After the Sixth Patriarch Huineng said four words of Zen in one breath, he then said, "Next, I want to talk about the fifth point, Zen is an art of living, a way of living. ”

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng said: Our ordinary people's lives basically do not have the detachment and detachment of Zen, and do not have the joy and tranquility of Zen people, they are all struggling in pain, and there is no art of life, nothing more than firewood, rice, oil, salt, wives and children, old and young.

Monks also have all kinds of troubles. The troubles of the monks are called studying and visiting good knowledge.

The ancients said that "there is no temple, only no way", and they all hope to reach a certain level in cultivation and achieve something in Taoism.

If there is a Tao, there must be a temple. This is to tell the troubles of the family.

In the troubles of the family, if you are a student of Buddhism, today you hear that it is good to go to Zen, you will come to Zen, tomorrow you hear the Buddha's name, and then you will go to the Buddha, thinking that Amitabha Buddha will immediately take him to the Western Paradise, and do not stay in this world of sava, the world of samsara is too bitter and too bitter, this is the trouble of a student of Buddhism.

People who don't study Buddhism have more troubles and more suffering, which can be said to be indescribable. There is no art in life! Even if you are an artist, your life is not the same as art; It's not the same as acting, acting is relatively easy.

But the life of a Zen practitioner is really an art. There was a Zen master who wrote a poem about his family's life.

In the poem, the Zen master wrote:

Fortunately for the Futian monk,

Qiankun wins an idler.

If there is a fate, you will live and there will be no fate,

A fresh breeze sends white clouds.

Between the world and the world, he is a quiet and comfortable person, which shows that the artistry of this life is very high.

Gusts of breeze, wisps of white clouds, just like the life of a monk, just like the image of a monk, how chic and comfortable! It can be said that it has truly reached a chic walk. We ordinary people say chic, but in fact, we say it head-on.

Where is the real chic?

The real chic is the life of a Zen practitioner, and it is an artistic life, so Zen is an art of living.

Here, I would like to mention that there was a monk who lived until he was 100 years old, and his life was really an artistic life. He is an excellent artistic image, detached, free, and at ease. People came to him and asked him how to practice.

He said, "Please sit down for a moment, I still have something to do." ”

What to do? He went to the pit.

When he came back from the thatched pit, he said to the visitor, "You must know that no one else can replace the matter of cultivation, and no one else can replace me even in the trivial matter of going to the thatched pit. Cultivating such a big thing, it is not enough to just say it, you must do it yourself. ”

He said it this way. Those of us who don't practice will say that, and if you really say that, people will say that you are insane.

However, when he said this, people believed him because he had virtue and strength. How chic, how comfortable!

Once, a participant asked this monk, "How is the ancestor from the west?" ”

He pointed his hand: "Cypress tree in front of the court." ”

You say that the east answers the west, and you say that the south answers the north, as if the wind and horses and cows are not related, but in fact he clearly shows you what the west means: everything is ready-made.

There is also a public case of "eating tea and going". When a scholar came to pay homage to him, he asked, "Are you here for the first time or for the second time?" ”

The scholar said, "This is the first time I have come." ”

The monk said, "Eat tea." ”

Another scholar came to see him, and he asked, "Are you coming for the first time or for the second time?" ”

The scholar said, "This is the second time I have come." ”

He said, "Eat tea." ”

At that time, the owner of the courtyard stood next to him and didn't understand, so he asked him: "The first time I came, I asked him to eat tea, and when the guest and host meet, there is a politeness, you can eat tea." The second time I came, I wasn't a guest, so why did I still go for tea? ”

The monk called the name of the master teacher, and the master agreed to him.

He said, "You can also eat tea." ”

What a high art this is! In this kind of ease, he shows us the general idea of the Dharma. It's not like I'm sitting in this place and delaying everyone for so much time, talking about it endlessly. How much does it actually work? I doubt it myself.

Because I don't even have the qualifications to be a student of that monk, I don't know what I'm talking about.

Zen is the art of our life, and the life of a Zen master and Zen practitioner is an artistic life. Zen is also a way of life, what is this way of life?

Everything is ready-made.

Each of us is hungry and sleepy. In this way, aren't we all practicing?

