..续本文上一页h, morality and good actions people do is motivated by their desire to prepare for their entry into the heaven. But this heaven is something for the future. It is impossible to go to heaven while still living as a human being. Therefore, the concept of a heaven is only a belief. In reality, heaven cannot be proven to exist. It seems rather vague to use the existence of something that cannot be proven as one”s purpose for living!
As mentioned earlier, Buddhism denies that there is any permanent and absolute significance of life, and described life as unsatisfactory (s. dukkha) and void (s. sunyata). However, Buddha acknowledged that there is a relative significance of life, and it is through this relative and conditioned nature of life that we can achieve and realize the universal truth. According to the discourses of the Buddha, our lives, and the world, are nothing but phenomena that rise and fall. It is a process of forming and degenerating. There is nothing that is not subject to change or impermanence. Impermanence indicates that there is no eternal bliss, because even a joyous state will eventually cease and become suffering. Because there is suffering, there will be no ultimate and complete freedom. Hence, the Buddha taught about non-self (“self” implies the existence). The Brahmin of the Buddha”s era considered life and the world by conceptualizing that there was a metaphysical entity who has the nature of "permanence", "happiness" and "self". This concept was completely refuted by the Buddha and He described it as delusion. The Buddha observed the reality and taught the truth of "impermanence", "suffering" and "non-self". From these truths of life, i.e. impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and non-self, how can we establish the significance of our lives
According to the Buddha, life and the world, and existence, are "Dependent Originated". Dependent origination means that all phenomena and all existence, do not arise due to the instruction of a God, or nature, or fate, or spontaneity, but to the Law of Dependent Origination. Under the interplay of the main, auxiliary, and the various complicated conditions and reasons, we exist now as we are. Everything exists due to causes and conditions. From the perspective of the causes and conditions, existence is referred to as the effect. Therefore, life and the world are the product of a stream of extremely complicated causes and effects, and they are strictly abide by the Law of Cause and Effect.
The existence of human beings is therefore entirely dependent-originated. Dependent origination has a concomitant reciprocating relationship externally, and a past-to-future continuous relationship internally. For example, we have a reciprocating relationship and mutually-affected action and reaction relationship simultaneously with other human beings, other sentient beings, and nature, which includes the earth, water, fire and wind (air). One type of existence, constitutes one type of activity that has at the same time, different effects on oneself as well as to the others, resulting in different karmic relationships. For instance, in one country, the political, economic, educational or foreign policy, will definitely affect other countries in some ways, although the greatest effect will be on the country itself. This is the same for a social organization, or a family. All actions will affect other social organizations or families; but the greatest effect is on the particular social organization or family itself. As for the inpidual, his speech and behavior will affect the others, but at the same time these actions will also affect the inpidual and his future. Even for those ideas within his mind that are not expressed, they will also affect him physiologically and mentally. The dependen…
《What is the Significance of Life
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