Chapter 58 Fifty-eight old

There is a saying "If you don't know life, how can you know death", here we use the method of "all the six classics are my footnotes", saying that we know that there is life and death, but we suffer from not being able to know ourselves, why there will be life, and when there will be death.People are born in a mess, breathing and breathing, busy or slowly, sending off the old day and welcoming the new day, where are they going?To the end, to die.But when it will be the end, except for the special circumstances of a very few people, I don't know.But it can be generally known (according to the probability) that if the end is not advanced, there will be a period of life near the end, which we call "old".To be honest, after the age of sixty, if we take the situation that people are not rare today, this old period is roughly equivalent to the last quarter of the whole life.Compared with the first three quarters, especially the first two quarters, just look at the appearance, from top to bottom, the hair is white, the eyes are blurred, the face is as creamy and wrinkled, and the teeth are falling out At least it was mutilated and shaken, staggered when walking, and even the head shrank a lot, in short, it was going downhill.

So people do not welcome old age, or simply say they are afraid of old age.Especially in modern women.It's no wonder, who would like to change from a beautiful face to a goose skin and white hair?Therefore, as we often see, some people who are not confused are still confident that they will not lose their previous years. When others call her small, they feel comfortable in their hearts.Fear, there are reasons, and more than one.One of the most fundamental, and also the most serious, is old age, which implies or expresses that death is approaching or approaching death.It's quite miserable to say that people are played by the destiny's left and right attacks. This is right and left, they strongly hope to live, but they have to die.Death, in the first half of the journey of life, seems vague because of the distance; in the last quarter, the distance moves closer, and the vagueness becomes clear.This is clear, naturally invisible, but not unexpected.This imaginary scene is brought about by old age, and old age becomes the messenger, and even the cause of promotion, so it becomes unwelcome.And that's not all.

Second, the result of old age, as mentioned above, the most direct is the decline of energy.Cleverness becomes dull, memorization becomes forgetful, strength becomes weakness, versatility becomes incompetence.As the saying goes, a good man does not mention the courage of the past; but it is also difficult to forget the courage of the past, so looking back on the past, it is inevitable to feel that you have lost too much.This loss is the result of old age, and focusing on subjective feelings becomes "not useful" or "useless".In those days, maybe you traveled all over the world, became all-powerful, and became useless because of old age. Not to mention people with special status, even ordinary people can't sigh without tears, right?

Third, it is old, like the vegetation in late autumn, with yellow and fallen leaves. Compared with the spring flowering period, it is ugly and bleak.That is to say, people, youth is beautiful and precious, and old age makes all these become empty.There are many talented and beautiful women in the world, if you take a step back, even ordinary people will have the sentimentality of "the carved fences and jade bricks should still be there, but the red face has changed". Fourth, there are quite a few people whose old age will cause them to lose their power.Power has size, such as political power, business power, and family power.Some people have high or low positions in politics, but because they are old and retired, their words are no longer effective.As small as the family, due to old age, lack of energy, or lack of financial resources, if you talk, your children and grandchildren may stop listening.It is hard not to feel sad when the final word turns into the last word, unless there is Zhuangzi's great opinion or prejudice of "rather trailing the tail in Tu (on the way)".

Fifth, it is inevitable to say goodbye to relatives and friends, and it is inevitable to be sad.Life spans vary, and among my various people with close and distant relationships, there will always be someone who is not older than me, so I wanted to get together for a few more years, but he or she left first.This he or she may have a close relationship, like a husband or a wife, who has gone away, and the remaining one, seeing things and thinking about others, can imagine the misery.If you are a little far away, the relationship is not bad. Like a like-minded friend, if one leaves, the rest will be inevitable. Thinking of the lack of fun at the party, or passing by Huang Gongjiulu, one cannot but feel nostalgic grief.All this kind of misery may occur in non-old age, but it is accidental, and it becomes inevitable after old age.

Sixth, old, close to death, but not yet dead, also want to live.To live, we cannot lack material conditions.This, at least in theory, requires labor to exchange, but the ability to work is poor, or even gone, what should I do?Senior figures have retirement benefits, and sub-senior figures have retirement benefits, so they can be confident without fear.If there is no such treatment, of course it is best to have enough savings.If this step back method also fails, then we have to rely on our children.But this requires first, having children, second, the ability to support the children, and third, the legendary heart of crows to feed back. Fortunately, all three things are available, three meals a day, and a job. It's always a bad taste, right?What's more, it's not easy to get the taste.Then there is another way of retreat that is said to be quite comfortable, entering a nursing home.Not to mention whether it is really comfortable, the more urgent question than comfort is whether it is available and whether it can be entered.In short, just as you can avoid the rain everywhere, but you are often unavoidable from getting wet, many people, because of old age, have problems with basic necessities such as food, clothing and housing, and their situation naturally becomes that they do not have enough to eat and do not wear warm clothes.At this time, idealism will not work, but on the contrary, the mind is created by the environment, and it will become unspeakable suffering.

