Let's take a look at the easiest and most serious "selfish desire" of people-good name.
Everyone likes to pursue a false reputation, which is the ultimate "expressive desire". One of Wang Yangming's disciples named Meng Yuan has this problem. Wang Yangming asked him to correct it many times, but he always said yes, but once he had the opportunity to show it, he always tried his best to seize it.
One day, just after Wang Yangming gave him a lesson, a disciple talked about his recent experience in psychology and said that there were still some unknowns. Meng Yuan leaned back and laughed and said, "I made this mistake that year, haha."
Wang Yangming looked at him with a cold tone: "You sit up straight!"
Meng Zhanyuan found that he really couldn't sit still and sat up quickly. Wang Yangming said, "Your old problem has been committed again." Meng Yuan is innocent and wants to argue. Wang Yangming immediately stopped him and enlightened him: "A good performer must be a self-righteous person, which is the biggest shortcoming in your life. Let me give you an analogy. Plant a big tree in a field ten feet square. The rain and dew are moist and the land is fertile, which can only provide nutrition for the roots of this tree. If you plant some flour and rice around the tree, with leaves on it to keep out the sun and roots below, how can it grow and mature without nutrition? Therefore, only by cutting down this tree and leaving no fibrous roots can flour and rice be planted. Otherwise, no matter how you cultivate it, it will only nourish the roots. "
That big tree is a disease of "reputation". Once you have this big tree, all other flour and rice (character and ability) will never grow. The reason is simple: a person with a "good reputation" likes to argue with others and must think that he is right and the other party is wrong. When he confirms this, then he regards himself as a gentleman and the other person as a villain. In this way, all people who disagree with him have become villains, and those opinions will naturally not be heard by him. Without any opinion, conscience will be covered by such arrogance, and the consequences can be imagined.
Why do people have the desire to express? It is to covet a false name, and the ultimate goal of coveting a false name is to gain benefits. This is why the ancestors talked about "fame and fortune" together. People covet fame and fortune, their eyes are fixed on fame and fortune, and they are bound to do things against their conscience. So Wang Yangming said, "The biggest regret in life is a good name."
His disciple Xue Kan said, "Yes, it's a good reputation. It makes people happy when you listen, but it makes people sad when you listen." . But how to treat this disease? "
Wang Yangming gave the method: "Name is relative to reality. The more pragmatic you are, the less you care about fame. If you are pragmatic and have no heart for fame and fortune. If a pragmatic heart is hungry and thirsty, where can you get the time and energy to become famous? " He went on to say, "excessive pursuit of' name' will ignore' reality', and name does not match reality. You can make up for it when you are alive. It's too late to die. "
Another manifestation of "good reputation" is that complaining and blaming others is regarded as a kind of life. One of Wang Yangming's disciples is such a person. Wang Yangming talked with him and thought it necessary to get rid of this problem: "The real way to practice is to reflect on yourself from time to time. Blaming others blindly will only see others' mistakes and turn a blind eye to their own shortcomings. If you can return to introspection, you can see that you have many shortcomings. Do you still have time to blame others when you see that you have so many shortcomings? "
Hearing this, the disciples showed a face of shame. Wang Yangming knows that although he has knowledge, he may not be able to practice it, so he exhorts, "As long as you don't talk about other people's right and wrong in the future, when you want to accuse others, it's your own selfish desire."
Criticism, accusations and complaints are all caused by our crazy growing desire to express and express. No one has ever thought of such a problem: when we criticize, accuse and complain about others, we will cover up our shortcomings and prejudices. We are like identifying a suspect behind a glass, only seeing the sins of others, but not ourselves.
Besides, it is useless to complain and criticize, and to blame others irrationally. Modern psychologists point out that when a person is criticized, his heart rate will increase, and then his defensive instinct will appear. In order to save face, he is bound to take counter-offensive measures. In this way, criticism and accusation can only lead to more conflicts, and conflicts mean possible risks. Therefore, when you criticize and accuse others, you are taking risks. A basic common sense of human nature is that even if your criticism and accusation are well-intentioned, the other party will defend himself because of self-esteem and knowing that he is wrong, and will never admit his mistake. When he is in a fierce mood, he will definitely stand up against you.
