Buddha crossing a predestined person: Dharma and wisdom in life

Chapter 1 Convenience Method - Directly pointing at people's hearts, enlightenment and Buddhahood (1)
Read Buddhist scriptures and stories to understand the wisdom of Buddhism

Foreword

Zen, the Sanskrit name Zena, is a method of meditation.Zen Buddhism is named for its advocacy of summarizing all the practice of Buddhism with Zen.Claiming to be "Chuan Buddha Heart Seal", the purpose is to realize the so-called origin of the mind of all living beings (Buddha nature, self).According to legend, its lineage of Dharma transmission is Bodhidharma, Huike, Sengcan, Daoxin, and Hongren.Hongren's disciples, Shenxiu and Huineng, the former advocated gradual enlightenment, while the latter advocated sudden enlightenment, and spread the Dharma in the north and south respectively, forming two schools of "Nandun" and "Northern Jian".Later, Huineng's Southern School replaced the Northern School and became the mainstream of Zen in China.Therefore, Huineng is the actual founder of Zen.Hui Neng Zen is the sect with the longest circulation and the greatest influence in Chinese Buddhism, and it is also the highest achievement of Chinese Buddhism.

All the propositions of Zen can be summed up in four sentences in the "Tanjing":
If there is no writing, it will be passed on outside the teaching;
Directly pointing at people's hearts, seeing one's nature and becoming a Buddha.

We might as well understand the meaning of Zen from the following story——

Once, a monk asked Zhaozhou: "I heard that you have met Monk Nanquan in person, have you?"

Nanquan is Zhaozhou's teacher, which means becoming a Buddha and an ancestor here.

Zhaozhou replied, "The big radishes grown in Zhenzhou."

The monk asked again: "Where do all dharmas return to one?"

Zhaozhou replied: "The old monk made a collared shirt in Qingzhou, which weighed seven catties."

Another monk asked Zhaozhou, "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?"

Zhaozhou replied: "The cypress tree in front of the court."

In the same way, a monk asked Heshan Liangjia "what is a Buddha", and Heshan replied "three catties of hemp".Dao Wu asked Zen master Shitou: "What is Zen?" He answered: "Bricks and tiles." He asked again: "What is Tao?" Answer: "Wood."

On the surface, Zhaozhou's answer had nothing to do with the monk's question, and it wasn't even an answer at all.Because when we raise this kind of question, we always want to define "becoming a Buddha and becoming a ancestor" or "where does one return to" or "the meaning of the patriarch".But Chan Master Zhaozhou suddenly mentioned "big radish", "bushan" and "cypresses". The former two may have come to Zhaozhou's mind suddenly, and he happened to see the cypresses in front of the court.Of course, these things can also be replaced with other things, such as hemp, bricks or wood.But they must all be objects of everyday life.The big radishes, cloth shirts, cypress trees, bricks, and wood in life are Zen and Tao!
Life is Zen, and Zen is inseparable from life.We cannot leave life to find another Zen or Buddha. "Heart Sutra" is even more straightforward: "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form, form is not different from emptiness, and emptiness is not different from form."

It can be seen that many people regard Buddhism as passive and avoiding the world. In fact, this is a misunderstanding. "Stay away from the world of mortals and escape into Buddhism" is just a lower level of Buddhism.From the point of view of Zen, the real Buddhism is the world of mortals, and the world of mortals is the door of Buddhism, and there is no other door of Buddhism besides the world of mortals.Therefore, we must maintain a normal mind in the world of mortals. The Buddha is in our daily life of eating, dressing and erotic men and women.Knowing this, we no longer need to throw ourselves at the clay bodhisattvas enshrined in temples.

Therefore, Zen Buddhism finally reminds people that "the ordinary mind is the Tao", which means that people should realize the Tao in the ordinary mind.If you blindly want to enlighten Tao by seeking Buddha, then Buddha is also a demon; if you want to enlighten Tao by reading scriptures, then these Buddhist scriptures are also demons.Not only are they not conducive to our enlightenment, on the contrary, they will only make us farther and farther away from the Tao.

Therefore, after realizing this point, many Zen masters have an extremely free and easy attitude towards life, and even would rather break the rules and precepts to obtain a "free body".For example, Zen Master Yuxian is known as the "Jiuxian". When he was drunk, he composed and sang: "[-], that's enough; [-], I want to drink wine... as long as I have some wine, so pour it down." Streets and roads. After death, you are a samsara, and you don’t want to be reborn in the Pure Land. Why? There is no wine in the Western Pure Land.” The Western Pure Land cannot buy alcohol, so you have to be reborn in the real world.

