Life and death! !

If we know that life and death are inevitable processes, then life itself is dignity. Because there is no way to separate life from death; At birth, death is inevitable. Therefore, it is no trouble to live, and there is no need to feel sad when you die; It depends on our attitude towards life and death.

Life and death is a broad and in-depth topic. Different people have different views, ideas and positions. In the past 30 years, this topic has attracted more and more attention from people in the East and West, and many scholars have discussed it from the perspectives of philosophy, religion and medicine. I've seen a lot about Tibetan Buddhism, but today I'm going to talk about the dignity of life and death from the standpoint of China's Han Buddhism, not from the perspective of Tibetan Buddhism.

I'm not an expert on life and death. I only know that from the perspective of Buddhism, from my understanding of Buddhism, from my experience and observation of life and death. Today's speech, I will be divided into eight sub-themes.

First, from helplessness, dependence and disorientation to loveliness, preciousness and self-affirmation of life.

There are many Buddhists who feel negative about life and think that life is helpless, suffering and a burden. This is the reason why they don't understand Buddhism. Buddha said: "The human body is rare, and Buddhism stinks. The wisdom of our dharma body is how to realize. How to become a Buddha? To become a Buddha by enlightenment, we must use our bodies to achieve the purpose of practice; The color body is the life of the body, and only in the process of human life can we hear and practice Buddhism.

Many people think that practice is to go to the pure land of Buddhism, which is wrong. Because a bodhisattva must become a Buddha on earth, not in the form of other kinds of beings. You have to have a human body before you can get a heart; Develop bodhisattva's heart, practice bodhisattva's Tao, and then become a Buddha. Therefore, the human body is the most lovely and precious; From ordinary people to bodhisattvas, from bodhisattvas to buddhas, they are all made in the world.

Second, life and death are closely related and inseparable. The inevitable arrival of death has been confirmed at birth. Life is not necessarily gratifying, and death is not necessarily sad. If life has no dignity, what is it? If death has dignity, why be sad?

If we know that life and death are inevitable processes, then life itself is dignity. Because there is no way to separate life from death; At birth, death is inevitable. Therefore, it is no trouble to live, and there is no need to feel sad when you die; It depends on our attitude towards life and death. If you live without dignity, what's a pity to die? What is gratifying about life? On the contrary, if you die with dignity, what's so sad about death?

3. The dignity of life is to experience and show from living a meaningful, valuable and purposeful life.

A person's life is a stage, a process of life and death. The dignity of life can be established in ethical relations, social perspectives, historical judgments, philosophical theories, religious beliefs and many other aspects. Today, however, I am not talking from the above perspective, but from the standpoint of a Buddhist to discuss the dignity of life and death.

(A) the meaning of life

From the standpoint of Buddhism, life exists to get returns and wishes. The wishes made in the past must be realized; Industries created in the past must be rewarded. Therefore, life exists because of causal facts.

(B) the value of life

The value of life lies not in being objectively evaluated and judged by others, but in being responsible for yourself, fulfilling the responsibilities to be completed in this life, and making the highest and greatest contribution by using your limited life as much as possible.

Everyone plays many different roles in this world, such as parents, couples, children, teachers, students and so on. Therefore, we should do our duty, enrich ourselves, make contributions and ask for nothing in return. Just think about how to benefit others and dedicate one person, two people, or even many people's material and spiritual abilities. This is the value of life; Even for a natural environment, we should do our duty to protect and contribute, which is for self-interest and benefit, and also to be a bodhisattva.

(3) the goal of life

This is the need to have a big direction, as their eternal destination. You must share what you have with others and give it back to all sentient beings. At the same time, keep wishing that you can grow and melt, blend and surpass, and make endless contributions. If such a goal is set, no matter whether life is long or short, it is extremely dignified.

4. Life and death are two sides of an organic whole, so life and death are inevitable phenomena in infinite time and space.

(a) Life is a right, so is death; Life is a responsibility, so is death. When you are alive, accept it and use it; Finally, accept it and welcome it. I often say to patients with advanced cancer: "Don't wait for death, don't be afraid of death, live one more day, just live one more minute, and cherish the living life." Because survival and death are inevitable phenomena in infinite time; When you don't deserve to die, you shouldn't be boring yourself. It's no use being greedy when you have to die.

