Chapter 37 Section 3 Caoxi Zen created by Huineng

Master Huineng (638-713 AD), the outstanding sixth patriarch of Zen Buddhism in China, how did he become a monk and become enlightened?This is a major concern of all of us.Now a brief introduction: Huineng, whose common surname is Lu, is from Xinzhou, Guangdong, and his father's name is Xingyu.His mother's surname was Li, who was born on the eighth day of February in the thirteenth year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty. When he was born, a bright light rose into the sky, and at the same time, a strange fragrance filled the room.At dawn, two monks suddenly came to his father and said, "Did you have a baby last night? We came here today to name him Huineng." Lu's father was surprised when he heard this. My family gave birth to a son last night, how did these two monks know, why they named him Huineng, what is the reason for this?He asked: Monk, what does it mean that you named my son Huineng?The answer is: "The beneficiary gives all sentient beings with the benefit of the Dharma, and the capable one will grow up to be able to do Buddhist work in the future."After the two monks finished speaking, they left without a trace, and they don't know where they went.Huineng was born without breastfeeding, and everyone was very anxious. In the evening, someone came and poured nectar for him, which made Huineng very healthy, full of energy and vigorous.At the age of twenty-four, unfortunately, his father passed away and his family was poor. Huineng made a living by chopping firewood and cared for his elderly mother.

One day, when I passed by a hotel in Nanhai, Guangdong, I suddenly heard someone reciting the "Diamond Sutra" in the store. Huineng's good roots were mature and his wisdom was radiant, so he put down the firewood he had picked on his shoulders, and meditated and considered sincerely. Listening earnestly to the "Diamond Sutra", when he read "You should have nowhere to live, you should give birth to your heart", Huineng suddenly realized: "It is really unexpected that the self-nature is originally pure and undefiled, and it is really unexpected that the self-nature is inherently immortal. , I really didn’t expect that the true self-nature is inherent in everyone, I really didn’t expect the self-nature to be unshakable, I really didn’t expect that the self-nature can give birth to all dharmas.” He deeply understands my Buddha’s mind, and he immediately feels at ease physically and mentally. After eating, he was full of Dharma joy, so he said to the guest who chanted: "What sutra did you recite just now? Where did it come from?" It was obtained from Master Hongren, the fifth patriarch of the temple."Huineng was very happy when he heard this, so he sold the firewood, prepared food for his adoptive mother, and hurried to the Dongchan Temple of Master Huangmei Hongren.Coincidentally, the Fifth Patriarch was enthroned in the Dharma hall to give a lecture, and Huineng came forward to attend the ceremony.Seeing that the woodcutter came strangely, the Fifth Patriarch asked, "Where are you coming from?" He replied, "Come from Lingnan." , people have north and south, so does Buddha nature still have north and south?" The Fifth Patriarch was taken aback, knowing this Buddhist instrument, and when he came back with a wish, he would not talk about it, lest he would be envied by others, which would be bad.At that time, he was asked to go to the rice room to do the work of pounding rice. Huineng pounded rice in the rice room. Because he was born thin and small, when he pounded rice and stepped on stones, he was not heavy enough, so he hung a stone around his waist. Everyone called him Lu Xingzhe. .Although he pounded rice every day, he was always looking back at the light, meditating and meditating, eliminating false thoughts internally, resting all conditions externally, and practicing diligently.

