Buddha crossing a predestined person: Dharma and wisdom in life

Chapter 2 Convenience Method - Directly pointing at people's hearts, enlightenment and Buddhahood (2)
Zhihuang replied, "When I enter into samadhi, I don't see the mind of existence or non-existence."

The monk said: "If you don't see the mind of existence or non-existence, it is a constant state, and since it is a constant state, there is no discrepancy."

Zhihuang has no words to say.Then he asked, "You said you came from Master Neng. What did Master Neng teach you?"

The monk replied: "According to what my master said, indeterminate, not chaotic, not sitting, not meditating—this is Tathagata Zen. The five skandhas are inherently empty, and the six dusts do not exist. There is no tranquility or clarity, neither existence nor emptiness. In the middle way, if you don’t do anything, you will get nothing, but you will be free and unobstructed, and the Buddha-nature is all-encompassing.”

After hearing this passage, Zhihuang immediately became enlightened, and sighed, "I have been sitting in vain for 30 years!"

■Sentiment——

Hui Neng Zen always believes that sitting in meditation cannot enter concentration.Because I am too persistent in pursuing the Buddha nature, I will get nothing.Buddha nature is all-encompassing and ubiquitous, as long as you let go of that attachment, it will appear naturally.

let go of attachment

Matsu was born with different appearances, "A cow walks with a tiger's eyes, draws his tongue over his nose, and has two rounds of writing under his feet." After becoming a monk, such a person who looked down upon others thought he had obtained the Dharma, and lived in the Chuan Court during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty and sat in meditation all day long.Nanyue Huairang knew that he was a talent, so he went to save him.It is said in the "Tanjing" that Huineng had predicted to Huairang a long time ago, saying that in the future, a horse will be born under your sect.

Huai Rang asked, "If the carriage doesn't leave, will you hire a horse or a taxi?"

Dao Yi was at a loss.Huai Rang continued to point out: "Are you learning sitting meditation or sitting Buddha? If you are sitting Zen, Zen is not about sitting or lying; Generate an attachment, if you are attached to the Buddha, you will kill the Buddha, if you are attached to sitting meditation, you will not be able to reach the Dao!"

Daoyi's heart was clear when he heard it, and he realized Buddhism from then on.

■Sentiment——

Daoyi (709-788), whose common surname was Ma, was known as Mazu in the world.After Huineng, no one in the Zen sect dared to call him the ancestor, but because Dao Yi's Zen style was like flowing clouds and flowing water, and he had a broad way to guide his disciples, he became a Zen master admired by everyone for a while.Therefore, later generations named him the ancestor.The story of Mazu's enlightenment is a famous koan in Zen.

Regarding the essence of Zen, Mazu once said: "If you want to know the way directly, the ordinary mind is the way. It is said that the ordinary mind has no fabrication, no right and wrong, no choice, no judgment, no ordinary and no sage...just walk, sit and lie down now, Responsiveness is the way to go."

Hui Neng emphasized that the mind should not be defiled, and Ma Zu further developed this thought, pointing out that everything is in the way all the time, but your own mind is not normal, and you want to think about the holy and ordinary, and you are not willing to be at ease.

epiphany relief

At the beginning, Mazu paid special attention to sitting meditation. He stayed alone in a room and devoted himself to sitting meditation. He didn't see anyone and didn't care about anything.

After the Zen monk Huairang met him, he took a brick and ground it on the stone outside the door of the room where Mazu sat in meditation.

Mazu asked, "What do you grind bricks for?"

Huai Rang replied, "Be a mirror."

Mazu said strangely: "How can grinding bricks make a mirror?"

Huai Rang said, "Since you cannot make a mirror by grinding bricks, how can you become a Buddha by sitting in meditation?"

Mazu realized that sitting meditation was useless for liberation, and since then he really stepped into the door of Zen Buddhism and later became a famous Zen master. ■Sentiment——

Sitting meditation cannot be liberated, so how to be liberated?When someone asked Huihai, who was a disciple of Mazu, "Which Dharma do you want to practice, you will be liberated?" Those who suddenly get rid of delusions, those who are enlightened will get nothing." Huihai also gave a clear answer to when he can become a Buddha: "Those who are enlightened will not leave this life, and they will be liberated." Then you can become a saint from an ordinary person and become a Buddha on the spot.