Seventh, idealism will still play a role. This means that food and clothing are not a problem, and there are two kinds of moods. One is clearer, which is the feeling of loneliness or the feeling of being forgotten.Young people (may also be adults), useful, cute, or single-handedly, just useful, or just cute, in short, if there are merits, they will not be left out in the cold.When you get old, usefulness becomes useless, and cuteness becomes unlovable. Even if someone comes to your door occasionally, they mostly ask questions according to customary etiquette, and they may not be enthusiastic in their hearts. Besides, this is often expected but difficult to become a reality.People, apart from believers and disciples who have the ambition of liberation and are willing to live in a hut and practice Zen, who can bear the indifferent treatment of such a person while still alive and as if the world no longer feels that there is such a person?But the situation does not allow any means of begging for mercy, forcing some people, acquaintances, strangers, old, not old, village, pretty, to join in the fun.As a last resort, I had no choice but to hope for a wife who would stay indoors day and night to show that there were still people who knew that I hadn't left this world yet.This is more comfort than nothing.But this requires a wife; some people don't have a wife, then they are really lonely and lonely.This kind of suffering is a kind of emotional suffering, the suffering of feeling hopeless, at least for some people, the degree of unbearability is no less than that of not having enough food and clothing.

Eighth, there is also a more vague mood, that is, the days are as long as the young years, and it is difficult to entertain.This mood has complicated origins.One is that there is nothing to do, or nothing to do.Nothing to do, the body is idle, but the mind is easy to be idle, so it is not safe.The other is that the sea was too difficult for the water, and I felt that nothing was interesting anymore, but it was still 24 hours a day and night, so it became difficult to bear.Another thing is that the fantasies and various activities outside of work that used to occupy the time are gone, and the time seems to be changing from short to long, making it more difficult to live.The difficulty of this kind of mood cannot be understood by outsiders, so it is even inferred as the happiness of the elderly; in fact, the elderly also cannot adapt to being too clear.

The various situations of old age mentioned above can also be summed up as being abandoned by heaven first, and then abandoned by people.Abandoned, and thus become insignificant, or at least feel insignificant.This is suffering, one of the four sufferings (birth, old age, sickness and death) mentioned by Buddhism, old age is suffering.How to deal with it?According to Wang Yangming's idea, one must know before doing, and then start with knowing.In the secular world, there are some people who regard old age as happiness. For example, Guo Ziyi and his like are blessed with wealth, wealth and longevity, or ordinary rich men in the countryside are blessed with both longevity and prosperity.This is because of natural disasters and man-made disasters, the way of life is too difficult and dangerous, and a few people survive the danger, have no worries about food and clothing, and live a long life, which is rare in the world, and they seem to be very happy.Do not regard old age as suffering, and there are also non-worldly ones, such as "Zhuangzi? The Great Master" said: "The big piece carries me with shape, labors me with life, loses me with old age, and rests me with death." They think that old age can make me People gain comfort.However, the attitude is not consistent. For example, in the "Heaven and Earth" chapter, it is said: "Should be more humiliating." What humiliation refers to, there is no positive statement below, from the sage's way of "quail clothes but perseverance, birds walking but not showing". It is conjectured that humiliation comes from persistence and seeking more, which may be the same as what Confucius said, "If you are too old, your blood will decline, and you will gain it."The worldly view has something to ask for, but it's not high, it's just "fulfilling one's belly", this is auspicious, one can "empty one's heart" whether the belly is solid or not. What "lose my old age" and "get rid of it" is peace.Both can be classified as the first-class for peace of mind.There are also those who seek peace of mind by moving, that is, "the old man Fu Yang, with aspirations for thousands of miles, and the martyrs in their twilight years, with great ambitions."People's hearts are different, each is just like its face; but they all lead to the same goal, that is, to seek happiness and avoid suffering.

How to avoid it?In my personal opinion, the suffering that comes from old age can be divided into physical and mental. For example, insufficient food and clothing, declining energy, etc. are physical, while feelings such as loneliness and perishableness are mental.Physical problems may not be easy to solve, but they are not difficult to talk about. Here we only talk about the mental ones.It is best to be able to "do not know and do not know, follow the rules of the emperor".This is the concept of "empty one's heart and solid one's belly" envisioned by Lao Tzu just mentioned, that is, the state of less thinking and less desire. Can be voided.It's a pity that we can't be humble, and it's impossible to use this prescription to cure illness and suffering.I had no choice but to take a step back, to know the destiny after much thinking, and then to be content with it.This is also an ideal state, where everything is left to itself, and you don’t like what you get, and don’t worry about what you lose. If you can feel like this, it doesn’t matter whether you are old or not.

But this is an ideal after all, and it is not easy to become a reality.I have no choice but to retreat again, seeking a feasible way, which is to change from defense to offense.It can also be divided into high and low or rigid and soft.High is "pride", that is, to do what one can do, and to achieve greater or lesser achievements.To give just one example, Mr. Chen Yinge lost his sight in his later years and wrote the 800,000-word "Liu Rushi's Biography". Old troubles?There is also the low road of "self-deception", that is, to find something to do, which is unknown and unprofitable (including to the society), but it is what you like. It may not be worth it in the eyes of others, but you find it interesting. The situation is created by the heart. , which can reduce or even eliminate the suffering that comes with aging.There are many examples, such as raising flowers and birds. It can also be used with multiple medicines to treat diseases of old age.For example, go out to dance disco, and write "Return to the Field Record" when you get started.After a while of unhappiness, after humming a few words "when is the spring flower and autumn moon, how much do you know about the past", think about "knowing what to do and be at peace", if you can turn the sorrow into peace, that's enough.It is impossible to cure it completely, because if you have life, you have to go forward, and if you go, you will eventually pass through old age and reach the end.This kind of thing is not always what I want.