This is enlightenment, real enlightenment.

——Wu Guangyuan
"Buddha nature" has no distinction between north and south

When the Sixth Patriarch Huineng met the Fifth Patriarch Hongren for the first time, he had the following question and answer:
Hongren asked: Where are you from?What are you doing here?
Hui Neng replied: The disciple is from Lingnan, and he came here to seek to "become a Buddha"!
Hongren said: You are from Lingnan, how can you be a "Buddha"!
Hui Neng said: People are divided into north and south, but "Buddha nature" is not divided into north and south. Although the body of a disciple is different from that of a monk, the "Buddha nature" is the same!
When Hongren heard Huineng's answer, he was secretly surprised, thinking that this person had a "root of wisdom", so he kept him.But Huineng was only allowed to be a "walker", that is, he was not officially a monk, but was just a "temporary worker" doing chores in the kitchen.

■Sentiment——

Everyone wants to become a Buddha, but the "threshold" for becoming a Buddha was very high before the emergence of Zen Buddhism. You have to become a monk, you have to practice, and you have to abide by a lot of rules and regulations.Because of its difficulty, Buddhism in the past believed that only a few people could cultivate into Arhats and Bodhisattvas, and it is even rarer to cultivate into the Buddha who can escape the sea of ​​suffering forever and enter the other shore.People who can become Buddhas are not ordinary people, they are all people with "Buddha nature".When Hui Neng first saw Hongren, he put forward the saying that everyone has "Buddha nature", which provided the possibility that "everyone can become a Buddha".The Zen sect founded by Huineng believes that it is easy to become a Buddha-"Put down the butcher knife and become a Buddha immediately", which opens the convenient way for all living beings to "become a Buddha through sudden enlightenment".

There is nothing, where is the dust

No Bodhi tree, nor stand mirror.

When there is nothing, where does the dust come from?
The above gatha was written by the Sixth Patriarch Huineng.It is said that when the fifth patriarch Hongren abdicated, he wanted to find a talented person from among his disciples to be his successor.So he summoned all his disciples and said to them: "You have listened to my preaching for so long, and I don't know if you have realized it. Each of you write a gatha and let me see your practice. If you like it, pass on the mantle to him."

Among the many disciples, there was a senior monk named Shenxiu at that time, who was very experienced, had read many scriptures, was quite knowledgeable, and was highly valued by Hongren. Everyone believed that he was the one who accepted the mantle this time.Shenxiu was a dignified person, and even though he knew that he was expected by everyone, he still posted an anonymous gatha carefully written on the corridor wall in the dark.The next day people saw this gatha.The verse says:
The body is a bodhi tree, and the mind is like a mirror.

Wipe it diligently from time to time, and don't make dust.

Hui Neng had been pounding rice in the dumping room, but he didn't know that the Fifth Patriarch wanted to learn from others to submit verses to choose his heir.When someone passed by the dungeon chanting Shenxiu's gatha, Hui Neng couldn't help sighing, "It's good, but I haven't arrived home yet."

Hearing Huineng's emotion, the man couldn't help scolding: "You are a rice-threshing person, what nonsense are you talking about?"

Hui Neng didn't bother with him, and immediately thought up a gatha.In the evening, I found a boy to take him to the corridor wall, and asked someone to write his gatha on it.This verse is what we saw above.

After reading it, the Fifth Patriarch said: "Who made this? There is no surname." Even so, from this gatha, Hongren realized that Huineng is the material for becoming a great weapon.In order to hide people's discussion, Hongren took off his shoes and wiped off Huineng's gatha with the soles of his shoes.

At night, Huineng was still working in the bungalow, and the Fifth Patriarch came quietly.After exchanging pleasantries, the Fifth Patriarch tapped the stone three times with his cane, then turned and left.Hui Neng understood, so he went to the fifth ancestor's house at the third watch.The Fifth Patriarch explained the "Diamond Sutra" to him. When he heard that "the mind is born without a place to live", Hui Neng said a great enlightenment.After initiation, Hongren immediately passed on the robes to him, and Huineng became the sixth patriarch of Zen.

■Sentiment——

If one word is used to sum up these two gatha respectively, then Shenxiu's gatha is "jie" and Huineng's gatha is "empty".

