As soon as Shenxiu was about to serve porridge, he heard the voice of the Fifth Ancestor: "Shenxiu, you take a look at the bottom of the broken bowl first." ”

"Ahh After Shenxiu looked at the bottom of the bowl, he was stunned.

It turns out that this big bowl has a hole as big as a copper coin cut through the bottom of the bowl, how can people eat hot white porridge?

Shenxiu hurriedly put the bowl back into the basket, wanting to replace it with another good one, but picked left and right, turning from the top of the basket to the bottom, and all the big bowls were the same.

At this time, the sitting Fifth Ancestor spoke: "Today, all the big bowls are chiseled with holes underneath, Shenxiu, you don't have to spend any more effort to choose." You must know that in front of my Buddha, everyone is equal. The voice of the five ancestors was not loud, but it was full of solemnity, and there was no room for the slightest bargaining.

Shenxiu had no choice but to pick out the big bowl from the basket that he thought was a little smaller at the mouth of the cave, and straightened up.

Looking at the hot white porridge in the bucket, Shenxiu's slightly gray eyebrows wrinkled, like two knives hanging upside down, as if he had an understanding: Ah, the five ancestors have always mentioned the word "bitter" in their preaching, is it that today is to test our degree of hardship and hardship. Yes, today I must use the greatest perseverance to forcibly endure and eat these three bowls of porridge.

Thinking of this, Shenxiu gritted his teeth, blocked the hole at the bottom of the bowl with the palm of his right hand, and walked to the monk on duty who was distributing porridge: "Come, divide the porridge." ”

Meal Hate picked up the spoon, scooped a spoonful of steaming porridge, and poured it into Shenxiu's bowl.

The hot porridge was pressed directly into the palm of the hand, and the pain was unbearable. And Shenxiu made up his mind, gritted his teeth, and wanted to desperately hard top. However, the white porridge was so ruthless and scalding. Push it straight away from the palm of your hand. As the saying goes, ten fingers are connected to the heart, how can his fleshy palm withstand the heart-rending heat.

Shenxiu finally couldn't help it, and as soon as he released the palm of his right hand, those white porridges splashed all over the ground from the bottom of the big bowl.

Shenxiu had no choice but to put down the big bowl and walk away in frustration.

The other monks also wanted to follow the example of Shenxiu and survive with the spirit of hardship and patience, but they failed one after another.

On the ground, the white porridge that was splashed was spread one after another, and the five ancestors just sat on the bamboo chair, silent.

It was the turn of the last one. It's the Huineng who cooks rice, grinds flour, and grows vegetables.

Huineng's slightly thin face, nose slightly upturned, and the angular corners of his mouth overflowed with infinite confidence. He walked slowly to the basket, picked up the last bowl with his left hand, took out a pancake from his arms with his right hand, pasted it from the bottom to the bottom of the bowl, and walked to the dining monk: "Come, divide the porridge." ”

The hot white porridge was served in a bowl, and the hole in the bottom of the bowl was blocked by pancakes.

Huineng lowered his head and blew the hot air from the white porridge with his mouth, and slowly ate the white porridge......

Although the monks of the whole temple present had experienced their own failures, they couldn't help but applaud Huineng's behavior of eating porridge with great wisdom.

The Fifth Ancestor closed his eyes and gently stroked his long white hair with his hand, as if thinking about something, with a look of relief and joy on his face.

It turned out that after Huineng got three pancakes, as soon as Lingxi came, when he turned around, he quietly pulled out one, stuffed it into his arms, and then went to the plane tree with Shenqing to chew it. Shenxiu peeped from the side and saw that there were no pancakes in Huineng's hands, thinking that he had eaten all the pancakes, and he would do the same, who knows......

When Shenxiu was jealous, Hui Ming, who had a black mole, didn't know what to do, approached him, and said softly: "Senior brother, I didn't expect that Huineng who was a handyman to have such a high level of understanding, today he is a standout!"

Shenxiu glared at Hui Ming: "One of the best? Hmph, look at it for a long time! I will be the windward bamboo in front of the temple, and he is nothing more than a lotus root piled up in the ground. He said, gesturing to the kitchen.

Hui Ming looked around, there was a pile of lotus root piled up on the ground under the kitchen, and he was puzzled by Shenxiu's metaphor: "Bamboo and lotus root are hollow, what do you mean by this?"

Shenxiu's nostrils "um", and said proudly: "Bamboo is tough, and it is continuous against the wind; Lotus root is brittle and will break if it is pinched. ”

Their words were heard by the little monk not far away, and he remembered them silently.

At night, when he returned to the monk's room, Shenqing saw that Huineng was about to sleep while lying on the bed, and Shenqing whispered to him the parable of Shenxiu.

After hearing this, Huineng smiled slightly: "Senior Brother Shenxiu said well, he is indeed bamboo, and I am a lotus root." ”

"What's the matter, you privately admit this insulting metaphor?"

Huineng slowed down his voice at the moment, but his voice was deep and powerful:

"The bamboo is hollow, the skin is full of branches, although there are many mouths of lotus root, the chest is not stained with dust."

Shenqing pondered Huineng's words like a couplet, and his heart suddenly brightened, he couldn't help but get up, walked over, tightly held Huineng's shoulder, and praised sincerely: "You, you are the real senior brother of Dongchan Temple!"

