Chapter 24 Chapter 22 The Origin of Life

Monks, do not know the beginning of this life.Sentient beings covered by ignorance and bound by greed, go up and down one after another, and the beginning of the samsara world is unknown. —— "Corresponding Department" Buddhists view the cycle of life and death not only as a theory, but as a provable truth.Although supreme Buddhahood can be attained in this life, reincarnation constitutes a central theme of Buddhism.On the basis of this theory of reincarnation, the Bodhisattva thought and the theory about the free attainment of supreme and perfect Buddhahood are established. According to relevant records, rebirth is regarded as the resurrection of the soul or the reincarnation of gods.This belief has been embraced by philosophers like Pythagoras and Plato, poets like Shirley, Tennyson, Wadsworth, and common people in numerous countries, both East and West.

The Buddhist theory of reincarnation should be distinguished from the resurrection of the soul or the reincarnation of gods in other religions, because Buddhism denies a soul that is created by God, or differentiated from Brahman and Paramatma, and circulates unchanged. The cycle of dependent origination is the cycle of karma.Past karma creates present life, and present karma plus past karma together predestinate future lives.The present is the succession of the past, which in turn becomes the cause of the future. The reality of the present world no longer needs to be proved, because it is already obvious in itself.The authenticity of past lives is based on memory and biography.The reality of future lives is based on foresight and reasoning.

If we ponder life in the past, present and future, then we face the question "What was the first origin of life?" There is a religion, try to solve this problem, postulate the first cause, or the power of the universe, or the omnipotent.Another religion denies the first cause, because common experience shows that the cause is constantly changing into the effect, and the effect becomes the cause.In the continuum of cause and effect, the first cause is unimaginable.According to the first statement, life has a beginning; according to the second, life has no beginning.To some, the idea of ​​a first cause is as absurd as a circular triangle.

One might argue that life must have had a beginning in the infinite past, and that the Creator was its beginning or first cause. If so, there is no reason not to admit that the hypothetical Creator was not created by conditions. Opinions vary widely as to the purported first cause.Atman, Brahman, Vashnu, Yahweh, God, Almighty, Allah, Supreme, Father, Creator, Law, Prime Motivator, Cause Without a Cause, God Body, Supernatural Powers, Self, and Universal These meaningful terms of Radana are used by some religious teachers and philosophers to interpret this first cause. Hinduism traces the beginning of life to the mysterious Brahman, from which the ego or soul is born.And this ego sinks from life to life, until finally it re-integrates with Brahma self.One may ask whether it is possible for this merged ego to circulate again.Christianity recognizes the possibility of a first cause and attributes everything to the will of Almighty God.

As Schopenhauer said: "Anyone who thinks he is born out of nothing must think that he will not exist again. Eternity has passed before he exists, and then the second eternity begins again, from which he will never stop. It's a devil's doctrine. "Besides, if birth is the first beginning and death must be the final end, then the assumption that man is born from nothing must lead to the assumption that death is the absolute end." "According to theological principles," argued Spencer Lewis, "at the creation of the world man was created arbitrarily, without will of his own, from the beginning of his bodily constitution until he ceased to breathe, either blessed, or unfortunate, or noble. , or evil, however much he himself desires, desires, ideals, endeavors and prayers. This is a kind of theological fatalism.”

"Every human being is a sinner with the fundamental sin of Adam. This doctrine is a challenge to the justice, mercy, love and justice of Almighty God." Huxley said: "If we suppose that there is someone who has designed this wonderful universe to move, then it is very clear to me that, in any clear sense of language, this person must be benevolent and just, and never It's malevolent and evil." According to Einstein, "If this being is omnipotent, then everything that happens, including all human activities, all human thoughts, and all human feelings and pursuits, is his masterpiece. Here the omnipotent How can you say that people are responsible for their actions and thoughts in front of them?"

