Chapter 28 The magnolia flower left on the tree reminds me to use the "Dharma" to support the ten directions (26)

I had just become a monk that year and was responsible for the work of the "fragrant lamp". Whenever the magnolia, magnolia and other fragrant flowers in the temple bloom, someone picks them and puts them on shallow red plates, and places them in front of the Buddha to make offerings to him.For several days in a row, I tidied up the hall amidst the fragrance of flowers, and I worked very hard. One day, the magnolia bloomed in front of the stone steps of the main hall. The flowers bloomed on the straight and tall trees. They were so big, so white, and so fragrant!At that time, I didn't know that Bai Mulian was very rare in Taiwan, but I was deeply attracted by this beautiful big white flower, "How good it is to pick it up as an offering to Buddha!" ​​I thought to myself.

A mage passed by, saw me in a daze under the tree, and asked me what I was thinking.I pointed to the big white flowers on the tree and proudly told her what I thought.Unexpectedly, she smiled and said, "Wouldn't it be better to leave the beautiful flowers on the tree and make offerings to the Buddhas of the ten directions?" The white flowers are left like this on the tree.The blue sky is the lotus pond, and the clouds are the lotus leaves. Just like the white lotus blooming in the sky, it is pure white and flawless, beautiful and beautiful, and it is offering to the Buddhas of the ten directions.

Later, when the flowers wilted and fell, I didn't pay attention. Maybe the holy white flowers on the tall tree were just picked up by the Buddhas of the ten directions in the emptiness!Standing under the magnolia tree, I had to feel the mystery of Buddhism—turning the finite into the infinite, and turning the concrete into the intangible... How can I become a pure white magnolia and offer it to the ten directions? The "Avatamsaka Sutra" said: "Good man, among all the offerings, the Dharma offering is the most." Providing tangible material offerings to help those in need can certainly transform your inner stinginess and cultivate merit; practice Buddhism and practice Buddhism. , Let the Dharma be truly implemented in the body and mind, benefit yourself and others, and make offerings with the "Dharma", which is a more profound offering.

Don't all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas also practice like this?In the past, Shakyamuni Buddha practiced the bodhisattva practice to make offerings to the Buddhas of the ten directions; Amitabha Buddha made forty-eight great vows, one of which was "to practice the bodhisattva practice and make offerings to the Buddhas and Tathagatas of the ten directions".I think, using the "dharma" to adorn yourself, remove pollution and afflictions, and purify body, speech, and mind is the best offering to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas! The magnolia flower left on the tree has been blooming in my memory, and it has not faded in the time, but has become whiter and more fragrant.It reminds me: to open up the capacity of the mind, to broaden the objects of offerings and to expand the time and space, "Seeing the Tathagata, with a broad heart, close to offerings, and the heart will not be tired." In addition to the Buddha in the hall, there are also Buddhas of the ten directions, and those who There are "future Buddhas" all around me—immeasurable and boundless sentient beings!

(This picture is provided by Wu Xiaodan)