Tang Zhongzong Li Xian is Wu Zetian's biological son, and after he was reinstated, some things were still discussed with Wu Zetian.

Xue Jian was Wu Zetian's confidant, and after he returned to the court, he went straight to Shangyang Palace to meet Wu Zetian.

Wu Ze, who dreamed of becoming a Buddha, looked forward to it day and night, but he looked forward to Xue Jian returning empty-handed alone, glaring angrily on the sickbed, and his anger was rising.

"I hope that the Great Sage Emperor will be angry, and Weichen has something important to respect." Xue Jian knelt on the ground and handed over the badge played by the Sixth Ancestor Huineng with both hands.

Wu Zetian opened the seal.

The table says:

Hui Neng was born from the home remedies, young and catechumen, talking about the forbearance master to instruct the heart seal, pass on the mantle of the western country, and give the heart of the Buddha in the east. In the grace of heaven, Xue Jian summoned the people inside, Hui Neng has been in the mountains and forests for a long time, old and windy, His Majesty is virtuous and outstanding, the Tao runs through the people, nurtures the common people, is benevolent Li Shu, and the purpose is to promote the great religion, and wants to worship the Liberation Gate, forgive Hui Neng to live in the mountains to recuperate, practice Taoism, answer the emperor's grace, and the kings and princes. Yours sincerely. Shakya Huineng paused, paused!

Wu Zetian reclined on the sickbed, read the seal, pondered for a moment, and asked, "What is the difference between the gist of Huineng Zen and that of Shenxiu Guoshi?"

"It's really different." Xue Jian explained, "What Huineng advocates is the epiphany method of 'pointing directly at people's hearts and seeing nature to become a Buddha'. ”

Wu Zetian took a moment: "Epiphany? I've never heard of it. Tell me a little bit more. ”

Xue Jian: "Epiphany is the first Buddha, and everything is Zen. That is to say, the heart is sex, which refers directly to the human heart. The Sixth Patriarch Huineng advocated that when learning Buddhism and practicing meditation, "do not set up words", "don't pass on outside the teaching", all living beings have Buddha nature, and walking, living, sitting and lying are all cultivating gods. He also advocated "putting down the butcher's knife and becoming a Buddha on the ground." ’”

"Ah, you can become a Buddha by standing on the ground?" Wu Zetian has always been brutal, and there are countless innocent and unjust deaths in her hands. In the twilight of his life, he was tormented by the nightmare of seeking his life every night, and when he woke up sweating profusely, he thought of practicing more Buddhism and doing more Buddhist things to atone for his sins.

However, the common purpose of Indian-style Buddhism, whether it is Mahayana Buddhism or Hinayana Buddhism, is that only after a lifetime of goodness and meditation and enlightenment can one become a Buddha in three lifetimes.

At that time, Shenxiu and other northern sects admired the "enlightenment of the sect", chanting scriptures every day and practicing meditation every day, all of which were inseparable from Buddhist classics.

For Wu Zetian, who knows that his sins are not shallow and is old and frail, it is indeed difficult to cultivate the Buddha body to ascend to the blue sky.

Moreover, according to the meditation methods of Shenxiu and other Gradual Enlightenment sects, getting up early and going to bed late every day, sitting on the futon, and reciting those tedious, esoteric and boring scriptures, how tiring and bitter it is!

Now, when she heard that she could become a Buddha by standing on the ground, which was exactly what she wanted, she asked, "In this way, there is no need to recite sutras and recite Buddhas every day, and there is no need to practice for many lifetimes?"

Xue Jian nodded: "Exactly, Huineng advocates" to experience calamity, and enlightenment is instantaneous. "He has a wise saying, that is, 'If the mind is peaceful, what is the use of keeping the precepts, and what is the use of practicing meditation if the mind is straight.'" ”

"Good, good, good!" This point, like cold water on a cold day, dripped to the middle of Wu Zetian's heart.

Xue Jian presented the record of the day with both hands: "This is the Dharma that the slave recorded in Cao Xi that the Sixth Ancestor Huineng said."

Wu Zetian was overjoyed, took over the recorded Huineng Buddhism from Xue Jian's hands, read it carefully, scrutinized it again and again, and knew the epiphany method he proposed, and deeply felt that the original intention of the sixth ancestor Huineng was not to love glory and wealth, not to be greedy for the world's fame, and to admire his virtue and nobility even more.

