Chapter 23 Chapter 23 A Reed Crossing the River

Duogun and the others came to the pier with bamboos on their shoulders, put the bamboos on the water, took off their cloth shoes, put them around their waists, and stepped on the bamboos floating on the water with bare feet. , the person only swayed on the nanzhu for a while, and stepped on the nanzhu as if it had taken root, and then used the long bamboo pole in his hand as a pole, paddling the water surface, and the nanzhu under his feet Bamboos sailed into the middle of the river, and then followed the rushing water, and the bamboos went along the water like arrows leaving the string... Master Zhang Yao and Zhang Ziheng had their eyes widened. Seeing Duo Gun and the others walking along the river with bamboos, they were both envious and surprised.

After walking on the water for a while on the bamboo, they actually started to play tricks on the bamboo: backing up, turning around, turning around, changing poles and jumping poles. Like a dragon is better than a dragon... "Where did you learn the skill of floating on water?" Zhang Yaoye said in admiration. The old monk Jingyuan standing behind Zhang Yaoye said at this time: "This is the 'crossing the river with a reed' in the legend of our Buddhism, right? This is the first time I have seen Buddhist gongan in the world. Zhang Yaoye turned his head and asked the old monk Jingyuan curiously: "'One reed crossing the river'? Buddhist gongan?"

The old monk Jingyuan said: "Since I am fortunate enough to witness the evolution of 'crossing the river with one reed' from the legendary Buddhist gongan into a real fact, I will tell you the origin of 'crossing the river with one reed'... " When Zhang Yaoye, Zhang Ziheng, She Shiyun and Riwobuji all boarded the boat, and Riwobuji propped the wooden boat off the pier, the old monk Jingyuan calmly talked to the people on board. The legend of "crossing the river with one reed": Bodhidharma, the ancestor of Zen Buddhism in China, is a direct disciple of Prajna Doro, the twenty-seventh generation patriarch of Zen Buddhism in Tianzhu.

One day, Bodhidharma asked his master Prajna Doro: "After I obtain the Fa, where should I go to teach it?" Prajna Doro replied: "Go to the Sindan Kingdom (China). The people there are surrounded by purple air and the people are simple and honest. They are the people that my Buddha can teach." According to Master Prajna Doro's entrustment, Bodhidharma traveled eastward to China.First, he met Emperor Wu of Liang Xiao Yan in Jinling, the capital of the Southern Dynasties.The two have different views and are not speculative.Bodhidharma left without saying goodbye, intending to cross the river and go up to Luoyang, the capital of the Wei Dynasty, to promote Buddhism.

Walking to the bank of the Yangtze River, Bodhidharma saw that the river was wide and the current was fast-flowing. There were no boats along the river, and he was worried that he would not be able to cross the river. However, he saw an old woman sitting not far away, with a bundle of reeds beside her.Bodhidharma stepped forward to salute and asked, "Old man, are you going to use this bundle of reeds to cross the river?" The old lady raised her head to have a look, seeing that the visitor was very sincere, she didn't speak, but just nodded. Bodhidharma thought to himself, even an old man can step on reeds to cross the river, why can't I?So he respectfully asked, "Old man, please give me a reed to cross the river." The old woman still didn't speak, so she took out a reed and handed it to Bodhidharma.Bodhidharma took it with both hands, bid farewell to the old man, and went to the riverside, put the reed on the surface of the river, stepped on the reed lightly, and crossed the Yangtze River smoothly.

At that time, there was a monk named Shen Guang at Longmen Xiangshan Temple in Luoyang, the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty. He heard that Bodhidharma, an eminent monk from Tianzhu Kingdom, was promoting Mahayana Buddhism in Jinling, the capital of the Southern Dynasty, so he went to meet him.When he came to Jinling to inquire, he learned that Bodhidharma had crossed the river north.Shen Guang didn't stop for a moment, but followed closely behind.When he came to the river, he saw Bodhidharma stepping on a reed to cross the river, and he reached the other side safely. Shen Guang looked around and found an old woman sitting by the river with a bundle of reeds beside her.He thought to himself: Bodhidharma must have crossed the river with the old woman's reeds.So he hurriedly ran to the old woman's side, without asking the master's permission, picked up the reeds and ran to the riverside and threw them into the water, and then jumped onto the bundle of reeds with one stride.Not only did the reed not move forward, but it even rolled several times in the water, throwing Shenguang into the river.Fortunately, the river was shallow, and Shen Guang only drank a few sips of water, but did not lose his life.

Shen Guang was drenched all over. After wading ashore, he walked up to the old woman and asked, "The man in front used a reed to cross the river, but I took your bundle of reeds. Why did you almost die in the river?" The old woman said: "That man was taken with courtesy, of course I should cross him across the river; you are rushing to take him rudely, how can I have the chance to help you?" Shen Guang knew that he was impolite, so he hurriedly apologized to the old man and said: "Old man, I was in a hurry to chase that man just now, and I was rude and offended the benefactor. Please forgive me, and ask the old man to take me across the river."

