<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="1" ></h1>
The joy of the world is always accompanied by sorrow.
For all sentient beings in the world, most of them have become puppets dominated by the consciousness of lust, many people can not distinguish what they want and what they need, and finally in the state of upside-down dreams, they mistakenly regard selfish desires as ideals, and pursue them without hesitation.
This is the sadness of "worldly pleasures."
The most crucial problem is that when many people exhaust all their efforts to pursue worldly pleasures, they ultimately do not get what they want in these states, and what they desperately pursue ultimately brings themselves endless pain.
But when we are not aware of these states, in the end, even if we are imprisoned by our own attachment to our thoughts and enslave our hearts, we do not know ourselves, so that pain quietly penetrates into our lives and paralyzes our hearts.
There is a saying in the Tao Te Ching: If you are insulted, you are like a great affliction." What is flattery? To be spoiled is to be frightened, to be frightened, to be lost, to be insulted.
The meaning of this sentence is to say: both favored and humiliated will feel frightened and afraid, and great troubles will be as important as their own lives. For when the favored man is in the lowest position, the favor will frighten him, and the loss of favor will also frighten him.
This is the result of being enslaved by external objects while excessively pursuing external objects.
What makes you most miserable is what you care about, when we regard external gains and losses as too important, the joys and sorrows of our own lives lie in the things we value.
We care too much about these gains and losses, so whether we get them or not, these things affect our hearts, make us afraid, and cause us great pain.
When you don't get it, it's when your desires aren't satisfied, and at this time you're always worrying and worrying about the state you haven't gotten.
But what about after getting it? Even if you get it, you are afraid, always worried about losing what you get again.
In short, in order to satisfy our own desires, we are always pursuing the worldly endlessly, constantly working hard in the process, and even violating the bottom line of morality and law.
This is all because we are too attached to the price of thinking, and this is the truth of "the happiness of the world, always accompanied by sorrow".
The root of getting rid of all this is to balance our pursuit of the world with a state of transcendence, which is what Zhuangzi called the state of "blisslessness."
What we pursue does not bring us what we want, and what we really need is often in a state that we easily ignore or even reject, and those states that we desperately want to avoid are what we really want to realize.
Therefore, only the happiness that transcends the world can bring us the life we really need.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="36" >2</h1>
Zhuangzi once said: There is no happiness in the fruit! I am happy to be innocent of nothing, and the worldly place is also greatly suffering. Therefore, it is said: "There is no pleasure in the most happy, and there is no reputation in the highest reputation." ”
What does this sentence mean: Is there really happiness in the world or not? I think inaction is true happiness, but this is the most painful and troublesome thing that secular people feel. Therefore, it is said: "The greatest happiness is no happiness, and the greatest honor is the absence of honor." ”
From a secular point of view, happiness lies in getting "rich and long life" and enjoying a life of "appetite and beauty", but for most people, in the process of pursuing these lives, no matter the outcome of gain or loss, they have not tasted a hint of sweetness in this state, and what they feel is also sadness.
Therefore, Zhuangzi believes that the best state is to be happy and unhappy, not to take pleasure in worldly pleasures, to transcend the worldly pleasures, and to look down on worldly pleasures as true happiness.
That is to say, on the basis of transcending the world, jump out of the world's sorrow and joy, do not rejoice because of gain, do not grieve because of loss, and reach the highest state of life in a carefree state.
There was an old man who planted a lotus in the pond, and when the lotus was in full bloom, many people went to see it, and suddenly one day a storm smashed the lotus, and the lotus pond was a mess, and even unbearable to see.
Some people looked very sorry and kindly comforted the old man, but the old man said: "There is no regret, let alone pity, I planted lotus flowers for the pleasure of planting, fun I have already obtained, and the decline of lotus flowers is sooner or later, why should I be sentimental about it?" ”
In fact, zhuangzi's words about happiness and no happiness are also the same as the truth of planting lotuses.
What the world pursues is the happiness brought about by the "blooming lotus", but "the lotus will not bloom forever", and a person in the process of "planting lotuses" will also face many accidents that he did not expect, and whether these unexpected things appear or not, the happiness of "lotus blooming" is far less than the pain caused by "unexpected events".
So true happiness is not the pleasure of "lotus blossoming", but the joy of planting the lotus itself.
Planting lotus flowers is a pleasure, whether this pleasure is gained or not, there should be no misery because of this pleasure, whether the lotus blossoms or not, but there is happiness, whether the lotus flowers will experience wild storms or insect sludge after they bloom, do not think that it is sad, this is the happiness beyond the world.
Whether the lotus blossoms or withers is not transferred by the will of man, and the gains and losses of wealth in life are not transferred by the will of man in many cases, so why should they excessively produce sorrow and joy and increase their suffering in vain.
Let everything go with the flow, not take pleasure in worldly pleasures, and look for happiness that transcends the worldly pleasures of inaction, so that such happiness is truly flawless.
The author | Guoxue Bookstore
Taste the wisdom of Traditional Chinese Studies, feel the culture of the ancients, understand a different world, and see a different life.