Keep Peace In Mind. No War.

Author: Tao Qing Hsu (Hsu, Tao-qing)

 

Only all identities and the masses owned the knowledge and concepts of Buddhism and indeed practice it so as to cultivate the self accordingly in the daily life, the worlds will be peaceful according to the peace of mind of all beings.

 

The Buddha-Law doesn’t leave the worlds. Since the history of the world until now, civil wars in any country and international wars have frequently happened. Whether a country is ruled well or not, whether it keeps peace in the world or not, it is dependent on the knowledge, wisdom, empathy and sympathy of the president, the king, the emperor, the prime minister, the officials and the masses. Regarding any war and any related describing, there is almost not mentioned in the Buddhist Scripture. That is because any war and any related describing belongs to the change of phenomenon which is like the flow of water and the blowing of wind, and it is impermanent.  In the Buddhist scriptures, it does not describe or criticize these historical events about wars.

 

Only the president, the king, the emperor, the prime minister, the officials and the masses owned the knowledge and concepts of Buddhism and indeed practice it so as to cultivate the self accordingly in the daily life, the worlds will be peaceful according to the peace of mind of all beings. Therefore, there is more teaching about how to know and realize the change of the heart, mind, thought and conscious of the self and how to practice and act it in the reality of life in the Buddhism.

 

That is why the objects taught by Buddha include the king, the emperor, the officials and the citizens. That is to include all human beings, no matter what their identity, gender, belief or aging is, and what they are humble or noble, poor or wealthy is, and what their race or language is. When they keep peace in mind, any war will not arise, and any happened war will be ceased naturally. How to keep peace in mind is to follow the teaching of Buddha, which you can refer to and follow to any teachings in any articles in this blog.  

 

Discuss the cause and effect and its phenomena of various wars from the perspective of understanding Zen and Buddhism.

 

Zen of Buddhism is difficult to be understood and realized for the humankind. That is because that each one since being born has been taught to distinguish any relatively, any binary, and any opposite concepts, objects and things. Even no one teach us about these concepts, our instinct would make us to know them. That is because it is the basic common sense what we can know and form the outer world and inner mind, and it can make sure that we can live well and safely by these knowledge.

 

However, the humans gradually fall down in the trap or framework set by the self or others, and they think that they can safely live in this situation. Unfortunately, it is such cause and effect to make humans suffer. Only when we have profoundly realized the Zen of Buddhism, it is possible for us to get rid of any confusing and suffering caused by any binary-manipulated, confrontation-manipulated and opposite-manipulated concepts and objects. 

 

When we want to learn the Zen of Buddhism, it is better for us to own the basic knowledge about Buddhism and the learning about the Little-Boarding Buddhism (Theravada Buddhism). If we don’t have such kind of knowledge and learning, it would be possible for us to mistakenly realize the Zen of Buddhism and practice it with the wrong way of the arrogant mind. The Zen of Buddhism is almost the highest state in learning Buddha. All of the articles and the talked and translated Buddhist Scripture in this blog are the basic learning and practice in learning the Zen of Buddhism.  

 

There is no concept of enemies in the Zen of Buddhism. Being One in the emptiness, there is no opposition, no conflict, no grade, no fighting and no confrontation, and naturally there are no enemies. Everyone may have different ideas, views, opinions, beliefs and lifestyles, but as long as they do not cause interference, hindrance and harm to others, they can be respected and accepted. We can refuse any ideologies which we do not like, but, we do not need to see those persons who own the ideologies we do not like as enemies. In the Buddhism, to see others as enemies and to hate others is also one of the causes to make us suffer.

 

The concept of no enemies, no opposition, no conflict and no confrontation in the Zen of Buddhism is to break and to destroy the concept of the discriminating, opposing and fighting consciousness what has existed in our daily life. On the basis of the said concept, it offers us the different room for our thinking, decision and action. That is, it is possible to offer us the different way to deal with any things. 

 

When we realize the Zen of Buddhism, we will know that a lot of wars, including the modern and historical wars, are caused by the binary, confrontation and opposite ideology which is manipulated by some scheming people who own the mean intention and the selfish interest.

 

Especially, in the modern time, the military industry and energy trading are the huge interest. There are some of people with unjust mind and mean who purposely occupy and obtain these kinds of interests. And they thus take use of others and sacrifice the innocent people ruthlessly by the means of the fake goodness and by manipulating the binary, confrontation and opposite concept of what is the just and unjust.

 

Meanwhile, they take use of the two-side approach to obtain the selfish interest. That is to deliberately raise the enemy through economic and trade exchanges, and then manipulating any ideology to make ignorant people and groups act as scapegoats to fight against the enemy through buying weapons or any cooperation in military. If we are wise, we know that deliberately establishing the enemies and thus to compete with and fight against them is an approach of manipulation. We have to know that the complex mind of the manipulator might be beyond our normal thinking. The shadow warriors behind them and the bad motives behind them may not be what we can imagine.

 

If we own the good wise, we will know that we should leave such manipulation and avoid being the sacrifice in such manipulation. Furthermore, it is better for us to own good wise so as to alert all humans about such kind of things, protect them, and help them avoid being the sacrifice in such manipulation. 