The old woman changed her attitude towards Shen Guang when she saw that she was wrong, and she agreed to Shi Wei's help.When Shen Guang turned his head, the old man disappeared.At this moment, the wind picked up on the surface of the river, and the bundles of reeds floating on the surface of the river slowly swayed back to the riverside.Shen Guang made a deep salute to the old man's original seat and said, "Thank you for your guidance, I'll go as a monk!" After that, he slowly climbed onto the bundle of reeds and crossed the Yangtze River smoothly. When he boarded the north bank of the Yangtze River, he secretly thought to himself: Alas!I am not as good as others!

Convinced, Shen Guang hurried to catch up with Bodhidharma, and prayed with palms together, "Master, I respectfully invite you to follow me to the Songshan Shaolin Temple to spread Dafa!" So Bodhidharma and Shen Guang came to Luoyang, the capital of the Wei Dynasty, and soon came to the Shaolin Temple in Songshan. He saw the beautiful scenery of the Shaolin Temple, and sat in the cave of Wuru Peak facing the wall for nine years.After nine years of practice, Mahayana Zen was spread throughout the Central Plains. After listening to the Longmen Formation set up by the old monk Jingyuan, Zhang Yaoye said: "Your Longmen Formation is wrong. The ancestor Bodhidharma stepped on a reed, and what they stepped on was such a big bamboo. How can they be like Bodhidharma?" Patriarch Bi?"

She Shiyun on the side smiled and said, "Godfather, you're being picky! What Mr. Jing Yuan told you is true, why are you so brainless?" Zhang Yaoye asked She Shiyun, "What do you think I'm blowing?" Zhang Ziheng was very disgusted with Mr. Zhang Yaoye's ignorance and inquisitiveness, and said impatiently: "People say that you are picky! What you said is polite, and it is specially used to ridicule those of us in the village. Human." She Shiyun felt a little bit weird when she heard Zhang Ziheng's words, she glared at Zhang Ziheng and said, "I'm talking to my godfather, why are you interrupting?"

But Zhang Ziheng said to She Shiyun without giving up an inch: "Who told you to say some polite words to ridicule Yaoye? I can't understand it!" She Shiyun said to Zhang Ziheng domineeringly: "Don't look at it if you don't like it! Just treat yourself as blind?" After speaking, she rolled her beautiful eyes at Zhang Ziheng. Zhang Ziheng wanted to talk back to She Shiyun, but Zhang Yaoye scolded Zhang Ziheng: "Ziheng, how did you learn to be unforgiving? You are a man, why are you so small? Disgrace to our Zhang family men! " But Zhang Ziheng said: "You were ridiculed like a melon, did you not embarrass our Zhang family man?" Master Zhang Yao didn't expect Zhang Ziheng to say that about him, so he got up from the side of the boat where he was sitting and was about to rush towards Zhang Ziheng.The boat swayed twice at this moment, and Mr. Zhang lost his footing and was almost thrown into the water.Fortunately, She Shiyun next to him had quick eyesight and quick hands, and grabbed him. Master Zhang Yao glared at Zhang Ziheng angrily, and threatened, "I'll deal with you when I go back! If you dare to talk to me like this, it will become more and more irregular." At this time, Zhang Ziheng's face changed extremely strangely, his eyes stared straight at the bow of the boat, his eyeballs were round, and they seemed to be fixed and would not move. Zhang Ziheng's weird expression came very suddenly, Zhang Yaoye was very surprised, and quickly shouted at Zhang Ziheng: "Ziheng, what's wrong with you?" Zhang Ziheng's eyeballs were still staring at the bow of the ship, and the muscles on his face twitched like a stroke.Zhang Yaoye followed Zhang Ziheng's eyes and looked towards the bow of the ship, his heart felt as if he had been hit hard by a dull hammer, and the sound of "buzzing" in his head was like a land mine fell! It turned out that in front of the boat they were on, a large green boa constrictor ribbon was generally walking unhurriedly under the water. If one didn't look carefully, it could easily be mistaken for a long snake growing from the bottom of the water. Long tangled moss filaments. "What a big python!" Master Zhang Yao finally exclaimed. On the other hand, Riwobuji and She Shiyun on the boat looked as if nothing had happened.The old monk Jingyuan clasped his hands together and said in a long voice: "A-Mi-Tuo-Buddha-" "Godfather, it is the little dragon I raised that you saw in the cave." She Shiyun said to Zhang Yaoye with a smile. Master Zhang Yao didn't believe it, and said, "Isn't it hibernating in a groove?" She Shiyun laughed and said, "If I tell it to wake up, it will wake up." "What are you doing with it?" Master Zhang Yao was even more surprised. She Shiyun said: "Of course I have my reasons for bringing it. Don't ask me so clearly about my godfather. My little dragon will not harm anyone. It behaves well!" After listening to She Shiyun's words, Zhang Ziheng also recovered from the extreme fear, and finally heaved a sigh of relief, but looked at She Shiyun's eyes as if he was looking at a very similar...