Chapter 25: The fire of desires burns the body.

(Chapter 25) A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha 

Co-translators in the time of Eastern Han Dynasty, China(A.D. 25 - 200) : 

Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese. )

Translator in modern time (A.D.2018: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)

Teacher and writer for explaining the said Scripture: Tao Qing Hsu

Chapter 25: The fire of desires burns the body.  

The Buddha said,” For the people, the love and desire are such as holding a burning torch to walk against the wind, and which absolutely has the trouble of burning your hands.” 

Humans are born by love and desire. The humans being produced by the artificial reproduction is also derived from the parents' love and desire. Love and desire is the root of human nature. Mostly, love and desire is related to the eroticism.

But, I hope that you know that love and desire is not just concerning about eroticism, because love and desire can be connected with the money, authority, social status, social reputation, social control and luxury life such as to have good cars, gorgeous clothes, delicious eating and luxurious living.

When we insight such root of human nature and what have been done, we can understand anyone’s motivation. Even though they use any upside-down and twisted reasons to fool the masses, it is impossible to fool us.  

The source of love and desire is mostly coming from the personal selfishness. It is very rare to come from the selfless love and desire. Selfishness and selflessness are coming from the same heart of one person. If this heart is enlightened, it can be selfless to face the all sentient beings. However, if this heart is unable to be enlightened, it becomes negative and selfish and what have been done is just want to take the advantage from the world.

Whether the heart of one person is selfish or not, it is not concerning about what and how a person has educated, but it is concerning about whether its heart is enlightened or not. Unfortunately, those who have the more education will have the more love and desire to grasp the resource of the world, and will not share the resource to all mankind, that is because their heart is not enlightened.

In the history of China, the corrupt officials always have the good background of education and the appointment through national examination. They collect a lot of gold, money and valuables. They also have many wives. They grasp the resource of the country and do not will to share it to the civilians.

Whenever the new emperor took office, he began to sweep away the corrupt officials of the previous emperor. The outcome of the corrupt officials is not only to go into jail or to be executed, but all property is also confiscated by the state. And this situation has been repeated again and again, China has not learned the lessons and reforms from history. Those who want to be official are because of their selfish love and desire so as they can collect the more gold, money and valuables for themselves and their families. Such situation is not just existed in China, but also existed in many countries in the world.

Such officials don’t have the selfless mind to share the resource of the country for the civilians and don’t have the kind mind to take care of them, let alone that they can respect them. Violence from the government to the civilians often occurs in this situation.

Unfortunately, selfish love and desire are not just exists in the officials, but also exists in the families. Many families have their own family business and property. Those who have the more selfish love and desire for the family business and property would have the intention to occupy the resource of the family. Disputes between brothers to fight for property often occur in such situation. Mental and physical violence also occur in this situation. Injuries and deaths can also occur.

Selfish love and desire is more coming from the eroticism. Why those people want to occupy the resource or to collect the money, gold and valuables? We can find that it is because they want to raise more wives or women who they love and desire, and their children. Moreover, it is also because they have obsessed with the authority, reputation and the luxury life.

Many people fall into this life situation and don't think there is anything wrong with this. They are even proud of this value. Unfortunately, they do not know what the moral wealth is. Wealth obtained in an immoral way is not real wealth. It will eventually turn into smoke and gone. However, the crime and mistake are recorded and will not be disappeared.

For people, eroticism is like walking with a burning torch against the wind, and there must be the worry of burning your hands. In eroticism, it is more concerning about the erotic desire and money. If the desire for the erotic and money is not contented, emotional disputes occur. People will lose their minds. Mental and physical violence also occur in this situation. Injuries and deaths cannot be avoided.

Therefore, we must be careful about any personal selfish love, desire and eroticism. The most important is to be cautious about the selfish love, desire and eroticism of the self so as to avoid any harm or any crime or mistake.

Of course, what we want to review is not others, but ourselves. Avoiding us as a slave to ourselves’ selfish love and desire can prevent us from becoming a slave to others’ selfish love and desire. It is very important. When we thoroughly understand this, our heart can therefore truly be enlightened and realize the truth, and transform selfish love and desire into selfless love and desire. Only in this way can we really benefit the world. We thus naturally can make merits and virtues, and gain moral wealth from it.