Utmost Joy (1)

1 Is there an absolute joy in which it has no side effect in this world?

2 Is there anything that can maintain life exactly for a long time in this world?

3 In this world what should I do, what should I believe, what should I avoid, what should I seek, what should I accept, what should I refuse, what should I love and what should I hate?

4 In this world, what’s the value that I should treasure? Is it position, long life, or kindness?

5 I know that common people prefer to health, gourmet food, splendid clothes, beauty and music than poverty, humble work, early death and malady.

6 They are afraid of loosing their health, no opportunity for enjoying gourmet food, no beauty, and no music for fun. When they can’t get these that they like, their mood fall down to the bottom and they feel that they are unlucky, complaining all.

7 In truth, these people who led by the outward material are very stupid.

8 Those rich men are desperate to work. They are busy and nervous in accumulating greedily the wealth that they can’t use up in their whole life.

9 Their way to seek sensory consoling is very shallow.

10 In order to protect position, the man with high position consider all days what he should do and not do to please the officials of higher level.

11 Their lives are very unstable, because they would be dismissed and replaced at any time.

12 A series of misfortune follows a man’s birth.

13 The older is aging day by day. Everyday they have to stand with death so they can’t help but feel sad.

14 Alas! This is such a miserable scene!

15 These people get lost so far and so deep in seeking for the enjoyments of material. These people are brave in deed. Their stories, wealth, power and reputation are appraised wonderful. However, those nice things can’t make them immortal. What’s more, it is not sure that those that common people think well are really good and those that common people think bad are really bad.

16 Those common people think are good but can’t protect their life.

17 Some people think those are bad but the order and economic activities of the society are maintained because of them. The environment created by those is the fundamental where many people live in, so those are good in this respect of consideration.

18 I am watching the conducts of common people in this world. The common people think that what they have done are all seeking for joy but after close analysis, I don’t know what their so-called joy is a real joy or nothing but a kind of illusion, or a presentation with serious side effect.

19 I see common people scrambling for their joy. I truly find these joys hanging high as the goal sought by people. They who obtain the joys say they feel happy and comfortable. Instead, I am not able to experience throughout the so-called joys they seek for. Why do they feel happy with the joys? Why do they feel unhappy without the joys?

20 Sometimes, I really doubt if there is a joyful feeling and sorrowful feeling in the world. Truly speaking, I think that a sound, tranquil and peaceful life is the real joy without side effect. Common people, however, think that it is boring, lonely, vacant, extremely hard and painful life.

21 Alas! What can I do?

22 This possibly is the difference between the common people and men of practice.

23 To the men of practice, “there is no joy in the utmost joy and no praise in the utmost praise”. Safe and peace are bliss. If Heaven forgot you, you would live for longer time. If government forgot you, you would pay less tax and do fewer services. If you reduced the association with the malfeasant, you would be exploited less. The time when nobody notices you mostly is nice.

24 According to the said statement, it is difficult to draw a conclusion on what is joy, what is good, and what is favorable. Nevertheless, people who keep a sound, tranquil and peaceful heart can find long joy without side effect for sure. At the same time, it can protect people’s lives. Why? Let’s study on it.

25 In the birth stage of earth, the air was full of poisonous gases, such as gas of sulfur, carbon monoxide. Temperatures in different places were different. Therefore, storms show everyday. Under the condition of heavy rain and hurricane, the sky was varying. The sky was not stable and didn’t become blue until most gases of sulfur; carbon monoxide and biogas were pressed down, settled down or transformed to hide in land.

26 The earth was so too. In the youth of earth, the whole earth was like a coal clod taken from stove. Each place gave out poisonous gas that made people faint. Hot spring spouted out from underground at times. The earth was heated and unrest everyday. It didn’t calm down until the lithosphere came to cool down and high temperature lowered.

27 When peaceful environment with blue sky and cool land came into being, creatures started to have a suitable space to live. The vigorous world possibly came into being.

28 In the other viewpoint, we may say that creatures were gestated in chaos. When chaos calmed down, life came out one after another.

29 Therefore, when heaven and earth calmed down, all things came into being. Is our human enlightened from this phenomenon?