, hid his father, and devoted himself to supporting his parents.
One day, a god came to the palace with two snakes in his hand and asked the king: "If someone can identify the male and female of the two snakes, I will keep your country safe. Otherwise, I will destroy your country. "The king is very sad, he ask all the civil and military officials, no one can identify. The minister hurriedly went back and asked his father privately. The father said, "Put the two snakes on a soft object. The one who is impatient is the male, and the one with the soft temper is the female." The minister replied to the god with these words.
The god asked again: “Whoever is asleep is awake. Who is awake is called sleep.” The minister asked his father again, and his father said: “This refers to the bhikkhu. Compared with ordinary people, A bhikkhu is a person who is awake. Compared with an Arahant, a bhikkhu is a person who is asleep."
The god pointed at the king's elephant and asked how heavy it was. Everyone still doesn't know. The minister went home and asked his father. His father said, "Lead the elephant to the boat and see how deep the boat enters the water. Then weigh the big rock and put it in the boat so that it matches the water mark when carrying the elephant. This way you can know how heavy is the elephant."
The god asked again: "Is there any way to make a handful of water more than sea water?" The minister's father said, "If you can use a handful of water to worship, give to the Buddha, bhikkhus, parents and patients in distress, you will definitely enjoy endless blessings. Although there is a lot of sea water, all the sea water will disappear after a Kalpa."
The god became a starving person, so thin that only skin and bones were left, and asked: "Is there anyone who is hungry in the world who is worse than me?" Everyone could not answer. The minister's father said: "If a person is greedy and jealous, future generations will fall into hungry ghosts. For hundreds of thousands of years, you will not even hear the name of water. If you move your bones, it will burn. This kind of starvation should surpass you hundreds of thousands of times."
The god became a woman, dignified and beautiful, and came to ask: "Is there anyone in the world more beautiful than me?" The minister's father said: "If anyone respects the Buddha, Dharma, and bhikkhus, and if he is filial to his parents, likes to give, tolerate, and work hard studying Dharma and keeping the precepts, this person will be reincarnated in the heavens. He will be upright and handsome, which is a million times better than your appearance. Compared with him, you are like a macaque."
The god took out a piece of sandalwood squared on all sides and asked, "Which is the root and which is the treetop." The minister's father said, "Put the block of wood in the water. The root is naturally below and the top of the tree is naturally above."
The gods brought two white female horses, with no difference in shape or coat color, and asked, "Which is the mother, which is the son." The minister's father said, "Feed them grass. If it is a mare, she must give the grass to her child to eat."
The gods asked many questions like this, and the ministers answered them one by one. The gods were very happy and promised to support the kingdom of the king.
The king was also very happy at that time and asked the minister, "Do you know the answer yourself, or was someone taught you?" The minister told the king truthfully. The king welcomed the minister's father into the palace and respected him as a national teacher. The minister said: "King should tell the whole world not to abandon the elderly. Those who have unfilial parents shall be punished as serious crime." The king immediately lifted the original evil law, and everyone knows that they should be filial to the elderly.
Buddha Shakyamuni said: "The father of the minister at that time was me now. The minister at that time was the current Sariputra. The king at that time was the current Ajatashatru. The gods at that time were the current Ananda."
Excerpted from "An Shi Book" "Wenchang Emperor Silently Doing Good Virtue" : Nationwide filial piety
The Buddha said: "The kindness of parents is hard to repay in the world. Even if you carry your father on your left shoulder and your mother on your right shoulder, or even if you serve them in their daily lives and their urine and urine flow on your body, you still cannot repay their kindness. Also, even if you use all the treasures of the world to support your parents, even if you do this for the time of kalpas as much as the sands of the Ganges, it will not be enough to repay them."
Most of the energy, blood and sweat of a parent's life is exhausted by the child. It takes ten months for the mother to conceive the baby and three years for the mother to breastfeed the baby. The mother moved the child to a dry place, but she herself slept in the place where the child was bedwetting. All of this shows that being a mother is hard work. My lack of sensibility has caused too much fatigue to my parents, but I have seldom repaid my parents. I have drunk more mother's milk than the water of the sea since I have gone through immeasurable kalpas. The amount of urination and defecation I made on my parents has been more than that of the water of the sea, since I have gone through immeasurable kalpas. I was born and died short-lived, causing my parents to cry, and the tears shed more than the water of the sea, since I have gone through immeasurable kalpas. All these are due to the reincarnation of life and death, tossing and reincarnation. Even if I can ensure my filial piety in every life and win the hearts of my parents, after all, it is better not to overwork my parents at all! Confucius said: "I can be as fair as others in hearing disputes. However, it is better to prevent people from having disputes!" Isn't it the same true?
People without ego don't care about life and death. If someone has an ego, he will look at the Tathagata separately from himself.
Those who cling to impermanence only understand part of the Dharma. People who are not attached to impermanence can realize the ever-present Tathagata.
All non-Dharma practice cannot get rid of suffering. Nirvana is the highest level of happiness.
Purposeful actions are impure. The purposeless Dharma of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is the pure Dharma.
Confucius said: Only reflect on one's own shortcomings and not attack others' shortcomings. He also said: Blame yourself should be heavy, and blame others should be light. The sage says a thousand words but wants people to find their own faults. If you look for your own faults, you will reflect on yourself from time to time, and you will have no time to blame others.
People have intentional faults and unintentional faults. Unintentional faults are easy to forgive and forgive, but intentional faults are difficult to tolerate. However, those who are committed to moral cultivation have to handle the faults of others when they deliberately make mistakes. If intentional faults can be tolerated, let alone unintentional faults.
It is indeed difficult to force yourself to be patient when things develop into an intolerable place. But it must be forced. What is the way to force it?