Wrong.

When we eat, there are all kinds of differences: this one is delicious and this one is not delicious, this one is sour, this one is spicy, this one is sweet, and this one is bitter. When we sleep, we are also thinking in every way, tossing and turning and unable to sleep, unable to sleep and insisting on sleeping. That's not sleeping, that's struggling; That's not eating, it's eating. This dish is spicy, this is yuba, which can also be eaten, has been separated.

The Zen man's way of life, like his approach to all issues, transcends duality and lives without distinction.

Generally speaking, we have not reached that level of this way of life of Zen practitioners, so we must not imitate it.

It's bad if you imitate it, because you don't have that kind of state, you don't have that kind of use. Your imitation is just imitation.

In short, Zen is an art of life, a way of life, the embodiment of the life of the wise and the enlightened, and the connotation of the life of the enlightened and the doer.

Sixth, Zen is eternal happiness, true happiness.

The ultimate goal of Zen is to attain eternal happiness and true happiness. Zen is a refreshing and comfortable enjoyment, and Zen can release all the vitality inherent in life.

We ourselves have all kinds of merits and wisdom such as the Buddha's ten powers, the four fearlessness, and the perfection of the three bodies, so why can't we manifest them?

Because it is covered with the dust of ignorance and delusion.

As long as we meditate on the method and through the transcendent experience of becoming a Buddha by directly pointing to the human mind, we will be able to release some of the energy and vitality inherent in our lives, and finally we will be able to truly liberate the ten worlds without hindrance. If you have a fate, you will live, and if you don't have a fate, you will go, and you will be happy and affectionate.

The ultimate goal of Zen is the same as that of all the teachings, but the approach is different. All the Dharma that is taught is not directed at it, but indirectly, step by step.

Zen should be in place in one step, and it should go straight to the point.

This is the difference between Zen and all the teachings of Buddhism. In order to attain this kind of eternal happiness, true happiness, Zen can be achieved in an instant if you are a person who is wise and wise. Those who have bad roots should not be imitated casually.

Because the person with the root machine is also a kind of accumulation, and the person with the root machine is not enough to accumulate. It's like doing business, you need a lot of silver dollars to talk about a big business, and the person with a lot of money in his pocket agrees to come down at once, buys it and does it, and he has accumulation.

On the surface, it seems that this is a pause, one step in place, but his hard work is ahead, and this is the result of the accumulation of the past. People who don't accumulate enough, people who don't have enough capital, it's not easy to make a big business in Sanguan's business, you can only take your time, and the same is true for cultivation.

Therefore, we have to cultivate good roots, build good karma, and sow good fields, so that our good karma will continue to accumulate and expand, and we will continue to cultivate our good causes and good karma.

"It's getting late, so let's talk about 'what Zen is' today." When Sixth Ancestor Huineng said this, he couldn't finish it, "Finally, I want to share it with you with a poem that is very popular in the north. ”

The sixth ancestor Huineng said poetically: "The smoke and rain of Lushan and the tide of Zhejiang have not yet reached a thousand hates. As for the return, there was nothing to do, and the smoke and rain in Lushan were in Zhejiang. ”

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng ended his all-day Zen preaching with a poem that was very popular in the north, and the villagers and believers in the hall were fascinated, forgetting the time and hunger, and completely entered the realm of "Epiphany Zen" of Huineng's Southern Sect......

The Sixth Ancestor Huineng spoke the Dharma for most of the day, and when he stopped, he felt dry lips and hungry. He was about to call the Divine Council to come and prepare a meal for the people, but he didn't think that the Divine Society had already come to the temple, and after whispering a few words to him, he walked to the center of the temple and said aloud: "Fathers, elders, fellow villagers, and believers! Now let's take a little rest, go to the dining hall to drink fasting, and then ask the patriarch to continue the teachings, okay? ”

"Good! Thank you, Master Six Ancestors! Under the silent hall, there were shouts of applause and thanks.

"A-Neng!"

"Brother Aneng!"

At this time, I saw Wen Tsai and Cowboy, who had grown up playing with Xiaosha since childhood, waved their hands in the hall and affectionately shouted his childhood name and walked over.

