Great writers and philosophers

""Put down the butcher knife and become a Buddha immediately"

A few days ago, Monkey King with Four Tails asked me: ""Journey to the West" tells a story about Xiang Buddha. Nine-nine-nine-eight-one-difficulty is the only way to achieve positive results and reach the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Why can evil people put down their butcher knives and become Buddhas immediately? Could it be that even gods and Buddhas that do not exist but are born only by people's imagination have the same attitude towards good people and bad people? Is it extreme?"

At that time, I thought for a long time before answering: "You are right. In fact, as far as I am concerned, since I am a good person, I should not go through any ordeal. People who say that setbacks make people stronger, I am It can also be frustrating when you encounter setbacks. Frustration is setbacks, pain is pain, people may become better after suffering, but it is definitely not due to suffering. But that is another topic, and you Questions of doubt should not be lumped together."

"Before I answer you, I need to tell you what is not mentioned in "Journey to the West", about the story behind the phrase 'put down the butcher knife and become a Buddha immediately'.

According to legend, a long time ago, there was a young man named Jiaqu.

This is a very good young man.

When Jia Qu became an adult, he joined a teacher to learn knowledge. This teacher had a wife with bad conduct. She fell in love with Jia Qu's family wealth and intended to seduce him.The teacher's wife became angry because of this, and she faked the illusion that she was insulted by Jiaqu in front of the teacher to make the teacher hate Jiaqu.

The teacher originally wanted to teach Jia Qu himself, but because he was afraid of the eyes of the world, he thought of a sinister trick and planned to find another way to get others to help him take revenge on Jia Qu.

So one day, the teacher called Jiaqu into the secret room and told Jiaqu that he had a shortcut to becoming a Buddha as soon as possible.

'As long as you kill a thousand people, cut off everyone's fingers, wear them into rings and wear them on your head, you will become a Buddha, and the thousand people killed can also go to the Land of Ultimate Bliss. '

Gachu was very surprised and asked his teacher: "I heard that the only thing worth pursuing in a person's life is goodness."The greatest kindness in the world is the kindness of saving other people's lives. Such kindness is more precious than building a seven-story pagoda for Buddha; the greatest evil in the world is the evil of taking other people's lives. to sin.You are my teacher, you should have taught me to be better, how can you say something like 'killing' me? '

Seeing that Jia Qu didn't believe it, the teacher changed the way of saying it, and said kindly: "Ja Qu, you didn't understand, that's why you said that."Killing a thousand people is a sinful act, but you saved the lives of 1 people because of this. What a good deed it is.You endured your aversion to killing people and swung your knife with difficulty. How difficult this is, and how great your merit is.Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva observes all things in the world, and when he sees your hard work, he will appear in front of you and lead you to become a Buddha. '

Gachu still couldn't understand.

He didn't understand, no matter how nice the teacher said, wouldn't killing people still be killing people?How could murder turn into a good deed in the end?In this way, is it a good deed to kill someone?

Is the good he pursues killing people?

Does everyone come into this world just to kill people?

Seeing that Jia Qu was hard to persuade, the teacher lost his temper, and used the position and power of the teacher to attack his psychological defense line, making it difficult for Jia Qu, who was already in a miasma, to obey the teacher's order in a trance, holding a knife When they came to the street, they cut anyone they saw and killed them when they met them.

Jia Qu, who slaughtered lives, has a heart like a ghost land. He is no longer the kind and outstanding young man he used to be. Now he is just a beast to kill.

Because every time he kills a person, he has to look at the other person's fingers, string them up and wear them on his head as a ring, so the world fearfully calls him 'Yangulomala' (ring).

Soon, Anju Moluo killed nine hundred and ninety-nine people, and there was only one person left. His torment was about to end, so he searched for those who were still alive even more urgently.

He saw his mother.

Anju Moluo raised the knife at that moment, but was overwhelmed by endless sadness the next moment.

He wondered that he, who pursued goodness, would become the one who raised the butcher's knife to his mother. His pain was enough to make the weight of this world ten thousand catties heavier.

What made Yangdu Moluo the most painful was that his killing intent was equally strong.

As long as he thinks that there is only one person left who can be freed from such "asceticism", and those who have died under his sword can also go to the Paradise of Ultimate Bliss, Anju Moluo will be ruthless and wave the knife at his mother. To reap her life.

Just then, the Buddha appeared.

Although he was interrupted, Anjumara was very happy.

Even if the teacher assured him that the people who were killed would be able to go to the Land of Ultimate Bliss, how could he really do it in the face of the mother who gave birth to him?

Now a substitute happened to come, and Anjumara slashed at the Buddha without the slightest hesitation.

The Buddha did not dodge or evade, but the moment the blade touched the Buddha, it turned into a flower.

The Buddha held up a flower and smiled, and the world is vast and bright.

As soon as he had an epiphany, he fell down on his knees in front of the Buddha, weeping endlessly.