(2) Life and death are closely related. Everyone should be prepared for death from the day they know that there is life. You know, the dead person may be himself or his relatives and friends. This kind of thing can happen at any time. This is not to make young people afraid of death and scare them with death, but to let them know the fact of death from an early age. Only in this way can we help our wisdom grow.

When he was a teenager, Sakyamuni Buddha discovered the fact of human life process, from birth and death to death, which prompted him to practice enlightenment, make him grow up and gain great wisdom, thus saving mankind all over the world.

(3) Cherish life, respect the value of life, let yourself grow with life and make contributions to others. No one has the right to know when to die; So, know it will come, but don't worry about when the fact of death will happen.

In Taiwan Province Province, there is a disciple in my family who believes in numerology. He once asked many fortune tellers to tell his fortune. They all say he can only live to be 69. That year, he resigned, divided his property and waited for death. But the next year when he was still alive, he came to me regretfully and said, "Master! I should die. Why am I not dead? Do you know why? I said, "Maybe you have accumulated virtue by doing good deeds and changed the time of death." I also advised him, "Don't be afraid of death, wait for death. Live one day and do your duty one day, no matter when you die. Just live with your precious life. As a result, he didn't die until he was eighty-six.

5. Where did life come from? Where did you die?

Many people establish their views and theories of life and death from philosophy and religious beliefs, while others believe in supernatural forces and look at the past and future with fatalism and clairvoyance. I can only say that these are people's hopes, views and pursuits, but they are not reliable.

Confucian scholars in China advocated "Listen to Taoism, and you can die at night! There are also people who say that "life and death are determined by fate" or "resigned to fate", that is, life and death are determined by fate, but Confucianism has not explained what life is. Confucius once said, "If you don't know life, how can you know death? Laozi said a very reasonable point: "born to die", born to die; Another cloud says, "Life is life, and death is life." When we are alive, the road to death has begun to move. So Lao Tzu told us that we don't have to worry about life and death, as long as we respect morality and "life is always natural", that is, as long as there is morality, as for life and death, let nature take its course.

Western religions don't believe that people have past lives. They say that human life is created and given by God, and after death, he returns to heaven under the call of God. This is good, too. Everything is dominated by God, and there is no need to worry about life and death. This is also a happy and lucky thing.

Pantheism philosophy means that life comes from God and death returns to God. Materialist philosophy holds that life and death are both material phenomena, life is like burning a lamp, and death is like extinguishing a lamp.

Buddhists believe that people have past lives, but where does life come from? Do you want to borrow an avatar to get to know each other? I don't need it, because the past life is infinitely long, and I can't pursue the life from one life to another. Where did it come from? We just need to do our best dedication and practice, and the rest, let nature take its course.

Sixth, the Buddhist view of life and death.

(1) Our life and death stage in this world is just a paragraph in the process of infinite life. Just like constant travel, it appears in new york today, disappears tomorrow, and then goes to Washington, Chicago and other places, appearing and disappearing in different places every day; Life is the same, it is a fact that there is no beginning. Death does not mean the end of life, but the process of one life has come to an end, and the process of another life is waiting to be accepted.

(2) The phenomena of birth, aging, illness and death of life can be divided into three categories:

The moment of life and death is in a very short time. The cells, tissues and minds of our bodies are always born and often disappear; Psychology and physiology, constant metabolism, constant change, life and death, rise and fall.

The process of life and death from birth to death, a period or stage of life and death.

These three lives and deaths, the infinite past three lives, the infinite future three lives, plus the present three lives. As far as the present stage of this life is concerned, the past, the future and the present are three generations; Infinite past, future and present; Past past future present, future past future present, present past future present, present past future present, present past future present.

Such ideas and theories can bring us hope and comfort, and also bring us reasons to continue living in this life. When you don't die, suicide is irresponsible, sorry for this life, and may even disturb the future.

