The way of living peacefully in disasters (coronavirus disease and other epidemics)

    Human beings living on the earth will experience natural and man-made disasters every once in a while. In lucky cases, the disasters can cause people to be displaced from their homes; in serious cases, many people will die or be injured. From the Buddhist point of view, these disasters actually originated from the evil karma created by people. As the cause and effect matured, people would suffer the pain caused by the disaster. Broadly speaking, the cause of floods is "greed." People over-exploit the earth, cut down forests, ruin nature, and cause abnormal climate. Such a common karma has led to natural disasters such as heavy rainfall, landslides, and iceberg melting. As to other man-made disasters, they come from people killing animals and eating meat. Forest fires and extreme hot weather are related to people's karma of anger. Even famines, plagues, and other disasters are actually related to people's common karma.

　

    Is there any remedy if we have created bad karma? Or there is no solution and we can only let it happen? In fact, observing the suffering caused by these natural and man-made disasters, the most serious is the threat of death. If it can make people reflect on the issue of "life and death" after the disaster occurs, it can be regarded as turning a bad retribution into an opportunity of getting away from suffering and obtaining happiness. In a disaster, facing the death of our family, the death of a large number of human beings, or the fear of our own death, we should understand: birth, aging, sickness and death are the inevitable process of all living beings in the samsara. To solve the fate of birth, aging, sickness and death, we must seek answers by ourselves and no longer Ignore or escape from the problem; whether seeking from religion, philosophy or mind, psychology, etc., if we stick to the end, one day we can solve the problem of birth-and-death, and no longer fear death and reincarnation.

　

    Another thing worth thinking about is "the impermanence of the world"; the peaceful and safe days will not last forever. All happiness will disappear because of impermanence. There is no eternal state that can stay the same forever. Things in the world are always changing. When we think we have caught something in our hands, it will suddenly change in the next second. Our lives, love, thinking, and concepts are all impermanent. If we can treat disasters from this perspective, our mind should be more peaceful.

　

    Secondly, during a disaster, people are always anxious to collect all relevant information, fearing that they might miss something and then get troubles; while others simply ignore all the information, hoping that everything seems to have not happened. For this situation, there is a method in Buddhism called "the middle way," which is to find a balance between "seeking too much information" and "ignoring all information." Such a method can help us stabilize our fears.

　

    Some people may find it strange that in one disaster, some people have escaped a doom, and some people have lost their lives. Why? Buddhism believes that this has something to do with a person's blessings. People who do good deeds and cultivate blessings usually have a better chance of surviving a catastrophe than those who haven't done it. What can we do to cultivate good fortune? Giving more, helping others, believing in karma, persuading others to be kind, speaking good words, reciting the Buddhist scriptures, not being angry, and reducing desires can all cultivate blessings for oneself.

　

    After gradually understanding that disasters are “the cause and effect of people's bad karma in the past", we must sincerely repent and regret that we did not understand the principle of karma and made bad karma in the past, so now we have pain and troubles persecuting us; and we should determine not to make the same mistake again. The more people who repent, the more the disaster can be reduced. In addition, we should also understand the "fragility and insignificance of mankind", live with a more humble attitude, and have a sense of reverence to the world and nature. Compared with nature and the universe, the power of mankind is much smaller and weaker.

　　

    In the daily life of disaster, If there is anxiety, worry, anger, depression or other emotions and it is difficult to get rid of them, we can try the method of meditation. By focusing our mind on the breath going in and out under the nostrils, we will gradually calm the mind down. At this time, anxiety , worry, anger, depression and other emotions will leave because the mind is calm. There are many people who teach "Meditation", or say "zen practice". If there is someone who wants to learn it, it will be better to find a teacher who believes in and practice Buddhism, and there will be less deviation. Meditation skills need to be practiced frequently, and proficient techniques can help us reach our goals quickly when we need to calm down our mind most.

　

    Another way to reduce pain and annoyance is "non-self". Buddhism believes that all pains and annoyances come from the attachment of "self", that is, attachment of the "existence of self"; and because of the “existence of self”, there is the existence of pain and annoyance, if there is no “existence of self”, there is no pain and annoyance. But it is necessary to notice that "non-self" or "I do not exist" does not mean “death”; Buddhism believes that after death, there will still be a "self", which will continue to the next period of birth, so death is not "non-self", and therefore the pain and annoyance we want to eliminate will be unable to stop because of the continuation of this "self". "Non-self" is the real state of "I don't exist". Although such a state cannot be reached by ordinary people, we can still gradually eliminate some of the pain and annoyance as we practice to achieve it. Therefore, If we face disasters with a "non-self" mentality, some pain and annoyance can also be eliminated; the deeper the state of "non-self", the less pain and annoyance will be.

　

    If there is someone who does not have time to meditate and cannot understand the meaning of "non-self", then there are some other methods that can help him settle his mind in disasters. “Reciting Buddha” is one of the methods. “Reciting Buddha” is more than just asking the Buddha to come to help us. When we concentrate our minds on the name of Buddha, we can eliminate anxiety, worry, anger, depression and other emotions. This is another form of meditation. If someone feels that reciting Buddha is boring, they can transcribe the scriptures. In the same way, if we put our mind in the words and strokes of scriptures, our emotions will become stable. If someone can't sit still, they can try to worship Buddha. The theory is the same.

　

    After the disaster, some people may think: How can we prevent similar disasters from happening again? The answer in Buddhism is to reduce desire, such as: promoting a vegetarian diet, not greedy for appetite; practicing environmental protection and not destroying the ecology of the earth; these are some of the ways to reduce desire. If people can reduce their desires and be away from greed and anger, the earth will definitely be able to progress towards a state of harmonious and stable climate.