"You, don't talk nonsense." Huineng covered Shenqing's mouth with his hand, "Although I am still a layman, I have stepped on Dongchan Temple after all. It must be known that in the Pure Land of Buddhism, the four are empty, and they have already jumped out of the Three Realms, not in the Five Elements, and should only seek painstaking cultivation, not competing for high and low. ”

"Yes!" Shenqing nodded in admiration.

Two monks and laymen who specialize in errands talk to each other in a low and dilapidated monk's room. Until dawn.

Huineng in Dongchan Temple, unconsciously eight months of time passed leisurely. That night, the bell of Tozen Temple suddenly rang, breaking the tranquility in the mountains.

Amid the loud bells, hundreds of Zen monks hurried from their respective quarters to the main hall. The bell rings for a long time, indicating that something important is happening. The Zen monks asked each other with their eyes, but they didn't know why. The monks entered the main hall, and dozens of oil lamps hung on the beams of the room, illuminating the main hall brightly.

The statue of Shakyamuni sitting on the top of the main hall is lifelike, with his eyes slightly open, twisting a golden lotus, and a mysterious smile on his face. This smile is exactly the same as the smile he had on that day in Vulture Mountain more than a thousand years ago. That day more than a thousand years ago was destined to be an extraordinary day-

When the first rays of sunlight tore through the night, when the first bird's cry broke through the silence of the morning, the city immediately became noisy. This is because the great enlightened Buddha, Shakyamuni, was going to preach the miraculous Dharma on Vulture Mountain on the outskirts of the city. Early in the morning, the people in the city helped the old and the young, and the traffic was rushing, pouring out of the city gate......

The top of Vulture Mountain, which is rumored to be the place where the gods live, is surrounded by clouds and mist all year round, and it is mysterious.

On this day, the white clouds that permeated the mountain peaks like a curtain slowly opened, and the whole mountain peak was like a vulture eagle with wings ready to fly, looking at the field at its feet. The blue sky is as clear as a wash, deep and vast; The morning sun radiates a golden light, shining in the mountain stream; The streams flowed out of the jingling joys of gold; The sun shone among the trees, and the countless dewdrops on the leaves shimmered with a dreamlike sheen; On the gentle hillside, the grass is green and the wildflowers are blooming, as if it is covered with a colorful carpet......

In the bright morning light, the Buddha finally appeared with his 1,250 disciples. They calmly walked through the grass to the foot of Vulture Mountain. The bhikshus sat on the floor in an orderly manner, and the attendant Ananda laid out his seat and helped the Buddha to ascend to the Vajra throne.

The Buddha closed his eyes and sat quietly for a moment, slowly opening his eyes, his kind gaze slowly passing over everyone's eyes, and all of them experienced an infinitely warm pleasure.

People can't help but say, "Nam no Shakyamuni Buddha—"

At this time, King Brahma walked down from the top of the Vulture Mountain, knelt on one knee, and offered a rare golden lotus flower to Shakyamuni Buddha.

The Buddha took the budding flower, a mysterious smile on the corner of his mouth, and then silently displayed the beautiful flower in front of the public.

Seeing the Buddha showing the public with flowers, the thousands of monks sitting quietly below, and tens of thousands of people, although they all felt a wonderful atmosphere, it was like looking at flowers in the fog, looking at the moon in the water, hazy, ethereal, beautiful, wonderful, but I didn't quite understand what the Buddha meant.

In a daze, only the Buddha's great disciple, Venerable Kasya, suddenly realized the true meaning of life in the universe from the Buddha's flowery smile:

He couldn't help but smile knowingly—at that moment, he was in touch with the Buddha—as if there was a stream of the most wonderful, true, and clear truths that flowed from the Buddha's heart into his heart......

A beam of spiritual light penetrates the universe, and the smile dews the Zen machine.

It was only a brief moment, but this moment became a wonderful eternity.

Shakyamuni Buddha held the stem of the flower with his thumb and forefinger, and the other three fingers were slightly upturned – his hand was like a budding, beautiful and pure bud.

The Buddha displayed the golden lotus flower in this elegant gesture and then said, "I have the Dharma Eye, the Nirvana Wonderful Mind, the Reality without Appearance, the Subtle Dharma, the Dharma, the Dharma, the Mahakasya. ”

Everyone turned their heads to look at Venerable Kasya. I saw that his eyes were always fixed on the lotus flower in the Buddha's hand, and his face was filled with a dreamy smile - as fresh as a flower, as natural, as fragrant, as wonderful as a smile.

Under the gaze of millions of eyes, the Buddha handed the lotus flower, which seemed to radiate golden light, to the Venerable Kasya.

At this moment, in the sapphire-like sky, white cranes danced and birds sang to their heart's content; In the vast field, the fragrant grass overflows with fragrance, and the flower buds bloom one after another...... Shakyamuni Buddha untied the golden robe from his body and put it on His Holiness Kasya.

This gold-threaded robe was hand-woven by the Buddha's aunt, Princess Mahapajapati, who raised him, and is a symbol of His Holiness.

The Buddha said to His Holiness the Buddha, "I have passed on to you the secret teachings of Zen, and you must protect them well, and in the future, you will pass them on to Ananda and from generation to generation, and do not let them be cut off!" ”

The heart is clear. The most wonderful, the most magical, the most incredible Zen has been passed down in this way......