Rectifying Our Ethics and Notions
By a Falun Dafa practitioner from Mainland China
(Clearwisdom.net) I often read articles about traditional culture on the
Minghui/Clearwisdom website. I realize that this is a reflection of Falun Dafa
at this level. Human ethics and mentality need to be corrected during the Fa-rectification.
Dafa practitioners are cultivating in the human world, and most practitioners
have a family environment. How correctly we behave at home is not only the key
to rescuing sentient beings at home, but also an important reference for the
future. I have found a problem after I read some practitioners' experience
sharing articles and witnessed how practitioners dealt with family conflicts. I
would like to express some of my thoughts in this regard. I noticed that when fellow practitioners face tribulations in their families,
in most cases, it stems from incorrect ethics and acquired notions, which makes
the conflicts more complicated, delays resolution, or causes repeated problems. Let me use the word "Xiao" (filial piety) as an example. Everyone
understands the saying, "Filial piety is at the root of all goodness."
But what is truly considered filial piety? Confucius answered his disciples this
way, "If one's parents make mistakes, the children should point them out
kindly and politely. Whether or not the parents accept it, the children should
still respect and love their parents as usual. Just providing food and
supporting their parents doesn't equal filial piety. The most difficult thing is
to not deliberately show how you feel in your facial expression to your
parents." This is a standard Confucian-established rule for how children
should treat their parents. I would also like to discuss some of the interesting aspects pertaining to
filial piety in ancient China. The phrase "Mao Die" describes the
elderly who are over 80 years old. The word "Die" means fingers. This
phrase means that when people get to be 70 or 80 years old they don't need to do
anything themselves any more. They simply use their fingers to give directions
to children or grandchildren to do things for them. The Chinese connotation [to
mao die] is profound. One phrase can embody the rules of filial piety--the
rights of the elderly and the responsibilities of being children and
grandchildren. During the Han Dynasty, when a person reached 70 years of age, the government
would grant that person a walking stick made of jade and adorned with a carving
of a cuckoo. The ancients called the cuckoo the "No choking bird." The
cane was supposed to bless the elderly so that they could eat or drink without
choking. It was also a reminder for the children and grandchildren to prepare
delicious food for the elderly. During different dynasties and eras in ancient China, from highly placed
people to the lower, from kings to common folk, everyone followed the Confucian
thought that promoted filial piety. If a person respected and loved his parents
he was usually loyal as well. An often-told story goes like this: Emperor Kangxi
from the Qing Dynasty once hosted a banquet and invited one thousand elderly who
were over 80 years old, denoting that he strongly promoted filial piety in
society and respected and loved the elderly. Doing otherwise makes one go in the opposite direction--disrespecting the
elderly. If one does not respect and love the elderly, one has no right to be in
society. In other words, gods and humans no longer consider this person a human
being. If one doesn't try to change or show repentance, one won't be able to
reincarnate as a human. If one was condemned as not being filial, that would be
considered a most shameful thing regarding one's human dignity. Current Chinese
dictionaries no longer carry a meaning for the ancient connotation
"Die," which now simply means "over 70 or 80 years old,"
"usually refers to the elderly." By merely looking at a modern Chinese
dictionary, we can tell how much of traditional Chinese culture, ethics, and
morals the CCP has destroyed. Let us look at the word "Lun" (ethics). My understanding is that
the bottom of the right side of this character--as it is traditionally
written--looks like "Yi Ce." "Ce" means book. Books, of
course, contain the rules of ethics, which means that regarding "Lun"
(ethics) for human beings, there are principles and rules in books for people to
follow, and people can't do just anything they please. Ancient Chinese said,
"Without rules, there would not be 'Fang and Yuan.'" (Square and
Circle) Ancient Chinese looked at the earth as Fang (square) and the heaven as
Yuan (circle), thus the heaven and earth are called "Fang and Yuan."
