Chapter 59 five nine deaths

There is a mantra in Buddhism, which is "life and death matter to people".Song Confucianism criticizes that people always call life and death a big deal because they are afraid of death.This is a good criticism. Even if it is recorded in the Nirvana Sutra that Shakyamuni passed away, all the people cried bitterly. Why are they crying?Naturally, he died because he did not want to die.Not to mention ordinary people, such as Xie An and Zhi Dun in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and other Orchid Pavilion repairing poems and wine meetings, Wang Xizhi wrote a preface, and after saying many good things such as "the sky is clear and the air is clear, and the wind is peaceful and smooth", he also quoted an ancient saying, It is "death and life are also great." (see "Zhuangzi? De Chongfu") The meaning is obviously that it would be great if you can not die, but unfortunately you have to die.That was the old days; up to now, the big category of life and death has taken on a more painful meaning.Because the world of the ancients is traditional, death is the death of the body and the spirit remains. This spirit, or the soul, can also go to another world. Although it is darker and colder, it still has the beauty of beautiful women and the warmth of relatives and friends. , only changes but not ceases.It is different now, scientific knowledge has driven away the world of style, and we almost all know that God is the activity of form, and when form dies, God will cease to exist, that is to say, life is only once, and what death brings is immediate annihilation .Some people have a golden house, in which Yan Ruyu is hidden, and when they descend, they will also have a chaimen small room, in which there are several volumes of broken books. One can imagine the pain.

This pain, as mentioned earlier, comes from the two sides of destiny: one side loves to live, and the other side has to die.Obviously, the way to relieve pain is that one of them must give in, that is, either take Schopenhauer's way, not to live as advisable, or take Ge Hong's way, alchemy in order to live forever (and really succeed).Let’s talk about the former path first, changing the attitude towards life, that is, changing love into not love, at least it doesn’t matter.This is obviously difficult, because there must be a force capable of defeating the "mandate of heaven".In theory, Schopenhauer seems to have such a strong army, and he wrote an article "On Suicide", saying that it is okay to regard suicide as a challenge to nature; but he still died, which is why It can be proved that it is easy to talk about not acting rashly on such a big issue of life and death, but it is difficult to actually do it.Really doing it is a choice between life and death. If you choose death, there are two reasons for it.One is to sacrifice one's life for righteousness, such as the legend that Boyi and Shuqi starved to death in Shouyang Mountain, and Wen Tianxiang sacrificed his life in Chaishi.The other is giving up one's life for unbearable suffering, such as committing suicide due to broken love, suffering from an incurable disease, or escaping punishment, etc. Does this count as changing the attitude of being happy with life?It doesn't seem to be counted, because their lives are full of unbearable suffering, and they gave up their lives to avoid suffering. If there is no such unbearable suffering, they will live happily like ordinary people.If you are not happy in life, you are against the destiny, which is difficult.You can take a step back, let nature go, and not be attached to life and death.Zhuangzi followed this path, so he didn't care about his wife's death, and when it was time to sing, he just drummed and sang as usual.This is indeed higher than fear of death, but it is not so high as to be unhappy about life, because the reason why he does not take up his official position is that he would rather die on the way, and still think that life is better than death.All in all, it is difficult to get rid of the dilemma of being attacked by two sides and defeat Lesheng's side.We had no choice but to transfer our troops and try to see if the other side of the fate had to die and give in.There are domestic methods.Emperor Qin and Wu of Han seized all the power in the world and enjoyed all the pleasures in the world, and of course they were even more reluctant to die, so they pinned their hopes on the alchemists, which took a lot of effort and cost a lot of money.As a result, he was deceived. Han Wu came from behind and barely survived the ancient times, while Qin Huang met God before he knew his fate.Alchemists are liars.There is also self-deception, it is the alchemy of Taoist priests. It is said that after the ninth revolution, if you eat it, you can live forever.But Ge Hong and his ilk still died in the end, unable to live in today's Baiyun Temple.If domestic products are not effective, you can also try imported ones.It is said that a high-tech branch is researching the reason for not being able to live forever. Once it is understood, according to the law of cause and effect, removing the cause will naturally eliminate the effect.Compared with alchemists and Taoists, this is progress from fantasy to science, maybe there is hope?But this is always a matter of the future, the water far away will not quench the thirst of the near, and as far as today is concerned, we can only admit that we still cannot do it if we want to defeat the destiny that we have to die.Also had to face the problem of death.