"Wen Zai, Cowboy, how are you?" Sixth Ancestor Huineng subconsciously stood up, stared at the crowd, and responded cordially as he descended from the hall.

When everyone saw that the Sixth Ancestor Hui Neng came down, they all made way of a passage.

The sixth ancestor Hui Neng came to them, holding Wen Zai with his left hand and the cowboy with his right hand back to the abbot's room.

Perhaps because of the reunion after a long absence, the sixth ancestor Huineng forgot his respected identity and hugged Wen Zai and Cowboy tightly.

After that, the sixth ancestor Huineng carefully looked at Wen Tsai and the cowboy: the cowboy had lost his previous impression of melancholy, rudeness, and thinness, and he looked tall and mighty, and his face was full of red money. Wen Zai's polite and delicate appearance in the past is no longer visible on him, compared with cowboys, his figure is more thin and thin, and his beard has turned gray. The years have left a deep mark on the two of them.

The Sixth Ancestor Huineng led the two of them into the abbot's room, and after using tea, he just wanted to ask them how he had been doing since he left the village, but before he could speak, he only heard the cowboy pat the shoulder of the Sixth Ancestor Huineng like he did when he was a child and said: "Brother Aneng, I won't take some time to come back in the past 20 years, we are good friends who grew up playing 'sand pot' since childhood!"

These simple words hit the heart of the Sixth Ancestor Huineng like a whip.

He asked himself, yes, since he came back here to guard his mother's filial piety for 3 years, 20 years, a full 20 years, he has never returned to Xialu Village. "I am ashamed of this land, of my father, of my fellow villagers, and of my ......," he thought of this, and couldn't help but blame himself in the depths of his heart.

"Surrounded by mundane things, I can't help myself!" Sixth Ancestor Hui Neng explained apologetically.

During the party, when the sixth ancestor Huineng learned that Wen Tsai and Cowboy were full of children and grandchildren, and the family shared the joy of family, he was very pleased, looked at them enviously, and said from the bottom of his heart: "Ordinary is true!" ”

"Brother Aneng, if you didn't go out to seek the Dharma at that time, you and Ah ......" Wen Tsai didn't wait for the cowboy to say any more, and kicked the cowboy with his foot, signaling him not to go down.

Then, Wen Zai grabbed it and said: "Look, Brother Aneng has been talking about Zen for most of the day, let's let Brother Aneng rest for a while, and we will continue to talk about it later!" ”

The cowboy touched his huge skull embarrassedly, smiled heartily, and said, "Look, you see that I have patronized the old days, and I have forgotten what Brother Neng said for most of the day, and it is indeed very hard." ”

"Brother Aneng, you rest in the abbot's room first, and let's go to the dining hall to drink and fast." Wen Tsai got up from his chair at the right time and said goodbye to the sixth ancestor, Huineng.

"Wait a minute." As he spoke, Sixth Ancestor Hui Neng walked into the abbot's room, took out a bag, handed it to Wen Zai, and said, "This is the peace charm that I opened last night, please let you two distribute it to the villagers on my behalf." ”

"Okay." Wen Tsai took the bag of peace charms as if he had received the treasure, and reluctantly left the abbot's room with the cowboy.

……

After drinking and fasting, after a short rest, the sixth ancestor Huineng answered the questions raised by the audience with great interest——

Speaking of the question of "self-cultivation and self-realization", the Sixth Patriarch Huineng pointed out: "If a person who is self-enlightened does not fake the knowledge of external goodness, and if he takes the knowledge of seeking goodness from outside and hopes to be liberated, it is useless", and on the basis of self-realization and self-cultivation, he does not exclude the "guiding role" of "external good knowledge". I said in Caoxi Baolin Monastery that I often said that "the heart contains the seed of affection, the rain of the Dharma is the birth of flowers, the self-realization of flowers and the seeds of Bodhi fruit", which illustrates my principle of advocating self-reliance and revealing the role of external causes through internal causes.

"Where is the Buddha, what is the Buddha?"

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng believes through self-realization that through "epiphany" can become a Buddha, people have their own Buddha's existence in their hearts, and people's own Buddha is the real Buddha, and the so-called Buddhahood is actually "clear mind", so Chinese Zen emphasizes that self-nature is Buddha.

