As the old saying goes, if young people don't work hard, old people will be sad. If you miss the time at this time, it will be difficult to achieve it later. After a year, half of my memory is gone, and what I have learned is harder and the effect is worse. First, be a good person. See Si Qi, see Si Qi. The second is to know karma. Every move, don't be arbitrary I must think about it. Is it good for me to be close to others? Not only do you do this, but you should do the same. With good intentions, there is merit. A bad heart is a sin. If you want to get a good return, you must be kind, say good things and do good deeds, which are beneficial to the people and harmless to others. If not, there will be no reward. For example, before putting an ugly image in the mirror, the decision seems to be nothing. It is no different from this ugly image. If you know this well, you will become a gentleman in the future, so that everyone will respect and admire you. If you pray carefully, you are very lucky.
-"Printing Master Paper Money, Volume One and Zhou Fari's Boy Book"
The founder of Yin Guang expounded the Pure Land Law with Prajna all his life, teaching people tirelessly and benefiting all beings. This book The Boy and Zhou Fari was written by Yin Zu specially for Zhou Fari. When an ancient man reached the age of fifteen, he had to perform a ceremony of "becoming a child"-putting his hair in a bun, which was called "becoming a child" and "tying his hair"; When a man reaches the age of 20, he can add a crown to his bun, which is called "weak crown". Therefore, the monks of Zhou Fari should be between the ages of fifteen and twenty, so this letter is an instruction from Yinzu to a teenager.
At the beginning of the letter, Yin Zu pointed out that "the success or failure of a person's life is caused by the cultivation and conformity at a young age. As a child, you should know good and bad, and you should never learn from others. " Adolescence is the most critical period in a person's life, just like the growth of a tree seedling, which is directly related to whether the tree can grow into usable substances in the future. Therefore, we should standardize guidance, not let it escape, but go straight. The same is true of human education. Teenagers are often irrational, lack the ability to distinguish good from evil, and society is full of temptations. Compared with the era in which Yin Zu lived, the present society is even more so. Traditional values are abandoned, and teenagers are often lost in the so-called "fashion" and "trend". Even if they don't regret it all their lives, they will inevitably miss the golden time of learning and growing up. So what should the "non-academic school" learn?
Ancestor Yin pointed out that "you should learn filial piety, learn from your younger brother, and learn to be honest and upright." Filial piety is the foundation of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Confucius said, "Filial piety is the foundation of virtue, and teaching also leads to life. Filial piety is the foundation of morality and education. Buddhism also says, "Honor your parents, teachers and monks, three treasures, filial piety, and filial piety is also called abstinence. "It is a world of the world, and it is based on filial piety." "Brother" means "brave", which is the relationship between brothers and sisters. The so-called' brothers, friends and brothers respect each other'. "flesh and blood" and "brothers and sisters" have always been used by China to describe the kindness between brothers, which is really the most appropriate description. There is no better way to express these two nouns than Zen master Fa Zhao's poem: "Being connected with the same gas, some words don't hurt people. "A brief encounter, grow old together, when can we be brothers? If you always have feelings for your brother and sister-in-law, you will have respectful feelings for your relatives. From this, it is easy to integrate with the people around you and make it harmonious and peaceful. This is also the way of Buddhism. " "Loyalty and honesty" is a personal quality, which should be cultivated through concrete actions. Being able to keep five precepts and ten good deeds is naturally "loyal and honest".
Buddhism corresponds to life, so you must have the basic principles of being a man to become a Taoist. Confucianism attaches importance to filial piety, not only for parents, but also for their expansion and filling. Filial piety, love the world, this is called filial piety. People who govern the country take the heart of filial son as their politics, so they say that "seeking loyal ministers must be at the door of filial son." A person who can truly love his parents, family and society must be a loyal minister. In other words, whether you become a useful person, you will know the answer by observing whether his behavior at home is like the law.
Therefore, Yinzu believes that people who study Buddhism must be filial to their adoptive parents, serve their teachers, be merciful and not kill, and cultivate ten virtues. You should also be filial to your father, respect your brothers and friends, obey your husband and wife, be loyal to your master, be loyal to your servant, and do your best. He is a good man who can do his best in family and society. Good people study Buddhism in the west to survive and decide to die at the end of their lives, so they think Buddhism is kind to them. What Yin Zu emphasized was practical ethics, making good use of friendship and doing good for all. All this has become a necessary condition for being an upright person.