 

Many events are neutral in themselves, but they may be exploited by scheming people.

 

The democratic ideology or the military industry or energy trade itself is neutral. It may be used for good or bad reasons. Many things can be analogized. However, in the minds of scheming people, it becomes a tool or a space that can be manipulated for the selfish purpose and interest.

 

For example, knives as kitchen tools for people's livelihood or as surgical tools for medical purposes. People who make knives will not encourage others to use them for improper purposes because they want to increase sales and profits. Similarly, with the advancement of science and technology, it is impossible not to engage in the high-tech military industry. The high-tech military industry is necessary to protect the country.

 

However, in the opinion of Buddhism, if someone wants to increase the sales and profits through selling military products, and for the sake of personal gain, thus to encourage or manipulate any ideological confrontation or war, or to cause humanitarian casualties and any crises by these causes, it is not only creating the personal bad karma but also making the common bad karma, and it will finally form the evil consequence for the self and the public. This vicious spiral will continue to turn until someone is willing to wake up, repent and correct this mistake.

Whether we have a bright mind or not, it is easy for us to hurt others. However, it is difficult to restrain ourselves from harming others. Because, to have good wisdom, compassion and empathy for all living beings, it takes time for us to learn and practice it, and then take action. Only in this way can we not only not harm others, but also use our clever minds to help all living beings and protect vulnerable groups, especially the elderly, women and children.

 

The Buddhist idea of​​ karma and retribution is a truly upright and equal idea.

 

In the area of the modern high technology, fighter planes, drones, unmanned ships and robots, etc., have been made better and better. Although these research and development and transactions will make a few people rich, the harm they cause to all living beings is quite terrifying and huge. If we get rich by hurting innocent people, we are creating bad karma. For related consequences, please refer to Chapter 36: Floundering gains the victory. If we only pray for God's blessings, but still create bad karma to harm all sentient beings, and do not understand or worry about evil karma and retribution, it will not be a good thing for the individual's future lives, and it will be a very dangerous thing for all sentient beings.

 

In my opinion, the Buddhist idea of​​ karma and retribution is a truly upright and equal idea. Assuming that evil deeds can escape the correction of worldly laws, they will inevitably receive the consequences of their own evil deeds in their future lives. In Buddhism and traditional Chinese thought, there is such a thing as judicial judgment in the underworld. I think this is in line with the principle of fairness. If a person commits evil deeds and does not need to be corrected by the laws of the world, does not need to repay those who have been harmed, and does not need to be educated by the laws of underworld, then I think it is the truly unfairness.

 

It is meaningless to use drones and robots and any unmanned tools to fight each other and there.

 

If we think deeply, we will understand that it is meaningless to use drones and robots and any unmanned tools to fight each other and there and it will only cause bad karma for ourselves. And at the same time, it will also damage innocent lives and everyone's property. Using the high-tech military tools to fight against each other and thus to hurt the innocent people would be not a wise behavior.

 

From a Buddhist point of view, all these evil deeds need to be repaid by receiving retribution. We humans have brains, knowledge, wisdom, empathy, and compassion. These can be learned and applied, and promoted and educated to all humans to make the world in which humans live become more friendly and harmonious. It is really not necessarily to use force to against each other.

 

Lao Tzu was the ancient Chinese wise man, he said: “The earth generates all things but without possessing and occupying it, and it has done everything but without relying on it.” When we deeply think the meaning of this wise saying, we will know that all disputes and troubles and suffering are caused by humankind and because of the stubbornly obsession from the mindset of greed, hatred, stupid addiction. Hostility and antagonism arise in this situation. And any evil karma will thus be made.

 

We all know that one of the pains in personal life comes from comparing with others in everything. Similarly, the competitive and the comparison of national military power will also bring pain to the people.  

 

There is comparison in the military strength, strength and victory or defeat between countries. We all know that one of the pains in personal life comes from comparing with others in everything. Similarly, the competitive and the comparison of national military power will also bring pain to the people. This does not mean that if the military strength of our country wins others, we all citizens will be happy. On the contrary, this may bring more anxiety and pain to the people. This can be understood as long as we think deeply and practice in Buddhism, study psychology, and have some life and social experience. I personally believe that it is necessary to strengthen national defense, but it is best to downplay comparisons and confrontations with other countries so as to reduce the hostility. To crease the relationship of the peace and harmony with other countries is better.

 

Many ignorant people are victims of the Five Poisons mentality and are also victims of the sugar-coating of the Five Poisons. Furthermore, those Machiavellians, Dark Triad personalities and Five Poison Mentality people are good at manipulating those with Five Poison Mentality to fight against the other Five Poison Mentality people. This will form a vicious cycle of bad cause, bad condition, and bad consequence. Human beings under war or in the evil environment of fighting against others will not have good time, room and environment to learn knowledge, good wisdom, compassion, empathy and self-cultivation. Let human beings have a good and stable economic life and a harmonious and friendly cultural environment. On this basis, they can widely learn knowledge, good wisdom, compassion, empathy and self-cultivation, thereby improving the quality and civilization of human beings and forming an extensive and invisible protection network of domestic and international society so as to prevent Machiavellianism and other Dark Triad personalities from having enough room to harm others. Therefore, if we learn Buddha well, we will understand how to do would make the human beings and the world more peaceful, harmony and happy. That is to create the blessing for the self and the others, and instead of dragging yourself and others down.   

