Chapter 40 Use the time of a flower to watch life and death

——Mayfly's Feather, Dressed Well The feather of the mayfly, the clothes are neat.The worry of the heart is where I go. Wings of mayfly, picking clothes.The worries of the heart are gone, and I will return to rest. The mayfly digs, and the sackcloth is like snow.Worry about the heart, let me talk about it. ——"Cao Feng Mayfly" When I am writing a book, I will inevitably be asked: What books do you like to read?I didn't think about it carefully before, I just felt that I read some words that I could agree with comfortably. As for the characteristics of these words, I didn't think about it deliberately.The tendency to read is a process of continuous accumulation and change.

Sometimes reading is like meeting a lover, falling in love with each other, and the eyes are flowing.gradually.A mark was planted on the heart between the eyebrows, so strong that there was no way to avoid it.Such an encounter with a book is a joy.Slowly, we should all erase the blunt atmosphere of reading in the student days, stop thinking, don't care about, what is the use of me reading this book, but just think that I like it, and this book also likes me, So simple, without utilitarianism.In due course, they pop out of memory and help you understand something else. However, I also gradually realized that my reading preference is on the side of classical literature and historical religion, and I have become accustomed to thinking about some subtle and profound things, so as to be satisfied.Now, this has become a hidden set, just like which brands of snacks to choose in the supermarket, it will not be easily changed, although occasionally you will choose to try other flavors, but the basic preference will not change.

After a long journey, I found that the attitude towards the ancient "Cao Feng" and "Mayfly" may be derived from this.Thinking about life and time is a never silent topic.People in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty had begun to notice the myriad of creatures in the universe, and based on their laws of life and death, and their metaphysical thinking, even if what they saw was just a small mayfly. Listen, the ancient philosophers sigh: The mayfly's wings are thin and light, and its clothes are gorgeous and bright.My heart is so sad, poor where is the return journey!

Mayflies spread their wings and dance, gorgeous and bright clothes.My heart is so sad, where is my pity. The mayfly flies out through the hole, its wings are as white as sackcloth.My heart is so sad, where is my destination? I often hear people lament that there are no masters of philosophy in China, and I always feel touched by this.It is true that there is no master who can convince the world in China now. They are always too accustomed to making philosophy too philosophical, making their appearance as serious as their thinking, instead of going deep, and the result is that both are daunting. , lost interest.But Chinese philosophy and Eastern philosophy have always existed.Needless to say, Laozhuang and Zhuangzi, just a simple folk song in the book is enough to reflect all the philosophical thoughts.

It is more profound than "singing to wine, the geometry of life", and more realistic than "like the morning dew, the past is full of bitterness". "Mayfly" only needs to go one step further, and it can enter philosophy; if it goes a little further, it can even enter religion. In the evening of early summer, a small dragonfly-like flying insect would often fly in through the open window. Its body is the same color as its wings, its head horns are almost exactly the same as those of a dragonfly, and its whole body is brownish yellow. Thinwhiskers, also fly much slower and are easy to catch.When I was a child, by the side of the stream and ditch, there were always friends who caught and played with them, but I didn't like this kind of game. It's not that I have much compassion for mayflies, but I just think why should we deprive small insects of their freedom to fly?

This small creature called "May fly" by foreigners is the mayfly mentioned repeatedly in ancient works. In "Cao Feng", there are vivid metaphors such as "the feathers of the mayfly, the clothes are beautiful; the wings of the mayfly, the clothes".However, the ancients could only grasp the characteristics of the mayfly, which does not drink or eat. Many scholars, including Zhu Xi, who have always commented on "Mao Shi" and "Erya", when it comes to its shape, they all say " I can't figure it out."Some say it looks like a longhorn but is small, with a horn, and it comes out of the dung; some say it has horns like a beetle, as big as a finger, and three or four inches long; It is long, has horns, is yellow-black, has wings at the bottom, and can fly. It occurs after rain in summer, and the dung is on the top... After all, it is regarded as a kind of beetle.

