There are four sufferings in human beings. That is the sufferings of birth, aging, disease and death.

 

Author: Tao Qing Hsu (Hsu, Tao-qing) 

  

Buddha Shakyamuni had mentioned that there are four sufferings in human beings. That is the sufferings of birth, aging, disease and death. In other words, human beings are fall into the cycling of birth and death in the Six Paths and are suffering within the cycle.

 

The Six Paths is classified as followings:

The Path of Bodhisattva

The Path of Ashura

The Path of Human beings

The Path of hungry Ghost

The Path of animal

The Path of hell

 

So, we are in the Path of human beings. And whatever who you are, how rich and how smart you are, we couldn't deny that we have to experience the sufferings of birth, aging, disease and death, not to mention those persons who are poor or sick. A wise doctor has said what is packed in the coffin is dead people, not elder people. To suffer the death is not the patent of the elder people. It is possible for humans of all ages to suffer a disease or death, including the infant. 

 

The generalized meaning of the suffering of birth includes the suffering of life. In the opinion of Buddha Shakyamuni, human beings make a lot of sins because of the surviving and the suffering of life, and also because of no-wisdom. For surviving, the human beings has no-wisdom and generate the heart of greedy, hatred and stupid infatuation, and thus to incur a lot of harm and disaster to oneself and others. That is suffering, too. 

Chapter 12 ﹝6﹞: To endure the erotic and desire is difficult.

(Chapter 12 ﹝6﹞ ) 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 12: List the difficulties and exhort to practice   

The Buddha said,” There are twenty difficulties for people. Giving something to others is difficult when people are in poor. Learning the Dao is difficult when people are in the huge wealth and are the nobility. It is hard to the people when they must die because their lives have to be abandoned. Being able to see the scripture of Buddha is difficult. Being born in the time of Buddha is difficult. Enduring the erotic and desire is difficult. Seeing the self-interest and not to pursue it is difficult. No resentment when being humiliated is difficult. When having the authority and not to draw near to ordinary people  is difficult. When contact with things and no heart  is difficult. Learning widely and researching extensively are difficult. Removing the ego-arrogance is difficult. Not to despise the un-learner is difficult. Practicing the equality in heart is difficult. Not saying its right or wrong is difficult. Meeting the good-knowledge person is difficult. Seeing the Nature and learning the Dao are difficult. According to conditions to reform people so as to save them is difficult. Seeing the circumstance and unmoved in heart are difficult. Good at understanding the convenience is difficult.

Chapter 12 ﹝6﹞: To endure the erotic and desire is difficult.

To endure the erotic and desire is difficult. This is the sixth difficulty said by Buddha Shakyamuni in this Chapter. To endure the erotic and desire means that one is not controlled or bound by the erotic and desire, whatever the erotic and desire are caused by self or others.  

I translate this sentence in the narrow meaning. However, I would explain it in the wide meaning. This sentence is said to the Buddhist Monks. But, it is also suitable for the general people. The erotic means the sexual desire and pleasure or any causing or related to the sexual feelings. The desire means a strong feeling to want something.

Some people are in the positive opinion about the erotic and desire, and think it is good for physical and mental health. I couldn’t deny it. For the people who are not monk or nun, properly lust is good for the life. However, unfortunately, most people are indulging in the personal erotic, lust and desire, and might think of those things as the necessary in life.

The erotic and desire would lead us to walk into the deepness of the sin and the evil.

But, do you know that some of the wise persons, such as Buddha Shakyamuni, think that the erotic and desire would lead us to walk into the deepness of the sin and the evil. 

The erotic and desire might drew us into the sin and the evil, to cause the damage to others or to harm ourselves. However, we might have no such self-perceiving or self-reflection. Such persons are included not only the ordinary people, but also the powerful persons.

We can observe that the erotic and desire are generally existed in the mind of the most people and are one of the human nature. Because the erotic and desire are one of the human nature, both of them are also the weak of the human nature. That is why the evil people would use them to control the masses and most individuals are willing to be utilized because of the erotic and desire. 

People might bully or control others based on their own erotic and desire, and also might take advantage of other peoples erotic and desire to achieve their evil goals.

People might bully or control others based on their own erotic and desire, and also might take advantage of other peoples erotic and desire to achieve their evil goals. No matter the person is the subject to damage others or is the object to be exploited or deprived, when they strongly attach to the personal erotic and desire, to endure the erotic and desire is difficult for them. It is also difficult for men to reject the erotic and any desire for power, fame, status, wealth, success or family. We can find that the erotic and desire is really the root of disaster in the world.

For the girls and women, the personal erotic and desire would push them to seek for the content on the material matters, such as beauty, fashion, a comfortable car and house, a rich husband and comfortable life. If they strongly attach to such things, it is difficult for them to endure the erotic and desire. 

Once those people did not content on their above attachment, even though they have owned a lot, their huge anger and dissatisfaction are therefore arisen. Such huge resentment might cause a lot of disaster for the public. Mostly, we only view the phenomenon of problem or any disaster, but we do not know the root and the cause is coming from their erotic and desires.   

We might ask ourselves the first question whether we are bounded or limited by our own erotic and desire or not, or ask ourselves the second question whether we are bounded or limited by other peoples erotic and desire or not. 

Understanding above would help us to observe the people in the world and also to reflect ourselves. We might ask ourselves the first question whether we are bounded or limited by our own erotic and desire or not, or ask ourselves the second question whether we are bounded or limited by other peoples erotic and desire or not. 

When we think about above two questions everyday and every year, we could feel and view more clearly about many questions, and therefore resolve any problems, including those problems of ourselves and others. That is because the erotic and desire are the root and the cause of any afflictions and problems, which are including any public afflictions and problems caused by and brought by some of the political figures, the religious figures or the businessmen of consortium. Such public afflictions and problems might continue for more than one hundred years.