"In the execution of punishments and boons, he will to a certain extent judge himself, how can this be compared with his attributes of goodness and integrity?" According to Charles Bradley: "The very existence of evil is a formidable obstacle for theists. Pain, misery, crime, poverty meet the eternal good and perfect it with irrefutable persuasion, and no I don't know, the omnipotent divine revelation presents a challenge." When commenting on human suffering and God, Professor Holden wrote: "The perfection of human nature requires pain, or God is not omnipotent. But some people suffer little pain, are sheltered by their ancestors, have good education, moral character Excellent. This fact negates the first theory. The objection to the second theory is that only by connecting the entire universe can a god be postulated, and thus fill the mental space, so that the creator can create what he wants. everything created."

An old poet, Lord Tennyson, boldly attacked God in a book.Because it is written in the seventh chapter of the forty-fifth page of "Isaiah Book": "I make peace, and I also build hell." "Why, I pay homage to the philanthropists who have done our best for us, Far more than this, infinite cruelty created a perpetual hell. He created us, foresaw us, judged us, and did only of his own will. But it's better than a mother dying mercilessly who never hears our groans again. " A dogmatic writer of antiquity declared authoritatively that God created man out of himself.But some modern thinkers say that on the contrary, man created God in his own image.With the development of civilization, people's concept of God has become more and more perfect.There is currently a tendency to replace an impersonal God with a personal God.

Voltaire said that God is the noblest creation of mankind. But such an omnipotent, omnipresent, and perfect being is unimaginable, whether in or out of the universe. Modern science tries to solve this problem with its limited systematic knowledge.From a scientific point of view, we are the direct product of our parents' sperm and egg cells.But science has not given a satisfactory explanation of human psychological development.And the human spirit is far more important than his physical machine.On the one hand, scientists maintain that life comes from life, but on the other hand, they insist that consciousness and life evolved from inanimate things.

Now, from a scientific point of view, we are absolutely born of our parents.In this way, the life of our parents must precede our life.Therefore, each life always follows another life, tracing back to the first jelly or colloid.But even scientists know nothing about this first colloid or colloid. What is the attitude of Buddhism towards the origin of life? The first thing that should be mentioned is that the Buddha did not intend to solve all the ethical and philosophical problems that beset human beings.Nor does he talk about metaphysical theories that are not conducive to enlightenment and enlightenment.He did not ask his followers to blindly believe in the First Cause.His main concern was with a specific and specific problem, namely, suffering and its cessation.Other minor issues of insignificance were completely ignored.

