Remember the classic line from the movie "Nezha"? Today I am not talking about Nezha, but a book--"The Four Precepts of Fan".
The first contact with the book "The Four Precepts of Fan" was learned many years ago through a friend in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, because of the business contacts at work, he came to meet with me every time, in addition to talking about equipment, occasionally talked about philosophy, Buddhism and so on. Once he gave me a portable copy of the Four Precepts of The Mortals, the content is simple and easy to understand, and I feel very deeply after reading it. The author of the "Four Precepts of Fan", Yuan Yifan, whose real name is Yuan Huang, the character Kunyi, is a native of Wujiang County, Jiangsu Province, who was a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, who once did Baodi Zhi County, knew astronomical geography, knew the current politics and military, was academically profound, and had profound achievements.
The Four Precepts of The Four Teachings are four independent articles written by Mr. Yuan At different times in his life, namely "The Study of Establishing Destiny", "The Law of Reform", "The Formula of Accumulating Goodness" and "The Effect of Humility". Because of the multiplication of righteousness and reasoning, the descendants organized the four articles and published them together into a book to show future generations.
Over the past four hundred years, this family motto has been widely circulated and has had a great impact, especially the Shuxiang Mendi House is revered as an "heirloom", and it has also had a profound impact on some political and business circles. The famous minister Zeng Guofan listed this book as the first book of life wisdom that his children and nephews must read; the Japanese businessman Kazuo Inamori studied its essence deeply after reading it in his early years and used it as a life guide; the contemporary high monk Jingkong Master came into contact with Buddhism at the age of twenty-six, and the first book he read was also the "Four Precepts of The Four Precepts", and he strongly advocated reading this book all his life.
What are the Four Precepts? A brief overview is as follows:
1. The Study of Destiny. Destiny is by me, and blessings are asked for by myself. Speaking of this, it reminds me of Nezha's classic line "My life is up to me"! Just as Master Yungu once said to Mr. Yuan Yifan, "Fate is not actually certain, it is all determined by oneself; the same is true of blessings, which must be obtained by oneself." If you do good, you will naturally be blessed; if you do evil yourself, you will naturally be blessed." Sir listened carefully to the teachings, always reflected on himself, and finally found that the fate of people is indeed not fixed, a person must always maintain introspection, do good, benefit, and strive to cultivate their own virtue, will reverse their own life, the so-called fate of my life by me.
2. The law of change. If you want to be blessed and far away from evil, you must first change it without doing good. What does that mean? It is especially important to refer to the transformation of a person's life. To this end, Mr. Yuan Yifan suggested that we should have three hearts - shame, awe, and courage. Simple understanding: shame means that we should not indulge too much in pleasure; reverence is to warn us not to do bad things with the gods on our heads; to be brave means to correct them in time after we have made mistakes, and not to shrink back.
3. The recipe for good. Simply put, it is to do good deeds and accumulate merit. What is good deeds? It's about doing things that benefit others. If the purpose of doing things is for the sake of the country and the people of the world, then although the good deeds done are small, the merit will be great; if not, it is only for their own interests, then even if there are many good deeds, the merit will be small.
4. The effect of humility. The text says that whoever heaven wants to develop a person must first enlighten his wisdom, and this wisdom will become full and the arrogance becomes convergent. The effect of humility admonishes people to always be gentle with others, to have good thoughts, to do good deeds, and to have a good fate and blessings to come, so that people's fate will change.
The Four Precepts of The Book is the condensation of Mr. Yuan's lifelong moral learning, and although the chapters in the book are small, they combine philosophy and Buddhism, with wisdom and truth as the guide, and are rich and profound in connotation. As an educational classic of life-building and self-cultivation, the author uses his own personal experience to tell the fundamentals of life-building, and teaches us how to transform our destiny and achieve our hearts. It is a book that is well worth reading.
Light up the praise and encourage it with friends!