One is to forgive the other's lack of wisdom. There are so many ordinary people in the world, how can you use the standards of sages to blame each other? This is because I am unwise, and the reason is myself.
The second is to have mercy on others, because everyone's time in this world is also limited. People are in the world like a white horse passing through a gap. One day of life will reduce life by one day, just as a prisoner is rushed to the execution ground, step by step to die, how can we not have compassion for all life?
Third, treat the faults of others as your own medicine. It is difficult for oneself to discover one's own faults. Now I can see how bad others are, so I can reflect on myself. The bad person is my teacher. How can I still compete with the teacher?
Often with the above thoughts in mind, you can tolerate all the faults of others. Therefore, before the intolerance, the mood is often irritable; after the endurance, the anger can calm down by itself. If you are impatient, your future will be full of thorns, and insects and ants will be enough to stand in the way; if you are calm, you will be open-minded. If you can't tolerate others, you will definitely fight with them. Blindly demanding that others are not at fault, the other party's faults are more. If you can tolerate others and feel ashamed to reflect on your own mistakes, you will not blindly pursue that the other party is not at fault, and the other party's fault will naturally be less. Therefore, the ancients said: Seeing the faults of others is like opening the door of evil; seeing your own faults is like opening the door of goodness. -"An Shi Quan Shu"
There is a man in Taicang County, Jiangsu, whose name is Huang Jian'an. He saw that the people in Suzhou and Songjiang were trapped by excessive taxation beyond the quota, and he was anxious about it every day. After he got up every morning to worship the Buddha, he would never forget to bow his head to heaven and pray for exemption of taxes in addition to the two counties' quota. He also submitted a document to the government department and spared no effort. People laughed at him for unfounded worries. In the fall of Geng Yin, he fell seriously ill. After the winter, his condition worsened. By November 30 of the lunar calendar, he could not drink water for a few days. At 4 o’clock that morning, Huang Jian’an suddenly dreamed that Emperor Wenchang told him to meet him in front of the palace steps. The emperor said to him: “Your life should be over long ago, because you have been paying attention to tax cuts, so God will prolong your life.” So Emperor Wenchang dictated an edict and taught Huang Jian'an to recite it three times, remembering it in his heart. He woke up and looked surprised, only to realize that he was still in bed, and his spirit suddenly felt very vigorous, and it seemed that his old illness had disappeared. So he hurriedly got up from the bed to wash his hands and set the lamp to rub the ink. At this time, everyone in the family went to send Huang Jian'an's dead sister to funeral, leaving only an old woman to guard the door. The old woman was surprised to see her master who had been bedridden for months sitting in front of a lamp and writing. After dawn, Huang Jian’an’s cousin Guo Fei and Kong Erzhong came to inquire about Huang’s condition. They were also very surprised to see this situation. So Huang took the sedan chair to his sister's house to go to the funeral, socializing with guests and friends, running busy on the street, without fatigue, and eating and drinking suddenly resumed as usual. Those who know it all think it is something to be praised. At this time, Huang Jian'an was seventy-seven years old. From then on, he declined world affairs and fasted for a long time to recite the Buddha. After a few more years, he died peacefully without illness. [Comment] Reading the will of Emperor Wenchang, the main meaning of it is to say: "You Huang Jian'an, you are just an ordinary citizen, and you are in your twilight years, and you initiate a wish to rescue the bad habits accumulated over the past three hundred years. You vowed to work for the welfare of the poor in the world, just like a mayfly trying to shake Mount Tai, and Jingwei wants to fill the sea. Although it is not easy to pile up mountains, if you can pile up baskets of earth and stones continuously, you will eventually succeed. The way of heaven and earth operation is sincere and uninterrupted. Achieving the merits of sages and sages can only be advancing without retreating. Do your best, and don't slacken your initial intentions." Excerpted from "An Shi Book" "Wenchang Emperor Silently Doing Good Virtue" : Emperor Wenchang shows the edict
The way of heaven and earth operation is sincere and uninterrupted. Achieving the merits of sages and sages can only be advancing without retreating. Do your best, and don't slacken your kind initial intention. -Wenchang Emperor
If you cannot know the form of things in the world, if you cannot understand the form of things in the world, if you cannot cut off the form of things in the world, and if you cannot leave desires, then you cannot be free from suffering. -‘Samyukta Agama ‘
The way of liberation in the Age of the end of Dharma: 1. Don't investigate the faults of any sentient beings, and don't expose the faults of others; 2. Don't be attached to relatives and friends; 3. Never say foul language. -"Sutra of the Initiation of the Bodhisattva's Excellent Wish"
If you donate with clothes, you will get the rewards of the superior body; if you donate with food, you will get the rewards of supreme power; if you donate with lights, you will get the rewards of pure eyes; if you donate with with carts and horses, you will get the rewards of happiness; if you donate with housing, you will get the rewards of naturally having everything you need in the future. If you provide food and clothing for your wife or maidservant, and you have compassion and joy after that, you will receive immeasurable blessing in the future. If you see mice and sparrows eating grains in your granary, and you have compassion and joy after seeing that, you will receive immeasurable blessing in the future. -"Upāsakāśīlasūtra"
Human sufferings are caused by previous karma. If there is no cause of suffering in this life, there will be no suffering in the next life. If you can persuade people to refrain from killing, stealing, licentious, and slanderous karma, you can save many people from suffering. Therefore, it is limited to save the disasters that have already occurred; it is infinite to save the disasters that have not yet occurred. It is the good deeds of ordinary people to save the disasters that have already occurred; to save the disasters that have not yet occurred is the practice of the bodhisattva. The two go hand in hand. -"An Shi Quan Shu"