There seem to be six kinds of people's selfish desires, but in fact there are only two kinds, namely, the desire for fame and fortune and the desire for survival. Wang Yangming talked a lot about "fame", but only talked about "profit".
Some disciples sighed and said, "Since we want to get rid of selfish desires, it is definitely wrong to pursue wealth. Because the ancients said that young people often talk about profit. "
Wang Yangming said seriously: "When did I say not to compete for money? It's just that when you strive for wealth, you should follow the guidance of your conscience and don't violate it. Only by clarifying your conscience can you face the threat of wealth calmly, not be controlled by it, but control it. As long as you get rich with your conscience, it is in line with heaven. Who says a gentleman doesn't talk about profit? ! "
Wang Yangming added: "If you want to get rid of color, lust, wealth and profit, you must search for all the evils of Excellence, fame and profit while sitting quietly, and then remove them."
A disciple had a flash of light and asked Wang Yangming, "Teacher, those scourges are sores. It's a good thing that you spit it out, but there are new sores where you spit it out. Isn't that a sore? "
Wang Yangming almost suffocated because his disciples asked too many questions. Li Zongwu, the leader of Jorge Posada, proudly said, "Wang Yangming means that when we see a single spark, we will put it out. Although you can't burn down the house, what can you cook with? In other words, even if the heart of good goods is uprooted, people will not starve to death. If lust is eradicated, there will be no distinction between men and women, and mankind will not be extinct? "
Wang Yangming's disciples agreed with Li Zongwu's point of view, but in fact, he didn't know Wang Yangming. What Wang Yangming means is that those selfish desires are like sores on our bodies. They are harmful and must be removed. It's not meat, it's a sore. The newly grown meat looks like a sore, but it is harmless. This is the last resort.
Wang Yangming rebuked this clever disciple: "This is my prescription for treating people's diseases, which can completely eradicate the root causes of people's diseases. No matter how great his skill is, someone will use it after more than ten years. Put it away when you don't need it, and don't ruin my prescription. " Disciples found that Mr. Wang was angry and quickly apologized.
In fact, learning psychology is a question of self-knowledge. If you miss it, you will be a thousand miles away. Many disciples asked Wang Yangming for specific methods to eradicate selfish desires. Tired of being asked, Wang Yangming said, "I have no other way to speak." Once upon a time, there was a Zen master who prayed for Buddha, and he only raised dust. One day, his apprentice hid the dust to see what he could do. The Zen master couldn't find the dust, so he made an empty-handed gesture. The explanation that I want you to get rid of selfish desires is inspiring dust. What else can I mention? "
After a while, a disciple carefully asked the key to getting rid of selfish desires.
Wang Yangming made a humorous remark, turned his head, looked at the side and asked, "Where is my dust?"
Suddenly, everyone laughed.
In Wang Yangming's view, selfish desire is the fundamental reason why people can't give full play to their conscience. Conscience is covered by various selfish desires. Although there is a heart of right and wrong, it is impossible to cause conscience uneasiness because of the temptation of selfish desires. For a long time, our wisdom and morality gradually disappeared, leaving us only a rotting corpse.
Regarding the desire for survival, Wang Yangming said very seriously: "When you are alive, you may get rid of all fame, fortune and hobbies. But if there is still fear of death in my heart, I can't be integrated with the whole ontology. The concept of life and death was originally brought from the root of the concept of life and death, so it cannot be easily removed. If you can understand and see through here, the whole heart will be unimpeded, which is the performance in line with heaven. "
People can live without fame and fortune, but they can't live without desire. Ants still cherish their lives. So whoever can truly respect life and death will really become a saint.