At noon that day, Xuan Ce and Xuan Juexian entered the boundary of Ganzhou.

It's time to break up, Xuan Ce wants to continue to go north, swim Kuangshan and cross the Yangtze River; Xuanjue has to travel thousands of miles east and return to his hometown.

Zen people have no worries, drink a cup of tea and say goodbye. So, the two came to the bank of the Gan River:

The copper bowl scoops the river water, the stone is set up as the stove, the dead branches have their own fire, and the tea becomes after the smoke is dispersed.

The freshly boiled tea was very hot, and Xuan Jue cooled a cup of tea in front of him. As a result, the teacup reflects the green mountains and green trees, the blue sky and white clouds. He pointed to the tea and said, "The mountains, rivers and the earth, all kinds of things, are all in it." ”

Hearing this, Xuan Ce picked up the teacup, poured the tea back into the waves of the Ganjiang River, and then asked, "Where is it?" ”

Xuan Jue said it skillfully, and Xuan Ce forced it even better.

The ancients said that they were not broken, nor were they excited. Under the mutual encouragement, the two people have a heart-to-heart connection, and the great Zen machine is like a surging river, overwhelming and rolling in.

Xuan Jue is a great master, and he has his own wisdom.

At this moment, a huge carp jumped high above the water, struck a silver-white lightning bolt in the air, and then fell back into the water.

Xuan Jue shouted loudly: "Fish, fish, fish!" ”

Senluo is reflected in the tea, the tea is dissolved into the river water, and the carp swims freely in the river, so the carp is the manifestation of Senluo.

……

Qingyuan Mountain on the right bank of the Gan River is the dojo of the elder brother Xingsi Abbot.

However, when he climbed Qingyuan Mountain and came to the abbot of Jingju Temple, Xuan Ce did not enter the door, but pushed Xuan Jue, who had never seen the senior brother, into it alone.

Zen practitioners have the same mind.

Of course Xuan Jue understood what he meant.

Therefore, he did not identify himself, but after bowing according to the rules of the Zen monks who walked on the feet and worshiped the mountain, he asked, "How is the general meaning of the Dharma?" ”

This question seems to be bland, but there is a needle hidden in it, and if you take it a little, you will prick your hand.

Because, how can the meaning of the Dharma be explained in words? The so-called non-establishment of writing, and the transmission of information outside the church, is for this reason.

But obviously it can't be explained in words, and the Zen master must also say, otherwise, how can the monk be inspired to enter the Zen machine?

Therefore, the Zen master's practice, insight, and kung fu, whether he sees his own heart and understands his own nature are all in this sentence.

So, how does Xingsi answer?

Xingsi didn't answer and asked: "What is the price of firewood and rice in Luling recently?" ”

Luling is a necessary place to come to Qingyuan Mountain, but what does the price of firewood and rice in Luling have to do with the general idea of Buddhism?

What's even more strange is that when he heard this, Xuan Jue inside the door and Xuan Ce outside the door both laughed and kowtowed respectfully to the senior brother.

It turns out that Zen, which is difficult to describe in words, is present in every part of daily life!

Although the price of firewood and rice in Luling is an ordinary and ordinary life problem, it is related to all the people near Luling.

And the most basic thing in life is precisely the essence of Zen.

If you put your heart and soul into savoring the true meaning of life, you will be able to practice the Dharma.

Therefore, the sentence "the price of firewood and rice" can be said to be a whip into the inside, which naturally shows the essence of Zen - firewood and rice are closely related to people's eating, of course, Zen.

The most simple common sense is the truth of Zen.

If you are hungry, you will eat, and if you are sleepy, you will sleep in summer, and you will be in the shade in summer and fire in winter. As long as you follow the laws of nature and follow the laws of nature, you will appreciate the subtlety of Zen.

……

Coming down from Qingyuan Mountain, the two "Xuan" Zen masters said goodbye at the bottom of the mountain after a swim in Kuanglu.

Xuan Ce watched Xuan Jue gradually walk away, and his figure blended into the vast wilderness......

In the wilderness, in the white clouds, the voice of Xuanjue's chanting suddenly echoed-

You don't see:

Absolute learning is nothing for idle people, and there is no delusion or truth-seeking.

Ignorance is Buddha nature, and the illusion of emptiness is Dharmakaya.

The Dharmakaya realizes that there is nothing, which originates from the naïve Buddha......

Since I recognized Cao Xi Road, I know that life and death are irrelevant.

One nature permeates all natures, and one law encompasses all laws.

All water appears in January, and all water is taken in January......

Elephant driving slowly on the way, who can see the praying mantis refuse?

Elephants don't swim in the rabbit path, and Dawu doesn't stick to small sections.

Don't be in charge of slandering the sky, and I am now the king.