Therefore, in practice, we should pay attention to the consistency of words and deeds. Since we want to study Buddhism and live in pure land, we can't ignore the goodness in the world. This is the same as the Analects article "Disciples are filial when they enter, but young when they leave". If you have spare capacity, you can study literature, which is also the meaning. It can be seen that practicing Pure Land Buddhism is not only living in the West wholeheartedly, but also indifferent to the real world. Yin zu didn't teach people to die. On the contrary, he often encourages people to learn Tao and do their duty as a human being.
Next, Yinzu pointed out that you should be energetic and study hard when you are young. Reading should be about methods, not just skimming and forgetting after reading. Think about the truth in the book and practice it. In particular, books that are easy to understand, such as Wen Chang Di Yin Jun Wen and Tai Shang Gui Fa, should be read often and become better accordingly. In addition to reading, we should especially recite the holy names such as Amitabha and Guanyin Bodhisattva, so as to get rid of karma and increase happiness.
Finally, Yinzu summarized the education of teenagers into two aspects.
"The first is to be a good person. See Si Qi, see Si Qi. This is a sentence in the Analects of Confucius, which talks about self-cultivation, that is, to look up to people with good moral character and learn from people with high moral character. And when you see a person without morality, you should reflect on whether your behavior is the same as it. In fact, the sages here can be extended to all excellent things. Society is like a dye vat. How can people be unaffected in society? People in society have different social values and social moral standards. In such a world, how can we keep our pure land? Only when you see Si Qi can you introspect, if not! " See people good, that is, Si Qi, longitudinal to far, to gradually converge. When you see others' good character, you should learn from them, even if they are far away from them. As long as you stick to it, you will catch up with him slowly. Everything is like this. As long as you have such a heart and such perseverance, why not? Ceng Zi once said, "I visit myself three times a day and am unfaithful to others." ? Don't believe in making friends? Can you pass it on? I think if people can do this, their conduct will be more perfect.
"The second thing is to know what goes around comes around." In fact, the daily ethics of Buddhism is roughly the same as that of Confucianism. The difference is that Buddhism explains three generations of cause and effect, good and evil retribution. People are awed and afraid to do whatever they want. Even if they are alone in a dark room, it is often like facing the Buddha. Therefore, even fools like to hear that good deeds can have good results. As the saying goes, "good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil." If everyone takes this concept into account before taking action, it will negatively deter criminals from committing crimes and actively encourage everyone to do good deeds, thus reducing bad things in society and increasing good things. Maybe I can't be perfect at first, but gradually, I am often influenced by the fact of karma in Buddhism, and I encourage myself to do well. This is the place where Indian ancestors merged Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.
The cause and effect of things, after three generations, overlap endlessly. It is very likely that this good cause has not yet had a good result, and the previous bad results have matured first and got bad results. How can we conclude that there is no karma? Just like planting rice, those who plant early reap early; Just like debt, the strong will take the lead. Based on the law of causality, we know that there are reasons for happiness and misfortune in this life. If you can recognize the past and don't persuade it, you can catch up with people who know it. Repentance and doing good is "changing from the heart." Therefore, vigorously promoting karma and family education can change the bad atmosphere of society and let everyone reach the realm of truth, goodness and beauty.
Generally speaking, Yinzu's method of guiding young people to learn Buddhism is clear and insightful. Let them first understand the truth of being a man and consolidate the basic ethical education, that is, "born on the basis of morality." Then he showed that he believed in cause and effect, believed in Buddhism and lived in the west. After learning Buddhism from a sincere heart and strengthening your faith and will, you should spare no effort to learn Mahayana Sutra and Confucian classics. In this way, stepping forward step by step and practicing hard will not only enter the realm of sages in real life, but also die in the pure land of bliss. It can be said that Confucian ethics and Buddhist belief in pure land have been perfectly combined.
In the last days of Buddhism like us, it is particularly difficult to learn Buddhism from the heart. This enlightenment of Yinzu is not only beneficial to teenagers, but also a good voyage for those who study Buddhism today.