Besides, after the sixth ancestor Huineng passed away, ten years passed by leisurely. At that time, Xiao Xiqian has grown into a dignified young monk.

In the evening, a yellow leaf fell from the high branch and landed on the head of Xi Qian, who was sitting silently under the tree. A butterfly fluttered in, swaying and perched on his shoulder.

In front of the left, the first monk standing under the wooden pagoda dedicated to the flesh of the six ancestors saw all this, and he couldn't help but shake his head and sigh softly.

He hesitated for a moment, but finally walked over and said with concern to the young monk who was sitting alone, "Xiqian, have you been sitting here for another day?" Didn't you eat again? Alas - Master, the Sixth Patriarch has been dead for ten years, what's the use of you sitting all day like this? ”

Two lines of tears poured down from Xi Qian's face: "Before the Sixth Ancestor passed away, he told me to think about it. I'm just following the Master's legacy. ”

With the death of the sixth ancestor Huineng, the golden childhood of the 13-year-old Xiqian quietly came to an end. At the beginning of his ordination, the karma teacher passed away suddenly, which is tantamount to losing his father at a young age, and his sorrow and desolation can be imagined. Therefore, after losing his spiritual support, Xiqian has been wandering and seeking in pain. Every day, I sit silently and silently in solitude. For a day, a day, or even a few days in a row, I forgot to eat, forgot to sleep, and just thought silently like this, thinking about ......

The road is long, I will go up and down and seek. For more than ten years, he was soaked in the bitterness of "contemplation", and the little novice also quietly grew into a young monk in the cloud-like thoughts.

The first monk said, "It's not a way for you to think hard about it. The elder brother Xingsi opened the law in Qingyuan Mountain, Jizhou, Jiangxi, and his insights were high among the seniors. Otherwise, you can look for Xingsi. ”

"Senior brother, Xingsi? Looking for Xingsi? Look for...... Thinking ......"

"That's right, Master asked you to 'think about it', obviously it was to let you look for it!"

Hope to migrate, hope to migrate; When the tree dies and the person moves, the person moves, migrates, and changes, and there is new hope!

Xi Qian is like a lion who has escaped from trouble, looking up to the sky and roaring, and disappearing from the dust.

Xiqian traveled day and night, thousands of miles to Qingyuan Mountain in Jizhou. Ahead, not far away, the ancient temple shaded by green trees is the retreat temple where Master Xingsi taught Zen.

The blue sky is vast, the white clouds are leisurely, the green mountains are stacked with green, and the clear water is clear. In front of the high mountain gate, outside a red wall, a large area of yellow rape flowers bloomed. The breeze is coming, the golden waves are undulating, and the fragrance is floating. The most wonderful thing is that in the midst of the sea of flowers, above the golden waves, there is an old monk standing!

He was hunched over, hunched over, with his head bowed, and a large hat on his head, so that no one could see his face. In fact, no one would pay attention to his face, he had entered a state of complete forgetfulness, and all his mind was focused on the hoe in his hand. He slowly swung his hoe and worked on the earth with all his heart. I don't know if it was the light breeze of the wind that drove his dance, or the yellow flowers in the garden dancing with the rhythm of his hoe, anyway, he had already blended in with everything around him, and there was a natural charm. Everything is so natural, so harmonious, it seems that without his presence, the sky will no longer be blue, the clouds will no longer be curly, the wind will no longer blow, and the flowers will no longer be fragrant...... The mountains and rivers are full of life because of him; And he, because of everything around him, has a meaningful life.

Is he the charm depicted by the painter's wonderful brushstrokes and finishing touches, or the soul of the heavy earth and lush yellow flowers?

Xi Qian was moved by this vivid, commonplace and poetic scene in front of him, and there was a kind of morning sun about to burst out in the depths of his soul. Oh my God, for more than ten years, the charm and true meaning of Zen that he has been searching for and pursuing hard, don't they exist in this simplest, most ordinary, and most harmonious life?! Nature, harmony, is the rhythm of Zen.