We might have found that some history persons are proud of resolving the public afflictions and country problems. However, if we have viewed deeply, we could find that they have made the more public afflictions and country problems. Why? Some “social elites” satisfy about their own right and profit. However, such satisfying is coming from depriving the right and the profit from the vulnerable populations. It might be happened in the family, the society, and the country.

So, we could have found that the power of everyone’s erotic and desire are pulling to each other. Even though the vulnerable populations might be the majority, they might be the loser in such pulling.  

The erotic and such arising desire is no ending, which could cause the disaster.

Let us return to the personal affliction and problem. The erotic and such arising desire is no ending, which could cause the disaster. No matter we are the social elites or the vulnerable population, if everyone could endure the erotic and desire, the person, the family, the society and the country would be more peaceful.

But, the basic resolve is to cut off the rope linked to our own erotic and desire and the rope linked to the others erotic and desire. Then we would therefore have the truly freedom.

Of course, I explain it from the negative point of view. But, if we have known the negative affect of the erotic and desire, we might know how to abandon the erotic and desire, how to use them in the positive direction, and therefore how to help ourselves and others.

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.

Chapter 5: Correct the vice into the good deed

(Chapter 5) 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 5: Correct the vice into the good deed

The Buddha said,” People have a lot of faults, yet don’t know to repent, suddenly let their heart rest, and the sins come to the body; such as the water return to the sea, being deep and wide gradually. If people have faults, resolve them by themselves and know the mistake, correct the vice and do the good, the sins would be vanished by themselves; such as illness cause the sweaty, being healed gradually.”

No matter whether the status is noble or low in the worldly eyes, people are not holy human. There must be fault in the life. In the chapter four, there are mentioned about ten evil deeds. That is faults. Any one of them is also one of the causes which could incur the bad result in the life. Such as stealing because of greedy heart, it could cause the result of poverty. Or such as killing with hatred, it could cause the result of serious disease or dying badly.

Fortunately, there always are the chances for us to repent our faults. However, not everyone can grasp this opportunity, because they do not perceive their own faults. What badly is that someone has made the mistake but they still think what they have done is right. In the history, we can find such persons a lot, who cause the tragic world, and finally, the end of their life is terrible.

The sins would cause the retributions. If people do not know to repent their faults, their sins come to the body such as the water return to the sea, being deep and wide gradually. It means that the sins and the retributions would become bigger and bigger.

There is a verse said by Buddha:

Even if through the hundred eons,

The evil karma does not be disappeared.

When the cause is met by the condition,

The person still has to bear its own retribution by oneself.

“If people have faults, resolve them by themselves and know the mistake, correct the vice and do the good, the sins would be vanished by themselves; such as illness cause the sweaty, being healed gradually.” It means to repent our faults and do the good things, then, the sins won’t come to our body and any retribution would not appear. It is like to have a cold. The cold would be healed gradually when we lie down on a bed, cover a bed quilt and let our body sweat. This also tells us that it is not difficult to resolve our faults and do the good thing.      

In the Buddhism, there is the basic classwork of learning Buddha for the just getting started, that is to repent our faults for what happened in our present life and in our past life. In the concept of the Buddhism, everyone must be responsible for and burden the result of what they have done. The evil karma is made by whom, which person should be responsible to eliminate its own evil karma by oneself, because the retribution caused by the evil karma would not happen to other person, but to the doer itself.

When we do the repent, we do not repent toward the agent of Buddha, such as Buddhist monk, but, we do our repent to Buddha directly. For the beginning learner or for the learner who could not understand the Buddha-nature for a long time, Buddha is someone else. So, when they have made the mistake again after the repent, they are panic to ask for the forgiving of Buddha, because they are afraid of the sins coming to their body.

But, for those who have understood and realized the Buddha-nature, Buddha is not someone else, but having been converged in their heart. That is two in one; the sentient beings are equal to Buddha. Those who are in this state are basically to have done the repent for their faults for a long time and rare to make the mistake again.

Any wise Buddhist monk or nun, or the enlightened Buddha-learner would not replace the Buddha to forgive anyone. They also have no right to replace Buddha to punish Buddhist because the disciples do not believe in what they have taught about the Buddhism, or because they think that the disciples betray the Buddha. Why? In Buddhism, the first, no argument is one of the Buddha-law. Secondly, any result of personal retribution is arisen from the cause made by oneself. Therefore, to let the personal retribution vanish only depends on the personal action, such as correcting the vice and doing the good.

Someone use the Buddha-law, such as the ten good virtues, to view others faults when people do not obey the ten good virtues. For example, when I began to learn Buddha, I sometimes heard someone to say that some Buddhist nuns had fought with each other in the temple, or that some of the Buddha-learner had done a lot of evil things, such as the negative news.

This is to misuse the Buddha-law. In fact, Buddha-law is to regulate oneself, not to regulate others. Whether to learn the virtue of Buddha or not is coming from the self-motivation, not from the force by others. So, whether to obey the ten good deeds is coming from the autonomy, not from the lure or threaten or violence.

A country might use the lure, threaten or violence to force people to obey its country-law. But, Buddha-law cannot be used like that. If Buddha-law is used like that, it would violate the country-law and also violate the Buddha-nature, the compassion and wisdom. Why? The country-law is directly to regulate the public, the people in the country. But, Buddha-law is used for the personal spiritual improvement, from the self-help to help others, from the self-benefit to benefit others, and from the self-realization to help others realize by themselves. Therefore, it is the very important judgment when we chose a community of learning Buddha.