After returning from Zhu Fugui's home and building Zen Hui Garden, Le Zhidan seemed to have suddenly grown up a lot. He began to read scriptures seriously, practice meditation, and worship Buddha devoutly.
One morning, Le Zhihua and Wang Jinfa came to visit Zhang Shaofei and brought a box of snacks. Zhang Shaofei casually gave it to Le Zhidan and a group of novice monks.
Le Zhidan was greedy, and his mouth watered when he saw Zhang Shaofei sharing the snacks, and he swallowed his saliva anxiously. However, when she actually got the snack and put it to her mouth, she suddenly thought of something and ran out in a hurry - she wanted to offer the snack to the Buddha and Bodhisattva first. If she has good things, she should first offer them to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. This is her piety; anyway, those statues will not really eat the snacks, but will put them in their own stomachs in the end! In this way, on the one hand, it has the merit of making an offering to the Buddha, and on the other hand, it does not delay satisfying one's own cravings. It really kills two birds with one stone! This is Le Zhidan's unique shrewdness.
There are statues of Buddha and Bodhisattvas everywhere in the temple. There are Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, Manjushri Bodhisattva, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva... There are also three Buddhas in the past, present and future, and Buddhas in the east, west, south and north. But there is only one piece of snack. Where should it be offered? Woolen cloth? Lezhidan thought for a long time and finally decided to make offerings to Sakyamuni Buddha. Because he is the current Buddha and the master of all monks.
Le Zhidan came to the Main Hall, respectfully placed the snacks on the altar table, and bowed three times. However, when she stood up and bowed, she seemed to notice that the statue of Ananda, who was about the same size as herself, standing on the right side of Buddha Sakyamuni, was secretly laughing.
Huh, my snacks are for the sake of my master, Sakyamuni Buddha. You are not allowed to eat them secretly!
Le Zhidan climbed up to the lotus seat and placed the snack directly into Sakyamuni's palm with the meditation mudra. She made a face at the statue of Ananda and ran away.
In the afternoon, Le Zhidan came to the Mahavira Hall to get snacks. He was surprised to find that the snack placed on the palm of Sakyamuni was gone!
Oh my god, Buddha enjoyed the snacks I offered! Namo’s master, Sakyamuni Buddha! Thank God, Buddha appeared...
Le Zhidan fell to the ground and knelt down in front of the Buddha statue, kowtowing like a chicken eating rice. After knocking for an unknown amount of time, his pounding heart finally calmed down a bit. The child's curiosity finally made him overcome his fear and piety, and he climbed onto the lotus seat again to see what happened.
Seeing that it didn't matter made Lezhidan furious. He found some snack crumbs in the palm of the Buddha statue, and there were a few black mouse droppings left in them!
Le Zhidan's anger skyrocketed: "I offered snacks to the Buddha, but they were eaten by the damn rats! My own coveted food was eaten by the damn rats!" Le Zhidan couldn't help but curse.
Fortunately, the mouse's eighteen generations of ancestors had long since rotted into ashes, otherwise, their bones would have been scolded by Le Zhidan and they would not be able to rest in peace.
Le Zhidan's scolding naturally did not attract rats, but it did attract Zhang Shaofei, Xing Si, Fa Hai, and Fa Da.
After listening to Le Zhidan's story, they all couldn't help laughing.
Le Zhidan was annoyed by their laughter and said: "The mouse stole my snack, but you are so happy. It seems that the mouse that stole the mouth must be your relatives and friends!"
Fahai said: "Rates are also living beings, and of course they live with us."
Le Zhidan seemed to have been inspired by this, and asked Zhang Shaofei: "Do rats have Buddha nature?"
Zhang Shaofei laughed and said: "All sentient beings have neither lack nor lack of Buddha-nature. Of course mice have Buddha-nature!"
"Since it has Buddha nature, why did it steal the Buddha's offerings? And it also pooped in the hands of the Buddha. Isn't it sacrilege?" Le Zhidan suddenly showed his trump card, trying to stump Zhang Shaofei.
