Do you know that the Hinayana and Mahayana are different?

The four thoughts refer to the four places where the mind is settled, also known as the four thoughts and minds, which are not purely about meditation, but with the four methods of wisdom (four methods) to observe the four thoughts and use the four thoughts (four mindfulness) to break the four upside-downs (four upside downs), so it is called the four minds to settle down. The Four Dharmas: The Four Thoughts:

Four Kinds of Thoughts: Four Reversals: Impure Mind Contemplating Impure Body and Mind Being Pure Attachment to the Body and Being Clean (Pure) Suffering Suffering Suffering Contemplating Suffering Being Suffering Attachment to the World of Happiness (Happiness) Impermanence Mind Contemplating Impermanence Attachment to the World with an Eternal Self Selfless Thoughts Contemplating the Dharma without Self Attachment to a Self Because we first cling to me, we further cling to me as permanent, happy, and clean.

In Buddhism, these four incorrect perceptions are called the four upside-downs. The four thoughts are in the four places of body, suffering, mind, and dharma, with the mindfulness of impurity, suffering, impermanence, and selflessness, and generating the observation of wisdom, that is, to contemplate the impurity of the body, the suffering of suffering, the impermanence of the mind, and the selflessness of the Dharma, so as to achieve the four reversals of purity, happiness, permanence, and self that we are attached to. After the four reversals are broken, we will not have greed and sorrow, and the reason why sentient beings have all kinds of sorrows and all kinds of greed and ignorance is because of attachment to permanence, happiness, self, and purity.

Well, there is no Amitabha Buddha in the south!

There is a widely circulated opinion:

Many people believe that the "Hinayana mentioned by Han Buddhism" refers to the four thoughts and other methods of Southern Buddhism.

Thus creating an illusion:

It seems to be: Southern Buddhism, which is definitely lower than Chinese Buddhism.

Is that really the case?

Take a look at the Six Patriarchs Altar Sutra:

Seeing and reciting is Hinayana, understanding the Dharma is the Middle Vehicle, practicing according to the law is Mahayana, all the Dharma is complete, all the Dharma is ready, everything is unstained, and there is nothing to gain from the Dharma, and the name is the best."

It can be seen from this that the so-called "Hinayana in Chinese Buddhism" is actually divided according to the degree of practice.

It is not divided according to "practicing a certain method".

Because of that widespread misconception, which leads to:

Some Han Buddhists belittle the Southern Tradition.

Some Southern Buddhists deny the Chinese tradition.

In fact, Southern Buddhism has the pure lineage of Shakyamuni Buddha.

The content of its exposition is not only "neither low nor small", but also pure and immaculate.

The main thing is to see the difference in the ground, not the difference in the way of practice.

For example, if the same good deeds are not sustained by wisdom, then people are good. If it is a bodhisattva who does good deeds without dwelling (the Diamond Sutra does charity without dwelling), it is a bodhisattva goodness.

The fundamental difference between the Mahayana view and the Hinayana view is that the Hinayana has nirvana to prove, but in the end it cannot break the dharma, and because of the dharma, it cannot arise without great compassion. Only those who dwell in the Dharma or dwell in sentient beings have compassion.

When a thought arises, know that it arises and let it go away" There may be something wrong with this kind of practice, and if you let it go away, you are moved. And the four thoughts need to contemplate the mind as the mind, and the Dharma as the Dharma (if it is not moving), if the mind is impermanent, and the Dharma is selfless, then it falls into the preconceived idea of knowledge. Contemplating the impermanence of the mind and contemplating the Dharma without self should be the conclusion of observation, but once there is a conclusion, it will fall into knowledge.

In fact, it is through observation that we can understand dependent arising (the phenomenon of the birth and death of the mind is dependent action, birth and extinction, and silence is happiness), and the conclusion is: contemplating the impermanence of the mind, and contemplating the Dharma without self.

Zen Buddhism is the cultivation after enlightenment, and the four thoughts are just seeking tranquility in motion, which looks the same on the surface, but the two are essentially different!

