"Come back to the root of the dish"

Author: Hong Yingming (Ming Dynasty)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Original Text:
All that comes before us, the contented know it as a paradise, the discontented know it as a mortal world;
All that arises in the world, the skillful use it as life, the unskillful use it as death.
Annotations:
① All that comes: In other words, to calculate.
② Mortal: Refers to the mortal world.
③ All that arises: In summary, to gather. As in the Xunzi (Book of Xunzi): "To gather the essence of the world and govern the multitude of the land."
Life: Opportunity for survival.
Translation:
To calculate, the ordinary small things that happen around us every day, if one can grasp their essence and often feel content, will live as leisurely and joyful as in a paradise; if one cannot grasp them and often feels dissatisfied, will only be gloomy and unhappy in the mortal world all day long;
To gather all things in the world, the skillful use it as joy in life, the unskillful use it as crisis in life.
Brief Review:
The joy and pleasure in life depend not only on pursuit but also on realization. A person who cannot truly grasp the joy of life, even if given a fortune in wealth, will never be content. Such a person can only be a slave to material desires and a beggar in spirit;
A person who understands the true joy of life will find even simple tea and plain food delightful, with boundless happiness, and is a rich person in spirit.
As the Buddhist saying goes: "The contented, though lying on the ground, still find peace; the discontented, though in paradise, still find dissatisfaction." This is the very principle.
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