 

Opinions can differ, but there is no need to turn them into hostility and hatred to trigger conflict, confrontation or war.

 

It is a better direction to guide these high-tech research and development to serve human beings, such as education, culture, medical care, long-term care, sightseeing, tourism, water and electricity maintenance, housework services, unmanned stores, maintaining good social order, smart cities, and more convenience transportation, etc. This can be a legitimate and honest business opportunity and operating profit. Make it affordable and useful for everyone. Let everyone can communicate, interact, learn and grow from each other more easily and internationally, or between cities, or between people by the service of high-tech and its tools and ways.

 

This can eliminate the barriers between races, and the gap between countries. And this also can promote mutual understanding and consideration among human beings, so that they can live in harmony. If knowledge, cultivation, wisdom and compassion are all improved, then the number of people with five poisonous minds and the Dark Triad personalities will decrease. At the same time, there will be less room for opposition and confrontation manipulated by those with five poisonous minds and the Dark Triad personalities. Only when human civilization and wisdom have improved can true happiness, joy, and true peace exist.

 

Manipulate various opposing consciousness, such as politics (National unity or independence, democracy or authoritarianism, communism or capitalism), religion (monotheism and polytheism), racism or national revival, and land reclamation or occupying land in the name of religion, etc., like this cause and effect of manipulation would bring the disaster and suffering for human beings. In the name of moral loftiness or justice or national defense or self-defense, or I am doing it for your own good, to manipulate such things for the self-interest are as the emotional blackmail. Such things are also easily to be tools or ways as manipulating.

 

The manipulation method of emotional blackmail, deliberately causing opposition, conflict and confrontation, or setting the trap of war between the two parties, is the dark method of the Dark Triad personalities, which is used to seek personal gain. We must stand at a higher level than them, that is, get rid of the manipulation of dualistic and antagonizing ideologies, and do not connect our consciousness with these. At the same time, we must be smarter and wiser than them in order to see through their hypocrisy and selfish tactics so as to avoid becoming objects for their manipulation and sacrifice. Opinions can differ, but there is no need to turn them into hostility and hatred to trigger conflict, confrontation or war.

 

Any confrontation, hostility, and the manipulation of the good and evil are all related to whether the five poisonous minds and consciousness arise or not.

 

When we learn Buddha, and if our personal, group or national interest is established on the basis of sacrificing of others life, property, exist development, and family members, or of making the innocent persons to bear any cost, and it will thus cause the extreme suffering of others, I think it is better for us to consider it again and to ask the self: does it be worth to do that?

 

Any confrontation, hostility, and the manipulation of the good and evil are all related to whether the five poisonous minds and consciousness arise or not. At the same time, this is all caused by the six consciousness of our six roots: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, which arise from the rotation of the external environment, resulting in various consciousness of differences, and then giving rise to various good thoughts and good deeds or evil thoughts and bad deeds, as well as all kinds of disputes and worries. In our deep consciousness there are also the seventh consciousness and the eighth consciousness. The seventh consciousness is similar to the subconscious. The eighth consciousness is the seed-consciousness and which is the root of good or evil thought which is planted in the present or in the past lives. The seventh consciousness is relying on the eighth to turn and arise.

 

The differences in physiological structure between women and men lead to differences in their learning and various achievements. 

 

Because women's physiological structures are different from men's, this body root is different, which also causes differences between women and men in the other five sense organs, including differences in thinking, logic, and perspectives of looking at things. Relatively speaking, women have better empathy than men. When a woman is studying or employed, physical discomfort affects her thinking, learning, expression and performance to some extent. Therefore, women are at a relative disadvantage in terms of congenital physiology, which will affect her learning and achievement to some extent. Academically and in the workplace, a mechanism that is more suitable for women and that is more friendly and fair to women should be developed. Allow them to accumulate experience in learning and growth both academically and in the workplace, and then form opinions or suggestions or leadership to make good contributions to society and the country. To do so would help to make the world more peaceful.

 

Men are always encouraged by the teacher or the parents to study scientific and engineering. In general, because men do not have the uncomfortable and sick symptoms of women during the menstrual periods, this would make them have more time to think and read and study, even to play, argue, fight to others, however, it would make them be lack of the empathy for others suffering.  Men want to fight and win in everything. Such kind of thought would make them be lack of the wisdom and compassion. 

 

When a man is young and single, his self-learning ability and ideality are very good. However, once he marries a woman who is not smart enough and covets happiness and comfort, and when he is stubborn and obsessed with her and bear the pressure from his woman, his intelligence will be reduced. And his selfish and competitive nature and fighting to others will also appear. And this is not a blessing either to his original family members or to the general public, and may even cause serious harm and losses to self and others. After some men climb from the bottom of their career to the top, they get lost in the struggle between interests and power. This is not a blessing to them personally or to the society as a whole.

