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Lingshan Hermit: Do All Things Have Names, or Is It Human Fabrication?

Once, I watched a BBC documentary about a pride of lions living on the African savanna. The filmmakers solemnly gave each lion a human name—they called the male lion Oscar, and the female lions Lucy or Sienna. The important thing is that these lions never knew they had these names from beginning to end. But the documentary makers probably truly believed they were Oscar and Lucy. They affectionately addressed these animals by the names they had given them: "Oscar is beginning to feed," "Oscar is quietly approaching his prey," "Lucy is stretching," "Sienna is leaving the pride again with her cubs." But I seriously doubt they actually knew they were Oscar and Sienna—I don't even think they considered themselves lions.

From Buddhism's highest perspective, giving names to lions is as absurd as giving names to canned goods. Most people wouldn't give names to their toothbrush, kettle, or bed sheets, but they will name their cats and children. They'll call their cat Leo. Over time, you come to believe it's really called Leo. They'll say "Leo, Leo, Leo." If someone named their bed sheets David and their toilet Big Mouth Pip, you'd probably think they weren't quite normal. But calling a toilet a "toilet" and a lion a "lion" is equally abnormal. Because a toilet doesn't appear to be one thing but rather several things put together. The same goes for lions—they need to eat, excrete, and drink water. If the components that make it up are cut off—such as the intake of meat—it will rapidly shrivel up within a few days.

You think calling it a toilet is normal because it seems to have always been called a toilet—it was called a toilet before you were born, so it's not a name given by someone you know. So you think it was born a toilet. But this isn't the truth. Long, long ago, someone definitely gave it a name, called it a toilet, and only then did it become known as a toilet. It's not just toilets—everything you know originally had no name. All their names are later human creations. Throughout thousands of years of human history, they've been accustomed to naming everything visible. Even distant galaxies 12.4 billion light-years away can't escape the fate of being named, let alone everything on Earth.

But remember, no matter how you name it, whatever you call it—whether you call it Oscar or Sienna or peacock butterfly or soap—it has absolutely no idea and is completely unaffected by it. It remains the same thing it originally was. Its existence is also completely different from what you imagine—it's neither soap, nor white, nor has size, much less is it a bathing product. Its mode of existence is neither the truly real existence that ordinary people believe it to be, nor the complete non-existence that many practitioners think it is.

As humans, you probably don't think giving names to everything in the world is abnormal. Because we've long been accustomed to living in a world where everything has a name and a purpose—such a world is safe and warm, making us feel secure. We build our nests in this world, hoping to remain settled forever. But the problem is: since all our cognition is based on illusion, based on our delusional perception of the world, these illusion-based cognitions together constitute our world. But since it's entirely created by your mistaken perception, it inevitably brings suffering. Just as Oscar never was called Oscar, but when you call it Oscar long enough, you come to believe it really is Oscar. Your cognition of soap, razors, and ritual implements follows the same process.

Basically, Buddhist practice is about ending all your illusion-based cognition and the resulting values, as well as the various wrong reactions to the world they generate. All our wrong reactions to form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental objects are based on our belief that they truly exist, and that we ourselves truly exist. We think blue and the Eiffel Tower are real existences, we think breathing and our lover's scent truly exist. But there has never been sky blue in the world, never been porcelain veneers or Lay's potato chips, no emotional value, no Freudian theory, much less the so-called Gates Foundation—these are all games of human concepts. You take these concepts seriously, take yourself and everything seriously. Then you earnestly search for a way out and happiness within this enormous illusion. But the truth is you can never find a way out within illusion, because the only way out is to abandon illusion.

Within illusion, we believe we exist, believe all phenomena exist, then form various relationships near and far, developing feelings of like or dislike toward all phenomena. We want to distance ourselves from those people and things we dislike and possess more of what we like. When we encounter those people and things we don't like, we generate various emotions for self-protection and self-validation—these emotions are the wrong reactions we just mentioned. They have been operating within us for countless eons and are categorized as greed, hatred, delusion, pride, and doubt.

Our system of greed, hatred, delusion, and self-protection operates almost 24 hours a day. It continuously grasps and interprets form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental objects, then reacts with friendliness, intensity, or calmness based on our definitions of them. Although it claims to be protecting the self, the actual situation is that it has always been guiding us to create more and greater suffering for ourselves. This happens because we are seeking a way out within illusion, seeking a way out within the domain ruled by two types of ignorance. So even if you find something, it's just another more refined illusion. All of this is because our cognition of the world is problematic. Our cognition of the world is completely opposite to the actual situation. What we believe exists has never existed as we believe it does.

At the beginning, we mentioned those documentary filmmakers calling the lion Oscar, then forgetting it's not actually called Oscar—this is our problem. Our problem is that we call it Oscar, then forget it's not actually called Oscar at all. Oscar is just our fabrication. You view it as an unchanging thing, a truly existing thing, a thing threatening to humans, an animal, a wild beast, a king. You view it as equally real as your colleagues, your photography equipment, your lunch sandwich. This is the root of all our suffering. Because not only is Oscar your fabrication, the lion is also your fabrication, your breakfast is equally fabricated, the cushion under your buttocks is too, the music you're listening to is too, the morning mist is too.

Practice ultimately aims to pierce through all our human fabrications. Because living in a fabricated world, you will forever be separated from reality by several layers. And this will cause all your judgments to be wrong.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on June 10, 2025, first published on June 17, 2025.

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灵山居士：万物皆有其名，还是人类的造作

有一回，我看B B C的纪录片，纪录片拍的是非洲大草原上一群狮子的生活，拍纪录片的人煞有介事地给每一头狮子都起了个人类的名字，他们叫公狮奥斯卡，叫母狮露西或是塞耶娜。重要的是，这些狮子自始至终都不知道自己叫这些名字。但是拍纪录片的人大概真的以为它们就是奥斯卡和露西。他们用自己起的名字亲热地称呼这些动物：奥斯卡开始进食了，奥斯卡正在悄悄接近猎物，露西伸了个懒腰，塞耶娜带着她的孩子再次离开了狮群。但是我很怀疑它们真的知道自己是奥斯卡和塞耶娜，我甚至不认为它们觉得自己是狮子。给狮子起名，从佛教最高的见地来看和你给罐头起名同样荒谬，大多数人不会给自己的牙刷热水壶或是床单起名，但它们会给自己的猫和孩子起名。会叫自己的猫利奥。时间长了，你就会认为它真的叫利奥。他们会说利奥利奥利奥。如果一个人的给自己的床单起名叫戴维，马桶叫大嘴皮普，你大概会觉得他不太正常，但是我们管马桶叫马桶狮子叫狮子也同样不正常。因为马桶看起来并不是一个东西而是好几个东西拼凑起来的。狮子也一样，它需要吃饭排泄喝水。如果组成它的东西被切断——譬如肉的摄入，几天之后，它就会迅��干瘪下去。

你会觉得叫它马桶正常，是因为它好像生来就叫马桶，在你诞生以前它就叫马桶，所以它并不是某个你认识的人给它起的名字。所以你觉得它生来就是马桶。但这不是事实。在很久很久以前，肯定有一个人给它起了个名字，叫它马桶，然后它才叫马桶。其实不只是马桶，你所知的一切事物最初都没有名字，它们的名字都是人类后来的创造。在人类数千年历史里，他们习惯于给所有看得见的事物起名。就连124亿光年之外的遥远星系都难逃被命名的命运，何况是地球上的万物。但是要记住，无论你如何命名它，不管你叫它什么，叫它奥斯卡还是塞耶娜还是孔雀蝶还是肥皂，它都完全不知道，也对它完全没有影响，它还是原来的那个事物。它的存在也和你想象的完全不一样，它既不是肥皂，也不是白色的，更没有大小，更加不是洗浴用品。它的存在方式既不是普通人所认定的那般真实存在，也不是很多修行者认为的那般完全不存在。

作为人类，你大概不会觉得给世间万物起名不正常。因为我们早已习惯于生活在一个万物皆有其名皆有其用的世界里，这样的世界安全而又温暖，让我们倍感踏实。我们在这个世界上筑巢，希望能够一直苟安下去。但是问题是：由于我们所有的的认知都是基于幻觉，基于我们对世界的妄觉，这些基于幻觉的认知共同组成了我们的世界。但是由于它完全是你的错误感知所造就的，所以必然招来痛苦。就像奥斯卡从来不叫奥斯卡，但是你用奥斯卡称呼它时间久了，你就会认为它就是奥斯卡。你对肥皂刮胡刀普巴杵的认知也��同样的过程。基本上，佛教的修行就是要结束你所有基于幻觉的认知和随之产生的价值观、以及它们所衍生出的对世界的各种错误反应。我们对色声香味触法做出的各种错误反应，都是基于我们认为它们是真实存在的，自己也是真实存在的。我们认为蓝色和巴黎铁塔都是真实的存在，认为呼吸和爱人的体味是真实存在的。但是世界上从来没有过天蓝色，也从来没有过烤瓷牙或是乐事薯片，没有情绪价值没有弗洛伊德理论，更没有所谓的盖茨基金会，这些都是人类概念的游戏。你把这些概念当真，把自己和万事万物都当真。然后很认真的在这个巨大的幻觉里寻找出路和快乐。但是真相是你永远无法在幻觉里找到出路，因为唯一的出路是抛弃幻觉。在幻觉里我们认为自己存在，认为万法存在，然后形成各种或远或近的关系，对万法产生或喜或厌的��觉，我们想要远离那些讨厌的人和事想要拥有更多喜欢的东西，当我们遭遇那些不喜欢的人和物，为了自保自证而产生各种情绪，这些情绪就是我们刚才所说的错误反应，它们已经在我们身上运行了无数个大劫，它们被归纳为贪嗔痴慢疑。我们的贪嗔痴自我保护系统几乎24小时都在运作，它不间断地抓取解读色声香味触法，然后根据我们对它的定义作出或友善或激烈或平和的反应。虽然它号称自己在保护自我，但是实际情况是它一直都在引导我们给自己制造更多和更大的痛苦。而之所以会这样，是因为我们是在幻觉里寻找出路，是在两种无明的统治范围内寻找出路，所以，即使你找到了也只是另一个更精致的幻觉。而这一切都是因为我们对世界的认知出了问题。我们对世界的认知和实际情况完全相反。我们认为存在的东西从未如我们认为的那般存在过。在刚开始的时候我们说到那些纪录片拍摄者把狮子叫奥斯卡，然后就忘记了它其实不叫奥斯卡，这就是我们的问题。我们的问题在于我们叫它奥斯卡，然后就忘记了它其实根本不叫奥斯卡，奥斯卡只是我们的捏造，你把它视为一个不变的东西、一个真实存在的东西、一个对人类有威胁的东西、一个动物、一头野兽、一个王者，你把它视为和你的同事、你的摄影装备、你的午餐三明治同样真实的东西，这是我们所有痛苦的根源。因为除了奥斯卡是你的捏造，狮子也是你的捏造，你的早餐同样是捏造，你屁股下的垫子也是，你正在听的音乐也是，清晨的薄雾也是。而修行最终是要击穿我们所有人为的捏造。因为生活在捏造的世界里，你会永远和实相隔着几层。而这将导致你所有的判断都是错误的。

灵山居士写于2025年6月10日，首发于2025年6月17日。

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lingshanhermit · 12 days ago

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Lingshan Hermit: Only two or three people can accomplish this task.

Zhang Zai of the Song Dynasty once said: "Establish a heart for Heaven and Earth, establish destiny for the people, continue the lost learning of past sages, and open peace for ten thousand generations." Yet this undertaking is not something everyone can accomplish, nor is it the responsibility of all literati—only those of great wisdom, great capacity, and great application can achieve it. This matter cannot be understood or practiced by those of small wisdom and narrow capacity. Only two or three people can accomplish it.

Heaven and Earth originally have no heart; to establish a heart means to establish right view. With heart, Heaven and Earth come alive; without heart, all things perish. In recent times, Western concepts have invaded China, causing various wrong views to flourish and human desires to run rampant. Eunuchs can sit in halls discussing the Way, and actors can boldly propound theories. Thus strange phenomena frequently appear: women acting like Zhang Fei while men behave like orioles, and peasant women entering celestial palaces. Everyone is dissatisfied with their position, coveting others' wealth and eyeing others' wives. Therefore conflicts arise continuously, heroes compete for females, humans speak like beasts, and sparrows occupy eagles' nests. This is caused by Heaven and Earth losing their heart. If Heaven and Earth have no heart and no right view, people all become like animals, not knowing what to choose, living their lives in confusion, existing only for food and clothing. If Heaven and Earth have heart, then people all have something to hope for, knowing there are sages and petty people, knowing choice, knowing past and future lives, knowing their proper position, knowing humans can become gentlemen or great thieves, can ascend from gentleman to sage, or fall from gentleman to great thief. If people know there are sages in the world, know what humans should do, know there are causes and effects, then they transcend the realm of animals and do not live merely for food and clothing. Unlike today's people who only focus on the immediate, laboring and struggling in every way solely for their present children's food and clothing, merely to satisfy the desires of these two ends.

To establish destiny for the people—destiny is self-created and self-received. To establish destiny means to establish right destiny, and only by teaching people right view can one establish destiny. Ancient people, even street soup vendors, mostly revered Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, knowing their proper role and not coveting what was beyond their lot, thus having fewer troubles and disasters. Today's people have blazing greed, constantly wanting to take wealth not in their destiny and enjoy blessings not created in past lives. To accomplish this, they set up various schemes, luring people into traps to consume their flesh and blood—sweet at first but bitter later, all must eventually be repaid with life. To establish destiny is not merely to resolve worries about food and clothing, but more importantly to establish destiny for ten thousand generations. Without right view, there is no good destiny; even if there are moments of pleasure, one does not know that destiny is already crumbling in an instant. Those without right view covet temporary pleasure but receive suffering for countless eons. Therefore, establishing destiny means establishing right view, clearing the path ahead for the masses, enabling all people to avoid confusion, distance themselves from evil, and draw close to righteousness.

To continue the lost learning of past sages—today we are far from the sages, the Dharma and Way daily decline, demons surge forth. Some mix water with pearls in the learning of past sages, creating various distorted interpretations; others whose understanding is not deep are taken advantage of by demons, turning the path of liberation into a heavy fall downward, and turning the teaching of no-self into a defense of ego-attachment. Another group of demons appears in the world to delude the masses, distorting the words of sages, using Western theories of affirming and pleasing the self to contrast with Eastern ways of no-self and restraining the self, making shallow people drink it like sweet dew while making the words of sages like rats crossing the street. Great sages can understand the true meaning of all sages, expounding what predecessors have not seen, removing later people's erroneous interpretations, correcting the masses' biased understanding, and demonstrating the practices of past sages—this is continuing the lost learning of past sages.

To open peace for ten thousand generations—some say that Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism have established teachings for a thousand years, so when has there been a time of peace? Peace does not mean no famine in the world or no warfare for a hundred years—this goes against the Way of Heaven and Earth. What all beings encounter is self-created and self-received; people are pulled by their own karmic forces, revolving through birth and death, receiving various sufferings—this is the proper cyclical way of Heaven and Earth. However, the sages compassionately cannot bear to see beings like mothers forever fallen in sinking, so they teach them the upward path. This path has high and low distinctions: in the worldly realm it can make all beings content with their own work, not generating improper thoughts, not coveting others' positions, rarely falling into evil paths, rarely bearing evil fruits; in the transcendental realm it can also lead upward to becoming Buddha or patriarch. What is called opening peace is not using the sage's single strength to level all disasters under heaven, but actually using right view to save the world and pacify disasters of self and others—this is called opening peace for ten thousand generations.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on June 12, 2025. First published on June 13, 2025.

