After Liang Jianxing finished talking about "Human Heart Management", he turned to the topic of understanding. Liang Jianxing said: "There are high and low levels of people's understanding, and below, I will list three stories related to the understanding of the apprentices of the Five Ancestors Hongren Contest to share with you. ”

Story 1: Divide pears to test understanding

It is said that Huineng traveled thousands of miles and came to Dongchan Temple in HBHM County to worship the five ancestors Hongren as a teacher to learn the law. When Huineng first entered the empty door, the fifth ancestor Hongren sent him to do some rough work such as rice cooking. In the summer of this year, the five ancestors arranged for the monks to go up to the back mountain to pick pears according to the custom, and each person divided six pears to cool off.

Today is a hot day, and the monks who have been tortured by the scorching heat are already salivating when they see the green pears in the basket. As soon as the pears were distributed, everyone seemed to plow the court and sweep the holes, and the wind swept the clouds, and they ate all the six pears they had been distributed at once.

After seeing that all the monks present at the scene had eaten all the six pears they had been allocated, the Fifth Patriarch announced, "Now start beating the bell." ”

"As the saying goes, in the temple there are morning bells and dusk drums. Why did the five ancestors suddenly come up with the idea of striking the bell at this noonday?" Shenxiu felt that today's events were a little strange, and turned his head sideways and asked, "Master, who will be arranged to ring the clock?"

The Fifth Ancestor stroked his long hair and said: "All the people at the scene, whether he is a monk or a layman, whether he is old or young, all have to go to the bell tower and ring the bell six times each. ”

"Okay." Shenxiu stood on the high platform and recited the words of the five ancestors loudly.

After passing the word, Shenxiu returned to the side of the Fifth Ancestor and asked again, "Master, who should ring the bell first?"

The Fifth Ancestor said to Shenxiu with a solemn expression: "You are the first disciple of the temple, of course you are the first to ring the bell." ”

"Thank you, Master, for cultivating!" Shenxiu was full of joy, the arrangement of the five ancestors was undoubtedly to announce to the monks of the whole temple that he was the first heir under the five ancestors.

The bell tower is next to the main hall, while the bell hangs on the second floor.

"Come, I'll lead you there." The five ancestors walked in the front, followed by Shenxiu, followed by a long queue, and walked in a row.

Stepping on the wooden stairs, Shenxiu went up to the bell tower. A large iron bell weighing thousands of pounds hangs high on the beam of the bell tower, and the difference from usual is that this bell is at least five feet higher than the previous hanging, and people can't touch it with their hands when they jump up, and the bell mallet is gone.

Shenxiu looked around, searched his eyes for a while, and then asked the fifth ancestor: "Master, where is the bell mallet?"

The fifth ancestor shook his head slightly: "I don't know either." ”

"How can you ring the bell without a hammer?" Shenxiu spread his hands, looking helpless.

"If you can't knock it, don't knock it!"

Shenxiu helplessly: "This ......"

"Next!" When Shenxiu was depressed, the Fifth Ancestor had already screamed in a slightly hoarse voice.

The monk who followed behind Shenxiu is like the back waves of the Yangtze River pushing the front waves, and the time does not wait for me, and it is unforgiving. Shenxiu can't ring the bell and has to give way to the next one.

The other monks walked up to the bell tower one by one in a cheerful mood, but they lowered their heads and walked down from the other end in disappointment.

When it was Huineng's turn, he turned his gaze to the Fifth Ancestor and asked in a low voice, "Master, is it to ring the bell six times?"

"Hmm." The Fifth Ancestor nodded, "Can you ring the bell six times?"

Huineng nodded: "Yes." ”

Fifth Ancestor: "Then you can knock it." ”

"Okay." Hui Neng reached into the gray and black robe from the diagonal with his right hand, took out an object, and threw it at the big ancient bell hanging high in the bell tower.

"When ——!"

Then, Huineng took out five more things in a row and threw them at the ancient bell.

"Dang!" "When! ”……

Six loud and long bells rang out from the bell tower, and the monks of all the monasteries were surprised: "Who can ring that ancient bell?"

Shenxiu's heart was shocked: "Can this person fly up with wings and ring the bell?" He pushed aside the crowd and hurried up to the bell tower, only to see six pears on the floor.

The pears, which had cracked, seemed to have open mouths, and laughed at him. In Shenxiu's view, where is this six simple bells? This is clearly Hong Zhong Da Lu, the thunder sound of the heavenly drum! This is a wake-up call to yourself to seize the throne of Zen Buddhism!

Story 2: Eat porridge to test your understanding

One morning, the monks of the whole temple came to the kitchen to eat breakfast. But unlike usual, the Five Ancestors are among them today.

Today's breakfast consisted of three pieces of pancakes made with tapioca flour per person, which is the temple's usual breakfast food. As soon as the monks got their share of the pancakes, they munched on them heavily.

After Huineng got the pancakes, he had an abnormal feeling in his heart: on weekdays, the five ancestors would not come to the kitchen for breakfast...... He thought as he put the pancake to his mouth and chewed it.

After Shenxiu learned the lesson of "dividing pears", he was also wary of the arrival of the five ancestors this morning, he looked at the three pancakes in his hand and was stunned for a while, his eyes searched around, through the crowded heads, he saw that Huineng on the other side was eating pancakes in a big gulp, until he saw that Huineng finished eating the last pancake in his hand, patted his belly with his hand, looked full, and then patted the left and right palms, and went over there to wash his hands.

The big stone hanging in Shenxiu's heart was put down, and he felt hungry at this time, so he "three times and five drops and two", and quickly ate all three pancakes.

