Mencius said, "Only death can be a major event", and Chinese culture for thousands of years has regarded the death of a family member as a real "major event". However, the traditional concept of the Chinese avoids the word "death", and even the homonym "4" of "death" in some places is also taboo. However, the only thing that can be sure of life is death.
Today is the 8th anniversary of the death of Elder Weijue, the founder of the Chung Tai Zen Temple in Taiwan.
Text: Elder Weijue
When it comes to death, everyone is sad and afraid. As for "death", we can divide it into the death of the body, the death of the mind, and the absence of death.
The life and death of the color body
First of all, let's talk about the color body. The color body refers to the body that we can see and touch. This body is composed of earth, water, fire, and wind, and the so-called earth is the solid matter on the body, such as bones, skin, nails, and hair. Tears, blood, urine, these fluids belong to the water level. Fire is the heat on our body. The wind is the gas, our breath, our income and even all kinds of actions.
When the four major imbalances occur, the body will get sick. Therefore, we have to adjust the body and mind, and there is a so-called "ordinary man only knows how to adjust the body but does not know how to adjust the mind, and the wise man knows to adjust the mind but not the body", that is, the first change from the mind, the body will naturally be at peace. But no matter how restless the mind is, everyone will eventually die, and this is the death of the color body.
The death of the body is inevitable. In the Sutra of Impermanence, the Buddha made it very clear, "The supreme worlds, who are only aware of the sound and hearing of the people, are still impermanent beings, let alone ordinary people." That is, whether it is the Buddhas, the Buddhas, the Buddhas, the Buddhas, the Buddhas, the Buddhas Confucianism has the so-called: virtue, speech, and meritorious service, hoping to make life immortal. That is, before death, use this color body to do more good deeds, make more merits, and live through the ages, but the color body will actually die. In the Buddhist scriptures, the death of the color body is called "segmented birth and death", like our current life is either 60 years old, or 70, 80, 100 or twenty years old, this period of life is "segmented life and death".
Spiritual life and death
The second is spiritual life and death. The mind refers to our thoughts, and this mind is born and extinguished as life and death. For example, the thought of getting up in the morning arises, and when you get up, you have to get dressed, and the thought of getting dressed arises again, and the mind of getting up is extinguished. When I put on my clothes, I might have to put on shoes and socks immediately, and my heart for putting on clothes was extinguished. After putting on shoes and socks, you should rinse your mouth and wash your face, and the thought of wearing shoes and socks is extinguished. By analogy, from morning to night, our thoughts are constantly born and destroyed, good thoughts are also born and destroyed, and evil thoughts are born and destroyed, which is the "death of the soul." The so-called "mutated birth and death" of the Shravaka and the Bodhisattva Sages is a mutation in which there are fewer and fewer afflictions and attachments, and this mutation also belongs to the "death of the mind."
So, from this point of view, people's physiology and psychology are in the midst of death.
There were no deaths
The third is "no death", in order to reach the realm of immortality, one must enter the most true and highest state from the mind, that is, the so-called "clear mind and seeing nature, seeing nature and becoming a Buddha", that is, the state reached by the enlightened sage, and after enlightenment, it is called the Tao. When you see your own heart and nature, you are not born or die.
If we realize the mind of the present moment, there will be no death, and our life will live with the void. From this standpoint, human life in this world is very meaningful and valuable. Because of the realization of the original heart, we can transcend time and space, and truly have immeasurable longevity and immeasurable light.
Image source丨Ten Wishes