#头头CreationChallenge# Introduction: Have you ever thought about what the meaning of life in the world is? From a natural perspective, we humans and everything in the world seem to be the same. From the moment we are born, we are destined to perish. It's like a closed circle, and

Introduction: Have you ever thought about what the meaning of human existence in the world is?

From a natural perspective, we humans and everything in the world seem to be the same. From the moment we are born, we are destined to perish.

This is like a closed circle, and time is destined to bring us back to the original starting point. So between the closed loop of birth and death, what is the purpose of our experiencing this process?

For this question, many people may not be able to find a definite answer throughout their lives. So today we will try to find the truth of this issue from the life of a legendary figure.

He is a legendary figure in the modern spiritual world. He was born in a family of officials, but he did not like to pursue status and fame. Instead, he embarked on the path of becoming a monk and practicing Buddhism.

He has experienced many hardships and tribulations in his life, as well as setbacks and confusions again and again.

But after experiencing these twists and turns, he finally understood his true nature, achieved enlightenment overnight, achieved nirvana at the level of life, and found the ultimate meaning of his life. And he is the famous eminent monk "Shi Xuyun" .

opens a legendary life

On a stormy night in the late years of the Qing Dynasty, Shi Xuyun was born in Fuya Neiyuan in Quanzhou, Fujian Province with a thunder.

However, what is different is that the newly born Shi Xuyun has neither facial features nor limbs, but a round flesh ball.

With the appearance of this meat ball, the atmosphere in the whole room became extremely solemn. His mother was so frightened when she saw the monster she gave birth to that she lost too much blood and eventually died.

Early in the morning of the second day, this matter was spread throughout Quanzhou . When a medical monk who traveled here heard about it, he immediately came to visit and then used a knife to cut open the ball of flesh, revealing the baby inside.

The other party saw Shi Xuyun's face, and before leaving, he left this sentence:

This boy was born to be extraordinary! He will be a great sage in the future.

After that, things turned out to be exactly what he said. When he was a child, Shi Xuyun was indeed very talented. He had already read the Four Books and Five Classics by heart at a young age.

His father was also very pleased with this. After all, as the prefect of Quanzhou, he naturally hoped that his son would be able to take the imperial examination in high school and become an official in the court.

However, at the same time, the young Shi Xuyun also had some differences from ordinary people. That's because he always likes to think about issues that are meaningless to ordinary people.

Once when I went out, I saw a beggar on the street, huddled in a corner, his eyes full of pain. He was about to step forward to give alms, but when he turned around, he found a rich businessman in luxurious clothes with a look of despair on his face.

So he was full of questions and wanted to ask his father clearly. Why did the poor beggar and the wealthy businessman in the upper class of society look so miserable?

But as soon as he walked to his father, he found that his father was also thinking about something with a sad face.

As a result, the doubts in his heart became more intense! Everyone in this world seems to have his own suffering, and the whole world seems to be a sea of ​​suffering. Is the meaning of life in this world just to face these pains and troubles? The problem of

seems to have become an obsession in his mind, and he can't get rid of it.

Until by chance, he saw a Buddhist scripture in his father's study, and was immediately attracted by the content in the scripture.

Because according to what is said in the book, the reason why people in the world suffer is actually because they are too deeply entangled by lust. My heart is affected by all kinds of desires. I want to have what I can't get, but I am afraid of losing what I get.

Generally speaking, people are affected by greed, anger, and ignorance, and cannot find their true self, so they sink in the sea of ​​suffering.

From this moment on, a belief was born in his heart.That means we must stay away from worldly desires and worries and find a path to seek our true self.

Perhaps it was due to the influence of this Buddhist scripture that Shi Xuyun finally set his path of seeking truth on the path of becoming a monk.

When his father learned about this, he suddenly felt bad, so when he was 16 years old, he married him two beautiful wives, thinking of using this to cut off his desire to become a monk.

After all, he is also an official of the imperial court, and it would be ridiculous to say that his son would become a monk. What's more, he is the only heir in the family. If he really becomes a monk, won't he lose his incense?

But talking about Shi Xuyun, this person is very interesting. I thought he could make some noise in the wedding night. But in the end, he always kept his integrity and even took his two wives to study Buddhism.

Such days lasted for about two years. One night two years later, he quietly left a letter and secretly went to a temple in Fujian without telling his father, and officially became a monk.

Enlightened midway

However, after becoming a monk, Shi Xuyun did not meditate in the temple or go down the mountain to beg for alms like other monks.

Instead, he plunged into the deep mountains and old forests of the back mountains and secluded himself from the world, completely cutting off all contact with the outside world.

Just as he thought before, the source of people's pain is actually that they have too many ties to this world that are difficult to break away from.

For example, the feelings between relatives, the desire for material life, and the rights and status that make people distort themselves.

All these factors are what he wants to avoid. He wants to completely turn himself into an outsider who is completely separated from the world.

However, as time passed, Shi Xuyun, who had completely closed himself up on the mountain, failed to achieve his expected goal.

Because although he physically cut himself off from the world, he still found it difficult to calm down in his heart. He often feels an inexplicable annoyance, especially in the dead of night, this feeling is particularly strong.