According to the principle of "destiny is nature, and willfulness is Tao", or just according to common sense, death is inevitable, all we can ask is, first, as soon as possible, and second, to minimize the suffering that comes with death .Let me talk about the former requirement first, and there are occasional exceptions, that is, between early death and late death, if a choice is allowed, it is better to choose the former.Four scenarios come to mind.One, a typical example is suffering from an incurable and extremely painful disease, at least as far as the person wishes, it is better to leave this world sooner than later.On the other hand, if we accept the traditional evaluation, Wang Mang might as well have died a few years earlier. The reason is that, as Bai Juyi chanted in his poem, "Wangshi died at the beginning of his body, and who knows whether he will be true or false in his lifetime."Many great figures in history, such as Emperor Wu of Liang and Emperor Ming of Tang, died early to avoid doing a lot of absurd things, so it is better to see God early. There is another kind, taking recent events as an example. However, the circumstances of the end of life are very different. Mei died, and Lao She jumped into Taiping Lake.Why is Mei so blessed?It was only a few years before he died.In this way, Lao She might as well die a few years earlier if he decides what to do with an abacus.There is another situation that can be seen from the eyes of ordinary people. For a tyrant who loves to kill people, it is better to die early than to live long, because if he dies one day earlier, the ordinary people can relieve their suffering one day earlier.Why do you say that?There are records in the classics as proof, "The time is mourning? Both you and me are dead."But exceptions are exceptions after all, and the general rule cannot be broken;

But the first case of the above exception brings us to a big legal and moral question: Should a person have the freedom to choose death if he is convinced for some reason that his life would be better than death?And if others help him realize his death wish, should the law and morality allow it?The question is complex, almost too complex to articulate.Clarity comes from reasoning, but unfortunately, when it comes to life and death, it often seems impossible to reason.Try it if you don't believe me.Man, being called a man, has life, and thus has the right to live; death is also inextricably bound to life, so why does man not have such a right? Expressly stipulated.Then look at the facts.Why, A committed suicide, and B saw it.A certain person B has two kinds of freedom: to save or not to save, he can exercise one kind of freedom at will, and the law does not intervene; but morality intervenes, manifested as his own conscience and other people's public opinion, that is, to save, he will feel at ease and be praised, otherwise he will understand Disturbed and reviled.This is the recognition of no freedom, or even a right, to die, except the suicide himself.Why not admit it?Reasons come from intuition, not reason.In recent years, it is said that many people have thought about the truth. Taking specific cases as examples, if some people have terminal cancer, the pain is unbearable, but they are sure that they will die. I hope to end their lives early. I advocate that doctors can help others. Help him realize his wish.This idea seems good in theory, but it is very difficult to put it into practice.There is more than one difficulty.The former is general, that is, there must first be legislation that allows doctors to do this.Legislation has to be debated and then voted on. It is presumed that this is to allow a person to die. Without the courage to rebel, it is difficult to vote for it.There is also the latter sporadic difficulty, which is that doctors and family members are all philosophers and do not care about intuition.The intuition is that it is better to live than to die, that is, to be afraid of death, this is the destiny, and the slight rebellious thoughts of one or two people are unacceptable.

This will leave behind the suffering that accompanies death, how to deal with it?The above said that you can try to ask for late arrival. This, regardless of whether it is easy or not, may be useful, because it is like repaying a debt, which needs to be repaid next year, and it will always be easier than if it needs to be repaid this year.But it won't be of much use, because next year, after all, I have to pay it back.So the most important thing is to find a way to minimize the suffering that comes with death.The suffering that accompanies death comes with a body and a heart.Common sense covers a wide range of physical suffering, including a long or short period of illness near death, which can be alleviated by the power of medical treatment.In the late stage of this stage, it may also include this stage. If you lose consciousness and other organs are still active, is it still alive?People other than yourself say they are still alive; you may not think so, because living without awareness, at least subjectively, is no different from death.Then came that mysterious junction, from birth to death (the end of life).If this boundary is represented by time, maybe mathematicians have a way, but we ordinary people have no choice but to look at the watch to see what time it is and what time it is.How many points are there, that is, death, the end of the event, is there any suffering (suffering is all personally felt)? If so, what is it like?Socrates said, I don't know, because death comes only once in a lifetime, and I haven't experienced it yet.

