"Tao Te Ching": There are things mixed, born of heaven and earth, lonely, independent and not changed, circumspect without dying, can be the mother of the world, I do not know its name. The word is known as the Tao, and the name of the strong is great. The great is gone, the passing is far away, and the far is reversed. Therefore the way is great, the heavens are great, the earth is great, and the king is great. There are four great realms, and the king is one.
In his interpretation of the "Tao," Lao Tzu used the words "great, passing, far, and anti", and emphasized the use of "great" to describe it. If you understand one "big" word, the rest of the words will be solved.
What is big?
"Big", "one" plus a "person" word. In a glyph sense, a person is "small." Our earth is a grain of sand in the entire galaxy, in the cosmic space; a person's position in the universe is even smaller. Originally, the word "one" plus a word "person" was called "small", but it was called "big". This is first of all the unity of philosophy's opposites, the small is not the same, that is, the big is the small. This leads us to think about the question: Why is a person called "big"? The Ten Thousand Laws of Heaven and Earth are a true person, that is, a Tao or a thought. All the laws are returned to the sect. To what sect? To "one," to "one person," to "one thought."
Look at the word "person" again, and on the left is a stroke, and on the right is a pinch. That is to say, a person is made up of two people. The man on the left is a dummy and can be seen; the man on the right is a real person and cannot be seen. It is composed of two people, true and false, not one, not one, not two, not two. Simply look at this "big" word to make these articles.
Let's explore this "big" word from the aspects of time, space, quantity, existence and non-existence.
First, in terms of time. We often talk about a year long, a short day, a year big and a small day, is this not the concept? This is from the perspective of length. But think about it, starting from now, looking back at the past, there is no beginning, the past is no quantity; and then starting from now, looking to the future, there is no end. The past is endless, the future is endless. No matter how infinite, no matter how endless, it is still this thing, this is the present thought. The present thought is "small", the immeasurable future, the immeasurable past is "large". The immeasurable past, the future, and the present are one thing, and this is called "big"—that is, big is small, called "big." Understanding this truth, the amount of heart is large. This is in terms of the length of time.
In physics, straight lines are not the same as line segments. Straight lines are infinite, called "long." Take an arbitrary point on a straight line, and this becomes "short". This point taken arbitrarily cannot be separated from the straight line, and the infinitely long straight line and the current point are one thing, called length and shortness.
Second, spatially speaking. Everyone who has been to Tiananmen Square knows, is Tiananmen Big or our heads big? Our heads can now think of Tiananmen Square, which is the mustard wrapped in the void, the void wrapped in mustard. Spatially speaking, size is a thing.
Third, in terms of quantity. Modern science, animal cloning, a drop of monkey blood in which one cell makes a monkey. A monkey has immeasurable cells, and immeasurable cells can make immeasurable monkeys. Any monkey in the immeasurable monkey can make an immeasurable monkey. So the immeasurable "many" and the finite "one" are one thing. Monkeys are like this, and are people like this? We alone are immeasurable people at the moment. We live in a common delusion, and the common delusion limits our knowledge of truth. The inquiry of truth is to make our minds slowly change from coarse to thin, from the outside to the inside.
Fourth, in terms of existence and non-existence. Yes, how much can be said; none, not even less, how can it be small? Isn't it strange? But if we think about it, is nothing really nothing? It can't even take one out, it's empty. For example, if the eye sees the palm, can the heart see the fist? Although the heart can see the fist, can you show it to others when you are holding it? Some people say, why not? Doesn't it become a fist? You're just sophistry. When a fist becomes a palm, the fist is phaseless; when the palm becomes a fist, the palm is phaseless. Being and not being are always such opposites and unity.
Above we look at the meaning of "big" from four perspectives in daily life. Who can understand this "big" word, can believe it, and liberate it now! This is the power of enlightenment —no cultivation and no evidence, understanding that the truth is liberated in the present moment. Why relief? Our hearts are big.
Size, quantity, presence or absence are all one thing, one. If you don't understand this truth, you will dissolve this "me". After dissolving the "I", this mind becomes like a balloon, does it fly up or down? (Fly up.) If you don't understand this truth and insist that I am me, that's my father, that's my grandson, it's always me me... What I became an official, how much money I had, this is my house, my property, me me me me... Is the mind getting smaller and tighter? The tighter it is, the firmer the ball, like the mud ball, the iron ball, the steel ball, etc., can not fly upwards; even the golden ball, I am the king, I am the president... I'm a golden globe, and I'm still going to fall. No matter how high the status, as long as your heart is real, you fall down. It's called wanting to fall in love.
According to the thinking of ordinary people, it is believed that if you want to make a fortune of ten thousand yuan, it is very difficult to become a group leader, a squad leader, a village chief, and a township chief, let alone become a Buddha. That's harder than ascending to heaven. Wrong! The more truth, the simpler it is! Everything depends on wisdom. When talking about Dafa without cultivation and no certificate, we must understand that this is the golden mouth jade speech of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and the golden mouth jade words of the ancestors. Even the Confucian Wang Yangming also said that everything under the heavens can be modest, but only "understand the truth, the current inner saint and the outer king", can not be modest. This flesh ball is very special when I am a king; my heart is the heart of a Buddha and a bodhisattva, and I am liberated! - Don't be modest in this matter, don't have to practice or prove it, and understand this truth and you will be liberated.
Some people think that to become a Buddha, you must cultivate inside, make your mind very tight, and like mud balls, iron balls, steel balls, and copper balls, you can't fly upwards. Even if the Golden Ball, according to the Buddha, "Forgetting bodhichitta and practicing all the good Dharmas is a demonic karma," and if you do all the good things in heaven and the world, you will not be able to become a Buddha, and you will not be able to live or die. Why? You do so many good deeds, you are a golden ball, but the golden ball is still solid after all, not hollow. You have cultivated your mind smaller, darkened, and tightened, so it is difficult to live and die, and you can't even live and die.
And the righteous Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism and Confucianism are saying that the heavens and the earth and the ten thousand laws are all me, Zhuangzi said: Heaven and earth and I are the same root, all things are one; the Buddhists say: the same body of great compassion; Confucianism said: the world is one; Dong Zhongshu said: Heaven and man are one. Understand this principle, empty the heart, like a plastic skin balloon, plastic skin is not valuable, but it can fly to the sky, and so precious golden ball can not fly to the sky, because the golden ball is too attached to itself. Therefore, we should study the way of heaven and earth, synthesize the various schools of thought, and have a clear understanding. It is very difficult for us to turn this concept now, and many people will doubt, misunderstand, and even satirize when they hear this, but the truth is like this, it has nothing to do with whether it is believed or not, who knows the truth, who is the embodiment of the truth; who does not know the truth, is the embodiment of the truth, but they do not know, it is a pity and sad! Just like the allusion of the beggar's beads: a beggar, not knowing that he has a ruyi orb, can change all things, but he carries the jewel and begs everywhere!