灵山居士：此事可为者，唯二三人耳。

宋代张载有曰：“为天地立心，为生民立命，为往圣继绝学，为万世开太平。”然此事非普世皆可为也，亦非普世文人之责，乃大人大智大机大用者方可为也。此事亦非小智小量之人能解能行。可为者，唯二三人耳。

天地者本无心，立心者，立正见也。有心则天地活，无心则万物丧。晚近西人观念侵华，令诸邪见炽盛人欲横流，阉人可坐于堂上论道，戏子亦可皇然立论，是以怪状频出，有女如张飞男作莺者，又有田间之女入于瑶池者，人人皆不乐己位，皆思他人之财，觑他人之妻，是以纷争迭起，群雄逐雌，人出兽言，雀占鹰巢。是为天地失心之所致也。天地若无心无正见，人皆如禽兽，不知取舍，懵懵然而过一生，只为衣食也。天地若有心者，则人皆有所盼，知有圣贤、有小人，知取舍，知有前生后世，知己所在之位，知人可成君子，亦可做大盗，可由君子而往上作圣贤，亦可由君子而堕为大盗。人若知世间有圣贤，知为人之所应为，知有因有果，则脱于禽兽之境也，非为衣食而活。亦非今时今日，人皆只图眼下，只为现世子女衣食，百般疲劳万般折腾，亦只为足二头之欲也。

为生民立命者，命者皆自造自受也。立命者，正命是也，唯授人以正见，方为立命。古之人，虽街头贩汤者，亦多崇儒道释，知己之本份，不贪命外之份，是以少恼少灾祸也。今人贪欲炽盛，常欲取命中所无之财，享前世未造之福。为成此事，设种种局、引众人入坑，得其血肉，先甜而后苦，后皆须以命偿还。立命者，非仅解衣食之忧也，更须立万世之命。若无正见，则无有好命，纵有片刻之娱，殊不知命已在倾刻之间也。无正见者贪一时之乐，受万劫之苦。是以立命即立正见也。为众廓清前途，使万民不惑、远邪而亲正也。

继往圣之绝学者，今离圣日遥，法道日衰，群魔涌动，有者于过往圣贤之学，掺水混珠，作诸曲解；又有解未深者，为魔所趁，令解脱之道，成下堕之重坠；又令无我之法，成我执之拱卫。又有一班魔众，出世愚众，曲解圣言，以西人有我悦我之论对比东方无我抑我之道，令浅识之人，如饮甘露，令圣人之言，如过街之鼠。有大圣者，能解诸圣真实之义也，其人阐前人之所未见，去后人之错谬解，正大众理解之偏，演过往圣贤之行，是为为往圣继绝学也。

开万世之太平者，有者言释儒道立教千年，何来太平之时？太平者，非人间无饥馑，百年无征战也，此逆天地之道也。众生所遭遇者，皆是自造自受，其人由自身业力牵引，生死轮转，受诸般苦，此乃天地应有循环之道。然诸圣贤��悯众生，不堪如母之众永堕沉沦，是以授之以向上之道，此道有高下之分，于世间可令众生皆乐己业，不生非分之想，不觑他人之位，少堕恶道，少承恶果，于出世间亦可向上成佛作祖。所谓开��平者，非以圣人之一力弥平天下灾祸，实则以正见救世平自他之祸，此之谓为万世开太平也。

灵山居士写于2025年6月12日。首发于2025年6月13日。

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lingshanhermit · 16 days ago

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Lingshan Hermit: We Should Not Be Spiritual Abusers

A few days ago, someone told me that a certain person has never eaten meat since childhood, so he never harms sentient beings. I replied: "For him, that might only mean he has one less way of harming sentient beings. There are many ways to harm sentient beings, and eating meat is just one of them." People who don't eat meat simply have one less avenue for harming sentient beings; it doesn't mean that non-meat-eaters won't harm sentient beings at all. Non-meat-eaters can completely harm sentient beings through speech, actions, thoughts, or by spreading wrong views. From the perspective of Buddhist enlightened beings, our greed, hatred, delusion, and "ego" are actually harming others and ourselves directly and indirectly in various ways 24 hours a day without interruption.

From a superficial level, if you use perfume, you are actually harming animals, because many perfumes inevitably cause harm to animals during their production process. Even if you don't use perfume, the cocoa powder you drink causes many chimpanzees and leopards in West Africa to lose their traditional habitats, because their homes have been converted into cocoa plantations. Even if you don't use perfume or eat chocolate pie, you still need to use paper, right? And the production of paper products inevitably harms many birds that depend on forests for survival. So we are actually constantly harming many sentient beings, whether intentionally or unintentionally. One of the practices in Buddhism is to find and eliminate the root causes of all behaviors that harm oneself and others, whether obvious or hidden. As for how our "ego" and greed harm others and ourselves, that is a very, very big topic, and it's not what we're discussing today.

Many people who don't eat meat like to force others not to eat meat, especially those closest to them. Some people without boundaries even talk about this with people they don't know well. They indoctrinate others with various negative consequences of eating meat, such as increased risk of colorectal cancer, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, or encountering weapons disasters. This is an extension of their powerful "ego." What they're doing is actually harming those who eat meat. Because the other person hasn't invited you to lecture them about the harms of eating meat, nor do they have any intention of giving up meat. I believe some people do this out of good intentions, but more people are expressing dissatisfaction that the world is not operating the way they want it to. At the same time, as non-meat-eaters, they feel they have qualified themselves to judge others. Their approach is as rude as barging into someone's home and telling them "you're too fat and have bad breath, your husband definitely doesn't like kissing you." As far as I'm concerned, forcing anyone not to eat meat, or discussing the harms of eating meat in front of meat-eaters, is extremely disrespectful to them, extremely disrespectful to the law of cause and effect, and extremely disrespectful to the Dharma. Buddhist practitioners should not force anyone to do anything they don't want to do. So, you'd better not be this kind of spiritual abuser.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on June 8, 2025, first published on June 9, 2025.

灵山居士：我们最好不要做精神上的施虐者

前几天，有人跟我说某人从小就不吃肉，所以他从来不伤害众生。我回复他说：“对他来说，那可能只意味着他少了一个伤害众生的方式。伤害众生有很多种方式，而吃肉只是其中的一种。”不吃肉的人只是少了一个伤害众生的途径，并不是不吃肉的人就不会伤害众生了。不吃肉的人也完全可以通过语言、行为、意念或是传播邪见来伤害众生。从佛教证悟者的角度来看，我们的贪嗔痴和“自我”其实是24小时不间断地直接间接以各种方式在伤害着别人和我们自己。

从肤浅的层面上来讲，如果你使用香水，其实你就在伤害动物，因为很多香水在制作过程中不可避免会有动物受到伤害。即使你不使用香水，你喝的可可粉也会让西非洲的很多黑猩猩和豹子失去了传统栖息地，因为它们的家园被改造成了可可种植园。即便你不用香水也不吃巧克力派，你总要用纸吧？而纸制品的生产不可避免会伤害到很多依赖森林生存的鸟类。所以我们其实一直都在有意无意伤害很多众生。而佛教的修行之一就是找到并断除所有或明或暗伤害自他行为的根源。至于我们的“自我”和贪婪是如何伤害他人和自己的，那是一个很大很大的话题，它不是我们今天要讨论的内容。

很多不吃肉的人都喜欢强迫其他人不吃肉，尤其是那些他们关系最为亲密的人。有些没有边界感的人甚至和不太熟的人也会说这些。他们会给别人灌输吃肉的各种不良后果，例如会增加直肠癌风险会导致心脑血管疾病，会遭遇刀兵劫之类。这是他们强大“自我”的延伸。他们这样做其实就是在伤害那些吃肉的人。因为对方并没有邀请你给他开示吃肉的坏处，也并没有放弃肉食的打��。我相信有的人这么做确实是出于好意，但是更多的人是在对世界没有按他们希望的方式运转表达不满。同时身为不吃肉者他们觉得自己具备了审判他人的资格。他们的做法就如同闯进别人家里告诉对方你太胖了又有口气你老公肯定不喜欢和你接吻一样无礼。就我而言，强迫任何人不吃肉、或是在肉食者面前谈论吃肉的坏处都是对对方极大的不尊重，同时也是对因缘果极大的不尊重，更是对佛法极大的不尊重。佛教修行者不应该强迫任何人做任何他们不想做的事。所以，你最好不要做这种精神上的施虐者。

灵山居士写于2025年6月8日，首发于2025年6月9日。

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lingshanhermit · 19 days ago

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Lingshan Hermit: Skillful Wisdom from the Sixteenth Century

When Italian missionary Matteo Ricci arrived in Ming Dynasty China in 1582, for a considerable period he engaged with various levels of Chinese society in a unique manner. He deliberately avoided emphasizing his identity as a missionary, choosing not to approach people in that capacity. Instead, he presented himself as a scientist, philosopher, and world map cartographer. This approach won him numerous friends and interested followers in China, eventually leading prominent figures like Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao to become believers in the religion he followed. Similarly, the Jesuit Sabatino de Ursis, who came to China in the seventeenth century, appeared as a hydraulic engineering expert and astronomical scientist, using this identity to spread the culture he wished to propagate. To make more people like him and listen to his words, Ricci didn't mind adjusting China's position on the world maps he drew: placing China in the center and Europe to the side. At the same time, he refrained from interfering with various behaviors of Chinese believers who grew up in Confucian society that he might have considered heretical (such as ancestor worship). You could say they all possessed a certain skillful wisdom.

If you want others to listen to you speak, first you must make them like you. No one will listen to someone they dislike chattering endlessly, much less contemplate their words. If you want someone to like you, at the very least you cannot force them or treat them with an attitude of possessing absolute truth. Most people won't want to befriend someone who is obviously far superior to them; they don't enjoy conversing with someone who seems godlike. Even fewer people would be willing to associate with someone who constantly negates and corrects them. In these respects, people like Ricci, de Ursis, and Michele Ruggieri did better than most Buddhist practitioners. Many so-called "Buddhist practitioners" spread the Dharma by almost brutally forcing what they consider good things down others' throats. They give no consideration to others' feelings, capacity for acceptance, or whether they might frighten people away. They also absolutely refuse to tolerate any questioning—because they interpret any doubt as a denial of themselves.

I have encountered many practitioners whose approach is completely opposite to these Western missionaries. They have an extremely dogmatic and rigid understanding of the Dharma, often exerting effort on unimportant matters. For instance, they insist that anyone practicing Buddhism must abstain from meat, considering this absolutely non-negotiable. If you want to practice, you must immediately become vegetarian; otherwise, don't practice at all. They also insist on performing prostrations and joining palms in their specific way, considering anything else irregular and improper. I once knew someone who heard a rule at a particular temple and then believed this rule applied to everyone. He would proclaim this rule to everyone in all situations. But it was merely that temple's own rule, suitable only for that temple's disciples and not applicable to others. Moreover, such rules intimidate many people. It's equivalent to saying: "You want to come eat? No problem, as long as you have proof of ten million dollars in assets." Good heavens, imagine how many people their foolish behavior successfully deterred. They persist in these behaviors probably because they enjoy the feeling it gives them. Being able to control others provides them with an unprecedented sense of power, makes them feel orthodox and elite, and allows them to tell another person "you're doing it wrong"—seeing that person's innocent and anxious expression serves as enormous relief and compensation for their monotonous and hopeless lives. They do this entirely to please themselves. They don't consider whether the other person might lose confidence and interest as a result. They also don't consider what the other person truly needs.

Because they haven't received genuine Dharma training, they don't know that the path to liberation is not entirely identical for everyone. Some things need to be insisted upon at certain times, while at other times, these non-fundamental matters don't necessarily require absolute adherence. Many people persist because their dignity and face are bound up with these things, so they never yield. As for when and what matters require persistence, and when and what matters don't, this depends on the wisdom of the enlightened to make such decisions. Ricci and Ruggieri clearly understood that placing China at the center of the map was not a matter of principle. Their purpose was to guide others to faith, not to prove their own correctness.

But many of us don't understand this point. They cannot distinguish between what is fundamental in the Dharma and what can be slightly modified. So they consider every matter extremely serious and absolutely inviolable. They insist on things that are utterly unimportant, yielding not an inch, until they successfully drive the other party away. They successfully win the battle.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on June 3, 2025, first published on June 5, 2025.

灵山居士：来自十六世纪的善巧智慧

当1582年意大利传教士利玛窦来到中国明朝的时候，很长一段时间里，他都是在以一种独特的方式接触中国社会的各阶层。他刻意不强调自己的传教士身份，不以传教士的身份和他们接触，而代之以科学家、哲学家、世界地图绘制专家的身份和他们接触，这为他在中国赢得了大量的朋友和感兴趣者，也让徐光启和李之藻这样的著名人物最后都成为他所追随宗教的信仰者。而十七世纪来到中国的耶殊会士熊三拔则是以水利工程专家和天文科学家的身份出现，他以这种方式传播他想传播的文化。为了让更多的人喜欢自己听自己讲话，利玛窦不介意调整中国在他所绘制的世界地图中的位置：把中国放在中间，欧洲放在旁边。同时他也不去干涉生长在儒家社会里的中国信徒们种种在他们看来属于异端的行为（例如祭祖）。你可以说他们都具备了某种善巧智慧。

如果你想要让别人听你讲话，首先你要让他喜欢上你。没有人会听一个不喜欢的人喋喋不休。更加不会去思考他的话。如果你想要让一个人喜欢你，至少你不能去强迫他，不能以一副真理在握的姿态对待他。大多数人不会喜欢和一个明显比自己高明很多的人做朋友，他们不喜欢和一个像上帝一样的人交谈。更没有人会乐意和一个一直在否定自己纠正自己的人相处。就这些方面而言，利玛窦、熊三拔和罗明坚这样的人做的比大多数佛教修行者要好，很多所谓的“佛教修行者”传播佛法的方式几乎是粗暴地把他们认为好的东西硬塞到对方的嘴里。他们完全不考虑对方的感受、接受能力，以及是不是会把对方吓跑等等。他们也绝对不容许对方有半点质疑——因为他们会把任何质疑视为对自己的否定。我见过很多和这些西方传教士做法完全相反的修行者，他们对佛法有着非常教条僵硬的理解，他们经常会在那些不重要的事情上发力：譬如他们会坚持修行佛法的人必须断肉，他们认为这是绝对不可以退让妥协的。如果你要修行就必须马上茹素，否则就不要修行。他们还坚持必须以自己的方式合十礼拜，否则就是不正规和不如法的。以前我见过一个人，他在某个寺庙听过一个规矩，然后他就认为这个规矩适用于所有的人。他会在所有场合给所有人宣说这个规矩。但那只是那个寺庙自己的规矩，只适合那个寺庙的弟子而并不适用于其他人。而且这种规矩会让很多人望而生畏。他等于是在说：“你要来吃饭��？没问题，只要你有一千万美元资产证明就行。”天哪，想想他们的这种愚蠢行为成功劝退了多少人。而他们之所以会坚持这些，大概是因为他们很享受这么做的感觉，能够支配他人让他们感受到前所未有的权力感，能让他们感觉自己很正统很精锐，能够告诉另一个人“你做的不对”看对方单纯惶恐的眼神对他们单调无望的生活而言是一种巨大的调剂和弥补。他们这么做其实完全是想让自己高兴。他们不会考虑对方是不是会因此丧失信心和兴趣。他们也不考虑对方真正需要的是什么。因为没受过真正的佛法训练，所以他们不知道解脱之道对每个人来说并不完全相同。有些东西在有些时候需要坚持，而在另一些时候，这些不涉及根本的东西并不一定绝对要坚持。很多人会坚持是因为他们的尊严和面子都和这些捆绑在一起。所以他们绝不退让。至于什么时候什么事需要坚持，什么时候什么事不需要坚持则需要依赖证悟者的智慧来做出抉择。利玛窦和罗明坚很清楚把中国画在地图的中央并非原则性问题。他们的目的是引导别人归依而非证明自己正确。但是我们很多人并不知道这一点，他们分不清在佛法里什么是根本性的东西什么是可以稍作修改的东西。所以他们觉得每件事情都很严重，都绝对不可违背。他们坚持那些一点也不重要的东西，丝毫也不退让，直到把对方成功气跑为止。他们成功赢得了这场战役。

灵山居士写于2025年6月3日，首发于2025年6月5日。

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lingshanhermit · 22 days ago

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Lingshan Hermit: How Your Teacher Can Truly Help You

When you go to the Vajra Seat in Bihar, India for pilgrimage and to attend dharma gatherings, there are many people around the Vajra Seat, as well as many other beings. Among them are saints and ordinary beings, monks from around the world, those who have just begun practicing, those who consider themselves enlightened, and various travelers with cameras taking photos everywhere, as well as swindlers from different countries. Some of them want to steal money from you, some want to sell you to brothels in Pattaya, Thailand, some want to become your guru, some want you to buy their flowers, and some want to sleep with you. There are all kinds of minds fluctuating, desires flowing, and egos colliding and pulling at each other. Of course, there are also a few who truly want to benefit you. At the Vajra Seat, you can see European curiosity-seekers who are purely tourists, people pretending to be enlightened, locals selling garlands, soft drinks, practice guides and cheap tourist souvenirs, Princeton University philosophy professors sitting in meditation with closed eyes, Taiwanese tour guides leading groups and Indian children chasing you for alms, as well as many local onlookers. What you regard as supremely sacred, they have probably long taken for granted. As far as they are concerned, they don't think this place is different from any other street in India. You can see similar scenes at Mount Wutai in China—the place regarded as Manjushri's sacred realm. I do not deny the blessings of the Vajra Seat (someone told me that all his dualistic thoughts of perceiver and perceived ceased there, which is possible, after all he had practiced for so many years), nor do I deny that these humans who have formed connections with the Vajra Seat might become Buddhas after a hundred million trillion eons—and not just humans, but even the stray dogs, insects, and snakes around there will too. I also do not deny that among these people and animals there might be emanations of Buddha. But if the blessing power of sacred places really had such a great effect on your practice, then those who stay here year-round would have become Buddhas long ago. If you stayed there for ten or twenty years, or if you were born here and grew up nearby, you probably wouldn't have much feeling about it and wouldn't consider it a very magical place. What I want to say is that many people are infatuated with the blessing power of sacred places and the effects of external things, but these are explanations for beginning practitioners. In any case, it helps you, but its help is probably far less than you think—it cannot make you a Buddha. If you want to become a Buddha and achieve liberation, ultimately you still have to return to studying and contemplating the Dharma and analyzing yourself. You need to analyze how your values came about and how they bring you suffering and enemies. You must face your true self, face your deeply hidden greed and hatred, face every thought of yours that is packaged as unselfish, face all the harm you have done to others, face the fact that you continue to harm many people every day, and find the deepest reason why you do this—it is because you have always been controlled by the mistaken notion that harming others can benefit yourself, because the movies you watch and the social media you encounter teach you these things every day—and these are not things that sacred places or empowerments and teachings can help you do (at most these create a condition for your practice). Even your teacher cannot help you do this. At most he can teach you methods, tell you what problems you have, tell you the methods to solve these problems, but whether you do it or accept it, whether you cooperate or not, is not something he can control—these completely depend on you truly understanding for yourself. The only possibility for him to help you is if you completely cooperate with him. If you don't cooperate and don't listen to him, even if the thousand Buddhas of the Fortunate Eon all came together, they would be helpless with you.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on June 1, 2025, first published on June 2, 2025.

