One of the Ten Titles about Buddha -- Teacher of Heavens and Humans

 

Author: Tao Qing Hsu

                                                                                                                    

The general meaning of Teacher of Heavens and Humans

The word Teacher of Heavens and Humans is translated from the Chinese and it is translated from the Sanskrit "sasta dena - manusyanam". Generally speaking, it means that the Buddha is good at teaching sentient beings what they should do and what they should not do, as well as what is good and what is not good. If all sentient beings can follow the Buddha's teachings and not deviate from the right path, they will be able to be free from their troubles and to liberate themselves from sufferings of life and death. 

The explanation of Teacher of Heavens and Humans said by Buddha

In the Buddhist Scripture--The Scripture of the Ten Titles Said by Buddha, the Buddha explained what the Teacher of Heavens and Humans  meant:

Why was it called the Teacher of Heavens and Humans? The Buddha said. It is not to be the teacher for Ananda of one Bhiksu. All Bhiksus and Bhiksuni. And Upasaka and Upasika. And the heavens and humans. The Srmana and Brahmin. The demon king and the outside Dao. All the heavens of Sakras, Brahmas and Dragons had returned their missions and relied on the teachings to pursue and follow it and all became disciples of the Buddha. It was hence named the Teacher of Heavens and Humans.

Further explanation for Teacher of Heavens and Humans

From this paragraph, we know that the Buddha is the teacher of all beings, no matter these beings are humans or non-humans, no matter they are heaven beings or non-heaven beings, no matter they are monks or nuns, no matter they are residence-scholars or residence-learners in Buddhism,  no matter their status are and no matter they are in the Dao of Buddhism or not in the Dao of Buddhism. That is, no matter what their races, appearances, colors, forms, non-forms, religions, and beliefs are, they all finally return to their missions and rely on the teachings of Buddha. Meanwhile, they finally pursue and follow the teachings of Buddha, and become the disciples of the Buddha.  

The explanation of the words in the content

The word Dao is translated from Chinese into English. Dao means path or way. The meaning of Dao is extended to be the truth of practicing in life, belief and religion. Dao is Tao. Bhiksu and Bhiksuni, Upasaka and Upasika, are Sanskrit. Bhiksu and Bhiksuni means monk and nun. In historical India, those who left the home and pursued and practiced the truth of life were called  Bhiksu and Bhiksuni, no matter what their beliefs and religions were. Generally speaking, they did not reside in a fixed place and always stayed under a tree.  And, those who did not leave the home, and pursued and practiced the truth of life at home, were called Upasaka and Upasika. That is, Upasaka is the residence-scholar of male or residence-learner of male. Upasika is the residence-scholar of female or residence-learner of female.

The following explanations for Srmana and Brahmin  are referred to on the Internet. Srmana and Brahmin are Sanskrit. Srmana is a person "who labors, toils, or exerts themselves for some higher or religious purpose" or "seeker, one who performs acts of austerity, ascetic". Brahmin is a varna (caste) within Hindu society. Traditionally, Brahmins are accorded the highest ritual status of the four social classes, and they also served as spiritual teachers. 

The heavens of Sakras, Brahmas and Dragons are the beings in heavens according to the records of historical India. According to our current understanding, they are sentient beings belonging to different dimensions of space and time. Meanwhile, they have lifespan and will experience reincarnation after the ending of their life. They have the huge blessings and are in the position of Bodhisattva (Pusa; Bosa).  However, they have not yet achieved Buddhahood. They always do their best to support the teachings of Buddha and to practice Buddhism. 

From Buddhist scripture, we can see the Buddha Shakyamuni spoke the Buddha-Law for the heavenly beings.

The Buddha Shakyamuni can be the teacher of humans. There is no doubt. However, from which scripture can we know that the Buddha Shakyamuni can be the teacher of heavenly beings? In some of the Buddhist scripture, it mentioned that the Buddha Shakyamuni was into the state of Zen-steady and went up the heaven to spoke the scripture for the heavenly beings, such as the Buddhist scripture --The Scripture of The Virtue and Merit of The Original Vow of The Bodhisattva Land-Treasure (Pusa Land-Treasure; Pusa Land-Hidden; The treasure is hidden in the land. Pusa is Bodhisattva). The Buddha Shakyamuni went up to the Daoli heaven (Trayastriṃśa) to speak this Buddhist scripture for his mother and the family members. His mother passed away after the Buddha Shakyamuni was born, and then she reincarnated in the Daoli Heaven (Trayastriṃśa) and enjoyed blessings. In other Buddhist scripture, it also mentioned that the Buddha Shakyamuni went up to the Daoli heaven to speak scripture for the heavenly Bodhisattvas (Pusas).