Shenxiu's gatha obsesses the body and mind, and requires people to keep wiping away the dust throughout their lives. This is a method of gradual cultivation and has not reached the realm of ultimate emptiness; although Huineng's gatha negates the attachment of body and mind, it also has the disadvantage of clinging to emptiness.The so-called emptiness means that in the continuous flow of thoughts, there is no stagnation, no attachment, existence is not existence, emptiness is not emptiness; if you hold on to emptiness, it is also a kind of hindrance and stagnation, and you will surely fall into a demon middle.

Think neither good nor evil

At the beginning, after Huineng got the mantle of Hongren, he left Huangmeidong Temple in a hurry.After he left, hundreds of people chased him one after another. Among them, Huiming, a monk who had been a military general, ran ahead of the crowd and caught up with Huineng. I couldn't lift it no matter what, and I felt ashamed in my heart.

Huiming said to Hui Neng: "I came here for the Dharma, not for the robes. I hope that the benevolent will teach me the Dharma."

Hui Neng said: "Since you have come here for the Dharma, now put aside all kinds of external factors and don't give birth to any thoughts of thinking. I will teach the Dharma for you."

Huiming was silent for a long time.

Hui Neng suddenly said: "You don't think about goodness, and you don't think about evil. At this moment, which one is your true face?"
After hearing this, Huiming suddenly became enlightened, and asked again, "Is there anything more profound than this esoteric method?"

Hui Neng said: "If you look back and reflect on yourself, the secret lies in yourself!"

From then on, Huiming realized Buddhism.

■Sentiment——

People tend to like good and not evil, and they are obsessed with "good" and never give up.As everyone knows, there is neither good nor evil in the world, and the "two opposites" of good and evil and emptiness and existence are the root of life's pain and inextricability.People are obsessed with the "opposition of the two laws", which is just asking for trouble. "Don't think about goodness, don't think about evil", let go of the heart of seeking goodness, and life will be free.

Hui Neng further told people, "Reflect on yourself, the secret actually lies in yourself!" The Buddha is not in the world where good and evil are opposed, but in the hearts of all living beings.

It's not the movement of the flag, it's not the movement of the wind, it's the movement of the heart

After Huineng left Hongren, he lived in seclusion in his hometown in Lingnan for more than ten years.Tang Gaozong Yifeng first year (676) arrived in the South China Sea on the eighth day of the first lunar month and lived in Faxing Temple.In Faxing Temple, there was a monk of Yinzong who was giving lectures, and Hui Neng often went to listen to the lectures.

One evening, a gust of wind blew the brake flag.Two monks touched the scene and started arguing.One said it was the movement of the flag, and the other said it was the movement of the wind, and each held one end, which was very inconsistent.

After hearing this, Hui Neng enlightened them, saying, "It's not the movement of the flag, it's not the movement of the wind, it's the movement of the heart."

Coincidentally, Yinzong was quite shocked when he heard Huineng's "heartbeat", so he invited Huineng to his room and asked about the basis of "heartbeat".When Hui Neng talked about his views, Yinzong was greatly admired, and couldn't help asking: "Xingzhe is definitely not an ordinary person. Who is your master?"

Hui Neng truthfully told him the process of his seeking the Dharma in Huangmei.After hearing this, Yinzong hurriedly saluted his disciples and wanted to worship Huineng as his teacher.Of course Hui Neng politely refused.When Yinzong taught the Dharma again, he said to the audience: "Although I have received full precepts, I am still an ordinary person. Today I met a Bodhisattva in the flesh." He pointed to Hui Neng.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Yinzong summoned a famous local monk to shave Huineng himself.It turned out that after Huineng got the cassock, he followed the instructions of the Fifth Patriarch and kept his status as a walker.After Huineng received the precepts, he promoted Dongshan Dharma in Faxing Temple.

■Sentiment——

The wind blows and the flag moves, neither the wind nor the flag is right. It is due to the harmony of karma, but this movement is just an illusion of movement.Therefore, only the "heartbeat" is the most real.From this, it can be deduced that there is no such thing as movement or stillness in the vast world, and everything depends on the feeling of the human heart.

It is neither the wind nor the banner, how can the heart be moved?
Zen Master Yangshan had a bhikkhuni disciple named Miaoxin.Because of the resignation of the teacher in the temple, Yang Shan ordered her to be in charge of the reception in the temple. The people in the temple also thought it was very suitable, because Miaoxin was capable and courageous.