Become a Buddha without heart, and become a Buddha without heart

Huizhong was one of Huineng's disciples. The following dialogue is between Huizhong and his new follower, Lingjue:

Lingjue asked: "I became a monk because I wanted to become a Buddha. I don't know how to work hard to become a Buddha?"

Huizhong said: "If you don't use your heart, you will become a Buddha."

Lingjue asked: "Who can become a Buddha if there is no heart to use?"

Huizhong replied: "Without the mind, you will become a Buddha, and you will become a Buddha without the mind."

Lingjue asked: "Buddha has an inconceivable way to save sentient beings. If he has no heart, who will save sentient beings?"

Huizhong replied: "Wuxin is the true salvation of sentient beings. If you see someone who can be saved, you have a heart, and you can't escape the scope of life and death."

Lingjue asked: "Since there is no heart now, Shakyamuni was born and said many teachings, is it a lie?"

Huizhong replied: "Buddha's preaching is also unintentional."

Lingjue asked: "There is no intention to speak, so it should be nothing to say."

Huizhong replied: "Speaking is non-existence, non-existence is speaking. (All activities of the Buddha come from no mind, that is, from emptiness)."

Lingjue asked: "There is no intention to speak, but is it intentional to create karma?"

Huizhong replied: "Without mind, there is no karma. Now that there is karma, mind arises and ceases. How can there be no mind?"

Lingjue asked: "If you have no mind, you will become a Buddha. Has the monk become a Buddha now?"

Huizhong replied, "I don't even have a mind. Who is to say that I can become a Buddha? If there is a Buddha, you still have a mind. If you have a mind, you have outflows. Where can you get no mind?"

Lingjue asked: "Since there is no Buddha to become a monk, can a monk be used by a Buddha?"

Huizhong replied, "I don't even have a heart. Where does the use come from?"

Lingjue asked: "There is no confusion, could it be that you have fallen into a broken view (no view)?"

Huizhong replied, "Originally there is no seeing, so who says it is broken?"

Lingjue asked: "If you say that there is no vision, isn't this falling into the void?"

Huizhong replied, "There's not even emptiness. Where can I fall?"

Lingjue asked: "The ability to hear (that is, the subject and the object) is absent. Suppose suddenly someone comes to kill with a knife. Is this existence or non-existence?"

Huizhong replied, "No."

Lingjue asked, "Does it hurt?"

Huizhong replied, "There is no pain."

Lingjue asked: "Since pain is non-existent, what is the way of rebirth after death?"

Huizhong replied, "There is no death, no birth, and no way."

Lingjue asked: "Since you have nothing, you will be completely at ease; but when you are suffering from hunger and cold, how do you put your heart into it?"

Huizhong replied, "Eat when you are hungry, and dress when you are cold."

Lingjue asked: "Since you know hunger and cold, it should be intentional."

Huizhong replied, "I ask you, if you have a mind, what would your mind look like?"

Lingjue said: "The heart has no form."

Huizhong said: "Since you know that the mind has no form, it means that it has no mind in the first place. How can you say that you have a mind?"

Lingjue asked, "If you meet a tiger and wolf in the mountains, how should you put your heart into it?"

Huizhong replied: "Seeing is not seeing, coming is not coming, he has no intention, even evil beasts can't harm you."

Lingjue asked: "There is nothing to do, and there is no mind, what is the name?"

Huizhong replied, "It's called Master Vajra."

Lingjue asked, "What is the form of the Vajra Master?"

Huizhong replied, "There is no form."

Lingjue asked: "Since there is no form, what can be said to be a vajra master?"

Huizhong replied, "It's called the Formless Vajra Master."

Lingjue asked, "What merits does Vajra Master have?"

Huizhong replied: "One thought corresponds to the Vajra, which can eliminate the serious crimes of life and death for countless kalpas, and see countless Buddhas. The merits of the Vajra Master are immeasurable, which cannot be described by words or stated by the mind. Merits and virtues are inexhaustible."

Lingjue asked, "What is one-thought response?"

Huizhong replied: "Memory and wisdom are both forgotten, which is corresponding."

Lingjue asked: "Memory and wisdom are forgotten, who will see the Buddhas?"

Huizhong replied: "Forgetting is nothing, and nothing is Buddha."

Lingjue asked: "Nothing means nothing. How can you call yourself a Buddha?"