灵山居士：你的老师怎么样才能真正帮到你

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lingshanhermit · 23 days ago

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Lingshan Hermit: Understanding Them So You Can Love Them

As a Mahayana practitioner, you must remember this: all sentient beings, regardless of what they are doing, ultimately aim to obtain happiness through their actions. When they harm others, they seek happiness; when they harm themselves, they equally seek happiness. Everyone in this world is like this—each person wants to be noticed, to be praised, to be loved and needed. Whether it's the American President, a Japanese Princess, Taylor Swift, or a Mexican drug lord, they all share the same intense feelings of uncertainty and insecurity that you do, and they all need attention, praise, and to feel needed, just as you do. Many people are intimidated by their power and their appearance of having everything under control, but that's merely an illusion they hope to present to others. All humans want happiness, and they are simultaneously anxious, confused, and disturbed about why, despite their best efforts, they have failed to achieve it. It's just that most people don't reveal their confusion to others, because doing so would expose their vulnerable side, thereby threatening their authority and status. This is also because in modern society, people find it difficult to find someone they truly trust. The reason for this—the reason they spend their entire lives without achieving happiness—is that their methods and concepts are fundamentally flawed. It can be said that their approach to achieving happiness is fundamentally wrong from the start. This flawed design can be traced back to the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers.

Modern Western civilization has greatly amplified our desires. It provides us with countless ways of pleasure-seeking and life templates, telling us these are the paths to happiness. Billions of people worldwide believe this lie, spending their entire lives and fortunes experiencing this enormous deception. Everyone is deceived by this lie, yet no one dares to question it. Westerners have always prided themselves on having a great tradition of questioning, but their great tradition completely fails them here. They never dare to question these things—never dare to question these intellectual traditions stemming from ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and the Enlightenment period. They never dare to question Voltaire, Cicero, Mary Wollstonecraft, or John Locke. These great figures told them that achieving personal freedom and self-worth would bring happiness, and they firmly believe this to be true. Even when they ultimately gain nothing, they don't think it's the fault of these great figures. They think it's their own problem—that they haven't obtained enough or haven't done something correctly. They never consider that this entire path is fundamentally wrong by design. This is why they constantly change methods and seek new ways to stimulate themselves—because the previous one no longer excites them. This is why they experience more men and women, change their beliefs and religions, buy French vineyards, use nipple clamps with bells, and move from one place to another. In the end, they discover that even sleeping in a 600-year-old castle with 100 rooms doesn't help them sleep more peacefully (and to live in such a house, they have harmed many, many people), and praise from the Vatican cannot help them escape their sense of guilt. The more men and women they experience, the more disappointed they become. If you can understand this point, you can understand all behaviors, all phenomena—understand betrayal, understand lies, understand departure, understand why some people lie even when there's absolutely no need to, understand why some people enjoy being whipped while others like hunting bears on the Kamchatka Peninsula, understand those who dance and gyrate in front of cameras, understand those who have dozens of lipsticks and hundreds of bags, understand their futile attempts and their inevitable outcomes, and thereby develop true compassion. However, understanding these things usually requires tremendous merit and sufficient life experience. If your merit is too little or you are too young, it's not easy to understand.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on May 22, 2025, first published in June 2025

灵山居士：理解他们，你才能爱他们

作为一个大乘修行者，你要记住的是：一切众生，不管他们是在干什么他们的目的其实都是想要通过这种方式摄取快乐，他们伤害别人是想要快乐，伤害自己同样是想要快乐。这世间所有的人都是如此，每个人都想要被关注，想要被赞美，想要被爱、被需要。不管是美国总统、日本公主、泰勒·斯威夫特还是墨西哥大毒枭，他们其实都和你一样有着强烈的不确定感不安全感，他们也都和你一样需要被关注被赞美被需要。很多人会被他们的权力和一切尽在掌握中的外表唬住，但那只是他们希望展示给别人看的假象。所有的人类都想要快乐，他们同时也都在为为何自己已经竭尽全力却未能得到快乐而焦虑困惑不安。只是大多数人不会把自己的困惑展示给其他人看而已。因为这会暴露他们孱弱的一面，进而威胁他们的权威和地位。也因为在现代社会人们很难找到真正信任的人。而之所以会这样——之所以他们耗费了一生时间也未能得到快乐——是因为他们的方法和观念出了问题。可以说，他们期望达到快乐的方式从根本上就错了。而这种错误的设计最早可以追溯到古希腊和古罗马的思哲们。

现代西方文明极大的催生了我们的贪欲，它为我们提供无数的享乐方式和人生模版，它告诉我们这些就是抵达快乐之途，全世界数十亿人都相信这个谎言，他们耗费一生的时光和金钱去体验这个巨大的谎言，所有的人都被这个谎言迷惑，却无人敢于质疑。西方人一直引以为傲的是他们有着伟大的质疑传统，但是他们的伟大传统在这里却完全失灵了。他们从不敢质疑这些，不敢质疑这些源自古希腊古罗马和启蒙时期的思想传统，不敢质疑伏尔泰、西塞罗、玛丽·沃斯通克拉夫特和约翰·洛克。这些伟大的人物告诉他们实现个人自由和价值即可快乐。他们深信事实就是如此。即便他们最终一无所获他们也不会觉得是这些伟大人物的问题。他们会觉得是自己的问题，是因为自己得到的还不够多或是因为哪些地方没做对。他们不会想这一整条道路设计从根本上就是错的。所以他们才会不断更换新的方法，寻找新的能够刺激自己的方式——因为前一个已经不再能让他们感觉兴奋。所以他（她）们才会去体验更多的男人女人，会去更换信仰和宗教，会去买下法国的酒庄，会使用带铃铛的乳夹，会从一个地方搬到另一个地方。最后他们发现即使是睡在有600年历史100个房间的古城堡里也未能使自己睡的更加安稳（为了住进这样的房子他们伤害了很多很多人），来自罗马教庭的褒奖也不能帮他们摆脱罪恶感。他们经历的男人和女人越多，就越失望。如果你能理解这一点，你就能理解一切行为，理解一切现象，理解背版、理解谎言、理解离开，理解为何有的人在毫无必要的情况下也会撒谎，理解为何有人喜欢被鞭子抽打有人喜欢去堪察加半岛猎熊，理解那些对着摄像头扭动身子跳舞的人，理解那些有几十种唇彩和几百个包的人，理解他们徒劳无功的尝试和最终必然的结果，进而生起真正的悲心。但是通常理解这些需要巨大的福德和足够的阅历。你的福德太少或是太过年轻都不容易理解。

灵山居士写于2025年5月22日，首发于2025年6月

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lingshanhermit · 1 month ago

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Early Summer, Bathing Buddha (Seven-Character Poem)

By Lingshan Hermit

Golden Buddha in the form of a child, Finger pointing to heaven as the World-Honored One, Declaring to all beneath the sky, "I alone am the Enlightened One who awakens mankind."

The Buddha thus honored, thus revered, Is but a concept created by my mind, All things in this world are likewise, Merely projections of one's own heart.

In these projections we find temporary truth, Washing away life's myriad specks of dust, Defilements since time immemorial, Three thousand afflictions and eighty thousand impurities.

Today with water I cleanse them all, Washing away eighty-four thousand specks of dust, Suddenly realizing no birth, no non-birth, No self, no other, and no dust.

As dust and roots fall away, bright light appears, Both self and other become Amitabha Buddha.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on the day of Renwu in the month of Xinsi in the year of Yisi.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on May 13, 2025, first published on May 13, 2025.

灵山居士：初夏.浴佛（��言诗）

金色佛陀童子身，手指天际为世尊，

自言天上地下者，唯我独尊醒世人，

如是佛陀如是尊，吾��所造之概念，

世间万物皆如此，全系自心之投影，

于此投影权作真，洗去平生万缕尘，

无始以来之垢染，三千烦恼八万尘，

今日以水涤荡之，荡去八万四千尘，

顿悟无生无不生，无我无他亦无尘，

尘根脱落明光现，自他皆成弥陀尊。

灵山居士作于乙巳年辛巳月壬午日。

灵山居士写于2025年5月13日，首发于2025年5月13日。

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lingshanhermit · 1 month ago

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Lingshan Hermit: This Problem Is Big Enough to End Your Spiritual Practice

For many modern practitioners, admitting their mistakes is as difficult as cutting off their right arm. They might verbally say "I was wrong," but in their hearts, they never truly believe they have a problem. This is actually an enormous issue—one big enough to end your spiritual practice. Because a student who cannot genuinely acknowledge mistakes cannot learn anything, let alone discover their own problems. In fact, they never even consider what problems they might have—because they believe they have none.

This situation exists because we live in an era that venerates Charli D'Amelio, Billie Eilish, Kylian Mbappé, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Swedish environmental activist. It's an age that celebrates de-labeling and identity freedom, personal value monetization and self-healing. (Most people in this era don't believe suffering can be fundamentally eliminated and have no real interest in this idea. Rather than ending suffering at its root, they prefer experiences like Thai massages that provide immediate pleasure.) Most people's thinking today can be traced back to Voltaire, Bacon, and John Stuart Mill. This era does not revere Confucius and St. Augustine. It does not value introspection. So it's perfectly normal that living in this era, you believe you have no problems. Although you may never have read Voltaire or have no idea who Charli D'Amelio is, as long as you use a smartphone and interact with others, you cannot escape their influence. Because nearly all the books and films you consume contain their ideas.

Under the impact of Western individualism and Hollywood culture, individual flaws are increasingly downplayed and forgiven, with every defect respected and disguised as a unique characteristic of the individual. Most people interpret this as social progress. But in my view, this is the devil depriving us of the opportunity to examine our problems under the guises of love and respect. Living in such a society, you no longer believe you need fixing, no longer believe your problems stem from your own values, no longer believe you should feel shame for your mistakes. It's like a dented pot being told it possesses a special beauty and therefore needs no repair. To ensure our interests remain unaffected, we learn how to maintain good interpersonal relationships, how to be hypocritical; our so-called social interactions are merely mutual feeding and stroking of each other's egos. Few people are willing to risk offending others by pointing out problems. So we have become unaccustomed to having our faults pointed out. If someone identifies your problem, you interpret it as an attack. Thus, you can no longer see your own greed, no longer accept any criticism, and no longer restrain your speech. Because even greed itself has been legitimized. Unlike people from the 18th century, almost no one in modern society would consider owning ten colors of lipstick and twenty dresses a sin. In a global context controlled by capitalism, greed has received unprecedented encouragement, traditional concepts have nearly disappeared completely, and the "self" grows unchecked as never before. Under the pretense of respecting individuality and human nature, our flaws are de-flawed, disguised as features and selling points, and our greed, anger, and ignorance are de-criminalized. Most people no longer see greed, anger, and ignorance as problems and no longer conceal them; those who adhere to tradition are instead accused of hypocrisy. So, it's not difficult to understand why modern spiritual practice is so challenging, why admitting mistakes is like cutting off half your nose. Because they are fed exactly the opposite of what they need to cultivate. All the spiritual food you are fed says: "Don't care what others say, don't mind what others think, you are the best, just be yourself, don't compromise yourself to please others." Our ears, eyes, and mouths are stuffed full of these things. But spiritual practice teaches the exact opposite. So unless you are a truly exceptional person, it's impossible to break free from this super-delusional web created by the global elite. Lying in this great web, you'll feel comfortable, feel special, completely different from others. Coincidentally, there are billions of people worldwide who think exactly like you. They all believe they're special. Because they've been fed the same culture as you, you share the same thought patterns and views. For instance, you all believe that a vacation means driving to a nearby town for a relaxing weekend or lying on the beach sipping juice, that you shouldn't be defined by society, that you should buy an Oral-B electric toothbrush and take Culturelle probiotics, that Trump is a Russian spy, that Zelensky is enduring humiliation for a greater cause. The songs you listen to and the movies you watch all tell you not to care what anyone else thinks, and this is why you cannot recognize your own problems.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on May 10, 2025, first published on May 12, 2025.