The goodness in Yangdu Moluo's heart finally broke free. He realized how terrible evil karma he had created before. He kowtowed to the Buddha to repent, and asked the Buddha to teach him how to redeem his sins.

The Buddha taught the scriptures for Angulama. Since then, Angulama has done good deeds and practiced hard all his life, and finally achieved the right result in the moment before death, and became the only enlightened Buddha. "

My student Gaara was also listening to our conversation. After listening to the story, he asked: "I want to express that no matter how much bad karma they have created, bad people are eligible to become Buddhas. It just depends on whether they are willing or not." Are you willing to put down the butcher knife?"

"Yes." I replied: "Putting down the butcher's knife only represents the qualification to become a Buddha. After putting down the butcher's knife, Anjumara did good deeds all his life, and he didn't redeem his sins until he died and became an independent Buddha. Buddhists, Dujue Buddha and Tang Seng's Zhan Tan Gongde Buddha are not at the same level, which means that even the Buddha who advocates the equality of all living beings does not think that evil people and good people can stand on the same starting line and reach the same end point."

Sun Wukong said: "Wicked people have the qualifications to repent and redeem their sins. I have already understood this point, but you also raised a doubt just now. Why do you have to go through hardships when you are already a good person? Being a good person is so troublesome and difficult. Don't people want to be a good person?"

"That's a good question, I have experienced many things before I understand this truth.

I can probably say that I am a good person, even in the most extreme moments, I have never had any real evil thoughts in my heart.But I am also tested from time to time.

There are too many temptations in the world, once I can't resist a temptation, then I will give up halfway.

You also know that it is very difficult to do good deeds. Under the impulse of emotion, there will be times when you will desperately vent your inner anger and pain first.But it is at this time that we really see what kind of person we are.

In the environment of poverty and hunger, some people would rather starve to death than do evil, some people are forced to make a living, and some people even prey on their own kind—is there any excuse?have.Is he a good person?no.

In addition to good people and bad people, there are still the vast majority of people who are good people under normal circumstances and become bad people in extreme circumstances.

So what is our wish?Just hope that such an extreme environment will not appear.

Only Buddha would want to test people's hearts, we are all human, there is no need to test each other's hearts.

Knowing that you, too, are flawed allows you to tolerate the flaws of others.

If a person has enough food and clothing, a solid house to live in, and a job that is enough to support himself, how can he be a bad guy and steal chickens and dogs?

If a person lives in an environment that does not make him unhappy, but he still does a lot of evil, such a person is a real villain.

Don't blame too many bad people in this world, but blame us for not creating an environment where there is no room for bad people.

There may be shadows where there is light, but if you accept this and don't make any efforts, then it is better to just extinguish such dirty light.

This is something we must take precautions against.

It is better to do a lot of useless work in advance to prevent the erroneous development than to have something bad happen. "

The so-called "butcher knife" does not refer to something as practical as a weapon, it refers to a person's "evil thoughts".

People are evil, how to do good?

The teacher in the story didn't kill anyone with his own hands, but the evil thoughts in his heart were enough to kill thousands of people.

The Buddha would appear in front of the good-natured Gachu and take pains to save him from the sea of ​​suffering, but he would not appear in front of the teacher and his wife.

This is something everyone needs to think about.

There is another story about Buddha.

According to legend, the Buddha saw a hungry eagle catching a rabbit. The Buddha took pity on the life of the rabbit, so he helped the rabbit escape.After the rabbit escaped, the Buddha looked at the eagle that had lost its food, and said to it: "I know you have no other choice. If you don't eat any more, you will starve to death. Then please eat my meat."

After speaking, the Buddha cut the meat and fed it to the eagle.

The eagle refused to eat the fresh hot meat, and said to the Buddha: "If I catch a rabbit, the whole rabbit will be my food. Now you let the rabbit go, but only give me a piece of your meat. You Can a piece of meat be compared to the life of a rabbit? Is this what you practice 'all beings are equal'?"

After hearing this, the Buddha had no choice but to say to the eagle: "If you can eat it, please eat me whole."

Although there is a follow-up to the story, the story I want to tell you can end here.

From ten years ago to now, I have created countless articles.

If I were to make an evaluation of these articles myself, it would be nothing more than one sentence-it's exhausting and annoying.

In the eyes of a person who pursues literature, this is indeed the case. All the efforts I have made are just picking up the wisdom of others, and it is not worth mentioning at all.

However, if it can have a little effect on readers, if it can inspire readers to think deeply, then everything I have done will not be in vain.

So far, I am very satisfied and have no regrets.

The last truth I want to say is nothing more than a truth I have been saying all along.

Generosity is a very respectable quality, but generosity to others is not.

When you show kindness and encounter injustice, please think more about the story of the Buddha cutting meat and feeding eagles. Remember that being a good person is worthy of everyone's respect, but being a good person is definitely not an easy task.

It is precisely because it is not easy that those who do it are worthy of respect.

That's it.

I sincerely wish you all a bright future. "