Chapter 37 Part Three

This topic is difficult to write, but I have to write it, because if we want to talk about many aspects related to our own body, we must first know what is going on with our own body.This is obviously not easy.For some things, we sometimes feel that we don't want to seem to understand, but when we think about it, we are confused.The self is just such a thing, and perhaps the most prominent, to stand alongside "existence" or "being" (as opposed to "nothing").For example, I had a whim and wanted to ask, I eat, I argue with someone, and I always cling to a me, what is this "I" all about?It's just that if you don't ask, you're done. If you ask, trouble will come.From the perspective of historians, I was born from my parents, and as long as there is life, there is me.But there is also a problem. One of the important conditions for having a self is self-awareness. How long after being born can one be aware of oneself?To determine a certain moment, I am afraid that experimental psychologists will also be embarrassed, right?You can also see it with the eyes of a philosopher.Many people know that Descartes used "Cogito" to prove "I am".This is obviously useless, because Si already has me before.As a last resort, or we can only use the method of narrating the facts, after being born, the body grows, and the harvest of the sense organs gradually forms awareness (including distinguishing reality from reality and feeling pain and happiness). And then it can reflect this whole, so it is said that this whole is "I". In this way, the so-called self is just a perception system that can reflect.It is also possible not to be pedantic, but to only be recognized by common sense.Then there is no need to ask the truth, just look at the phenomenon.The phenomenon, or the fact, is that there are countless people in ancient and modern China and abroad. Each person is a whole of matter and mind.

The mysterious, or powerful, is "awareness."This mystery comes from the nature of life. The most essential difference between living things and non-living things is that living things actively require preservation, continuation, and expansion. This initiative is awareness, or slowly develops into awareness.Human awareness may be regarded as advanced. It can use itself as an object and stand opposite to observe awareness.It's like having two me sometimes, and the feelings of regret come from the sensible me thinking that the stupid me did something wrong.In fact, I feel that there is a self, and this self becomes the object. If you believe in Descartes' "Cogito" judgment, you have to admit that the awareness does not come from the object's self.In short, "I" is so mysterious.

But it also has a non-magical side. No matter how powerful a person is, it is impossible to leave "I", because the ability to think and think comes from awareness, and awareness cannot be separated from the whole that can perceive ( That is, the "I" in retrospect).Unfortunately, this perceiving whole is "born with desires". If you have desires, you have to ask for them, and you can't get them if you ask for them, so there is suffering.Suffering and "I" are inseparable. In order to get rid of suffering, some people are unable to externalize it, so they want to make decisions on "I".For example, Zhuangzi had this idea:

Nan Guozi Qi Yinji sat down, answering as if he lost his coupling (body).Yan Chengziyou (named Yan) stood in front of him and said, "Where do you live? The body can be as dry as a tree, but the heart can be ashamed? The secrets of today are not the secrets of the past?" Qi said: "Yan, why don't you just ask me if you're good? Today, I lose myself." ("Zhuangzi? The Great Master") Losing me means that the "I" is gone; but there is still an "I", I am also me, at least it is just a highly accomplished me, so it can be seen that I have not left me.Buddhists also have this kind of thinking, believing that "ego attachment" is the origin of all afflictions, so if you want to get rid of afflictions, you must break the ego attachment.How to break?It seems that we can only turn to the realization that all dharmas are empty.If so, it is again towards awareness.And awareness, obviously, can only be "I" awareness.As far as my ignorance is concerned, there is only one joke story that really loses me.The story is:

One monk committed a crime, and one person solved it. He stayed in a hotel overnight, and the monk sold wine to persuade him to get drunk, but he cut his hair and fled.The man woke up from drunkenness, went around the house to find the monk, but he couldn't find any hair when he rubbed his head, so he yelled, "The monk is lying down, but where have I gone?" This is of course a joke; as for the reality, if I have grown hair and become bald, if I have any doubts, I can only ask, where did my hair go.It can be seen that when a person is less than a hundred years old, the situation may be like Lu Sheng's dream in Handan. The outside, the environment, the inside, the body and the mind, everything is changing from time to time, only "I" seems to be the same, always following my own consciousness. Consciousness is entangled together, except for the loss of consciousness, it must never be separated, even if it is a little distance.

Therefore, we have no choice but to think about the problems of life without asking the truth, and deal with many big and small things in the world, starting from ourselves.The self, compared with the countless selves outside the body, that is, others, has similarities in species and differences in individuals.For example, a song with two legs is similar; the same song has differences in size, fat and thin, beauty and ugliness, etc., and there must be differences between individuals.This is what I say to myself, I am born to be restricted by the "mandate of heaven" and I can only accept it.The ancients called resignation as acceptance of fate, and fate refers to fate, including what is obtained from the innate and what is met from the day after tomorrow.Here we only talk about what comes from innateness, and it also includes unlimited tricks.It has to be simplified, and it is only counted as an example, which can be divided into two types: body and mind.In both aspects, there are unique advantages and disadvantages; between thick and thin, there must naturally be several levels and infinite patterns.Just say thick and thin.Personally speaking, Xiang Yu is capable of carrying a tripod, and Xi Shi has the capacity to sink a fish and a wild goose, which is a blessing; on the contrary, Liu Ling is "not enough to be a king", and he is ugly without salt, which is a blessing.The same is true for the heart. There are prodigies in the world, and there are also many mentally handicapped children.The begotten "I" should not be responsible for this difference, but has to bear it.Is it contrary to justice?Lao Tzu has long said, "Heaven and earth are not benevolent (no awareness)". We, as well as the outside environment, all come from heaven, not from justice.For example, when Qu Yuan wrote "Heavenly Questions", he vomited a little bit of depression, but in the end he still had to jump into the Miluo River.Therefore, since there is an "I", this "I" will bring about the "destiny called nature". Unfortunately, it is not thick or even very thin. Resentment is inevitable but useless. Manpower complements nature.How to make up?Obviously, there must be a lot of details, so I can only talk about a few principles.