灵山居士：这个问题大到足以终结你的修行

对于很多现代修行者来说，承认自己錯了的难度并不亚于切下自己的右臂。他们可以在嘴上说我错了但是心里绝不会真的认为自己有问题。这其实是个很大很大的问题——这个问题大到足以终结你的修行。因为一个无法真正认错的学生无法学到任何东西，更加无法发现自己的任何问题。事实上，他压根就不会去思考自己有什么问题——因为他觉得自己没有问题。

而之所以会出现这样的情况是因为我们生活在这样一个时代，这个时代崇尚的是Charli D’Amelio、比莉·艾利什、基利安·姆巴佩、Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez和瑞典环保少女，崇尚的是去标签化与身份自由，崇尚的是个人价值变现和自我疗愈。（这个时代的大多数人不相信痛苦可以从根源上被终结，他们其实对这件事毫无兴趣。比起从根源上终结痛苦，他们更愿意体验泰式按摩这种马上可以体验到快乐的事物。）这个时代大多数人的想法都可以从伏尔泰、培根和约翰·斯图亚特·密尔那里找到源头。这个时代并不尊崇孔夫子和圣.奥古斯丁。不尊崇反求诸己。所以活在这个时代的你觉得自己没有问题再正常不过了。虽然你可能从未读过伏尔泰的书也压根不知道Charli D’Amelio是谁，但只要你在用手机还在和别人接触，就难逃他们的影响。因为你所看的书和电影几乎都蕴含着他们的思想。

在西方个人主义与好莱坞文化的冲击下，个体的错误越来越被淡化被原宥，每个缺陷都被尊重、被粉饰成个体所独有的特点。大多数人会被它解读为社会进步。但是在我看来，这其实是魔鬼以爱与尊重的名义剥夺了我们思考自己问题的机会。生活在这样的社会里，你不再认为自己是需要被修复的，不再认为问题是由自己的价值观造成的，不再认为自己应该为自己的错误感到羞愧。就像是一口瘪了的锅被告知自己有特殊的美所以无需被修复一样。为了确保利益不受影响，我们学习如何拥有良好的人际关系，如何做一个虚伪的人，我们所谓的社交都是在互相喂养抚摸对方的自我。很少有人愿意冒着得罪对方的危险指出问题。所以我们已经不习惯别人指出自己的问题。如果有人指出你的问题，你会把它理解为攻击。所以你不再能看到自己的贪婪，不再接受任何指责，也不再管束自己的嘴。因为连贪婪本身也都已经被合法化。和十八世纪的人不同的是，现代社会几乎没有人会认为拥有十种颜色的口红和二十条裙子是一种罪过。在资本把控的全球语境下，贪欲获得了空前的鼓励，传统观念已经接近完全消亡， “自我”前所未有地疯狂生长。在尊重个体和尊重人性的幌子下，我们的缺陷被去缺陷化、被粉饰成特点和卖点，我们的贪嗔痴也被去罪化，大部分人开始不再觉得贪嗔痴是问题，也不再掩饰自己的贪嗔痴，那些坚持传统的人反被指控为虚伪。所以，你就不难理解为何现代人的修行如此举步维艰。为何认错对他们来说无异于割掉自己一半的鼻子。因为他们被喂食的全是和他们要修的相反的东西。你被投喂的所有精神食物，全都在讲：“不要在乎别人说什么、不要管别人怎么想、你是最好的最棒的、做你自己就好、不要为取悦别人而委屈自己。”我们耳朵眼睛嘴巴里全都塞满了这些东西。而修行讲的完全是相反的东西。所以，除非你是非常特殊的人，否则完全不可能从这个全球精英联手打造的超级迷妄网中挣脱。在这个大网里躺着，你会很舒服，会觉得自己很特别，和别人完全不一样。巧合的是，全世界有几十亿个和你一样想法的人。他们都觉得自己很特别。因为他们也都被喂食了和你相同的文化，你们有着相同的思维方式和观点。譬如你们都认为休假就是开车去隔壁小镇过一个轻松的周末或是在沙滩上躺着喝果汁，认为自己不应该被社会定义，认为自己应该买Oral-B的电动牙刷吃Culturelle益生菌认为川普是俄罗斯间谍泽连斯基是在忍辱负重。你听的歌看的电影都在告诉你不要在乎任何其他人的想法，而这就是你无法认识到自己问题的原因。

灵山居士写于2025年5月10日，首发于2025年5月12日。

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lingshanhermit · 2 months ago

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Lingshan Hermit: What Is Truly the Best Arrangement for Your Life

There was a time when I frequently heard people say, “Everything is the best arrangement.” On the surface, it seems they were quite accepting of the events unfolding in their lives, assuming these were orchestrated by some higher being with the ultimate aim of leading them in a better direction. As a Buddhist practitioner, I remain quite skeptical of such statements.

If everything is indeed the best arrangement—then who is arranging it for you?

According to the Dharma, our fate is entirely shaped by ourselves. You alone have arranged all your suffering and happiness, and you alone determine your future path. Every choice you make today contributes to the fate you will experience tomorrow. The choices you make are rooted in your true values and character—by "character," I mean your habitual responses when faced with challenges.

Thus, everything you encounter is the result of choices you made in the past, not the arrangement of some deity or higher being. To claim that “everything is the best arrangement” sounds suspiciously like the idea that some creator-like figure is directing your path, as though you are constantly being guided and protected. But this is simply not the truth.

This kind of thinking is more like a subtle form of self-deception and self-satisfaction, cleverly veiled in Buddhist terms, making it all the harder to detect. Because of this refined form of self-deception, it becomes easy to misidentify yourself as someone with a divine mission, mistakenly believing that everything is arranged by higher beings. I have met many people caught in this trap, interpreting everything that happens to them as blessings or orchestrations from their guru. But clearly, many of these events are merely manifestations of their own karma, not blessings from others.

Even Buddhas cannot arrange your fate. At most, at a particularly critical moment, they might give you a gentle nudge. Interpreting everything as a blessing or divine arrangement usually only exacerbates delusions—and many practitioners do suffer from these delusions. In the end, such delusions can lead to severe consequences.

As ignorant beings, we are constantly being driven by our own karma, forced to accept the realities that unfold before us. We must personally taste the outcomes of our past choices. For most people, believing that “everything is the best arrangement” might seem comforting—especially when the economy is stable and life seems manageable. You might even feel immersed in this self-deception for a time.

But the world is becoming increasingly chaotic, with events happening every day that surpass your imagination. When you lose everything due to, say, the radical policies of Donald Trump, can you still smile and tell yourself, “This is the best arrangement”?

More likely, you will turn your anger toward Buddhism and ask, “Why would something like this happen? Isn’t everything supposed to be the best arrangement?” What you mean by “everything” is typically good things, or bad things mild enough to be bearable. You don’t include devastating black swan events in that category. When something truly destructive strikes, this kind of self-deceiving narrative collapses—and it might even shatter your faith, including the Buddhism you thought you believed in.

Yet such vague, seemingly profound sayings are not actually Buddhist teachings. They only masquerade as such and can bring harmful consequences.

I’ve also heard another saying: “Everything that grinds you down is meant to help you cross over.” Let me be clear—this phrase is entirely inappropriate for ordinary people without a teacher or right view. It is suited only for ancestral-level masters or a very small number of genuine practitioners. In other words, it has nothing to do with most people.

Most people do not have the habit of viewing suffering as the karmic result of their own past choices. (Even among practitioners, few truly hold this view.) When misfortune strikes, they rarely blame their own karma. Instead, they see others as the cause of their suffering. As a result, they don’t reflect on themselves or change their behavior.

For ordinary people, most painful experiences only erode their enthusiasm, patience, and kindness toward the world. They grow to hate the world, become more closed off, more fake, and harder of heart. These hardships do not lead to transcendence, nor do they cultivate compassion for other sentient beings. They have never received training in this regard and do not possess the ability to transform suffering into spiritual progress. Thus, exposing ordinary people to such sayings is like pouring boiling water onto the head of an infant.

From a Buddhist perspective, your life is not arranged by anyone else—it is arranged by you, bit by bit.

If you have right view, you will be able to respond correctly to every situation, make the right decisions, and maintain the right attitude in each moment. This has decisive consequences for the direction your life takes. Every choice you make is an arrangement for your future. But if you lack right view—for example, if you are a Buddhist but believe that moving to Australia will bring you greater happiness—then all your choices are likely to be wrong. This idea is fundamentally at odds with the Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha never said that any place in this world offers true happiness. Wherever you are, people face the same loneliness, regret, separation from loved ones, enmity, and the inability to build trust. No one escapes the suffering of the five aggregates blazing fiercely. This is what the Buddha actually taught.

Therefore, in order to make the right choices, one must first possess genuine right view. Only at the moment of choice do your true values reveal themselves. Even if you appear to have right view on the surface, it may be fake—this superficial right view holds no sway when a real decision needs to be made.

Sometimes I say that being born in China is an enormous blessing, because you may have inherited the profound influence of Confucianism. This makes it easier to accept the Dharma, as many aspects of the two are compatible. Those raised in such a culture are more likely to make wise decisions when the time comes. But if you were raised in a culture dominated by Voltaire, Kim Kardashian, and Anna Wintour—one shaped by Abrahamic religions and rampant individualism—then truly accepting the Dharma becomes much more difficult. These systems are, in essence, fundamentally opposed to Buddhism.

For most Chinese people, Confucian teachings can serve as the best foundation for Buddhism. If you genuinely uphold Confucian principles, they can often guide you toward the right choices—and these choices will determine your destiny.

Written by Lingshan Hermit, April 2025. First published on May 8, 2025.

灵山居士：什么才是对你生命最好的安排

过去有一段时间，我经常能够听到有人说：一切都是最好的安排。听上去他们对于发生在自己身上的事很能接受，默认这些都是某些高阶生命的安排，而最终的目的则是让他们走向更好的方向。作为佛教修行者，我对这样的话相当存疑。如果一切都是最好的安排？那么是谁在安排你呢？依照佛法，我们的命运完全是自己所造就的，你一手安排了自己所有的苦难和幸福，安排了自己之后的路，你现在做出的每一个选择都在组成你之后的命运，而你会如何做选择则取决于你真实的价值观和性格——所谓的性格也就是你遇到事情的习惯性反应。——所以，你所遭遇的一切其实都是自己往昔选择的结果，并非神灵或他人的安排。说一切都是最好的安排，听上去像是有个类似于造物主的人在引导你安排你，似乎他在引导你走向正途。而你则一直在被关照。这不是事实。这听上去更像是一种隐晦的自欺和自我满足，这种自欺因为藏身于��法之下，所以相当不容易被识别。因为这种隐晦的高阶自欺，你很容易把自己误判为具有使命的人，认为一切都是来自高阶生命的安排。我见过很多深陷这种自欺的人，他们会把所有事情都解释为来自上师的加持或安排。但很明显的是，很多事情并非别人的加持而只是他们自己业力的展现。而且即遍是佛，也无法安排你的命运，他们最多只能在某个特殊的时候轻轻推你一把。把一切都解释为加持或安排通常只能加重你的臆想症。很多修行者有这种臆想症。而这种臆想症最终可能导致严重苦果。

作为无明众生，我们一直都是在被自己的业力推动着被迫接受各种现实，都必须亲自领尝自己各种选择所造成的结果。对于大多数人而言，如果他们相信了这样的话，相信了一切都是最好的安排，在某些时候，在周围经济环境尚好的时候，你可能会沉浸在这种自欺之中。但是现在世界正在变得越来越不受控，每天都在发生着超乎你想象的事，当你因川普的激进政策而失去一切的时候，你还能微笑着告诉自己一切都是最好的安排吗？有很大的可能你会迁怒于佛法，会质问为何会发生这样的事情，不是“一切都是最好的安排”吗？怎么会有这种安排？你的“一切”指的是好事或是很轻微的可承受的坏事，并不包括超出这个级别的黑天鹅事件。当事件给你带来沉重的打击，这种自欺的话就丧失了力量，最终它会毁掉你的一切——包括你自以为信仰的佛法。但其实这种似是而非的话并非佛法，但它会以佛法的面目出现，并带来极为不佳的后果。我还听过一句话：凡事磨你，皆为渡你。先说好，这句话完全不适合没有老师也没有正见的普通人。他只适合祖师级的人物或极少数真正的修行人。也就是说，它和大多数人无关。因为大多数人并没有把遭遇苦难看成是自己业力选择结果的习惯。（即便是在修行者中，能真正这么认为的也不多。）他们不会把倒霉事归罪于自己的业力。他们会认为这是别人带给他的。所以他们不会因此而反思或是改变自己的行为。对普通人而言，大多数磨你的事只会消耗掉你对这个世界的热情、耐心和善意，让你变的憎恨世界，变的更加自封、更会伪装、更加心硬。绝不会导致你升华，绝不会增加你对众生的悲悯。因为他们从未受过这方面的训练，不具备利用苦修行的能力。所以，让普通人听到并相信这样的话无异于把滚水浇到婴儿的头上。

从佛法的角度来说，你的生命不是任何人给你安排的，它是你自己一点一点安排的。假如你有正见，你就能在每件事上做出正确的反应和抉择，能在每件事上都有正确的态度，这对你未来的生命走向有着决定性的意义。你的每一个选择都是对你未来的安排。但是如果你没有正见，（譬如你��一个佛教徒但你却认为跑到澳洲生活会更加幸福。这种观念基本上完全违背佛陀的教诲。佛陀从未说过这个世界上有任何真正的安乐之处。所有地方的人类其实都差不多，都要面对孤独、懊悔、爱离别以及怨憎会，都会为无法建立信任而苦恼，也都躲不过五阴炽盛之苦。这才是佛陀的教诲。）你所有的选择都将是错的。所以，要做出正确的选择，先要具备真正的正见。因为只有在做选择的时候你最真实的价值观才会浮现。即使你平时看上去很有正见，但这种正见很有可能是假的，这种表面的正见在真正需要做选择的时候是完全不具备发言权的。有时候我会说，生在中国是一种巨大的幸运，因为你可能具备儒家的深刻影响，而这会让你接受佛法毫无困难。因为在很多地方它们都是相通的。在这种文化下长大的人在面临抉择的时候也更容易做出正确的选择。但如果你是生在伏尔泰、金·卡戴珊和安娜·温图尔盛行的文化里，生长在亚伯拉罕宗教和个人主义流行的社会里，其实真正接受佛法并不那么容易。基本上它们属于一种和佛法完全相反的体系。对大部分中国人而言，孔子的学说可以作为佛教最好的基础。如果你真的有孔子的理念，很多时候，它能让你做出正确的选择，从而决定你的命运。

灵山居士写于2025年4月，首发于2025年5月8日。

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lingshanhermit · 2 months ago

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Lingshan Hermit: Who Is Your True Enemy?

If someone deliberately brushes against you on a bus, you would certainly be angry. If someone cuts off half your finger, you might resent them for life, wanting to cut off their limbs in revenge. You become extremely upset with those who cause you minor harm. Yet you never get angry at the people and ideas that destroy your life across lifetimes. The reason for your lack of anger isn't because you're transcendent, but because you don't realize they are the true culprits. Most people can't see subtle causal connections—they can't perceive how others influence them, how these influences transform into their own thoughts, determine their thinking and behavior, lead them to make wrong decisions, and ultimately bring fatal disasters upon themselves. Because you cannot see these subtle interactions of cause and effect, you spend money to watch movies that will cost you your head.

In Buddhist teachings, we typically don't define enemies as external beings. Even tangible external enemies are attracted by our need to prove and protect ourselves. Buddhism holds that our values determine our behaviors. When we believe incorrect things, we cause harm to ourselves and others. Thus, our true enemies are our misconceptions about the world, and humans are merely puppets controlled by these misconceptions—their weapons, dancing to their tune.

According to Buddhism, except for the enlightened, all humans are captured by two illusions. The first illusion is believing that oneself and all phenomena truly exist. Under this illusion, we believe Charlie Chaplin, shopping receipts, and the feeling of a lover's hair against our face all truly exist. The second illusion builds upon the first: we believe that accumulating material and spiritual wealth to satisfy ourselves will bring happiness. These delusions are universal among all unenlightened humans. More broadly, these delusions aren't limited to humans but exist in all sentient beings—cats, dogs, insects, and pigs. Though animals haven't developed sophisticated theories like liberalism, they still suffer from these delusions, still crave attention and good food.

When we harbor these two universal delusions—believing in the true existence of all phenomena and that acquiring the most valuable things leads to happiness—we develop incorrect behaviors. They evolve within us into things that harm others: thoughts, speech, and actions. This is what we commonly call selfishness, stemming from misperceptions about the world. If you're less intelligent, your selfishness becomes more obvious, transparent, quickly inviting counterattacks and making you ostracized and feared. Overtly self-serving behaviors provoke disgust in everyone and lead to unfavorable consequences.

So those "smarter" people—if we can call them that—possess the same universal delusions and likewise believe that acquiring material and spiritual wealth brings happiness. Unlike less clever people, they develop unique, more deceptive self-serving methods from failed selfish actions. They excel at disguising their selfishness and pretending—appearing harmless, pretending to consider your interests, and acting as advocates for your benefit. Most people are deceived by them because of their superb acting and verbal skills, making them popular. Without understanding them, you would never know they're performing or plotting to take what's yours. Such people appear perfectly selfless and enthusiastic, yet they are the worst people in the world. When someone is full of mistaken ideas yet masters human nature, they become invincible—knowing what everyone wants, knowing how to appear selfless, knowing how to please everyone. Because they've become invulnerable, they're even more hopeless. Such people believe in nothing and no one except self-interest; though not a single word from their mouth is true, every word seems heartfelt. Everything in their life is performance, so they no longer need to perform—their every gesture is an act. Compared to the first type of less intelligent person, this type is much harder to identify. Because they appear quite excellent and know how to flatter everyone's "self," they gain substantial verbal praise and practical benefits, making them unlikely to question their own theories before consequences arrive. Whether the first type or the second, they are victims of these universal delusions, controlled by these ideas, developing either subtle or direct behaviors that harm themselves and others. No matter how skillful and far-sighted these behaviors are, they ultimately provoke strong backlash.

