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Since ancient times, reciting the "Three Official Classics" to seek blessings and avoid disasters, its fulfillment story is unforgettable.
However, there are exceptions to these accounts: a person who recites the Sanguan Sutra thousands of times, and in the end, instead of being blessed by the gods, ends up going to hell.
The Qing Dynasty's "Treasure Scroll of Filial Piety" recorded this story, which is quite educational, and the author excerpts it as follows:
(Hades) tried a criminal offender, Zhao, a native of Huangzhou.
He was found to have disobeyed his parents, deceived his friends, allowed to harm his beloved, committed adultery and thieves, and his sin was not small.
Hades went to hell.
Zhao said: "The prisoner once ate Sanguan Zhai and recited thousands of volumes of the "Sanguan Sutra", hoping to bless the innocence, is it possible that the Sanguan Emperor has no effect?" ”
Hades scolded: "Death row prisoner! The Emperor of the Three Officials is the three righteous gods of heaven, earth and water, good people eat vegetarian and recite scriptures, and naturally bless disasters and blessings, how can they bless you, a wicked person who is disloyal, unfilial, unkind, and unjust? Besides, if you eat vegetarian and recite sutras, you often have evil thoughts in your heart, and your heart is mixed with sins, so why should you mess up? ”
He commanded him to be sent to hell and never to be reborn.
Note: Sanguanzhai: from the first day of the first month to the fifteenth day of the first month (15 days), from the first day of the seventh month to the fifteenth day of the seventh month (15 days), and from the first day to the fifteenth day of the tenth month (15 days).
It can be seen that if you want to uphold God, you first need to cultivate goodness in your own heart, and then you need to eat vegetarian and chant scriptures, burn incense and worship God.
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On the other hand, if there is no goodness in a person's heart, then all superficial efforts are in vain – whether it is a vegetarian diet or burning incense to worship the gods, it is just a self-soothing performance, and it will not be approved by the gods.
However, in many cases, we have reversed the direction, and we are very diligent in eating vegetarian prayers, chanting sutras, burning incense, and worshipping God, but we never work hard in our hearts:
"Blessed by the Emperor of the Three Officials!"
"Ancestor bless!"
Then he returns to his daily life, disobeying the precepts, being arrogant, harming others and benefiting himself, and using the public for personal gain.
The teachings of the Emperor Sanguan and the ancestor master, why not put a sentence in my heart?
"Recite this sutra. Up to a thousand times. The masterpiece is enthusiastic. Repentance. Break off evil and cultivate good" - "Three Official Classics"
"Faith and good deeds, no evil deeds" - Zu Tianshi: "Lao Tzu Xiang'er Note"
In many cases, when we chant sutras diligently and worship God sincerely, do we regard the gods and patriarchs as models of cultivation and life, or do we regard them as shields for personal and evil deeds?
It's worth asking everyone's questions.
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In this short story of "The Treasure Scroll of Filial Piety", the sinner Zhao used the Emperor Sanguan as a shield for personal evil, and then refuted Lord Yan with eloquence: My faith is so pious! Why go to hell?
In real life, similar situations are common: I wear a robe, I burn incense, I worship God, I eat a vegetarian diet, I recite sutras – so I want to be superior!
However, Dao Zuyun: Jiang Hai can be the king of a hundred valleys, and he can be the king of a hundred valleys because of his goodness. - Tao Te Ching, Chapter 66
The real nobility is not that others hold you up, or rely on Taoist robes and rituals to lift you up, but that you are willing to come down, serve the people, serve the society, accumulate more merits, and accumulate more virtues.
True faith is to take the precepts as a teacher, practice the scriptures, pay attention to the inner practice, and weaken the external performance.
It is the old Nanhua Zhenrenyun: If the husband is not deliberate and high, he cultivates without benevolence and righteousness, governs without merit, has no rivers and seas, lives without guidance, does not forget, has nothing, and has no beauty from it. This way of heaven and earth, the virtue of saints. ——"South China Sutra: Deliberately"
"Ecology" refers to the organic connection between living organisms and their environment. Ecological ethics is people's moral concept, basic norms and moral practice of the relationship between life and ecological environment. Since the 20th century, with the widespread recognition of the environmental crisis by human beings, ecological consciousness has suddenly stepped out of the professional circle and placed itself on the public stage, and has been entrusted with the important task of influencing human environmental practices and maintaining the global ecological balance, and has become a world scholar. Taoism is not an ecology, but its ecological ethical spirit is irreplaceable by other doctrines and religions because of its unique characteristics, otherwise it would not be possible to decline and revivenation, and it has been passed down to this day and has a far-reaching influence. In terms of ethical understanding, Taoism is characterized by its emphasis on the joy, tranquility, tranquility, simplicity and fullness and expansion of the soul of life, focusing on the harmony between self and nature, people-oriented, simple and profound, broad and conventional, and with infinite interest; In terms of ethical practice, Taoism is committed to cultivating the Tao of the Body, cultivating obscurity, indifferent to fame and fortune, and seeking that life will survive forever in the interaction between emotion, behavior, nature, humanity and culture, so it shows the conscious initiative to develop the vitality of life, the identity with natural objects, and the overall systematization of ethical understanding in the understanding of the relationship between natural ecology and human beings. In Taoist parlance, it is "the way of nature cannot be violated"1 and "the way of nature". This nature refers to the nature of the nature of things, the nature of life, and the nature of society. Understanding the essence of things, life and society, and seeking the proper style, attitude and atmosphere of life and nature are the goals and spiritual pillars pursued by Taoist ethics.