Huizhong replied: "Nothing is empty, and Buddha is also empty. Therefore, nothing is Buddha, and Buddha is nothing."

Lingjue asked: "Since there is nothing to obtain, what is it called?"

Huizhong replied, "I don't have a name."

Lingjue asked, "Is there anything similar to it?"

Huizhong replied: "There is nothing like it, and there is nothing in the world that can compare with it."

■Sentiment——

Everyone has Buddha nature.Prajna arises from the Buddha nature and observes all our physical and mental activities.Buddha-nature produces prajna, just as the sun emits light and heat or mirrors reflect objects, without mind.So it is said that the Buddha has no mind or that the Buddha has no mind.Therefore, if you put your heart and mind on becoming a Buddha, it will be an obstacle to becoming a Buddha.

where is empty
A monk asked Chan Master Fukuo: "Fate and emptiness return to emptiness, but where does emptiness return?"

Fukuo shouted, "Brother!"

The monk replied: "Yes, teacher."

The monk then said, "Please tell me where the space is."

Zen Master Fukuo said teasingly: "It's like the red pepper that the Persians eat."

■Sentiment——

We often look for something outside or after our own experience, forgetting that this search is endless.The monk asked "Where is emptiness?" He only understood it conceptually, so he didn't understand where emptiness is at all.In that era—the Tang Dynasty—the so-called "Persian" by Zen Master Fukuo was just a synonym for foreigners, and the so-called "Persian pepper" meant that he could not express his understanding of "emptiness" in appropriate Chinese words, just as he It's like knowing nothing about Persia.Therefore, "like the red pepper that the Persians eat" also means "unrecognizable" and "unspeakable".

cypress in front of the court

A certain monk asked Zhaozhou, "What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?"

"The cypress tree in front of the court."

"You only pointed to one object."

"Otherwise, I did not point you to an object."

So the other party asked again: "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming to the West?"

Zhaozhou still said, "The cypress in front of the court."

■Sentiment——

Stripping away the lingo of Zen, what Zhaozhou said was only pointing out that the Tao was in the cypress trees in front of the court.Why did he only mention the cypress tree? This is because the first thing he saw was the cypress tree. If he saw a bird in the sky, he would definitely say: "The bird is in the sky."What he said was an object, but he used this object to express the omnipresence of Tao.So what he pointed to the monk was not just an object, but because the monk's own focus was attached to the object and he could not detach himself from it.

How is Buddha?Zhang San Li Si

A student monk asked Chan Master Fayan Wenyi: "What is the Dharma of the Buddhas?"

Zen Master Fayan Wenyi: "You have it yourself."

A student monk asked, "How is a Buddha?"

Zen Master Fayan Wenyi: "Who else do you ask?"

The student monk asked, "What is the secret recipe for the Buddha to become a Buddha?"

Zen Master Fayan Wenyi: "It's all up to you to understand."

A student monk asked, "How is a Buddha?"

Zen Master Fayan Wenyi: "Zhang San Li Si."

■Sentiment——

The Buddha-nature is already ready-made, it only needs epiphany and cannot be thought about. "Everything is ready-made" focuses on the ubiquity of the real body, and Chan Master Fayan Wenyi's "originally ready-made" focuses on the original self-sufficiency of the Buddha-nature of the subject of Zen enlightenment.Buddhas are sentient beings, and sentient beings are Buddhas.Buddha wants sentient beings to do it, and sentient beings are originally Buddhas.Since it is ready-made, everyone is an innocent Buddha, and this innocence should not be deliberately "decorated".

not understand

At a Fa conference, Zhaozhou said: "People use language to seek understanding. I am not in understanding. You should cherish it and keep it in your heart."

A monk asked back: "Since you are not in understanding, what should we cherish?"

Zhaozhou replied, "I don't know either."

The other party asked again: "Since you don't know, why do you know that you don't understand?"

Zhaozhou said, "Please experience it directly!"

So everyone bowed to him and retreated.

■Sentiment——

Lao Tzu said, "He who knows does not speak, and he who speaks does not know."Perhaps the monk was not a beginner, and he wanted to force the teacher to clarify his philosophical views, but Zhaozhou avoided this problem skillfully. Like all great Zen masters, he made his students stand on slippery ground, So that they do not hide in those hotbeds of definite formulas.When Matsu said "the stone road is slippery", he was also praising Shitou as a great contemporary Zen master, but no one is more slippery than Zhaozhou.

who is buddha

Once, a monk asked Baizhang:
"Who is the Buddha?"