If someone is harming you, it's because these inner forces are at work—their greed, self-esteem, inferiority, and fear are burning for you (all these emotions based on a "self" that never existed). These things generate negative thoughts that eventually develop into behaviors that harm you. Some behaviors can be identified and forewarned. Others, well-hidden, are difficult to identify and protect against. By the time you realize it, the harm is nearly complete. Usually, we counterattack such behavior, doing our utmost to retaliate. But know this: even if you could make the person who harmed you disappear from Earth, the true culprit behind this harm would not disappear. It would be passed down generation after generation, harming humans of every era—harming you, me, them. Harming your children, your children's children, and your children's children's children. Because it exists universally within all humans. This existence predates Shakyamuni Buddha's appearance in India, predates the Tang army's encounter with the Arab Empire's forces at Talas in the sixth century, predates Kaiser Wilhelm II's blank check to the Serbians. It has existed since the dawn of civilization. Only in recent centuries has it become widely accepted. These people choose to harm you because they believe it will make them better. They believe turning your gold into theirs will make them better and stronger. It is these things that drive everyone to cause you trouble. They are your true enemies. Therefore, Buddhist practitioners don't believe eliminating external enemies resolves everything, because these universal delusions are deeply rooted in everyone's heart, making them capable of harming others at any time. So, only by eliminating these universal delusions from everyone's heart can suffering and harm be fundamentally eliminated.

But relative to others' delusions, we must first deal with the delusions in our own heart—our view that cats, belly fat, and guilt all truly exist, and the powerful habitual tendencies formed because of this. When we believe these things truly exist, we also believe that individualism and quality assets truly exist as good things, believe in the value of gold and Ohm's law. When we believe in these things—believe in the real existence of a world composed of blue skies, healthy diets, Ohm's law, news anchors, and YouTube—we easily believe the nonsense that gathering all these good things around ourselves will bring happiness, thus beginning a grave-digging journey that harms ourselves and others.

Written by Lingshan Hermit in April 2025, first published on May 7, 2025.

灵山居士：你真正的敌人是谁？

如果公交车上有人故意往你身上蹭，你一定很生气。如果有人砍掉你半个手指，你大概能记恨他一辈子，你会想要砍掉他的手脚来作为报复。对于这些对你造成小伤害的人你会非常介意。但是对那些毁掉你生生世世的人和观念你却从不生气。你不生气的原因不是因为你超脱，而是因为你不知道它们才是真正的罪魁祸首。因为大多数人都看不到细微的因缘，他们看不到别人对自己的影响，看不到这些影响是如何转变成你自己的想法，从而决定你的思维和行为，让你做出错误的决定，最终给你招来致命的灾难。因为你看不到这些细微的因缘互动，所以你才会花钱去看那些会让你丢脑袋的电影。

在佛法里，我们通常不把敌人定义为外在的生命，即便是那些真正有形的外敌也是我们为了证明自我保护自我而招来的。佛法认为我们有什么样的价值观就会有什么样的行为。当我们相信了错误的东西的时候，我们就会对自己和他人造成伤害。所以我们真正的敌人是我们��世界错误的认知，而人类，只是这些认知提线的木偶。是它们的武器。他们随着它们而起舞。

根据佛法，除了证悟者，所有的人类都被两种错觉所捕获。第一种错觉是认为自己和万法都是真实存在的，在这种错觉之下我们相信查理·卓别林、购物小票和爱人的发丝粘在脸上的感觉都是真实的存在。第二种错觉则建立在第一种错觉之上，在第一种错觉的基础上，我们相信累积物质和精神财富满足自我即可获致幸福。这些是除证悟者之外所有人类普遍的迷惑。从更广的角度来说，这种迷惑并不只存在于人类身上也同时存在于猫狗虫豕等一切会动的生命之中。动物们虽然没有发展出如自由主义般精致的惑人理论，但它们依然受制于这些迷惑，依然渴望关注和美食。当我们具有这两种普遍的迷惑，相信万法真实存在并相信获取其中最有价值的东西可导致快乐，我们就会发展出错误的行为。它们在我们身上就会发展成伤害他人的东西：那些想法、语言以及行动。这就是我们通常所谓的自私，它源于对世界的错误认知。如果你比较笨，你的自私就会表露的比较明显，会一览无余，会很快招来他人的反击，会让你被排斥被警惕。过于明显的自利行为会让所有人产生反感并招致不佳的后果。所以那些“聪明”的人——如果这能被称为聪明的话——他们同样具有这种普遍的迷惑，同样相信汲取物质精神财富可令自己幸福。和笨人不同的是，他们从失败的利己行动中发展出一套独特而更具迷惑性的利己方式，他们很善于掩饰自己的自私，善于伪装，他们会装扮的人畜无害，会假装处处为你考虑，会装成你的利益代言人。大多数人会被他们所迷惑，因为他们精湛的演技和语言技巧，他们会很受欢迎。如果对他们缺乏了解，你会完全不知道他是在表演，完全不知道他们正在图谋你的东西。这样的人看上去完美无私而又积极，却是世间最糟糕的人。当一个人心里充满错误的观念而又精通人性，他就会变得无懈可击，他知道每个人想要的是什么，知道怎么做会让自己看上去无私，知道如何让每个人满意，因为他已经变得无懈可击，所以更加无可救药。这样的人不相信任何人任何事，只相信利益；虽然他嘴里没有一句真话，但是他的每句话却都像是发自肺腑。他的生活里所有的一切都是在表演，所以他已经不需要表演，他举手投足都是表演。相较于前一种笨人，后面这种人很难识别。因为他们看起来相当优秀，又很会讨好每个人的“自我”，这为他们赢得了大量的口誉和现实利益，所以在果报到来之前他们不太可能有机会对自己理论产生怀疑。无论是前一种人还是后一种人，他们都属于这种普遍迷惑的牺牲品，他们被这些观念左右，��展出或隐秘或直接的伤害自他的行为，无论这些行为多么技巧和深谋远虑，最终都会招致强烈的反噬。

如果有人在伤害你，那是因为他内在的这些东西在作崇，他的贪婪、他的自尊、他的自卑和恐惧正在为你而燃烧（而这些情绪全都是基于一个从未存在过的“自我”）。这些东西让他生出不好的念头，而最终发展成伤害你的行为，有一些行为可以被识别和预警。而另一些隐藏的很好的行为则很难被识别并加以防护。等你发觉的时候伤害已经接近尾声。通常我们会对这种行为予以反击，会尽己所能地去报复。但要知道的是，即便你能让伤害你的人从地球上消失，这种伤害你的罪魁祸首也不会消失，它会一代一代延袭下去，伤害每个时代的人类。伤害你我他。伤害你的孩子，伤害你孩子的孩子，伤害你孩子的孩子的孩子。因为它普遍存在于一切人类之中。这种存在早于释迦牟尼佛在印度出世，早于六世纪唐军在怛罗斯城遭遇阿拉伯帝国军队，早于德皇威廉二世给塞尔维亚人开出空头支票。早在文明诞生之初，它就已存在。只是最近几个世纪它才开始被人广为接受。这些人之所以会选择伤害你，是因为他们相信这会让他们更好。他们相信把你的黄金变成他的会让他更好更强大。正是这些东西在推动着每一个人给你制造麻烦。它们才是你真正的敌人。所以，佛教修行者不会觉得消灭了外在的敌人就万事大吉，因为这种普遍的迷惑深植于每个人的心中，这让他们随时可能做出伤害他人的行为。所以，只有消灭每个人心里的这些普遍的迷惑才能从根本上消除痛苦和伤害。

但是相对于其他人的迷惑，我们首先要对付的，是自己心中的迷惑，是我们认为猫、小腹脂肪和内疚感都真实存在的观点以及因此而养成的强大习气。当我们认为这些都是真实的存在，我们也会相信个人主义和优质资产是真实存在��好东西，会相信黄金的价值和欧姆定律，当我们相信这些：相信蓝天、健康饮食、欧姆定律、新闻播报员和YouTube 所组成的世界真实存在，我们就很容易相信把这些好东西都聚拢到自己身边就会幸福这种鬼话，从而开启伤害自他的掘墓之旅。

灵山居士写于2025年4月，首发于2025年5月7日。

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lingshanhermit · 2 months ago

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Lingshan Hermit: Perfect Perfectionism Hijacked by Greed

I was once an extreme perfectionist, a trait likely inherited from my mother, who in her youth often ambitiously tried to arm-wrestle with the world. She hoped to overcome the world, to make it operate according to her wishes. As you might expect, she inevitably lost this contest and frequently fell into suffering and frustration because of it. But this never made her give up. Even today, I can still see her fighting against the operational rules of cause and effect—from the placement of dishes to whether salmon should be eaten. In her, I see my own shadow, see the influence I've received, see that I often behave the same way. I can see how I wish to present a perfect and progressive image of myself to the world, and careful observation reveals an extremely powerful "self" supporting this behind the scenes. As an extreme perfectionist, I not only demand flawless performance from myself, but I also frequently impose these standards on those around me. For these people, this may not be pleasant. I do this because I grew up in a family with extremely high expectations for both self and others, so for many years I have had little tolerance for mediocrity, little tolerance for people who don't strive to improve, and even less tolerance for someone saying, "I don't know how to do this."

After years of tug-of-war, I finally realized: what I hope for will not happen, no one will act as you wish—even if they want to, they would struggle to overcome their own habits. No matter how urgently you wish, the world remains as it is, maintaining its unhurried pace, and you can only choose to comply. Because the world will only advance at its own rhythm, it won't accelerate its pace just because you want it to. Our eagerness to achieve results usually represents a lack of understanding of cause and effect. We cannot see the operational laws of each matter, cannot see each person's past, cannot see their thoughts, cannot see their "self," cannot see how habits firmly control them, cannot see their parents, and cannot see how they became the people they are today. If you could see all these subtle causes and conditions, if you could understand how the "self" operates, you wouldn't misunderstand anything. There would be no surprise or confusion. What happens is what should happen. What shouldn't happen won't happen. There are no accidents, nor is there anything unreasonable. Understanding these things means you won't try to force them all to change. Most people wouldn't try to change a tiger's eating habits, yet they want to change the direction of other causal relationships. These are actually the same thing. Even if under certain conditions causality can be altered, this doesn't mean it can be achieved through such methods. Excessive pursuit of perfection usually indicates our lack of understanding of causality, and it can easily be hijacked by our greed. On the surface, you're pursuing excellence and perfection, but in reality, you want everything to happen according to your wishes. This is a very, very unrealistic greed. You hope to achieve your expected goals as quickly as possible, which is a classic symptom of lacking understanding of cause and effect. Basically, this is as surreal as hoping an egg will be cooked in three seconds.

The wise approach is to let everything happen in its own way and at its own pace, to let each person mature on their own. You just need to watch, and most of the time you don't need to intervene. If you want a tree to grow into a big tree, you can only wait, wait for it to absorb sunshine and rain, watch it being blown by wind and rain, wait for it to slowly stretch. Any attempt to pull at its branches and leaves won't make it grow into a big tree any faster.

For anyone, breaking through habitual patterns is not easy. They have long been accustomed to their existing habits, and the process of adapting to another habit is no less painful than peeling scabs or scraping bones. So what they need is time, space, and encouragement. You cannot expect others to become different people overnight. That's impossible. Usually, such excessive enthusiasm only leads to hypocrisy and withdrawal. Be careful, when we want to change someone in the name of Buddhism, have we considered their feelings? Do we truly want to help them? Or do we just want them to obey, because their behavior poses a potential challenge to our values, making our "self" extremely uncomfortable, so we want to correct them in order to restore what we believe the world should look like. Many times, we clothe our desire to satisfy our own greed in the guise of helping others break through their habits, and inflict violence upon them. These two are often mixed up by us. If not distinguished, it will become a parasite of our "self" and one of the sources of our hypocrisy.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on May 5, 2025, first published on May 5, 2025.

灵山居士：被贪欲劫持的完美主义

我曾经是个极端完美主义者，这个传承应该因袭自我的母亲，她年轻时就经常雄心勃勃地想要和世界掰腕子，她希望把世界压倒，希望世界能按照自己的方式运转。如你所知，她毫无悬念地输掉了这场比赛并经常因此陷入痛苦和抓狂之中。但这并未让她放弃，时至今日我仍能看见她与因缘的运行规则作战——从碟子的摆放位置到是不是应该吃鲑鱼。我在她身上能看到我自己的影子，看到我自己所受到的影响，看到我自己也是经常如此。我能看到自己很希望展示给世人一个完美而又上进的自己，仔细观察就能知道这背后有一个极端强大的“自我”在支撑。作为极端的完美主义者，我不但要求自己完美无懈，我还经常会把这些标准强加给身边的人。对这些人而言，这可能并不美妙。我会这么做是因为我生长在一个对自他都要求极高的家庭里，因此很多年来我一直都不太能容忍平庸，不太能容忍有人不上进，更加不能容忍有人说：“这个东西我不会。”

经过多年的拉锯战，我终于醒悟到：我所希望的不会发生，没有人会按你希望的样子行事——即使他想，他也很难打得赢自身的习气。——无论你的希望多么迫切，世界依然如故，依然是不紧不慢的节奏，而你只能选择顺从。因为世界只会按它自己的节奏前进，不会因为你希望它加速就加快步伐。而我们急于达成结果的心态，通常代表着我们对于因缘果理解的缺位，我们看不到每件事的运行规律，看不到每个人的过去，看不到他们的想法，看不到他们的“自我”，看不到习气是如何牢牢把控他们，看不到他的父母更看不到他们是如何才变成今天这样的人。如果你能看到所有的细微因缘，能了解“自我”是如何运作的，你就不会看不懂任何事。不会有惊奇和不解。发生的都是该发生的。不该发生的就不会发生。没有意外，也没有不合理。了解这些你就不会尝试想要把它们都掰过来。大多数人不会想要去改变老虎的饮食习惯，但他们却想要改变其他因缘的走向。这其实都是同样的事。即使在某种条件下因缘可以被改变，但这也不意味着以这样的方式能达成。过度追求完美通常意味着我们对因缘了解的匮乏，而且它很容易被我们的贪婪所劫持。表面上看你是在追求卓越追求完美，其实你是想让每件事都按你希望的方式发生。这是非常非常不切现实的贪念。你希望能尽快达成你所预期的目标，这是对因缘果缺乏了解的经典症候。基本上这就像是你希望鸡蛋三秒钟就被煮熟一样超现实。

聪明的做法是让每件事都按他自己的方式和节奏发生，让每个人自己成熟，你只需看着，大部分时间你无需介入。如果你想让一棵树长成大树，你只有等待，等着它吸收阳光、雨水，看着它被风吹雨淋，等着它慢慢伸展，任何拉扯枝叶之举都不可能让它更快地长成一棵大树。

对任何人而言，突破习气都不是容易的事，他们早已习惯了现有的习气，再去习惯另一种习惯的过程无异于揭痂刮骨之痛。所以他们需要的是时间、空间和鼓励。你不能期待别人一夜之间就变成另一个人。那是不可能的。通常这种过度热情只会导致虚伪和封闭。诸位要小心，当我们以佛法之名想要改变一个人的时候，我们考虑过他的感受吗？我们是真的想要帮他吗？还是只是想让他听话，因为他的行为构成了对我们价值观的潜在挑战，让我们的“自我”极度不爽，所以我们想要借纠正他之名摆正自己认为世界该有的样子。很多时候，我们会把自己的满足贪欲之举裏上帮助别人突破习气的皮囊而对他人施以暴力。这二者经常被我们混杂在一起。假如不加区分，它就会成为我们“自我”的寄生所、成为我们的虚伪的源头之一。

灵山居士写于2025年5月5日，首发于2025年5月5日。

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lingshanhermit · 2 months ago

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Lingshan Hermit: What is the Source of All Human Struggles and Defensive Battles?

Some say that the world outside Christendom has not established true civilization. I think they have probably equated the term "civilization" with the Western way of life—a lifestyle with fish and chips, lawn mowers, and office computers. They believe that only societies that have invented credit cards, 3D printers, GPS, and so-called modern lifestyles are civilized and modern. Meanwhile, the profound civilizations of India and China, with thousands of years of history, are considered worthless because India and China never developed McDonald's-style restaurants or discovered microbes and bacteria. But I find it rather astonishing that their perception is so dull that they've never noticed how their cherished civilization has never truly alleviated any human problems. Perhaps this isn't dullness but rather their servility toward people with blonde hair. From my observation, the civilization and progress led by the West over these past centuries has never solved any problems. It has merely made human competition and sin more concealed, more artistic, and more difficult for ordinary people to perceive. It shifts our focus to peripheral issues, causing us to miss opportunities to solve fundamental problems. It makes us believe that happiness will come as promised if we just possess enough things.