Wu Zetian sent Xue Jian to call Tang Zhongzong to Shangyang Palace, and asked him to write an edict on his behalf and reward the six ancestors Huineng.

On September 3 of that year, in Caoxi Baolin Temple, the sixth ancestor Huineng received an imperial edict sent by Qinchakuaima:

The teacher resigned from the old and sick, and cultivated for me, the blessing of the country. If the teacher purifies his name, he will support the disease, expound the Mahayana, spread the Buddha's heart, and talk about the only two methods. Master Xue Jian instructed Rulai to know. I accumulate good and celebrate and plant good roots. The teacher was born and had an epiphany. Grateful for the grace of the teacher, wearing no self..... Along with the holy decree, a piece of grinding robe, a crystal bowl, and 500 pieces of silk were given to the six ancestors Huineng, and the "Baoling Temple" was changed to "Zhongxing Temple", and the Shaozhou Thorn History was ordered to renovate and decorate the Baoling Temple.

Tang Zhongzong was in the north, but he was very concerned about Buddhism in Lingnan. I feel that the temple built by the sixth ancestor Huineng in Xinzhou is called "Bao'en Temple", which is only to repay the kindness of his mother and master, which is too narrow. After consulting with the ministers, the ministers decided that the light of the Buddha should shine on the vast number of Li people in the whole country, and it would be more appropriate to change it to "Kokuen Temple".

Tang Zhongzong adopted the suggestion of the ministers, in the first year of Shenlong (705), the "Bao'en Temple" was named "Guo'en Temple", and Wu Zetian personally wrote a plaque of "Guo'en Temple", which is still hanging above the main gate of Longshan Guo'en Temple.

Since then, the "Guoen Temple" in Longshan, Xinzhou has become more famous.

In the autumn of that year, Wu Zetian was sick and blind, the medicine stone was powerless, and the praise of the Buddha of the high monk could not save her life, and she died in the bleak autumn wind.

Wu Zetian died, went to the emperor's title, and was honored as "Zetian Great Sage Empress".

What left the unprecedented empress is the tall and thick wordless monument of the Qianling on the bank of the Wei River, which allows the stars to move and change, and let future generations make their own comments.

Because of the refusal of the emperor's edict, the sixth ancestor Huineng did not care about the imperial power and avoided the government, and his image of a noble and quiet mountain and forest Zen master was supported by Zen monks and Li people from all over the world.

Time flies, the sun and the moon are like a shuttle.

Because the six ancestors of Hui Neng adhere to the tradition of the ancestors of the past dynasties not to be powerful and avoid the government, from beginning to end are to stand in the world with the image of a pure and noble mountain forest Zen monk, and Shenxiu and others pursue the glory and wealth of the official Zen, Beijing Zen formed a sharp contrast, in this way, the six ancestors won the favor and love of the majority of the Li people, in the future its influence is more far-reaching, the reputation is rising, attracting "the four seas of the disciples, to the wind".

......

The Puti tree outside the door of the abbot's room spits out new shoots and sheds yellow leaves year after year.

The sixth ancestor Hui Neng touched the scene and felt that he was old, and on this day, he called the top ten disciples who were the most proud of his disciples to the meditation hall. These ten disciples are: Hui Zhan, Fahai, Zhicheng, Fada, Zhichang, Zhitong, Zhiche, Zhidao, Fazhen, and Faru.

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng said to them earnestly: "Seeing the flowers in the temple blooming and falling, I know that I am old. In the future, the heavy responsibility of promoting Zen Buddhism will inevitably fall on you. You are all my personal disciples, don't confuse yourself with other disciples. After all, Caoxi Baolin Temple is a corner of the country, and after I pass away, you should go to all directions and become the grandmaster of the education side. I now declare to you the essence of the Zen teachings of this sect and the methods of preaching. ”

All the disciples said in unison: "I hope that the master will be enlightened."

Sixth Patriarch Huineng said solemnly: "When you talk about any doctrine, don't leave your nature and say it in isolation. It is necessary to see both the opposing side of the law and the unity of them. ”

Disciples: "Please explain in detail the three methods and the thirty-six pairs of methods."

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng taught: "Three Disciplines...... If the nature pursues evil, then there will be eighteen false opinions, namely the nature of all beings; If the nature is pure, the eighteen correct views will arise, and the goodness will arise, that is, the expression of the Buddha-nature, whether it is the nature of sentient beings or the Buddha-nature, it will arise from the nature of the person. ”

All the disciples were people with high Taoist practices, and after hearing this, they all said that they had understood the gist of the three disciplines, and then asked, "What are the 36 pairs of laws?"

