Who is the most reliable in life?

I'm really glad to have the opportunity to preach Buddhism to you here tonight. Now I want to ask a question, which is "Who is the most reliable in life"? This is an interesting question. We have always said or heard that a person needs a backer to be stable. But there is something wrong with this backer. Who is the most reliable? Which mountain is stable? If it is unstable, even a mountain is in danger of falling down. For example, in ancient times, people often took "no official in the DPRK" and "someone in the DPRK" as their backing; The modern new term, the so-called "nepotism", is also looking for a backer. But even if you find such a backer, is it really reliable? That's a problem. Or that life is "relying on parents at home and friends when going out", which also makes sense. My parents support me and my friends help me. Who says it's unreliable?

But careful study, relying on parents and friends is also temporary and difficult to last. If parents are really reliable, then the news about "breaking away from father-son relationship" or the dispute about "father and son going to court" will not happen. If friends are really reliable, those incidents of "ingratitude", "killing people with knives" and "selling friends for glory" will not be common. In fact, I don't know how many things violate the norms between the five ethics in life! It can be seen that living in this dreamy life and vain society, it is really difficult to find a reliable object. Now let's put forward a few unreliable things in the world:

1, itself is not reliable.

Many people attach great importance to their figure, or dazzle the public by skill or beauty. Buddhist scriptures say that the body is a stinking skin, which is full of feces and filth. What is there to be arrogant about? The accumulation method of five aggregates, harmony, impermanence of bad luck and rapid decline, what is there to be proud of? Besides, if you have a body, you will be born and die. If you want to be old, you have to be old. If you want to get sick, you have to get sick. How can it be reliable?

2. Wealth is unreliable

Everyone in the world wants to have wealth, the so-called "money is enough"; Can the rich get sick all the time? This shows that this sentence is unreliable. Or: "rich ghosts push carts, poor ghosts tease", which proves that money is noble and reliable; But the Buddhist scripture says, "money is five things, and you can't rely on it for a long time." . The so-called "five * * *" means that money is related to five disasters: floods, fires, thieves, corrupt officials and black sheep. These five disasters have occurred from time to time, proving that money is unreliable; Moreover, if the money is scattered, it will bring more pain than the poor, because the poor can still live in poverty, and once the rich are poor, it will be very difficult to live in poverty, and the pain will be even worse.

3. reputation is unreliable

Some people think that fame and power are the most valuable and reliable things in the world. With fame and status, people can raise their social status. With power, you can bully others. The so-called "gentleman would rather have no money and no right"; But "a tree attracts the wind, and its reputation is greatly damaged". It climbs high and falls heavily. "Yesterday was a guest, now is a prisoner", "The winner is king, and the loser is the enemy" is everywhere. So, is fame reliable? Without fame, its suffering is still less; Wouldn't it be more painful if you lost your reputation and fell from a height?

Friends and relatives are unreliable.

It's good to rely on parents at home and friends when going out. However, the unpredictable human feelings are like the changeable wind clouds in the sky. Throughout the ages, many relatives and friends have become enemies. Can you guarantee the reliability of your relatives and friends? "It takes a hundred days not to be red, and people are not good for a hundred days." It is common to see things change. What's more, relatives and friends, even those in need, can't rely on him when it comes to Where are you going? On the contrary, because of their kindness, they have deepened the pain of parting, which shows that it is not a good idea to rely on relatives and friends in life.

5. Social unreliability

Some people think that as long as the country is strong and the society is prosperous, it will bring infinite happiness to itself and be more reliable; But seeing those rich and powerful countries in Europe and America, which country has no unemployed people? How many countries have no social disputes? Even the rich countries on the Gold Coast still have unemployment and public security problems. Do you think society is reliable? And society is dark, fighting for self-interest and interests. Many people struggle on the social life line and fall into the trap. This proves that society is not only unreliable, but also dangerous!

6. Fate is unreliable

Many people like to tell fortune by fortune telling, and regard it as his only belief. People who believe in fortune telling are full of confidence in their future judgment: people who believe in fortune telling say that fate has doomed their lives. In fact, is there a relationship between fate and phase? We can be sure that it exists, but it is not fixed or doomed. It is important to know that life is born from the heart and phase changes from the heart. Once upon a time, Yuan Lefan believed in fortune telling and fate for more than 30 years, which was very effective; Later, when Zen master Yungu taught Buddhism and followed it, he found that fate was not necessarily accurate or doomed. It can be seen that believing in appearance, color and fate is only a temporary instruction to make arrangements in advance, and believing it is not destined to be reliable.