Except for this, in the great-boarding classic scripture, when the Buddha Shakyamuni spoke the scripture, the countless heavenly Pusas and beings, and the countless Pusas who appeared from the different worlds of all Buddhas, would attend the law-congregation to listen to what the spoken and taught by Buddha Shakyamuni. Furthermore, the Buddha Shakyamuni spoke the scripture for kings and his family members of all heavens and the earth. Such as this scripture -- Lotus scripture, there were countless sons of different heavens flown to attend the law-congregation so as to listen to the Buddha’s teaching. Pusa is Bodhisattva. Law-congregation means that the Buddha spoke the Buddha-Law for all beings in one place. 

From Buddhist scripture, we can see the Buddha Shakyamuni spoke the Buddha-Law for the king on the earth.

There also exists such a kind of Buddhist scripture that the Buddha Shakyamuni spoke the scripture for the king who lived on earth. As we have mentioned that the word Buddha is just a title. The meaning of Buddha is similar to the saint. That is, they already have good cultivation in moral and ethical aspects. Meanwhile, they are capable to save, teach and reform all beings to liberate them from sufferings of life and death. 

In conclusion

From the above explanation, we know why the Buddha was capable of being the teacher of heavens and humans. Please keep following this blog, we will explore more and deeply why the Buddha is the Teacher of Heavens and Humans.

Verses demonstrate whose natural wisdom is enlightened.

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

 

Zen master Hong Ren (A.D.601-674) was the fifth generation of Chinese Zen. He directed a large Zen temple where many disciples learned Zen from him. One of his disciples named Shenxiu was the chief professor who also taught Zen. However, his heart had not yet been confirmed by the heart of the Zen master Hong Ren.

 

All the disciples thought that the chief professor Shenxiu would be the sixth generation of Chinese Zen. And they expected it to be true. One day, Zen master Hong Ren asked his disciples to write down verses on the wall about what they have enlightened in wisdom. 

 

All disciples invited Shenxiu to write verses. Then, Shenxiu wrote verses:

 

The Body is Bodhi tree.

The heart is like a stand of the bright mirror,

Which have to be often wiped diligently, and

Do not make it provoked by dusts.

 

The dusts meant annoyance, trouble, or mistake. The verses meant that we should remove any annoyance, trouble and mistake. It looked reasonable. All disciples agreed with it cheerfully, and thought that everyone should follow the verses to practice. They all thought that the sixth generation of Chinese Zen must be Shenxiu.

 

At that time, Huineng passed by there from kitchen where he worked and felt curious what they were talking about. A colleague told him what verses Shenxiu had written.

 

Hearing that, Huineng had verses in heart and asked his colleague to assist him to write down the verses on the wall:  

 

There is no tree in the Bodhi originally.

The bright mirror is also not a stand.

There is nothing in the original.

Where the dust could be provoked?

 

All disciples read these verses curiously, did not understand what they meant, and were all stunned.

 

Zen master Hong Ren came here and had read the verses on the wall. He knew that Huineng had enlightened his natural wisdom. At the midnight, Zen master Hong Ren spoke Diamond Sutra for Huineng and imparted the Zen to him, including the golden-thread dresses and bowl. From the moment, Huineng was confirmed by Zen master Hong Ren and became the sixth generation of Chinese Zen. That is because his self spirit was awakened naturally.    

 

Those who have such knowledge gain the Dao quickly.    

 

Basically, there is no wrong for the two verses. But, do you know the difference of the verses said above between Shenxiu and Huineng? Shenxiu has not yet seen his self nature. However, Huineng has already seen his self nature. The self nature is the Buddha nature. That is what the difference between them, and such difference has decided their different destiny and future.

 

What is the difference? In a word, it is the difference of the general person and the Bodhisattva. It is also the difference of distinguishing wisdom and no-distinguishing wisdom. It is only the difference by a thought. It is so simple. However, it is very hardly to be understood by the masses.

 

What is the difference between distinguishing wisdom and no-distinguishing wisdom? For the general people, they are good at the distinguishing intellect, especially the elite. The ability of analysis, research and debating is the distinguishing intellect. But, it is not the no-distinguishing wisdom.

