The teaching of Confucius

Boon Kuan Chung’s answer to Do you think that religion is necessary for the mindset of a human?

Boon Kuan Chung’s answer to How is inner peace attained according to Confucius?

Boon Kuan Chung’s answer to What is the role of spirituality in your life, and how can we apply spiritual concepts in our lives?

Boon Kuan Chung’s answer to Why don’t people become familiar with the teachings of Confucius as revealed in 《Analects of Confucius》?

The teaching of Confucius is not only still applicable in contemporary society but essential. The value system of the people, East and West, has gone upside-down. People value monetary wealth and sensual pleasure so much so to the negation of their happiness and health. The worth of a person is measured by monetary wealth instead of his happiness level. In other words, people have gone insane.

The number of teens who felt useless and joyless – classic symptoms of depression – surged recently and teen suicide attempts increased. It is a huge problem to the teens themselves, and it is also a problem to society. One doesn’t really have a life if he is not happy; he will be like a zombie who walks around, doing something but not happy doing it and not knowing why he continues doing it. He may harm himself, and he may also harm innocent people without any reason, hence is a time-bomb to society.

Confucius had no religion and he didn’t create a religion. From the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty around 1000 BC, China has become a secular country. The ruling class and scholars had no more faith in gods. They prayed to the Heaven 天 but not to gods; and no more human sacrifices were allowed (although some nobles secretly continued their primitive religious practices). Even the use of straw human figures in burial services was considered cruel as far as Confucius was concerned. The Heaven 天 is like the Spinoza’s God. “Heavenly laws” or Dao 道 are like physical laws; One who hits the wall will feel an equal force in the opposite direction, which is action and reaction. Based on an understanding of Dao from Yi Jing, the Court of Zhou government developed a complete set of moral codes 礼 to be followed by the people. The Zhou government also encouraged people to like music 乐, for the happiness and inner peace of the people.

During the time of Confucius around 500 BC, the value system went upside-down, like what happens today. It led to very serious wealth inequality and moral decadence. The country became very chaotic due to non-stop civil wars and annexation of smaller States by bigger States. The big States also fought each other for hegemonic power. People completely disobeyed the Zhou moral codes and indulged in music for sensual pleasure instead of inner peace. Confucius wanted to save the country from collapsing. He went around the country advising the Dukes of various States to bring back sanity. Of course, insane people don’t know they were insane. Thus, the ruling classes rejected the teaching of Confucius. They did agree with Confucius on the urgency to restore peace but they didn’t agree with the methods proposed by Confucius. They were not wrong because the “medicine” of Confucius was too mild; the “late stage cancer” required much stronger “medicine” like Sun Zi Art of Wars. Pacifist States would be conquered by neighboring States. Only violence can stop violence. In an insane world, only the sane was insane. Everybody was forced to become insane if he wanted to participate in the competition for honors of successes and avoid humiliations of defeats. Thus, the teaching of Confucius which emphasized compassion and inner peace was not popular.

Today, there are a lot of misunderstandings about the teaching of Confucius due to the damages done by Neo-Confucianism. Compassion (仁) and righteousness (义) are some of the important advocacies of Confucianism. They look like good things; therefore, most people love the concepts. They become precious things. Unfortunately, like all precious things, they are rare. People want them, like the way they want diamonds. Some people want to be known as noble persons who stand on moral high-ground. They hate to have any “dirt” on their reputations; thenceforth, they will put on an angry look like the fighting cocks, to tell everybody that they hate the lack of compassion and righteousness. They exhibit hatred towards people who lack compassion and righteousness in order to condition the mind of everybody to think that the holy men will do no wrong. They can then pretend that they are the good leaders whom everybody needs. They compete with other ambitious politicians like themselves to win the prize of being made the supreme leader of all leaders. Very often, they win by being generous in giving or promise to give everybody benefits, so as to show their great compassion to the people. They don’t see there is anything wrong to rob the rich and give the heist to the poor. They don’t see there is anything wrong to trade promises for votes/supports, they think they have the right to ask for reciprocations, they see compassion as a win-win business, they see the lack of reciprocations as morally wrong or lack of righteousness. Ironically, they believe in selfless giving but at the same time they expect repayments. Ironically, the people love the benefits and promises; therefore, they love individuals who exhibit compassion and righteousness. They love the win-win business, so they do the same to their children, parents, families and friends. They make it an unspoken social-contract. Lack of reciprocation is equated to lack of gratitude, and it is politically-incorrect to talk about self-interest but not wrong to actually be selfish so long as you deny the notion about you being selfish. There is always a way to weaponize compassion and righteousness as the tools to defend yourself or to attack others (for being lacking compassion and righteousness).

Confucius knew the negative side of promoting compassion. He said: “I have never seen a person who really likes compassion but hates people who lack compassion. A person who really likes compassion sees it as an extremely precious/rare thing and high standard which is very hard to achieve; therefore, not expecting many people to be able to achieve it. For a person who hates lack of compassion, his show of compassion is merely to prevent himself from being grouped among the people who lack compassion. Will he ever use all his energy to practice compassion?” (我未見好仁者，惡不仁者。好仁者，無以尚之；惡不仁者，其為仁矣，不使不仁者加乎其身。有能一日用其力於仁矣乎？) If compassion is easy for everyone to achieve, it will cease to be a precious thing. Individuals should cultivate themselves to have true compassion towards others, but not weaponize “compassion” to demand the same high-standard from others.

While the teaching of Confucius is still applicable to contemporary society, distorted teaching of it can possibly do more harm than good; just like religious teaching does. One must always refer to the original Anelects of Confucius to avoid being misled by Neo-Confucianism. Daoism and Buddhism can also provide some balances to prevent oneself from becoming a fundamentalist or extremist.

A thug leader, Dao Zhi (盗跖), has many followers because he has morals and ethics. His prior homework and intelligence enables him to predict the wealth and its location within a house. His courage to enter the house first is very inspiring. After the heist, he is the last one to leave so that his followers can flee safely; he shows great brotherhood righteousness. He has the intelligence to make the right decision on the time and place to make the heist. After each job, he has the compassion to divide the heist equally with his followers. If he didn’t have the morals of knowledge, courage, righteousness, intelligence and compassion, he wouldn’t have so many followers and he wouldn’t become a big thug leader. He would be just a small thief. The morals and ethics he learned from school make him a great leader.