It is true that Xuan Jue had already become enlightened before he went to see the Sixth Ancestor Huineng, and his enlightenment was confirmed by Master Huineng.

Therefore, the "Song of Enlightenment" that he improvised is indeed the work of a truly enlightened person. Not only is the insight profound, but the rhythm of the poem is sonorous and catchy, and the "sound effect" alone is extraordinary, so for more than a thousand years, this song has been widely recited inside and outside the church, it has awakened countless "dream people", and continues to inspire people who want to realize sooner rather than later, now and in the future.

This "Song of the Preaching" has reverberated in the mountains and rivers for a long time, and has been echoing to this day. To this day, Yongjia Master Xuanjue, his "Zen Yongjia Collection", is still a must-read classic for all Zen practitioners and Zen researchers inside and outside Buddhism.

……

At the end of the Xuance Zen staff, he picked up the bright moon of Cao Xi; The edge of the hat is surrounded by the smoke of Lushan Mountain; In the bag, wrapped in the waves of Jianghuai; Under the straw sandals, dyed with fragrant flowers from the Central Plains......

He crossed the Yangtze River, waded through the Huai River, crossed the Yellow River, and came to the territory of Hebei. Because he heard that the traces of the little junior brother's infant line appeared in the land of Yan Zhao.

Also, this is the ancestral home of the six ancestors Huineng, since ancient times, there have been many generous and sad people, marching in the vast Yan Zhao of "the wind is sluggish and the water is cold, and the strong man is gone", what kind of magnificent feelings should it be!

……

In addition, Xuan Ce and Xuan Jue said goodbye at the foot of the mountain after a swim in Kuanglu, and in the afternoon of this day, when passing by the foot of a mountain, they saw many people kneeling down to a cave on the mountainside, so they stepped forward curiously and asked an elder in front of him: "Uncle, hello!" Why is it so lively in the middle of the mountain? ”。

The elder said respectfully, "There is a mysterious monk in that cave. ”

"Oh?" Xuan Ce's face was surprised.

The people at the scene didn't believe it when they saw Xuan Ce, and told him:

"That Zhihuang Zen Master and the famous Master Shenxiu are the same disciples, and they are both disciples of the Fifth Ancestor Hongren who personally taught Zen Yao."

"Since his old man obtained the Dharma in Huangmei, he has returned to this cave and has been meditating for more than 20 years."

"Every time he entered the meditation, it was as little as ten days and eight days, and as long as a month. It is said that at one time, the chickadees made nests on his body. ”

……

Xuan Ce still shook his head, because he knew that deep meditation was the work of meditation, the form, not the content of meditation.

So, Xuan Ce came to the cave and saw an old monk in his sixties, Zen Master Zhihuang, sitting there quietly.

Xuan Ce asked Zen Master Zhihuang, "What are you cultivating here?" ”

Zen Master Zhihuang said, "I'm practicing meditation. ”

Xuan Ce asked again: "What you mean by entering the meditation is that you have something in mind and enter the concentration?" Or is it settled without thinking? ”

Zen Master Zhihuang opened his mouth and felt that it was difficult to answer.

Xuan Ce continued to force: "If you don't have any thoughts in your heart when you enter the concentration, then these inanimate things such as plants, trees, stones, etc., around you should be able to enter the concentration; If you have a mind in mind and settle down, then all living and conscious beings, such as the cows, sheep, pikas and rabbits that are all over the mountains, should also be able to settle down. ”

When Zen Master Zhihuang heard this, he knew that he had met an insider, and he was an enlightened and insightful expert. He replied very cautiously, "When I entered the meditation, I did not feel the mind of nothingness. In other words, if you forget whether there is or not, you don't know if you have a thought. ”

Zen Master Zhihuang thought that his answer was very satisfactory, but Xuan Ce kept a close eye on the loophole in his words, and pointed out unceremoniously: "Since you can't feel the mind of existence and absence when you enter the time, it is constant. Since it is constant, how can there be entry and exit? If there is a discrepancy, then it is not true meditation. ”

Zen Master Zhihuang was speechless and ashamed. But after all, he was an open-minded Zen man, and he hurriedly asked, "Who is your master who can teach such an excellent apprentice as you?" ”

Xuan Ce smiled and said, "Speaking of which, my master also has a deep relationship with you. He is the mantle disciple of the Fifth Ancestor Hongren Master, the Sixth Ancestor Huineng. ”

"Sixth Ancestor? Oh, heard. I wonder what he thinks of meditation? ”

"My master, the Sixth Patriarch, said that the nature is always silent, and the spirit is perfect, as if it is not moving. Color, receiving, thinking, acting, and knowing, the five aggregates are void; Color, sound, fragrance, taste, touch, law, the six dusts are also illusory and unreal. Therefore, meditation refers to the mental tranquility, which is not disturbed by the six dusts on the outside, and is not affected by the five aggregates on the inside. The nature of Zen is not rigid and unchanging, it is neither born nor destroyed, and it is non-dwelling and thoughtless. ”

Zen Master Zhihuang couldn't sit still any longer, stood up, and asked, "Sixth Patriarch...... Master, are you finally out of the mountain? Where is he doing it now? ”

"Lingnan Caoxi Baoling Temple. You ......" Before Xuan Ce finished speaking, Zen Master Zhihuang roared, rushed out of the cave, and ran towards Lingnan with a puff of white smoke.

