On this day, the vast sky was blue and blue, like a huge curtain that had been filtered out of variegation. A few snow-white clouds, blown by the wind like a boat in the sea, floated gently.

Huineng had just planted more than a dozen plum trees, came to the stream, and watered them with a bucket, and was about to leave, but was stopped by a pair of middle-aged men and women not far from the stream.

The man was from Gangjiao Village at the foot of Tianlu Mountain, his name was Xie Daohua, and the woman standing next to him was his wife Ah Fang. Judging from her depressed face, she had encountered something unsatisfactory.

Xie Daohua waved to Huineng and shouted, "Little brother, please come over for a while." ”

Huineng put down the bucket, waded across the stream, and asked, "Uncle, is there something wrong?" ”

Xie Daohua was about to speak, but when he saw his wife standing next to him, his face was blushing, and he immediately said nothing, and pulled Huineng to the big banyan tree a few feet away.

Xie Daohua blushed, lowered his voice and told Huineng the crux of his heart: he has been married for more than ten years, but his wife has not been able to give birth to children. His father and mother urged them again and again, and they had also sought out some Langzhong, but after taking many pills, they did not see his wife pregnant. The more anxious they are, the less effective they become. His parents had a lot of opinions about his wife and often accused her for no reason. Fortunately, his wife had a good temper and swallowed her anger and did not quarrel with the old man. But it is not easy for Xie Daohua to be caught in the middle.

There is a way, there are thoughts in the day, and dreams in the night. Last night, Xie Daohua had a dream that there was a living Buddha on Tianlu Mountain who could solve difficulties. When he woke up in the morning, he took his wife straight to the Tianlu Temple on the top of the mountain. After listening to his appeal, the abbot Yide Zen Master admitted frankly that he was only a Buddhist cultivator, and he had no ability to guide and send children, and everything in life could only be fate.

Xie Daohua was not discouraged, and he and his wife climbed high and low, went up the hill, waded into the stream, entered the woods, went down the ravine, and searched everywhere, but they couldn't find the living Buddha.

Seeing that Hui Neng was carrying water by the stream and planting plums, in desperation, Xie Daohua had no choice but to ask Hui Neng for help and asked, "Little brother, do you know where the living Buddha is in the mountains?" ”

Although his voice was small, but at this time the mountain was quiet, Ah Fang still heard it, and said to himself ashamedly: "Alas, this is not to blame." ”

Xie Daohua continued to say to Huineng: "Some people persuaded me to divorce my wife and remarry. But I think that one day husband and wife for a hundred days, we become husband and wife, this is God's arrangement. My wife is hardworking and capable, and she is very filial to my parents. How can I divorce my wife and marry another? ”

Huineng praised: "Uncle, you are really a good man. ”

Xie Daohua poured out his heart to Hui Neng: "But you should also know that in our rural areas, there is such a custom, what is said is not filial piety, there are three things, and no queen is the greatest." If you don't have descendants, you will be despised by others, and your family business will not be inherited in the future. Therefore, we burn incense and worship God at home every day, and meditate every night. Alas, I have been so sincere in worshiping the Buddha and have done so much hard work, but I have not seen my wife happy. My wife and I are both almost forty years old, and if my wife can't have children in the past few years, then it will be even more slim in the future. So my wife and I went up the mountain, hoping that the Living Buddha would give us some guidance so that I could continue to see the incense lamp. ”

The hill is surrounded by irises that symbolize love and good fortune, and among the green grass, the purple-blue flowers bloom like flocks of butterflies. There is a large stone under the big banyan tree in the center of the hill. After planting plums, Huineng often rests on this boulder to rest and enlighten.

Hui Neng had an epiphany and said, "Uncle, you don't have to work so hard to find other places in the mountains. I ask you, what is that? ”

Xie Daohua followed Huineng's point, saw a big stone, and replied casually: "Little brother, the question you asked is too simple, this is obviously a very ordinary big stone." ”

Huineng's words were subtle: "Yes, you say it's a big rock and it's a big stone, but what if you think it's not just a big stone, but something else?" You might as well use your brain to imagine it."

"This ......" Xie Daohua walked up to the small hill pier, pinched the short whiskers of his chin, looked left and right at the big stone, and fixed his eyes in the middle for a while: the bottom of this big stone is wider, triangular oblique upward, and the top is round, a bit like a human brain, if he has an understanding, and then beckoned to his wife, and said, "Ah Fang, come and see, what does this look like?" ”

After Ah Fang answered, he walked under the big banyan tree, looked at the big stone carefully for a while, and then said, "Daohua, I see this stone like a person." ”

Xie Daohua asked, "Who are you like?" ”

Ah Fang pointed to the big stone and said, "The upper part of this big stone looks like a human head, and the lower bulge looks like a person's big belly. ”