After a long period of time, Lu Xingzhe has improved his kung fu day by day.One day, suddenly a little novice monk came to the rice room, chanting a gatha: "The body is like a bodhi tree, and the heart is like a mirror stand. Always wipe it diligently so as not to stir up dust."It means that our body is like a bodhi tree, which can be used as the basis of practice.Our single thought is like a bright and brilliant mirror stand, with a round light illuminating all dharmas.If we want to restore the source of our mind, obtain the ultimate purity, and make this bodhi tree more solemn and taller, we must be diligent and diligent, practice hard all the time, and wipe the mirror stand clean and clear. , don’t let the bodhi tree and the mirror platform be polluted by the coarse dust and fine dirt of many ignorance and afflictions.When Lu Xingzhe heard it, he knew that this was the principle of Buddhism. He thought that although the principles of these four sentences are very good, they are only a gradual method, and they still focus on the cultivation of attachments and attachments that have been cultivated and certified. The principle of pure and wonderful practice is to cultivate one’s mind without cultivation; while Shenxiu’s first seat is based on Bodhidharma’s "Langa" core essence, the so-called principle of inherent purity of self-nature and gradual enlightenment and gradual cultivation.Huineng asked the little novice at that time, "Who wrote the four gatha you recited just now?" The little novice said, "Haha: Lu Xingzhe, you are pounding rice all day long, and the big things outside don't matter. Know? Our monk Hongren wants to pass on the Dharma seal, step aside, and ask everyone in the temple to compose a gatha. Whoever does it well and correctly will pay him the Zhengdharma Eye Store and the mantle. We In the monastery there is a monk named Shenxiu who is profound in knowledge and proficient in Buddhism. He must have done a good job, so we all dare not do it. All the people in the monastery were in unison, saying that these four sentences are really good, and everyone memorizes them and memorizes them in their hearts, as the guiding ideology of our practice." After hearing this, Huineng sighed and said: " Little master, I also have four sentences, that is, I can’t read or write, so what should I do?” The little novice said: “Haha! You are pounding rice in the rice room, and you want to compose a gatha too? Okay! If you really If I know how to do it, I can write it on behalf of the writer." Huineng said: "Bodhi does not have a tree, and a mirror is not a stand. There is nothing in the first place, where can the dust be aroused."The general idea is that the Buddha fruit Bodhi has no form or form, and there is no way to get it, so what kind of Bodhi tree is there.Wisdom is bright and clear, and there is nothing left. It is neither color nor sound, so what kind of bright mirror is there.The dharmakaya is pure, like empty space, originally nothing.Since there is no birth and no death, no cultivation and no certificate, what troubles can be broken and dust can be messed with!This is really "stepping through the void and nothing, and Nirvana is the absolute arrangement of life and death." Round peaches, red sprinkles, naked, spotless.Turning around here, it is true that the three generations, ancient and modern, are always inseparable from each other, and the lands of the ten directions are not separated from each other.Lu Xingzhe has a deep understanding of the vacuum of prajna and understands the origin of one mind, so he wrote such a gatha that is far away from dust and dirt, and surpasses the sect with absolute appearance.Comparing it with Shenxiu's first gatha, it is naturally not the same.However, Master Shenxiu's gatha has cultivation and certification, and they are in-depth in order, while Master Huineng's gatha has no cultivation and no certification, and each has a different emphasis.The ancients said: Although the principle is enlightened suddenly, things must be cultivated gradually, and you must not be paranoid, or muddled in the appearance of things, or fall into nothingness.Shenxiu's views are just like the ancients said, "Those who sit on the top of a hundred feet, although they have obtained the Dharma, it is not true."And Master Huineng's point of view is exactly "the first step is to make progress, and the whole body will appear in the land of ten directions".In this case, we should keep in mind what Master Lianchi taught: to be incapable of reasoning while doing things is not in vain; if you are doing things without doing things, you will suffer the disaster of being in vain.Of course, like the Sixth Patriarch, he is a person who has achieved sudden enlightenment, so he can do excessive things.Those of us who are new to ordinary life must combine reason with reason and advance with understanding and practice. This is the combination of theory and practice. If you participate in the practice honestly, there will naturally be times when the beans will burst into cold ashes, just as Master Yuanying said " The place where the mad heart rests and the illusion melts, the inner and outer roots are emptied of dust, and there is no hindrance to the spiritual clarity. There are thousands of differences and can be communicated at once." The little novice wrote down the four verses of Master Huineng and the four verses of Master Shenxiu. above the wall.The news spread throughout the monastery and caused a shock. It reached the Fifth Patriarch. After hearing this, Master Hongren praised Huineng's gatha very much. He took a walking stick and went to the rice room to see it.Huineng was pounding rice in the rice room at this time, and the Fifth Patriarch took the opportunity to show his reason, and asked, "Is the rice ripe?"The general idea is that my meditation skills have already matured, and I have penetrated the entrance, but I have not received the proof of your fifth patriarch.After hearing this, the Fifth Patriarch tapped his stick on the rice bag three times.Turning around, he wiped off the four lines of gatha written by Huineng on the wall with the sole of his shoe, so as not to cause any harm to Huineng.Huineng's opportunity was ripe, and he understood the purpose of the fifth patriarch's three knocks on the rice bag, and he wanted him to come to meet at three o'clock tonight.Huineng was very happy when he got a hint from Master Hongren.In the middle of the night, Huineng came to the fifth patriarch's bedroom respectfully and devoutly. On the contrary, they agreed with each other, and passed Zhengfayanzang and the ancestral mantle to Huineng, who was called the sixth generation patriarch of Dongtu; and instructed Huineng to leave the temple immediately to avoid accidents.The Fifth Patriarch personally sent the Sixth Patriarch to Jiujiang overnight, and when the Sixth Patriarch said goodbye to the Fifth Patriarch, he said, "Rely on the teacher when you are lost, and save yourself when you are enlightened."How correct the two sentences are!We should engrave it in our hearts, and it will be of great benefit.