Before he became a monk, he always wanted to be isolated from the world. But after he truly left the world, he realized that his life seemed to have fallen into an unprecedented emptiness and confusion. He suddenly lost his direction and didn't know what he should pursue.

So Shi Xuyun, who had lived in seclusion in the mountains for 10 years, decided to return to the world of mortals after a long absence. But it was this decision that gave him an opportunity to break through the predicament.

Because not long after he came down the mountain, he met an eminent monk named Master Rongjing. After some conversation, he finally found out the shortcomings of his practice over the years.

It turns out that I have been trapped in a vicious circle of obsession. According to Rong Jing, a person's greed for the world is a manifestation of desire, but like him before, wanting to escape from the world is actually also a very persistent desire. In essence, there is no difference between the two.

Real practice does not mean being born in the world. If you choose to hide in the mountains and forests alone in order to avoid the troubles of the world, this is not so much practice as escape.

If a person cannot face everything in the secular world, how can he overcome all the hardships on the path of spiritual practice?

After hearing Rong Jing's words, Shi Xuyun strengthened his determination to join the world and practice, and began a decades-long journey.

During this period, he traveled to almost all the famous mountains and rivers in China, and even went to Tibet, and then to India, and finally returned to China from Myanmar.

In the process, he also tasted the ups and downs of the world, and witnessed the joys and sorrows of countless people in the world.

Gradually, he no longer resisted the secular world and the mortal world as before, and he no longer wanted to escape. Instead, began to try to accept and understand everything in this world.

In his later words, he felt that his state of mind was gradually becoming more complete.But maybe he was destined to have a disaster. When he was 56 years old, he accidentally fell into the water and fell into a serious illness.

His condition was extremely serious at that time, and people thought he might not survive the disaster. However, just when the disciples were about to prepare for his funeral, he miraculously recovered.

And after experiencing this life and death catastrophe, his understanding of the world seemed to have undergone some invisible changes.

And this change finally came with the emergence of an opportunity, which led to the most important epiphany in his life.

Someone happened to be visiting that day. When the disciple was refilling the tea, he accidentally poured the hot tea into his hand. In an instant, there was only a snap sound, and the teacup fell to the ground and broke into pieces.

And at that moment, he felt as if something was broken in his heart. As all the past events came to mind one by one, he felt an unprecedented tranquility.

Because the moment the cup fell to the ground, his self-centered heart was shattered and then disappeared.

At this time, he finally understood that all the pain and troubles in the world actually originated from the heart of self.

It is precisely because of the thoughts that arise that we are involved with the outside world. If a person is no longer attached to me, then there will naturally be no causal connection between him and this world.

And this state is what the Buddhist scriptures call "emptiness". In this state, it actually doesn't matter whether he is born or joined in the world, because his life has a new meaning and mission.

The way to cross the world

As the saying goes, he crosses himself and then crosses people. He spent decades to cross himself out of the worldly sea of ​​suffering. Therefore,

also knows that this realization is hard-won. At the same time, he hopes that more people in this world can truly escape the sea of ​​suffering and find the true nature of life like him.

And this belief has become the only core purpose that he will practice in his future life. Perhaps at his level, only the matter of saving all sentient beings is worthy of his implementation and pursuit.

So in the following time, while guiding the daily practice of his disciples, he did his best to preach the scriptures and teach the Dharma to the world. During the

period, he also prevented the melee between the major warlords many times, and in that troubled world, he avoided the destruction of life again and again.

Including Chiang Kai-shek also met with him many times to discuss the development of the world situation. Later, after New China was established, he was elected as the honorary chairman of the Buddhist Association, responsible for managing internal religious affairs.

A few more years passed like this, and the time came to 1959. At this time, Shi Xuyun was already 120 years old.

Looking at his body aging day by day, he also had a premonition that his end was coming, so he called his disciples to him one night and told them:

"My causal connection with this world is about to be severed. Counting the days, it should be tonight.

I will die. Afterwards, you must practice precepts, concentration, and wisdom to eliminate greed, anger, and ignorance.

Only by cultivating correct thinking and mindfulness can you have a fearless spirit when facing people and the world. This is also my final warning to you." After finishing speaking, he waved his hand to the disciples and said: You are tired too, go back and rest!

Then he stopped talking, closed his palms, and sat cross-legged. When the disciples opened the door again, they found that he had passed away at the age of 120.

In fact, looking at Shi Xuyun’s life, it can be summarized in three words, namely, joining the world and transitioning from the world. When he was young, he followed his heart and acted spontaneously, escaping from the prosperous world and entering Buddhism.

later returned to the world in order to pursue the true meaning of life and understand the meaning of life in the world. And with the subsequent epiphany, his entire life finally achieved a perfect sublimation, completing the transformation from self-reliance to self-reliance.

As for the core of his life's practice, it is completely reflected in the three words "precepts, concentration, and wisdom" he left to the world at the last stage of his life. Precepts produce concentration, concentration produces wisdom, and wisdom leads to seeing the true nature of one's nature.

The so-called true nature is actually the calmness and peace gained after getting rid of one's own obsessions and desires. But it is this calmness and calmness that seems so precious in today's materialistic era.