One day, 17 traveling monks from Sichuan came to Guadan Temple, ready to ask Yangshan.After dinner, the monks began to discuss the Dharma.When the content involved the issue of "moving the wind and moving the flags", they argued, arguing and noisy, and hearing Yu Miaoxin, Miaoxin also scolded loudly: "17 laymen, when they leave tomorrow, they have to count the rent and meal money. clear."

Miao Xin's majesty is not like a woman at all. The monks silently thought about how to deal with it, but they didn't know what to do.Miao Xin ordered: "Don't argue, come to me and I'll tell you!"

Seventeen people walked up to Miao Xin unconsciously, and Miao Xin said, "It's neither the wind nor the flag, how can your heart be moved?"

When the monks heard this, their eyes lit up and they were relieved.

Everyone discussed that instead of waiting until Zen Master Yangshan opened the Dharma hall to hear the Dharma and ask for instructions, all of them bid farewell to Miaoxin and left the next day.

■Sentiment——

At the beginning, the Sixth Patriarch argued over which of the two monks moved the wind and flags. The Sixth Patriarch said, "It's not the wind or the flags that move, it's the hearts and ears of the two benevolent men."

Now Miaoxin Channi said: "It is neither the wind nor the banner, how can the heart be moved", and it has gone a step further.The Sixth Patriarch advocated the wonderful state of combining the object and the subject. Today, Miaoxin Channi transcends fusion, does not establish subject and object, and the so-called "moving the mind is good", which has a more profound meaning.

Don't do unnecessary thinking about good and evil, right and wrong

When Huineng taught the Dharma in the south, the Shenxiu sect in the north was very popular, but the two Zen schools basically lived in peace.Not only that, Shenxiu also recommended Huineng to Tang Zhongzong several times.So the Zhongzong sent Xue Jian to the south to invite Huineng to Beijing, but Huineng refused because of illness.

Xue Jian had no choice but to ask Hui Neng about the Dharma, saying: "The Zen masters in the capital say that only by practicing meditation can one enter the Buddhist way. I don't know what kind of meditation the monk is?"

Hui Neng replied: "Tao is a matter of self-enlightenment of the human mind. What does it have to do with the form of meditation? The Dao has no coming and no going, neither sitting nor lying down. This is the real pure meditation."

Xue Jian admired it in her heart, and said: "I hope the monk will teach me the Dharma and pass it on to those in the capital, just like a lamp lighting countless lamps, which can be said to be endless."

Hui Neng immediately pointed out to Xue Jian: "The Dao has no light and shade, and light and shade are relative concepts of metabolic changes. It is obviously endless, but it is always because it is not relative!"

Xue Jian asked again: "Brightness is a metaphor for wisdom, and darkness is a metaphor for affliction. If you don't use the light of wisdom to drive away dark afflictions, how can you seek liberation and escape from the suffering of samsara?"

After hearing this, Hui Neng said: "Affliction and ignorance are wisdom and bodhi. There is no difference between the two. If wisdom is used to cure afflictions, this is the view of the Hinayana."

Xue Jian continued to ask: "Master, what is Mahayana?"

Hui Neng replied: "The ignorance of wisdom and the ignorance of affliction are considered by ordinary people to be two states. The wise man understands that they are actually the same thing. Their essential nature is the same. The same essential state is the true nature. There is no distraction in it, and it is not silent in meditation. It can be said that it is neither permanent nor cessation, neither coming nor going, nor an intermediate state, neither internal nor external, neither arising nor dying, the essence and phenomenon are true and the same, nothing There are changes, this is called the Buddha way!"

Xue Jian was still confused, so she asked again: "Master, heretics also say that there is no birth and no death, what is the difference between your teaching and theirs?"

Hui Neng said: "The birth and death they talk about is a relative thing. When there is birth, there is death. When I say no birth and no death, I mean the unity of mind and nature. There is no such state at all. If you want to get the law, just don't do those things Pointless thinking about good and evil, right and wrong, will naturally lead to a pure state of true heart.”

Xue Jian returned to the court and reported to Emperor Zhongzong to praise Huineng as a figure like Vimalakirti, and gave cassocks and crystal bowls, and a temple property "Guoen Temple" for Huineng to live in.

■Sentiment——

Hui Neng uses the method of concealing and interpreting without falling on both sides to break the opposition between coming and going, birth and death, affliction and bodhi, wisdom and ignorance, and pierces the only layer of window paper between emptiness and existence. up.In Hui Neng's view, reality is non-appearance, and there will be no false appearance, so reality and Buddha-nature are far from the opposite sides.