One is "compliance".As mentioned above, when "I" comes, I cannot be responsible, but I cannot help it.To say conformity here is to ask for "knowing" that there is such a situation.Many sages in ancient and modern China and abroad have attached great importance to such knowledge.Thinking deeply, what I want is to understand, from the outside, the vast world, introspection, and what is going on in the square inch.Some people clearly express this feeling, such as Confucius said "fear the destiny of heaven", Spinoza said that the highest virtue of man is to know heaven, and so on.Know the nature and then you can know the destiny.Knowing fate, in my understanding, can include three meanings.On the one hand, it is an extrapolation, let’s limit it to living things. You must know that not only close neighbors, such as Wu Lun and passers-by Zhang San Li Si, but also distant neighbors, chickens, dogs, mosquitoes, and even single-celled organisms, are all under the same destiny. The so-called "people and my fellow citizens have nothing to share", saying that they are pitiful is equally pitiful.Another aspect is Zhizhi; it means to be content with the limitations of one's own ability, specifically to accept the destiny without trying to understand why it is. The "Book of Rites? The Doctrine of the Mean" dealt with this in this way. After it said "the destiny is called nature", it then did not ask "what is the destiny of heaven", but said "the willfulness is called the way", which means that life is called nature. So, reverse, powerless, and maybe big troubles, so let's go along.Of course, this is the only way to deal with "I". It's like committing suicide.Not impossible, always too abnormal.Another aspect is contentment, that is, don't feel disgusted after you perceive "I".This attitude comes from a pragmatic spirit. For example, if you are not born smart, you will not turn dull into smart even if you dislike it. So you have to use Zhuangzi's method, "know what to do and be at peace with it" (of course, you can also try your best to remedy it. ).Fortunately, the mandate of heaven also endows people with the nature of contentment. Foolish people think they are wise;This kind of nature is good for heaven (assumed to have awareness), because no one will rebel against it;

The second is "self-knowledge".This is because being too dear to the scope of "I" will, as the saying goes, be ignorant of self-knowledge.A person, who is born in the sky, is rarely able, or said to be unable, uniquely, extremely thick, and thick in all aspects; the same is true for the day after tomorrow, it is impossible to have the highest attainments in all aspects.Being neither thick nor tall and thinking that thick is high is not beneficial to others or yourself, or it may cause minor or even serious harm.So there should be self-knowledge.This obviously comes from looking out more and then comparing with an open mind.The result is like weighing yourself on a scale. When you look at it, you understand that it is more than a catty, but it is only a few taels.This is good, one is that you can be self-effacing, and the other is that you can be self-motivated.The result will be the improvement of attainments and the reduction of afflictions.

The third is "treasure".This is considered from another angle, since there is "I".And "I" is the only relative, and this life is only once, so it should be cherished and cherished.How to cherish?Still willful, try my best to live a good life.What is good?It's just experience and value.It is rich and valuable, but it still needs to be explained. To save effort, use an example. For example, a certain person is illiterate, and a certain person B has read hundreds of thousands of books in ancient and modern China and abroad. We say that certain person B’s life is richer than certain person A; Bearing humiliation and writing "Historical Records", I have been busy all my life. Compared with the two, we say that the life of the latter is valuable.This view is recognized by common sense, and it is easy to say.What is difficult to say is why we should value living well, or why we should value "I".Some reasons can be found from the epistemological aspect.The Bishop of Berkeley said that to exist is to be perceived. Russell believed that the most definite knowledge is received by the senses (the material that constitutes the perception). The known is obviously "I", without "I", what is the outside world, or even whether , at least I can't know anymore.This means that "I" is the most substantial.It is also the most cordial, because joy and sorrow, right and wrong, etc., are all based on "I".Is it worth cherishing for the standard?It's hard to say why, but I have to trust in my affection. If I live well, I can feel at ease, otherwise, I can't feel at ease.People, in a busy life, before closing their eyes, it is unavoidable to count the account of floating life. If the income (rich and valuable) is not little or even a lot, it is much better than no income, right?Philosophical people may say that this is also self-deception, because it is difficult to prove its ultimate value.This is to ask the destiny again; since we only care about willfulness, then we should cherish ourselves, and it is good to be content with self-deception.

The fourth is "detachment".This is not to ask for the ability to break self-attachment like the Buddhist ideal, but to approach this ideal in a certain situation.This kind of situation refers to the object of desire, such as profit and wealth, and the bitter emotion after the desire is not obtained.People live in the world and are restricted by the so-called nature of destiny. It is inevitable, more or less, to see the "desirable" of the world and not to be calm.So I ask, there is not only one person in the world, there are too many monks, so I can't always get what I want, or I can say that I often can't get what I want.Depression and distress must follow.It is not cost-effective to live for "me", so I have to change course.In theory, there are two ways to grasp and relax.Hurry up, if there are not many chances of success, you will add fuel to the fire and sink deeper and deeper.So it's better to relax.The way is to jump out of the body, regard "I" as an ordinary person, and look at it coldly for a while. As Schopenhauer said, they are all bitter friends. It is natural to be unhappy, so you can just laugh it off, right?Being able to look back and smile is detachment. Although it is close to Ah Q, if the goal of self-handling is to live well, at least sometimes, it cannot be used.