The word "practice" comes from religion, but this concept is not profound and is not reserved for monks. Practice is not for you to go to the mountains for asceticism. Practice is in life. Many ordinary people actually have the consciousness of practicing, but they just don't use this word. Some common behaviors in people's life, such as health preservation, fitness, learning knowledge and skills, paying attention to moral cultivation and social morality, are all derivatives of practice. Practice is not only about health, diet, health, exercise and study, but also involves interpersonal relationships. Practice involves every thought in my head and every aspect of my life.
Generally speaking, practice is a comprehensive method and knowledge to make yourself better and others better. Self-cultivation can cure diseases, eliminate sub-health and dispel all kinds of haze in the heart. The purpose of practice is to repair, clean up and heal oneself, then improve and promote oneself, and then help others by the way, reflecting more value.
What I said earlier is self-cultivation. Clean up and heal yourself by correcting your behavior. I majored in self-individuals. When the self is "repaired", the next step is to promote other individuals through this "good individual". In other words, after self-interest, we should move towards altruism and help others through self-cultivation knowledge and experience.
The concept and consciousness of practice can also cover other fields besides itself. Practice is not only to cultivate this body and mind, but also to cultivate skills. For example: learning English. Some people learn English very well. Not only do they speak English no different from foreigners, but they also know how to teach others to learn English. In addition, I also wrote my own experience and methods of learning English from scratch until I became fully proficient in English, and shared them with more English learners. This is a successful person who "practices" a skill. Not only have great skills, but sharing also helps others.
Physiologically speaking, people are born with "clean skin" and gradually become "smelly skin" with growth. People with "spiritual consciousness" want to turn their "smelly skin" into "clean skin" again.
Skin refers to our body. The food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe are all polluting and filling this skin. Perhaps in the eyes of "immortals", these ordinary people walking in the world are one after another filled with various animal carcasses, carrion, waste oil, alcohol swill, various chemical additives, pm2.5, nicotine and tar. A "smelly bag" is filled with thick sputum that can be spit out anytime and anywhere, and it is also filled with the stench of feces.
With the awakening of spiritual consciousness, people will realize this and start to quit smoking, drinking and eating ... and regulate their behavior so as not to pollute themselves and the environment. Gradually clean up and detoxify, and gradually become a "clean skin."
This is a topic at the brain level. I have heard a saying that "in the eyes of psychologists, everyone is a psychological patient". In other words, the world is generally more or less, and there are some psychological problems to varying degrees. A survey by the World Health Organization shows that the truly healthy population in the world only accounts for 5% of the total population. The rest are either patients or sub-healthy people.
If everyone is compared to a computer, then practice is to kill virus and repair your own computer. Do not spread viruses and negative energy. At the same time, with a stronger "security guard", it is not easy to be invaded by viruses and negative energy from others. And can help others to kill viruses and repair them. Help solve the same or similar psychological problems as yourself.
Advanced practice is a process from the individual to the whole, from "self" to "no self" and from "me" to "me". Buddhists say: everyone has Buddha nature. There is no substantial difference between you and me. Or all people are of the same origin, you are me and I am you. Fundamentally speaking, everyone is the same. Different people are not awakened and activated just because the Buddha nature is still buried deep in the subconscious. Practice is a process from self-activation to others' activation, and from individual to whole. Remember seeing the friends of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea? I remember that Lv Dongbin seems to have said a word, "If you can become an immortal, your merits will be boundless."
In the process of spiritual practice, we will help others by the way, but we must be clear about the order, putting self-interest before altruism. The purpose of practice is not entirely to serve others. Don't get lost in helping others. Entanglement with others can lead to fatigue and disappointment. "Giving more than receiving" is not noble, it is just a misunderstanding.
Objectively speaking, everyone is responsible for his own happiness or misfortune. Everyone is responsible for their own choices, others can't be responsible for you, and you can't be responsible for others.
Monks' practice is "becoming a Buddha" and "gaining the Tao". Whether it is the first practice of self-cultivation or the second service to all beings and benefit others. They are all intermediate steps between becoming a Buddha and attaining the Tao. They all act according to the heaven they know and their character. Service may be to gain some experience and enlightenment, or it may be to gain some energy blessing. Finally, there is a chance to reach the Tao or become a Buddha.
Just like blooming is not for people to watch, but for their own growth and blooming. The fragrance of flowers is not for people to smell, but to attract bees and butterflies to pollinate. But objectively, it has realized the turn of fragrance and beauty, and self-interest is also beneficial to others.
Some Buddhists are carried away by "good knowledge" and think about doing good deeds, helping others and serving all beings all day long ... In fact, this is a misunderstanding in thought. Serve all beings? Do good deeds? This is not the main purpose. Or these are secondary. The main purpose is to improve themselves and improve themselves. The secondary role is to help others and serve others. Being a good person and doing good deeds is also for one's merits and achievements, so as to gain higher experience and energy.
As the saying goes, "a clay idol crossing the river is hard to protect itself." If you are a clay idol, you can't protect your situation. What can you do to serve and help others? If you lack wisdom and energy, it takes ability to serve others. What about all beings? It is not suitable to serve others when one's energy is not full. Only with achievements in self-cultivation, infinite energy and infinite love can we serve all beings.
The individual is the most basic and independent unit in human society. The individual is the cell of human society. Practice is a life-oriented behavior. Secular behavior is the behavior of money first.