The four thoughts are the foundation, and from the Mahayana path, we have to start with the four thoughts. In Zen Buddhism, it doesn't matter whether there is emptiness or not, and whether it is contemplative or not, because emptiness arises at the same time, and the thought of emptiness is no longer empty, so the empty realm is very ready-made, and it comes and goes naturally, and it does not require much effort. Theoretically, this is true, but in fact, few people have reached this realm, so only by starting from the four thoughts to cultivate, the kung fu is proficient, the theory is turned, and the understanding is understood, and it will naturally arrive.

Therefore, the practice of Zen Buddhism is inseparable from the Hinayana effort.

In fact, it is not meaningful to look for differences, but to find a common destination is the right way! The 84,000 methods are all for bodhichitta, and from this point of view, there is no difference between Mahayana and Hinayana. Contemplation of the mind, the name is contemplation, and time is the memory after it comes out.

If there is still a thought of contemplation in the middle of the way, it is a head on the head, and it is far from the road. Therefore, it is not necessary to practice meditation to do a good job of analyzing Buddhist theories and understanding the birth and death of the mind, but to be able to integrate knowledge and action, unless you are a superior root instrument, you need to practice through meditation and other methods. The Hinayana Four Thoughts are the early versions of the Buddhist scriptures of meditation, and the Zen meditation method and the Four Thoughts method are both to help you understand the relationship between the birth and death of thoughts and the relationship and habits, but in different ways.

To practice meditation is to get rid of habits and to follow the circumstances. If you follow the fate, the heart and the mirror are one, and there is no difference.

It is not enough to just develop bodhichitta because there are also deep and shallow minds, and it will take 10,000 eons for a bodhisattva of 10 faiths to practice before he can reach his first residence.

It is also necessary to understand the Mahayana Buddha of emptiness, so that we can know that there is no duality, and that there is always silence and silence.

In this way, the state of meditation will be different from that of Hinayana . When Hinayana meditation reaches the highest state, it leads to "gray body and mind", and if you cut him with a knife, he will not be aware of it, because Hinayana looks at the world with consciousness and discriminating mind, emptiness is emptiness, and there is being.

In Mahayana meditation, the mind is as if it is not moving, but the external environment can be clear and clear. The two monks meditated, and after one monk came out of the meditation, he told the other monk what was going on just now, and the other monk was very surprised.

The Hinayana Four Thoughts is to use wisdom to observe the four thoughts of body, suffering, mind, and Dharma, and to break the four reversals of normality, happiness, self, and purity. The four places of thought include the place of body thought, the place of receiving thought, the place of mind thought, and the place of Dharma thought. The content of the four thoughts is mainly based on the five aggregates:

Contemplating impurity, suffering, impermanence, and selflessness of the Dharma, thus embarking on the path to Nirvana and Buddhahood.

The Hinayana Four Thoughts is a very important practice method, and the Buddhist scriptures say that those who study the Four Thoughts seriously will be able to realize the first fruits in seven days for the fast ones and seven years for the slow ones. The four thoughts can remove the four reversals of permanence, happiness, self, and purity of sentient beings, so that sentient beings can be purified, and all afflictions and sorrows can be restrained, pain and sorrow can be eliminated, and thus they can embark on the path to Nirvana and Buddhahood.

The Zen method of contemplating the mind belongs to the method of contemplation, and the object of contemplation is the "mind". To contemplate is to be aware. Fundamentally speaking, the feeling is the body, the light is for use, the body must be useful, and the use is not separated from the body, such as the mirror body must have a mirror surface, and the mirror surface does not leave the mirror body, and the two are inseparable.

From the point of view of cultivation, it is necessary to be aware to be able to shine, and to follow the senses, like a shadow follows the form, and it is also like seeing a shadow immediately, and the awareness is basically synchronized. If you are unconscious, you will be lost, and if you are lost, you will not be able to shine.

Regardless of Hinayana, Mahayana, or Tantra, the four thoughts are the basic practice program of all Buddhism, and in Buddhism, there are 37 ways to practice the general path of liberation. Among the 37 qualities, the most important are the Four Thoughts and the Eightfold Path. The four thoughts refer to the four places where the mind is settled, also known as the four thoughts and places.

