It turns out that Zen, which is difficult to describe in words, is embodied in every corner of daily life. Although the price of rice in Luling is an ordinary and ordinary life problem, it is related to all the people near Luling. And the most basic thing in life is precisely the essence of Zen. If you put your heart and soul into savoring the true meaning of life, you will be able to practice the Dharma. Therefore, the sentence "Luling rice price" can be said to be whipped into the inside without revealing traces, which naturally shows the essence of Zen - eating and dressing is Zen, and peeing is Zen, the breeze and the moon are Zen, and labor work is Zen. The most simple common sense is the truth of Zen. If you are hungry, you will eat, and if you are sleepy, you will sleep in summer, and you will be in the shade in summer and fire in winter. As long as you follow the laws of nature and follow the laws of nature, you will experience the subtlety of Zen.

Coming down from Qingyuan Mountain, the two "Xuan" Zen masters said goodbye at the bottom of the mountain after a swim in Kuanglu. Xuan Ce watched Xuan Jue gradually walk away, and his figure merged with the reckless field...... In the wilderness, in the white clouds, the voice of Xuanjue's chanting suddenly echoed:

You don't see it, you don't learn to do nothing, you don't seek truth without delusion. Ignorance is Buddha nature, and the illusion of emptiness is Dharmakaya. …… Traveling in rivers and seas, wading in mountains and rivers, seeking teachers and visiting the Tao for Zen. Since I recognized Cao Xi Road, I know that life and death are irrelevant. …… One nature permeates all natures, and one law encompasses all laws. All water appears in January, and all water is taken in January. ……

This "Song of the Preaching" has reverberated in the mountains and rivers for a long time, and has been echoing to this day. To this day, Yongjia Master Xuanjue, his "Zen Yongjia Collection", is still a must-read classic for all Zen practitioners and Zen researchers inside and outside Buddhism.

At the end of the Xuance Zen staff, he picked up the bright moon of Cao Xi; The edge of the hat is surrounded by the smoke of Lushan Mountain; In the bag, wrapped in the waves of Jianghuai; Under the straw sandals, dyed with fragrant flowers from the Central Plains......

He crossed the Yangtze River, waded through the Huai River, crossed the Yellow River, and came to the territory of Hebei. Because he heard that the traces of the little junior brother's infant line appeared in the land of Yan Zhao. Also, this is the ancestral home of the six ancestors Huineng, since ancient times, many generous and sad people, marching in the "wind and Xiao Xiao is easy to be cold, and the strong man is gone" What kind of magnificent feelings should be!

One day, when he was passing by the foot of a mountain, he saw many people kneeling down to a cave halfway up the mountainside, and he asked curiously. The local people said with respect that there was a miraculous monk in the cave.

Seeing that Xuan Ce didn't believe it, people told him: "That Zhihuang Zen Master and the famous Master Shenxiu are the same disciples, and they are both disciples of the Fifth Patriarch Hongren who personally taught Zen Yao. ”

"Since his old man obtained the Dharma in Huangmei, he has returned to this cave and has been meditating for more than 20 years."

"Every time he entered the meditation, it was as little as ten days and eight days, and as long as a month. It is said that on one occasion, the chickadees made a nest on his body......"

Xuan Ce still shook his head, because deep meditation is the work of meditation, the form, not the content of Zen. He came to the cave and saw an old monk in his sixties, Zen Master Zhihuang, sitting there quietly.

Xuan Ce inquired about Zen Master Zhihuang and asked, "What are you cultivating here?" Zen Master Zhihuang said, "I'm practicing meditation. ”

Xuan Ce asked again: "What you mean by entering the meditation is that you have something in mind and enter the concentration?" Or is it settled without thinking? ”

Zen Master Zhihuang opened his mouth and felt that it was difficult to answer. Xuan Ce continued to force: "If you don't have any thoughts in your mind when you enter the meditation, then these inanimate things such as these stones around you should be able to enter the meditation; If you have a mind in mind and settle down, then all living and conscious beings, such as the cows, sheep, pikas and rabbits that are all over the mountains, should also be able to settle down. ”

When Zen Master Zhihuang heard this, he knew that he had met an insider, and he was an enlightened and insightful expert. He replied very cautiously, "When I entered the meditation, I did not feel the mind of nothingness. In other words, we forget whether there is or not, and we don't know if there are thoughts or not. ”

He thought that his answer was very satisfactory, but Xuan Ce stared at the loophole in his words and pointed out unceremoniously: "Since you can't feel the heart of existence and absence when you enter the time, it is constant. Since it is constant, how can there be entry and exit? If there is a discrepancy, then it is not true meditation. ”

Zen Master Zhihuang was speechless and ashamed. After all, he was an open-minded Zen man, and hurriedly asked, "Who is your master who can teach such an outstanding disciple as you?" ”

Xuan Ce smiled and said, "Speaking of which, my master also has a deep relationship with you. He is the mantle disciple of the Fifth Ancestor Hongren Master, and the Sixth Ancestor Huineng. ”

"Huineng? Oh, I heard. I wonder what he thinks of meditation? ”

"My master, the Sixth Patriarch, said that the nature is always silent, and the spirit is perfect, as if it is not moving. Color, receiving, thinking, acting, and knowing, the five aggregates are void; Color, sound, fragrance, taste, touch, law, the six dusts are also illusory and unreal. Therefore, meditation refers to the mental tranquility, which is not disturbed by the six dusts on the outside, and is not affected by the five aggregates on the inside. The nature of Zen is not rigid and unchanging, it is neither born nor destroyed, and it is non-dwelling and thoughtless. ”

Zen Master Zhihuang couldn't sit still any longer, stood up, and asked, "Master Huineng ...... Master, are you finally out of the mountain? Where is he doing it now? ”

"Lingnan Caoxi Baoling Temple. You ......" Before Xuan Ce finished speaking, Zen Master Zhihuang roared, rushed out of the cave, and ran towards Lingnan with a puff of white smoke. He ran a little farther, all the way to Baolin Temple, and ran to the front of the Sixth Ancestor Huineng.

Huineng asked him, "Look at your appearance, you look like a northerner." Where are you from? ”

"Hebei."

"Oh, we're still half folks! The ancestor is a person from Fanyang, Hebei! How did you come to Lingnan? ”

After Zen Master Zhihuang gave a salute to Hui Neng, he told him about his meeting with Xuan Ce. Listening to his narration, Huineng was very happy, one was excited by the rapid progress of Xuance's practice, and the other was moved by the Dharma-seeking spirit of Zen Master Zhihuang who traveled thousands of miles and was not ashamed to ask questions.

He immediately said: "Just as you just talked about, as long as you make your mind like emptiness, and you don't stick to emptiness, so that your mind remains in a state of freedom, no matter whether you move, stop, move, or be still, you don't deliberately keep your mind. Look at the big tree. ”

Zen Master Zhihuang looked in the direction of Huineng's finger, and the trees around him were not much different from those in his hometown of Hebei, and he didn't see any unique Zen.

Huineng said, "You see, whenever the breeze blows, the leaves are singing and singing; When the wind stops, it enjoys the sunshine freely, unfettered and free. This is meditation! Forgetting all the sacred feelings, annihilating the distinction between the active and the moving, and unifying the inner nature with the external phenomena, one can be in meditation all the time. ”

After hearing this, Zen Master Zhihuang suddenly realized and knelt down again and again to salute. Later, he returned to Hebei and brought the epiphany Zen method of the six ancestors to the land of Yanzhao, which played a pioneering role for the future Southern Zen to move north.