If you have profound insight, you'll know that today's Westerners are not essentially different from the 15th and 16th century Spanish and British who sailed around seeking gold. But because of Hollywood and the BBC, most people mistakenly believe they already live in a world without the survival of the fittest, without "legal plunderers." Before the Ukraine war broke out, many people thought the world could be reasoned with, mistakenly believing that what the Ottoman Empire did to Armenians during World War I would never appear in the world again. I very much want to believe they are right.

Since the Renaissance, Christian civilization has been dedicated to establishing various forms of beauty in the world, committed to lightening our burdens—from the initial electric iron, typewriter, and light bulb to personal computers, aircraft engines, hair removers, and fully automatic intelligent washing machines. Their public rhetoric is that these things can help free up household labor and make you more relaxed. (They certainly won't say that selling these things makes them immensely profitable, captures your life, and forces you to pay various fixed fees every month, otherwise you'll be kicked out of the normal social system.) In a sense, these things can allow you to avoid doing things personally. But have we become more relaxed because of them? Although Western society has never stopped technological innovation, humans have not become more relaxed or happier—not even those at the top of the pyramid—because it's impossible. We cannot become happier by owning a pile of machines. No matter how many powerful computer chips, Prozac, public libraries, and Jensen Huang exist, they cannot make humanity happier because these things cannot bring happiness to humans. Just as your itchy leg cannot be solved by wearing earrings. Most of the time, powerful computing, developed highways, and quick shopping methods only breed more greed; they only serve greater avarice, making you easier to plunder and making plunder more civilized and impossible to resist.

Because human problems stem from the never-satisfied "self," and from the mutual crushing and competition generated by this never-satisfied "self." So the more you possess, the more dangerous and unsatisfied you become. According to the naive Western idea, you should be happier the more you have. But this is clearly not true. Although billions of people worldwide deeply believe this statement, no one can prove it. To possess more, sometimes you must cut off someone else's fingers, and then, have your fingers cut off by others. Although artificial intelligence may end certain diseases, giving you the illusion that happiness is within reach, as long as humanity still has greed, new problems, new demands, and new troubles will always be manufactured.

The ancient sages of India and China never expected that liberalism, urban drainage systems, or engines would make humanity more carefree and relaxed, so they never made efforts in these areas. They don't care how many butterfly species exist worldwide, how to clear arterial blockages, or about individual rights and environmental protection. Because these belong to unimportant or very unimportant matters. They have little or no relation to the root of our suffering; they are not the fundamental cause of our pain. At most, they can only be considered one of the conditions, and not even a condition that determines the fundamental outcome. So Eastern sages didn't spend their energy on how to build urban drainage systems, how to attack cities, or how to design systems that prevent power from infringing upon us. They cared about how to thoroughly sweep away our ignorance, how to understand that things have never had any real existence, to understand that a truck is actually welded and piled together from over 30,000 parts so the truck has never existed, to understand that our body, like a truck, has no essence; to understand that there has never been blue and yellow, never been shirts and shoes, never been far and near; to understand that time and space are just your illusions, to understand that one plus one has never equaled two, to understand that all of this originates from human assumptions and creations. This is solving our problems fundamentally, because only when we consider all phenomena as truly existing will subsequent greed arise. When we have greed, competition arises, and then you will inevitably join various competitive battles or defensive battles. This competitive defensive battle has never stopped since humanity existed, whether you are willing or not, all of us are involved in it. In the foreseeable future, it will not stop. Whether you are working, starting a business, or doing nothing and lying at home, as long as you are still breathing, you will inevitably be drawn in. And the Western lifestyle and concept of happiness are undoubtedly the best catalysts for this kind of competitive battle.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on May 4, 2025, first published on May 4, 2025.

灵山居士：人类所有争夺保卫战的源头是？

有人说，基督教世界之外的世界并未建立起真正的文明。我想他们大概是把文明一词等同于西方的生活方式了——等同于有炸鱼薯条、割草机和办公电脑的生活方式。他们认为发明了信用卡3D打印机全球定位系统和所谓的现代生活方式的社会才是文明的和现代的。而印度和中国数千年的深邃文明则是毫无价值。因为印度和中国既没有出现麦当劳式的餐厅也没有发现微生物和细菌。但他们的观察力居然迟钝到从未注意到他们所钟意这种文明其实从未真正��解过人类的任何问题还是很让我有些诧异。但也许这并非迟钝而只是他们对黄头发人的奴性使然。就我的观察，这几百年西方所引导的文明和进步并未解决过任何问题。它只是把人类的争夺和罪恶变得更加隐蔽更加艺术和更加不容易被普通人察觉而已。把我们的问题重点转移到末节上而让我们错失了解决根本问题的机会。让我们以为只要拥有的够多幸福就会如约而至。如果你有深刻的洞察力，就会知道今天的西方人和十五十六世纪开着船到处寻找黄金的西班牙人英国人并无本质上的差别。但是因为有好莱坞和B B C的存在大多数人会误以为自己已经活在一个没有弱肉强食、没有“合法掠夺者”的世界里了。在乌克兰战争打响之前，很多人以为世界是可以讲道理的，误以为奥斯曼帝国在一战期间对亚美尼亚人所做的事情再也不会出现于世。我很想相信他们是对的。

从文艺复兴时期开始，基督教文明就致力于在世间建立各种美好，致力于给我们减负，从最初的电熨斗打字机电灯泡到个人电脑飞机引擎脱毛仪全自动智能洗衣机，他们公开的说辞是这些东西可以帮你释放家庭劳动力让你变得更轻松。（他们当然不会说贩卖这些会让他们赚的盆满钵满会绑架你的人生会让你不得不每月支付各种固定费用否则就会被踢出正常社会体系之外。）从某种意义上来说这些东西的存在是可以让你不用亲自上手。但是我们因此变得更轻松了吗？虽然西方社会一直没有停止过科技创新，但人类并没有更轻松更幸福——即便是那些金字塔尖的人也没有。——因为这是不可能的，我们不可能因为拥有一大堆机器而变得更幸福。无论有多少算力强大的芯片、百忧解、公立图书馆和黄仁勋，也无法让人类变得更幸福。因为这些并不能带给人类幸福。就像是你的腿痒不可能通过戴耳钉解决一样。大部分时候，强大的算力、发达的高速公路迅捷的购物方式只是催生了更多的贪欲，它们只是在为更大的贪婪服务，让你更容易被掠夺、让掠夺变的更加文明和无法反抗而已。因为人类的问题来自于永不满足的“自我”，来自于因为永不满足的“自我”而且产生的互相倾轧和争夺。所以当你拥有的越多的时候反而会越危险越不满足。根据西方人的幼稚想法，你应该是拥有的越多越幸福。但这显然不是事实。虽然全球数十亿人都深信这种说法，但却无人能证明。为了拥有更多，有时候你必须去切掉别人的手指，然后，再被别人切掉手指。虽然人工智能可能会终结某些疾病，让你产生幸福在望的错觉。但只要人类还有贪欲，就永远会有新的问题新的需求新的麻烦被制造出来。

印度和中国的古圣贤从一开始就没期待过自由主义、城市排水系统或是发动机之类的东西能让人类变得更省心和更放松，所以他们从未在这方面努过力，他们不关心全世界存在着多少种类的蝴蝶，不关心如何清理血管淤堵，不关心个人权利和环境保护。因为这些都属于不重要或是非常不重要的事。它们和我们痛苦的根源关系不大或是毫无关联，导致我们痛苦的根本原因不是它们，它们最多只能算是其中一个因缘，而且是不能决定根本的因缘。所以东方的圣贤们没把精力花在如何建造城市排水系统如何攻城或是设计防止权力侵害到我们的制度上，他们关心的是如何彻底扫尽我们的无明，如何了解事物从未有过任何真实的存在，了解一辆卡车其实是三万多个零件焊接堆砌而成所以卡车从未存在过，了解我们的身体其实和卡车一样毫无本质；了解从未有过蓝色和黄色、从未有过上衣和鞋子，从未有过远和近；了解时间和空间只是你的幻觉，了解一加一从来不等于二，了解这所有的一切都是源于人类的假设和创造。这是在从根本上解决我们的问题，因为只有当我们认为万法是真实的存在然后才会有尾随其后的贪欲产生。当我们有了贪欲，就会产生争夺，然后你就会不得不加入各种争夺战或是防御战。这种争夺防御战从有人类以来就没停止过，无论你愿意与否，我们所有人都卷入其中。在可预见的未来它也不会停止。无论你是上班还是创业还是什么都不干躺在家里只要你还在呼吸都不可避免会被卷入。而西方的生活方式和幸福理念则无疑是这种争夺战的最佳催化剂。

灵山居士写于2025年5月4日，首发于2025年5月4日。

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lingshanhermit · 2 months ago

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Lingshan Hermit: Making Mistakes Is a Rare Moment When Your True Values Are Exposed

In interactions with teachers, many people fear making mistakes. They fear errors and problems not because they think mistakes are inherently bad, but because they fear losing face, being criticized, or being seen as selfish. So they act with extreme caution, striving for correctness, hoping no flaws will be pointed out, hoping to avoid criticism. This is truly foolish. It's like a fish trying to show it has no fishy smell or a lion pretending it doesn't bite.

You want to appear perfectly aligned with Buddhist teachings, you want to appear flawless in every way. Even if you could maintain such appearances, that wouldn't be the authentic you. If that were your true state, you wouldn't need to practice at all. This is serious self-deception compounded by deceiving others. This is the "ego" observing its surroundings and gradually adjusting itself into what it thinks the teacher would appreciate. It believes this is how a good student should be. It's how everyone would prefer you to be. For this, it will pretend to be selfless. This is the "ego's" most common approach—the "ego" attempts to establish good relationships with everyone around, and Buddhist teachers are no exception. Positive interactions with others allow the "ego" to feel dignity and obtain what it needs. So when meeting a Buddhist teacher, it does the same thing: quickly adjusting itself to appear as the perfect disciple (unaware that a truly good disciple's state is based on non-self or a less dominant "ego" culture, not the obedient "ego" persona fabricated by someone raised in a strong "ego" culture). It feels this is the safest approach. But regardless, mistakes will still occur because the "ego" cannot remain vigilant 24 hours a day—there are always moments of laxity and times when one is unaware of making mistakes. They don't realize that their true state has been partially revealed—like a foot peeking out from beneath a curtain—their authentic values manifest in these moments. Most practitioners don't know that making mistakes is incredibly precious, because mistakes are rare moments when your true values are exposed. Your authentic values and selfishness are usually well-disguised; normally, it's difficult to see them or access this layer. Only when you let your guard down, when your "ego's" protective mechanisms completely relax, does it have the chance to emerge and be captured. But typically, at this moment, you're busy proving you haven't made a mistake, busy responding to the "siege" on your "ego." You want to prove you're not as the teacher described, or that this is entirely someone else's problem. This is a very disrespectful thought because it implies you believe the teacher doesn't understand you. Believing he doesn't understand you is a terrifying thought that will gradually grow into a monstrous demon that consumes you. It also means you have no sincerity in your practice. The fundamental purpose of your great effort to come practice is to identify your own problems and correct them one by one. But now that problems have emerged, you refuse to acknowledge them.

Truly intelligent students don't behave this way. They use these opportunities to examine their authentic state, to examine the incorrect behavioral patterns stemming from wrong thinking patterns nurtured by mistaken values, to examine what they thought they had established but is actually just an elaborate performance by the "ego." Because the source of all ordinary people's actions is to prove and protect the "ego," no matter how selfless we appear, selfishness remains our fundamental nature. Although our basic nature is selfish, we pretend to be selfless and want to prove our selflessness. This desire to prove our selflessness is itself the greatest selfishness—the highest level of self-deception. But because our fundamental nature is selfishness, you will make mistakes, as you continue to use thinking patterns based on the "ego's" real existence rather than non-self, and the root of your mistakes is the external conflict between your "ego"-based thinking patterns and the teacher's non-self thinking patterns. So even if you've learned some superficial aspects of non-self, even if you can pretend to be a good student and win most people's approval, you'll still make mistakes from time to time. Because your state is fabricated—your true state remains selfish. You still believe that you, the ceiling fan spinning above, and Billie Eilish's songs all truly exist. So even if you can consistently act as if others come first and appear very selfless, because your fundamental nature remains selfish and you still believe all phenomena are real, your habits formed on the basis of the "ego's" real existence will occasionally reveal themselves. This is completely different from behavioral patterns arising from thinking patterns truly based on non-self. The latter is an authentic expression of non-self (or minimal self), while the former is a poor imitation of the latter.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on May 3, 2025, first published on May 3, 2025.

灵山居士：犯错是你真实价值观罕有的曝光时刻

在和老师的互动中，很多人会害怕犯错，他们害怕犯错害怕出问题，这不是因为他们觉得犯错不好，而是因为他们怕丢面子，怕被说，怕被认为是自私的人。所以他们小心翼翼做事，力求正确，希望不会被挑出毛病，希望不会挨说。这实在是愚不可及。这就像是一条鱼想要表现自己没有腥味或是狮虎假装自己不会咬人一样。

你想表现的处处都符合佛法，想表现的处处都完美。即便你能表现出来，那也不是真实的你。如果那是你真实的状态，你就无需修行了。这是严重的自欺加欺人。这是“自我”在观察了周遭的环境之后，把自己慢慢调整成它觉得老师会喜欢的样子。他觉得这是好学生的样子。是每个人都会喜欢的样子。为此它会假装无私。这是“自我”最常见的做法，“自我”会尝试和周围所有人都建立起良好的关系，即便是佛法老师也不例外。和他人的良好互动能让“自我”感觉到尊严，收获它所需之物。所以，当他遇到佛法老师时也会如此，他会迅速把自己调整成完美弟子的样子（他不知道，真正的好弟子的状态是基于无我或是比较不强势的“自我”文化，而不是在强势“自我”文化下长大伪装出来的假装听话的“自我”。）。他觉得这样最安全。但是无论如何，他还是会犯错，因为“自我”不可能24小时都保持警觉，总有懈怠的时候，也总有他意识不到自己正在犯错的时候。他们意识不到自己真实的状态露出了一点——窗帘下的一只脚。——他们的真实价值观会在这个时候表现出来。大部分修行者都不知道，犯错是极为珍贵之时，因为犯错是你真实价值观罕有的曝光时刻，你真实的价值观和自私通常都被你掩饰的很好，平时你很难看到它，很难触及到这个层面。只有在你放松警惕，在你的“自我”保护机制完全松懈的时候，它才有机会跳出来被捕捉到。但是通常这个时候你都在忙于证明自己没有犯错，忙于应对对“自我”的围剿。你想要证明自己不是像老师说的那样，或是证明这完全是别人的问题。这是非常不敬的想法，因为这意味着你认为老师不了解你。你认为他不了解你，这是非常可怕的想法，它会慢慢成长为巨大的怪兽魔鬼把你吞噬。同时这也意味着你毫无修行的诚意。你花了大力气跑来修行的根本目的就是要找出自己的问题，然后一一改掉。但是现在问题出现了，你却完全不打算承认。

真正聪明的学生不会这么做，他们会借此机会审视自己真实的状态，审视自己错误的价值观所养大的错误的思维模式而导致的错误的行为模式，审视自己以为已经建立起来的东西其实只是“自我”的精妙表演。因为普通人所有行为的根源都是为了“自我”证明“自我”保护，所以无论我们表现得多么无私，自私还是我们的基本底色。虽然我们的底色还是自私但我们却想要假装无私，想要证明自己无私。我们想要证明自己无私这件事本身就是最大的自私。这是最高级别的自欺欺人。但是因为我们的基本底色是自私，所以你会犯错，因为你一直在沿用的思维模式还是基于“自我”真实存在而不是基于无我，而你犯错的根源则是你基于“自我”的思维模式和老师无我的思维模式外显的冲突。所以即便你学到了一些无我的表象，即便你能伪装成好学生的样子能博得大多数人的认可，你也还是会时不时犯错。因为你的状态是装出来的，你的真实状态还是自私的。你还是认为自己和天花板上旋转的吊扇以及比莉·艾利什的歌都是真实的存在。所以即便你平时能处处表现的以他人为重，看上去很无我，但是因为你的底色还是自私，你还是认为万法是真实的，所以你的基于“自我”真实存在所养成的习气还是会时不时露出马脚。这和真正基于无我而生的思维模式所产生的行为模式完全是两回事。后者是无我（或是少我）的真实流露，而前者是对后者的拙劣模仿。

灵山居士写于2025年5月3日，首发于2025年5月3日。

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lingshanhermit · 2 months ago

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Lingshan Hermit: Two Ways to Become a Better Self

There are two ways to become a better self. One is through self-deception or validation through abundant material and spiritual wealth. You deck yourself out in full regalia, pretending to possess qualities you don't have, adorning yourself with material or spiritual wealth, then attempting to feed your sense of superiority through others' reactions. This is the method commonly adopted in human society. Most people are fascinated by this approach. It's built upon self-deception, first-class cabins, six-pack abs, and public perception. Usually, it leaves you exhausted from constant effort—like an acrobat on stage who must struggle to maintain balance, feeling countless eyes watching your every move. Most people use this method to make themselves appear better.