Dao Zhi (盗跖) had nine thousand followers. A Confucian wanted to give him some advice. At first, Dao Zhi was very angry and didn’t want to see him. He told a soldier to tell the Confucian: “Stop manipulating right and wrong in the name of the past noble emperors, and confuse the present kings. Stop deceiving the ministers, in the name of compassion and righteousness, in the pursuit to become an honorable adviser to the king. He has terrible sin to cause so much suffering to the people. The government used his ideas and caused so much inequality that the people have no food to eat and the kings keep going to war with neighboring countries, all in the name of compassion and righteousness. He better leaves now or I will eat his heart and liver for lunch!” The Confucian refused to leave. He told Dao Zhi: “The three highest qualities of a person are, first: strong body; second: intelligent, able to differentiate right and wrong; third: courage to make decisions, able to rally for huge public support, and lead an army. I want to congratulate you for having all three qualities. Unfortunately, it is a pity that you choose to be a thug leader. If you agree, I will persuade the king to build a castle for you and make you a general of the king’s army. You don’t have to be a thug leader anymore.” Dao Zhi laughed and said: “If a person can be lured by personal benefits, he is as common as a common person. As for the castle you mentioned, can it be larger than the world I live in right now? The emperors in the past possessed the world. Where are their successors now and do they still possess the world? Everything in this world that has great benefit will have great danger at the same time. As a thug leader, the people I kill are limited. If I become a general of the king’s army, the people I kill, in the name of compassion and righteousness, will be countless and it will be a disaster to the world. What you told me today is the rubbish that I threw away long ago. It is so far away from the real truth!” The Confucian didn’t have ill intention to deceive anybody. He was just a dreamer who thought that he was awake and had a clear conscience of what was morally right or wrong. He didn’t know there were great dangers hiding behind the definitions of right and wrong. “Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions.” They operate with the false belief that they can fix things.

What do I like from Daoism? Chung Boon Kuan’s answer to What are the first steps to becoming a Taoist? How do I become a member of Taoism?

The single most important word Lao Zi was told by his master on the dead bed was: Don’t be arrogant. 

The single most important word Lao Zi told his student Confucius was: Don’t be arrogant.

Everybody knows being arrogant is not good for oneself and the people around him. Yet, most people behave arrogantly. How is everybody arrogant? We are arrogant when we want to be right. We are arrogant when we choose to think we are right. In Buddhism, it is called clinging to views.

The first sentence in the Dao De Jing say: “Dao (ultimate truth) which can be expressed with words is not the true Dao (道可道也 非恒道也).” There is an ultimate truth but we say there is no absolute-right because it cannot be expressed with words. The ultimate truth is not a constant; it changes with time and space. We can never know everything about everything. So, what is there to be arrogant about? How can we assume we are right and anybody who disagrees with us must be wrong? At different times and spaces, what was right can become wrong, and what was wrong can become right.

I learn about Dao simply because I want to learn from Dao. Dao is my principal teacher. Knowing the path is not the same as walking the path. I practice Dao so that one day I can declare: I am one with the Dao, and the Dao is with me.

Dao has no desire. It doesn’t compete with anything. What Dao wants is nothing; no karma and no fruition. That is the perfect blissfulness of blamelessness (戒), equanimity (定), and wisdom (慧). Dao knows not what right and wrong are. It doesn’t debate with anybody. Dao don’t quarrel with the world; the world quarrel with Dao (天之道 不战而善胜 不言而善应 不召而自来 单而善谋 天网恢恢 疏而不失). Competing or debating who is right and who is wrong, who is big and who is small, just goes to show the ego and the strong desire to become puff up with pride (企者不立 自视者不章 自见者不明 自伐者无功 自矜者不长 其在道也 曰 余食赘行 物或恶之 故有欲者弗居) which a person of wisdom will never encourage. Anyone who claims to know the Dhamma, and yet still has a mind overcome by defilement, is like a person who talks about wealth but can produce none when it’s needed.

Lie Zi (列子) learnt self-levitation method from his master. A disciple wanted to learn the method. The disciple did all kinds of chores at the house of Lie Zi, but was never taught the self-levitation method. He was angry and went back home. A few months later, he came back to Lie Zi. He said: “I know I was too impatient and acted rashly.” Lie Zi said: “In the first three years of training under my master, I learnt to stop thinking about right and wrong, and stop talking about benefit and risk, success and failure. Only then, my master started to look at me. Five years later, I achieved another mental level of not dividing right and wrong, benefit and risk. Only then, my master started to smile at me. Seven years later, I naturally didn’t think of right and wrong. My words naturally didn’t touch on benefit and risk, success and failure. Only then, my master let me sit with him. Nine years later, whatever I thought and said wouldn’t touch on right and wrong, benefit and risk. I felt no difference between my external self and inner self. I could hear with my eyes, smell with my ears, eat with my nose, and there was no difference. Thereafter, I could concentrate my mind and body so much so that I forgot myself, and my bones became weightless. Without my knowledge, my body started to levitate. I floated in the air, suddenly to the East and suddenly to the West. In the end, I didn’t know whether I rode the wind, or the wind rode on me. And you, my disciple, only know how to complain. The Chi of Nature cannot accept any part of your body; therefore, your limbs cannot be lifted. How can your body be levitated?” If ‘real’ is what you can see, hear, smell, taste and touch, then ‘real’ is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. You must not let your five senses decide how you feel about the real world; you must filter the signals which your brain received from the five senses and then decide what to do with the signals. Don’t be quick to judge right and wrong using fixed rules or threshold levels (above or below which are considered unacceptable). With the same signals, make different interpretations and decisions at different times and spaces according to the contexts.

Meng Zi said: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain with themselves and like to be the teachers of everybody else.” (人之患在好为人师。) Don’t be one of the fools and fanatics. The competition between “teachers” about who is right and who is wrong leads to chaos and wars in the world. Therefore, the desire to distinguish right and wrong is probably the second-greatest desire which causes endless sufferings, to oneself and to others around him.

You must make having no desire your lifelong endeavor. Having no desire will bring you the greatest happiness. You are already standing on an undefeatable ground (立于不败之地) when nothing can make you unhappy; no one has the privilege to control your heart and decide the feeling which you are allowed to have. Having no desire is the greatest desire; selflessness is the greatest selfishness. “Taste the tasteless and stay serene to have a clear view of your ambition and the altitude you can realistically reach. Stay comfortable with being unknown and quiescent to reach a great distance in the future.” (淡泊以明志，宁静以致远。) A person with a lot of desire can never do great good because he uses a lot of time and energy for self-serving purposes (i.e. laughably small selfishness compared to the greatest selfishness). An impatient person who is restless will make a lot of mistakes and never go very far; even if he truly desires to do great good for the people. Hope is never a good strategy; good intention is never a guarantee of good outcome. We should intent to have no greedy ambition (but pursue small targets one-by-one instead), do nothing to chase for success like accumulating medals (but wish to have no problem to solve instead), and enjoy the tasteless life (because ordinary life is better than given the opportunity to achieve extraordinary success which comes from the suffering of yourself and other people) (为无为 事无事 味无味). Keep learning and be prepared to face challenges anyway; opportunity is reserved for people who are prepared to grab it.

We must not desire to be right. Wanting to be right is arrogant. We must instead choose to think that we are not right. We must choose to be not right; so long as we are not wrong. This sounds politically-incorrect. The Buddha gave a politically-correct way to say it: no clinging to views, and no clinging to rules and rituals. This way of thinking enables me to learn everything because I have no aversion or rejection to learn something which is considered “bad” by some people; or something from other schools of thoughts. A true Daoist must be a believer of all religions; that also makes him a believer of no religion, because he can never cling to the views, rules and rituals of any one religion, therefore become a disobedient person. 

The sea can become big because it stays low and accepts the discharges from all rivers. Be like the sea, have the stomach to accept new ideas (both the not-right and not-wrong ones), and have the stomach to forgive and accept the fools and fanatics (海纳百川   有容乃大). The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. Continue to improve your intelligence (睿智), learn to think critically (i.e. not blind acceptance of any teaching), and widen your knowledge on all subjects (聪明). These are essential to gain the ultimate wisdom of life (道). Having no zeal to discriminate right and wrong, you will be able to apply the appropriate not-right or not-wrong idea according to the conditions (缘起) which are arising.