The spirit of Taoist ecological ethics is embodied in its exquisite and profound content and connotation that attracts people from all over the world, and in the vitality that makes it continue and develop for a long time. Specifically, the spirit of Taoist ecological ethics is mainly manifested in six aspects:
One is the spirit of the oneness of all things. The highest object of worship in Taoism is the Tao. The purpose of Taoism is to live forever and become immortals. The so-called attainment of the Tao is the integration of cultivation and the Great Dao, so Taoism is the religion that attaches the most importance to real life among the many religions in China. In its view, all things in the world are one, the existence of all things in nature has its rationality, and man is a part of all things in heaven and earth, and should take life as pleasure, rebirth and evil death, so that life can be constantly sublimated. Human beings should also respect the existence and individuality of all things in nature with a sense of equality. The early Taoist classic "Taiping Sutra" proposes that "heaven and earth are harmonious and concentric, and all things coexist"2, believing that the ideal Taiping world is a world in which people and natural things at all levels live in harmony, coexist and prosper. In the Taoist thinker Ge Hong, the equal consciousness of the unity of all things is also very clear and rich, and he believes that through cultivation, people can achieve the ideals of "longevity and long-term vision" and "flesh becoming immortals", which is the realm of being one with nature or the unity of all things. Taoism also has the idea of "the unity of life and Tao, valuing people and precious lives", Lao Tzu pointed out that Tao is the origin of the universe, and Tao gives birth to one, life two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things. Zhuangzi said, "Heaven and earth are born together with me, and all things are one with me." All things in heaven and earth, and I am one. This shows that Taoism focuses on understanding and grasping the will of human beings from the height of the universe. The spirit of ecological ethics of the unity of all things tells people to live in harmony with nature and create a harmonious and symbiotic ecological civilization society.
The second is the spirit of being born without being. Associated with the spirit of the oneness of all things, Taoism believes that the highest state and criterion of life is the morality of producing all things without possessing them. Taoism believes that the highest state of physical cultivation and spiritual perfection of a person is the "Tao". How did the Tao come about? Ge Hong proposed: "The Tao starts from one, and it is noble and uneventful, and each lives in one place, like heaven, earth, and people, so it is called Sanyi." The heavens are clear, the earth is peaceful, people are alive, and God is spiritual. 3 And he thinks that this is a play on Lao Tzu's wisdom path. Lao Tzu once pointed out that "man is the law of the earth, the earth is the law of the sky, the heaven is the law, and the Tao is natural", and the essence of nature is: "The respect of the Tao, the nobility of virtue, the life of Fu Mo and the nature of the nature." Therefore, the Tao is born, the virtue of the animal, the cultivation of the long, the poison of the pavilion, the overburden of the raising, the birth but not there, for the sake of not being ashamed, the long but not slaughtered, is called Xuande. Therefore, only "Taoism and Nature" are in line with moral thinking. Noble morality consists in multiplying all things without taking them for oneself, helping all things without taking merit for oneself, and guiding all things without dominating them. Tang Dynasty Taoist scholar, medical scientist Sun Simiao is a practitioner of this spirit, his medical theory is based on the unity of heaven and man, born without saying, saying that "heaven has four times and five elements", "man has four branches and five Tibets", "yang uses its shape, yin uses its essence, heaven and man are the same", "good doctors guide it with medicine stones, save it with injections, sages and virtues, supplemented by personnel, so the body has curable diseases, and heaven and earth have disasters that can be eliminated." 4 Sun Simiao himself "learned the art of mathematics and talked about Zhengyi", not only with superb medical skills, but also with noble morals. The spirit of Taoism has considerable practical and universal significance, which puts forward the concept of the continuous and balanced development of things in the world, revealing that human beings must conform to nature, imitate the laws of nature, and do something but not do something, in order to be handy and achieve results; If it is forcibly demanded, it will backfire, destroy harmony, and cannot reach a very high level.