 

The distinguishing wisdom could help us distinguish what is the true virtue and what is the true evil, and we know that we should do the true virtue and not do the true evil. So, to have the distinguishing wisdom is a good thing. For the general people, they may have the distinguishing wisdom. But, it is not enough, if we want to learn Buddha.  

 

To learn Buddha, we must realize the no-distinguishing wisdom on the basis of distinguishing wisdom. Only we are in the state of no-distinguishing wisdom, we will realize the wisdom without binary opposition. That is the top supreme wisdom.

 

If we want to realize such wisdom, we have to realize the emptiness nature. However, it is hardly to realize it for anyone. So, Shenxiu may have the distinguishing wisdom. But, he does not have the no-distinguishing wisdom. That is why he cannot be the leader of the sixth generation of Chinese Zen.

 

For the masses, some people even do not have the distinguishing ability to distinguish what is good and what is evil, let alone to have the distinguishing wisdom. That is why they do the evil things and even do not have the feeling of shame.

 

Perceiving the sky, land and the world, to have a thought of the impermanence, it would lead us to realize these natures and essences are emptiness. The essences of the impermanence is the emptiness nature. The changing of phenomenon is the impermanence,  this is like the illusion, and is not real, and this is the perceive of fake. The essences of the impermanence is the emptiness, this is the real and permanence, and this is the perceive of truth. From that, we extend to realize that the nature and essence of our spiritual awakening is also emptiness. Then, what they mean for us? It is the wisdom of no obstacle, and which is the all wisdom, including the distinguishing wisdom and the no-distinguishing wisdom. The changing of phenomenon and the corresponding impermanence are belonging to the distinguishing wisdom.  The essences of the impermanence is the emptiness, this is the truth and permanence, and is belonging to the no-distinguishing wisdom.  The essences of all of them are the wisdom of emptiness nature. That is, the fake and the real are one, the illusion and the truth are one. Huineng realize it and that is why he can be the leader of the sixth generation of Chinese Zen.

 

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 it is extended to be the truth of life that we can learn and practice in our lives.

Pinch a flower and smile. Outside of teaching, other imparting, one heart to confirm the other heart.

Author: Tao Qing Hsu (Hsu, Tao-qing) 

When Buddha Shakyamuni is on the spirit-vulture mountain, he pinches a flower and shows to his disciples and the masses. All of them are silent, and do not understand what the meaning is. Only a Buddhist monk Mahakassapa comprehends about this with smiles. 

Then, Buddha Shakyamuni says, ” I have the correct-law-eye-treasure, Nirvana wondrous heart. The true phenomenon is without phenomenon. The wondrous law-gate, no text is established. There is the other imparting outside of teaching. These exhorts are imparted to Mahakassapa.”

This is the origin of Zen. “The correct-law-eye-treasure” is translated from Chinese into English. “Law” here means “Buddha-law”. “Correct law” means the whole Buddha law. “Eye” here means “to see and reflect the all things clearly.” “Treasure” here means “hiding the treasure to include the all things.”

So, what Zen is imparted is the whole Buddha law which is reflected the all things and it could be seen by us. It is the treasure which could lead us into the Nirvana with our wondrous heart. What is the wondrous heart? It is to realize that the true phenomenon is without phenomenon. How can we go into the gate of such wondrous Buddha law? Its password and secret is the wondrous heart and no text. Such special and wondrous Buddha law is outside of the normal Buddha’s teaching and these imparting are delivered to Mahakassapa.

Mahakassapa is the first generation of India Zen. The word "Zen" is transliterated from Chinese. The system of Zen imparts from the first generation which is the only one, to the next generation which is also the only one. The method is one heart to confirm the other heart. In other word, at the same generation, the second person has no chance to gain the confirming from the Zen master. This rule continues until the sixth generation of Chinese Zen. After him, Zen is broadly imparted and delivered in China.

The India Zen is from Mahakassapa to Dharma. Dharma can speak and read in Chinese and he imparts Zen in China. He is respected as the first generation of Chinese Zen. In Zen, each Zen master will leave his verses as confirmation of enlightenment.   

There is no text. Why? That is because it is from one mind to communicate to the other mind in the emptiness. Where you can find the text? It is unless someone records it on the paper.