Besides this approach, there is another way: to face your essential nature, to see yourself as you truly are, without hiding, without makeup, without distortion. If you can truly do this, you've already triumphed over ninety-nine percent of people. But most people won't choose this path. Because compared to this method, the former requires less effort and is more familiar and accessible. For the general public, the first approach offers various readily available pleasures, while the latter is filled with pain and "self" denial. You must battle against the "self," cut away the excess flesh, and in the short term, you can hardly connect it to any pleasure. Compared to "self" denial, we prefer "self" deception. Self-deception has become a necessity for many people's survival; they practice it in everything. Those who deceive themselves make no mistakes, harbor no greed, and can even interpret ordinary thunder and light as auspicious signs attracted by their spiritual practice. When someone becomes accustomed to "self" deception, they can no longer discover any of their own problems, thus fundamentally eliminating any possibility of improvement.

Most people won't choose to battle against the "self"; they'll choose to battle against others, using the spoils of war to disguise themselves. This "better self" built upon self-deception, premium tailoring, and private clubs is a facade of self-deception that many people cultivate long-term. It's not actually a "better self" but a "worse self." To maintain this "better self," you must become a "worse self." To preserve this illusion, you'll exhaust yourself, waste your entire life, become estranged from your family, and hang your enemies' corpses on telephone poles.

Buddhism believes there are two versions of our true selves. One is the relatively true you—the one full of greed, anger, delusion, arrogance, and doubt. This version of you wants everything, has various emotions and greeds, has all kinds of flaws, and sometimes even desires those whom you shouldn't desire. This version of you is covered with foul odors and abscesses that others avoid, requiring great effort to transform. You don't like this version of yourself, and you dislike it even more when others see it. You desperately try to dissociate from this self, but it remains you. Most of the time, it's concealed by your various disguises, making you mistakenly believe it's gone. You need to peel away layers of disguise and concealment to see it. If you want to become a better self, you must drag it out, expose it to sunlight, make it take a thorough bath, and squeeze clean every abscess. Relatively speaking, this is the only way to become a better you. The other version is the absolute truth, which involves no reference points, no judgments, nothing concerning the origin of the universe, donuts, Augustine, or England's moist air, and none of humankind's contrivances or decorations. It has always been there—our original state—existing before human civilization began and remaining after human civilization ends. It needs no change, no embellishment; it is already the best. So there's no need for better.

Written by Lingshan Hermit in April 2025, first published on May 1, 2025.

灵山居士：成为更好的自己的两种方式

成为更好的自己有两种方式，一种是通过自欺或是充裕的物质财富精神财富来佐证。你全身披挂，伪装自己具有各种自己所不具有的东西，用物质财富或是精神财富来装点自己，然后试图通过别人的反应来吸食优越感。这是人类社会所普遍采取的方式。大多数人都对这种方式着了迷。它建立在自欺、头等舱、六块腹肌以及大众的观感之上，通常它会让你疲于奔命，你就像是舞台上的杂技演员，必须努力维持才能保持平衡，因为你觉得有无数的人正在看着你。大多数人都是通过这种方式来让自己看起来更好。

除了这种方式之外，还有一种方式是直视自己的本质，直视你自己真实的样子，不躲避，不化妆，也不扭曲。如果你真能这么做，你已经战胜了百分之九十九的人。但是大多数人都不会选择这么做。因为相对于这种方法，前一种方法更加省力，同时也是他们更熟悉和更容易上手的方式。对社会大众而言，前者充满了各种触手可及的快乐，而后者则充满了痛苦和“自我”否定，你要和“自我”战斗，还要切掉身上多余的肉，且短期内你几乎无法把它和任何快乐挂上钩。相对于“自我”否定，我们更喜欢“自我”欺骗，自欺已然是很多人赖以维生的必需品，在任何事情上他们都会自欺。自欺的人不会犯错，不会有贪欲，连正常的雷声光线他们都能解释成是自己的修行所招来的吉兆。当一个人习惯了“自我”欺骗，他就再也无法发现自己的任何问题，所以也就从根本上断除了任何变好的可能性。

大多数人不会选择和“自我”作战，他们会选择和别人作战，会用作战所得的各种战利品来伪装自己。这种建立在自欺、顶级剪裁和私人俱乐部上的“更好的自己”是很多人长期经营的一种自欺欺人的假象，它其实并不是“更好的自己”，而是“更坏的自己”。为了维持这个“更好的自己”你必须变成“更坏的自己”。为了维护这个假象你会疲于奔命，会耗尽一生，会和自己的家人形同陌路，会把敌人的尸体挂在电线杆上。

佛教认为，我们真实的样子有两种，一个是相对真实的你——那个具足贪嗔痴慢疑的你。这样的你什么都想要，你有各种情绪和贪婪，有各种毛病，有时候你甚至会对不该产生欲望的人产生欲望。这样的你全身上下都是别人避之不及的恶臭和脓包，需要花大力气才能改造。你不喜欢这样的你，更不喜欢别人看到这样的你，你极力和这样的你撇清关系，但他还是你，只是大多数时候他被你的各种伪装遮盖住了，让你误以为他已经不在了。你需要剥开层层伪装和遮挡才能看到他，如果你想成为更好的自己，就要把他揪出来，让他暴露在阳光之下，让他去洗澡洗洗干净，把每一个脓包都挤干净。相对上，这是成为更好的你的唯一的方法。还有一种则是绝对的真实，它不涉及任何参考点，不涉及判断，不涉及宇宙起源、甜甜圈、奥古斯丁或是英格兰的湿润空气，不涉及人类的任何造作和装饰，它一直都在，是我们本来的样子，从人类文明开始之前它就在，人类文明结束之后它还在。它无需改变，无需修饰，本来就是最好的。所以无需更好。

灵山居士写于2025年4月，首发于2025年5月1日。

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lingshanhermit · 2 months ago

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Lingshan Hermit: The Myth of Sisyphus and the West's Happiness Spell

Though it is sad to say, the fact is: most Buddhists do not believe the Buddha's teachings. They do not believe they will die, do not believe their current sufferings are caused by their past actions, do not believe there is no comfort in samsara, do not believe the world's defects cannot be fixed, do not believe they might be reborn as a bird or a rat in the neighborhood sewers in their next life. Although they don't believe these things, they do believe that obtaining certain dharma teachings will lead to enlightenment, believe that making offerings to the Yellow Wealth God will bring them great fortune, believe the American way of life is the most advanced, and believe that as long as they don't affect others, everyone has the right to live as they please. Even though all American TV protagonists from John Dutton to Walter White tell them that living according to American ideals cannot possibly lead to happiness, they still choose to believe. Because not everyone has sufficient merit to understand.

I once met a Buddhist couple who deeply believed they had both the ability and obligation to prevent their child from suffering. To this end, they spent enormous time and energy earning money and arranging immigration, hoping to provide their child with the best environment and education. They believed this would help them avoid suffering. Essentially, their thinking was no different from non-practitioners. If your ideas and concepts are completely identical to those of ordinary people, claiming to believe in the Buddha's teachings becomes quite suspicious.

In modern society, we are all indoctrinated with many irrational ideas. We all believe self-satisfaction is the path to happiness. We all fantasize that once we reach a certain goal, happiness will arrive as promised. This is the greatest superstition among the ideas the Western society has instilled in us over hundreds of years. Because most people lack confidence, they superstitiously believe everything promoted by the West. They believe in judicial systems and electoral processes, in individualism and gender equality, in lawyers and psychologists, in six-pack abs, decentralization and trauma recovery, believing that once a certain goal is achieved, happiness will follow as promised. But clearly, they haven't gotten what they wished for.

Although they may relatively possess more rights and freedoms, although they were born in places you might wish to immigrate to, I haven't seen them achieve happiness. They, like us, are trapped in the various trivialities of samsara. They experience anxiety, self-doubt, the need to prove themselves, worries about increasing bills, seeing the mangled remains of their pet cat devoured by coyotes, being infuriated by their daughter's revealing outfits—they face no fewer troubles than we do. Westerners follow this Western path of happiness to its end, open the door, only to find nothing beyond. The myth of Sisyphus is their happiness spell they can never escape.

Generally speaking, by observing a person's behavior, you can see what their true inner values are. Because our actions don't lie. Our choices don't lie. They tell you many things.

I have always believed that if you truly understand that both yourself and all sentient beings are trapped in samsara, if you truly understand what samsara is, then your life is left with only two things: liberating yourself, and liberating all sentient beings. If you understand the relative reality of this world, know what kind of world you're in, know what you're facing, you don't need others to teach you—you will naturally seek a solution. It's like being thrown into a crocodile pool—no one needs to explain how terrifying it is, you'll swim to shore faster than anyone else. If you're not running, it's because you haven't realized it's a crocodile pool, haven't noticed the dozen hungry Nile crocodiles around you ready to have you for breakfast. Because you don't believe the Buddha's description of samsara, you have no fear of it. If you were certain of the Buddha's descriptions of relative reality, you wouldn't want to stay in the crocodile pool for even one more second.

Usually, what we call spiritual practice, at its most superficial level, is about conforming to relative reality, accepting the relative world as it is. You must accept the world's irreparability, accept your own selfishness and hypocrisy, accept human selfishness and foolishness, accept everyone's true nature, accept that the world cannot operate according to your rhythm, accept that nothing happens without cause.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche says: "If you believe in cause and effect, nothing will be confusing." If you still think "How could he be like this?" or "Why is it like this?", you are actually questioning cause and effect, expressing that things shouldn't be this way. This indicates you don't believe in cause and effect. The ignorance and arrogance revealed by such thinking is astonishing, because it implies you think you can see all causes and conditions—if you cannot see all causes and conditions, how can you determine how things should or shouldn't be? It is precisely because most practitioners don't believe in cause and effect, don't believe what the Buddha taught—their true thoughts are the opposite of the Buddha's teachings—that they try to find gold teeth in a lion's mouth, want to sleep hugging a brown bear, attempt to fix samsara, and believe all problems will disappear if they just move somewhere else.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on April 12, 2025, first published on April 14, 2025.

灵山居士：西西弗斯神话与西方的幸福魔咒

虽然这么说很悲哀，但事实是：大多数佛教徒都不相信佛的教言。他们不相信自己会死，不相信自己现在正在遭遇的是自己的过去的作为造成的，不相信轮回中没有安乐，不相信世界的缺憾无法修复，不相信自己下一世可能转生为飞鸟或是小区下水道里的一只老鼠。虽然他们不相信这些，但是他们却会相信只要得到某个法就能证悟成佛，相信供奉黄财神能让自己发大财，相信美国人的生活方式是最先进的相信只要没影响到别人每个人都有权利按照自己喜欢的方式生活。虽然从约翰·达顿到绝命毒师所有的美剧主角都在告诉他们按照美国的理念生活绝无可能幸福，但是他们依然选择相信。因为不是所有人都有足够的福德去领悟。我见过一对佛教徒夫妇，他们深信自己有能力和义务让自己的孩子不受苦。为此他们花了很多时间和精力去挣钱，去办理移民，他们希望给孩子最好的环境和最好的教育。他们认为这样做就能避开苦。基本上，他们的想法和那些不修行的人毫无差异。如果你的想法观念和大部分普通人完全一样，宣称自己相信佛法就相当可疑。在现代社会，我们都被灌输了很多毫无道理的理念，我们都认为满足自我是幸福之途。我们都幻想着只要达到某个目标，幸福就会如约而至。这是西方社会数百年里所灌输给我们的理念里最大的迷信。因为大多数人都很自卑，所以他们会迷信西方所宣传的一切。他们会相信司法体系选举制度，会相信个人主义性别平等，相信律师和心理医生，相信六块腹肌、去中心化和创伤复原，相信只要达到某个目标，幸福就会如约而至。但是显然，他们并未如愿以偿。虽然相对上他们可能拥有更多的权利和自由，虽然他们一出娘胎就生活在你希望移民的地方，但我并未看到他们得到了幸福，他们和我们一样受困于轮回中的各种琐事，他们会焦虑，会自我怀疑，会想要证明自己，会为了日益增加的账单而犯愁，会看到自己家猫被郊狼啃噬的不成样子的遗骸，会被女儿的清凉装扮气疯，我们所要面对的麻烦事他们一样也不少。西方人沿着这条西式幸福之路走到尽头打开门却发现门外一无所有，西西弗斯神话就是他们永远无法摆脱的幸福魔咒。

一般来说，观察一个人的行为就能看出他内心真实的价值观是什么样的。因为我们的行为不会说谎。我们的选择也不会说谎。它会告诉你很多东西。

我一直认为，假如你真的了解了自己和一切众生都在轮回，真正了解了什么是轮回，那么你的生命就只剩下这两件事：让自己解脱。还有就是：让所有众生都解脱。如果你了解了这个世界的相对实相，知道自己身处什么样的世界，知道自己要面对的是什么，不需要别人教你，你自己就会去寻找解决之道。就像是如果有人把你丢进鳄鱼池，不需要有人给你开示鳄鱼池有多可怕，你也会以最快的速度游到岸边，你会游的比谁都快。假如你没跑，那是因为你没发现那是鳄鱼池，没发现周围有十几条饥肠辘辘准备拿你当早餐的尼罗鳄。因为不相信佛关于轮回的描述，所以你才会对轮回毫无惧怕。如果你确信佛关于相对实相的种种描述，你绝不会想要在鳄鱼池里多待一秒。

通常我们所谓的修道，在最浅的层面上就是要服膺相对实相，接受相对世界本来的样子。你必须接受世界的不可修复，必须接受自己的自私和伪善，接受人类的自私愚蠢，接受每个人真实的样子，接受世界不可能按你的节奏运行，接受没有事情会无缘无故发生。

宗萨钦则仁波切说：“如果你相信因果，就不会有想不通的事。”如果你还会觉得“他怎么会这样？”“为什么会这样？”，你其实就是在质疑因缘果，你是在表达他其实不该是这样。这表示你不相信因缘果。这种想法所透露出的无知和狂妄让人惊叹，因为这意味着你觉得自己能看到所有的因缘，如果你不能看到所有的因缘你又如何能断定他该不该这样？正是因为大多数修行者都不相信因果，不相信佛所说的——他们的真实想法和佛所教的正好相反，——所以他们才会尝试在狮子嘴里找金牙，才会想要抱着棕熊睡觉，才会想要修复轮回，才会觉得如果换一个地方所有的问题都会消失。

灵山居士写于2025年4月12日，首发于2025年4月14日。

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lingshanhermit · 3 months ago

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Lingshan Hermit: Are You Relying on Vajradhara or Money-dhara?

In Tibet, every long-established Buddhist lineage has its own refuge field. The refuge field encompasses the images of all masters from the Dharmakaya Buddha to the Sambhogakaya Buddha to the human lineage holders, all the way to the most recent patriarch. On thangkas depicting the refuge field, you can see these lineage masters with calm gazes and elegant demeanors arranged according to their historical distance, appearing either far or near on the thangka. You can also see noble beings of both Mahayana and Hinayana traditions, as well as various deities and protectors. Some refuge fields have Guru Padmasambhava at the center, while others feature the deep blue Vajradhara. As lineage disciples, we prostrate to the refuge field, regarding them as our ultimate source of protection and support.

Although we prostrate to them daily, pray to them, and recite their prayers, do we truly believe in them? Do we truly believe they can protect us and solve all our problems? Do we truly believe they possess extraordinary powers? I have my doubts about this. From my observations, many people I've met haven't truly taken refuge in the Buddha, Guru Rinpoche, or Vimalamitra. Instead, they've taken refuge in dollars, power, and modern technology. Every day, they contemplate how to earn more money or which new Sichuan restaurant has opened, rather than how to attain enlightenment quickly. When they encounter problems, their first reaction is never to pray to their guru; instead, they think about checking Xiaohongshu (Red Book) for solutions or finding someone who can help. Perhaps only as a last resort would they think to seek help from their guru or the Three Jewels. This is their genuine and natural reaction, indicating what they truly believe in—money, power, and modern technology. So if they were honest with themselves, they should replace Guru Rinpoche at the center of their refuge field with dollars and a MacBook Pro, and replace Vajradhara with "Money-dhara."