The Existence of Heaven and Hell in Buddhism

Buddhism is more of a philosophy although some people turned it into a religion. There’s no omnipotent God; in fact, the Buddha is a teacher of humans and also gods. Scientists use a way to visualise the working of electric and magnetic fields; we visualise lines of forces or fluxes due to the presence of charges, static vs. dynamic. In a similar way, the Buddha used a way to visualise the working of this world. The fluxes are called Asava. Just like scientists consider that everything is influenced by physical laws, the Buddha considers humans and also gods are under the influence of different sets of laws. For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction. Scientists call it Newtonian law, but the Buddha calls it karma and fruit.

Everything is impermanent. Everything is empty of substance. This is the way of thinking taught by the Buddha. One may see suffering or problems from this theory, another see the way to liberation or opportunities to gain by overcoming the problems.

Humans are born into the human realm, ghosts into the ghost realm, animals into animal realm, Hell beings into Hell realm, and Deva into Heaven realm. Are these really different spaces? We know humans and animals live in the same space. Therefore, it is completely possible that all the different beings share the same “space”; we can’t see each other due to limitation of the six sense organs. It is likely that some Enlightened persons can see other types of beings and travel through “space” from one realm to another. However, this “space” is also empty of substance. It is all an illusion or a dream. We are all “living” in the Matrix, interdependently with each other. From nothing, the Matrix and beings are formed. The extinction of beings must also mean extinction of the Matrix, into nothingness.

Hell will disappear when there are no Hell beings. Similarly, Heaven will disappear when there are no Devas. Nama and Rupa come into existence together; they will also cease together. All beings have limited lifespan, because nothing is permanent. Devas are born when other Devas die at the same time. Therefore, Heaven will continue to exist although in theory it is also impermanent. The same goes for Hell and human realms. Heaven and Hell are the byproducts of the existences of Devas and Hell beings.

What is the condition for the existence of Devas and Hell beings? Naturally, it is the result of karma and its fruit. The cause of all existences is ignorance (avijja). Ignorance of the Four Noble Truths leads to the subsequent rebirth. However, not all ignorance is created the same. Some kinds of ignorance lead to rebirth as Devas. Other kinds of ignorance lead to rebirth as humans, ghosts, animals, or Hell beings. If one has the Right View about the Four Noble Truths, walks the Noble Eightfold Path (instead of just knowing the path), breaks all craving and clinging through the abandonment of greed, hatred and delusion, he will attain Enlightenment and reach the state of Nirvana. All the fetters which bind him to samsara or cycles of rebirth will be broken. Thus, he is liberated and never to be reborn again. He is called an Arahant; one who has broken the spokes of the wheel of rebirth.

A person who wishes to be reborn will be reborn. However, a person who wishes never to be reborn again may still get a rebirth. Greed, hatred and delusion are the fuels for a person to be reborn. Upon breaking up of the body, a person will get a rebirth if the fuels are not exhausted or totally cooled down. Some people don’t see life as a suffering; naturally, they have no problem being reborn again, and their wish will come true. Some people see life as a suffering but do nothing other than enduring it or even commit suicide; they will still get a rebirth although they don’t like it. Some people see life as a suffering but practice the wrong ways; they will unfortunately be reborn again. Some people see life as suffering but not unbearable; they wish to have fun again in the next life, and they will get it. However, they will only get the fun they wanted if they are reborn as Devas or humans. If they don’t cultivate themselves in terms of virtue, equanimity and wisdom, they will probably be reborn as ghosts, animals, or Hell beings.

The training for lay followers of Buddhism is not too different from that for monks. Whether one is a lay follower or a monk, he may still be reborn as Deva, human, ghost, animal or Hell being. There is no guarantee for success. It all depends on the self-cultivation and length of time one has practiced well. Nevertheless, a monk should aim to escape the cycles of rebirth if he really has faith in the Buddha and Dharma. If he fails although he has done his best, he may be reborn as a Deva, or better still as a human of which he can continue his training and take the “examination” again. He must look after his body and mind so that he has enough time to prepare for the “examination”; he must not get overconfident and try to attempt for the “examination” earlier. Desire for non-existence is as bad as desire for existence and desire for sensual pleasure. To cross the floods of suffering, one must not stand still nor strive too hard. He must follow the middle path.

Monks who wish to be reborn, for whatever excuses, will not practice hard enough for the “examination”. The Buddha said that there are five factors which will lead to the disappearance of true Dharma: 1) disrespecting the Buddha, 2) disrespecting the Dharma, 3) disrespecting the Sangha, 4) disrespecting the training, and 5) disrespecting Samadhi or equanimity. Some monks are not real monks; they commit some of these five sins.

Anybody who slanders monks as being selfish is blaming the blameless instead of praising the praiseworthy. The unwholesome karma can lead to bad outcomes. Is the business of going-forth — as the Buddha and his disciples did — one that benefits countless beings, or only one being? Of these two practices — going-forth compared to making sacrifices — which appeals to you as the less difficult, the less violent, the more fruitful, and the more rewarding? — Sangarava Sutta AN 3.60. Monks who teach, practice and live according to Dhamma benefit countless beings. It is much more difficult and less violent to go forth than making sacrifices. It is much more fruitful and more rewarding to go forth than making sacrifices.

Some monks see others from a different sect as inferiors, belittling the fellow brothers and calling them with derogative or insulting names. It just goes to show that the non-virtuous monks have a strong ego, puff up with pride, are greedy for fame, and immoral with their speech of contempt and slander, thus not abiding by Right Speech and breaking one of the Five Precepts. They denigrate other sects to uplift themselves. It violates the Right Livelihood of the Noble Eightfold Path for their survival. According to the Buddha, an individual who committed this kind of unwholesome karma, causing schism or division of Sangha (Anantarika-karma), will yield unwholesome fruit of being reborn in Hell. Anantarika-karma is a heinous crime that through the karmic process brings immediate disaster or comes to fruition in the next life. The five crimes are: 1) Intentionally murdering one’s mother, 2) Intentionally murdering one’s father, 3) Killing an Arahant, 4) Shedding the blood of a Buddha, 5) Creating a schism within the Sangha. There is only one Gotama Buddha, and sectarianism should never exist. I don’t believe any virtuous monk would agree to split his sangha into multiple competing groups.

According to Buddha’s teaching, the body is not the “self”, neither is the “self” inside the body. Perception and consciousness of the body as the “self”, or thinking that the “self” is inside the body, is the root cause of suffering because one will then have the desire to protect the “self” which then leads to the arising of greed, hatred and delusion. Having the ego to self-glorify and defame others is against the Buddha’s teaching. The empty boasting will cause more harm to themselves because they will be drifting further away from Nirvana due to their ego, self-identification and clinging to the “self” when they should instead let go of all attachments. They also do disservice to their followers; like blind leading the blind, or like a person sinking into a cesspool trying to save another person to get out of the cesspool. If they continue to cause division of Buddhism into various sects, and trying to fool people with their excuses, they will not find peace in themselves. The Buddha taught us to abolish greed, hatred, and delusion. The continued use of untruthful downgrading remarks about the monks from other sects don’t really hurt anyone that much but themselves. Buddha needs no protection, and no Sangha should seek for fame (creating a sect or a “self” which then requires protection) but focus on attaining Enlightenment and helping others to walk on the spiritual path. There is inferiority within superiority, and superiority within inferiority (小中有大，大中有小).