If someone could not perceive the self spiritual awakening, it is hardly for him to experience and prove the emptiness-nature, and to experience the communication from one mind to the other mind in the emptiness. It is hardly for us to be imparted and confirmed from Zen master in the emptiness, unless we are the top supreme wise person, and have the merit and virtue in learning Buddha.

In the worldly, there are golden-thread dresses and bowl to be used as Zen heritage tokens which is ceased to happen after Zen master Huineng who is the sixth generation of Chinese Zen.

Zen is not easy to be understood by the masses. That is why it is single imparting, and why the Zen is the mystery and puzzle for the masses, and why it is not publicly known in India.

Zen is publicly known by the masses since the Master Huineng, the sixth generation of Chinese Zen. His time is in A.D.638-713. The master Huineng imparts Zen for five disciples who are confirmed to be enlightened in Zen. Then, these five disciples develop Zen everywhere in China. And at the same time, Zen is also imparting to Japan and Korea.

The Zen master Huineng is illiteracy. As we know above, no text is established in Zen. That is what the interesting. The illiteracy doesn’t be the obstacle to be enlightened in wisdom. That is a special record in the Buddhist history. This record also lets us know that, whatever the language is spoken, it is not the obstacle for enlightening our natural wisdom. Why?

Any language is developed in a social group. As we have mentioned before, the grandest Dao is speechless. That is, our natural wisdom is speechless. Once we realize our natural wisdom, whether we are illiteracy or what language we speak is not so important. Any text or language is just to help us more easily understand what our natural wisdom is. In other word, any text and language itself is not the natural wisdom. When we want to enlighten our natural wisdom, we even have to abandon any text and language in the temporarily.

Then we know human appearance or color of skin is also not obstacle to enlighten our natural wisdom. As Buddha said, the true phenomenon is without phenomenon. Human appearance or color of skin is the phenomenon which could be changed in any time. And it is also the impermanence.    

Verses demonstrate whose natural wisdom is enlightened.

Zen master Hong Ren (A.D.601-674) was the fifth generation of Chinese Zen. He directed a large Zen temple where many disciples learned Zen from him. One of his disciples named Shenxiu was the chief professor who also taught Zen. However, his heart had not yet been confirmed by the heart of the Zen master Hong Ren.

All the disciples thought that the chief professor Shenxiu would be the sixth generation of Chinese Zen. And they expected it to be true. One day, Zen master Hong Ren asked his disciples to write down verses on the wall about what they have enlightened in wisdom. 

All disciples invited Shenxiu to write verses. Then, Shenxiu wrote verses:

The Body is Bodhi tree.

The heart is like a stand of the bright mirror,

Which have to be often wiped diligently, and

Do not make it provoked by dusts.

The dusts meant annoyance, trouble, or mistake. The verses meant that we should remove any annoyance, trouble and mistake. It looked reasonable. All disciples agreed with it cheerfully, and thought that everyone should follow the verses to practice. They all thought that the sixth generation of Chinese Zen must be Shenxiu.

At that time, Huineng passed by there from kitchen where he worked and felt curious what they were talking about. A colleague told him what verses Shenxiu had written.

Hearing that, Huineng had verses in heart and asked his colleague to assist him to write down the verses on the wall:  

There is no tree in the Bodhi originally.

The bright mirror is also not a stand.

There is nothing in the original.

Where the dust could be provoked?

All disciples read these verses curiously, did not understand what they meant, and were all stunned.

Zen master Hong Ren came here and had read the verses on the wall. He knew that Huineng had enlightened his natural wisdom. At the midnight, Zen master Hong Ren spoke Diamond Sutra for Huineng and imparted the Zen to him, including the golden-thread dresses and bowl. From the moment, Huineng was confirmed by Zen master Hong Ren and became the sixth generation of Chinese Zen. That is because his self spirit was awakened naturally.    

Those who have such knowledge gain the Dao quickly.    

Basically, there is no wrong for the two verses. But, do you know the difference of the verses said above between Shenxiu and Huineng? Shenxiu has not yet seen his self nature. However, Huineng has already seen his self nature. The self nature is the Buddha nature. That is what the difference between them, and such difference has decided their different destiny and future.

What is the difference? In a word, it is the difference of the general person and the Bodhisattva. It is also the difference of distinguishing wisdom and no-distinguishing wisdom. It is only the difference by a thought. It is so simple. However, it is very hardly to be understood by the masses.

