Let's talk about Huairang. Huai Rang was ordered by Master Huineng to come out of the independent courtyard and promote one side. He came to Nanyue Hengshan and lived in the temple for a long time, so he was called Nanyue Huairang, or Nanyue Master.

Many years later, Huai Rang heard that the Dharma Transmission Zen Institute near Hengshan came from Shifang, Sichuan, a young monk with the common surname Ma and a famous Taoist. He had a solitary temperament, sat in meditation all his life, and never socialized with people.

Huai Rang immediately remembered that when he left Cao Xi, Master Huineng told him: "Your disciple will produce a foal, gallop across the world, and set foot on the world." Going back further, long before Patriarch Bodhidharma came to China, his master, Venerable Prajnatara, prophesied to him: 'Although Aurora has no other way, he must borrow the feet of his children and grandchildren to go up, and the golden rooster will relieve a grain of millet and make offerings to the Arhat monks of the ten directions.' ”

Could it be that the "foal" that the master said is this Zen monk with the common surname Ma?

Huairang followed the thatched path to the hill behind the Dharma Monastery. He saw a young Zen monk sitting alone under a pine tree with a dragon coiling. The sitting monk seems to have long been integrated with the surrounding mountains, rivers and plants, unmoving, unshaking, and not looking.

He is Daoyi, a Zen man destined to shock the world, a monk who has left a legacy for thousands of years, and the only master who is called "ancestor" by later generations after the six ancestors.

Huai Rang walked straight up to him and stood for a long time before he asked, "What are you trying to do after sitting for a long time like this?" ”

"I want to be a Buddha in the future!" Daoyi replied in a dismissive tone, without even lifting his eyelids.

Seeing this, Huai Rang stopped asking, picked up a brick and grinded it on the rock. The squeak-creak-creak-squeak of grinding bricks sounded louder than a landslide and cracking, and worse than the soul of a night owl. Patience, patience, patience! The Buddha said that forbearance is one of the six ways for a bodhisattva to practice.

Dao Yi endured it. However, that Huai let the grinding go on and on. The sound of the grinding of broken bricks and rocks was sharp and grotesque, like steel needles, burrowing into Daoyi's ears, piercing his brain, and piercing every nerve in him...... Dao Yi couldn't bear it anymore, and couldn't hold back the anger in his heart anymore, so he finally opened his eyes and glared at Huai Rang viciously.

However, Huai Rang ignored Daoyi. He did not raise his head, did not squint, and continued to grind bricks. He looked as if he were polishing the world's most precious diamond.

Daoyi was attracted by his demeanor of grinding bricks so seriously, and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Why are you grinding those bricks so carefully?" ”

"I'm going to grind it into a bright mirror."

"How can a rotten brick be ground into a mirror?" Dao is half puzzled and half ironic.

"Since you know that bricks can't be sharpened into mirrors, can you sit and become a Buddha by sitting all day long like you?" Huai Rang finally said the purpose of grinding the bricks, it turned out to be to guide Daoyi to the bait, so as to enlighten him.

Dao Yi listened to Huai Rang's words, and didn't know how to answer for a while.

Huai Rang picked up a dead branch from under the tree, beat it a few times on the lying cow stone of Daoyi Zazen, and said slowly: "This is like driving an ox to pull a cart, the ox cart stops halfway, are you fighting a cow or a taxi?" ”

Dao Yi felt that Huai Rang's words were unfathomable, and couldn't help but stand up.

Huai Rang was moved by the Tao and was listening to himself intently, so he slowly introduced the topic: "You said that you want to sit in meditation to become a Buddha, however, Zen is not sitting and lying, and the Buddha does not have a fixed image. Things are volatile, and there should be no trade-offs. If you think that you can only become a Buddha by meditating, you are killing your living Buddha-nature. If you are obsessed with sitting and sticking to form, you will not be able to realize the truth of the Dharma. ”

Daoyi knows that Huai Rang is reasonable, but it is difficult for people to deny themselves, especially for things that they are very proud of, it is difficult to see through and let go.

Daoyi "sighed" for a long time and said: "There is nothing bad about zazen, the Buddha Shakyamuni became a Buddha in zazen." ”

"Zazen is good, of course, but if you think of zazen as the only way to become a Buddha, especially if you have an attachment to zazen in your heart, then you are wrong. There is an old saying that there are tons of heroes. However, if a drunkard claims to be a hero on this basis, will he succeed? If a person can drink a lot of alcohol, is he a hero? The fact that the Buddha saw the stars while meditating does not mean that everyone must sit in meditation to become enlightened. The key to learning Buddhism and practicing Zen is to grasp the true meaning of Buddhism and enter the heart of Zen. ”

Such as Daigo empowerment, like nectar to moisten the heart, the Tao is enlightened when you hear it. The flower of wisdom burns in the heart, and the tears of joy flow in the eyes. He bowed deeply to Huairang......

By the time he looked up, there was no one in front of him. In the mountains, there is a string of pearl-like bright songs: the heart contains all kinds of things, and all the encounters are cute. Samadhi flowers have no phase, what is bad and what is done.

Daoyi didn't even take the futon that he sat in meditation every day, and hurriedly chased after the place where the song was wafting.

From then on, Dao Yi bowed under the Huai Wai seat.

Ten years of hard work is unusual. Master Huairang's tempering has turned the ignorant little monk Daoyi into a grandmaster Matsu Daoyi who has hands and eyes to the sky - a great Dharma king destined to span the ages.

Ten years of sharpening a sword, a thousand lights. The birth of Matsu Daoyi brought about the great prosperity of Zen Buddhism. With his broad and grand bearing, magical and agile wisdom, he shows the profound and subtle Zen principles in ordinary daily life, so that every ordinary person can experience the transcendence of Zen, feel the style of Zen, and comprehend the wisdom of Zen.

As a result, scholars from all over the world gathered under the seat, and the monks of the world looked forward to the wind; The dragon and the tiger roar, like the lion dance, thousands of monks and thousands of fingers, the captain is a grand view. Among his disciples, the two great patriarchs of Baizhang Huaihai and Nanquan Puyuan left behind the descendants of Fenzhou Wuye, Damei Fachang, Xitang Zhizang, Guizong Zhichang, Shigong Huizang, Xingshan Weikuan, Wutai Yinfeng, Yanguan Qi'an, Panshan Baoji, and Dazhu Huihai...... They are all important figures at the level of great masters in the history of Zen Buddhism. Therefore, the Matsu Dojo is known as the "Buddha Election Field".

Later, his disciple Baizhang Huaihai gave birth to the earliest Weiyang sect and the largest Rinzai sect among the five major sects of Zen Buddhism. After the Northern Song Dynasty, until today, most of the monks of Han Buddhism belong to the Linji sect.

Because most of the Zen monks in the world came from his disciples, later generations called him "Matsu".