‘Those who teach a doctrine other than this are lacking in purity, imperfect.’ That’s what the many sectarians say, for they’re smitten with passion for their own views. ‘Only here is there purity, in no other doctrine is purity,’ that’s what they say. That’s how the many sectarians are entrenched, speaking firmly there concerning their own path. Speaking firmly concerning your own path, what opponent here would you take as a fool? You’d simply bring quarrels on yourself if you said your opponent’s a fool. Taking a stance on your decisions, and yourself as your measure (执于我), you dispute further down into the world. But one who’s abandoned all decisions (is nonpartisan and has no attachment to either views) quarrels no more. — Sutta Nipata KN 4.12

Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias toward a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another’s seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, ‘The monk is our teacher.’ Kalamas, when you yourselves know: ‘These things are bad; these things are blamable; these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill,’ then you should abandon them. — Kalama Sutta AN 3.65

One should say and do what is right but refrain from making decisions that others are wrong for rejecting the doctrine. Disagreeing with someone’s view doesn’t necessarily mean deciding that the view is wrong; it only means the view is not right, although we may linguistically say “it is wrong”, for ease of expression (所言善法者，如来说即非善法，是名善法). Stay equanimous and unmoved by provocations for debates. “All Beings are owners of their karma. Whatever volitional actions they do, good or evil, of those they shall become the heir.” No amount of debates will change the fruit of karma.

Is Life Worth Living?

Life is suffering. This is the view of many Asceticism beliefs in India for more than 3000 years. Gotama Buddha was also an Ascetic before he became Buddha.

Asceticism means rigorous abstention from any form of self-indulgence which is based on the belief that renunciation of the desires of the flesh and self-mortification can bring man to a high spiritual state. Most Ascetics, if not all, have the view that life is not worth living. What is their fear to live? It is due to their belief that self-indulgence now will lead to suffering later; it’s like a zero-sum game, the more one indulges now the more he will suffer later. They believe the opposite of self-indulgence naturally leads to higher spiritual state. One will be reborn as Deva in Heaven, or one may escape the cycle of rebirth completely.

If life is not worth living, why don’t the Ascetics commit suicide? It is because they believe there is rebirth after death, and the number of cycles is infinite. One who commit suicide may be reborn as ghost, animal, or Hell being but not in the human realm again. The suffering will be much worse.

Ascetics believe that the cause of suffering is desire. Suffering stops when desire ceases. This is the motivation behind their rigorous abstention from any form of self-indulgence. Life is suffering whether one is reborn as Hell being, animal, ghost or even human. Suffering includes birth, growing old, sickness, phobia of death, association with the dislike, separation with loved ones, and not getting what one desires. Good life now will end and the delayed suffering is still suffering. Ascetics want to abandon all desires and attachment, especially the attachment of the soul to the body. They wish to never have existed. Unfortunately, the desire for non-existence is also a desire as bad as desire for existence and desire for sensual pleasure. The Buddha realized that one must abandon all the three kinds of desire in order to stop all suffering. The way to do it is by walking the middle path. To cross the flood of suffering, one must not stand still nor strive too hard.

Boon Kuan Chung’s answer to What about Buddhism specifically makes its followers so accepting of death? Buddhists are not taught to be accepting of death. To be specific, they are taught to live well and therefore not afraid of death. There is a huge difference between the two cases. Death is a kind of suffering; but suffering is not always bad. Boon Kuan Chung’s answer to Why is suffering in Buddhism considered bad?

Is life worth living? If you ask a Hell being, animal, or ghost, it will likely say “No” (assuming it can talk to you) at one time but “Yes” at another time. It will say “No” if it is in pain at the time of answering your question. However, it will always protect itself from being killed. In other words, it doesn’t want to die. The body language tells you its answer is “Yes”, life is worth living. A human has the same behavior. They all don’t want to die because they see the body as the self, or the self is in the body, therefore they spontaneously want to protect the self.

Is human life worth living? The answer is: one can make it worth living if he really wants it. One will likely say “No” when he is in pain, no difference from other kinds of being, if he doesn’t make good use of his mind which is much more powerful than other kinds of being. If he takes the suffering as a necessary experience and lesson, he will take actions to lessen the suffering and also avoid future suffering. He can stop all suffering by walking the Noble Eightfold Path taught by the Buddha. He will be so happy to live every second of his life.

Human life is the most precious gift, more precious than a Deva life. A Deva in Heaven has very little suffering. It is both a blessing and also a curse. The lack of suffering makes him complacent in self-cultivation. Self-indulgence now leads to suffering later. Human suffering is a motivation to cultivate oneself to have virtue, equanimity and wisdom. When one abandons greed, hatred and delusion, he will feel truly liberated and happy. Why wouldn’t you feel happy to be peaceful and calm under any circumstances?

Buddhist monks don’t do begging. They accept alms. They are different kinds of farmers. You Call Yourself a Farmer?: Kasibhāradvāja Sutta (SN 76-80)

The Buddha led by example. He showed the world that he lived with nothing without fear. Instead, he had perfect virtue, equanimity and wisdom through self-cultivation. He had no greed, hatred and delusion. He lived happily and equanimously.

Monks are worthy of respect and deserve the alms respectfully given by lay followers, especially when monks conducted themselves well. Receiving alms is not begging. Monks make sure the Dharma is passed on for many generations for the benefits of the people. Their good conduct in terms of virtue, equanimity and wisdom inspire others to find refuge in the Dharma. They don’t tarnish the good reputation of Buddhism. Anybody who slanders them as being selfish is blaming the blameless instead of praising the praiseworthy. The unwholesome karma can lead to bad outcomes.

Is the business of going-forth — as the Buddha and his disciples did — one that benefits countless beings, or only one being? Of these two practices — going-forth compared to making sacrifices — which appeals to you as the less difficult, the less violent, the more fruitful, and the more rewarding? — Sangarava Sutta AN 3.60. Monks who teach, practice and live according to Dhamma benefit countless beings. It is much more difficult and less violent to go forth than making sacrifices. It is much more fruitful and more rewarding to go forth than making sacrifices.

Giving alms to monks and sangha earns a lot of merits to the givers. Accepting alms gives the opportunity for lay followers to earn the merits. It is benevolent to both the givers and the monks.

This is monks accepting alms. It is not begging. I benefited a lot from Dharma. “Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to point out the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has monk — through many lines of reasoning — made the Dharma clear.” I feel so happy and equanimous every day. The Dharma was given to me for free. I feel so honored to be able to repay the kindness. I want to do Dana contributions to monks and sangha but never for the potential return-on-investment in terms of merits.

Which Religion is Better?