He ran a little farther, all the way to Baolin Temple, and ran in front of the Sixth Ancestor Huineng.

The Sixth Ancestor asked him, "Look at your appearance, you look like a person from the north." Where are you from? ”

"Hebei." Zen Master Zhihuang replied.

Sixth Ancestor Huineng said happily: "Oh, we are still half an old relative!" The ancestor is a person from Fanyang, Hebei! How did you come to Lingnan? ”

After Zen Master Zhihuang gave a salute to the six ancestors, he told him about his encounter with Xuan Ce.

After listening to his narration, the six ancestors were very happy, one was excited by the rapid progress of Xuan Ce's practice, and the other was moved by the Dharma-seeking spirit of Zen Master Zhihuang who traveled thousands of miles and was not ashamed to ask questions. He immediately said: "Just as you just talked about, as long as you make your mind like emptiness, and you don't stick to emptiness, so that your mind remains in a state of freedom, no matter whether you move, stop, move, or be still, you don't deliberately keep your mind. When Sixth Ancestor Huineng said this, he turned his wit, "Please look at that big tree." ”

Zen Master Zhihuang looked in the direction of the six ancestors' fingers, and the trees everywhere were not much different from those in his hometown of Hebei. I didn't see anything unique Zen.

The Sixth Patriarch said, "You see, whenever the breeze blows, the leaves of the trees sing and sang; When the wind stops, it enjoys the sunshine freely, unfettered and free. This is meditation! Forgetting the sacred complex, annihilating the distinction between the active and the moving, and unifying the inner nature with the external phenomena, one can be in meditation all the time. ”

After hearing this, Zen Master Zhihuang suddenly realized and knelt down again and again to salute.

Later, he returned to Hebei and brought the epiphany Zen method of the six ancestors to the land of Yanzhao, which played a pioneering role for the future Southern Zen to move north.

……

Let's talk about Huairang. Huai Rang was ordered by the six ancestors of the master to come out of the independent court and promote the party. He came to Nanyue Hengshan and lived in the temple for a long time, so he was called Nanyue Huairang, or Nanyue Master.

Many years later, Huai Rang heard that the Dharma Transmission Zen Institute near Hengshan came from Shifang, Sichuan, a young monk with the common surname Ma and a famous Taoist. He had a solitary temperament, sat in meditation all his life, and never socialized with people.

Huai Rang immediately remembered that when he left Cao Xi, the sixth ancestor of the master told him: "Your disciple will produce a foal, gallop across the world, and set foot on the world." Going back further, long before Patriarch Bodhidharma came to China, his master, Venerable Prajnatara, prophesied to him: 'Although Aurora has no other way, he must borrow the feet of his children and grandchildren to go up, and the golden rooster will relieve a grain of millet and make offerings to the Arhat monks of the ten directions.' ”

Could it be that the "foal" that the master said is this Zen monk with the common surname Ma?

Huairang followed the thatched path to the hill behind the Dharma Monastery.

He saw a young Zen monk sitting alone under a pine tree with a dragon coiling. The sitting monk seems to have long been integrated with the surrounding mountains, rivers and plants, unmoving, unshaking, and not looking.

He is Daoyi, a Zen man destined to shock the world, a monk who has been famous for thousands of years, and the only master who is called "ancestor" by later generations after the six ancestors.

Huai Rang walked straight up to him and stood for a long time before he asked, "What are you trying to do if you sit so dry for a long time?" ”

"Be a Buddha in the future!" Daoyi replied in a dismissive tone, without even lifting his eyelids. Seeing this, Huai Rang stopped asking, picked up a brick and grinded it on the rock.

The squeak-creak-creak-squeak of grinding bricks sounded louder than a landslide and cracking, and worse than the soul of a night owl.

Patience, patience, patience! The Buddha said that forbearance is one of the six ways for a bodhisattva to practice, and the path is forbearance.

However, that Huai let the grinding go on and on. The sound of the broken bricks rubbing against the rocks, sharp and grotesque, was like steel needles that drilled into Daoichi's ears, pierced his brain, and pierced every nerve in him......

