Time flies, the sun and the moon fly by, Zhang Shaofei is pounding rice in the rice pounding room of Dongchan Temple, and before he knows it, autumn has passed and spring has come. On this day, the monks in Zuifang received a notice: Zen Master Hui'an of Songshan Mountain would return to the mountain to pay homage to his ancestors, and asked Zuifang to process high-quality white rice, which Zen Master An would use to feed the public at noon.
When they heard that Zen Master Hui'an was coming, the whole temple was excited and nervous at the same time.
Songshan Zen Master Hui'an, who has experienced three dynasties and six emperors, is a famous legendary figure.
Zen Master Hui'an, also known as Zen Master Lao'an, whose common surname is Wei, was born in Zhijiang, Jingzhou, Hubei Province, and was one of the ten disciples of the Fifth Patriarch.
Zen Master Hui'an experienced three dynasties in his life: Sui, Tang, and Zhou (Wu Zetian changed the country's name to Zhou in 690 AD, and established its capital in Luoyang, which was called Wuzhou in history). There were six emperors before and after, namely: Emperor Yang of Sui, Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Tang Taizong, Tang Gaozong, Wu Zetian, Tang Zhongzong.
He was the abbot of Songyue. Because of his high moral character, the world called him "An Lao". He became a monk in childhood and became famous throughout the world at a young age.
During the Daye reign of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty (605-616), millions of people from all over the world were mobilized to dig Tongji Canals, which damaged a lot of civilian labor, led to famine, and many people starved to death. Zen Master Hui'an ran around begging for food from the rich to relieve the poor.
In the middle of the Zhenguan period (627-649) of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Zen Master Hui'an went to Huangmei to visit the Five Patriarchs and was taught the essentials by the Patriarchs.
In the first year of Linde's reign (664), Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty visited Zhongnan Mountain and meditated in a stone wall cave. Emperor Gaozong heard of his reputation and sent an envoy to issue an edict, but Zen Master Hui'an politely declined. Later, he swam to Songshan Mountain and sighed, "This is where I will end up!" So he stayed there and never went there again.
Not long after Zen Master Hui'an lived in Songshan, Zen practitioners from all over the world became famous and came to visit...
After Wu Zetian proclaimed herself emperor, she sent an envoy to welcome Zen Master Hui'an to the court to accept the offering. The elderly Zen Master mercifully agreed. When they met, Empress Wu once asked the Zen Master: "I wonder how old you are, Zen Master?"
Zen Master Hui'an replied: "I can't remember."
Empress Wu asked: "Why can't I remember?"
Zen Master Hui'an replied: "This body of life and death is like spinning in a circle. The cycle of life and death is endless and has no end. What is it doing? What's more, in the subtle flow of the mind, it keeps rising and disappearing. The thoughts and opinions that are like bubbles are purely delusional. From the initial differentiation of the mind to the completion of a series of fluctuations of thoughts, it is nothing more than that. The mind is the same, so there are no years worth remembering. "
Wu Zetian was deeply impressed after hearing this, and she worshiped and accepted it.
In the third year of the Shenlong reign of Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty (707), Zen Master Hui'an said goodbye to the court and returned to Songshan Mountain.
Zen Master Hui'an is 20 years older than the Fifth Patriarch Hongren, and he is much more famous than Hongren. However, he couldn't care so much and knelt down in front of the Fifth Patriarch Hongren and worshiped him as his teacher.
No, now he is already an old man in his nineties. He still misses his master who is decades younger than him. He also travels thousands of miles to come back to pay homage to the mountain...
The prefect monk did not dare to neglect the rice provided for such a living Bodhisattva's meal, and specifically told Zhang Shaofei to be extra attentive.
Zhang Shaofei had always been as meticulous as a hair, but now he was even more careful in selecting, not even letting go of the rice grains with a little bit of rice bran on them.
However, God knows what happened.
At noon that day, when the rice was put into the tile bowls of the monks, people were surprised to find that there were many husked rice mixed in!