Your behavior is an extension of your true values. Where you spend most of your time shows what you consider most important. Whom you first think to seek when you encounter problems indicates whom you consider most capable and reliable. And what you consider most important and powerful reveals your true values and merit. If you truly believe that those smiling buddhas, bodhisattvas, and lineage masters in the thangka are extraordinarily powerful, you would certainly think of them first when facing difficulties. If you don't believe they are powerful, don't believe they are the most powerful in the entire universe, don't believe they are incomparable, then the quality of your prayers and refuge is highly questionable.

But don't misunderstand me as criticizing this phenomenon. I have no such intention. Your perception is determined by your merit; what kind of perception you have depends on the abundance of your merit. Criticism cannot increase your merit, much less change your perception. Changing perception is a lengthy process. It requires long-term guru-disciple interaction and the confluence of various causes and conditions. I never fantasize that someone will immediately change their mind after reading my article. Between us lies a vast ocean of merit; for most people, even understanding is unlikely, let alone transformation.

Moreover, living in modern society, you must acknowledge the importance of money. If you want to attend an empowerment ceremony in Nepal, you need money for airfare and hotels. You need to pay monthly rent to your landlord, buy dresses, hairpins, toner, and electric toothbrushes for your girlfriend, give some to your parents, and make offerings. All these require money. Most people's merit is only sufficient to see the benefits money brings but not enough to see its harm. So don't pretend you don't love money; don't pretend money isn't important to you. Especially don't pretend you now love Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal more. If you believe money or power is more important, it's because your understanding of samsara is still superficial, your merit is still insufficient, you don't comprehend how powerful these lineage masters are, and you don't know that only they can truly help you. That's why you think this way. This is your authentic perception at this stage. You need not feel ashamed of this, nor should you pretend otherwise.

Only when you have accumulated sufficient merit, when your life experience is rich enough, when you begin to slowly understand samsara, when you begin to understand that everyone is suffering, that everyone is hiding their pain and pretending to be happy, that behind everyone's glamorous appearance are countless anxieties gnawing at them—only when you have seen enough people's lives, seen them build tall buildings, host grand banquets, seen their buildings collapse, seen their efforts to pursue happiness fail one by one, seen them ultimately gain nothing—will you develop greater trust and reliance on the noble beings in the refuge field. Only then will you know that money, power, or Novartis Pharmaceuticals cannot solve your problems; in fact, they only bring more problems. Most people who believe money can solve problems are those who don't have much money. So they mistakenly think these problems will disappear once they have money. But this is merely their wishful fantasy.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on September 26, 2024. First published on April 1, 2025.

灵山居士：你依止的是金刚总持还是金钱总持

在西藏，每一个历史悠久的佛法传承都有自己的皈依境，皈依境囊括了从法身佛到报身佛到人间祖师一直到最近的那位祖师的形象。在绘有皈依境的唐卡上，你能看到这些眼神淡然举止优雅的传承祖师们按照年代的久远程度或远或近地逐一呈现在唐卡上，你还能看到大小乘的圣者，以及各种本尊和各种护法神。有些皈依境的中间是莲花生大士，有些则是深蓝色的金刚总持。作为传承弟子，我们会向皈依境做礼拜，以他们为我们最终的依止护佑处。

虽然我们每天都在礼拜他们，都在向他们祈祷，都在念诵他们的祈祷文，但我们真的相信他们吗？真的相信他们能保护我们能解决我们的所有问题吗？我们真的相信他们具有超强的能力？对此我很怀疑。我见过的很多人，从我对他们的观察来看，他们真正皈依的不是佛陀不是莲师、不是无垢友，他们皈依的是美元权力和现代科技产品，他们每天在琢磨的是怎么挣更多的钱哪里新开了个川菜馆而不是如何尽快成佛。假如他们遇到事情，他们的第一个反应也绝不是祈祷上师，他们想的是上小红书看看有没有解决办法，或是有没有认识的人可以帮助解决。可能到最后他们才会想到还可以向上师三宝求助。这是他们真实而自然的反应，这表示他们真正相信的是这些——是金钱权力和现代科技。所以如果他们对自己诚实的话，他们其实应该把皈依境中间的莲师换成美元和MacBook Pro，把金刚总持换成金钱总持。

你的行为是你真实价值观的延伸，你在什么地方花的时间最多，就表示你觉的什么东西最重要。你遇到事情第一个想到要找谁解决，表示在你的眼里这个人的能力最强最可靠。而你觉的最重要最厉害的东西，则展示了你真实的价值观和福德。如果你真觉得唐卡里那些微笑的佛菩萨祖师超级厉害，你遇到事情肯定会第一个想到他们。假如你不觉得他们很厉害，不觉得他们是全宇宙最厉害的，不觉得他们无与伦比，那么你的祈祷和皈依质量就非常堪忧。

但是不要误以为我是在批判这种现象。我完全没有这种意图。你的认知是由你的福德决定的，你有什么样的认知取决于你的福德多寡，而批判并不能使你的福德增长，更加不可能改变你的认知。改变认知是个漫长的过程。需要长期的师徒互动需要各种因缘具足才可能发生。我从来不幻想有人看了我的文章就能马上改变想法。我们之间隔着巨大的福德海，对大多数人而言，看懂都不太可能，更何况是改变。

而且生在现代社会，你必须承认金钱的重要性。如果你要去尼泊尔参加灌顶法会，你需要钱买机票住旅店，你要每月要缴钱给房东，要给女朋友买裙子发卡爽肤水和电动牙刷，要给父母一些，还要去做供养。这些都需要钱。大部分人的福德都只够让他们看到金钱所带来的好处而不够让他们看到它的坏处。所以不要假装自己不爱钱，不要假装钱对你不重要。更不要假装自己现在更爱莲师和依西措嘉。你认为钱或是权力更重要，那是因为你对轮回的认识还很粗浅，你的功德还很不够，你不了解这些传承祖师有多大能耐，也不知道真正能帮你的只有他们。所以你才会这么认为。这是你现阶段的真实认知。你完全无需为此惭愧。更加不必假装自己不是这样。

只有当你累积的功德足够多的时候，你的人生经验也足够丰富，你开始慢慢了解轮回，开始了解到每一个人都在受苦，了解到每一个人都在隐藏自己的痛苦假装快乐，了解每个人风光的背后都有无数的烦恼噬咬，只有在你看了足够多的人的人生，看到他们起高楼、看到他们宴宾客、看到他们楼塌了，看到他们追逐快乐的努力逐一失败，看到他们最终一无所获，你才会对皈依境里的圣众生起更大的信任和依止心，才会知道金钱、权力或是诺华制药解决不了你的问题，事实上它们只会带来更多的问题。大多数相信钱能解决问题的人都是没什么钱的人。所以他们误以为只要有钱这些问题就会消失。但这只是他们一厢情愿的幻想。

灵山居士写于2024年9月26日。首发于2025年4月0日。

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lingshanhermit · 3 months ago

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Lingshan Hermit: Benefiting Sentient Beings and How Sentient Beings Can Be Benefited

Typically, only omniscient Buddhas truly know how to benefit sentient beings. They know every being's thoughts and capacities, what issues they wish to address and what past experiences they prefer not to mention, all their secrets and habits, what troubles them or what brings them joy. Someone like me can only gradually understand what kind of person someone is and what kind of teaching they need through personal contact and observation.

Generally speaking, if you want to study the Dharma, you must first have some foundation. Just as when two parties wish to converse, they must share a basic foundation for dialogue—both sides must have a comparable level of understanding for the discussion to proceed. Beyond this, both parties must also possess sincerity. If you attempt to discuss Federal Reserve interest rate cuts or federal government layoffs in the United States with the Maasai people of Africa, you'll find the conversation cannot continue because they don't understand what you're talking about. They don't know what a nation is, what an economy is, have never used a vending machine, and certainly don't know what Federal Reserve interest rate cuts are—they lack these basic concepts. In their world, people only know how to snatch food from lions' mouths and how to perform the Adumu dance. So if you want to discuss these matters with them, you must first learn their language (or have them learn yours), then start from American national history all the way to the private nature of the Federal Reserve—you need to spend considerable time educating them.

The same applies to the Dharma. If the other person doesn't understand even the basic terminology and concepts, discussion becomes extremely difficult. They don't know what the "Bodhicaryavatara" is, don't know who Milarepa is, don't understand renunciation, and certainly don't know about Mazu Daoyi. Therefore, to accommodate sentient beings, many bodhisattvas lower themselves to the other's level of understanding, learn their language, and communicate using familiar terminology and references. But even then, thresholds still exist because this involves two people, not just one. The effort of only one party is entirely insufficient.

Most of the time, I assume my readers have some knowledge of the Dharma, but this assumption doesn't always work—assumptions are just assumptions—because it's not only such people who see my writings. Sometimes my articles are seen by those who have no concept of the Dharma at all. I need to clarify that my writing is completely unsuitable for those with no concept of the Dharma; you need to have profound practice and experience of the Dharma, and be very intelligent to understand what I'm saying. This isn't arrogance but fact. I haven't failed to consider the needs of those who know nothing about the Dharma or what they need to hear, but currently my focus isn't in this area. Perhaps later I will dedicate some time to addressing their needs, but not yet. So, if you want to learn the Dharma, you must first do a lot of preparatory work. Otherwise, you certainly won't understand what I'm saying.

Beyond this, you must also possess great sincerity. Although I used words like "discussion" earlier, this doesn't mean you actually qualify to discuss with those who teach you the Dharma. In the past twenty-plus years, the prevalence of the internet has led to various wrong views running rampant, depriving many people of basic devotion and a proper learning attitude. The demon king makes you feel clever, makes you feel you understand everything, makes you feel qualified to discuss and judge everything. These things are destroying your foundation for learning the Dharma. They cause many people to not know how to position themselves correctly.

So you can see many people who appear to be learning but aren't actually learning at all, many people who are "self-studying" the Dharma, many complete outsiders discussing the Dharma. Ordinary people discussing the Dharma seems to me like watching Marilyn Monroe lecture on quantum mechanics. If someone can critique a field they know nothing about, it shows they understand neither themselves nor the Dharma—it shows their self-positioning is completely misaligned. This also means they will be misaligned in other matters, which usually means they can only reap failure in everything they do.

The Dharma is the most difficult thing to understand in the world. Even if you spend fifty years studying it, whether you truly understand it remains questionable. So if you think you can casually discuss the Dharma, or believe you can learn the Dharma by reading a few books, you're actually making a tremendous mistake. Judging the Dharma is far more dangerous than subduing a grizzly bear with your bare hands, because in fighting a bear, you'll only be torn apart once.

Beyond this, the devil has instilled in you a false sense of equality, which is disastrous for most practitioners (because most practitioners cannot discern that so-called equality only exists in ultimate truth; in conventional truth, the Buddha never taught that everyone is equal). Because of this misunderstanding of equality, many people don't position themselves as students who need guidance. They feel they can stand as equals with their teachers, resulting in their inability to learn anything or receive any blessings. Because they lack the necessary sincerity and the preparation to humble and empty themselves, they can never find their correct position. Many people may join others in prostrations, but they have never conquered their arrogance. In their subconscious, they feel the other person's knowledge is similar to their own, at most only slightly higher. So they don't feel inferior or in need of help. This leads them to always view Dharma teachers with scrutinizing and judgmental eyes, ultimately gaining nothing.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on April 8, 2025, first published on April 9, 2025.

灵山居士：利益众生以及众生应该如何才能被利益到

通常，只有遍知的佛才真正知道如何利益众生，他们知道每一个众生的想法和根器，知道他们希望被注意的点以及不想被提及的过往，知道他们所有的秘密和癖好，知道他们正在为什么事情犯愁或是正在为什么事情而心花怒放。像我这样的人，通常只能通过接触和观察才能慢慢知道对方是什么样的人，需要什么样的教法。

一般而言，如果你要学习佛法，必须先要具备一些基础。就像是如果双方想要对话，就必须要有对话基础一样——双方的文明程度必须对等或是差不太多才能让讨论进行下去。——除此之外，双方还必须要具有诚意。如果你尝试去和非洲的马赛人讨论美联储降息或是米国联邦政府的裁员风暴，你会发现无法进行下去，因为你说的东西他都不知道，他不知道什么是国家，不知道什么是经济，没用过自动售货机，更加不知道什么是美联储降息，他缺乏这些基本理念。在他的世界里，人们只知道如何从狮子嘴里抢食如何跳阿穆达舞。所以你如果你要和他讨论这件事，就必须先学习他的语言（或是让他学习你的语言），然后从美国国家历史谈起、一直到美联储的私人性质、你需要耗费大量的时间给他普及。在佛法上也是如此。如果对方连那些基本名词概念都不懂，讨论就会变得异常艰难。对方不知道什么是《入菩萨行论》，不知道谁是米勒日巴不知道出离心，更不知道马祖道一。所以，为了迎合众生，很多菩萨会把自己降低到对方的认知去和对方对话，会去学习对方的语言，会用对方熟悉的语言和典故去沟通。但是即便是如此，也依然存在门槛。因为这是两个人的事而不是一个人的事。只有一方努力是完全不够的。大多数时候，我会假设我的读者是具有一定佛法知识的人，但是这种假设并非时时都能奏效——假设毕竟是假设。——因为并不是只有这样的人才能看到我的文章。有时候我的文章会被那些对佛法全无概念的人看到。在此我需要说明的是，它完全不适合那些对佛法全无概念的人，你需要对佛法有很深刻的修持和体验、还要很聪明才能看懂我在说什么。这不是傲慢而是事实。我并非没有考虑过那些对佛法一窍不通的人们的需求、没考虑过他们需要听什么，但是目前我的重点并不在这个领域。也许以后我会拿出一部分时间来兼顾他们的需求。但是至少现在还没有。所以，如果你想要学习佛法，就必须先去做很多准备工作。否则你肯定看不懂我在说什么。除此之外，你还要具有极大的诚意。虽然在前面我用了“讨论”这样的词，但这不表示你真的有资格和教你佛法的人讨论。最近这二十多年，因为互联网的风行而导致各种邪见大行其道，很多人被剥夺了基本的虔诚和学习态度。魔王会让你觉得自己很聪明，会让你觉得自己什么都懂，让你觉得自己有资格谈论和评判一切。这些东西正在摧毁你学习佛法的基础。它让很多人不知道该如何摆正自己的位置。所以你能看到很多人貌似在学习其实根本没在学，能看到很多人在自学佛法，能看到很多完全外行的人谈论佛法。普通人谈论佛法对我而言就像是看玛丽莲梦露讲量子力学一样。如果一个人能对自己完全不了解的领域评头论足，这表示他既不了解自己也不了解佛法，表示他对自己的定位完全错位。这同时也意味着他在其他事务上也将会完全错位，通常这意味着所有的事情他都只能收获失败。佛法是世界上最最难懂的东西，即便你花上五十年时间去学习最后能否学懂尚且还要存疑，所以，如果你认为自己可以随意谈论佛法、认为自己看几本书就能学到佛法，你其实是在犯一个极大的错误，评判佛法比你徒手制服棕熊还要危险的多。因为和棕熊干仗你最多只会被撕碎一次。除此之外，魔鬼还给你灌输了错误的平等意识，对��多数修行者而言，这都是灾难性的，（因为大部分修行者分不清楚所谓平等只有在胜义谛才存在，在世俗谛上，佛从未讲过大家是平等的。）因为错误地理解了平等，所以很多人并不把自己当成是需要被教导的人，他们觉得自己可以和老师平起平坐的人，这样做的后果是他们什么也学不到。也得不到任何加持。因为他们缺乏必要的诚意，缺乏把自己放低放空的准备，所以他们始终无法找到自己正确的位置。很多人虽然也会随众礼拜，但是他们其实从未降服自己的傲慢。在潜意识里，他们觉得对方知道的和自己差不多，最多只是略高一点点。所以他们��不觉得自己比他差或是需要他的帮助。这让他们始终带着审视和评判的眼光去看待佛法老师，而导致最终全无所得。

灵山居士写于2025年4月8日，首发于2025年4月9日。

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