90- STUDYING BUDDHISM AND PRACTICING HUMANISM

Those who are determined to practice the Way have to undergo a learning process and a long-lasting implementation journey.

We must learn about ourselves and others in order to know ourselves and others, so that when we implement the Way we can deal with everyone and with all circumstances. No circumstance is like another, and no one is like anyone else. Thus, even if we have learned to understand ourselves and others, it is still essential to avoid subjective views and assessments.

Subjectivity comes from personal experiences, because we think that we are just like others. At the same time, we have subjective experience about others, because one is different from another.

An intellectual and educated person can behave and act like an uneducated and dishonest one; while an uneducated and dishonest person can behave and act as an intellectual and educated one.

To know a person thoroughly, we have to observe his/her deep nature. This deep nature can be covered by education, environment, opportunities, positions, situations, and circumstances, and so forth, through the person’s entire life.

Each one has his/her own value, which we can identify only at a high level of clear wisdom.

How can we reach this level of clear wisdom?

This is a very difficult task; how can we attain it?

What should we do to reach it?

Should we maintain peace of mind? Should we stay in the state of non-emotion? Should we look at human beings with neither past nor future? Should we look at human beings as if we have no relationship to them, related or not, neither love nor hate?

Is this important or not?

Are we only complacent when we take the role of a witness, a spectator who watches the movements and changes of all the roles, and the moves in a chess game that have been pre-arranged by Providence, rather than taking charge and making the moves? Each move in a chess game causes a change, an impact on other pawns. The clever move does not mean that we can defeat the opponent. A weak move does not cause the opponent to win.

The moves in any chess game have thousands of forms and situations, depending on the mind of the players.

This is merely a chess game of the Lower Sphere: the chess game of the schemes, of the calculating mundane cleverness, of those who are still learning the Way.

Those who implement the Way stand inside the chess game of Providence. They step on or step back following the rhythmic rotation of the five elements, of the extraordinary Divine Variation, in which they are integrated. If they bring mundane cleverness into these works, they will fall off the trajectory of this flexible arrangement.

Those who integrate and harmonize with the High-Above do their work following the Heavenly Way. What seems good can be bad, and vice versa. What is good may lead to challenges, while what is bad may lead to a new horizon, or an opportunity to realize a great roadmap for the benefit of the nation or the world.

The challenges can help the collaborators of those who serve the Divine Way to realize, to be awakened, to be more enthusiastic, more driven, and to cooperate more efficiently.

The more challenges and failures, the greater the benefits. Enlightenment always motivates people to advance, to be more decisive and more willing to cooperate.

If one follows the human path, one can foresee the consequences. If one follows the Divine Way, there will be many unexpected and interesting surprises.

All changes and agitations of the five elements are there to make the process faster, so that those who face challenges can collaborate and start the work. This reflects human ignorance caused by indolence and reluctance and by not being able to foresee the divine providence.

Even those who implement the Way still have the bad habits of indolence. Work needs to be done, but you should be aware of the learning process and the changes. You should not “blend with the situation,” “be infatuated with the situation,” or “be selfish” to take advantage of your own religious practice and forget the common needs.

There are circumstances for learning the Way, as well as those for implementing the Way. No situation is like another, so our body and our illuminated mind can adjust to the surroundings.

You should not fear the changes in your surroundings and in your work, but should accept these with calmness. Your illuminated mind can perceive this quickly, but the body is usually slow, indolent, and therefore less receptive to changes. This is the fear that we have to overcome.

As the changes and transformations are increasing, we should eliminate fear in order to be more effective at what we are doing. We should assume the role to be performed, without trying to elude or avoid, since this is supposed to be voluntary, not coerced.

Our intelligence and willpower may be strong, but our heart, our emotions, and the body are always weak. They hesitate, and they crave pleasure. We should not feel disappointed about ourselves, since we are human beings, and thanks to this fact we are able to help others.

Be peaceful and complacent to maintain a good balance between our body and soul, through the methodology and principles that we have learned and practiced. Balance, peace, and complacency will help us to be wise so as to make the right decision, to be more sensitive so as to perceive the sudden changes wrought by Providence, so that we can act appropriately. Sorrow and illness are only the changing phase of the physical body, which strives to catch up with the fast pace of the changes in an illuminated mind .

At the moment when the illuminated mind and the body grow together in harmony, we no longer face difficulties. By then, we are strong enough to endure all difficulties and have enough energy to control and guide the crowd.

We will be sensitive just to know, but not to be swayed by emotions. As we know others, we will not be manipulated by them but will know how to control them.

At this point, we will act as master of all situations and circumstances. We are no longer weak, and we cannot easily be defeated physically and spiritually.

All agitations and movements by human beings and circumstances will no longer affect us; we will only swivel and change under the laws of nature. We know people and the surroundings, but they cannot know us with our moves and changes. Therefore, we are beyond the dangers caused by others.

Why did our predecessors fall into danger? Because they acted with emotions and did not use the human intelligence. They only relied on the Divine Way, but not the Human Way.

In order to succeed in serving the Life and the Way, we should learn the Way to practice the Divine Way, and at the same time we should retain the Human Way to live as human beings.

We cannot use the Divine Way to deal with human beings; rather, we have to understand all human tricks to know them first in order to deal with them. This is the coordination and harmony between Learning Buddhism and Practicing Humanism.

Learning Buddhism is to understand the teachings of the Buddha and to follow the path of Buddha to seek the truth and reach it. Practicing Humanism is to understand ourselves and others in a way that when we seek the truth we do not oppose mankind.

We should learn the Way - Learning Buddhism; should implement the Way - Practicing Humanism; and should ultimately reach the Way.

There is no other path to follow. All other paths are mirage and illusion.