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January 3, 2023 Issue 1#

Dear Bodhisattvas, Happy New Year!

Today is the first working day of 2023. I hope you will have a successful and auspicious year!

The following is the main content, with an estimated reading time of about 5 minutes.

1. Updates on Paid Columns#

Recently, I have updated 4 articles in the paid column of "Yi Wei Ke Hang":

1. Metacognition, introducing the basic concept of metacognition in preparation for the article "Self-Motivation".
2. Try These Five Things in 2023, this article has also been shared in this column and can be viewed for free.
3. Year-End Summary Template, I have created a year-end summary template using Notion and Heptabase to help readers better summarize the past year.
4. 3C Motivation Model, introducing the concept of the 3C motivation model in preparation for the article "Self-Motivation".

If you are interested in the content of my paid column, please subscribe.

2. Blog Updates#

This week, I have updated an article on my personal website titled "Good Tools in the Workflow in 2022". The article discusses my insights and experiences on the tools used in the workflow, categorized into information management, knowledge management, and work management.

The purpose of tools is to help us work and learn better, and we should not be enslaved by them. In addition, whether a tool is suitable or not can only be known after using it. Tools that cannot integrate into the workflow should be discarded decisively, and the workflow should be continuously optimized with newly integrated tools.

3. Every Step Towards the Other Shore is the Other Shore Itself#

In his article on WeChat, Qi Ge recommended seven thought-provoking sentences. These seven sentences are:

1. "Why, when God has made you with wings, have you fallen into crawling like a worm for so long?" - Rumi
2. "If there is no light, then I am the only light." - Lu Xun
3. "Either be alone or be vulgar." - Arthur Schopenhauer
4. "All suffering comes from hoping for one's own happiness; all happiness comes from hoping for the happiness of others." - Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara
5. "You don't need to let go of everything, but you need to let go of attachment to everything." - Zongsa Rinpoche
6. "Every step towards the other shore is the other shore itself." - Qiuyang Chuangba
7. "White clouds come, dark clouds also come, they will eventually leave. The sky is always there, neither welcoming nor sending off." - Guijiaoqi

When I read Qiuyang Chuangba's sentence, "Every step towards the other shore is the other shore itself," my heart was deeply touched.

In our cultural tradition, there is a saying, "Every household has Amitabha, every family has Guanyin." In Buddhism, the other shore often represents the good, wisdom, freedom from worries, and infinite happiness. People chant Amitabha Buddha and Guanyin Bodhisattva, praying to reach the other shore and obtain the various blessings of the Western Pure Land as soon as possible.

However, the world we live in now is a "world of the five turbidities," where life is always filled with the eight sufferings. The body suffers from the four sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and death, and the mind suffers from the three sufferings of resentment, separation, and not getting what we desire. We also suffer from the five aggregates of attachment to eternal life.

But have we ever thought that the world we are in right now is not the other shore? If our hearts are always filled with resentment towards the present world, we will never reach the other shore. If our hearts are not tamed, our habits are not changed, and our nature is not cultivated, how can we obtain a ticket to the other shore? Chanting the Buddha and Bodhisattva's names is just self-deception.

"Every step towards the other shore is the other shore itself." This sentence is telling us to tame our own hearts, to be one with the light, and to live in harmony with our surroundings. When our hearts are tamed, this shore is the other shore, and the other shore is this shore. There is no difference between the mind, the Buddha, and sentient beings. Where is not the Pure Land of the Buddha?

4. The So-Called Medical Professionals#

A friend who studied at UCLA in the United States couldn't bear to see many self-media "frauds" by experts in China. Out of a sense of responsibility as a doctor, he started updating scientific knowledge about Covid on his WeChat public account "The So-Called Medical Professionals." The first article, "Interpretation of Covid Hot Topics (1): Reinfection", has been published.

The article answers the following core questions:

• The frequency of reinfection
• Why reinfection occurs
• How long after the previous infection will reinfection occur
• The severity of reinfection compared to the initial infection
• How to prevent reinfection

5. How Humans Construct Language#

After reading "Avatar: The Way of Water," I was reminded of "The Lord of the Rings" series and "Game of Thrones" series, which both feature newly created languages. So how do linguists create languages? The article What Makes a Great Alien Language? provides some answers. The article quotes research by Arika Okrent, the author of "In the Land of Invented Languages," focusing on the Na'vi language in "Avatar" and exploring the process of creating fictional languages. It examines how linguists and science fiction authors use various methods to construct languages. The article also introduces how modern artificial intelligence translation programs work and how the brain processes fictional languages as natural languages.

6. The Most Popular Products of 2022#

At the end of last year, the Jike app initiated a discussion topic called "#2022 Favorite 3 Products." The editors of Jike summarized the products with the highest ratings into eight images.

7. The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye#

Question: The sutra says that the Six Paramitas, also known as the Six Perfections, are generosity, morality, patience, diligence, concentration, and wisdom. Are the Six Perfections the same as the Six Purities? What is the meaning of the Six Perfections?

Answer: To cultivate the Six Perfections, one must purify the Six Senses and subdue the Six Thieves. Being able to abandon the thief of the eyes and detach from all forms is called generosity; being able to restrain the thief of the ears and not indulge in sounds is called morality; being able to subdue the thief of the nose and remain unaffected by various smells is called patience; being able to control the thief of the mouth and not crave various tastes, but instead praise and speak of the Dharma, is called diligence; being able to subdue the thief of the body and remain unmoved by various tactile desires is called concentration; being able to regulate the thief of the mind and not follow ignorance, but constantly cultivate awakened wisdom, is called wisdom. The Six Perfections are a practice. The Six Paramitas are like a boat or raft that can carry sentient beings to the other shore, so they are called the Six Perfections.

Excerpt from "Dharma Breaks the Illusion of Appearance" by Bodhidharma

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