Baizhang replied:

"Who are you?"

■Sentiment——

Only you can give you free and unhindered access to this world.Once you discover your real self, you can break free from many of the ego's obsessions, because the real self is one with the other, all-encompassing.

goose in a bottle
Once, Dr. Lu Dan asked Nan Quan, "In ancient times, a man raised a goose in a bottle. The goose gradually grew up and couldn't get out of the bottle. Now the bottle can't be broken, and the goose can't be damaged. May I ask what method you can use?" make it out?"

Nanquan called out, "Doctor."

Lu Gen replied, "Yes."

Fu Quan said, "Come out."

Only then did Lu Gen realize his true nature.

■Sentiment——

"The goose in the bottle" refers to our inner self, and this bottle refers to our external desires and constraints.The true self is bound by all kinds of human desires, and there is no way to be free.In order to obtain liberation from the true self, traditional Buddhism often emphasizes breaking desires, that is, "breaking the bottle", while Zen Buddhism believes that all it takes is epiphany.

Put down the butcher knife and become a Buddha immediately

Zen Master Wude was very strict in educating his apprentices. Under his disciples, a monk accidentally stepped on a frog to death while walking at night.When Chan Master Wude found out about it, he taught him very severely: "How can you trample to death casually? This is a violation of the fundamental precept of killing. In order to avoid reincarnation of karma, jump off the cliff behind the mountain and sacrifice your life for your sins!"

When the monk heard it, it was like five thunderbolts in an instant. Only then did he realize that he had caused a catastrophe, so he had to say goodbye to the master, and walked to the cliff very sadly, ready to sacrifice himself to apologize.

At this time, a pig butcher happened to pass by this mountain. Seeing the monk kneeling by the roadside and weeping bitterly, he stepped forward and asked, "Little Master! Why are you crying so sadly here?"

The monk replied: "I stepped on a frog to death, and the master told me to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff. I repent and apologize!"

When the butcher heard this, he immediately regretted and said: "You just trampled to death a frog unintentionally. The crime is so serious that you have to jump off a cliff to get rid of your karma. I kill pigs every day, and my hands are bloody. Isn't this crime immeasurable and boundless? So deep and so heavy. Don’t jump off a cliff to commit suicide, let me jump! Let me apologise for you and die!”

As soon as the butcher repented, he jumped towards the cliff without hesitation.Seeing that he was about to die in the deep valley, an auspicious cloud slowly rose from the deep valley, supporting the butcher's body miraculously and saving his life.

■Sentiment——

Zen said: "Put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha immediately." This idiom probably comes from here.The little monk's actions moved the butcher and made him realize his epiphany.One thought of delusion, one is an ordinary person; one thought of enlightenment, one is a Buddha.After enlightenment, the butcher jumps off the cliff, which is a farewell to ordinary life, and being supported by auspicious clouds means the coming of a new life, that is, the butcher has become a Buddha.Becoming a Buddha turned out to be so simple and convenient.

Bring "Natural"

When Zen master Pansi lectured on the principles of Zen, he was not only easy to understand, but also often asked believers to ask questions and explain on the spot before the end. Therefore, many believers came from thousands of miles away.

One day, a believer asked Chan Master Pansi for instructions: "I am naturally irritable, and I don't know how to correct it?"

Zen master Pansi said: "What kind of 'natural' method? You show it to me, and I will help you get rid of it."

The believer hurriedly said: "No! Not now. Whenever something happens, the 'natural' irritable will come out."

Zen master Pansi said: "If it doesn't exist now, it only appears in some occasional situation, then it is created by yourself when you argue with others, but now you call it 'natural' and blame your mistakes. It's really unfair to push it to the parents."

After this lecture, believers finally understood, and never lost their temper easily.

■Sentiment——

The Buddha said: When the mind is born, all kinds of dharmas will be born, and when the mind is gone, all kinds of dharmas will be destroyed.Nothing is "born", everything is born from our hearts.We are used to pushing all the reasons to the objective environment. For example, when we are in good times, we attribute it to good luck; when we are in adversity, we blame others.Little do we know that "circumstances are created by the heart", good times and bad times are all made by ourselves.Therefore, the most important thing is to maintain a happy and free mood.

something missing

A believer came to visit Chan Master Zhaozhou, and since he had no gifts to offer him, he said apologetically, "I came empty-handed!"