What is the difference between distinguishing wisdom and no-distinguishing wisdom? For the general people, they are good at the distinguishing intellect, especially the elite. The ability of analysis, research and debating is the distinguishing intellect. But, it is not the no-distinguishing wisdom.

The distinguishing wisdom could help us distinguish what is the true virtue and what is the true evil, and we know that we should do the true virtue and not do the true evil. So, to have the distinguishing wisdom is a good thing. For the general people, they may have the distinguishing wisdom. But, it is not enough, if we want to learn Buddha.  

To learn Buddha, we must realize the no-distinguishing wisdom on the basis of distinguishing wisdom. Only we are in the state of no-distinguishing wisdom, we will realize the wisdom without binary opposition. That is the top supreme wisdom.

If we want to realize such wisdom, we have to realize the emptiness nature. However, it is hardly to realize it for anyone. So, Shenxiu may have the distinguishing wisdom. But, he does not have the no-distinguishing wisdom. That is why he cannot be the leader of the sixth generation of Chinese Zen.

 

For the masses, some people even do not have the distinguishing ability to distinguish what is good and what is evil, let alone to have the distinguishing wisdom. That is why they do the evil things and even do not have the feeling of shame.

Perceiving the sky, land and the world, to have a thought of the impermanence, it would lead us to realize these natures and essences are emptiness. The essences of the impermanence is the emptiness nature. The changing of phenomenon is the impermanence,  this is like the illusion, and is not real, and this is the perceive of fake. The essences of the impermanence is the emptiness, this is the real and permanence, and this is the perceive of truth. From that, we extend to realize that the nature and essence of our spiritual awakening is also emptiness. Then, what they mean for us? It is the wisdom of no obstacle, and which is the all wisdom, including the distinguishing wisdom and the no-distinguishing wisdom. The changing of phenomenon and the corresponding impermanence are belonging to the distinguishing wisdom.  The essences of the impermanence is the emptiness, this is the truth and permanence, and is belonging to the no-distinguishing wisdom.  The essences of all of them are the wisdom of emptiness nature. That is, the fake and the real are one, the illusion and the truth are one. Huineng realize it and that is why he can be the leader of the sixth generation of Chinese Zen.

If we have such knowledge as said above, we gain the Dao quickly. What the next we should do is to practice it, realize it and confirm it. In the Heaven and in the world, no one is as superior and wondrous as Buddha. The merit and virtue of Buddha is deep as sea. Life is short and it is difficult to gain our human body. If we have the chance to read this article, it is better for us to cherish our Buddha nature to learn Buddha. 

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 it is extended to be the truth of life that we can learn and practice in our lives.

An Enlightened Story — How To Realize The Zen Of Buddhism Easily

 

The Chinese original author: unknown

Translator-editor: Tao Qing Hsu (A Buddhist at home;Taiwan; Since AD 1971-- )

There is a little learner who always doesn’t realize the meaning of Zen. One day, there is an empty cup on the table before a Zen-master. The Zen-master asks his little learner to pour the tea into the cup for him. The little learner obeys the order and pours the tea.

 

Then, the cup is full of tea and the little learner stops pouring the tea. The Zen-master orders the little learner to keep pouring the tea. The little learner thus hesitates and says to the Zen-master, ”Master, the cup is full of tea. Should I keep pouring the tea? ”   

 

The Zen-master says to him, “There are two choices for you. One is to keep pouring the tea. The other is to empty the cup and keep pouring the tea.”  

 

Suddenly, the little learner seems to realize the meaning of emptiness. Think about it, if our hearts are filled with things, how can we be able to fill in new things? Only by emptying our hearts can we fill in new things, for example, new ideas.

An Enlightened Story – The Sincere Reminder from the God of Lotus Pool (Part 1)

The source of this story: The Commentary of Great Wisdom Rescue / The Author: Bodhisattva Dragon-Tree (South Indian; 2nd century AD)

Translator-editor: Tao Qing Hsu (A Buddhist at home;Taiwan; Since AD 1971-- )

 

There is a Bhikkhu who moves and takes a walk complying with the practice of scripture along the poolside of lotus in the forest. He smells the aroma of lotus, feels joyful, and likes it very much. The lotus-pool spirit tells him,” Why you abandon the seat with clean Zen under the forest but steal the aroma of my lotus? All of the annoyance is arisen because of attaching the aroma.”