Atheists would say all religions are bad. They are not wrong, although they are not right either. They are not wrong because all religions condemn (at least the preachers do) Atheism. Even Pope Francis said Atheists should go to Hell. Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists consider non-believers as lower beings which deserved to be killed. How are these religions good if that’s their reputation it portrays to the whole world? Of course, some believers claim that those bigotry are not the true teaching of their religions. However, are they suggesting that the Pope and Imams are wrong? Are they claiming they know the religions better than the Pope and Imams? Are they expecting us to trust their words instead of the Pope and Imams?

Atheists are not right to generalize that all religions are bad. There are some elements of religious teaching which make believers happier with their lives. Some Atheists may have a lot of fear about life due to the lack of answers to their doubts. They feel so bewildered about what is right and wrong; what to do and not to do; what are the consequences in later life and afterlife; better or worse for individual and collective benefits; and many other doubts. Religious teaching provides the “answers”, but many can’t be verified or proven correct. Nevertheless, there are the “answers” instead of blank spaces to be filled up. Religious believers may be misguided but in many instances it can be better than Atheists who are unguided. Some Atheists kill more people than religious-motivated killing. Atheists can be as dangerous as wild animals; but some wild animals are harmless. So are religious believers; some are harmless and some are harmful.

The “answers” may not be correct, but the believers are conditioned to feel satisfied and content. It makes them happier; like marijuana does. The mental illness (which gives them a lot of suffering in terms of fear, obligations, guilt, anger, grief, lamentations and despair) is suppressed but not cured. This is at least better than enduring pain without painkillers. Happier people are less violence. This is good for themselves and also the society.

Comparing one football team with another is totally harmless. Comparing religion A to religion B can lead to wars and social chaos. Religious preachers cannot tolerate the existence of other religions. Of course, they try to be diplomatic on some occasions; but on another day they will go on tv shows to declare other religions as fake. They can’t even tolerate the existence of other sects of the same religion; leave alone acceptance of different views. The behaviour is like viruses; they really don’t want the body to break up because they need it to survive. However, their nature is to destroy the host. Religious fundamentalists really don’t want the world to break down into chaos, but their nature is to destroy their society.

Is religion good or bad? Everything which can survive the tests of time must have some good, although it may also have some bad. It is inaccurate to say a football team is bad because some elements are good while some others are bad. Just because they lost every game doesn’t mean they shouldn’t exist. Otherwise, another team will have to take the last position in the next season. There will be less number of games to watch. At least they can put up a fight.

Virus is not totally bad. It makes the body fight back and become stronger. If there is no religion, some parts of the world will be chaotic due to unguided Atheists. With religion, some parts of the world are chaotic due to misguided believers. It makes almost no difference. Is it bad to have chaos? If we choose to see reality as it is, not what we wish it to be, we will not simply judge something in simple terms of good vs bad. It is not abnormal to have chaos in time and space. Just as it is not abnormal to get sick. That’s the reality whether we like it or not. We must transcend the worldly definition of right and wrong, and good or bad. Let the Nature take its course. Don’t let the peace and happiness in your heart be affected by the outer world.

How Can We Apply Spiritual Concepts in Our Lives?

The whole problem with the world is that a lot of people have become insane. In this insane world, the sane are instead taken as insane by the majority. “Money” is used as a ruler to measure a person’s worth instead of happiness. The “money” is not even real money which is convertible to gold; the so-called “money” is just a number entered into the bank accounts. Strictly speaking, this kind of “money” is just credit; it can be written-off with a snap of the finger by “Thanos”.

Another insanity of the people is they want to have all kinds of sensual pleasure under the sun but not peace and happiness which are free-of-charge and can be found in the heart of everyone. Insane people don’t know that they are sick. They keep chasing the wrong things. They feel so much suffering of grief, lamentation and despair when they don’t get what they desire. Even if they get certain things which they desire, they still feel suffering due to fear of separation from the “loved one”. Most of the time, they get what they dislike (such as illnesses and bad relationships) and they again suffer for not being able to undo what they did.

The mental health issues may be due to academic pressure, peer pressure, economic pressure, relationship problems, and some people blame it on the ascendance of smartphones. Did the addiction to smartphones cause depression, or joyless living cause addiction to smartphones? That is the question, and the answer is probably the latter. Many “successful” individuals were unhappy with their “lives” too. At the moment before they die, they would probably say: “I have come to the pinnacle of success in business. In the eyes of others, my life has been the symbol of success. However, apart from work, I have little joy. Finally, my wealth is simply a fact to which I am accustomed. At this time, lying on the hospital bed and remembering all my life, I realize that all the accolades and riches of which I was once so proud, have become insignificant with my imminent death. In the dark, when I look at green lights, of the equipment for artificial respiration and feel the buzz of their mechanical sounds, I can feel the breath of my approaching death looming over me. Only now do I understand that once you accumulate enough money for the rest of your life, you have to pursue objectives that are not related to wealth. For example, stories of love, art, dreams of my childhood. No, stop pursuing wealth, it can only make a person into a twisted being, just like me.” – These aren’t Steve Jobs’s last words, but it still managed to inspire many people. “Successful” people become addicted to work because of joyless lives, the same way teens become addicted to smartphones. They did look forward to waking up every morning to go to work or play with smartphones, until they don’t. Yet many people say love-your-work is right but love-your-smartphone is wrong. In reality, both are not right and both are not wrong. What is right and what is wrong, actually?

Some people know that they are going insane and they seek refuge in a certain religion. The lucky ones found the right spiritual teacher and “medicine” to heal themselves. Unfortunately, many found the wrong teachers. They receive “poison” which heals their original insanity but the side effects cause them to have another kind of insanity. It may not be the fault of the religion but solely due to the incompetence of the preachers.

“People who believe they are good have morals, values and ethics. They hang on to this right and wrong, this morality and value systems because they give them a false sense of superiority. People who believe they are good are always looking down at the world. It is a sure way to miss the world. Even the most beautiful woman will not look very beautiful when you look from the top. Because you are continuously looking down, everything looks ugly and black – unless they are bald and shiny. Good people are everywhere. They have their values, they have their principles, they are very ethical, but they could live here for years being completely untouched by what is happening here. It doesn’t matter what you do, they remain untouched in their goodness. They live with the hope that good people go to Heaven.” – Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

Right and wrong are in the “box” (方内), but the problem is there are many “boxes” everywhere. If you subscribe to one “box”, you have one set of right and wrong. If you subscribe to a few “boxes”, you find that the different sets of right and wrong are conflicting with one another. You are thinking out-of-the-box (方外) when you start to question whether there are absolute right and absolute wrong. You will have freedom of thoughts (思想解放).

To believe in right and wrong is very stressful. Not believing in right and wrong is bewildering. Right and wrong are like proton and electron; they are opposite but attracted to each other, and both are indispensable (正反相依，对立相存). The universe cannot exist with too much proton (Yang) or too much electron (Yin). It is a matter of maintaining the balance in time and space. There will be imbalances from time to time and from one place to another place, but that’s OK. Wanting to be right and hate to be wrong all the time will be very stressful, whether you are imposing on yourself or other people. Other people imposing a set of right and wrong on you will also make you stressful. More often than not, you may think you are right but other people think you are wrong. That is why we see people committing suicide, quarrelling in a family, engaging in racial/religious disputes, and wars between nations.

