(a)

On that day, in the abbot's room of Bodhicitta Temple, I thanked Zen Master Guangji for his teachings.

I said, "What the Zen master said is very true, and someone once said to me that the best way to get out of one's own suffering is to care for and eliminate the suffering of others. ”

I said, "However, I have a smile on my face, not only because of my personal misfortune, but also because I have deep doubts in my heart that have not been resolved. I would also like to respectfully ask for advice from the Venerable Master. ”

Zen Master Guangji said, "Madame, let's listen, do you have any deep doubts that have not been solved? ”

I said, "I wonder how the hell can we put an end to the wars in the world forever?" What exactly can be done to stop people killing each other? ”

Zen Master Guangji said, "Why is Madame asking this question? There are thousands of women who come to this temple, and Madame is the first woman to ask such a question. ”

I said, "Master, the question of believing in women is for all women in the world." I want to ask for advice on their behalf: how can we stop sending the men we love, our sons who have worked so hard to procreate, to the battlefield, how can we stop them from hurting each other? How can all people coexist peacefully in a large world? How can we put an end to strife and hatred among people? ”

(b)

I said, "When she was very young, she loved a man. We could have been married and lived our lives peacefully. But this process was interrupted by the war. He left me and went to war. He said that he would use his life to stop the war, and he would do everything in his power to make the war end as soon as possible. For this, he went through a lot of pain, he also paid with his life, and he also killed many, many people. ”

I said, "This man I admire, he is still exposed in the wilderness." He hastened the end of the war so that it did not develop into a nightmare that would last for a hundred years. But he didn't think it was the best way to do it. Because it costs too many lives. In the process of extinguishing suffering, this method creates a great deal of suffering. He felt that there should be a better way. But he didn't see clearly until his death what a better solution was. ”

I said, "A few years ago, I also became a mother for the first time. I held my newborn son, the same child you had seen before, and watched him cry so childishly in my arms. He was so small, so vulnerable, so helpless. Looking at him, I think of many mothers who have lost their sons in the war. This child, he was born in the peace that many people died in exchange, but I don't know how long this peace will last, and I don't know if he will fall into war again when he grows up. ”

I said, "I don't know if this child, when he grows up, will become the initiator of war, whether he will become the executioner of war, whether he will become a nightmare for many mothers, and whether it will be a permanent pain for many women." Sometimes, people are involuntarily involved in their fate. We will become the kind of people we never imagined when we were children. ”

"So, I would like to ask, as mothers, how can we do to give our children a peaceful future? How can we ensure that our children never fall into the bloodshed and cruelty of war? Never raise a sword against your brother? I wonder, how can we make this peace continue forever and never stop? ”

(c)

Listening to my question, Zen Master Guangji sighed and said, "Good, good, good." Madame has such a kind wish and kind question, which is really a blessing for the people in the world. ”

Zen Master Guangji said, "Madam, the huge war we have experienced, it is not as big as it was at the beginning. It has also undergone a long gestation process. In the beginning, it was just tiny seeds. It lives in our hearts. It's in our minds. Every word we quarrel with our neighbors, every game snatch we play with our playmates, that's the kind of thing. That's where the war began. ”

Zen Master Guangji said: "When the war grows into a behemoth, we will naturally have to pay a huge price to extinguish it. But if you can extinguish it when it's still very small, the cost will be much smaller. A better way would be to go to the beginning of the war, and to end it while it was still just a seed. ”

He said: "If we can stop the war in our hearts and minds, we can put an end to the war outside." ”

On that day, Zen Master Guangji said to me: "The best weapon to end the war is indeed not the sword, but the education, the education of the human heart." ”

I said, "Is it edification?" ”

Zen Master Guangji nodded slightly and said, "Yes." Madam. It is the edification of the sages. It is the education and transformation of people who are sage-like. If the lady wants to create peace for all eternity, please support and assist the sages in subduing and educating people's hearts. ”

After listening to the words of Zen Master Guangji, I sat there and pondered for a long time, as if I had realized something.

Then I said, "Believers must follow the teachings of the Venerable Master, and I am willing to be a student of the teachings of the sages." I am willing to respectfully accept the guidance of the sages to put an end to all wars, starting from my own mind. But whatever can help support the education of the sages, believers should do their best and never give up. ”

Zen Master Guangji nodded again and again and said, "It is really remarkable that Madame can have such a wish. ”

He said: "Madame is gifted and intelligent, and she is good at understanding the wonders of self-evidentness, and I hope that Madame will go deep into the scriptures and teachings in the future, and go further." ”

I worship the Zen master to signify that I have received the teachings.

(iv)

Zen Master Guangji said, "Actually, the person Mrs. said had also been to this temple before. ”

I said, "The believer knows." The Zen master and he also had a heartfelt conversation. ”

Zen Master Guangji said: "We are very happy to talk about each other, but we hate to be late when we meet." ”

I felt a pang of sadness in my heart.

Zen Master Guangji said, "At that time, he was on his way back to visit his wife for the last time. ”

I said, "Yes." I haven't seen him since that time. ”

Seeing my grief, Zen Master Guangji comforted me and said, "The past is over, and my wife mourns." ”

I asked, "He also consulted a Zen master, right?" What did he ask the Master for advice? ”

Zen Master Guangji said: "In addition to the questions that Madame asked the poor monk just now, he also asked the poor monk, is there any way to calm the pain of a person who has lost his beloved?" He asked if there was anything that could be soothed or relieved. ”

A deeper wave of grief came over him.