How to eat rice like this?
Among the monks there was a master named Huiming. Before he became a monk, he was the grandson of Emperor Chen Xuan and served as a senior official in the Southern Dynasties. Coming from an imperial family, he was naturally very particular about his diet. Without thinking, he picked out the unhusked rice and placed it on the dining table.
After Yingyin saw it, he scolded him loudly in public: "Pick it up and eat it!"
Huiming argued: "It's hard to swallow the rice in the shell."
Before he finished speaking, the fragrant stick in Yingyin's hand fell down like lightning, making his bald head "pop".
Yingyin said to the monks: "A grain of rice in Buddhism is as big as Mount Sumeru. If you waste it carelessly, please put an incense burner in the hall. Please take care of yourself."
The monks saw that Huiming was embarrassed and beaten severely, so they had no choice but to swallow their anger and swallow the rice with husks whole...
After a good lunch, everyone was filled with anger, sullenness and grievance. After the meal, more than a dozen angry monks, surrounded by the extremely angry Huiming, came to the dormitory to settle accounts with Zhang Shaofei.
Zhang Shaofei had difficulty in defending himself, so he had to wait obediently for punishment.
In accordance with the temple rules, the prefect monk treated Zhang Shaofei as an "innocent member" by playing thirty incense sticks.
Huiming rolled up his sleeves, reached out and snatched the incense stick from the governor's monk's hand.
The governor monk couldn't help but tremble all over.
He knew that this Huiming had once been a fourth-grade general, with extraordinary strength and a bad temper. He had been humiliated during meals, and now he was seeking revenge with anger. How could Zhang Shaofei be able to withstand this attack? ?
Oh my God, if someone died, the matter would be huge, and everyone would not be able to eat and walk around...
But he looked at the eagerly watching monks around him and didn't dare to say anything.
Two agile monks stepped forward, grabbed Zhang Shaofei, and pushed him down on the stone mortar for pounding rice.
Huiming raised the incense stick and hit Zhang Shaofei hard on the butt.
With a crisp sound of "Bah!", the wooden board snapped into two pieces.
Zhang Shaofei was so painful that he broke into a cold sweat and almost bit his tongue to pieces.
Huiming threw down half of the incense stick in his hand and asked the governor monk to find a stronger bamboo incense stick.
Zhang Shaofei knew that the bamboo incense board was heavier and would hurt more when hit.
In order to prevent him from crying out in pain when he couldn't bear it, he immediately stopped his mind and entered a deep state of meditation. Fortunately, he had meditated for a long time with Zen Master Zhiyuan in the Shimen Cave of Xishan Mountain in Lechang, and he was able to enter a state of meditation quickly.
The time he spent practicing in Shimen Cave in Xishan finally came in handy...
Huiming hit him with more than ten strokes in a row, causing him to breathe heavily.
But Zhang Shaofei never let out a cry of pain after being beaten.
"Is this guy already dead?" Huiming lowered his head and actually saw a very peaceful and joyful expression on Zhang Shaofei's face (after entering the Zen state, a person's heart is filled with Zen joy, so his face looks happy).
How did Huiming know this? He thought Zhang Shaofei was laughing at him, and he felt even more resentful and raised the incense stick again...
Just at this moment, a child's voice came from the door of the dormitory: "Zen Master Lao An and the elders are here!"
When Huiming heard this, he immediately put away the incense stick and stepped aside.
Zen Master Lao'an, who is nearly ninety years old, has the shape of a pine tree and a crane, with a fluttering silver beard. He seems to have been transformed by the spirit of heaven and earth, just like a Taixu deity descending to earth. At this time, he and Elder Hua Qing were seen walking into the dormitory slowly, one behind the other.
All the monks put their hands together and saluted.
Zen Master Lao An chuckled and asked, "Did everyone appreciate the Zen essence of the noon meal offered by the mountain monk today?"
"What? That rice mixed with husked rice actually contains Zen wisdom?" The monks looked confused.