Right and wrong will continue to exist, like proton and electron, regardless of whether we believe in the “box” or not. The definitions of right and wrong within the “box” are useful in each society, like laws in each country. But for our happiness and well-being, we must keep reminding ourselves not to be confined by the “box” but transcend it. We must not insist on always being right and hate being wrong; we must love and forgive ourselves. Don’t love proton (阳) and don’t hate electron (阴). There are values in everything. We must not insist on imposing high moral standard on other people; we must love and forgive other people, and in so doing we love and forgive ourselves (because we don’t feel angry, we don’t inflict pain to our hearts, we don’t whip ourselves with unnecessary responsibility of educating the public or being an unofficial policeman for social cause). Instead, we strive to be not-right but not-wrong. I am not right, nobody is right. Why should I be right? How can I insist other people do the right thing? Acceptance of diversity, knowing that we need each other (相依相存), is better than being tolerant (兼容并蓄).

Most people choose to see the negative sides of things; therefore they lose sight of the positive sides of everything. Many people are afraid to say politically-incorrect words, because saying them is not popular; but politically-incorrect doesn’t necessarily mean it is wrong. There are many politically-incorrect ideas in this article; including wanting to be not right. Wanting to be right is arrogant; this is probably the biggest desire of humans, and desire is the cause of all sufferings. Many people will loathe me for telling people to choose being not right. However, since I don’t want to be right, criticizing me for being not right has no effect on me, as long as I am not breaking any laws of the land. It is like confirming that I am practising what I preach. I am not right, and that’s OK, because that’s what I want to be. No words can hurt me; I am equanimous and unmoved like a mountain. It is so liberating when you choose to be not right.

Let them judge you. Let them misunderstand you. Let them gossip about you. Their opinions are not your problems. No matter what they do or say, don’t doubt your worth and the beauty of your truth. Just keep shining as you do.

The Buddha said life is suffering because nothing is permanent. There are 4 kinds of pain or suffering, due to: 1) sensual organs, 2) existence, 3) ignorance, 4) views. These are also called the 4 floods to cross in order to reach Nirvana or the island of perpetual happiness. One must strive to abandon clinging to sensual pleasures, desire for existence or self-identity, clinging to rules and rituals, and clinging to views (hence zeal to judge right and wrong). You must let go of ego and greed if you are serious about finding happiness, or letting happiness find you.

Don’t ask what the meaning of life is; life is meaningless if you are not happy. There is no path to happiness; happiness is the path. There are many things that you can be happy about in your life; don’t focus on the unhappy things. There are many white spaces on the whiteboard; don’t focus on the black ink. That is why you need to be resilient; so that you can continue to enjoy the happy moments of life even if there are difficult situations from time to time. What is the purpose of life? The answer is out there, and it’s looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to. That person in the mirror is your savior.

Spirituality should make you happier and equanimous which is unmoved by the outer world. Spirituality must give you wisdom. If you feel more suffering due to grief, lamentation and despair, that must mean you are going in the wrong direction. 

What about Buddhism specifically makes its followers so accepting of death?

Buddhists are not taught to be accepting of death. To be specific, they are taught to live well and therefore not afraid of death. There is a huge difference between the two cases. Death is a kind of suffering; but suffering is not always bad. Boon Kuan Chung’s answer to Why is suffering in Buddhism considered bad? Life is suffering regardless of whether one is born as a human or ghost, animal, Hell being, or even Deva simply because everything is impermanent. Good life now will end and the delayed suffering is still suffering. Suffering includes birth, growing old, sickness, phobia of death, association with the dislike, separation with loved ones, and not getting what one desires.

Accepting death may mean desire for non-existence. This kind of desire can lead to suffering and is not encouraged. Desire for non-existence includes premature termination of life of oneself or another; this is prohibited because the unwholesome karma will lead to bad rebirth in a woeful plane of ghost, animal or Hell realm. Accepting of death may mean one has no more wish to live. This is definitely not the teaching of the Buddha.

Conversely, Buddha teaches us to live well in the present moment; no mourning about the past and no worry about the future. Live well with no fear, obligation, and guilt (FOG); because no amount of guilt can change the past, and no amount of worry can guarantee any good outcome in the future. Living well in the present moment means treasuring and being grateful for every second of one’s life. It is contentment, therefore one will have no regret for his life and not afraid to die in the next second. One should not have grief, lamentation or despair about his life. No life is too difficult to live, and there should be no complaints about any hardship in life. A beautiful sight is just a sight; it doesn’t have to cause a feeling of pleasure. Similarly, bodily pain is just a signal to the brain; it doesn’t have to cause feelings of grief, lamentation or despair. One should just find ways to kill the bodily pain when possible, but have no regret if painkiller drug is unavailable. The core teaching of Buddhism is about ceasing of all mental suffering. Naturally, ceasing of bodily or physical suffering is encouraged but not made into a desire for existence. The Four Noble Truths say, 1) life is suffering, 2) suffering is due to desire or attachment, 3) suffering ceases when desire and attachment are abolished, 4) everyone can do it by walking the Noble Eightfold Path. There are three types of desire: sensual pleasures, existence, and non-existence. One must walk the middle path; not standing still nor striving too hard to cross the flood. When one is no longer clinging to any of these desires, he is liberated and is not afraid of death. Death is no longer a suffering for an Enlightened one; because all fetters binding him to Samsara or Cycles of Rebirth have been broken, and he has transcended the worldly definitions of suffering.

The question is how does one live well? One’s life is lived well when he uses every second to feel happy. Being in a state of equanimity is the more superior form of happiness than any kinds of sensual pleasures. When one has this Right View, he will be grateful to be alive and treasure every second until the very end of his life to cultivate himself in terms of virtue, equanimity and wisdom. One will finally have no suffering but only happiness when he totally abandons greed, hatred and delusion. The promise of good rebirth is not important anymore because he already gains much benefits from the training; he has no more attachment to any view, including the thought of good rebirth; neither is his mind troubled by the thought about escaping Samsara.

One needs to have the desire to cross the flood. However, when he has actually reached the destination, his mind will cease to be troubled by the thought about crossing the flood. The boat which was useful earlier can now be abandoned.

Confucius was born in a chaotic era (much worse than today) when strong States in China went to wars with each other to compete for hegemonic power. I would expect almost nobody thinks about having inner peace because the thought of it is a luxury itself; much worse than today. Very few make attaining inner peace as a priority; obviously, they won’t attain it. Confucius correctly diagnosed the illness of the society that the root of the problem was people have become crazy; i.e. no inner peace and not thinking about attaining inner peace. People (especially the top 1%) refused to maintain societal order and harmony (礼坏乐崩). The ruling classes were competing to maximize personal power, wealth and sensual pleasures instead of the welfare of all the people; they sucked away all the air and made everybody else fight to breathe from the thin air which was disappearing. It couldn’t be solved with political or economic policies, although there were tons of political and economic problems. The root of the problems must be eradicated through education; an education to cure the mental illness of the people such that they value inner peace which is a more superior form of happiness than sensual pleasures. People can only attain inner peace if they put high priority to attain it. Confucius believed societal peace and harmony could be regained if he could persuade the people to self-regulate through a belief in rules and rituals 礼 (similar to belief in rule-of-law) and love for music 乐 (not just the privileged few but the whole society); let everybody be happy (众乐乐) instead of just the privileged few (独乐乐). He didn’t wait for somebody else to lead but took the liberty on himself to start the process of curing the society. He started recruiting students and educating people. Crazy people couldn’t recognize true reasons; therefore, Confucius’s ideas were strongly opposed by the ruling classes. They blamed the poor people for not being productive and couldn’t pay more taxes or rents to the government and the rich. Confucius was telling them to help the poor become more productive so that the economy will grow (aka make a bigger cake) and the rich will never become poorer. Unfortunately, the government and the rich were not interested; they only wanted to accumulate wealth as much as they could (aka take the biggest slice of the cake). Anyway, Confucius said: “Sweet grass herb grows in the forest but doesn’t stop releasing fragrant smell just because there was nobody around. A gentleman develops his spirituality but doesn’t change his moral conduct just because he is hungry for acceptance of others. He does whatever he can with good conduct in deed, word, and thought. Alive or death, success or failure, are to be left to fate or Dao (the Way reality is instead of one wishes it to be).” (且芝兰生于深林，不以无人而不芳；君子修道立德，不谓穷困而改节。为之者，人也；生死者，命也。) Be who you are and say what you feel. To deny our impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human.