 

Secondly, men who join the army often receive favorable treatment. Even in countries with poor economic conditions, unemployed men will choose to join the army to fight in order to maintain their personal lives. When their intention to join the army is not to maintain world peace, it will be the disaster for the human beings. I don’t use the ideology and intention of defending the country. If we think deeply, we will know that the intention of defending the country can also be manipulated by people with cunning smart and scheming so as to cover their true intention of self-interest.

If women have any psychological problems or bipolar symptoms, they tend to manifest themselves through self-abuse or harming themselves. However, when men have such problems, they usually manifest themselves through abusing others, or hurt others to show up.

Furthermore, from my observation, if women have any psychological problems or bipolar symptoms, they tend to manifest themselves through self-abuse or harming themselves. However, when men have such problems, they usually manifest themselves through abusing others, or hurt others to show up. When women have stress or emotional problems, they are more willing to find someone to complain to. However, when men have these problems, they tend to suppress them and keep them in their hearts, and are unwilling to speak out in order to appear strong.

From my personal observation and psychological research, men have more advantages than women in the workplace to survive and compete among a group of men. However, due to men’s competitiveness and aggressiveness, coupled with they are under pressure to earn money to support their families. Men's psychological problems and bipolar symptoms are often more serious than women's. This serious psychological and emotional instability often prompts men to manifest themselves through physical or verbal violence.

According to research, men who have graduated from college or a Ph.D. and are engaged in higher-level occupations do not have lower levels of domestic violence than men with lower education and lower-level occupations. So, we have a question. If men with serious psychological problems and bipolar symptoms are in high-pressure international or domestic political environments. Will they manifest themselves through violence or waging war? I think this is quite possible.

According to my observation, when people get older and have chronic diseases or any diseases, they tend to show signs of depression. I think elderly men are no exception. According to medical research and observation, elderly men like this are often prone to violence. So, we have another question. If these elderly people still hold important political positions, are they likely to commit any violence at home or abroad, or wage any war? I think that is also possible.

 

In the modern time, to encourage women to study scientific and engineering and to encourage women to participate in the politic or to lead the military industries would guide the world to the more peaceful direction.

 

Women are lack of scientific and engineering thinking and training. They are inability to exercise good perspective and leadership in defense and military industries and related matters and perspectives. If it is dominated by men, it will easily lead to any conflict or a crisis of active aggression. This can be discovered from historical observation and research. If it is led by women, the possibility of war conflicts can be relatively alleviated, and it can even be led into a relatively peaceful, open and free world. In the modern time, to encourage women to study scientific and engineering and to encourage women to participate in the issue and affairs of the politic or to lead the military industries would guide the world to the more peaceful direction.

 

Most of the damage caused by war and social strife is still borne by women. For example, if a man dies on the battlefield, the family loses a man who can work in exchange for wages to take care of the family, or use labor to protect and take care of the family. Most of these roles and costs will be borne by women, whether they are old or young or underage. Women's wages and labor have always been lower than men's. This will cause the family's plight. More women must bear various costs to support a family to live a better life. Many families even end up sacrificing the lives of their daughter and daughters' rights and happiness in order to support the surviving men in the family, which is especially obvious in Eastern societies. 

This will have a negative consequence. Men are often spoiled by their family and the society, and then become more self-centered, more selfish, more focused on their own interests, including doting on their wives and children, and less empathetic to others. The dark triad personalities are often easily developed in such an environment. When he grows up, he will be more aggressive towards other brothers or sisters, other relatives and friends, and even parents in the family. When he goes out to work in society, he will harm his colleagues and all sentient beings.

 

I think that we should encourage women to express their views on various professions and events, and demonstrate their maternal qualities and abilities, especially in the political, diplomatic, national defense and military fields.

 

Since ancient times, men have had more opportunities to receive education than women. In modern times, they also have more opportunities to receive higher education than women. In various professional fields, we can often see and read men’s opinions, and use them as authoritative, standard and correct. However, it is a pity that in the past history, we have hardly seen women’s views and opinions on various professions and events. In modern liberal democratic societies, although women’s views and opinions exist, they are usually not mainstream and are taken less seriously. I think that we should encourage women to express their views on various professions and events, and demonstrate their maternal qualities and abilities, especially in the political, diplomatic, national defense and military fields. 

Due to the different physiological experiences of the two genders, as well as their different growth and learning experiences, gender-balanced views and opinions can better meet the needs of the public, including the international community and domestic society. It is help to balance and peace the world. Due to the competitive mentality of men/males and their tendency to be influenced by money and beauty, these weaknesses and problems often lead humans to antagonism, division, confrontation, fighting and struggle, and may even lead humans to the disaster of war by any means. Only existing and focus on the males views and opinions is the very  dangerous things for the world. 

Most women indeed devote their lives to giving birth to children, raising children, and taking care of the elders or weaklings in the family. They are the silent majority but the international community ignores their voices and rights, and even they are ruthlessly used and sacrificed. I think this is not a blessing to the international community.

 

From a Buddhist perspective, to harm any innocent human beings by any excuses will be unjustifiable in theory, and there will be evil karma and retribution.

 

Men are driven by sex hormones. When he does not satisfy his sexual needs in legal and legitimate ways, he either sexually assaults others for free, or spends money to buy or raise women. If these expenses exceed the expenses he can afford, then where does the money come from, and who bears these costs? When a man spends money to buy or raise a woman, the cost is quite large and may exceed his normal salary income. At this time, he will do things that harm all living beings, such as seizing other people's property and land, or instigating wars to benefit from it.

