Besides, on the day when Hui Neng first arrived at Dongchan Temple, Shenxiu obeyed the instructions of the five ancestors and took Hui Neng to the north backyard, where a long corridor runs straight through the north and south, and two rows of monk houses with blue gray brick walls and tile roofs are lined up on both sides.

At the end of the promenade is an open field, a few rows of flower bases, lush bluegrass, cypress forests, and in the middle is a century-old Bodhi tree, with vigorous branches and green leaves. In the distance is a mill and a vegetable patch.

Shenxiu arranged Huineng to live in Shenqing's monk's room and assigned the task: "You get up at six o'clock every morning, and the work you have to do is to carry water, scoop rice, and grind flour. , firewood, vegetable planting......"

"Okay." Huineng grinned and nodded.

Huineng was about to walk away, but was stopped by Shenxiu, Huineng turned around and asked, "Senior brother, what else do you have to order?"

Shenxiu Zhengzhi: "There is a way, the state has national laws, and the temple has temple rules." You are a lay disciple who has not yet lost your hair, and all the miscellaneous servants are in the north courtyard and on the mountain here. Master lives in the abbot's room next to the south corridor, and you can't go to the south corridor without the permission of Master and me, so as not to disturb Master's peace. Remember, if you cross the thunder pond for half a step, you will be severely punished by the temple rules. ”

"Got it." After Huineng nodded in agreement, he repeated loudly, "Without the permission of Senior Brother and Master, I can't go to the South Corridor." ”

That night, Huineng lay on the bed, happy in his heart: today, the five ancestors promised to accept him as a disciple, although he is still a lay child, but after all, the long-cherished wish of many years has been realized, and the distant Buddha road has finally taken the first step.

In the east, the morning light has not yet been spitted out.

The morning star, still hanging in the gray and black sky, blinked.

Huineng was already barefoot, carrying a bucket of water, and went to the mountain stream behind the temple to fetch water. When the other brothers got up at the regular time and went to the kitchen to pick up the bucket, the pool was almost full.

At that time, there were no rice mills in the world, and all the rice eaten by the monks was made by hand: the stone mortar hidden in the ground put the rice in it; A few feet away, the man stepped on a stone pestle. The stone pestle beats the stone mortar again and again, knocks open the chaff, and after sifting, it is only then that the snow-white rice is obtained.

The rice room of Dongzen Temple is lined up with six stone pestles in a zigzag pattern. Huineng is not tall, his body is thin and thin, and his weight is not as strong as that of his senior brother, and his speed is certainly not as fast as others. Therefore, at the end of the day, despite his best efforts, he did not eat more rice than others.

"To speed up the rice is to increase your own weight. How can I add weight?" Huineng came up with a way to drop a stone around his waist, so that when a person stepped on the stone pestle, it would save effort and lick it quickly.

Sure enough, Huineng produced more rice every day than other monks.

This square pendant stone has been around for more than 1,300 years. Now it is still preserved in the Dongchan Temple in Hubei, one foot three inches long, one foot two inches wide, four inches thick, and weighs 56 catties. In the middle, the official book is engraved with "six ancestors falling waist stone", and the right side is engraved with the famous monk of the Qing Dynasty: "The stone rope wears the ancestral traces and stays, and the blood and sweat of Cao Xi are collected here." It should be known that a piece of Dongshan Moon will take care of the four hundred continents for a long time. The left side is engraved: "In the first year of Longshuo, Jiang Wenle stone, a monk of Yi Mozhai."

One day, Huineng was sweating and chopping wood in the backyard as always. He was originally born as a firewood boy, and he was naturally handy when he chopped firewood, and the axe fell and the firewood cracked, which was very neat. Not far away, Master Hongnin was quietly observing him from behind. Huineng didn't realize it, and he didn't stop swinging the axe.

Master Hongren came over and shouted, "Hui Neng! ”

Huineng turned his head and saw that it was the master, and quickly knelt down and bowed.