Xiqian's face was filled with a dreamy smile like the morning glow, and he walked step by step towards the old monk who worked in the field. The old monk did not raise his head, his hand did not stop, and asked softly, "Who are you?" Where did it come from? ”

"You're a master of Xingsi, aren't you? My name is Xiqian, and I'm from Caoxi. ”

Xingsi couldn't help but raise his head, glanced at the young monk, and asked, "What did you bring with you from Caoxi?" ”

Xingsi said, picked up a small wildflower and stuck it on the hat.

It is such a seemingly ordinary sentence, an inconspicuous action, but it contains an overwhelming Zen machine, which directly shows the essence of Zen.

In the beginning, the Buddha made flowers in this way, and the Kasa smiled knowingly, and the incredible Zen began to be passed on from generation to generation. Through thousands of years, the essence of Zen is still as wonderful as the beginning of the Yuan. Therefore, in Caoxi back then, this is how the Sixth Ancestor Huineng inspired Huairang; Now, this is how Xingsi shows Ximi!

Xi Qian looked at the inconspicuous little flower on Master Xingsi's head, and his heart was clear. As a result, the huge and brilliant Zen buds in his heart bloomed! He smiled and said, "The things I brought were already sufficient before I visited the Six Ancestors of Cao Xi. ”

Yes, the inherent Buddha nature of all human beings is not diminished in everything and does not increase in holiness. Like that little wildflower and this yellow flower, they all contain fragrance and naturally have a sweet honey syrup.

Sure enough, a bee fluttered its wings from the brilliant cauliflower bush and landed gently on the wildflower above Master Xingsi's head.

Xingsi refused to let it go easily, and said coldly: "Since you have already had enough before you visited the Sixth Ancestor, why did you go all the way to Cao Xi to trouble the master and his old man?" ”

Xi Qian's gaze never left the little bee collecting nectar on the wild flowers, and said softly, "If I don't go to Cao Xi and don't go to visit the Master, how can I know that my Buddha nature is already sufficient?" ”

Yes, just as he didn't come to look for Xingsi, how could he find all this?

Hearing this, Master Xingsi's old face turned into a blooming chrysanthemum. He plucked the wildflowers from his hat and handed them to Xiqian. Just like more than 1,000 years ago, the Buddha Shakyamuni handed the golden lotus flower to the Venerable Mahakasya......

Since then, Xi Qian has been under the Xingsi Gate and has become a golden unicorn on Qingyuan Mountain.

Later, Xiqian opened the door in Nanyue Hengshan, and was known as "Stone Xiqian". He and Matsu Daoyi, who preached Zen in Jiangxi at the same time, jointly created a new situation of Zen Buddhism's rapid advance. These two towering peaks in the history of Chinese Zen Buddhism may only be comparable to Li Bai and Du Fu in the field of contemporary literature.

Matsu Road is sharp and fierce, and the big machine is very useful, just like a dragon in the sea; The stone Xiqian is deep and dense, high and arrogant, like a phoenix singing in the sky. The two of them came out side by side, and the lonely peak of Hengshan Mountain in Hunan Province protruded from each other, reflecting each other with the Buddha selection field in Hongzhou, Jiangxi, and became a great wonder in the history of Chinese thought.

The Ten Shadow Divine Horse stands at the end of the sea, and the five-colored auspicious forest walks on the shore of the sky.

The stars hang down and the plains are wide, and the moon swells and the rivers flow. Matsu Daoyi opened the door in Jiangxi, and the Zen monks who were tempered and tempered were all copper-headed and iron-armed, and the dragon and tiger leaped, breaking through the barrier and seizing the pass, and the big machine was of great use.

The lonely peak is thousands of miles high, and only the bright moon is coming. Shi Xiqian sits on the top of Nanyue, the door is lonely, the eyes are sharp, the disciples of his Yinke, everyone guarantees the deep merit, the fairy wind and crane bones, extraordinary.