 

Men have more professional knowledge related to national defense, military science, engineering, and medicine. This professional knowledge is like a knife. It can be used to save people or protect living beings, but it can also be used to harm living beings. If these men do not have good, upright wisdom, empathy and compassion, it is easy to use this professional knowledge to harm sentient beings. For example, it doesn't mean that it is righteous to harm innocent sentient beings, including women and children, from the standpoint of self-defense. Especially, the children do not understand what happened in the world of the adults or in the history.  From a Buddhist perspective, to harm any innocent human beings by any excuses will be unjustifiable in theory, and there will be evil karma and retribution.

 

Those who owe anything to all living beings will not only have to repay it to all living beings, but they will also bring harm to their descendants to pay back, and they have to use their lives or blessings to pay back. 

 

Those who owe anything to all living beings will not only have to repay it to all living beings, but they will also bring harm to their descendants to pay back, and they have to use their lives or blessings to pay back. In other words, they also have to pay back the debt. It may be repaid with labor or financial resources, but it will be repaid in life after life. If someone says that he kills someone in the name of which Bodhisattva, he is not guilty and can go to heaven, and so on. And they use various words of plausible justice to hurt human beings. All sentient beings know with their common sense that this is ignorance. If you harm others and take advantage of others, and you don’t have to repay such debts, is there fairness and justice? We don’t need Buddhism to understand this. We can understand this with our common sense.

 

In our lives, we will inevitably encounter people who want to hurt us or take advantage of us, or people we don’t like. That is their weird, upside down or closed thought, mind, idea or ideology or the value of life is quite leaving our normal thinking,  After learning Buddhism, we know that we should try to stay away from such people. If we have to meet and get along with them, we should reduce our contact with them. If we need to communicate and deal with them, it is better for us in a calm manner as much as possible. If you get along with some people for a long time, you will find that their knowledge, cultivation, wisdom and compassion are insufficient. They will bluff, want to win over others, want to shirk the responsibility of the crime to others, and want others to bear any cost, etc. Meanwhile, they are paranoid and own pathological obsession with power and fortune. There is no need to hurt them, but we must have the wisdom to protect ourselves, not to be bullied by others, and not to fall into the traps of their cunning tricks. 

 

When we have brains, knowledge, cultivation, wisdom and compassion, there is no need to use force to fight with others.

When we have brains, knowledge, cultivation, wisdom and compassion, there is no need to use force to fight with others. A bunch of unmanned fighter planes and unmanned missiles are flying around there, harming innocent lives. Some people are talking about using robots to fight against the enemy. Do you think this is a sign of wisdom and compassion? I do not think so. Although these technologies are very advanced, they are not used to enhance human intelligence, but are used to fight wars, harm innocent sentient beings, consume countless people's lives and property, and even make it impossible for people to work, live and receive education. I think this is not only without wisdom and compassion, but this is also quite stupid. However, the scheming people do not think so, because it would make the scheming people earn more money and richer. In their mind, earning more money is everything. Unfortunately, they do not understand the causality,  the cause and effect, in the teaching of Buddha.

 

Any dispute or war or struggle or hostility, as well as what any party thinks is right from its own point of view and from these dilemma events, is very stupid in the eyes of the Buddha.

 

There is a Chinese poetry: “The green mountains in the country are still there, and there are several times that the sunset is red." No matter how the regime changes, mountains and rivers are still there. No matter how the days and years change, the people will still reproduce and pass on from generation to generation. It also illustrates the impermanence of worldly things. If the human beings are wise, they will understand that there is nothing more important than pass on good wisdom and compassionate.

 

Any dispute or war or struggle or hostility, as well as what any party thinks is right from its own point of view and from these dilemma events, is very stupid in the eyes of the Buddha.  The Buddha laughed at all beings that they are stubborn and stupid and cannot live a good and easily life and cannot create that for all human beings. All these stupid-obsessed people argue about some illusory things and waste their own life and time and that of all sentient beings. At the same time, they also waste their own and all sentient beings' labor and financial resources. In other word, these kinds of people indeed do the things to harm the self and the others.

 

Therefore, if you are lucky enough to encounter Buddhism in this life, I think it is worth for us to cherish it and learn from it so as to increase the good wise for the self and be able to help others. That is truly to help the self and the others to live a good and ease life. This is also the blessing and creating the well-beings for the self and the others.

Many people may be naive, ignorant, or scheming to help the evildoer to do the evil.

Many people may be naive, ignorant, or scheming. Financially, in life, or in work, they support or bear the burden of the lives of the greedy, hateful, and foolish-obsessed people of the Dark Triad personalities. That is, they not only "fatten them up" but also make them more capable of harming innocent beings or destroying other people's lives. That also is to help the evildoer to do the evil. Unfortunately, these people do not have this kind of awareness and awakening, and they do not know that these Dark Triad personalities of greedy, angry and ignorant people will eventually come back to bite you and hurt you.