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng explained: "The thirty-six pairs of laws refer to the thirty-six relative aspects of things. There are five pairs of external things and phenomena that belong to the unconscious realm: heaven and earth, sun and moon, light and darkness, yin and yang, water and fire. There are 12 pairs in terms of the appearance, nature and linguistic concept of things: language and law are opposite, existence and non-existence are opposite, color and colorlessness are opposite, there is and no phase is opposite, there is leakage and no leakage is opposite, color is relative to emptiness, movement and stillness are opposite, clear and turbidity are opposite, mortal is relative to the sacred, monk is relative to the lay, old and young are opposite, large and small are opposite, these are the twelve pairs. There are nineteen pairs of relative phenomena arising from the nature of the self; Long and short, evil and good, foolish and wise, sense and wisdom, chaos and determination, compassion and evil thoughts, success and non-existence, straight and curved: the opposite of the void, the opposite of danger and peace, the relative of afflictions and bodhi: the opposite of impermanence, the relative of pity and harm, the relative of joy and hatred, the relative of charity and stinginess: the opposite of enterprising and retreating, the opposite of generation and destruction, the opposite of the dharma body and the body of color: the opposite of incarnation and the opposite of the retribution, these are the nine pairs of abundance. ”

"Relative to wisdom, relative to foolishness and wisdom, relative to chaos and determination, relative to compassion and evil thoughts, relative to non-abstinence, relative to straightness and curve, relative to reality and emptiness, relative to danger and peace, relative to afflictions and bodhisattva, relative to impermanence, relative to compassion and harm, relative to joy and hatred, relative to charity and miserliness, relative to enterprising and retreating, relative to generation and destruction, opposite to the body of Dharma, opposite to the body of retribution, these are the nineteen pairs."

The Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng also emphatically pointed out: "If you master their functions, you will be able to integrate all the teachings of the Buddhist scriptures and enter into them out of them. Both sides are related to each other, but they are not paranoid about either side. When you talk about the Dharma with others, you have to use it yourself, in the phase of detachment, in the inner void and out of emptiness. If we cling to external phenomena, we will develop wrong views, and if we become obsessed with the experience of inner nothingness, we will increase ignorance, slander the scriptures, and even say that everything is empty, and there is no need for words and language, which is wrong. This 'text' alone is already in the form of words. Another person said that if you practice according to the teachings of Zen and clear mind, you can directly achieve the Buddha's path, and you can 'not stand' words, but in fact, the word 'not standing' is itself words. It is a mistake to attack others for being obsessed with words when they see what others are saying. You should understand that it is a pity that you are deluded and do not know your nature, and it is really a great sin to slander the Buddhist scriptures again. In addition, if one is obsessed with external visible things or phenomena, and if one uses extensive practice as a means to pursue the Buddha's path, or if one sets up Dharma altars and dojos everywhere, and makes great merits and deeds, or if one talks about gains and losses that may or may not exist, such a person will never be able to correctly understand his own true nature. If you only listen to the teachings and do not practice them when you study Zen, this will cause people to have more prejudices and evil thoughts, so you must practice according to the Dharma and not be paranoid about the appearance of things. If you preach the Dharma and practice according to this principle, you will not go against the main purpose of this sect. ”

When the disciples heard the teachings of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, they all said that they had understood the matter, but they were still confused about how to use it in the specific process of opening the Dharma and teaching the disciples in the future.

Therefore, the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng continued to explain to them: If someone comes to ask for the teachings of their own religion: "If he asks yes, you will answer with nothing; Ask if you don't, and you will answer. Ask all the saints to be right, ask the saints to answer. In the midst of this kind of relative cause and effect, the truth of true Dharma will naturally appear. And so on, and so on, without deviating from the truth. ”

If someone asks, "What is darkness?', you can answer it like this: ʻ Light and darkness are mutually transformed, and the disappearance of light is darkness, and the end of darkness is light." Light to show darkness, darkness to show light. In this way, we take care of each other and complement each other, and the truth of the Dharma is contained in it. 'Draw inferences from one case to another, when you teach the Dharma to others as a grandmaster in the future, you should follow this principle and never lose the purpose of our Cao Xi Method. ”

After hearing this, the big disciples were full of ignorance in front of them, saluted and thanked them, and withdrew from the meditation hall.