Author: Tao Qing Hsu (Hsu,
Tao-qing)
In a brief, every one has
the soul and the body. Even though the soul is shapeless, it still has the
conscious, feeling, thinking, and memory. It also could “speak” and
“communicate” to others with mind. It is the “sound” with no sound. In other
words, it is the speaking and communication from the heart or mind to the other
heart or mind. It is existed in the shapeless and in the no substance, and it
is hard to be verified by science instrument. For the most people, it might be
experienced when we are dreaming in sleeping. It is very clear and could be
remembered. However, it is different from the theory of Freud.
As we have mentioned in
the Chapter 12﹝2﹞ :
Learning the Dao is difficult when people are in the huge wealth and are the
nobility, the body is formed by the four elements, that is, the
land, the water, the fire, and the wind. The body has the form and the
substance which could be seen and touched. If we want to vocalize from our
body, we have to depend on the medium in the air, so that our voice could be
transmitted to others and be heard by others.
Now we have the basic
concept for the soul and the body. Following concept would be hard to be
understood, because it is beyond our experience of the general knowledge and
common sense.
The soul is eternal. It can
not be eliminated. There is no arising and no destroying for the soul. In other
word, there is no birth and no death for the soul. The soul is like the
software. What we have learned, what we have thought, and what we have done,
would be recorded in there. The seed of virtue or of evil would be planted in
there, which means that the thought of virtue or of evil would be recorded in
there. It would affect our current life and our future or next life.
Our Body is not permanent.
On the contrary, the body
is not eternal. It could be eliminated. The body could be arisen and then be
destroyed. In other word, there is the birth and death for the body. Our cells
are metabolized and replaced at any time. Our decaying organs can be
transplanted or replaced through surgery.
Sometimes, we describe our
body as a car or a piece of clothing, which could be replaced. Once our body is
dead, our soul would leave the dead body, and dwell in the next new-born body,
which is like that we change a new car or a piece of new clothing. That is
reborn or reincarnating.
The eighth consciousness is
soul.
The Buddha Sakyamuni had
mentioned eight kinds of consciousness. Our soul is equal to the eighth
consciousness. The soul is some kind of quality. Some scientist has said that
the soul has weight.
To know and understand
above, it could help us understand the concept that life is equal to death, and
death is equal to life. And, it could help us not attach to or depend on our
body, but our soul. We have known that our soul is not dead, and what has dead
is just our body. To have such concept would help us accept and face the fact
that our body might die at any time. Meanwhile, we could let our soul be at
peace, and let us increase our wisdom, to nourish our life of wisdom.
Under the circumstance, it is no difficult for us, when we must die because our lives have to be abandoned. So, what has being abandoned is the body, not our soul. Our lives of wisdom are still very live, abundant and extend.