 

People with the Dark Triad personalities of greed, hate, and idiot do not improve themselves in terms of culture, spiritual knowledge, and good wisdom. Instead, they are very cunning and have many tricks. They are very capable of using these cunning smart and tricks to destroy the stable and peaceful lives of others and the harmony of the society and the world. What the international community ignores is that using cunning smart and tricks to seize other people's property or sovereignty is an act of stealing. Unfortunately, many people succumb to the threats and inducements of these Dark Triad personalities for the sake of profit and are therefore willing to sell their consciences and souls.

 

The Dark Triad personalities and the humans of five poisonous minds exist in the society of democracy and dictatorship.

 

After trading with competitors of the Dark Triad personalities, the huge interest of trading have been "fatten them up", and their greedy appetites have been grown up, making them want to use force and any cunning smart to annex neighboring countries. This also make them have more capability to make weapons and then sell those weapons to others. This makes them to have more power to fight and bully others.

Based on the confrontation of ideology, and of democracy and dictatorship, and of land disputes, and of sovereignty disputes, some people use these ideas to compete with others or neighboring countries. And they deliberately make the conflict and confrontation so as to gain the interest from it. They fight against competitors, adopt two or more contradictory strategies, and then beautify or blur these events so as to obtain private interests. This is not a kind approach. From the perspective of Buddhism, this is an unwholesome deed. And this is the operating with the five poisonous thoughts. There will be resulting in a cycle of evil karma and retribution. From a psychological point of view, this is also the approach of the Dark Triad personalities.

These people do not have the concept and practice of Buddhism-Zen. Both of them want to create an illusion of being right, but in fact, both sides are creating conflict, confrontation and opposition. In the views of Buddhism, all of these things are doing the karma. There may be the good karma or the bad karma. But, anyway, these kinds of things would make the human beings suffer, and waste and consume their time, energy, fortune and life. 

A third-party manipulator manipulates bilateral ideological conflicts and contradictions and then profit from them.

The scheming, cunning and smart people deliberately cultivate authoritarian regimes or authoritarian political parties in the economy and trade. The privileged classes in these countries monopolize all the economic resources and interests of the country, harvest all the economic fruits of the people, and use them as their own. They think it is the safest way to move the huge wealth they have obtained to foreign countries.

 

The wealth these privileged classes plundered from innocent people, and all these illegal gains are placed in foreign banks. Do you think there are some foreigners who don’t want to covet this huge wealth? When these foreigners want to covet and harvest this huge wealth, what means will they use? At this time, there will be trick and skillful manipulation and the illusion room so as to set up an issue and a trap for conflict between two opposing parties. This is a means to let authoritarian dictators jump into the trap and thus start a war to harm weaker countries. And then the scheming people manipulate, use and sacrifice weak countries to fight. Finally, those who are greedy to interests are waiting to harvest the huge wealth and earn the money from the war.

 

The scheming, cunning and intelligent people hold up the banner of justice to punish these invaders, and at the same time freeze and harvest the huge wealth of these invaders and those of the privileged class. Therefore, whether it is a country with a dictatorial regime that launches a war, or a weak country that is in the process of self-defense and defending its country, both parties are manipulated by a third party and fall into the trap of war. Both parties become loser. The winner who actually makes a profit later is actually a third-party manipulator.

 

From the perspective of Buddhist causality, these third-party manipulators and gainers will eventually have their retribution. This is because bad causes, bad karma, and bad consequences will eventually lead to a vicious cycle. That is, some victims will be unwilling to be treated like this and they further create mentalities of revenge to take action. And this third-party manipulation method will eventually be seen through and despised by the world. If a country or individual is such a third-party manipulator, how can they properly educate their citizens or children about what true integrity and justice are? I'm quite skeptical about this.

 

Any conflict and confrontation can be reconciled and resolved with knowledge, reason, empathy and wisdom. In a modern information-rich society, there is really no need to use violence and force to solve problems.

Some media report that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are possible to become one of the most dangerous war zones and may trigger World War III. The two sides of the Taiwan Strait had ever been war-torn places, and U.S. National Defense Authorization Act at the end of the year 2023 also targets Taiwan. Some media articles said that the United States wants Taiwan to fight a proxy war. Throughout Taiwan's history, Taiwan's permanent residents have never taken the initiative to launch wars to attack others. No matter which side you stand and who you are, maintain inner peace and don't be tempted to fight or hurt others. In the views of Buddhism, the law of cause and effect is similar to the reverse zero sum game what you hurt others and thus owe others must be repaid one day. That is, do not hurt others by any means, otherwise, you will have to pay it back.

Recently, I have seen media reports about wars and the displacement of refugees. Many children and minors have fled with their parents. They are either receiving education in other places to adapt to the new environment, or they are completely unable to receive education in other places. There are many women and children hurt and killed ruthlessly by the missiles. The assets they had worked so hard to build were destroyed. They are also unable to find a good job to maintain their livelihood. How innocent these millions of people are to suffer this. If we have empathy, we absolutely don't want to see them living a miserable life like this. We humans have brains, kindness, wisdom, and empathy. Any conflict and confrontation can be reconciled and resolved with knowledge, reason, empathy and wisdom. In a modern information-rich society, there is really no need to use violence and force to solve problems.

