Respect for Life Zhang Xiaofeng Edition
It was an extremely long afternoon in summer, by a lake in Indiana. I was sitting and reading casually at first, and suddenly I noticed that some trees by the lake were scattering some white fibers. Big clumps, like cotton, some floating on the grass, some floating into the lake. I didn't pay much attention at the time and just thought it was caused by the wind.
However, gradually, I found that the situation was simply surprising. Several hours have passed, and the trees are still sending those small clouds unconsciously, as if they are an infinite cloud bank. The whole afternoon, the whole night, the sky was filled with that kind of stuff. The next day was exactly the same, I was surprised and shocked.
In fact, when I was in elementary school, I knew that there was a type of seed that was spread by wind blowing fibers. But that's just knowing the answer to a test question. I really saw it in those days, and what I felt in my heart was a kind of admiration and an indescribable awe. I encountered life almost for the first time—albeit a plant one.
I felt that the cloud-like seeds collided with something strongly in my heart. I can't help but be moved by the luxurious, extravagant and investment in life regardless of cost. Perhaps, after drifting day and night, only one seed is enough to create a shade, but the Creator is happy to do such a thrilling feat.
To this day, I still think of that soft lake while meditating. I wonder which one of the seeds by the lake has become a small tree. At least, I know that one has grown. That seed once encountered a piece of land and became a shadow in the canyon of a passer-by's heart, teaching her how to revere life.
Revere Life Schweitzer Edition
I am a life, and the will of life is to survive. In the middle of life, she is willing to live.
In my life consciousness, with the fear of destruction and pain, I long for a broader existence and happiness; I am surrounded by the same life consciousness, whether she expresses herself in front of me or remain silent.
Life consciousness unfolds everywhere, even in myself. If I were a thinking being, I must respect other beings with equal reverence, not just my own little circle, because I understand that her deep desire for wholeness and development is exactly the same as mine. Therefore, I think destroying, hindering, and preventing life is extremely bad.
Respecting life, I remain true both physically and spiritually. By the same token, it is perfect to do all I can to save and protect life to its higher development.
Inside me, the life consciousness understands other life consciousnesses. She desires to achieve integration through herself, to become a whole. I can only cling to the fact that life-consciousness reveals itself through me: becoming interdependent with other life-consciousnesses.
I have experienced the irresistible urge to express the same reverence for all living consciousness as my own. My ethics were formed through this experience. A person is ethical only if he follows the impulse to help all life he can help and is afraid to harm any living creature.
If I rescue an insect from a puddle and my life contributes to another life, then the separation of life against life itself disappears.
Whenever, in whatever way, my life contributes itself to another life, my life consciousness experiences a desire to merge from finite to infinite. In this desire, all life is a whole.
Absolute ethics require the creation of perfection in life. She couldn't quite pull it off; that didn't matter. The feeling of reverence for life is an absolute ethic. It enables the maintenance and enhancement of the life sequence to function smoothly.
No matter what the circumstances, destroying and harming life is as sinful as the devil. In practice we are really forced to choose. We often have to decide arbitrarily what forms of life, or even particular people, we should save and which we should destroy. Nonetheless, the principle of reverence for life remains intact and unquestionable.
This kind of ethics does not invalidate because of people’s conflict of ethical values. A farmer cut grass to feed cattle and cut a thousand flowers in the pasture, but he must be careful not to do anything because of it on the way home. Indulging in amusement and crossing out flowers on the roadside because doing so is unnecessary is a crime against life.
Revere Life Chen Jiazhong Edition
A thin young man who lost his arms used his feet to play the piano's classic song "Dream" by the romantic prince Richard Clayderman. "The Wedding", all the listeners were immersed in the sentimental, romantic and sentimental music atmosphere created by this disabled young man, and felt the sacredness and solemnity of life and love.
This is a scene from the popular TV program "China's Got Talent" launched by Dragon TV. The young man who lost his arms is called Liu Wei. The 23-year-old man has no arms but can play sweet melodies on the black and white keys. These days, he has become an Internet celebrity, and his video has been viewed more than 200,000 times in just 3 days. In the TV show "China's Got Talent", Liu Wei played the song "Dream Wedding" with his feet, which impressed all the viewers. People affectionately call him the "armless piano prince".
Liu Wei's words: "There are only two ways in my life, either to die quickly or to live wonderfully!" has moved many Chinese people.
After watching this TV show, I couldn’t help but be filled with emotion. I was still thinking about the young man who had lost his arms playing "In a Dream" with his feet. Wedding" and his words that touched many people. I feel that he is not playing "Dream Wedding", but playing Beethoven's "Symphony of Destiny" with his heart and tears. This disabled young man is not a hero, nor does he have any earth-shattering deeds, but it made me respect him spontaneously and made me cherish the fearless and passionate life of this piano prince whose wings were broken. Awe! From the moment he unfortunately lost his arms, he faced an unbearable weight in his life. He was confused, cried, and disappointed, and tasted the hardships of life alone. He said optimistically: "There are only two ways in my life, either to die quickly or to live wonderfully!" He tenaciously and unyieldingly played a youthful game against the bumpy fate. In this game, Liu Wei is undoubtedly the best Victor, what does he tell us about optimism? What is strong? What is the true meaning of life?
