Huineng spread his hands out: "I don't know what the reason is, in short, since Uncle An guided me to come here to find you, I heard you reciting scriptures with your apprentice outside the wall, so I didn't dare to go in and disturb, I can't help but come here after selling firewood every day." ”

"Ah, it seems that you have an inexplicable fate with our Buddhist family," Zen Master Lonely Sky raised the scripture in his hand, handed it to Huineng, and asked, "You have been standing outside the broken wall and listening for a few days, do you know what kind of scripture this is?"

Hui Neng saw that on the yellow scriptures, a few lines of seal characters printed vertically were like dragons and snakes, so he replied truthfully: "Master, I am ashamed to speak. I, a firewood boy, have never gone to school because of my poor family. ”

Zen Master Shankong was puzzled: "You haven't been to school, but you are so interested in chanting sutras and chanting Buddha?"

Huineng: "Yes. ”

Zen Master Silent Sky stared at him with both eyes: "Can you understand the scriptures I taught?"

Huineng replied casually: "These verses are easy to remember, but I don't understand them very well. ”

"Scripture is easy to remember?" Zen Master Shankong frowned, he couldn't imagine that this firewood boy looked like a dignified person, but he was so arrogant when he spoke, and said, "This "Vajra Prajnaparamita Sutra" was brought by the ancestor of Bodhidharma from Tianzhu. It is not easy for our monks in the East to recite at first, let alone memorize. How do you say that the scriptures are easy to remember?"

Huineng replied frankly: "I do remember it." ”

Zen Master Silent Sky is still skeptical: "Buddhism has no jokes. Can you really carry it?"

"Hmm." Huineng nodded and said loudly, "I never tell lies. ”

The Zen Master asked tentatively, "How many passages can you recite?"

The simple Hui Neng replied bluntly: "You can recite everything." ”

"Wow, what a big breath of garlic!" The Zen Master and the monks were all taken aback by his answer.

Zen Master's eyes widened, staring at him: "What? Can you recite all the verses of the Diamond Sutra?"

Hearing that the tone of this firewood boy was so big, an older monk put up his mouth: "Beat firewood, the over-the-top meal is delicious, and the over-the-top words are not easy to say!"

A little monk said in a sarcastic tone: "During the day, the master teaches in person, and at night we memorize it ourselves, and it takes me dozens of times to recite such a small passage with difficulty." ”

Some monks wanted to trick this firewood boy in front of him and let him taste some bitterness, so they encouraged the Zen Master of Shankong: "Master, since he keeps saying that the scriptures are easy to memorize and can recite all the Vajra Prajnaparamita Sutras, then let him recite it to us on the spot." ”

Zen Master Lonely Void's heart seemed to be scratched by something, and he said to Huineng: "People are most afraid of empty words. Beat the chai boy, you can recite the Vajra Prajnaparamita Sutra to us!"

"Good!" Huineng cleared his throat, half-squinted his eyes, opened his mouth, and the scriptures flowed out of the chatterbox, like the water of the mountain stream next to the temple: "That's what I smell." At one time, the Buddha was defending the country, and the tree was given to the garden of solitude, and the great monks were all 1,250 people. At that time, the world was honored, and when he ate, he wore clothes and held a bowl, and went to the city to beg for food. and begged in his city, and returned to this place. After eating, the mantle is collected, the feet are washed, and the seat is sitting. The old man Su Bodhi ...... among the public"

At first, the monks of Jintai Temple did not look at this dark-skinned firewood boy at all, but when Huineng recited the first paragraph fluently, they were impressed, and some even took out the scriptures to compare them to see if he had made any mistakes.

The Zen Master of Silence has a deep path of meditation, and naturally remembers the "Diamond Sutra" in his heart, and listens and listens quietly.

Huineng recited: "...... What is a human speech? Do not take the phase, such as not moving. Why? Everything has a way, like a dream bubble. If dew is like electricity, it should be viewed as such. ”

Zen Master Silent Sky: "What about the last paragraph?"

Huineng swallowed his saliva and continued to read: "The Buddha said that it is a scripture. Elder Subodhi, and all the bhikshus, bhikshunis, upasaks, upasaks, and all the worldly beings and asuras, when they heard what the Buddha said, they were all overjoyed and believed in it. ”

It wasn't until Hui Neng memorized all the verses of the Vajra Prajnaparamita Sutra that the Zen Master and the monks were so shocked that their mouths opened wide.