 

Taiwan is currently a society of refugees and immigrants and aboriginal people living in harmony. I remember that it is a society of supplies being scarce after war, when I was a child. When there was a happy event in my family, such as wedding of son, my grandmother would give glutinous rice balls to the neighbors to share the happiness for everyone. And the leftovers from the table of wedding would be distributed to the neighbors. When a daughter got married in our family, we would give our neighbors wedding cakes. When a daughter-in-law gave birth to a son, we would give oily rice and hard-boiled eggs to the neighbors to share the happiness for everyone. Then, our neighbors would do the similar things to share with us when there are happiness things happened in their family. That is why we live in harmony with neighbors. When I grow up, I know that such things do not happen in the community of Taipei. It only happens in the office. 

We just share joy with each other and live in harmony with our neighbors. We have no intention of exchanging interests. From these experiences of getting along well and friendly, it is feasible for us to amplify it to the international community. It is a pity that the international community has too many strategies and calculations for self-interests. This will bring about more conflicts and disputes, which is not a blessing to the people of the international community.

 

I encourage the women with the kindness and generous to participate in the politics. Their experience, sympathetic and good wise will make the world more peaceful.

 

When men support their families and work outside the home, in order to earn profits, they may tend to use unfair methods, and to betrayal their good heart and violate their own good conscience. Male are less sympathetic to human beings, and are less of the feeling of suffering in physical and life. Male are more the mindset of winning, invasion and fighting to human beings. This mindset would make them want to control everything, including power, wealth, wife and children. Under this circumstance, If they stubbornly and stupidly obsessed on these things and strongly desire to protect his personal power, wealth and their family members and desire to benefit themselves, and when they want to be kind and generous for his family members, they might be neither protect nor benefit others and not be responsible for others, meanwhile they might be neither be kind nor be generous to others. That is, they might be kind to the self and their family members, however they might be ruthless, even to be brute, for the public in the society and the country. 

 

Women go through the process of pregnancy and the physical pain of giving birth, and they are also responsible for taking care of and raising children.  They will pay more attention to ethics so as to avoid teaching their children bad things and ruining their lives. Moreover, women experienced the pain of physical, which would make them own the empathy and sympathy for all beings. Therefore, if the good wise women with the empathy and sympathy are able to participate in the social and politic issues and to be the leaders, it is the blessings of all beings. I encourage the good and wise women with the kindness and generous to participate in the social activity and politics. Their experience, sympathetic and good wise will make the world more peaceful.

 

Conclusion

To realize the Zen of Buddhism does not mean that there is no line between you and others. The invisible line is still there. It would protect ourselves not to be harmed by any poisonous minds. But, we understand that they are the persons without brightness in their minds. And we do not need to be affected by their manipulation and we do not need to fall down the traps to fight against them. 

Meanwhile, we do not need to regard them as enemies. We understand that the hatred mind would damage our mental health. Anything can be resolved by using the approach of reconciliation. It is not necessary to use the force and violence to resolve any problem. 

Some people hate others and say that they want to eliminate race what they hate. This is really a stupid idea. When we learn Buddha, we would know that what should be eliminated is the poisonous minds in ourselves and in others. But, we know that it is not easy to change others. Therefore, the better way is to change ourselves. That is to learn Buddha and to practice the teachings of Buddha so as to eliminate the poisonous minds of the self. 

The poisonous minds include the greedy, hatred, stupid addiction or obsession or infatuation, and the arrogant and the suspicious. This is the cause of any evil. Angry or hate -- anger, hatred or resentment-- are a negative psychological state. Having this kind of negative mental state usually consumes your own energy, and at the same time, it also consumes the energy of others. That is, it harms oneself and it will also harm others.

  

What we can do and it is better for us is to realize the cause and effect in Buddhism and using our knowledge, compassion and wisdom to lead and guide the people with the poisonous minds to abandon the cause of the evil and any evil deeds, and then to generate and obey the good cause and do the good deeds so as to be good persons. And we thus are able to create the harmonious and peaceful world hand by hand. That is, peaceful mind would make the world better.  

In the rest of our life, it would be good for us to do something with meaningfulness according to our individual common sense, professional knowledge, experience of life, good and positive wise, sympathy and empathy, meanwhile, to be kindness to help others. That is also cultivating the self and practicing the teachings of Buddha. That is also to plant the seed of virtue in our farm of blessing and it would accumulate the blessing and finally generate the flower and fruition of virtue, merit and good blessing.

I wish that through our understanding of Zen of Buddhism, analysis and understanding of the differences between male and female characteristics, and from a psychological perspective, we can have a better understanding of the international community. And we are able to handle international relations in a friendly and peaceful manner. It is not only to make us to be a good person but also to make the world more peaceful and better. Meanwhile, I wish the current war  would be ceased as soon as possible, and all human beings would be safe and keep peace in mind. 

One of the Ten Titles about Buddha—Supreme-Scholar

 

Author: Tao Qing Hsu (Hsu, Tao-qing)

 

The definition and explanation of Supreme-Scholar

 

The Title Supreme-Scholar—its Sanskrit is anuttara-- is based on and derived from the title World-Understanding. The link is One of the Ten Titles about Buddha—World-Understanding.