Zen Buddhism pioneered an intuitive way of thinking that through meditation, one can directly point to the human mind and see one's nature to become a Buddha, or it can be said to be an intuitive dialectic.

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng also pointed out that among them, there is mainly Bodhidharma's intuitive truthfulness; the intuitive way of "thinking the heart" and "guarding the heart" of the Daoxin and Hongren Dongshan methods; Shenxiu's Buddha dust looks at the pure saying and my sudden nature says, etc.

The Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng takes the nature of all living beings as the direct object of Prajna intuition, and "does not set up words, but points directly to the human heart" to describe the intuitive thinking characteristics of his "sudden sight of nature".

The Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng clearly took "nature is Buddha" as the theoretical starting point of "enlightenment and Buddhahood". He said: "The nature is the Buddha nature, and there is no other Buddha without the nature", "When you know the fool and the wise man, there is no difference in the Buddha nature, only because of the difference in delusion, so there is wisdom and foolishness." ”

The characteristic of the Buddha-nature theory is that it regards Buddha-nature as the only characteristic of human beings, and transfers the path to Buddhahood through "seeking from within" to the realization of one's own "nature." And the understanding and inspiration of one's own practice is the best embodiment.

The central idea of the Buddha-nature theory that I advocate is the Buddha-nature theory of "seeing nature to become a Buddha", or "the mind is a Buddha", and the practice concept of "enlightenment and seeing nature". The so-called "only preaching the law of sexuality, born to break the evil sect". Sexuality refers to the inherent possibility of Buddhahood for all living beings. That is, "Bodhi's self-nature is originally pure, but with this mind, he becomes a Buddha directly" and "Although people have north and south, Buddha nature has no north and south". This idea is in line with the Nirvana Sutra's statement that "all living beings have Buddha nature".

The sixth ancestor Huineng said: "The heart is not bad, and the West is not far away; If you have an unkind heart, it is difficult to recite the Buddha and pass away. Huineng opposes leaving the world to talk about Buddhism, advocating that "Buddhism is in the world, not leaving the world, and leaving the world to find Bodhi is just like seeking the horns of a rabbit."

"If you want to practice, you can get it at home, and you can't help but be in the temple. can do it at home, such as the kindness of the Oriental heart; If you don't cultivate in the temple, you will be evil in the hearts of Westerners." The Sixth Ancestor Hui Neng was earth-shattering.

The six ancestors can talk eloquently: If you care about the interests of people and me, you will come out of Mount Meru, and the evil mind is the sea surging, if there is trouble, the waves will be turbulent, if you have poisonous intentions, you will come out of the evil dragon to hurt your body, if you are full of vain views, you will come out of ghosts and gods, and if you chase fame and fortune, there will be fish and turtles rampant, greed and anger will be hell, and ignorance and obsession will be animals.

Fellow villagers, good knowledge, often practice the ten virtues, and heaven will come at hand;

Remove the interests of people and me, and Mount Meru will fall immediately;

When the evil thoughts are removed, the surging sea dries up immediately;

When the troubles are gone, the waves cease;

The poisonous mind is forgotten, and the fish, turtle and dragon that make trouble will be extinct.

When you realize the Buddha-nature from your own mind and approach it, you will radiate the wisdom of your own nature.

"Folks, good knowledge, now is the time for interaction, if you don't understand or want to ask, you can put it forward."

As soon as the Sixth Ancestor Huineng's words fell, a person under the hall stood up and raised his hand, looked at the Sixth Ancestor Huineng, who was sitting cross-legged in the hall, and said: "Ah ......" He just wanted to say "can", and immediately stopped his mouth.

He realized that this firewood boy in the past is now the famous Six Ancestors of Zen Buddhism, so he changed his words and said: "Sixth Ancestor Master Huineng, I am the second uncle of Huang Tianlei in the village, first of all, I am very proud that we have a big person like you in Xialu Village, and I feel very fortunate that you can go back to your hometown to preach the Dharma and help us get rid of evil thoughts!" ”

When Master Huineng heard him talk about Huang Tianlei, he immediately remembered that he was the rich man in the village who deceived the good and feared the evil.