Confucius wanted to teach the people to love inner peace; because that is the only way to build world peace. How can one teach others to love inner peace if he doesn’t cultivate it within himself? Hence, the most basic teaching of Confucius is for one to practice inner peace himself first and foremost. Having no respect for the training and self-cultivation (修身) will only embarrass oneself when he tries to teach others. It is a matter of setting one’s priority correctly. If one’s priority is himself, his desires and sensual pleasures, surely these will occupy his mind instead of the search for inner peace. Inner peace is essential for one to make decisions correctly; a mind which is not calm will only make decisions which will bring harms to himself, his family, and even his community. Without inner peace, one who is angry or sad only hurts himself; this self-harm is unwise and reflects badly on one’s personality. Confucius taught his students to set their mind on learning the Dao (which is similar to Dhamma in Buddhism); which will make one a fine gentleman 君子 (which is similar to Arahant in Buddhism). He taught his students to be content to live with little and not to be greedy for wealth and position.

Confucius said: “After learning the true Dao in the morning, I have no more attachment to myself and am not afraid to die in the evening.” (子曰：朝闻道，夕死可矣。) This is true liberation. If one’s priority is inner peace, everything else is secondary and redundant. One is so unwise to cling on to himself, his desires and sensual pleasures but suffer the consequences. Confucius said: “A fine gentleman has three qualities, but I am yet to attain any of those. True compassion makes one has no worry, grief, hatred, or any unwholesome feelings; true intelligence makes one has no delusion and doubt; true courage makes one has no fear.” (子曰：君子道者三，我无能焉：仁者不忧，知者不惑，勇者不惧。) Confucius said: “Learned persons in the past generations learnt everything for their happiness and liberation; unlike learned persons of today who learn only “useful” knowledge for the sole purpose of working as servants who are useful to serve others.” (子曰：古之学者为己，今之学者为人).

Confucius said: “Being poor but not lickspittle, being rich but not proud, are not better than being poor but happy, and being rich but polite and respectful.” (子贡曰：贫而无谄，富而无骄，何如？子曰：可也，未若贫而乐，富而好礼者也。) The priority of a truly intelligent person is spirituality and inner wealth, not external or financial wealth. Confucius said: “Yan Hui, my favorite disciple, is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! (He has perfect virtue, equanimity, and wisdom.) With little food and water, and living in a small house at the slum, most people would feel extremely depressed with poverty. However, Yan Hui is able to stay happy and never change his attitude towards being financially poor but spiritually rich.” (贤哉回也！一箪食，一瓢饮，在陋巷，人不堪其忧，回也不改其乐。) You can lose everything including your arms and legs but you must never lose your happiness.

Confucius said: “The only one who could maintain peace without the need to do anything was Emperor Shun. What did he have to do? He just upheld his ethics, expressed his great compassion and inspired all the people, and takes the leadership role of leading by example.” (《论语·卫灵公》子曰: “无为而治者，其舜也与？夫何为哉？恭己正南面而已矣。”) Confucius, like Lao Zi, agrees that the ideal situation is when there is no need to do anything. Of course, they meant doing the necessary towards achieving the state of nothing else to do (为无为 则无不治); no more problem, so no more intervention needed. The vision about the final goal is very important when you do something; so that you are truly clear about your mission and constantly stay on the path to reach the long-term goal. Playing clever tricks to tackle the symptoms but not eliminating the root cause will not have a good ending. While you are enjoying a peaceful life, albeit not perfect, don’t start to desire for perfection or “precious” things (in whatever ways you define them) and do all sorts of things to change the status quo. You may end up destroying peace and have to live in a chaotic world where you are forced to do more things to solve multiple problems created by earlier “solutions” which are actually non-solutions. Instead of being foolish and deluded, the best thing to do may just be to change the person in the mirror. One must not assume he has the responsibility or rights to change everything which he doesn’t like to see; one must learn to see reality as it is. The reality is perfectly imperfect.

Confucius said: “I wish to stop talking.” His disciple was alarmed and asked: “Master. If you stop talking, how could we learn from you?” Confucius replied: “What did Heaven ever say? The four seasons continue to rotate, and all living things continue to survive. What did Heaven ever say?” (《论语·阳货》子曰：“予欲无言。”子贡曰：“子如不言，则小子何述焉？”子曰：“天何言哉？四时行焉，百物生焉，天何言哉？”) A great leader just needs to lead by example and say nothing. The world will be peaceful if everybody learns from the ethical conduct of the leader, and everybody minds his own business. There is really nothing to say. Those who really know the Dao will not say what it is; those who say it do not really know what they are talking about (知者弗言, 言者弗知). The real Dao cannot be fully described with words; it can only be experienced, like Enlightenment. If it can be told, that only means it is not really a great thing. The Dao is in everything and everywhere. It is this at one time and space; it is that at another time and space (无常). When the leader is needed to speak, the world is already in chaos. What the leader says is not the Dao; he only speaks what is helpful at that moment and location. Why don’t you wish you never have to say a word? Why don’t you wish you don’t have to be a hero and let peace continue to thrive?

Confucius said: “Obtaining knowledge is not as good as loving the knowledge; loving the knowledge is not as good as feeling comfortable and happy to practice the knowledge and wisdoms (知之者不如好之者，好之者不如乐之者).” Knowing how to attain inner peace is different from practicing it; and this is yet different from the direct or personal knowledge of the blissfulness and happily abiding in inner peace.

Confucius said: “A gentleman would seek harmony and not insist on unity; despicable person would seek unity and not satisfied with harmony (君子和而不同，小人同而不和).” When we hear something which we want to hear, the words are pleasing to our ears (顺耳). When we are able to listen to different opinions, without disturbing our inner peace, our ears are pleasing to the words or people who want to offer ideas to us (耳顺). Dividing the opinions into right and wrong should be avoided. We should have a calm demeanor, peace of mind, and not easily swayed into emotional states when faced with points of view that run counter to us. We should recognize that there are different ways of looking at different things depending on the context and perspectives. Ultimately, we want to have the intelligent to do what our hearts tell us to do, without violating the Dao (能从心所欲，不逾矩).