 

Then, the Bhikkhu sees a man who goes into the pool of lotus, picks a lot of lotuses, and leaves the pool of lotus after trampling and ruining it. The lotus-pool spirit keeps silence without talking.  

 

The Bhikkhu says to the spirit of lotus pool,” This person has spoiled your pool of lotus and takes your flowers. You do not say anything. I just walk along the poolside and you scold me that I steal your aroma.”

 

The lotus-pool spirit says,” A worldly evil person is often in the dirty droppings of sin. He is always without clean and without brain. I do not talk with him. You are a good person with the practice of Zen. However, you have broken your good behavior because of obsessing the aroma. That is why I scold you. Such as a black-dirty thing on a clean-white cloth, people would see it and try to clean it. An evil person is such as black ink sprinkled on black clothes, which cannot be seen by people, and who would care and ask about this person?”

Chapter 32: The ego-emptiness eliminates the fear.

(Chapter 32) 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 32: The ego-emptiness eliminates the fear.        

The Buddha said,” People follow the desire of love and thus to occur the worry and follow the worry so as to occur the fear. If they leave the desire of love, what would be worried and what would be feared?” 

 

The ego-emptiness is also the self-emptiness. It means that the self is in the status of emptiness. Most people do not understand such state, even to mistakenly understand it and thus fear it. That is because they do not understand the profoundly meaning of ego-emptiness.

 

A little story of Zen

 

There is a story to help us to understand it easily. There is a little learner who always doesn’t realize the meaning of Zen. One day, there is an empty cup on the table before a Zen-master. The Zen-master asks his little learner to pour the tea into the cup for him. The little learner obeys the order and pours the tea.

 

Then, the cup is full of tea and the little learner stops pouring the tea. The Zen-master orders the little learner to keep pouring the tea. The little learner thus hesitates and says to the Zen-master, ”Master, the cup is full of tea. Should I keep pouring the tea? ”   

 

The Zen-master says to him, “There are two choices for you. One is to keep pouring the tea. The other is to empty the cup and keep pouring the tea.”  

 

Suddenly, the little learner seems to realize the meaning of emptiness. Think about it, if our hearts are filled with things, how can we be able to fill in new things? Only by emptying our hearts can we fill in new things, for example, new ideas.

 

The desire of love

 

Have you ever quietly thinking of the desire of love inside the self-body? When I am beginning to practice the meditation, I have to question myself about it and to aware the inner desire of love which is existed inside of my body. It is very important to me for doing such meditation every day. Such training is the basic learning to learn Buddhism and to release the self-worry in life.  

 

The Buddha said, “The desire of love is the root of distress.” Only when we know the desire of love inside our body, we would know what kind of thing would attract us, affect us, turn us, and thus give us the distress. When the desire of love is gradually eliminated in our body, any distress caused by the inner desire of love which would touch us is rest naturally. 

 

Secondly, when we do any insight into our inner desire of love, we would astutely do the insight into the desire of love existed in everyone. It is also very important to us to do such observing. We cannot live without any one person. The existed desire of love in their body would appear to become any negative motive, thought, language and behavior to hurt us. When we know it clearly, we would know how to face and deal with it correctly.  

 

Of course, do we have ever thought that we would hurt others people because of our inner desire of love? I think that it is very few people to have such thought. If we broadly observe the society and world, we would find that the original cause to incur the turmoil of society and the un-peace of world is arisen from the desire of love existed in the powerful men and women.

 

Why people follow the desire of love would thus give them the worry? I take a simple example. Do you have ever observed the behavior of the children? We know that the children love toys. When the children play the toys, they are so happy and laugh so happily. However, when we take their toys away, their instinct makes them begin to cry loudly. When they calm down and aware that they lose their toys, they begin trying and doing something to take their toys back. When the other children take away the toys, they are even angry to fight each other for grabbing the toys.    

 

Such behavior of the children can be tracked back to the behavior of sucking the pacifier. When a baby is crying, we take the pacifier to the baby's mouth for the baby to suck. Then, the baby stops crying. This would be track back to the source of desire of love for human beings. Such desire of love for pacifier is the instinct of an infant. However, with the growing of the infants and what they have contacted in their life and in their environment, what they want by following their desire of love is different and changing with their age and experience. At the same time, what they worry about and what they fear are also different and changing with their age and experience.

