Should one be painfully out of the mud and unstained, or should one happily blend into the world.

Find a balance between the two, that is, to be able to "be born and live".

It should be believed that the world is a happy land.

It's not really high-profile to look different from others.

Instead, it looks like a normal person.

But it's really different.

Alright, that's your question.

Our wisdom in China is that we have never looked at problems in a closed way, and there are no absolutes.

True as Taoist thought, "complementarity is opposite", you have me, I have you.

Don't learn from the people in the book.

They just gave you their best ideas (our predecessors only wrote about what they thought they could pass on, other things, did they write about them), but they didn't tell you how they behaved.

Thoughts can be without a trace of dirt, but what about being a human being... No.

This kind of spirit, personality or style of "getting out of the mud without staining" has been admired and longed for by people for thousands of years. Throughout the ages, people have admired, admired and even practiced the great cause of governing the country and leveling the world; However, for thousands of ordinary individuals, how to "settle down" in the real world (including material "clothing and eating" and spiritual "stability and peace") is indeed a big problem that they are facing all the time. In the real society in which people live, Buddhist books describe it as "five turbid and evil worlds".

No matter how positive and optimistic you believe in it, you have to admit that since the beginning of human history, the world has been full of contradictions, injustices, robbery, and killing, and people's hardships and confusion have no end. In this way, before realizing the great wish of helping the people through the world, how to grasp oneself, not be polluted by the bad and ugly things in the outside world, and achieve "out of the mud without staining" is a rather difficult life issue that is always in front of everyone. To solve this problem, the "pure nature" advocated by Zen is a good way to be content with indifference, to be thin on profit, and to cling to life without seeking anything.

The essence of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism is to "seek Bodhi from above, and transform sentient beings from below".In the language of modern "human Buddhism", it is "to purify oneself and benefit the people"."Coming out of the mud without staining" can be understood as "purifying oneself", that is, the realization of "purifying one's own nature".

This is what the ancients called "learning for oneself", and on the surface it seems that the goal is very small and a bit "selfish". But in fact, if everyone truly "gets out of the mud without being stained" and becomes a morally self-improving person, then the society will also become a perfect society. The purification of one's soul can be regarded as the foundation for the realization of one's wish to help the world.

This is why people have appreciated the metaphor of "Ai Lian Said" for thousands of years.

It is worth noting that Zhou Dunyi's lotus flower metaphor is taken from the Buddhist scriptures, and "out of the mud without staining" is also the spirit advocated by Buddhist ethics. Zhou Dunyi is known as a pioneer in science, but he was deeply influenced by Zen. He had close contacts with famous Zen masters at that time, such as Donglin Changzong, Huitang Zuxin, Huanglong Huinan, Buddha Yin Yuan, etc., and he had a lot of experience in practicing Zen.

Most of the Song scholars had an experience of studying Buddhism and were more or less inspired by it, but later most people talked about their relationship with Buddhism. The contribution of Song ** in ethical thought, the content and method of cultivating the body and mind advocated by it, were greatly influenced by Zen. This also shows the ethical value of Zen.

Sort it out yourself.

Simply want to "get out of the mud without staining", only Hu sedan chair wants to keep his integrity, although the idea is very good, but this is not enough.

In the face of the filthy human condition, if you don't want to be with the light, you must take offense as defense, actively change the world of auspicious thoughts, inspire others with your noble ethics, and let the people around you move closer to the noble standard in thought.

Just like Lu Xun, he used his pen to satirize the dark side of society, alert the world, and let people of insight who read Lu Xun's works rise up to fight bravely for a better world, forming a huge joint force.

Nowadays, we should not pursue "being alone", but like Confucius, we should educate the world, so that everyone in the world can become a gentleman and a banquet, which is a nobler life pursuit than "getting out of the mud without staining".