(3) The sublimation of life and death can be divided into three categories and three sections:

The division of life and death of ordinary people is a stage, a process, a life, a life; From birth to death, from death to life, this is the birth and death of three lives. However, ordinary people only stay at this stage, only life and death, without improving the meaning and quality of life.

The change of life and death of saints is to practice, grow and help themselves improve their quality of life with Buddhism. Therefore, the merits of compassion and wisdom are changing and constantly purifying; From the stage of bodhisattva or the fruit position of arhat to the level of becoming Buddha, it is called change.

In the face of great nirvana, life and death are life and death. Speaking of the fruit of becoming a Buddha, that is, the realm of great nirvana, it transcends the physical body and shows the dharma body. It is absolutely immortal and can generally appear in the sea of life and death of all beings in various capacities. Although there is still a phenomenon of life and death, there is no persistence, worry and anxiety about life and death.

Seven, how to face death? How to make death dignified?

(1) If you can live, you must live; if you must die, you must accept it gladly; Be grateful for life and death. From the meditator's point of view, death can be divided into three levels or three attitudes:

Life and death and karma, life and death together, you can't be the Lord, you are born because of him, and you die because of him; Life and death are at a loss.

Independent life and death know life and death, live well and die bravely; Live happily and die simply.

Beyond life and death-although there is life and death, for those who have been liberated, beyond life and death and have a thorough understanding, life does not depend on greed, and death does not depend on fear of death; Life and death are not only the same, but there is no such thing at all.

(2) Try to survive, and surviving can improve the quality of life and purify the soul. But don't ask for death, don't be afraid of death, be grateful for death, because death can let you put aside thousands of responsibilities in this life and face a life journey full of hope and light with the merits of your life.

(3) Life and death phenomena such as sunrise and sunset. At sunset, only the sun disappears on the horizon, but it will never disappear; At sunrise, only the sun rises from the horizon, and it always hangs high in the sky. Although the human body has the phenomenon of life and death, everyone has a pure Buddha nature and will always be in full swing. Therefore, death is not terrible or sad, so there is no need to fear it; Our future is full of hope.

(4) When death comes, if you have self-knowledge, you should face it bravely and accept it gladly. You should be grateful for your life's actions, whether they are good or evil. This is an experienced experience. You should have no complaints, no regrets and no pride. The past has become the past, and it is most important to face a bright future.

There are six factors that can determine the future after death:

Good karma or bad karma, which is more important or less, will be where to go.

With the reward of heavy industry, you will receive the reward of light industry in turn.

Suixi is neither good nor evil, but he has a particularly strong habit. At the end of his life, he reincarnated in his place with the deviation of habit.

What kind of karma matures first, the nearest and closest place to you.

The thinking tendency at the end of life determines the destination.

As you wish, when you die, decide what to do after death.

Meditators should practice with thoughts and wishes. If they are attached to their careers, valued, studied and fated, it will be very pitiful.

(5) If the dying person has fallen into a coma and lost his self-knowledge ability, his relatives and friends should recite scriptures, hold spells, recite the names of Buddha and Bodhisattva for him with sincerity and stability, or meditate beside him, with concentration and confidence, to help his gods avoid being at a loss, from being confused, from being stable, and from facing the light, so as not to make the deceased fall into a super life.

(6) Don't use equipment to rescue in panic, and don't shout for help. The dignity of death is not to let the dying people go on in pain, whether physical or mental pain, it is harmful to the dead; The important thing is to let him leave this world safely, quietly, peacefully and warmly.

Eight, a peaceful death is the dignity of death.

There are many problems with the dignity of death, namely accidental death; Whether it can move after death; Death penalty and abortion; The problem of crossing the vagina; Brain death and vegetative problems; Donate remains and organs; Suicide problem; Advanced cancer, natural death and euthanasia; The definition of life and death.

Each of the above questions is an important topic, and you can talk nonsense. Due to the limited time today, I will reserve these questions for the time being and explain them to you separately later. However, the principle of death cannot violate peace and tranquility, that is, we should pay attention to the dignity of death.

(19961October 27th, new york Dongchu Temple, Yao Shizhuang arranged tapes and wrote articles. )