After a while, the monk on duty brought out several large buckets of steaming white porridge, and several other monks carried out several baskets of large bowls and spoons.

The little acolyte, who was usually close to him, brought a large bamboo chair with a backrest and placed it in front of the porridge bucket.

The five ancestors stroked their long beards and sat upright on the large bamboo chair with the backrest.

Nearly a thousand monks in Dongchan Temple looked at the five ancestors silently.

The Fifth Ancestor's torch-like gaze wandered around, and raised his voice: "There is another breakfast today, each person eats three bowls of white porridge, but there is a requirement-" He dragged out his voice and stopped talking.

The monks said in unison: "Please make it clear to the ancestors." ”

The Fifth Ancestor slowed down the rhythm of his voice and became one word at a time: "After eating three bowls of white porridge, no porridge water is allowed to be sprinkled on the ground in front of everyone." ”

Monks: "Yes." ”

Hearing the fifth ancestor say this, Shenxiu was secretly happy in his heart: "That Huineng, who has a thin physique, and the amount of food is not as big as his own, just now he has peeked at him eating pancakes and eating to his heart's content, and now, how can his thin and narrow belly fit three bowls of white porridge?" This time I won. So, he walked in front of the five ancestors first.

Other monks are also interested, the "seated" senior brother of Dongchan Temple has not yet moved, who dares to act first and take the limelight.

Shenxiu gave a salute to the five ancestors, and said with a heartfelt voice: "Master, who will eat first this time?"

Fifth Ancestor: "In terms of seniority, it's your turn to be the leader." ”

"Thank you Master, I will definitely live up to your expectations, apprentice." After Shenxiu finished speaking, he bowed his head and bent down, and picked up a big bowl with his hand.

Shenxiu was just about to serve porridge when he heard the voice of the fifth ancestor: "Shenxiu, you take a look at the bottom of the bowl first." ”

"Ahh After Shenxiu looked at the bottom of the bowl, he was stunned.

It turns out that this big bowl has a hole as big as a copper coin cut through the bottom of the bowl, how can this hold hot white porridge to eat?

Shenxiu hurriedly put the bowl back into the basket, wanting to replace it with another good one, but picked left and right, turning from the top of the basket to the bottom, and all the big bowls were the same.

At this time, the sitting Fifth Ancestor spoke: "Today, all the big bowls are hollowed out, Shenxiu, you don't have to spend any more time to pick them." You must know that in front of my Buddha, everyone is equal. The voice of the five ancestors was not loud, but it was full of solemnity, and there was no room for the slightest bargaining.

Shenxiu had no choice but to pick up the bowl from the basket and straighten up.

Looking at the hot white porridge in the bucket, Shenxiu's eyebrows furrowed, like two knives hanging upside down, as if he had an understanding: "Ah, the five ancestors have always mentioned the word 'bitter' in their preaching, is it that today is to test our degree of hardship and hardship." Yes, today I must use the greatest perseverance to forcibly endure and eat these three bowls of porridge. Thinking of this, Shenxiu gritted his teeth, blocked the hole at the bottom of the bowl with the palm of his right hand, and walked to the monk on duty who was distributing porridge: "Come, divide the porridge!"

The monk picked up the spoon, scooped a spoonful of steaming porridge, and poured it into Shenxiu's bowl.

The hot porridge is pressed directly on the palm of the hand, and the pain is not easy to bear. And Shenxiu made up his mind, gritted his teeth, and wanted to desperately hard top. However, the white porridge was so ruthless and scalding. Push it straight away from the palm of your hand. As the saying goes, ten fingers are connected to the heart, how can his fleshy palm withstand the heart-rending heat.

Shenxiu finally couldn't help it, and as soon as the palm of his right hand was released, the white porridge came out of the bottom of the big bowl with a "bang", splashing all over the porridge water. Shenxiu had no choice but to put down the big bowl and walk away in frustration.

The other monks also wanted to follow the example of Shenxiu and survive with the spirit of hardship and patience, but they failed one after another.

It was the turn of the last one. It's Huineng who cooks rice, grinds flour, grows vegetables and miscellaneous. Huineng walked to the basket, picked up a bowl with his left hand, took out a pancake from his arms with his right hand, pasted it from the bottom to the bottom of the bowl, and walked to the dining monk: "Come, divide the porridge!"

The hot white porridge was served in a bowl, and the hole in the bottom of the bowl was blocked by pancakes. Huineng lowered his head and blew the hot air from the white porridge with his mouth, and slowly ate the porridge......

Although the monks of the whole temple present had experienced their own failures, they couldn't help but applaud Huineng's wise behavior of eating porridge.

The Fifth Ancestor closed his eyes and gently stroked his long white hair with his hand, as if thinking about something, with a look of relief and joy on his face.

It turned out that after Huineng got three pancakes, as soon as Lingxi came, when he turned around, he quietly pulled out one, stuffed it into his arms, and then went to another place to chew it. Shenxiu peeped from the side and saw that there were no pancakes in Huineng in his hand, thinking that he had eaten all the pancakes, so he also came to learn from him, who knows......

When Shenxiu was jealous, the black mole Hui Ming didn't know what to do, approached him, and said softly: "Senior brother, I didn't expect that Hui Neng, who was a handyman, had such a high level of understanding, and today he is a standout!"

Hui Ming's words were not unreasonable, and Shenxiu had no choice but to spread his hands helplessly, without saying a word, and glared at Hui Ming fiercely.

If it is said that story 1 "dividing pears" and story 2 "eating porridge" are the five ancestors Hongren's small test for their apprentices, what is it, story 3 "making a side" is the big test of the five ancestors Hongren for their apprentices.