The life purpose-生命的宗旨

The life purpose

Purpose, toput in a colloquial way, is the ‘goal’, whichhas to be found and established by oneself.The Great Learningsays, “The way of Great Learning lies in the dissemination ofbrilliant virtues, in showingloving-kindness to ordinary people, and in the pursuit of ultimate goodness.” This is what we call purpose. The purpose of life could be either short- term orlong- term. It could be for this life alone, or for many lives to come.However, no matter it is a long- term or short- term goal, we all need apurpose, a great aspiration to live with a direction and with strength.

Having a purpose in heart, we won’t be swayed by the outside world.We should be fully aware that the outside world will affectus only when we accept and internalize its influence. If we empower our mind,many problems won’t be problemsany more. We should read more biographies of the sages. When we read it, weshall get involved and think, if we were caught in the situations, what wewould think and how we would handle, and then reflect on how the sages andpatriarchs acted.  Rather than just reading it as a story.The dazzling light of these great sages, who havepracticed and proved Dharma, can penetrate ourignorance- shrouded heart to direct and empower us.

生命的宗旨

 宗旨，通俗而言就是“理想”，每个人的理想，要自己去寻找、去确立。《大学》中说：“大学之道，在明明德，在亲民，在止于至善。”这就是宗旨。人生宗旨有近有远，有一生的，也有多生的。但无论远近，生命都需要有宗旨、有大愿，人才能活得有方向、有力量。

心中有宗旨，就不会被外境所改变。要充分认识到外境之所以会影响我们，是因为我们自己去“领纳”它。强大自己的内心，很多问题就不会是问题了。多读一些圣贤的传记。把自己代入进去读，想想自己若遇到这些境界会怎么想，怎么做，大德又是怎么做的？而不是仅当作故事来读。这些有修有证的大德们的光芒，总能够穿透我们无明覆盖的内心，给我们带来方向和力量。