Sixth Ancestor Huineng said politely: "It turned out to be Second Uncle Huang Tianlei, what do you always have to ask?" ”

Huang Tianlei said, "In the morning, I heard you talk about the problem of cultivation, and you said that it is okay to practice at home, and you don't necessarily have to be a monk to come to the temple. The old man didn't understand very much, and wanted to bring it up and ask the master to give a lecture. ”

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng replied: "If you really want to practice, you can practice at home, and you don't necessarily have to be a monk to come to the temple. Being able to practice at home is like the Oriental people who are kind; Not practicing in a temple is like a Westerner being sinister. As long as the heart is pure, one has already reached the Western Pure Land in one's own nature. ”

Huang Tianlei asked again: "How do you practice at home?" I hope Master Ah Neng will teach him again. ”

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng said: "I will recite to you a verse of "Ode to Nothingness" to see your understanding. ”

"Okay!" Huang Tianlei said sincerely.

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng clasped his hands together and chanted:

Peace of mind and hard work,

What is the use of practicing meditation?

Grace is filial piety to parents,

Righteousness is mercy from top to bottom.

Let the humbled and the humble,

Forbearance is the cause of all evil.

If you can drill wood for fire,

The silt gives birth to red lotus.

The bitter is good medicine,

Against the ear is a word of advice.

Reform will give birth to wisdom,

Protect the short-hearted and not virtuous.

Daily use is always beneficial,

Enlightenment is not about giving money.

Bodhi only seeks from the heart,

He Lao asked for mystery from the outside.

I heard that I practiced according to this,

Heaven is only in the present.

After the Sixth Patriarch Huineng finished reciting "Ode to No Phase", he looked at Huang Tianlei under the hall and said that as long as he practiced according to what was said here, it would be like being with the Buddha.

If you don't practice in this way, even if you shave your hair and leave home, what good will it do to the Buddha's path!

After answering Huang Tianlei's question, the Sixth Patriarch Huineng saw that the people present no longer asked questions, but only wanted to listen to him, so he said: "The central idea of Zen I said today is the theory of 'seeing nature to become a Buddha', or 'the mind is a Buddha', and the practice concept of 'enlightenment and seeing nature'. The so-called 'only transmission and insight method' was born to break the evil sect. ”

The nature of "enlightenment" here refers to the inherent possibility of becoming a Buddha for all sentient beings. That is, "Bodhi's self-nature is originally pure, but with this mind, he becomes a Buddha directly" and "Although people have north and south, Buddha nature has no north and south". This idea is in line with the Nirvana Sutra's statement that "all living beings have Buddha nature".

I am an advocate of idealistic Pure Land thinking. It is believed that "the East man-made sin Buddha survives in the West, and the West man-made sin Buddha survives in what country?" Whoever is not stupid about his own nature, who does not know the Pure Land in his body, wishes for the east and the west, and understands people everywhere."

"The heart is good-hearted, and the West is not far away; If you have an unkind heart, it is difficult to recite the Buddha and pass away. "I oppose leaving the world to talk about the Dharma, and advocate that "the Dharma is in the world, not leaving the world, and looking for Bodhi when leaving the world is just like seeking the horns of a rabbit."

I think, "If you want to practice, you can do it at home, not at the temple." can do it at home, such as the kindness of the Oriental heart; If you don't cultivate in the temple, you will be evil in the hearts of Westerners."

The world's own body (referring to the human body, which Buddhism believes is composed of the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind).

It is a city with gates, and the eyes, ears, nose, and tongue are also gates, which are the five gates on the outside, and there is a gate on the inside, which is the meaning.

The heart is the land, the nature is the king, the king dwells in the land of the heart, the nature is in the king, and the king is gone without the nature.

When the nature is there, the body and spirit exist, and when the nature is gone, the body and spirit are destroyed.

Buddhahood arises in nature, don't look outside the body.

If your nature is confused, then you are a layman, if you are enlightened by your nature, then you are a Buddha, if you are compassionate, you are Guanyin Bodhisattva, if you are kind and charitable, then you are the Bodhisattva of the Great Trend, if your heart is pure, you are Shakyamuni Buddha, and if you are fair and upright, you are Amitabha.