Xie Daohua slapped his thigh and shouted: "Yes, it is indeed like Maitreya laughing Buddha!" Wife, your vision is still sharper than mine. ”

Huineng laughed when he heard the couple say this: "Just now you replied that this is a very ordinary big stone, why do you now say that it is Maitreya Laughing Buddha?" ”

Xie Daohua pointed to the big stone and asked Huineng: "Little brother, why did I feel completely different just now than now?" ”

Huineng said loudly: "Uncle, uncle, if you believe in it, you are a Buddha, and if you don't believe it, it is still a stone." ”

Xie Daohua seemed to be enlightened, and said seriously: "Now it is a Buddha in front of my eyes, and it is a Maitreya Buddha who sent a son." ”

Huineng nodded: "Uncle, that's what I said just now." ”

There is nowhere to find the iron shoes, and it takes no effort to get them.

Hui Neng saw that the gloomy clouds on the faces of Xie Daohua and his wife were swept away, and he became radiant, pointing to his heart: "The Bodhi nature in the world is originally pure, but with this heart, you can see the nature and become a Buddha." ”

Xie Daohua pondered the meaning of this sentence: "Seeing nature to become a Buddha? ”

Huineng further nodded to him: "Uncle, in fact, the living Buddha you are looking for is in your own heart. ”

"The Living Buddha is in my own heart?" Xie Daohua waved his hand, "No." I, a man of the mountains and wilderness, how can the living Buddha be in my heart? Little brother, don't scold me! ”

"I'm not scolding you," Huineng said with a serious face, "You must know that everyone in the world has Buddha nature. ”

Xie Daohua felt that Huineng's words were incredible, and said, "Little brother, I really can't believe what you say, I, an ordinary man, will also have Buddha nature?" ”

Huineng's tone was conclusive: "Yes! I'm telling the truth. Walking, sitting, and lying down are all places of enlightenment, and everyone can become a Buddha."

"Everyone can become a Buddha?" Xie Daohua pondered this sentence and seemed to have some understanding, "Little brother, no one has ever said such things to me. ”

"I think that in addition to finding the Buddha here, you will continue to find a good man to prescribe some medicine when you go back from the mountain. I think you'll be able to do it soon. Huineng looked at Merlin over there and continued, "Here, I will also tell you that everything is in accordance with the way of heaven, the plan is in people, and it is in heaven to succeed!" ”

Xie Daohua clapped his hands in surprise: "Yo! Little brother, what you say is the Tao. This time, I really convinced you. Today you are here to show me the maze and make me less stupid. ”

Huineng waved his hand: "You don't have to thank me, this is a virtue that you have cultivated yourself." ”

Xie Daohua and his wife happily went down the mountain and went home.

The next day, Xie Daohua bought incense and candle offerings, and his wife A Fang came to the small mound of Tianlu Mountain again, burned incense and lit candles on the big stone under the big banyan tree that he identified as the "Maitreya Laughing Buddha", bowed and worshipped, prayed and made wishes.

At this time, there happened to be a young man and woman who came to Tianlu Mountain to play, and saw Xie Daohua and his wife kneeling and worshiping the big stone, which was very strange, so they asked: "Uncle, why do you bow down to this stone so reverently?" ”

Xie Daohua looked serious: "You are young, I don't know the inside story, I don't worship a big stone, but a Buddha." ”

The man's name was Ah Can, and he was even more strange when he heard this: "Uncle, I obviously saw that this is a big stone, how can it be a Buddha?" ”

The woman who came with her was named Ah Qin, and she chimed in: "Yes, this is just an ordinary big stone." ”

"Your words are exactly the same as what I thought when I first came here yesterday," Xie Daohua pointed to the big stone and said, "Look at its head, and this big belly, does it look like a sitting Maitreya Laughing Buddha?" ”

Ah Chan looked at the big stone and said to Xie Daohua: "After you say this, the more I look at it, the more it looks like a Maitreya smiling Buddha!" Then he turned to the young woman and asked, "What do you see, Aqin?" ”

Ah Qin pointed to the big stone and nodded: "Listening to you say this, the more I look at it, the more it looks like Maitreya Laughing Buddha!" ”

Ah Chan said: "Maitreya Laughing Buddha is the Buddha who sends his son!" ”

Xie Daohua: "Exactly! ”

Ah Can suddenly realized and said to Xie Daohua: "Ah, uncle, it turns out that you are asking for an heir. ”

Xie Daohua lowered his voice a little: "Yes, there are only four of us here, I might as well explain to you that we are at this age, and this time we are indeed asking for an heir." ”

Ah Chan said to the woman: "Ah Qin, they bow down to this Buddha statue and pray for the birth of a noble son." We'll come and worship later. ”

Ah Qin blushed with shame: "We haven't gotten married yet, so we came to ask for an heir?" ”

Ah Can: "It's a matter of time, and we'll learn from this uncle and sister-in-law." ”