After the fifth patriarch returned to the monastery, it was three days before he announced to the whole monastery that my Dharma had been transmitted to the south.Everyone in the audience was puzzled, but there was a senior monk named Huiming in the temple, who was very precious to the Fifth Patriarch's Zhengfayancang, especially the Buddha's mantle, and was annoyed that Lu Xingzhe had to go, and immediately ran after him.Master Huineng, the sixth patriarch, looked back on the road and saw someone chasing him, so he put his mantle and bowl in the haystack by the roadside, and sat at the intersection without leaving.Huiming first came to the Sixth Patriarch. When he saw the mantle in the grass, he used all his strength to grab the mantle with both hands, but the mantle did not move.Huiming became frightened and shouted loudly. Lu Xingzhe, Lu Xingzhe, and the Sixth Patriarch asked, "Master Huiming, are you here for the mantle? Or for the Dharma?" Come for the Dharma." The Sixth Patriarch said: "Since you have come for the Dharma, sit down, sit down." The Sixth Patriarch gave a discourse and said, "Don't think of good and don't think of evil. At this time, how can you be your true face, Master Hui?" ? Say it, say it."At this time, Master Huiming came back to the light, suddenly came to his senses, and realized his true face before he even thought about it, so he replied: "Master, besides the secret words and meanings, is there any secrets?" The Sixth Patriarch said: " The one who tells you is not the secret, and the secret is with you." Huiming said that he had achieved great enlightenment, and immediately worshiped Huineng as his teacher.The Sixth Patriarch said: "You and I, let's worship Master Hongren, the Fifth Patriarch of Huangmei, as our teacher! Later, Master Huineng and Master Huiming came to the throne, and each of them taught one side and guided others to learn. From then on, Zen Buddhism flourished.

In the first year of Tang Yifeng, Master Huineng went to Nanhai Faxing Temple to pay homage to Master Yinzong.That night in the main hall, I heard two monks argue because they saw the long flag hanging in front of the Buddha was blown by the wind. One monk said it was the wind, and the other said it was not the wind but the flag. endlessly.Master Huineng said, don't quarrel, it's not the wind or the banner that moves, but the hearts of the two of you.We all looked back to see what was moving there.At that time, Master Yinzong was surprised when he heard the words of the Sixth Patriarch. He thought that he must be a virtuous and virtuous person, so he asked Master Huineng to explain the essentials of Buddhism for everyone.The sixth patriarch took out the mantle passed down to him by the fifth patriarch, and showed everyone the worship, so that all living beings can plant a field of blessings.Soon after, Master Yinzong officially held a shaving ceremony for Master Huineng.Lawyer Zhiguang was also invited to teach the bhikkhu the perfect precepts at the altar of Faxing Temple and give them the perfect precepts.This precept altar was originally built by a Venerable Patmo in the Liu Song Dynasty.There is an article written on the precept altar, which says: "Later, there should be bodhisattvas in the flesh to receive precepts here." In addition, Master Zhenyi from the Liang Dynasty once planted a bodhi tree by himself next to the precept altar.A stele was erected next to the tree, which said: "One hundred and twenty years later, a great man and Bodhisattva sat under this tree and preached the supreme way." Today, Master Huineng came here to verify this.In the second year, the Sixth Patriarch went to Baolin Temple in Caoxi to promote the sacred teachings, expound the patriarchal style, and announced that from now on, he would teach the Dharma, only the Dharma seal, not the mantle, so as to avoid unnecessary entanglements in order to compete for the Buddha's mantle.There are forty-three disciples under Huineng's sect, among whom the two most famous are Nanyue Huairang and Qingyuan Xingsi.