The third is the spirit of bending into all things. Before Taoism, "Zhou Yi Chuan" said: "The master is in harmony with heaven and earth, the sun and the moon, and the four seasons." "After the heaven and earth are handed over, the way of heaven and earth will be made with wealth, and it will be appropriate to complement heaven and earth." It is pointed out here that the way of heaven and the way of earth are opposite and harmonious, and their coordination is mediated by man. Lao Tzu raised people to an important position: "Therefore, the Tao is great, the sky is great, the earth is great, and the people are also great." There are four great domains, and people live in one of them." Since "man is also great", then man is not only dependent on and subject to nature, but must control the laws of nature. Because man depends on nature to survive, and he has to exchange material things with nature. Taoism further proposes here: people should think twice, judge the situation, ask immortals and ask questions without acting recklessly; If we "act recklessly" in the opposite way, we will inevitably corrupt our minds and even endanger human beings themselves. Practitioners of Taoism believe that people and all things in the universe are mutually sensitive, and the basis of induction is that people and all things have spirituality, and people and things communicate with each other. As a member of the cosmic community, human beings should aim to promote the harmony and perfection of the entire universe, and should not stifle the vitality of the universe by destroying all kinds of natural objects. Therefore, Taoism not only gives people a kind of ideological belief to establish a life or pay attention to the perfection and observance of doctrines and canons, and seeks the solemnity and piety of sacrifices and prayers, but also concretizes beliefs or doctrines and canons into various Taoist skills and Taoism, and then forms an operating system to guide all believers to practice and practice. It can be said that Taoism is a religion that attaches importance to Taoism, art, and practice, and not only attaches importance to the promotion of "Tao", but also actively advocates exercises and alchemy. A true Taoist disciple's practical grasp of the true meaning of Taoism lies in not only understanding its basic purpose or possessing its pious beliefs, but also training in Taoism, striving to accumulate Taoist skills, advancing day by day, and constantly deepening and purifying their faith. In this way, the agency of human activities and the adaptability of man and nature are fully emphasized. As the intermediary and coordinator of heaven and earth, man must not only conform to nature, but also restrain and guide natural changes to form all things.
Fourth, the spirit of unity and difference. The spirit of unity and diversity in Taoism is inherited from the spirit of "harmony" in traditional ethics. The Taoist "Taiping Sutra" proposes that "the one who neutralizes all things is also the one who controls all things", and believes that things at all levels in nature and human society contain three basic elements: yin, yang, and harmony, which together form one thing, hence the name of the three concentrics. "There are three kinds of vitality: the sun, the yin, and the neutral. There are three forms: heaven, earth, and man. There are three heavens: the sun, the moon, and the stars, and the north pole is the middle. There are three names of the earth: mountains, rivers, and flat soils. There are three human beings: Father, Mother, and Son. There are three rulers: the king, the minister, and the people. 5 The three concentrics are the ideal peaceful world. The way of yin and yang embodies the will of heaven, so people must conform to the principle of yin and yang, and maintain the harmony between people and people, and between people and nature from all aspects, so as to eliminate disasters and differences, and strive for world peace. In order to achieve this goal, Taoism developed the idea of harmony in the belief system, the Danshu talisman, and the ritual norms. The combined and different ecological wisdom helps people realize the meaning of the diversity of all things in the world. By preserving the diversity of things, it is possible to achieve sustainable development.
Fifth, the spirit of recycling. In terms of how to make effective use of nature, the traditional Chinese have established the goals of "big" and "long", and believe that in order to achieve this goal, people must have the virtue of neutrality, imitate heaven and earth, and use institutions to control people's infinite desires and not cause harm to nature and human beings. "Zhou Yi" pointed out two ways, one of which is "ninety-two Zhenji, Yizhong also." The second is "Zhongzheng Yitong." Heaven and earth are made at four o'clock, and moderation is used to control the world, so as not to harm wealth and people. Taoism has also developed a similar idea, emphasizing that the confirmation of life and the conditions for its existence is the wisdom of the sage, the virtue of the sage, and the karma of the sage, and that the ideal life world of man is a beautiful society in which the object and the self are the same, and that in such a society, life can be cyclical, continuous, and endless. Early Taoism believed that the immortals of ancient times, or born with wings, changed to fly, stood out from the nature of ordinary people, and even incarnated into alien shapes, like a finch turned into a clam, and a pheasant turned into a mirage. Later Taoism absorbed more humanistic and daily thoughts, and from the perspective of life cycle and regeneration, it regarded "old age without decay, prolonging life, and entering and exiting arbitrarily"6 as the way of immortals. Tan Qiao, a Taoist scholar in the Five Dynasties period, looked at the universe, life and society from the perspective of "transformation", and proposed: "Void God, deify Qi, Qi into form, form into essence, refine into Xuan, and Gu Xuan into ......" 7 The whole of life and the prosperity of society is in the process of change and unity. In terms of the concept of using materials, Taoism advocates that human beings should control their desires more and maintain the vitality and development vitality of all things, which is quite consistent with the concepts of traditional Chinese thought, such as entering the mountains and cutting forests according to the season, prohibiting the harvesting of woodwood, prohibiting the hunting of young animals and young birds, prohibiting the killing of fish and crabs, fishing without exhausting the water, and hunting without burning the forest. To get along with biological resources, people need to exchange materials. Material exchange is not a forcible appropriation, but an adaptation and adaptation to nature.