Counting to the heart of the mirror, how long does Bodhi do?

According to the "Tan Sutra", Chan Master Wolun said in a verse:
The recumbent wheel has tricks,
Can break a hundred thoughts,

I feel sorry for the mirror,
Bodhi is growing day by day.

When Zen Master Hui Neng heard it, he immediately criticized: "This verse does not explain the wonderful function of the human heart. If you follow it, it will increase the bondage of people." Then, he read a verse he composed, saying :

Huineng has no tricks,
keep thinking,

Counting to the heart of the mirror,
Bodhi is so long.

■Sentiment——

Hui Neng believes that "unmoved mind" is not enlightenment, but a bondage to people.Hui Neng even opposed the practice of sitting meditation, believing that the practice of sitting meditation could not really achieve liberation, but would make people farther away from the Buddha.Regarding sitting meditation, Huineng has a famous verse, which expresses the attitude of Zen: "You are born to sit but not to lie down, and you die to lie down and do not sit. What is a meritorious work with a stinky bone?" Huineng emphasized that as long as the "primitive and pure mind" is not obscured , you can become a Buddha.

Wuwu does not cultivate goodness, and flourishes does not do evil
One day in 731 AD, Hui Neng knew that he would die soon, so he gathered his disciples and taught him: "I am saying goodbye to you now, please listen carefully. After I leave, don't wear filial piety and cry like the people in the world. Those who cry are not My disciples, as long as you know that your original mind has no movement or rest, you can achieve Buddhahood. If I am not alive, if you can practice according to the law, it will be the same as if you are alive. If you can’t act according to the law, I will It's useless to be alive."

Hui Neng announced at the same time: From then on, only the seal of the Dharma will be passed on, and the mantle will not be passed on, so as to avoid unnecessary entanglements in order to compete for the mantle of the Buddha.Finally, he left a gatha saying:

Wuwu does not practice goodness,
Teng Teng does not do evil.

Quietly cut off knowledge,
Dangdang mindless.

When sitting upright until the third watch, Huineng suddenly said to the disciples: "I will do it!" Then he moved away and was 76 years old.

Huineng's disciples have obtained the Dharma. Among them, the famous ones include Fahai, Shenhui, Huairang, Xingsi and others. Later, they were all unique Zen masters.

Because Shenhui and others insisted on attacking the Northern School for a long time, the opposition between the North and the South Schools intensified after Huineng's death. In the 12th year of Zhenyuan (769) of Emperor Dezong of Tang Dynasty, Shenhui was officially established as the Seventh Patriarch of Zen by the court, and the Southern School was finally established. Gained a recognized orthodox status.Since then, Caoxi Dunjiao has been regarded as the authentic Zen method by this Zen practitioner, while the Northern School has gradually declined.

Huineng's words and deeds are recorded in the "Tanjing" compiled by his descendants. The preaching of Chinese monks is called "jing". This is the first time in history, and it is still the only one up to now.

■Sentiment——

"Do not cultivate goodness" and "do not create evil", Huineng advocated this kind of Zen method that breaks the two sides and sees the nature clearly throughout his life.Nature is Buddha-nature, and Buddha-nature is actually the self-nature of all living beings. The enlightenment of self-nature is Buddha, and the delusion of self-nature is all living beings.This means pulling the Buddhas to the horizon of ordinary people's hearts, daily necessities and oils and salts.Separated by a thin line, one body has two sides. To all living beings, becoming a Buddha is nothing more than realizing one's own nature.

Uncertain, not chaotic, not sitting, not Zen

During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, there was a Tanzhou Zen master named Zhihuang who studied under the fifth patriarch Hongren.After returning to Lushan Temple in Changsha, he devoted himself to sitting meditation and often entered meditation.His statement went far and wide.

At that time, there was another Zen master who had studied under Master Huineng of Caoxi for 30 years.Finally, he left Caoxi and returned north.Passing by the place where Zhihuang lived on the road, he visited Zhihuang and said, "I heard that the Venerable One always enters into meditation. When you enter into meditation, do you enter with intention? Or do you enter without intention? If you enter with intention, all sentient beings contain the flow of consciousness. You can achieve samadhi just like you; if you don’t enter into it, all ruthless plants, trees, tiles and stones can also enter samadhi.”

(End of this chapter)