Neo-Confucianism: Excerpts from Enlightenment

Note: The times are different, the previous unspeakable, after the accumulation and intention of generation after generation, can also be said one or two.

　　Enlightenment is the intuitive ability of man to recognize the wholeness of things and the feelings of the time, people and the environment, subjects and objects, time and space... The special state of integration is the unity of human initiative and action.

It is the harmonious rhythm of human life activities that is projected onto related things, forming a unique mentality of "resonance" and internal and external integration--it is the wonder, beauty, happiness, and enjoyment that naturally appear in the subject world when it is "confirmed、...... The feeling of circumstances.

At that moment, the life force is fully stimulated, and the inner self is revealed in reality. The way and process of knowing this is called enlightenment (note: it is not the same as what is said in daily times as "enlightenment" and "enlightenment", which belong to the category of mental activity, and are not the same!). ) can be summarized in four types:

　　First, the enlightenment of ordinary people's peak experience. Maslow, the founder of humanistic psychology, has conducted an in-depth investigation of this, and has a detailed account of its performance characteristics, and here are some excerpts:

This experience may be an overriding feeling of awe that arises instantaneously, or it may be an extremely strong sense of happiness that is fleeting, or even ecstatic, drunk, joyful, and perhaps most importantly, it is claimed that in this kind of experience, he feels that he has glimpsed the ultimate truth (press: this is not true, he does not know what the ultimate truth is!). ), The Nature of Things and the Mysteries of Life" (Exploration of Existential Psychology)

　　The formation of this kind of enlightenment is a combination of good habits and good character, and in the structure of consciousness, the rhythm of the formation of the special driving force of accumulation is projected into the result of the "resonance" of the things in question, which is the natural reaction of the wholeness of normal life, not the sublimated state.

　　Second, the understanding of the holistic cognition of the structure of knowledge. There is the understanding of the knowledge that has been learned (such as Zhu Xi's "Old Neutralization Theory"), the understanding of unknown things, literature and art, and artistic creation (that is, the so-called inspiration), which Xiong Shili calls "divine understanding", also known as "enlightenment".

　　The content of such enlightenment is not the cognition of one's own life activities, but the systematic integration of knowledge, and the conclusion of the former can change with the accumulation of knowledge (such as Zhu Xi's change of view of "neutralization" and the continuous change of the annotations to the "Four Books", that is).

　　Third, in the course of practicing the exercises, we should realize the overall state of our own essence (form), qi, and god. Such as the self-initiation of the exercise of the inner qi machine of the impulsive physical state of the recognition; the practice of neijiaquan to "internal strength", tai chi to "understanding the strength"... The realization and feeling of practicing Taoist gong before the weather apparition.

Huang Yuanji said: "As for the true Yang launch, there is a great opportunity to rely on, and it is said that the characters of heaven and earth do not know who is who, that is, the five senses and hundreds of skeletons are here and vigorous, running inside and outside, trance like clouds and mist, sitting in the void, the so-called forgetting is, but forgetting can not do its best." I don't know where this qi came from, but I feel that the heavens and the earth are big, and the sun and the moon are not enough to imitate its weight... This is a real sight. ”

He also said: "From the silence of immobility, glancing back at the light, I suddenly saw that its greatness was nothing outside, its smallness was nothing inside, it was infallible, and it was enlarged to enlarge the image of Hongtong... Trance seems to be visible, and it seems to be invisible, which is the image of the true oneness. ”

　Fourth, the understanding of the ontological cognition of the mind. This is the use of mind-body cognition, "returning" the special feelings of knowing one's own body, and the former sages have the metaphor of "like a pearl glowing, and the light still illuminating itself".

Its realm has the characteristics of "illusory spiritual enlightenment", "silence and comfort", "vertical through the three worlds, across the ten directions", "can be one", "body use as one". This enlightenment is the enlightenment of Confucian self-cultivation, and it is also the enlightenment of the Buddha's clear mind.

　　This kind of enlightenment is the cognition and feeling of the body, sex, image, and use of consciousness, and the harmonious state, and in previous works, the sublimation of the four stages and eight levels of cultivation after enlightenment has been described in detail.

　　The first two of these four types of enlightenment are spontaneous and sudden manifestations of natural accumulation rather than pursuit, and are occasional opportunities that can be encountered but not sought. The latter two are practiced diligently according to the Law of Reason, and are presented in the state of "intentional or unintentional", and there is an ancient precept of "if you want to seek it, you will be imaged, and if you do not want to ask for it, you will fail".

　　The feelings of the four realizations are not different at the level of wholeness, but the characteristics of the whole of their respective time and space are different: not only the difference in depth and breadth, but also the difference between nature and self-consciousness... And it has its own advantages in life... Its content is broad and profound, and it is beyond the scope of this book.

——Excerpt from "Traditional Self-Cultivation Law"