There is a chapter in The Analects in which disciples ask ghosts and gods. Confucius said, "If you can't serve people, how can you serve ghosts?" Disciple asked: "Dare to ask death." Confucius said, "If you don't know life, how can you know death?" At first, I thought that Confucius meant not to understand what it was like to be alive, so don't rush to understand what death and ghosts and gods are all about. This seems to give yourself an excuse not to think about life and death unconsciously. Confucius should have another meaning. Can it be understood as "if you can fix people, you can fix ghosts" and "if you know life, you know death"?
It must be admitted that we lack a real understanding of death and what happened at that time or after death. I used to think that when people died, everything was over and everything was lost. However, most people either deny death, or live in fear of death. Even mentioning death is a taboo, thinking that talking about death will bring misfortune.
There are also people who look at death with a childish and rash mood. For some unknown reasons, they think that their death will not be a problem and there is nothing to worry about. Because everyone will die, death is not a big deal, death is natural. This idea is beautiful, but it won't be good until the last moment.
These two different attitudes towards death, one regards death as something to be avoided, and the other regards death as something to cross the bridge when coming. Modern society is a spiritual desert. Most people think that this life only ends here, and they have no real or sincere belief in the afterlife. Most people's lives lack any real meaning.
The tragic result of denying death is not only at the personal level, but also affects the whole earth. Because they believe that there is only one life in life, most modern people have lost their long-term vision, and they can plunder the earth unscrupulously for immediate interests and be selfish enough to destroy the future.
Fear of death and ignorance of the afterlife make our environment more and more destroyed, threatening all the more distressing things in life. No one has taught people what death is, but no one has given any hope to reveal the truth of life after death. Young people receive all kinds of education, but they are at a loss about the theme that the overall meaning of life is closely related to survival. What could be more ironic?
Although death is a big mystery, two things are clear. First, we will die one day. Second, we don't know when and how to die. Therefore, the only thing we can be sure of is that we don't know when we will die. We use this as an excuse to delay facing death. Just like children playing hide-and-seek, we blindfold ourselves and think that we will not be discovered by others.
Why do we live in fear of death? Because our instinctive desire is to live and continue to live, death ruthlessly ends everything we know. We think that death will throw us into the abyss of ignorance, or become a completely different person. We imagine that after death, we will become confused and be in an extremely strange environment, just like a person waking up in a foreign land with anxiety, knowing nothing about the land and the language there, no money, no diplomatic relations and no passport.
Perhaps the biggest reason why we are afraid of death is because we don't know who we really are. We believe that we have an independent and special identity. But if we dare to face it, we will find that this identity is supported by a series of endless elements. Our life, our relationship, our partner, our family, our house, our work friends' credit cards and our sense of security are all built on these fragile and short-lived supports. When all these were taken away, we also knew.
Without these familiar supports, we will only face ourselves naked, an unknown stranger, a stranger who makes us anxious. We have been living with him, but we never want to really face it. We always fill every moment with boring or trivial noisy activities to ensure that we will not face this stranger alone.
This points out the basic tragedy of our way of life. We live in a virtual identity, in an absurd fairy tale world, similar to the fake turtle in Alice in Wonderland. Under the hypnosis of passion, we were so fascinated by the fun of building a house that we even built it on the beach. The world looks so real that we can be sure until death shatters our illusions and drives us out of hiding places. So, if we are more interested in it,
We can't take it with us when we die, especially the body that we love so much, rely so blindly and try so hard to live.
As soon as a person is born, her troubles are born together. Some people will live more and more stupidly because they become more and more anxious to escape the inevitable death. What a painful thing it is. Some people have always dreamed of life and longed for immortality. The concept is that they can't live in the present.
How do we treat the old, the sick and the dying today? Our society is obsessed with youth, sex and rights, but it escapes from old age and disease. When the old people have finished their life's work and are no longer useful, we will abandon it. Isn't that terrible? Isn't it confusing that we put them in a nursing home and let them die alone?
Even if people we know or love are dying, we are often helpless and don't know how to help them spend their last life. When they die, we don't think about where they will go or how to continue to help them. Dying people need love and care, and something deeper. They need to discover the meaning of death and life. Without these, how can we comfort them?
How sad it is that most of us will cherish life only when we are dying! Those who believe that they have enough time are ready to die at the last minute, and then they are annoyed. Is it too late? Today, most people are unprepared when they die and unprepared when they live. What is more chilling than this phenomenon?
