Chapter 4 The birth and death of the five aggregates are like the accumulation and dissipation of acacia clouds (02)

The younger brother moved to a new house, which is at the foot of Wufeng Mountain in Xindian.Sometimes I say to see my younger brother, but I actually want to go to Wufeng Mountain more.Wufeng Mountain in May, looking a little bit of starry white.Ah, that's tung tree!Climbing up the stairs, the pure white tung flowers fall like snow, or like celestial maidens scattered flowers, slipping down from the skirt one after another, and as soon as you stretch out your hand, the snowflakes are in the palm of your hand. At the beginning of June, I asked my sister to enjoy the flowers together.Unexpectedly, the night before, there was a night of wind and rain.I thought of the tung tree flowers on the mountain, "How many do you know when the wind and rain come at night?" Sure enough, when I went up the mountain at dusk the next day, I saw the remaining flowers on the mountain path, and all the tung tree trees withered overnight.

I was a little bit lost, and reluctantly lowered my head to look for flowers, but saw that the small platform on the top of the mountain was covered with small yellow petals, and a faint fragrance wafted by the wind.When I looked up, the acacia tree was full of spherical flower clusters! The tender yellow of the trees is so radiant that one forgets the missing white tung flowers.I squatted down and picked up the broken petals of the Acacia flower. Countless small flowers gathered into small balls, and countless small ball-shaped flower clusters gathered into a sea of ​​flowers. I remembered the "five aggregates" that the Buddha said.

Yun means accumulation.The Buddha believes that all living beings are formed by the accumulation of five major elements such as form, feeling, thinking, action, and consciousness. Among them, the color aggregate refers to matter; the receiving aggregate refers to the inner feeling when facing the state; The concept established by the external environment; the aggregate of action refers to the deliberation and decision of the mind, and actions such as moving and speaking; the aggregate of consciousness is consciousness, which indicates the function of recognition.All beings are made up of the five aggregates.

People's birth, old age, sickness and death are in the natural changes of the five aggregates, and they have no autonomy at all.Among them, there are endless joys and sorrows, and endless human stories. "Five aggregates flaming suffering" is one of the eight sufferings. Excessive expansion of any aggregate of form, feeling, thought, formation, and consciousness will make the body and mind restless.And in the final analysis, the source of all the sufferings of sentient beings is the beings themselves, the aggregation of the five aggregates. Saying: "Seeing that the five aggregates are all empty, overcome all sufferings" is to let us see clearly that the "I" formed by the five aggregates is emptiness in nature.When the five aggregates gather together, they arise, and vice versa, they perish.If you can see the emptiness of the five aggregates as it really is, you can let go of your attachments, and eventually overcome all hardships.

In the same June, we went to Lion's Head Mountain, and the distance between the mountains and the mountains was full of lovesickness flowers and clouds.Mountains, I can't tell whether they are green or yellow.When the acacia blooms on the top of the tree, countless small flower balls gather to form a sea of ​​flowers; once withered, all the small flowers are scattered on the ground, where are the flower balls and the sea of ​​flowers? Isn't this accumulation and dissipation the same as the arising and ceasing of the five aggregates?When to gather and when to leave?Only the wind knows!

(This picture is provided by Wu Xiaodan)