Caring about the interests of people and me, I came out of Mount Meru;

The evil mind is the surging of the sea;

If there is trouble, the waves are turbulent; The intention of poisoning is that the dragon hurts the body; When the heart is full of vain opinions, it comes out and haunts the spirits; chasing fame and fortune in the red dust, there are fish and turtles rampant; Greed and anger are hell;

Ignorance and obsession are beasts.

Fellow villagers, good knowledge: if you practice the Ten Virtues regularly, heaven will come at hand;

Remove the interests of people and me, and Mount Meru will fall immediately;

When the evil thoughts are removed, the surging sea dries up immediately;

When the troubles are gone, the waves cease;

The poisonous mind is forgotten, and the fish, turtle and dragon that make trouble will be extinct.

When you realize the Buddha-nature from your own mind and approach it, you will radiate the wisdom of your own nature.

This kind of light shines on the six gates to the outside and purifies the six heavens, and destroys the six desires and the heavens. When one's own nature is illuminated inwards by the light, the three poisons of greed, hatred, and ignorance are immediately removed, and the sins of going to hell are also eliminated in an instant.

To achieve such a state of inner and outer light, there is no difference from the Western Pure Land. If you don't practice like this, how can you reach the Western Elysium?

Here, I would like to repeat that the Buddha has been talking about the scriptures for more than 300 years, saying the Dharma for 49 years, and the 12 scriptures of the Three Tibets are vast, but these countless texts are not directly related to the origin of Zen Buddhism.

You may ask, why is there no direct relationship with the Buddha?

And listen to me: Legend has it that one day, the Buddha was on the Linghu Mountain, and he sat on the throne and held up a flower to show the public, and everyone did not know why at that time, only the Buddha smiled a little, and the Buddha said at that time: "I have the right Dharma eye, Nirvana wonderful mind, reality without appearance, subtle method, pay the Mahakasya." The Buddha then gave the Dharma to the Mahakaya, and Zen Buddhism began to be passed down.

Buddha Shakya was born in Kunga Lovatz in the western heavens, and he often preached the Dharma on Vulture Mountain. His phrase "Heaven and the world, I am the only one" has become the dogma of my Buddha. "Sogo" is not a "small self" that is arrogant, but a "big self", which is the Buddha's mind that serves all sentient beings. When we point to the sky with our right hand and the earth with our left, it means that the sky is high and the earth is thick, and it is infinite, and anyone can share the light of the Buddha's life.

But Zen Buddhism gradually lost its market in India. Bodhidharma, the twenty-eighth patriarch of Indian Zen, fled alone and drifted to Guangzhou on a merchant ship. Came to Zhongyue Songshan.

Shenguang (Huike), a native of Henan, a young man proficient in world studies, a monk in Longmen Xiangshan in the prime of life, and then entered the Shaolin Temple in Songshan, visited Bodhidharma, asked to teach, and asked for a disciple, Bodhidharma was not allowed, and Shenguang waited outside the door. It was a snowstorm, and after a long time, the snow was waist-deep. Bodhidharma saw that he was indeed sincere in seeking the Dharma and allowed him to enter. And asked him, "What have you come here to ask for?" ”

Shenguang replied: "The disciple's heart is not at peace, and the beggar is at ease." ”

Bodhidharma shouted: "Bring your heart, I am Ru'an!" ”

Shenguang was stunned and said, "You can't find your heart!" ”

Bodhidharma actually said at this time: "I am at peace with you! ”

Divine light and wisdom can suddenly be enlightened. The emptiness of afflictions, the absence of sinful karma, the extinction of the mind, and the absence of delusions and thoughts are enlightenment, which is the path of the Buddha. If you can understand the mind, the Buddha nature will be revealed at the moment.

We generally call Bodhidharma the ancestor of Chinese Zen Buddhism, and Hui Ke is the second ancestor.

Later, Hui Ke passed on the three ancestors of Monk Can, Seng Can, the fourth ancestor of Daoxin, and the fifth ancestor of Daoxin.

Shenxiu Botong Sanzang, the eldest disciple of the five ancestors Hongren, preached the scriptures and taught the Quartet, and the people at that time did not regard it as the descendants of the five ancestors.