Subsequently, the two major sects of Weiyang and Linji were born under the Matsu Gate, and the three major tributaries of Caodong, Yunmen and Dharma Eye evolved under the stone seat, and Chinese Zen Buddhism developed to its heyday and became the most brilliant flower of wisdom in the history of human civilization...... (This is a later story)

After the extinction of the six ancestors Hui Neng, during the period, Shenxiu's Zen study was continued by Zen masters such as Pu Lin and the Dharma, and the momentum was very prosperous, and the two Kyotos of Chang'an and Luoyang in the north strongly advocated the method of gradual enlightenment.

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng followed the teachings of the Fifth Patriarch Hongren, and no longer passed down the Dharma position with magic instruments such as robes and golden bowls, but adopted the method of "passing the heart to the heart". In terms of strict legal definition, there have been no seven ancestors or eight ancestors since the six ancestors of the Tang Dynasty; However, the most powerful divine society in the world is often referred to as the "Seven Ancestors".

God will go out to visit, learned that the method of epiphany in the north was resisted, was blocked, thought: do not enter the tiger's den, get the tiger, then determined to carry forward the great cause of the six ancestors Hui Neng, resolutely go north, in the Tang Dynasty Xuanzong Kaiyuan eight years (720 years), Feng Yi in Nanyang Longxing Temple to live, promote the Nanzong Zen law, the world called him "Nanyang monk" at that time. At that time, the great poet Wang Wei once went to Longxing Temple to ask the gods to consult the Zen method of Nanzong in person, and was greatly moved, and then wrote the "Six Ancestors Huineng Zen Master Inscription and Preface" to publicize it.

Chang'an and Luoyang, as Kyoto, are in the north of China, and gradually realize that the foundation of the Northern Sect is deep and the power is extremely strong.

With a fearless spirit, the gods will go to Chang'an and Luoyang alone. Vigorously promote the six ancestors Huineng's Dunjiao method, advocate "no thought" as the sect, and promote the theory of "epiphany". When the gods would propagate the Dharma, they lived in the Heze Temple in Luoyang, and set up a monument for Huineng in the temple, and painted the "Six Leaves Map" according to the lineage inherited by the Southern Sect, and the world called it "Master Heze". He has two disciples, the nameless Zen master and the Faru Zen master, who have been following him all the time.

In the twentieth year of Kaiyuan (732), the gods would say to his disciples: "Shenxiu's eldest disciple, Master Pu Lin, is the inheritor of the Northern Sect, and he built a monument for Shenxiu, insisting that Shenxiu is the sixth generation of Zen Buddhism, and he also claims to be the 'Seven Ancestors'. It was decided to set up an uncovered conference in the Dayun Temple in the slippery platform of Henan Province to challenge the Northern Sect of Gradual Enlightenment, to "set the purpose for the people who learn the Tao in the world, and argue right and wrong for the people who learn the Tao in the world."

Faru, a disciple of the Shenhui, frowned tightly, and was a little worried: "Master, although Shenxiu has been extinguished for a long time, this is the territory of the Northern Sect, and everyone in the world says, 'Shenxiu is a sect between the two capitals'." We are alone, under siege, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to overcome them. ”

Another disciple Nameless was also admonishing him: "Master, I heard that the Shandong Chongyuan Zen Master of the Shenxiu Department has a poor eye, and he is a great debater of 'two famous broadcasts in Beijing, overseas knowledge', arguing with others, invincible, and never defeated, we rashly challenge, once we lose, it will backfire, and the prestige of Nanzong will be lost." We need to be cautious!" Facing the persuasion of the two disciples, Shenhui looked calm and said confidently: "During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang went to Jiangdong alone, facing many strategists of Wu State, without fear, fighting with Confucianism and winning a big victory, what did he rely on? In addition to relying on eloquent eloquence, it is more important to rely on the truth in hand. I also know that this matter is very important, and now, my Southern Zongdun Sect is the true transmission of the Five Ancestors Hongren, I have the axiom in my hand, the Dharma in my chest, and I should be the winner in my hands, so why be afraid?"