Only the author Li Shizhen said it best.Because in addition to citing the above-mentioned consistent statements, he suddenly added something: or, may, water insects, like silkworm moths, live and die in the morning and evening.Although the shape of the mayfly is still somewhat different from that of the silk moth, the silk moth is like a butterfly. Butterflies and dragonflies are similar things after all, and we know that they are water bugs.Finally scratched the itch. The life history of the mayfly is very interesting. "Huainanzi": "Eat but not drink, it will melt in 22 days; cicadas drink but not eat, and slough in 30 days; mayfly will die in three days without eating or drinking." Said: "The life of a crane is a thousand years old, and it travels with extremes. The mayfly lives in the morning and dies in the evening, and enjoys it. It lasts for a period of time, which is far less than three days." Too long to tell.In fact, mayflies live for just over three hours.After the larvae of the mayfly hatch in the water, they will continue to live in the water for one to three years before they reach maturity. Then they climb to the grass on the water surface and molt into mayflies.After the first molt.Then they moult for the second time, and then they can spread their wings and fly high, so they look for a mate, mate and lay eggs.It's all done in a matter of hours, and when it's done it stops and dies wearily.Because of the underdeveloped oral cavity, in the few hours of life that took two or three years of preparation work, I was busy and did not drink or eat at all.

Optimistic people will say that the life course of a mayfly is short but very fulfilling.In just a few hours, they have to molt twice, practice flying, fall in love, mate, and lay eggs. They are very busy.Pessimistic people will think of themselves from this, and feel that life is too short.While people feel sorry for the life and death of mayflies, why are they not a bug in the fingers of the creator? The century of hard work is just a flick of someone else's fingers. Such pessimism is not surprising, on the contrary, it is a sober cognition.It is not bad to have such humility.People will always be hit by time that is so powerful that they are inadvertently, and they will realize their own insignificance.No wonder Su Dongpo, such a free and easy person, also expressed emotion in "Ode to the Former Red Cliff": "Send the mayfly to the world, a drop in the vast ocean, mourn the moment of my life, and envy the infinity of the Yangtze River."

The Yangtze River is there, and Chibi is there, but the heroes who used to be all-powerful have disappeared without leaving a trace.Time is so clean and ruthless, the passing of any one person or event will not change its trajectory.What I once thought had changed, but what changed was only the current situation at that time; everything that I once thought was under my control was just a speck of dust in the time. Now I look at the business I have run, and the achievements I have made through hard work, but I realize that it is all vanity and chasing after the wind—the prophet has clearly pointed it out, but we still ignore it, willing to be so serious and ecstatic.

Passionate people say that love is like a mayfly, a short but great cause that must be experienced in a lifetime.If you look at mayflies, they are like this, trying their best to break free from the wet water, shed their original shape, grow wings, and find a partner who can love each other. No matter how hard it was before, after meeting, love each other And how short it is, just don't drink or eat, do this kind of thing with no other thoughts, until you leave offspring and die. Perhaps the mayfly is the most fragile yet most determined of the infatuated creatures.After all the hard work, I only answered that sentence - the body is like a flame, born from desire and love.Even death cannot destroy this powerful will.

The flow of time is what Jiang Jie said most beautifully: "The flow of light is easy to throw people away, the cherries are red, and the plantains are green." But it is the Zen nun who said the most pleasantly: "Looking for spring all day long, spring is gone, and straw shoes step through the ridge. Head cloud. When I come back, I will sniff the plum blossoms. Spring is already on the branches.” Looking at the flowers and watching death, I pass away at this moment, and come back in the next reincarnation. Regardless of the length of life, there is nothing wrong with living a life as conscientiously as a mayfly.Mayflies don't feel how hard and pitiful they are, nor do they feel humble.Maybe life is too short, there are too many things to do, and they are too clear in their hearts, so as long as they live enthusiastically and abundantly, do what they want to accomplish, and never regret it until they die.One flower one world, one leaf one Tathagata.We should bow our heads to observe the world from a subtle point, with humility and respect.Existence is existence. The so-called meaning and value of existence can only be meaningful when it is specific to someone or something, and the truth recorded in the heart is highlighted.Those who speak little and make big things, let those who have time to think about it. In our lifetime, it is difficult for us to detach ourselves, so it is also difficult to obtain the feelings of trance and compassion that the ancients saw when they looked at mayflies. The difference is that some people wake up early, and some are ignorant all their lives. Therefore, the Buddha said that people have the four sufferings of birth, old age, parting, and parting, and there are endless sorrows and troubles.He entered the Tao under the bodhi tree, hoping to extradite all living beings to a space where they can obtain eternal peace.If one day, we look at ourselves as soberly and compassionately as we look at mayflies, then maybe we will not be far from the peace of white lotus everywhere.