7. Feng Shui is unreliable

Yin and Yang qi numbers and geographical geomantic omen are inherent knowledge of China, and most people in China believe that geomantic omen exists. But don't you believe that good feng shui is fixed? Feng shui is not necessarily. Although it exists, it will change at any time. After all, it is not reliable. I have a friend who lives in Heshan, Guangdong. He said that there is a mountain with good feng shui, which is a real dragon cave. But a temple was built on it. At that time, an official used his power to drive the monks to tear down the temple and forcibly bury their parents' bones in the dragon cave. When the monk was driven away by him, he only said two words: "There is no geography here; If there is no justice in this place. " As a result, the descendants of that official were underdeveloped for generations. From this story, we know that although geomantic geography exists, it also changes because of people's kindness or not. It is also unreliable to bury one's ancestors in the dragon cave of the town if one harms others and benefits oneself viciously.

8. Ghosts and gods are unreliable

People who believe in the worship of ghosts and gods have no idea but to beg for mercy when terrible things come; But can begging for mercy really be saved? It's hard to say. According to the observation of Buddhism, how can every ghost and god save others when they are still suffering and cannot save themselves? Among ghosts and gods, there are also good and bad points. How much help or help can you ask them? The evil soul, with fierce nature, will bring you disaster. For example, Article 8 of the Tibetan Scripture says: "Jambu-Di^pa who does good deeds has all kinds of evils at his deathbed, or becomes the family of his parents, leading the dead astray. The evil ghost king said, "We are different in Jambu-Di^pa, whether we benefit mankind or harm mankind. ".Good ghosts and gods, if you ask him for help, he may not have the strength to save you from trouble; Evil spirits, and will lead good people to evil paths; It can be seen that it is not a good idea to rely on ghosts and gods in life.

The eight beliefs in life mentioned above are not reliable; Then what is reliable? What should I believe? The simple answer is that believing in Buddhism is reliable, just believing in Buddhism. So what is the basis for believing in Buddhism?

(1) Look at cause and effect, not fate.

The right view of Buddhism first clarifies the causal relationship of life, which lies in the four truths of suffering, gathering, extinction and Taoism: the bitter fruit of life now is the karma gathered from the past; If you practice the Tao, because you are born now, you will get nirvana in the future. Believing in cause and effect is believing in justice, not superstition. No matter what happens in the world, its rise and fall contains cause and effect. From a shallow point of view, the reason of cause and effect is simple. For example, as you sow, you reap, and everyone knows. But deep down, it is very mysterious. Whatever the reason, as long as it is planted, it will never be lost. That's because the seeds of good and evil are preserved in the "Araya knowledge" of our life ontology, and even if it is reincarnated, it will not be lost. Therefore, the Karma says, "Even after hundreds of robberies, what you have done will not die. When karma comes, what you have done will be rewarded."

Therefore, the theory and facts of causality are not limited to the present world like Confucianism. For example, the Book of Changes said, "If there is a good family, there will be Qing Yu, and if there is a bad family, it will be troubled." This is that good comes from good and evil comes from bad consequences. But Confucius answered the students' questions about death, but said, "If you don't know life, how can you know death?" It can be seen that although Confucianism talks about cause and effect, it only talks about the present life and does not pay attention to life and death. Most other religions that believe in God only talk about the present cause and effect, such as "the believer is saved", that is, being saved now and being born in the future, and what happened in the past has not been talked about. However, there are also many problems in life. If we don't know the past, it is difficult to answer them, or the answer is not satisfactory.

As human beings, why are there differences between the rich and the poor? If it is speculated that there is a powerful master who creates everything, it will bear many fruits, which is contrary to the fact that everything in the world grows, because everything in the world is born of one, such as plums, not peaches. Therefore, it is unreasonable and incomprehensible to create everything with the strong. And such a solution will not be satisfactory, because the strong created human beings and divided them into rich and poor, smart and stupid classes. Isn't it that he is so unequal in his heart that human beings are treated unfairly? It is very simple and straightforward for the Buddha to prove the wisdom of the reality of various laws, reach the truth of cause and effect in the third world, be subtle and far from being poor in the past, infer the future, judge the present, and solve the problems of the rich and the poor, and be wise and foolish in life, that is, the various causes of the reality of life are different from the previous life, the good ones are rich and wise, and the evil ones are poor, stupid and self-sufficient. This solution is reasonable and fair and should be credible.