Master Hongren asked, "Huineng, you have been in the temple for more than a month, how are you doing?" ”

Huineng replied, "Very well, Master. ”

Master Hongren pondered for a while before saying, "On the day you first came, I deliberately embarrassed you and scolded you, do you think Master is too mean to you?" ”

Huineng said: "Master can keep me to practice in the monastery, and treat me like a mountain, and it will be difficult for my disciples to repay me for the rest of my life." ”

Master Hongren said: "Actually, as soon as we met, I liked you very much. In particular, your discussion of Buddha nature is exactly the same as when my master, the Four Patriarchs, and I first met. That day, I would love to have a good talk with you. But, for some reason, your brothers don't seem to welcome you. I was afraid that it would be bad for you in the future, so I deliberately reprimanded you. ”

Huineng said: "The disciple understood the master's mind at that time, so since I came to the temple, I have been hiding in the backyard, there is no need to never go to the front, nor do I deal with the senior brothers, first, not to cause trouble to the master, and second, to save the senior brothers from misunderstanding." ”

Huineng brought a wooden pier, wiped it with his sleeve, and helped the master sit down.

Master Hongren looked at Huineng kindly, and said slowly: "Although the teacher rarely goes to the backyard, I am always concerned about you. I know everything you do. I am very satisfied with your hardships and hard work. Do you know? As a teacher, I deliberately asked you to do chores. ”

Huineng nodded: "Shenxiu told me that doing chores is the preliminary homework for those who have just entered the temple and are preparing to become monks. Actually, I think that working is also a simple method of cultivation, and it is a double cultivation of blessing and wisdom. The monks have no money to give, so they work every day and use their labor to give alms, which is to cultivate blessings and make offerings. Then there are many rules for doing chores, this one is not called looking, that one is not allowed to listen, you can only work wholeheartedly, do not contact with the outside world, the six roots are blocked, put away, and the heart can be settled and purified. The heart is pure, the troubles are light, and the wisdom is increased. ”

Master Hongren nodded with a smile, very satisfied with Huineng's answer. He touched Hui Neng's sweat-soaked monk's robe, and said with concern: "Don't exert your strength, pay attention to rest." Although the body is also an illusory thing, we have to cultivate the truth through falsehood, so don't work too hard. ”

Huineng wiped his sweat and said, "Master, I don't feel hard. ”

"Hard work is hard work, and monks don't speak. I work all day long, and it's all heavy work, and I see that you are soaked with sweat, can you not work hard! ”

"Shenxiu Theravada said that those who study Buddhism should follow the example of my Buddha, prick blood, analyze bones, and be able to do what is difficult to do, and only then will there be great achievements. He also said that this is how he came over. ”

Master Hongren nodded: "Shenxiu is an extremely strong-willed person. When he first came to Dongshan Temple, he suffered a lot. Oh, Shenxiu is still a very high-minded person, and he doesn't care much about things other than Buddhism, so it's rare that he is so enthusiastic about you! ”

"Shenxiu always takes care of me."

Master Hongren suddenly changed his angle and asked, "Are you like other senior brothers, do you admire Shenxiu very much?" Do you also think that every word Shenxiu said is very correct? ”

Huineng nodded and shook his head, and then said: "I really admire Shenxiu's character, and his strong willpower is an example for me to learn." However, in my attitude towards asceticism, my mind was not quite the same as what he thought. ”

Master Hongren seemed very interested, and asked, "Tell me, what's the difference?" ”

Huineng scratched his head and said embarrassedly: "Shenxiu came to the seat to sharpen his will and exercise himself and find hardship, so no matter what, he still felt very hard, but he gritted his teeth and persevered." And I, when I was doing hard work and heavy work, I really didn't feel any hardship, but it was a kind of enjoyment. ”

Master Hongren smiled: "The same rough work, why is he bitter and you happy?" ”