We might as well look back at ourselves. Although we have sound limbs, decent jobs and prominent positions, we don’t think about progress all day long. We only know about having fun and complaining about a little work pressure. If we listen to the performance of this piano prince and savor his deafening declaration of youth, how can we not be extremely ashamed?
Bing Xin said: "If life is boring, I am afraid of the next life; if life is interesting, I am satisfied in this life." This is Bing Xin's lament about life. And Liu Wei’s life sentiments are so similar to those of Bing Xin! What is commendable is that Liu Wei used his tenacious and unyielding life to appreciate these words that can touch many people. Philosophy that has been tempered and tempered by life and death is immortal. There is no reason why we should not use our hearts and ears to listen to this clanking philosophy of life.
Revere Life Bi Shumin Edition
I am a life, and the will of life is to survive. In the middle of life, she is willing to live.
In my life consciousness, with the fear of destruction and pain, I long for a broader existence and happiness; I am surrounded by the same life consciousness, whether she expresses herself in front of me or remain silent.
Life consciousness unfolds everywhere, even in myself. If I were a thinking being, I must respect other beings, not just my own little circle, with equal reverence, because I understand that her deep desire for wholeness and development is exactly the same as mine. Therefore, I think destroying, hindering, and preventing life is extremely bad.
Respecting life, I remain true both physically and spiritually. By the same token, it is perfect to do all I can to save and protect life to its higher development.
Inside me, the life consciousness understands other life consciousnesses. She desires to achieve integration through herself, to become a whole. I can only cling to the fact that life-consciousness reveals itself through me: becoming interdependent with other life-consciousnesses.
I have experienced the irresistible urge to express the same reverence for all living consciousness as one's own. My ethics were formed through this experience. A person is ethical only if he follows the impulse to help all life that he can help and is afraid to harm any living creature.
If I rescue an insect from a puddle and my life contributes to another life, then the separation of life against life itself disappears.
Whenever, in any way, my life contributes itself to another life, my life consciousness experiences a desire to merge from finite to infinite. In this desire, all life is a whole.
Absolute ethics require the creation of perfection in life. She couldn't quite pull it off; that didn't matter. The feeling of reverence for life is an absolute ethic. It enables the maintenance and enhancement of the life sequence to operate smoothly.
Destroying and harming life is as sinful as the devil, no matter what the circumstances. In practice we are really forced to choose. We often have to decide arbitrarily what forms of life, or even particular people, we should save and which we should destroy. Nonetheless, the principle of reverence for life remains intact and unquestionable.
This kind of ethics does not invalidate because of people’s conflicting ethical values. A farmer cut grass and fed cattle in the pasture and cut a thousand flowers. However, he must be careful not to do anything because of it on the way home. Indulging in amusement and crossing out flowers on the roadside because doing so is unnecessary is a crime against life.
English version
I am life which wills to live, in the midst of life which wills to live. As in my own will-to-live there is a longing for wider life and pleasure, with dread of annihilation and pain; so is it also in the will-to-live all around me, whether it can express itself before me or remains dumb. The will-to-live is everywhere present, even as in me . If I am a thinking being, I must regard life other than my own with equal reverence, for I shall know that it longs for fullness and development as deeply as I do myself. Therefore, I see that evil is what annihilates, hampers, or hinders life. And this holds true whether I regard it physically or spiritually. Goodness, by the same token, is the saving or helping of life, the enabling of whatever life I can to attain its highest development.
In me the will-to-live has come to know about other wills-to-live. There is in it a yearning to arrive at unity with itself, to become universal. I can do nothing but hold to the fact that the will -to-live in me manifests itself as will-to-live which desires to become one with other will-to-live.
Ethics consist in my experiencing the compulsion to show to all will-to-live the same reverence as I do my own. A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives. If I save an insect from a puddle, life has devoted itself to life, and the division of life against itself has ended. Whenever my life devotes itself in any way to life, my finite will-to-live experiences union with the infinite will in which all life is one.
An absolute ethic calls for the creating of perfection in this life. It cannot be completely achieved; but that fact does not really matter. In this sense reverence for life is an absolute ethic. It makes only the maintenance and promotion of life rank as good. All destruction of and injury to life, under whatever circumstances, it condemns as evil. True, in practice we are forced to choose. At times we have to decide arbitrarily which forms of life, and even which particular individuals, we shall save, and which we shall destroy. But the principle of reverence for life is nevertheless universal and absolute.
Such an ethic does not abolish for man all ethical conflicts but compels him to decide for himself in each case how far he can remain ethical and how far he must submit himself to the necessity for destruction of and injury to life. No one can decide for him at what point, on each occasion, lies the extreme limit of possibility for his persistence in the preservation and furtherance of life. He alone has to judge this issue, by letting himself be guided by a feeling of the highest possible responsibility towards other life. We must never let ourselves become blunted. We are living in truth, when we experience these conflicts more profoundly.
Whenever I injure life of any sort, I must be quite clear whether it is necessary. Beyond the unavoidable, I must never go, not even with what seems insignificant. The farmer, who has mown down a thousand flowers in his meadow as fodder for his cows, must be careful on his way home not to strike off in wanton pastime the head of a single flower by the roadside, for he thereby commits a wrong against life without being under the pressure of necessity