There are also many people who think beauty brings happiness.
In fact, behind beauty is a scourge and a bait of desire.
THERE ARE ALSO MANY PEOPLE WHO THINK BEAUTY BRINGS HAPPINESS.
There are also many people who think beauty brings happiness. In fact, behind beauty is a scourge and a bait of desire.
There are two kinds of these people. The first kind is that they think they will have happiness when they are beautiful. The second kind is they think they will have happiness when they can possess a beauty. Those who think they will be happy when they are beautiful will spend a lot of time looking at themselves in the mirror, and take so much care of their appearances. A handsome man or a beautiful woman is proud of how they look, and they feel happy when others admire their appearances.
There was an article that said: "Wise men never wish to have beautiful wives". Why? - Because there is much trouble behind his wife's beauty. The wife also feels this way and she wishes that she was not so beautiful. You feel sad if you look ugly, and you will have much trouble if you look so beautiful. So, when should you feel happy? That is when you should not be so beautiful, but should not be ugly. You should stay between these two levels.
Why is looking too ugly not good? - Because if our face looks too ugly, others will feel unpleasant when looking at us, and that's why our blessing will be reduced. Conversely, if we are beautiful, other people will be pleased when looking at us, and that is good. However, if you are so beautiful, and other people have a passion for your beauty, then you will run into much trouble. So, it's best if you're not too beautiful, but good-looking. As for monks and nuns, we should be good-looking so that Buddhists will feel pleasant when looking at us, but do not adore us. And when they feel pleasant, they will often come to temples.
People make a mistake when they think that their beauty will bring happiness. Of course, you must be blessed to be beautiful. However, there are many kinds of beauty and a kind of beauty that contains virtue is an example. And when we look at them, we will have respect for the person. Thus, this kind of beauty does not cause us much trouble, because this kind of beauty is from the owner's soul and their ethics. Another kind is that when people look at them, they have a desire to possess the owner. This kind of beauty is extremely dangerous, and the owner will cause disasters everywhere they go.
In Japan, there was a story:
There was a very beautiful girl, and because of her beauty she was very miserable. The official of her area had passion for her beauty, hence, no men dared to marry her. The official had a wife already, so she became his concubine. What would happen to a concubine? The first wife was jealous of her and tried all ways to harm her. She played many mean tricks to torture her. The concubine was thoroughly miserable just because of her beauty. She was so bored and decided to become a nun. She went to a temple and begged the Venerable to let her become his disciple. The Venerable stared in surprise when looking at her, and then told her: "Please get out of my temple. Because you are too beautiful, you will cause our temple much trouble." Finally, she had to disfigure her face by ironing it to look ugly, and then she could become a nun.
Beautiful people have much trouble in life, and also they do not feel comfortable, even when in temples.
Another story, "Seven great men, and the causes and effects", told about a beautiful woman who was a disciple of Wang Chongyang. She had to masquerade herself in order to look ugly to follow her Master. However, she couldn't escape from indecent men when they discovered that although she was ugly but she had very nice teeth, so they desired to possess her.
Therefore, beauty is a bait of desire. If our beauty is a bait to others then we cause them disaster, and if we have a desire of beauty, then we are evil.
So, at first, we thought that beauty brings happiness, but through our analysis, we recognize that behind beauty is disaster. So, you should not wish to be beautiful, especially those who make flower offerings to the Buddha, because then you are wishing for disaster. You should wish to be good-looking and virtuous so that others will feel pleasant when they look at you, and they will want to practice the Dharma. This wish is in accordance with morality, and we will be peaceful. Otherwise, if you wish to be extremely beautiful in the future, then many lives after, you will have great misfortune.
Written by:
Janna
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