Huineng said seriously: "Senior Brother Shenxiu knows that he is suffering, so he is very bitter in his heart. And I think that working is working, and working is a need of life, so I enjoy it in my heart, and I am naturally very happy, so where will I feel hard? When I was collecting firewood in the mountains of Guangzhou, I often met some people who loved mountaineering. In the eyes of us outsiders, he was hard and very dangerous. And because he loves mountaineering, he feels not only hard work, but great happiness. ”

Master Hongren nodded and said, "Very good, very good, you have already entered the Zen machine." ”

Huineng was a little embarrassed, and said in a low voice: "What I said is all superficial opinions, don't laugh at Master." ”

"It's really good that you can comprehend the subjectivity of the mind and fully mobilize the wonders of the mind." Fifth Ancestor Hongren picked up the firewood that Huineng had split and looked at it, and asked: "I see that when you chop firewood, the axe falls and the firewood cracks, and you rarely split the second axe, what is the reason?" ”

Huineng said casually: "When I was at home, I made a living by collecting firewood, practice makes perfect." ”

Master Hongren then asked, "Where does the ingenuity come from?" Huineng shook his head and said honestly: "I haven't thought about it." ”

Master Hongren picked up a few pieces of firewood and pointed them to Huineng: "You see, every axe you have is not far from the crux of the wood grain, this is the point of convergence of external force insertion." ”

Master Hongren laid out a piece of log, and said Zen: "See the opportunity, go straight into it with a single knife, and the ignorance knot is suddenly opened!" With that, the axe fell, and the log split in half.

Huineng picked up the firewood that the master had split and looked at it: "Wow, what a neat one! Master, have you chopped firewood for decades? Master Hongren shook his head: "It's not that I have chopped firewood, but that I can chop firewood." ”

Huineng looked at the master as if he didn't understand, wanting to hear the master's explanation. Master Hongren asked Huineng instead: "When you are at home, you chop firewood, and when you come to Dongchan Temple, you still chop wood."

Instead of splitting here, it is better to chop at home, why bother to trek thousands of miles? ”

Huineng was confused, and didn't know what Zen machine the master wanted to convey, so he had to beg the master: "The disciple is stupid, please make it clear to the master." ”

Hongren said: "Huineng, you should know that because you are here to learn Buddhism, this firewood is not the other firewood. This is the difference in motivation, the difference in the way, and the difference in the results. ”

Huineng shook his head: "The disciple still doesn't understand. ”

Master Hongnin Zhengse said: "It has been more than 1,000 years and 32 generations since the Buddha passed on the Dharma Eye to the First Patriarch Ka Ye. There are many Dharma seekers, but there are very few who have attained enlightenment. Why? Because 'without a bone-chilling experience, how can you get the fragrance of plum blossoms'! Your current chores in the monastery seem to have nothing to do with studying Buddhism and practicing meditation. In fact, Zen is formless, formless, and ineffable. Where is Zen? It is in the flying flowers, fallen leaves, needles, threads, in chopping wood, carrying water, scooping rice, sweeping the floor, and in every move of daily life. Zen, everywhere and all the time! The key is that we must have a clear Zen mind, to experience and comprehend all the time. Hello do it yourself, do it yourself! ”

Like thunder, it wakes up a thousand-year-old dream; It seems to be enlightened, and the heart is suddenly opened. Master's words had a strong resonance in Huineng's heart: what he realized when he was collecting firewood in the mountains of Xinzhou was Zen! He was overjoyed and couldn't help himself, he fell to his knees with a thud, and muttered very excitedly: "Thank you Master for your teachings, thank you Master for your great kindness, thank you Master for your ......"

No one answered. Huineng raised his head, and the master had already walked away.

The slanting sun sprinkles gold, and the wind dances peach blossoms.

The wind blew the monk's robes of the five ancestors, and the falling peach petals swirled around him. The glow of the setting sun shrouded his figure, and he seemed to be scattered with a strange brilliance.

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