Chapter 29: Right perception can resist the erotic.
The Buddha said,” Be cautious not look at the women nor speak with
them, if speaking with them, the heart and thought should be right: I am a Sramaṇa,
being in the turbid world, should be as a lotus, not contaminated by the mud. Think
those elderly as mother; those older than me as elder sister; those younger
than me as younger sister and those children as daughter. Have the heart for
saving and liberating them, and eliminate my own vicious thought. “
As we have said before, the object for The
Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha is Buddhist Monk. In Buddhism,
when the Buddhist monk has the certain basic practicing, he is also called the
Sramana. Sramana is transliterated from Sanskrit. We have to know that the
stance of this Chapter 29 is for the Buddhist Monk, who has to practice the
seriously required religious discipline in daily life. The content of this
Chapter 29 is one of them. Even though we are not the Buddhist monk, the
content of this Chapter 29 is also worth for us to know and learn.
The Buddha said,” Be cautious not look at the women nor speak with
them.” This religious discipline is seriously
obeyed by the practicing Buddhist Monk. No matter we are male or female, if we
meet the Buddhist monk on the road and find that he doesn’t not look at us and
nor speak with us, we don’t need to think that he despise us or he doesn’t
respect us. We now understand that his behavior is due to his obeying the
religious discipline. Today, there is also the problem of homosexuality. This
point should be reminded and careful.
Why the Buddhist
monk has to be cautious not look at the women nor speak with them? It is one of
the methods to curb the inner erotic desire. If we are male, when our eyes look
at the woman, her appearance, behavior and voice will stimulate our inner
erotic desire and hormones. Through such cause and condition, we might take any
action and lead to any effect so as to affect our life and fall into the circle
of fate. For example, we might do some harmful thing to the woman and make the
woman’s body and mentality seriously damaged by us. Or, we might thus have
children and work hard to raise them. Or, for raising the woman and children,
we might violate our good nature to harm others people.
In the concept of
Buddhism, it means that we might be trapped in a jail of woman, wife or family
and might have no freedom in personal body and mentality. Our personal body and
mentality are attached and stick on the woman or family. However, some people
could not bear the pressure caused by the woman, wife or family. They might
thus bully others in order to achieve their greedy goal, go to the astray and commit
a serious crime.
The erotic desire and hormones inside the male is the serious cause to result in the turbid of the world.
When we quietly
perceive and observe the human nature, we could find that the erotic desire and
hormones inside the male is the serious cause to result in the turbid of the
world. In the history, do you have ever seen any authoritarian and cruel king
or emperor is a pure single man? Even the gangster, do you have seen that he is
a single man? Generally, the consequence of such man is very sad and tragic.
That is because they are easily turned according to their erotic desire and
controlled by their own selfish desire.
When any scheming
man profoundly knows about this point, he will use it to control and threaten
the other man so as to achieve his evil goal. All the scheming and greedy men
use it to control and threaten each other. Any woman becomes the victim in such
evil thing. From this point, it will extend to control and threaten the whole
society and the world, just because those scheming men form a evil group and
their selfish desire is grown largely. It is not only appears in the evil
politic, but also in the evil religion.
The inner erotic desire is the basic cause of suffering to self and others.
The Buddha has
perceived that the inner erotic desire is the basic cause of suffering to self
and others. The outer environment is over there. Mostly, it is hard for us to
change it. However, we can change self. The Buddha thus said to the Sramana
that if you have to speak with the woman, your heart and thought should be
right. And you should have a right thought that is: I am a Sramaṇa, being in
the turbid world, I should be as a lotus which is not contaminated by the mud.
So, the turbid
world is like the mud. We live there. However, our heart and thought should be
right and pure and not be contaminated by the turbid world, just like a lotus
which is growing from the mud. The lotus is so pure and beautiful and not
contaminated by the mud. It means that we should not be affected by the turbid
world. Our heart and thought should be kept pure and right and not be turned by
any outer condition or outer environment.
Our heart and thought should be kept pure and right and not be turned by any outer condition or outer environment.
What is the righteous
heart and thought for a Sramana? Think
those elderly as mother; those older than me as elder sister; those younger
than me as younger sister and those children as daughter. Have the heart for
saving and liberating them, and eliminate my own vicious thought.
As a man, no
matter we are a Sramana or not, it is good for us to have such righteous heart
and thought to all women. Even the women, especially the young women, they also
have the strong erotic and selfish desire. Such desire is the cause of
suffering. Women are also needed to be saved and liberated from the suffering.
The ignorant, scheming and evil men always have the vicious thought and treat women badly.
Women need to rely
on man so that they can survive in the world. Those who have more scheming, and
more selfish desire, know how to use the man who have power and money, and know
how to compete with the other woman so as to achieve their goal. It is
especially appeared in the family that a man has many wives. No matter which
kind of women in such situation, they all suffer in the family.
In the ancient
time of India, women generally have no chance to learn any knowledge, not to
mention to listen to the teaching of Buddha. Even today, the women who are well
educated from school are few. In some country and religion, women are even not
allowed to be educated from the school. Such poor women are controlled by the
ignorant, scheming and evil men, who treat women as a tool to generate food and
children, even as a tool for their playing and enjoying. Such men even think
that to harm women doesn’t make any crime. Women should not live like that. So,
we know that the ignorant, scheming and evil men always have the vicious
thought and treat women badly.
Therefore, an
enlightened man should have to eliminate the vicious thought, have the
righteous thought, treat women well and regard them as the member of family, as
if they are mother, sister or daughter, encourage them to learn knowledge and
go to school, and let them live independently, at the same time, save and
liberate them from suffering as capable as you can.
Of course, an
enlightened woman should also eliminate the vicious thought, regard men as the
member of family, as if they are father, brother, or son, help self to learn
any knowledge and go to school, and be independent in life and work, and not
rely on men to survive. It is better to save and liberate self from suffering
so as not to controlled and harmed by any men any more.
Supplementary note: Dao is transliterated
from Chinese, meaning way and method, deeper meaning as a system of learning or
religion. Dao is Tao, which is transliterated from Chinese. The original
meaning of Dao is the way and path, and it is extended to be the truth of life
that we can learn and practice in our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment