The Buddha is neither superior nor inferior to other religious leaders. This is exactly what Buddha said of himself. This is also what the Buddha taught us on the right way to view various things. Everything is empty of substance; everything is an illusion. The real self is not the body, and it is also not inside the body. When someone thinks of “I”, “mine” or “myself”, that is ego. When someone thinks of wanting to possess (either wealth, colourful things, colourful life, relationships, fame, sensual pleasure, or leisure), that is greed. Ego and greed lead to like and dislike, which then lead to jealousy and hatred, and all kinds of suffering, mentally and physically. The thought of “I” am superior or inferior to others will both lead to suffering, to oneself and others.
We must always live in the present moment; don’t dwell in the past and don’t dream about the future. We must concentrate on ourselves and not moved by external objects. Comparing ourselves to others is simply disrespecting ourselves; comparing Trump to Xi Jinping is disrespecting both persons because we will be giving too much credit to one and at the same time giving too little credit to the other. We can compare apples with oranges in terms of vitamin A, B, C etc. but not simply concluding which is superior nor inferior.
Someone said to the Buddha: “I want happiness.” The Buddha replied: “Take away “I”; that’s ego. Take away “want”; that’s greed. You will then have only happiness and nothing else.”
When someone declares that his religion is superior to others, he is showing a lot of ego. A wise person would question the superiority of the religion. It may not be the fault of the religion but the personal shortcoming of the preacher who has a lot of ego and misrepresented the religion. In other words, the preacher gives a bad name to his religion and indirectly causes disgrace and destruction to his religion. The same goes for a religious sect which declares superiority over another sect of the same religion.
Su Dong Po (苏东坡) practiced meditation together with a monk. One day, he asked the monk: “How do I look when I am meditating?” The monk said: “You look like the Buddha.” Su Dong Po was very happy. He said: “Thank you. But I think your meditation posture looks like pile of shit. Ha Ha Ha!” The monk laughed for the joke. Later, Su Dong Po told his sister about the incident. He said: “I won!” The sister said: “You have lost pathetically. The monk said you looked like the Buddha because his heart was pure and he only thought of the Buddha. You said the monk looks like a pile of shit because your heart was impure and you only thought of a pile of shit.”
From the words of Lao Zi in Dao De Jing:
天下皆知美之为美 恶已 皆知善之为善 斯不善矣
When the world adopt a common standard for beautiful, that is ugly. When the world adopt a common standard of virtue, it is undesirable.
有无之相生也 难易之相成也 长短之相形也 高下之相盈也 音声之相和也，先后之相随 恒也
Existence and nothingness are opposite but mutually supported. The word difficult existed because there are relatively easier tasks. We can say certain thing is long because there is comparatively shorter thing. High is relative compared to low, each has its advantage under different circumstances. Sounds of different tones and volume levels are needed to make music. Front and back depend on which direction is our reference. These are all normal occurrences in the Nature.
是以圣人居无为之事 行不言之教 万物作而弗始也
Hence, great leader only does ordinary, natural, not-ambitious work, and not try to intervene or regulate everything to achieve perfection by somebody’s standard. He shall not assume he knows everything and try to teach the people what to do in each and every matter but encourage the people to learn on their own. Everything in this world existed and evolved by themselves and does not require someone to create them one by one.
为而弗恃也 成功而弗居也 夫唯弗居 是以弗去
A good leader does what is necessary to care for the people but doesn’t expect anything in return. He will not claim any credit for any success. Since he does not need any credit and never aim to earn any credit for whatever he does, he will not worry about losing any credit.
曲则全 枉则直 洼则盈 敝则新 少则得 多则惑
One will be safe if he is willing to bend instead of taking a hard stand. One will be able to get thing straight if he is willing to accept that some degree of crookedness is inevitable. Swampy terrain could accept water to fill it up. Imperfection will leave room for innovation to improve the state. Have few desired goals and the plan will be manageable. Being too ambitious and wanting to achieve too many goals will make one lose direction.
是以圣人执一以为天下式 不自视故章 不自见故明 不自伐故有功 弗矜故能长
Great leader will uphold the one law, the most fundamental principle, and become the guide of the world. He doesn’t act arrogant but accept suggestions to tweak his plan therefore he can become prominent. He doesn’t insist on his view but accept other views therefore he can get complete insight of any situations. He doesn’t become puffed up with pride therefore he can be careful in his execution of plan and achieve victory. Upon victory, he doesn’t brag about it but always be mindful that every challenge requires attentive planning therefore he can continue to overcome every challenge every time.
夫唯不争 故莫能与之争 古之所谓曲则全者 几语才 诚全归之
He doesn’t compete with anyone on who is more brilliant therefore no one can compete with him. The ancient brainy quote of “bend to be safe” is such a wise advice. It really can bring forth safety.
RESILIENT KID 