 

In The Scripture of the Ten Titles Said by Buddha, it is mentioned that:

Moreover, all the two-legged, four-legged, many-legged and no-legged in the other world, the all heavens of desire and color, the heavens of thoughts and no thoughts, the heavens of neither thinking nor non-thinking, and supposing to be the mortal or the sage, in all these sentient beings, only the Buddha was the first, the most supreme and no grade. It was thus named the Supreme-Scholar.

 

This paragraph “All the two-legged, four-legged, many-legged and no-legged in the other world, the all heavens of desire and color, the heavens of thoughts and no thoughts, the heavens of neither thinking nor non-thinking, and supposing to be the mortal or the sage, in all these sentient beings” means the Three Realm and Six Paths – the Desire Realm, the Color Realm and the Colorless Realm. The Related introduction and explanation you can refer to the link: One of the Ten Titles about Buddha—World-Understanding. The meaning “no grade” you can refer to the link: Let heart in peace, no fear and affliction any more (Updated on 2019/07/11). The content what the link is very abundant, it needs to take time and patient to read and understand it.

 

Realizing the emptiness in the void of heart makes our heart beyond the world.

 

When we realize the emptiness in the void of heart, we will realize there is no grade, no comparison, no binary opposition, no confrontation, no fight, no argue, no competitive and no accusation in our true self-nature. It makes our heart beyond the world. Meanwhile, we will realize that the grade, comparison, binary opposition, confrontation, fight, argue, and competitive, any accusation and any definition are caused by any outside and inside conscious, mind and phenomena, even are to be manipulated by people with intention or cunning smart or scheming mindset. 

 

No matter the mortal or the sage was, in all these sentient beings, only the Buddha was the first, the most supreme and no grade. It was thus named the Supreme-Scholar.

 

Beyond the worlds, there is no grade in the vast, silence, emptiness and void. However, the Buddha was also one of the beings, his heart did not leave the worlds and was able to enter in and go out the worlds freely. Therefore, if we compare what the level of the mortal or the sage in any realm was, such as the ability of saving the self and others, and the blessing, wisdom, empathy, and sympathy, etc., the Buddha was the first and the most supreme. Then, we understand that the first and the most supreme are also meant to no grade. That is because there is no highest rather than it and there is no comparing to each other in the realm of the vast, silence and emptiness.

 

The Buddha’s mind is unattached, as pure and untainted as the void.

 

The Buddha can truly understand that the world of the Three Realms and Six Paths in which is the thought and non-thought, non-perception and non-non-perception, non-boundary and non-non-boundary, non-boundless and non-non-boundless, Buddha-law and non-Buddha-law (Dharma and non-Dharma), permanent and non-permanent, constant and non-constant, non-going and non-non-going, grade and non-grade, non-grade and non-non-grade, etc., and he also knows all transcendental Buddha-law (Dharmas) that it is beyond the worlds of the Three Realms and Six Paths. The Buddha’s mind is unattached, as pure and untainted as the void.

 

How to understand the word Supreme-Scholar?

 

The word Supreme-Scholar also can be understood or replaced by the word Supreme-Gentler, Supreme-Lady, or Supreme-Nobler. We can understand it by the metaphor of the Doctor or Master. For example, those who have graduated from a doctoral program in a university are respectfully called Doctor, and those who have graduated from Buddhist studies and learning Buddha are respectfully called Supreme-Scholar. How to learn Buddha and how to know the basic knowledge of learning Buddha, you can refer to the following link of various articles:

Talk about and Comment on Buddhist Scripture

 

What the wealth and noble the humankind have pursued and owned is visible and obvious, and is the impermanent.

Pursuing to graduate from a well-known university, engaging in an enviable job, earning a lot of money, having a good income, or having the prosperity and the high status in the career, it belongs to the visible wealth and noble. All of these things are impermanent and like floating clouds and bubbles which are easily disappeared at any time. Unfortunately, many people fall from the clouds into the abyss because of greedy and unjust in heart or because of unlucky fate caused by lacking of the good knowledge, wisdom and compassion.

Achieving the Buddhahood is the invisible and hidden wealth and noble, and is the permanent.

When we graduate from the examination of studying Buddhism and learning Buddha, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the sky and the void will show up and come to confirm us. That is, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who have appeared in the ten-direction worlds and beyond the worlds, these graduates, these senior brothers and sisters, will come to confirm us and congratulate us. At this time, we will be conferred the title of Supreme-Scholar. Then, we have the qualify to engage in the vocation of Buddha. Graduating from studying Buddhism and learning Buddha and engaging in the vocation of Buddha is an invisible and hidden wealth and noble. The Buddha indeed owned the huge wealth and noble. It is the permanent. Few people know this. If you are lucky to know it at present, it is good for you to cherish the opportunity to learn Buddha. There is a historic Chinese verse and I translate it from Chinese into English as follows:

 

All in heaven and on earth is not like Buddha,

The ten-direction worlds are also incomparable,

Everything in the world I have seen fully,

There is nothing which is like Buddha.

 

I hope we are able to learn Buddha together, be blessed by all Buddhas in ten directions and go on the path of Bodhi hand by hand, in our each life of the present and future.