Voice of Master Jingzong - Q and A about the Purpose of Life
淨宗之聲 - 人生目的問答
(continuation of Q5 - 4/6)
*Permanence is eternity.
*Bliss is a great joy, a Dharma delight, and the joy of our Dharma Natures.
This kind of bliss originates from love, delight and compassion, which are an innate and natural part of our Buddha Natures. They are not like the worldly desires for eating, drinking, sensual desires, enjoyment of art, meditation, etc. It is inconceivable, beyond our thinking and dreaming.
The ignorant statement you made about “no-sadness and no-happiness”, should be corrected through studying the Buddha Dharma.
With respect to your statement that “Life is meaningful only if there is sadness and happiness, birth and death, aging and illness”, it is actually not like that! It is a different kind of sensory awareness. Our abilities to experience sadness, happiness, birth, aging, illness and death arise from the functional capacities of our Buddha Nature.
Our Buddha Nature fuels our awakening or enlightenment. A Buddha is an awakened or enlightened being. Feeling sad or happy are superficial emotions. Due to our faulty abilities to discriminate, we attach greater meaning to them than they deserve. In this respect, if you can realize their source through awakening, you will find a much deeper meaning in them. Isn’t that far more valuable?
(to be continued tomorrow)
◇ “常”是恆常。
◇ “樂”是一種大樂,法喜、法性之樂。
這種樂是從愛心、從喜悅、從慈悲出來的,是我們佛性本身所天然擁有的;不是世間好吃好喝、感官之樂,或者說藝術享受、禪定之樂,都完全超越這些,你夢都夢不著,想都想不出來。
你說“不悲不樂,那是一種無聊煩惱的狀態,當然談不上所謂快樂”。還是要以佛法來調整自己的觀念。
至於說“有生老病死、高興悲傷,人生才有意義”,不是這樣,這是一種感官感受。之所以我們能感受到生老病死、高興悲傷,是因為它背後有佛性的功能。
所謂佛性,就是覺性,佛是覺悟的意思。僅僅是這種感受、這種覺,只是一種粗淺的,甚至是錯誤分別念的感受,都讓你覺得有意義,那麼證悟到覺性的本源,豈不是擁有根本性的存在嗎?這樣才找到了一切意義的根源。
Namo Amituofo!