To put it simply, it means contemplating the impurity of the body, contemplating suffering, contemplating the impermanence of the mind, and contemplating the dharma without self. In order to achieve the four reversals of purity, happiness, permanence, and self that we are attached to. After breaking the four reversals, we will not have craving, sorrow, trouble, and suffering.

The practice method of focusing on the four thoughts is called vipassana in Southern Buddhism, that is, Zen, and sitting meditation and meditation are recognized by everyone. Both Southern Buddhism (the so-called Hinayana Buddhism) and the so-called Mahayana Buddhism and Tantric Buddhism in the Northern tradition all practice this aspect.

But this Zen is completely different from the later Zen Buddhism of Mahayana Buddhism. Zen Buddhism is a practice that goes beyond visualization and meditation to become a Buddha by breaking free from the constraints of words.

Mahamudra, on the other hand, is based on the idea of practice in the tantric sense, combined with other methods of experience.

Zen Buddhism focuses on the transcendence of the mind, while Tantra combines the visualization and practice of the different schools of Buddha-figures on top of the comprehension of the mind.

All of these methods are different paths, and the basic starting point is the basic concepts of impermanence, selflessness, suffering, emptiness, and so on.

The four places of mind refer to the four places where the mind is settled, also known as the four places of mindfulness. This is the wisdom of observing the four minds to break the four perversions.

The content of Hinayana meditation is to contemplate the impurity of the body, the suffering of suffering, the impermanence of the mind, and the non-self of the Dharma, the latter of which refers to the observation of the absence of self in all dharmas.

Mahayana surpasses Hinayana in the "Commentary on the Middle Side", and it is said that the Mahayana practice surpasses Hinayana by the three aspects of cause, intention, and effect. In terms of causes, Mahayana is based on all the dharmas taken by the self-and other continuums, and then we see that people and dharmas have no self-nature; Hinayana is mainly a method of self-continuation, and it is only by seeing that there is no self in people, so Mahayana is even more extensive. In terms of intention, Hinayana is based on impermanence, suffering, and so on. Mahayana, on the other hand, is to move away from all gains and losses such as permanence and impermanence and to act in a way that has no cause.

In terms of attainment, Hinayana can only attain Hinayana nirvana, don't separate reincarnation and nirvana; Mahayana can prove that "wisdom does not dwell on all beings, sorrow does not stagnate nirvana", and there is no second non-abiding nirvana. This is where Mahayana surpasses Hinayana and transcends Hinayana.

Specifically, the Mahayana practice of selflessness includes the selflessness of people and the absence of self; Among them, the practice of selflessness can be summed up in the four mindfulness, that is, the great emptiness of the body, the body, the mind, and the Dharma. When cultivating, we first select the three methods of body, receptivity, and mind, which are closely related to us, and after observing and choosing the great emptiness, we rely on mindfulness to make the mind settle in the emptiness of the body, receptivity, and mind, which is the so-called body, mind, and mind. Again, the choice of all the internal and external dharmas is the great emptiness of non-birth, and the mind is settled in the emptiness of all dharmas with righteous thoughts, which is the so-called dharma mindfulness.

The combination of these six words is not very appropriate.

The four thoughts, Zen, and Mahamudra.

These three, in essence, none of them are Hinayana or Mahayana four thoughts, but they are mainly a kind of "concept", with "suffering" and "impermanence" as the main meditation, and a state of "concentration".

Mudra is a posture that assists in calming.

These three words alone can only be regarded as below the four meditations and eight determinations, and it is not who has only the four thoughts and has not yet entered the Hinayana meditation, and only from "disillusionment" to "nothing" can be regarded as Hinayana Zen meditation, and what is involved is not Zen, but in the state of "meditation" refers to the "original appearance", and when practicing the four thoughts, it is also a state of meditation (there are three major types of practice states, the external manifestations are meditation, the heavenly vehicle meditation, the Hinayana emptiness, and the Mahayana nature).

Mudras exist as auxiliary postures for meditation, and in order to facilitate faster entry into meditation, if there is no meditation, or there is no Hinayana emptiness or Mahayana only true "goal", but a "mudra" does not have any benefits or effects.