But believing in cause and effect is different from believing in fate, because believing in cause and effect is reliable and believing in fate is unreliable. Why? Fate is not fixed. If you do good deeds, your bad luck will get better. If you do evil, your good fortune will get worse. Believe in fate, believe in geography and feng shui, both of which will change and are unreliable. Believe that cause and effect have their own reasons. As long as the goal is recognized, the future is bright and happy, there is no need to doubt, it takes time and money to predict good or bad.

(2) Rely on your own efforts rather than God's will.

In Agama, the Buddha once warned his disciples: "Stop at yourself, stop at Dharma, stop at nothing!" ! It is to teach believers to go to the essence and follow the instructions of Buddhism, which is the true nature of learning Buddhism; It is difficult for a Buddhist to rely on others or bodhisattvas to save him, because both Buddhists and Bodhisattvas are rational, not emotional. If you are lazy, or do many evils and refuse to do good, and want to ask Buddha and Bodhisattva for blessing, Buddha and Bodhisattva will do as you wish, just like talking to themselves, overturning the theory of cause and effect, an excellent idea that you have painstakingly learned.

Therefore, in the four basic points of learning Buddhism (see the book Mindfulness and Enlightenment), there is a criterion of "law does not depend on people": law is rational, rational, unchangeable and reliable; People have feelings, and feelings are round, rotatable and unreliable. Therefore, if you rely on the law, you will succeed, or you will give up your independence and rely entirely on others. It is doubtful whether you can succeed. For example, Ananda, the cleverest disciple of the Buddha, refused to study hard, thinking that the Buddha treated him well and had nothing to be afraid of. Unexpectedly, he was lured by modern women and almost suffered, so he was ashamed to confess to the Buddha: "I became a monk from the Buddha, relying on the Buddha's power to be a god, constantly thinking about myself, and practicing without effort, and I must say that the Tathagata benefited from Samadha and I don't know the difference between body and mind." This is to rely on your own strength rather than on the portrayal of others. It is not reliable to rely on other powers of Buddha and Bodhisattva, not to mention that ordinary religion only depends on the will of God and the hope of success!

When the Buddha was alive, there was a brahmin who worshipped God by the river. He asked the Buddha if his prayer method was correct. The Buddha said, "If you throw a stone into the river, if you pray to God, will it float?" ? He replied, "I won't come up." The Buddha asked, "Oil floats in water. Can you pray to god to let it sink? " ? He also replied, "It won't sink." . The Buddha said: "If a person can accumulate good deeds and good fortune, he will rise, but he will not fall." Because of sin, you will sink. If you pray, it is impossible. Cause and effect are self-inflicted and have nothing to do with God. What can you do for God if you don't obey the rules? "! From this precious revelation, it is reflected that life depends on self-reliance, not on providence, and it is precisely according to the law of causality that life is on the bright road.

(3) Relying on true wisdom instead of false knowledge.

Wisdom is real, choosing right and wrong, clear and reliable; Knowledge is illusory, delusional and impermanent, so it is unreliable. But ordinary people, full of obstacles and doubts, hide real wisdom, all use their brains to create evil and rotate life and death. As the Buddha in the Shurangama Sutra said to Ananda, "This is an illusion of the past and confuses your truth. From the beginning of your life, you regarded a thief as your son, and you lost your constancy, so you were rotated. " "Chang Yuan" is authenticity. Truth is an illusion of "thinking about the past in vain". If true wisdom is not released and right and wrong are reversed, it will cause the pain of karma reincarnation. Therefore, one of the four criteria for learning Buddhism is that "wisdom should not depend on knowledge", and the goal of learning Buddhism is to "turn knowledge into wisdom" and "get rid of bitterness and joy". The method of his study is to keep abstinence from delusion, control delusion instead of following it, so that he can concentrate on a situation, pacify the vanity of his life, turn his wisdom from fixed to true, and jump into the holy land of liberation like a king kong, extremely sharp kudzu vine.

A lot of words have been said above, telling everyone that this is not reliable and that is not reliable. To sum up, we need to find something reliable and establish a firm belief. We know that relying on cause and effect means believing in cause and effect, but believing in fate, geomantic omen and so on. It's not really a place to convert. Knowing that relying on self-reliance, not on providence, on society, on friends, on money, on fame and so on is not the right way. Knowing that relying on true wisdom, not false knowledge, we know that our usual false intentions are useless; Only by seeking insight from Buddhism and being confused can we discover the new continent in the real world!