Sunday, May 15, 2022

The purpose of buddhism

 Buddhist common sense

 Chinese Buddhism >Introduction to Buddhism > General Knowledge of Buddhism >

 What is Buddhism for?  The purpose of studying Buddhism

 2013-07-30 [Buddhism common sense]


 Why worship Buddha?  The correct posture of worshiping Buddha is always cranky, what should I do if I can't calm down?  Why do we need to worship Buddha in disaster relief?  The correct posture of worshiping Buddha is always cranky, what should I do if I can't calm down?

 


 What is Buddhism for?  The purpose of studying Buddhism

 To learn Buddhism, one must learn to become a Buddha. Only by freeing oneself from suffering can one help sentient beings to free themselves from suffering and save them.


 If we want to learn Buddhism, we must understand the meaning of the word "cultivation".  Learning Buddhism is learning from life and work, correcting our wrong thoughts and behaviors!  "Practice" means mistakes in thoughts, opinions, words, pretensions, and behaviors. Correcting the mistakes is "cultivation." Take the Buddhadharma as a mirror to look at yourself, and never look at others!  Save yourself!  When you find that you think wrongly, read wrongly, say wrongly, or do wrongly, you are enlightened.  After enlightenment, it is "cultivation" to correct mistakes.


 Let me tell you a little story: under a tree, lies a wolf.  At this time, a little squirrel happened to run over.  The wolf pounced at once and caught the little squirrel.  It said to the little squirrel: "Before eating you, please tell me why you are so happy and jumping up and down every day. My strength and other aspects are greater than yours, but why do I frown every day?  "


 The little squirrel said, "Let go of me first, and I can tell you."


 The wolf let go of the little squirrel, and the little squirrel quickly climbed to the branch and told the wolf, "Why are you unhappy? Because every day you think about how to harm others, how to catch others and make them all  Eat it. I don't have any of these bad intentions, so I'm very happy!"


 Of course, this is just a little fable in the world.  But we can also get a revelation from it: a practitioner, to be truly happy and free, must get it from our heart.  People in the world are pitiful because they haven't found a way to practice and don't know how to cultivate this heart.  Although we know the path of cultivation, we need to truly subdue our heart on this path, just like the picture of cattle herding painted by the ancients. To subdue the cow and ride it home, it really needs a process.


 Because we have greed. First, we practice "giving" in Buddhism, and giving is giving, and giving up greed; because we often do bad karma. Second, in Buddhism, we "hold the precepts" and break evil and turn to good; we have anger. Third, Buddhism  We cultivate "forbearance", and forbearance is the countermeasure against anger; 4. Cultivation of "diligence" to counteract one's laxity and laziness; 5. Cultivation of "meditation" to counteract one's distraction; 6. Cultivation of "prajna" to counteract  own stupidity.


 Buddhism gives us these six rules. If you can implement it in your life, in your work, and in dealing with people and things, you are practicing the way of the Bodhisattva.  What is the Bodhisattva Way?  In other words, you are living the life of a bodhisattva, not the life of a mortal.  Therefore, the Dharma can only be effective if it is implemented. If it cannot be implemented, how many years of studying this Dharma and how many classics I have read, it is useless to learn a single one.


 There are three words to learn Buddhism, one of which is indispensable.  It is 'Wen Si Xiu'.  Hearing is hearing, 'The Buddhadharma is unpleasant, but I have heard it now.  ' It is not easy to be able to hear the Dharma.  But after hearing it, it was in vain without further thought.  Now there are 12 parts of the Sanzang everywhere, but the sutras do not open their mouths to proclaim them.  The so-called 'Buddha Dharma has no one to say, although wisdom cannot understand it.  ’ So it is necessary to think deeply and study deeply.  Besides, the Dharma of reciting Buddhahood in the Pure Land is difficult to believe.  From this, it can be seen that the study of pure land light is not enough, and it must be practiced.  If it cannot be implemented, it is nonsense.  To know that more hearing is worse than more thinking, more thinking is worse than more action, all three are indispensable.


 You have studied Buddhism for many years, but you are still obsessed with fame, fame, and self-interest, or you are still obedient to your troubles, or you are still doing bad karma.  You are not very good at learning Buddhism.


 An eminent monk said that in today's Buddhism, it is not that no one believes in it, nor that no one studies it, but that there are too few people who truly practice it, and too few people who have real enlightenment.  Although there are many people who talk about the principles of the Buddha Dharma in a hype and righteous way, but if they don't put them into practice, they can't be combined with the real life.  Saying one zhang is worse than making one inch is like a person has a lot of money. If you lock it in a box and don't use it, then no amount of money will be of use, like a pile of waste paper.  Money can only play its value and function when it is used.


 Why do some people study Buddhism for many years, yet their troubles remain the same;  The fault is in the combination.  The word "learning" we usually talk about has two meanings. "Learning" is one level, and "Xi" is another level.  Learning refers to practice, practice, and combination to be called complete learning.  Practice has proved that in our study of Buddhism, every combination will yield a gain; every combination will lead to progress.


 If the study of Buddhism cannot be combined with real life or with one's own thoughts, words and deeds, then Buddha-knowledge will still be Buddha-knowledge, my opinion is still my opinion, and learning is equal to learning in vain.  For example: Buddhism teaches us to give, but we are still selfish, greedy and reluctant to give up.  How can there be progress in this kind of Buddhist study of "learning to learn, listening to listening, doing and doing"?  Learning Buddhism without union can only deceive oneself by "painting cakes to satisfy hunger" and "viewing plums to quench thirst".

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