 

The original desire of love for the pacifier and toys caused by the infants’ instinct cannot be deprived, restricted and changed, because it is the necessary for the growing of babies. However, with their growing, it may not be necessary for them to obtain what they want according to their desires of love, and some of them even have to be restricted or eliminated, so as to avoid any troubles to themselves or to others.

 

For example, some of the young boy loves the car and desires to have it. However, we know that it is not the necessity for the young boy. Even though some of the young boy loves the car and desires to have it, they know they cannot afford it and thus to eliminate such desire of love. However, some of them neither eliminate their desire of love for a car but to steal a car. They drive the car without license and make the car collision. And thus a lot of troubles are happened. They even must pay for life and car damage.

 

Therefore, for the inner desire of love, it is very important to us to distinguish the difference between what is the necessity and what is not. For example, to eat nutritious and natural food is very important to us. If we have any desire of love about it and obtain the food with justice action, it is a normal behavior. However, if we want to get such food and thus do anything to hurt others, it is an improper behavior and would bring any troubles to us.

 

The Buddha said,” People follow the desire of love and thus to occur the worry and follow the worry so as to occur the fear.

 

For the adult, their desire of love and what they want according to it is more complicate. And such desire of love is more related to the desire of greed. That is, such desire of love is no longer for the necessary in life but is more for the requirement through greedy desire. Meanwhile, the method and the behavior to get what they want are more improper. In a word, such desire of love is affected by the surrounding environment, more coming from and pushed by the anxiety of the pressure of life, and thus to form the badly circle in life.

 

Men love women. Women love money. Men love power in career. Women love to have a comfortable house. Men love cars. Women love designer clothing and handbags. No matter what they love, they are willing to do anything to get it, even using the mean method or to violate their good nature. 

 

Unfortunately, they do not distinguish whether what they want is the necessity or the vanity. Mostly, what they want is more than what they need. When they have what they want, it seems not contenting them. They want more and have the strong worry for it. Unfortunately, for getting the more, people become slavers under their inner desire of love, and some of them are not willing to work hard through their labor and energy.

 

Therefore, their mind and motive are no longer pure and thus to truly lead to their evil behavior. They do not know that such desire of love and thereafter mind, motive, and behavior would thus bring them many troubles and distress. They even have to live under the evil person’s threatening, controlling and humiliating, because they are afraid of losing everything. Therefore, they live in the fear. Because of the fear, they are even forced to commit the crime.  

 

If they leave the love, what would be worried and what would be feared?” 

 

In other words, why people have so many troubles and distress caused by their desire of love? That is because that they cannot drop their desire of love. When they stubbornly stick on their desire of love, they cannot put down anything what they hold. For holding anything, they are even willing to argue or fight with the other persons, even to lie or hurt them. It is their troubles and distress. Unfortunately, they may not have such self-perceiving and self-alerting. 

 

Therefore, if people are willing to leave the desire of love, their mind is thus cleaned to be empty. And within it, there is nothing which you want it and thus there is nothing which can be losing. In the emptiness of mind, where you can find the worry and the fear?

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.

 

The basic introduction of the concept of Zen and how to enter the realm of Zen?

Author: Tao Qing Hsu

The word “Zen” is transliterated from Chinese, and is composed by two Chinese characters, which is the character "express" and "single". Therefore, the literal meaning of the Chinese character in Zen is to express single.

From the literal meaning of the Chinese word ”Zen”, we will be more easy to understand what the Zen means and enter the realm of Zen. Now we know that Zen is to express single. That is, there is no duality (no dualism). Duality here means an instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or two aspects of something. For example, "right" and "wrong"; "good" and "evil"; "yes" or "no".

This kind of binary exists in our logic training or any life education. It has become an integral part of our lives. We can say that it has become the inertia of our lives. Such concept of dualism has kidnapped our lives and affects a lot of aspects of our lives. However, we are not alert to this.   

We all know that only one palm doesn't make a sound. Many conflicts in humans are generated from the duality. It is as if two palms to make sounds. If we realized the profound meaning of Zen, we will find that there are many ridiculous absurdities in the consciousness of human opposition, whether in dictatorship or democracy, or any religious doctrine, or any racism, because such things are always related to the dualism and its binary opposition.

However, this is only the introduction of Zen, and it has not yet to make us enter the truth of Zen. In a word, the point of Zen is to break the personal inertial thinking, to break self-attachment, to break self-obsession and there is no binary opposition in personal mind. With this basic concept, it will make it easier for us to enter the realm of Zen.

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