A concise standard for learning Buddhism

Recently, China's society is constantly changing, often suddenly appearing and disappearing from what was not there before. It is like the impermanence of lightning. The Buddhist Orthodox Society in Hankow, although it is also in the process of change, can transfer society by its own power and remain unshaken, which is rare among all groups. The public should protect this rare Buddhist group to promote Buddhism, so that the Buddhist edification power will continue to grow and increase from time to time, and live up to the painstaking establishment of more than ten years. And so that the latecomers can rely on it, so that Buddhism can be popularized in the general society, deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the bright road, so as to show the function of Buddhism in saving the world and saving people. However, in Buddhism, everyone should have a concise standard of understanding and behavior, so that he can live for himself without doubt.

There are two ways to study the Dharma: one is understanding and the other is acting. If you penetrate into the behavior with understanding, you can be consistent in your solution; If you understand the reality by practicing your behavior, you can solve it accordingly. The preface is understood, that is, the four words "no self fate". Ordinary people think that there is a self, and the Dharma says that there is no self to obtain, that is, there is a self, that is, there is a person, etc., and there is no self, that is, there is no person, and all kinds of different beings are called "people without self", that is, "birth and emptiness". to understand all things and all the Dharmas; There is no separate self, which is called "Dharma without self", that is, "Dharma emptiness". If we speak from the negative side, then human beings and sentient beings, and even all things, are actually made up of all the conditions, that is, the four aggregates, the five aggregates, the twelve places, the eighteen worlds, and so on, so there is no real self. If there is a real self, then it does not wait for the conditions, and now it is formed from the conditions, then there is no real self, just as the eyes can see the light, and the visible knowledge and the light seen are nothing more than the interaction of the various conditions and are established, so people and sentient beings, all dharmas have no self. If a person is made up of all the dharmas in the Dharma realm, one person and even all sentient beings, and all the dharmas are like this, then one person is everything, and this is all one, and everything is one. This selfless righteousness is the seal of the Dharma, that is, the standard of concise understanding of the Dharma, and those who correspond to this standard are correct knowledge and correct views, and those who violate this are not Dharma.

Again, words and deeds should be based on the six degrees of the ten virtues as the standard, which leads to the good dharma of birth, from the beginning of the mind, to the point of enlightenment, all of which are practiced according to this, and the Buddha has attained the perfection of the six degrees of the ten virtues, and altruism is still here.

The ten virtues, that is, the three negative karma of killing, stealing, and adultery; False words, gossip, two tongues, and the four bad karma of the mouth of the evil mouth; Greed, hatred, and naivety mean the three negative karma – the ten negative karma – if you depart from these ten negative karma, it is the ten good deeds. Practicing the ten virtues will lead to good people, which is the root of the trend towards Bodhi. Leaving all evils and reducing one point of negative karma means increasing one point of Dharmakaya merit. Those who are truly able to practice the ten virtuous deeds must go to the bodhisattvas of the two lands (i.e., the land of detachment) until they become Buddhas. However, from the increase of the ten virtues, it is necessary to do the six perfections, so that the goodness can be determined without omission.

The first of the six degrees is generosity, the ability to give up everything that you have, to practice altruism, and to cure greed; If you can benefit others, you are self-interested. If you keep the precepts, you can purify the three karmas, and the precepts are the model for all words and deeds. Patience and humiliation can dispel all anger. Diligence, on the one hand, repents of the previous bad karma, and on the other hand, strives to do good, and understands the Dharma. Meditation is the treatment of distraction. The clear awareness that comes from concentration is Prajna. The ten virtues of a single act are called scattered goodness; To meditate on the fifth of the six perfections is to attain goodness; And then it corresponds to Prajna, and it becomes unblemished. The process from scattered goodness to unfiltered goodness, that is, the process from ordinary people to Buddhas, is a concise standard of behavior for the Dharma.

If you don't know what is righteous, you can't get rid of the ten evils and six shades; Only by knowing the meaning of selflessness can we achieve the six degrees of ten virtues. Anyone who studies Buddhism should use this standard to self-study, to make friends, to choose a teacher, and to behave according to this standard. Regardless of how high his mantra skills are, how deep his dedication is, how great his eloquence is, and how broad his knowledge is, if he meets the criteria for solving this practice, he can be regarded as a person in the Dharma, otherwise he is not a person in the Dharma. The righteous followers of the Buddhist Orthodox Faith Society must understand this so that they will not mistake themselves. (Text: Taixu)