In this statement, the ancient people treated the rules of ethics as equally
important and vast as heaven and earth. Examining this word "Lun"
further, the right side of the character below "people" looks like a
"fence." People are not supposed to step over fences, meaning that
ethics spell out impassable rules. People overstepping the "fences"
get into trouble or even cause disasters. When the CCP was destroying traditional Chinese culture during the
"Cultural Revolution," it popularized the slogan: "Feudal ethics
and rites are heavy burdens that make people die." Ethics and rites are
Confucian thoughts. It sets rules for human beings living between the heaven and
earth. "The Ethics of the Three Cardinal Guides and the Five Constant
Virtues" is the cornerstone and wellspring of Chinese traditional morality
and traditional thinking and culture. The Party labeled it a "heavy
burden," intending to have people live without moral restraints. They first
removed "Yi Ce (book)" and "fence" from the word "Lun"
and then replaced them with a "knife." They burned and destroyed the
ancient books, cultural relics, and antiques so they could dig out the
fundamental ethics from people's minds, encouraging people to do things at will,
without the restraint of rules and ethics. That is why "loyalty, being
dutiful to parents, self-respect and righteousness" mean nothing to people
any more. The absence of these age-old rules makes people actually no different
from ghosts and beasts. Without any rules or restrictions, would human beings be
really free? Just the opposite--human beings ignorantly make mistakes and commit
crimes that will eventually restrain them permanently like being tied by ropes
layer by layer. How could you call this being free? While they are alive, they
struggle with diseases and disasters. When they die, they will still have to pay
off their wrongdoings. People without rules of proper conduct are no longer
considered human beings in the eyes of gods. The current distorted thoughts and
lax moral standards are already at a level lower than that of hell. Confucianism, Buddhism. and Taoism in the land of China have existed for
thousands of years and have shone with brilliance in the history of human
civilization. During the process of human civilization in China, Confucius first
established ethics and rites for human beings. During the Han Dynasty, Buddha
appeared to the Emperor of the Han Dynasty in a dream. After the Emperor awoke,
he sent people to introduce Buddha into China. In the land of China, people
first understood the rules and ethics for human beings, and then started
cultivating toward levels higher than human beings. In The Biography of Immortals, Lu Dongbin (a Taoist deity) once asked
his master, Han Zhongli, "Why did Master only teach one
disciple--myself--even though Master became a divine being over 1100 years ago?
Is it because our Taoism cultivation way is not benevolent enough and not
willing to save more people?" His master laughed and said, "You don't
know people in this world. There are many that are not filial. There are many
that are not righteous and loyal. How could these people become divine
beings?" Lu Dongbin was not convinced. He boasted to his master that he
would go down to the human world and save three thousand people. His master
laughed and assented. The end result was the well-known story we have all heard
and the comment Lu Dongbin made, "I'd rather save an animal than a human
being." He had brought no one back when he finally knelt before his master. From ancient times, people who were not filial or righteous or loyal would
never be able to reach consummation, no matter which cultivation way they
followed. The ways in the Tao School would not even admit anyone like that into
their gate. With Buddha's immense compassion and benevolence, Master came to the human
world to save sentient beings that have been lost for ages. Dafa only looks at
one's heart. Master has changed our bodies from the microscopic level to the
surface, evolving our gong, and now the changes in our bodies have truly been
reaching the surface. Confucian thought is the most superficial premise of Dafa,
and it also needs to be rectified in Dafa. Dafa practitioners are also rectifying the most superficial principles in the
human world, such as by presenting painting and art exhibitions, parades,
floats, giving Divine Land Marching Band performances and staging the NTDTV
wonderful Christmas shows and the New Year Spectacular. These all exhibit the
broadness and profundity of the most legitimate and traditional morals and
culture for humans. Besides using the arts and cultural formats to rescue
sentient beings, these presentations likewise rectify fundamental rules on the
surface in the human world, providing references and establishing foundations
for future people. All the things Master asks us to do are not only limited to
one or more goals on the surface; they are truly significant. However, what I
have realized so far is still very limited. The magnificent act of the Fa-rectification has unfolded the profound and
splendid five thousand years of history. The Dafa disciples' New Year
Spectacular brings the world divine music and extraordinary splendor. In
everything Dafa disciples have been doing, some are unprecedentedly dramatic,
and some are happening silently. When I say happening silently, I am referring
to the practitioners who live in this human society and in a family environment.
They have been rescuing sentient beings and doing righteous things with
righteous thoughts among ordinary people. The magnificent act is being staged,
the show on the stage is continuing, and the performances of Dafa practitioners'
daily lives are going on. The gods are closely watching everyone's behavior
without even blinking their eyes. Let me now go back to talk about the title of
this article, "RectifyingOur Ethics and Notions." Let us talk about the issue of grandparents helping their children take care
of grandchildren. When we mention family happiness, we often picture a family
with grandchildren playing in harmony with grandparents. In many families
nowadays, grandparents often raise their grandchildren. But in ancient China,
sending grandchildren to their grandparents was for the grandparents' amusement
instead of having grandparents take care of the grandchildren, because
grandparents love young children and are happy to see them. However, raising children is the parents' responsibility and not that of the
grandparents. I have mentioned the true meaning of "Die." Parents
should teach their children not to make trouble for grandparents and make them
tired, and they should always pay attention to this. If grandparents become
tired, parents should take the children away immediately to permit the
grandparents to rest. In the past, women were customarily responsible for chores
at home, but some well-off families hired others to help with the family chores.
In less affluent families women sometimes needed to help with field work. Then
grandparents would help watch the grandchildren. But people understood the
reason for this and acknowledged that the elderly were making extra efforts to
help them. They paid even more respect and showed increased filial piety to the
elderly for their help. They cared for and showed more consideration to the
elderly to make them happy. Those considerations made for pleasant, harmonious
family environments in the society. But nowadays people behave very differently. They feel that it's
"perfectly justified" to have grandparents take care of grandchildren.