Dao Yi couldn't bear it anymore, and couldn't hold back the anger in his heart anymore, so he finally opened his eyes and glared at Huai Rang viciously.

However, Huai Rang ignored Daoyi.

He did not raise his head, did not squint, and continued to grind bricks. He looked as if he were polishing the world's most precious diamond.

Daoyi was attracted by his demeanor of grinding bricks so seriously, and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Why are you grinding those bricks so carefully?" ”

"I'm going to grind it into a bright mirror."

"How can a rotten brick be ground into a mirror?" Dao is half puzzled and half ironic.

"Since you know that bricks can't be sharpened into mirrors, can you sit and become a Buddha by sitting all day long like you?" Huai Rang finally said the purpose of grinding the bricks, it turned out to be to guide Daoyi to the bait, so as to enlighten him.

Dao Yi listened to Huai Rang's words, and didn't know how to answer for a while.

Huai Rang picked up a dead branch from under the tree, beat it a few times on the lying cow stone of Daoyi Zazen, and said slowly: "This is like driving an ox to pull a cart, the ox cart stops halfway, are you fighting a cow or a taxi?" ”

Dao Yi felt that Huai Rang's words were unfathomable, and couldn't help but stand up.

Huai Rang was moved by the Tao and was listening to himself intently, so he slowly introduced the topic: "You said that you want to sit in meditation to become a Buddha, however, Zen is not sitting and lying, and the Buddha does not have a fixed image. Things are always changing, and there are no trade-offs. If you think that you can only become a Buddha by meditating, you are killing your living Buddha-nature. If you are obsessed with sitting and sticking to form, you will not be able to realize the truth of Buddhism. ”

Daoyi knows that Huai Rang is reasonable, but it is difficult for people to deny themselves, especially for things that they are very proud of, it is difficult to see through and let go.

Daoyi "sighed" for a long time and said: "There is nothing bad about zazen, the Buddha Shakyamuni became a Buddha in zazen." ”

"Zazen is good, of course, but if you think of zazen as the only way to become a Buddha, especially if you have an attachment to zazen in your heart, then you are wrong. There is an old saying that there are tons of heroes. However, if a drunkard claims to be a hero on this basis, will he succeed? If a person can drink a lot of alcohol, is he a hero? The fact that the Buddha saw the morning star while meditating does not mean that everyone has to sit in meditation to become enlightened. The key to learning Buddhism and practicing Zen is to grasp the true meaning of Buddhism and enter the heart of Zen. ”

Such as Daigo empowerment, like nectar to moisten the heart, the Tao is enlightened at the moment. The flower of wisdom burns in the heart, and the tears of joy flow in the eyes. He bowed deeply to Huairang......

By the time he looked up, there was no one in front of him. In the mountains, a string of pearl-like chanting sounds:

The heart contains all kinds of things, and all of them are cute.

Samadhi flowers have no phase, what is bad and what is done.

Daoyi didn't even take the futon that he sat in meditation every day, and hurriedly chased after the place where the chanting sound was wafting.

From then on, Dao Yi bowed and sat down.

Ten years of hard work is unusual. Master Huairang's tempering has turned the ignorant little monk Daoyi into a grandmaster Matsu Daoyi who has hands and eyes to the sky - a great Dharma king destined to span the ages.

Ten years of sharpening a sword, a thousand lights. The birth of Matsu Daoyi brought about the great prosperity of Zen Buddhism.

With his broad and grand bearing, magical and agile wisdom, he shows the profound and subtle Zen principles in ordinary daily life, so that every ordinary person can experience the transcendence of Zen, feel the style of Zen, and comprehend the wisdom of Zen.

As a result, scholars from all over the world gathered under the seat, and the monks of the world looked forward to the wind; The dragon and tiger roar, like the roar of the lion dance, thousands of monks and thousands of fingers, it is a grand view.

Among his disciples, the two great patriarchs of Baizhang Huaihai and Nanquan Puyuan left behind the descendants of Fenzhou Wuye, Damei Fachang, Xitang Zhizang, Guizong Zhichang, Shigong Huizang, Xingshan Weikuan, Wutai Yinfeng, Yanguan Qi'an, Panshan Baoji, and Dazhu Huihai...... They are all important figures at the level of great masters in the history of Zen Buddhism. Therefore, the Matsu Dojo is known as the "Buddha Election Field".

Later, his disciple Baizhang Huaihai gave birth to the earliest Weiyang sect and the largest Rinzai sect among the five major sects of Zen Buddhism. After the Northern Song Dynasty, until today, most of the monks of Han Buddhism belong to the Linji sect.

Because most of the Zen monks in the world came from his disciples, later generations called him "Matsu".