Zen Master Zhaozhou looked at the believers and said, "Since you come here empty-handed, please put it down!"

The believer didn't understand what he meant, so he asked back, "Zen Master! I didn't bring a gift, what do you want me to put down?"

"Then, you can take it home." Zen Master Zhaozhou replied quickly.

The believer was even more puzzled and asked, "I don't have anything, what should I bring back?"

Zen Master Zhaozhou said, "Just take that thing back home that has nothing."

Believers couldn't understand Zen master Zhaozhou's Zen reason, full of doubts, and couldn't help talking to themselves: "How can I take what I don't have?"

Only then did Zen Master Zhaozhou teach believers: "What you don't lack is what you don't have; what you don't have is what you don't lack!"

"Zen Master, please tell me clearly!" The believer was still puzzled.

Zen Master Zhaozhou said: "I talk too much with you, it's a pity that you don't have the Zen nature, but you don't lack the Zen nature."

■Sentiment——

The believer came empty-handed, but Zhaozhou asked him to "let go", "let go" of what?Let go of the "gift" in the believer's heart, and this "gift" represents the believer's worldly heart. Therefore, what Zhaozhou wants him to "let go" is actually a mortal heart; the believer is empty-handed, but Zhaozhou wants him to "take away", " Take away" what? What was "taken away" was the Zen nature that Zhaozhou had discovered for him.It is a pity that believers are deluded and do not realize it.Therefore, Zhaozhou said, "The things you don't lack are the things you don't have; the things you don't have are the things you don't lack!" "The things you don't lack" means that everyone has Zen in their hearts That is, Buddha-nature), and "something that is not" refers to the thing that has not yet discovered Zen-nature.It can be seen that Zhaozhou is helping believers to let go of their ordinary minds and regain their Zen nature.

unintentional
A monk asked Weishan, "What is Tao?"

Wei Shan replied, "Wuxin is the way."

The other party said, "I won't."

Wei Shan replied, "You'd better get to know the person who can't."

The other party asked again: "What is a person who doesn't know how?"

Wei Shan replied, "It's not someone else, but yourself!"

■Sentiment——

Those who can recognize this incompetence right now are their own minds and the Buddha they yearn for.If you seek outside and get a half-knowledge, and think it is the way of Zen, then you are wrong.It's like bringing feces in and soiling the heart.Just like Lao Tzu's so-called "Day damage".

How big is the heart
There is a small temple in the mountain, and there are only two masters and apprentices in the temple.One day: "The little monk asked the Zen master, Master, you say all day long that 'the environment is born from the heart, everything is created by the heart, and the heart is the soul of a person.' Then, how big is the human heart?"

The Zen master did not answer directly, but said: "You close your eyes and build a big mountain in your heart."

The monk really closed his eyes, and after waiting for a while, he opened them and said, "Master, my mountain is finished."

The Zen master said again: "Create another grass."

The little novice also closed his eyes and thought for a while, then told the master that Xiaocao was finished.

The Zen master said, "You want to go to the gate of the monastery."

The little novice immediately said: "Master, I have arrived."

"Then go to the horizon again."

The little novice also replied immediately: "Master, I have arrived.

The Zen master asked him, "When you made mountains and grass, did you use your own heart, or did you make it together with other people's hearts?"

Without even thinking about it, the little novice immediately said, "It's all from my own heart."

"Did you take a long time to get to the gate of the monastery, or to the sky?"

The little novice said without hesitation: "The same length."

The Zen master asked for the third time: "The mountain is very big, the grass is very small, and there are countless grasses growing on the mountain. So, when you build the mountain, do you use all your heart? When you build the grass, do you use part of your heart?" ?”

The little novice shook his head and said: "Whether it is to build a mountain full of grass, or just a grass, you have to use all your heart."

Therefore, the Zen master said: "It takes as long to go to the sky in the heart as to reach the door. It can be seen that our heart is neither fast nor slow. It takes one heart to make a big mountain; it takes one heart to make a small grass. , it can be seen that the heart can be big or small, and it can be big or small."

■Sentiment——

(End of this chapter)