If the elderly won't do it, the younger ones will deliberately show their
unhappy faces to the elderly. They don't understand that showing an unhappy face
to their elderly parents is un-filial. Some parents don't want to send their
children to daycare centers because they think it's easier and more convenient
to have the grandparents take care of the children. They no longer know the
ancient rules of filial piety. They have only a vague, erroneous notion that,
generation after generation, everyone was raised by the elderly. They don't
understand the meaning of ethics. Some of the elderly nowadays don't even
understand it, because when they were young, they were already living during the
time of turbulence when the wicked CCP had taken over. I once heard two elderly ladies chatting on the street. One of them said,
"I no longer want to look after my grandson every day. It is so tiring, but
I have no choice. Other grandparents are taking care of their grandchildren. If
I don't do it I would feel guilty!" I felt sad hearing her comments. This
elderly lady must have been busy for her whole life raising her children, but
now she has ended up feeling sorry for them. The ethics of being a human have
been distorted. Human beings really don't know how to live their lives. They no
longer know what is right or what is wrong. For Dafa practitioners to confront similar issues in their families is not
uncommon. Some senior practitioners are so busy and tired looking after their
grandchildren that they put aside their true missions for coming into this
world. Some have tried their best to help, though their children or
daughters-in-laws are still not happy with them. The elderly feel bad and still
try to improve their xinxing and pass the xinxing
tests. Even some young practitioners are not happy with their parents when they
didn't help look after the grandchildren due to the grandparents' health. Some
don't even visit their elderly parents once a year. Some are very polite to
other people outside their home and follow the principles of
"Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance," but when they come home, they
don't follow the same principles with their family members. They are used to
showing their unhappy faces to their parents. Some even argue with their
parents, without realizing anything is wrong. Some practitioners' children are
not educated well enough and don't even have basic good manners in their
treatment of other people. Practitioners are actually doing well in many other areas. However, because
the CCP took away our opportunities to learn traditional Chinese culture,
problems have arisen in our mindsets in terms of the ethics of being human. Just
as Master said in the Fa, "For instance, if a part from a washing machine was put in a
television, then as I see it, that television wouldn't be able to display
anything." ("Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Houston") The distorted notions that the CCP infused into people's minds are the bad
parts that are unethical and that we need to completely erase. It might well be
that once our thinking is all cleaned up, everything will revert back to normal. When examining distorted notions and thinking of how they came about, I
thought of a story: Each day as a gentleman passed by a street corner he always
handed the beggar a dollar. After a while the beggar got used to it. One day the
gentleman didn't have any cash. He told the beggar, "Sorry, I don't have
any cash with me today." The beggar answered, "No problem. Next time,
you can just give me two dollars to make it up." It sounds ridiculous. The
beggar already felt the gentleman owed him something. Isn't it true that many
human notions were acquired like this, by force of habit? When we rectify
ourselves and use the standards of divine ethics to measure human notions and
examine how they are created, we will realize these notions are really
ludicrous. A Dafa practitioner needs to always be a good person. What is considered
"being a good person?" Is it the one acknowledged by the distorted
notions? For elderly fellow practitioners, is it to be considered being good and
improving xinxing if they do everything possible for their children and
tolerate their children's supercilious looks? My thought is: "Dafa is
rectifying everything. Dafa practitioners should rectify themselves in the Fa,
and we should also rectify everything that is not righteous, starting with our
own environments." Our ancestors had a saying, "Raising children
without moral education is the fault of the father." If our children don't
understand the basic rules of ethics and basic moral standards and don't
understand filial piety, isn't this our fault as parents? Because of the evil
Party culture, this was previously difficult to comprehend. But now that we are
practicing Dafa, we should no longer continue to be muddleheaded. It does not
mean that Dafa practitioners should not help raise grandchildren, nor does it
imply that practitioners can only improve xinxing under their children's
supercilious looks. What it does imply is this: Dafa practitioners should start
over to educate their children regarding filial piety and help them understand
the rights of the elderly and the responsibilities of being sons and daughters. What I have stated above only focused on "filial piety." Actually,
conflicts between husband and wife or among family members primarily targets
practitioners' incorrectly acquired ethics and notions. When some people face
family disagreements, they use their acquired notions to judge right and wrong.
Some people do what they are supposed to do to begin with, but since they are
comparing themselves with already lowered standards, they feel unbalanced in
their hearts and yet still need to raise their xinxing to find a balance.
It is actually their ethics and notions that are wrong. They should remove their
faulty ethics and notions and rectify themselves, instead of acknowledging the
corrupted ethics and notions, and raise their xinxing to
"forgive" others. If this is not done, no matter how hard you try to
improve your xinxing, if your incorrect ethics and notions still exist,
you will be no different from non-practitioners when faced with family
disagreements, and it would be the same as treating yourself as an ordinary
person in the family. Your xinxing would not reach the "pure"
standard. The tribulations would then recur again and again and never end, or
become more complex, which is actually taken advantage of by the demons. Some
might already know what they did is wrong, but in order to save face, they may
lack the courage to admit their mistakes. The above are my personal experiences and thoughts. Please kindly point out
anything inappropriate.
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/2/25/149642.html
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