According to the wisdom of Buddha, we can really use life to prepare for death. We don't have to wait for someone close to us to die painfully or terminally ill to observe our life, nor do we have to face the unknown with our bare hands when we die. Here and now, we can begin to find the meaning of life. We can wholeheartedly and accurately treat every second as an opportunity for change and prepare for death and eternity.
Buddhism regards life and death as a whole, and death is only the beginning of another chapter in life, and death is a mirror reflecting the overall meaning of life.
Buddhism says that if we make preparations in advance, whether we are alive or dead, there will be great hope. Buddhism tells us that amazing and infinite freedom can be obtained in this world. This freedom allows us to choose death and then choose rebirth. For those who have prepared and practiced, the arrival of death is not a failure, but a victory, which is the noblest and most glorious moment in life.
If you want to know the true meaning of life and death, you should always do such introspection. There is only one unchangeable law in the universe, that is, everything changes and everything is impermanent. We must understand the cycle of our life. The world is an unbearable sea of suffering. There is only one way to get rid of the endless cycle of life and death, and that is the way of liberation. Pain makes us ready to learn, open our hearts and move towards the truth.
We have heard many such stories. Some people are diagnosed as terminally ill and have only a few months to live, but when they retreat and really face themselves and the fact of death, they are cured. What does this tell us? Accepting death can change our attitude towards life and find the basic connection between life and death, which may have dramatic therapeutic effects. Unexpected events such as cancer are actually a warning, reminding us of the neglected deep parts of our lives, such as spiritual needs. If we can take this warning seriously and completely change the direction of life, we can not only heal our bodies, but even benefit the whole life.
Once a woman who had a near-death experience described it this way: I slowly felt a strong love, I could convey my love to others, I could find joy and happiness in the most trivial things around me, and I could have a strong sympathy for the sick and dying people. I very much hope that they can know more or less the process of death, and death is only a continuation of life.
Watching death will deepen your sense of alienation. We often reflect deeply on death, and we can find that we are getting out of our habits, even starting to find ourselves with a feeling of disgust, and we can let go at any time more and more, and finally get rid of it smoothly, just as the masters said, it is as easy as picking hair from cheese.
There will be sorrow and joy. Sadly, you will find that the old methods are useless. Happily, when you can let them go, your vision will be wider and wider. This is no ordinary joy. This joy can produce powerful and profound strength, confidence and eternal enlightenment, because we can no longer be influenced by habits, and we can get rid of old habits, change and become more and more comfortable.
If death happens only once, we will never know him, but fortunately, life is a constant dance of life and death with an impermanent rhythm. Life may be full of pain and problems, but these are opportunities for growth, which can help us accept death emotionally. Once we believe that everything is the same, we can't learn from change, so we can't learn, which will make us closed and persistent. Persistence is the root of all problems, because impermanence makes us feel pain. In fact, everything will change, and we are still sticking to our mission. We are afraid of letting go, but we are actually afraid of life. Because learning life is learning to let go, which is the tragedy and irony that we desperately insist on. Perseverance not only can't catch anything, but will bring us the pain we want to avoid most.
Although we always think that if we let go, we will have nothing, but life itself has repeatedly revealed the opposite information, and letting go is the real road to freedom. When the waves of the coast beat on the shore, the rocks will not be hurt, but will be carved into beautiful shapes. In the same way, change can shape our character and wear away our edges and corners. Through the test of various changes, we can learn to develop a gentle and unshakable composure, and our confidence in ourselves has increased. Kindness and sympathy also began to naturally emanate from us, bringing happiness to others. This kind of kindness can transcend death, and each of us has a basic kind. I have been teaching us how to discover that strong kindness all my life.
Always realize that life is like a dream, reduce persistence and resentment, and be kind to all sentient beings. No matter how others treat you, you should be kind. No matter what they do, as long as you regard it as a dream, it will become less important. The key is to keep positive intentions in your dreams. This is the most important point. This is the real practice.
We are interdependent with everything and anyone. Even our smallest thoughts, words and actions will have an impact on the whole universe. Throw a small stone into the pond, and there will be ripples on the water surface. These ripples will combine into another ripple, and then a new ripple will be produced. Everything is closely related. We know that we are responsible for what we say, do and think. In fact, we are responsible for anyone, anything and even the whole universe.