Therefore, I think that the suffering that comes with death is almost all from the heart, or simply, because I want to live, I can still watch this, watch something, do this, and do that. When I think that there must be an end, I can’t bear it, so afraid.Is there any way to change from being afraid to not being afraid?There is more than one kind of prescription available, but none of them may have special effects, because, as Montesquieu said, "the power of the emperor is as great as my power is small." of.As a last resort, I had no choice but to go to the doctor when I got sick, and even try to find a folk remedy.One way is by logic.Since fear is due to reluctance to bear everything that has happened, then everything that has happened should be made unworthy of nostalgia.There can also be two kinds of doorways: physical and spiritual.The thing is that there are sufferings but no joys in all aspects of life, and even the degree of bitterness is unbearable.Such a situation may be able to play a role in unhappiness, but will it come on its own initiative?Nobody does that except insane.Also, in such a situation, during the catastrophe of the Red Decade, the passive came. In fact, very few committed suicide, and the vast majority endured it to save their lives. It can be seen that a bad situation may not necessarily lead to world-weary thoughts.If things don't work out, there is still a kind of heart in the way.It can be the Saha world of Buddhism, or it can be the pessimism of Schopenhauer. In short, it is said that there is no joy in the world, and it is not worth loving.If the environment can really be created by the heart, this is not a bad idea.But, the problem is, it's easy to say, don't say it and do it, it's really hard to think that way, because in writing, everything is empty, leaving the writing, the golden house, Yan Ruyu, is always true and true.

Seeking not to be afraid of death by being weary of the world, this method will not work, so we have to try another method, which is to seek success and fame, marry a man and a woman, everything that should be done and wanted to be done, once you let go, you can rest in peace.Confucianism, or the average person, thinks this way. During one's lifetime, hard work, morality, meritorious service, or speech, accumulation of immortal capital, or decline, just leave considerable property for children and grandchildren, and you can put it in the grave in peace. Prepare the coffin and welcome donations, right?In my opinion, this is too simple a view of Weiwei's people's hearts.For example, Cao Gong and Mengde can be said to have achieved success and fame, but when he was dying, he still urged to distribute incense and sell shoes, and to look at the Xiling Plain.People are always people, saying: "If you are born less than a hundred years old, you often worry about a thousand years old." There are too few people who are not like this.

Another way is yes, it can also be divided into two levels, low and high, both of which can be found in the "Great Master" chapter.What is low is resignation, that is, no matter what unsatisfactory things you encounter in life, you will take it calmly, just as the imagined Zhirenzi said when he was sick: "Turning the left arm into a chicken, and asking for the cause of time and night; If you turn it into Yu's right arm as a bullet, and because of it you want to burn it; if you soak it and turn it into Yu's buttocks as a wheel, and use God as a horse, so you can ride it, how can you be better! Those who live in the right way, when the time is right and in the right place, sorrow and joy cannot enter.” Death is also loss, and it is conjectured that sorrow and joy cannot enter, and if you can’t enter it, you are emotionally unmoved, fearing that it will perish naturally.There is also a high level of "relaxing me to die". If the understanding can really be like this, after working hard for a lifetime, and finally sending you to rest in peace, then the loss will become a gain, and Christianity will accompany God after death, and Buddhism's Pure Land sect will go to the Pure Land after death. , become a road, naturally you can feel at ease.But this also has disadvantages. It is necessary to have the cultivation of the perfect person as envisioned by Zhuangzi. As for ordinary people, they will feel "looking up at the height", or even like "the corporal heard the Tao", laugh it out?

Finally, there is another way, which is to look more at the macro and think more about philosophy, so you might as well try it.In the macro content, life, especially one's own, is too small after all.In philosophical speculation, the value of life will become slim.Insignificant and insignificant, not attached to worth mentioning. The above prescription says a lot.It's a pity that our fear of death is caused by destiny, and the root is too hard, so it is almost incurable.So the wild horse ran a big circle, turned back, and thought that life and death were a big deal, maybe the intuition had the upper hand, so I had to say that after life, it had to end, and only this time, it was a pity.