Confucius said: “I have never seen a person who really likes compassion but hates people who lack compassion. A person who really likes compassion sees it as an extremely precious/rare thing and high standard which is very hard to achieve; therefore, not expecting many people to be able to achieve it. For a person who hates lack of compassion, his show of compassion is merely to prevent himself from being grouped among the people who lack compassion. Will he ever use all his energy to practice compassion?” (我未見好仁者，惡不仁者。好仁者，無以尚之；惡不仁者，其為仁矣，不使不仁者加乎其身。有能一日用其力於仁矣乎？) If compassion is easy for everyone to achieve, it will cease to be a precious thing. A fine gentleman who has true compassion will be gentle; his inner peace makes him have no anger nor grief.

Tolerance is the power to forgive (恕). One day, Confucius told his disciple, Zeng Shen: “Shen, my philosophies can all be related by one fundamental principle.” Zeng Shen replied: “Understood.” After Confucius left, the other disciples asked Zeng Shen: “What is the meaning?” Zeng Shen said: “The philosophies of our teacher can all be related to Honesty and Forgiveness.” (子曰： “参乎，吾道一以贯之。” 曾子曰： “唯。” 子出，门人问曰： “何谓也？” 曾子曰： “夫子之道，忠恕而已矣。”) Honesty (忠) means truly coming from the heart (忠于事，忠于言，忠于人，忠于己). Loyalty is an act of dishonesty if it doesn’t come from the heart; although some people like it that way regardless. When you are honest, to yourself and to others, everything you said comes from your heart. Nothing is artificial or pretentious, although you may not be right all the time. You will be honest to the king as much as being honest to the people. You will be honest in doing your job, and never make any promise that you don’t intend to keep. You will be honest to yourself, be who you are and not pretend to be someone you are not. If your heart is full of the capacity to forgive, you will be able to tolerate differences and not insist on conformance, although you like people to show good manners.

Most people love Confucius but at the same time dislike Confucians. Confucius has an image of being a compassionate and loving old teacher who tried very hard to bring world peace in the chaotic era of the Warring States period. He persevered to preach his belief in compassion and righteousness although he knew he would fail. Confucians on the other hand give people the impression of nasty old men who always put up an angry face like the fighting cock. Confucius advocated compassion and righteousness as the qualities for individuals to improve themselves. The incentive for individuals to attain the qualities is to have the desired inner beauty. The individuals can then be recruited by the king as government ministers. Confucians on the other hand view compassion and righteousness as precious things to possess, and they want everybody to believe that they have the qualities. To create that kind of illusion, they will let everybody know that they hate people who lack compassion and righteousness, as if they don’t have shortcomings in those qualities. In other words, they are bluffing. They further coerce everybody to show compassion and righteousness, hence the fighting cock look which upset everybody. They are intolerant of differences and diversity. They are big bullies, which is the opposite of the truly compassionate and loving old teacher that they try to emulate; so ironically. Confucius said: “Don’t worry about being misunderstood by other people; instead, worry about misunderstanding other people.” (不患人之不己知，患不知人也。)

Confucius said: “Intelligent individuals have a fondness for water, and compassionate individuals have a fondness for mountains. Intelligent individuals know how to adapt to changes (like water reshapes to its environment), and compassionate individuals like to keep quiet (like mountains). Intelligent individuals are happy, and compassionate people will have long lives.” (知者乐水，仁者乐山；知者动，仁者静；知者乐，仁者寿。) The great emphasis on inner peace is not overstated.

Inner peace can only be attained if one truly wants it. One must walk the path and not just stop at knowing the path. One must not give excuses to want many other things in addition to inner peace. Greed is toxic to one’s happiness. Hold on to what you have but don’t grip tightly. Let go of anything as and when necessary.

Buddhism is not judgemental of everything else except for oneself. One must always concentrate on oneself, for the happiness of oneself, and never to let one’s emotion to be moved by outer world. The training for a Buddhist is to abandon greed, hatred and delusion to finally become an Arahant. The most difficult thing to do is to go forth and decide to walk the spiritual path as a monk. After that, the most difficult thing to do is to find delight as a monk. After finding delight through meditation and concentration on oneself, the most difficult thing to do is to continue living according to the Dhamma. If one can persist to walk on the Noble Eightfold Path, it will not be long for one to become an Arahant. One will have direct or personal knowledge of Nirvana, feel what have to be done have been done, and there is no more coming back into this world to suffer in the never ending cycle of rebirth. Of course, this is the highest achievement and the Buddha never expected many will be able to reach this ideal state of crossing the floods. Nevertheless, the teaching cannot be watered down simply for the purpose of fitting the deficiency of individuals. Like an examination, scoring 50% is good enough for lay disciples and most monks. It’s an extremely difficult examination after all. Don’t be too hard on yourself, much less on others. One can always retake the examination again in the next life. If one truly has the Right View, he has scored more than 50% and is guaranteed to become an Arahant in less than 7 attempts or lives.

The objective of the spiritual path is not about perfection of virtue. Although there are precepts to follow, clinging to rules and views are forewarned by the Buddha. One must also cultivate himself in terms of equanimity and wisdom. One must not see right and wrong in others, lest his equanimity will be affected and indicates his lack of wisdom. There are right and wrong in judging oneself but not in judging others or the world.

The Noble Eightfold Path comprises Right View, Right Thinking, Right Actions, Right Speech, Right Livelihood, Right Efforts, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. It is one path with eight attributes and cannot be divided into eight different paths. Similarly, an Arahant must have perfect virtue, equanimity and wisdom; not lacking any one aspect. He is then liberated, by himself, and gain true freedom which cannot be taken away by anybody or anything in the outer world.

In Buddhism, what is right is any skilful karma which leads to one’s happiness. The only thing which is wrong is any unskilful karma which leads to one’s unhappiness now or in the future; or a volition which will have suffering repercussions. There are no right and wrong for judging of others. We don’t judge other teaching as right or wrong; but we do analyse it, praise it if it is a good practice for us to follow, or criticise it if it is a bad practice which we must not follow. We will not dictate others to do or not to do anything, regardless of whether it is right or wrong. Enforcement of laws must be left to the relevant worldly authorities. Any teaching is praiseworthy if it leads to abandonment of greed, hatred and delusion. A person is praiseworthy if he practices abandonment of greed, hatred and delusion.

Life is suffering because nothing is permanent. There are 4 kinds of pain or suffering, due to: 1) sensual organs, 2) existence, 3) ignorance, 4) views. These are also called the 4 floods to cross. One can never cross any flood if he stand still or he strive too hard. If one stands still, he will sink. If one strive too hard, he will be swept away by the whirlpool. The right thing to do is to walk the middle path; don’t stand still and don’t strive too hard. Abandon clinging to sensual pleasures, desire for existence or self-identity, clinging to rules and rituals (hence zeal to judge right and wrong), and abandon clinging to views (about what is freedom, good or bad, capitalism vs. Socialism, democracy vs. Totalitarianism, etc.) Thinking about “I”, “mine”, “myself” is ego. Thinking about wanting to possess, or to be/become something is greed. One must let go of ego and greed if he is serious about finding happiness, or letting happiness finds him. The truth and happiness are looking for you; they can only find you when you are ready and you stop running around.

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.