Sixth, the spirit of integrating all things. Taoist thought has always regarded nature as a super-huge system full of life, in which everything is organically connected to each other, and the universe moves in its course, which is the intersection of time and space coordinates. From the beginning of Lao and Zhuang, we explore the mysteries of the village in order to reveal the overall relationship inherent in nature. Lao Tzu said: "The avenue is universal, and it can be left and right." All things persevere and survive, and success is not famous. Clothing all things without being the main, often no desire can be called small. All things are returned to the Lord, but they can be called great. It is not self-sufficient in the end, so it can become great. 8 In other words, the Great Way nourishes all things like a vast river, without selfishness or partiality, and loves all life like a great mother, and all life is nurtured by the Word. We should treat the natural world with kindness, because fundamentally "man and heaven are the same". 9 That being the case, it is necessary to protect the environment. Zhuangzi said: "All things are planted, with different forms of Zen, the beginning of the death is like a ring, Mo De Qilun, is said to be the balance of heaven." Tianjun is also a Tianni. 10 That is to say, everything comes from a particular species, but there are also connections and transformations between species of different substances, like a circle, which cannot be distinguished from the whole and the order. This natural connection can be called "Tianjun". Taoism believes that the Tao is the origin of the world, and that the Tao is the general source of all life and the total driving force that unites the generation of all things. Wu Yun, a Taoist priest in the Tang Dynasty, said: "The way that is born is the Tao, and the Tao is nameless." The animal is called virtue, and virtue is not praised. Try to talk about it, the characters of heaven and earth, the immortals, ghosts and gods, there is no way to live without Taoism, and there is no way to achieve without virtue. The living do not know the beginning, and the adult does not know the end. Explore the mystery of the secret, do not peep into its ancestry, enter the end of existence, the first of none, do not investigate its me, it is called natural. The natural one is the norm of morality, and the outline of heaven and earth. 11 Based on the natural principles of the world of things, the significance of moral ontology to the world of things is reasoned about, which contains the wisdom of ecological ethics that is free from scarcity and has a good way to do things. The Great Dao is the origin of the universe and the starting point for observing all things in heaven and earth. Observe the world from the perspective of the avenue, heaven and earth are the same, all things are one, there is no division between things and me, and there is no one or the other; Although all things in heaven and earth have different forms, and although everything in the world has its own reason, when it comes to the fundamentals, each goes with its own feelings, each does its best, each is natural, and each is safe, this is the same in the difference, the difference in the difference, the realization of the same in the difference, the difference in the difference, and the realization of the avenue, and the integration into the avenue.
All in all, the above-mentioned aspects, when implemented in reality, to maintain biological species, green and beautify the living environment, can contribute to the maintenance of ecological balance and the realization of sustainable development. This means that Taoist ecological ethics must and can be transformed into modernity. The opportunity for transformation lies in the shaping of the personality of modernity with a noble spiritual realm. Because according to the concept of Taoism, the lofty realm that people have reached through cultivation is not mysterious and unattainable, and the supreme immortal is also the embodiment of man's creation and cultivation in the world. Mr. Mou Zhongjian, an expert in the history of religion in mainland China, summarized the personality characteristics of Taoist gods and immortals into the following aspects: first, the vitality is deep and vigorous, so they can live a long and healthy life; The second is that the spiritual realm is superb, getting rid of the "small self" and achieving the "big self", so the spirit can not die; Third, the wisdom is outstanding, with high insight and foresight, but also wise and foolish, and the same dust as the light; Fourth, benefit but not harm, for the sake of not fighting, merit in the world; Fifth, be chic and comfortable, open-minded and calm, good at resolving troubles, and always maintain a happy mood. If you can do these things, you can be called a living immortal. The so-called fairy realm, in addition to happy people, is a beautiful and pleasant environment. Blue sky and white clouds, green mountains and green waters, birds and flowers, the people live peacefully and happily, this is the beautiful life like a peach blossom source in the world. 12 We believe that as long as people work hard to build and integrate the ethical spirit of Chinese Taoism, which is one and all things are one, born without being, bent into all things, united and different, recycled, and integrated into all things, into the shaping of modern personality and used to promote our material and cultural construction, the fairyland on earth can appear in front of our eyes.
"There is no limit, and all the beauty follows it." - Wonderful!