Those monks who listened to Huineng recite and compared the scriptures exclaimed in unison: "Ah, not a word is missing!"

A naughty little monk gave Hui Neng another problem: "Da Chai Zai, can you recite that scripture from the back to the front, upside down?"

Zen Master Lonely Sky glanced at the little monk: "Can you ask people to recite it upside down like this?"

The little monk stuck his tongue out and retracted it again.

"You want me to recite it upside down?" Huineng readily agreed, okay!"

Zen Master Silence: "Can you really recite it backwards?"

"Absolutely! You listen, practice and receive faith, like Daji, say that the Buddha hears ......" So, Hui Neng really recited the "Diamond Sutra" from behind, and recited it fluently and smoothly, which made the monks of Jintai Temple from the old at least all their mouths closed, and they were all happy and convinced by this firewood boy.

The Zen Master of Silence stroked the short beard of his chin with his right hand, and looked at the firewood boy in front of him with his eyes stunned, and couldn't help but think a lot of emotions: The ordinary monks of Jintai Temple have to read these scriptures dozens of times before they can memorize them. I had the guidance of the five ancestors in Dongchan Temple, and my practice was not shallow, but it took more than ten times for a scripture to be memorized and recited. And this firewood boy can memorize so well after only a few audits when he has no Buddhist scriptures to read and no famous teacher to enlighten.

NSW, how ordinary the trees are; The stream, how ordinary; The many beings who come and go are so ordinary. But the firewood boy in front of him was a genius, a genius of the world, and a wave of enthusiasm hit the heart of the Silent Sky Zen Master, and a dark perception grabbed him tightly.

After pondering for a long time, Zen Master Silent Sky said to Hui Neng: "Don't stand outside the broken wall all the time, let's go into the temple." ”

"Okay." Huineng kicked his feet slightly, and his sturdy body jumped in like a tanuki. Zen Master Shankong raised the sutra in his hand and asked, "You can recite this scripture, it's really not easy, does anyone in your family know how to recite the sutra?"

Huineng replied truthfully: "My mother often recites scriptures at home. ”

Zen Master Lonely Sky: "Your mother also recites scriptures?"

Huineng recounted: "She also recited some scriptures at home since she was a child. But compared to Master, it can be said that it is 108,000 miles away. Even though I read the scriptures, I didn't understand the meaning of them. I hope that Master will give me some guidance. ”

Seeing that Huineng had a sincere attitude, Master Shankong gave a brief explanation: "'Vajra' is the metaphor of not bad, and 'Prajna' is the finger of wisdom, 'Paramita' is the meaning of reach, and 'Sutra' is the meaning of the Tao, and the meaning of action is also." ”

"Ah, that's what the Diamond Sutra refers to." Hui Neng seemed to understand a lot, and he pulled the sleeve of Zen Master Lonely Sky and pleaded, "Master, your Taoism is really high. ”

Zen Master Silent Sky waved his hand humbly: "Lao Gao's Taoism is not high, my master is the grandmaster." ”

Huineng: "Who is your master?"

"Master Hongren, he is the five ancestors of Zen Buddhism." Zen Master Shankong was originally born in Dongchan Temple, is a disciple of the Five Patriarchs Hongren Master, and his speech was full of pious admiration, "The previous Buddhas all strongly admired the "Ranga Sutra", but the Five Patriarchs Hongren Master advocated us to read the "Diamond Sutra & gt;。 ”

Huineng asked, "What is the difference between the two scriptures?"

Zen Master Shankong: "The theory of 'clear mind and insight' of the Ranga sect is embodied in the "Ranga Sutra", which believes that it is necessary to live a life of goodness and penance to become a Buddha; The Haipai Nirvana sect's theory of 'epiphany and gradual enlightenment' is condensed in the Diamond Sutra, which believes that everything in the world is illusory and uncertain, and that we should not be too attached to everything in the world. ”

Huineng's heartstrings moved: "Where are the five ancestors of Zen Buddhism now?"

Zen Master Silent Sky pointed to the north: "Dongchan Temple, Huangmei County, Qizhou." ”

Huineng: "Isn't Dongchan Temple very big?"

"Meet," Zen Master Lonely Sky nodded, "There are more than eight hundred monks in the temple. ”

Huineng was surprised: "Ah, there are more than 800 people in one temple, which is more than the people in our entire Xialu Village!" There must be a lot of monks inside, right? ”

The Zen Master replied in a tone of admiration: "There are indeed a lot, and their understanding of the various scriptures is much deeper than that of the old man!" ”