My voice trembled and I said, "Really? Was that the question he asked back then? ”

The Zen master said, "Yes." ”

I asked, "So, did he find the answer?" ”

The Zen master said, "The poor monk replied to him at that time that the door to liberation from suffering is in the deepest part of suffering. ”

Zen Master Guangji said: "At that time, the poor monk told him that if that person was suffering enough, she would be able to find a way and a way to relieve her suffering. But I don't want her to go through that kind of pain, he said. The poor monk said that the pain was worth experiencing. It's worth it. ”

When you heard you say to the Zen master, "But I don't want her to go through that kind of pain," I couldn't help but feel sad, and I couldn't hold back my tears anymore.

Two lines of tears rolled down her cheeks.

I hurriedly turned my head to wipe away my tears and said, "I'm sorry, the letter girl was rude." ”

Zen Master Guangji looked at my tears.

He reassured, "Now, ma'am, you have found the door. He would be pleased. ”

After my mood slowly calmed down, I bowed and thanked Zen Master Guangji again.

I said, "Thank you, Master, for telling me this." ”

I said, "Yes." Believers will look for ways and means to free themselves from suffering. Not just for myself, not just for him, but for all people, for all life. That's all I have for the rest of my life and all about it. ”

(5)

I came out of the abbot's place, and when I went to the porch of the guest hall, I found that it was raining outside.

Dense raindrops fell from the branches and leaves of the ginkgo tree.

This boundless dense raindrop is like the all-pervading pain and sorrow of life.

The maid and I stood under the porch, trying to wait for the rain to light down before going out to our room in the monastery. At this time, Zen Master Guangji came from behind with an umbrella.

He said, "Madam, in fact, you don't need to wait for the rain to stop or the rain to light up before you can walk, you can walk freely through the rain with an umbrella open." So saying, he handed the umbrella to my maid-in-waiting.

I looked at Zen Master Guangji.

I understood what he meant: the freedom of life does not need to wait for all suffering to disappear, but only needs to have a wisdom that is free from all suffering.

I respectfully thanked the abbot for the umbrella.

I said, "May the faithful woman also become a person who gives umbrellas in the rain in the future." ”

Zen Master Guangji once again clasped his palms together and exclaimed: "Good wish. Madame's wish will come true. ”

In the future, every rainy day, I will think of the words of Zen Master Guangji and this umbrella, and I will think of the scene when I opened the umbrella and calmly walked into the rain.

And whenever I think of this, the darkness and heaviness that pressed down on my heart will disappear little by little, and the light will rise from within, filling the body and mind.

Actually, everyone has this umbrella.

The inherent light and wisdom have never left us.

(f)

After my son and I returned from visiting Zen Master Guangji at Bodhicitta Temple, Zen Master Guangji really organized four groups of disciples of Buddhism, recruited monks from all over the world, and held a large-scale "Zen Seven" Dharma meeting in Bodhicitta Temple.

During the puja, many people say that they have seen the light of the Buddha, the golden face of the Buddha, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, or the dragon king haunting the clouds.

On the day of the end of the Zen Seven, there was a downpour of rain throughout the Gyeonggi area.

During the rainstorm, hundreds of thousands of lightning bolts of golden snakes danced across the sky. After the rainstorm stopped, the air in the entire Gyeonggi area became exceptionally clean and fresh, and the forest-like smell of negative oxygen ions was filled everywhere.

After the heavy rains stopped, the epidemic of smallpox in the entire Gyeonggi area was completely stopped, and there was no new case of infection, and the patients who were already infected gradually recovered without any more unfortunate circumstances such as disability or disfigurement.

For a time, the capital was full of jubilation, the magic power of Buddhism was boundless, full of worship, and the faith was strong.

Guangji Zen Master, also known as the Great Bodhisattva again, a generation of living Buddha. A large number of devotees flock to the Bodhicitta Temple to worship and make vows. With Bodhicitta Temple as the center, a small market town gradually developed in that area. This is the earliest county seat in what is now Kangning County.

Many of you have been to Corning County. Among the old people in the clan, many people will go to Kangning County to build a house in the sky after Zhishi, and live for the rest of their lives, because the legend says that the air and water in that area are exceptionally clean and pure, and there are many people who live there for a long time, and in the end, they all die without illness, and there will be a lot of auspiciousness at the end of their lives.

After the death of the first emperor, the emperor also accompanied me to Kangning County, as soon as I entered that county, sure enough, the green mountains and green waters, the scenery is beautiful and beautiful, and the aura is completely different from other places, I lived there for a few days, and I really felt refreshed, and many minor physical ailments were cured without medicine.

However, nowadays, people only know that Corning County is a magical place, but they forget the reason why it is so magical.

A blessed place must be inhabited or inhabited by virtuous people.

A very blessed place must have produced people of great virtue.

On the other hand, if each of us has the wisdom and compassion of Zen Master Guangji, then the place where each of us is will be auspicious and prosperous.

If all of us have the wisdom and compassion of Zen Master Guangji, then the land where we live will be a paradise on earth.

However, today's people do not want to return to their own virtues and create their own blessed land, but pursue external magic, and flock to Kangning County every spring and autumn, crowding a small county town to be overcrowded and the streets are flooded, where is the wise approach. I hope that our sect disciples, as well as your elders, will return to the light in the future, be good at cultivating their own virtues, nourish the surrounding environment with virtue, and create the well-being of the land, and stop blindly participating in such ignorant things.

Blessings are all obtained from within, so how can they be obtained from without? (To be continued.) )