Faced with Le Zhidan's triumphant grin, Zhang Shaofei was confident and asked with great humor: "Why doesn't the mouse go to the cat's nest to steal something to eat? Why doesn't the mouse poop on the cat's paws?"
"Nonsense, if it dared to provoke the cat, it would have been eaten by the cat as a snack!" Le Zhidan said.
Zhang Shaofei said sternly: "You know, a mouse does not go to the cat's nest to eat, does not poop on the cat's paws, and knows how to avoid danger, which proves that it has Buddha nature. Like us humans, it has physical and spiritual problems. We also want to stay away from and eliminate these troubles. This kind of mind that avoids suffering and seeks happiness, seeks liberation, and yearns for peace is the manifestation of the Buddha nature of all living beings. This means that mice originally have Buddha nature."
Zhang Shaofei asked Le Zhidan again: "Why did you put the snacks in the palm of the Buddha statue?"
"This..." Le Zhidan groaned, unwilling to explain.
Zhang Shaofei's heart was like a mirror, and he immediately said: "Ask Sister Dan, are you afraid that other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will share the snacks?"
"How did you guess my thoughts?"
Zhang Shaofei said: "You are not a big man, but you have many evil minds! You must understand that Buddhas and Buddhas are equal and there is no difference; everything is one, and one is everything. Therefore, if you worship a Buddha or Bodhisattva, it is equivalent to worshiping All Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The key is that we must have an equal and broad heart! The bigger your heart is, the greater the merit of worshiping the Buddha."
Fa Hai said to Le Zhidan: "What you are doing is called 'using the heart of a villain to save the heart of a gentleman'. Do you think that all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are as narrow-minded as you!"
Lezhidan understood this truth, but she could not treat herself as offering snacks to the Buddha as an equal to a mouse pooping on the palm of the Buddha statue.
Zhang Shaofei said: "When the mouse is eating snacks, it only knows how to smell the fragrance and does not know where you put it! It poops on the hands of the Buddha statue, and it just thinks this is a safe place! Therefore, it The behavior is completely natural and unintentional, not malicious. It is inelegant, but it is the same as the value orientation of us humans. Although its unintentional behavior soiled the Buddha statue, it is also different from your heart. Put it on the palm of Buddha’s hand!”
Le Zhidan shuddered and lowered his head in shame.
That night, Le Zhidan had a dream. In the dream, her clothes, his shoes, and even the bowl in which he ate were all stolen by mice. She went to heaven and earth, turned over rivers and seas, but couldn't find the mouse, and couldn't help but burst into tears.
After getting up the next day, she had been feeling gloomy. When she came to Zenhui Garden, Fahai, who lived in the garden, asked her what was going on. She recounted her dream.
Fahai laughed loudly: "Life is like a dream, and the things in your dreams are even more illusory, like water reflecting wind and clouds, or mirrors reflecting smoke. Why should you take it seriously?"
Le Zhidan said: "The water reflects the wind and clouds, and the mirror reflects the smoke. Although it is illusory and unreal, there are still wind and clouds in the sky and there is still smoke on the other side!"
Fahai knew that he was entangled with her, so he laughed and said: "The reflections in the mirror in the water are all reversed. Left is right and right is left. Therefore, things in dreams are also reversed. Are you dreaming If you cry loudly during the day, you will laugh during the day.”
Le Zhidan was extremely smart and alert, and immediately asked: "If that's true, then, if I'm crying in the dream at night, wouldn't I be laughing during the day?"
Zhang Shaofei, who had been listening, suddenly shouted: "Where were you without you?"
Yes, where was I when I was not there? If our true nature is neither born nor destroyed, neither dirty nor pure, nor comes nor goes away, then where were we before our parents were born? What was our mentality at that time? Le Zhidan was greatly shocked, his spine felt numb, and a big doubt arose in his heart...
The founder of Zen Buddhism said: A little doubt leads to a small enlightenment; a big doubt leads to a great enlightenment; no doubt, no enlightenment. Arousing doubt is the prerequisite for understanding Zen.
PS