Once, Bhikkhu Mandungzi did not want to live a holy life, and did not want to strive for liberation step by step. He came to the Buddha and impatiently asked the Buddha to answer some metaphysical questions immediately.He alarmistly said that if he did not get a satisfactory answer, he would return to vulgarity. "My lord," he said, "the world is eternal or not eternal, finite or not finite. The Buddha did not expound these theories. The virtuous one puts these aside and rejects them. If the virtuous one speaks to me about these issues, I will be in his order." practice the holy life here. If not, I will abandon the precepts and return to lay life." "If the benevolent know that the world is eternal, may the benevolent tell me that the world is eternal; if the benevolent know that the world is not eternal, may the benevolent tell me that the world is not eternal. Of course, those who have no real wisdom and do not understand this reason, It should be said: I can't really understand this." Calmly, the Buddha asked the erring bhikkhu if he was living a life of sanctification in order to solve these problems. "No, World Honored One," replied the bhikkhu. The Buddha then warned him not to waste his time and energy on idle speculations that impede his moral advancement, and said: "Master Mandung, if anyone wants to say, 'Unless a virtuous person expounds these matters for me, I will no longer be there. Practicing the holy life at the seat of the benevolent one." Before the fully enlightened one solves these problems, he will be gone long ago. "Just like a man who is shot with a sharp arrow full of poison, and his relatives and friends send him a surgeon to treat him, but he says, 'I will not let the arrow be pulled out until I understand who shot me, and what kind of arrow hit me.' Then, before he fully understands this, he will die." "Similarly, whoever says: 'Unless a benevolent person resolves for me whether the world is eternal or not, whether the world is finite or not, whether there is a holy life to be practiced, etc., I will no longer live by the holy life." Before the enlightened one explained these questions, that person would have died." "If you believe that the world is eternal, can there be a holy life to practice? If it is eternal, there is no holy life to practice. If you believe that the world is not eternal, can there be a holy life to practice? If it is not eternal, there is no holy life to practice. But whether you believe in the world Eternal or non-eternal, life itself always has birth, old age, sickness and death. I will teach this method to the world." "Mandragja, I have not revealed whether the world is eternal or not, finite or not. Why have I not explained these? Because these questions are nothing, have nothing to do with the root of the holy life, and do not lead to disenchantment, dispassion, cessation. , Tranquility, True Knowledge, Enlightenment and Nirvana. So I have not expounded on them.”(1) According to Buddhism, we are born by our actions.Parents merely provide us with an external physical body.Therefore, there is a previous life in life.At the time of conception, karma produces the initial consciousness, which makes the embryo active.It is this invisible karma produced in the past life that creates the mental phenomenon and makes the existing physical phenomenon produce the life phenomenon, thus completing the three elements that constitute human sentient beings. Referring to the conception of sentient beings, the Buddha said: "Wherever there is a combination of these three conditions, the seed of life will be planted. If the parents live together,? But not the mother's ovulation period, without the participation of regenerated beings (gandhabba), there will be no birth of the seed of life. If the parents live together , and the ovulation period of the mother, and the participation of regenerated sentient beings, and the combination of these three causes and conditions, the seeds of life are planted immediately." (2) Here, gandhabba (= gantabba) is not a deity presiding over the process of conception, (3) but an appropriate being preparing to conceive in this mother's womb.This proper term is used only in this particular case and must not be mistaken for an eternal soul. For every living being born here, there must be a living being dying there.The birth of a being, strictly speaking, the arising of the five aggregates, or the arising of spiritual and material phenomena in the present life, corresponds to the death of this being in the previous life.Traditionally, when the sun rises from one place, it means that the sun sets from another place.This incredible theory can be better understood if life is viewed as a wave rather than a straight line.Birth and death are but two different stages in the same process.First there is birth and then there is death, and conversely speaking, there is first death and then life.Combined with the flow of life in every human being, birth and death continue without end.This constitutes the reciprocating cycle of the Saha world (samsara) mentioned in Buddhism. What is the beginning of life? The Buddha said clearly: "There is no beginning to conceive of in this Saha world. Sentient beings are hindered by ignorance, bound by greed, and sinking back and forth. The beginning is unknown." (4) The original meaning of samsara is to wander repeatedly. "Supreme Theory" says: "This saha world is interpreted as the five aggregates, and the continuous continuity of the root and dust." (Khandhanam patipati dhatuayatananam ca abbhocchinnam vattamana samsaro'ti pavuccati.) As long as life feeds on the defiled waters of ignorance and lust, there is no end to the flow of this life.When these two sources are completely cut off, as the Buddha and the Arhats did, the flow of life ceases and samsara ends.And the first beginning of this stream of life cannot be ascertained.Similarly, when there is no ignorance and greed in this life, this life stage cannot be understood. It must be understood that what the Buddha is referring to here is only the beginning of the life-flow of sentient beings.Conjectures about the formation and evolution of the universe are the work of scientists. [Note] (1) "Middle Part", the first chapter, the sixty-third classic, "Arrow Yu Jing", p. 425. (2) Same as above, the first product, the thirty-eighth classic, "Dijing".p. 256.Even if there are lamp cores and lamp oil, they must be lit with external fire. (3) See FL Wood-Ward, "Some Teachings of the Buddha", p. 29. (4) "The Ministry of Correspondence", Part Two, page 178; English translation of "The Ministry of Correspondence", Part Two, page 118.