Besides, Shenxiu was meditating on the Zen bed in the abbot's room of Yuquan Temple in Dangyang at noon on a sunny day. Suddenly, a familiar yet unfamiliar child's voice shouted eagerly: "Master, Master!"
"It's Zhicheng, is it Zhicheng back?" Shenxiu hurriedly opened his eyes.
well! Of course it can't be Zhicheng. Zhicheng is now a middle-aged man, how can he still make a childish voice!
The person who ran into the abbot's room was a young novice monk of twelve or thirteen years old. He was so nervous and excited that his face turned red, like a ripe apple.
Master Shenxiu smiled, wiped the sweat from his face, and said, "What's the matter? I see you're sweating profusely from running."
The little novice monk said crisply: "The imperial envoy sent by Emperor Zetian of the Holy Spirit has arrived with the imperial edict!"
Master Shenxiu sighed and said: "Oh, here we come again to welcome you to the palace to teach the Dharma! The emperor is a true believer in Buddhism and is sincere. The mountain monk declined many times and still refused to give up. It seems that he must go this time. .”
Master Shenxiu got down from the Zen bed and prepared to meet the imperial envoy outside the mountain gate.
A middle-aged Zen monk put his cassock on the master and said: "With the unification of politics and Buddhism, the country will be more prosperous and the Tao will be smoother. Master, please go to the capital. If you refuse again, I am afraid the emperor will blame you."
The young novice said: "Master, when you go to the capital, you must take me with you."
The middle-aged Zen monk deliberately teased him: "Master is going to preach to the emperor, what are you going to do?"
The little novice monk said seriously: "Master will teach Buddhism to the old emperor now, and I will teach Zen to the little emperor in the future."
This sentence made everyone laugh.
However, who knew that decades later, this sentence would actually become a reality.
He, this little novice monk, really became a sensational figure in the history of Zen Buddhism.
He is the future Zen Master Huizhan.
Huizhan (AD 684-758) was born into a wealthy family named Gao in Xiangyang (now Xiangfan, Hubei).
Because he didn't have to herd cattle or collect firewood, he followed his teachers at a young age to read the books of sages, practice his career, and prepare for a successful official career and a glorious future for his ancestors. This Xiao Huizhan is really amazing. He has a photographic memory of the books of Confucius and Mencius, and he can pronounce poems and songs well.
Facing this disciple, the teacher didn't know what to do, so he threw Laozi and Zhuangzi, which he didn't understand very well, to him.
Unexpectedly, not only did he enjoy the food, but he also learned a profound and profound philosophy. So, the husband brought him the 130-volume tome "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" - this time, is it enough for you, a bookworm, to chew on?
Xiao Huizhan did not read about the rise and fall of dynasties from the rich history, but discovered Buddhism from it.
So he joined Master Hao Yuan of Guochang Temple in Xiangyang and became a monk.
With his profound foundation in Confucianism, it was easy for him to read and recite Buddhist scriptures.
Xiangyang is not far from Dangyang Yuquan Temple where Master Shenxiu is the abbot. In the Zen forest, Master Shenxiu's grace is like the glow in the sky, dazzling; his reputation is like the crane's cry in the sky, shaking the world.
Naturally, Xiao Huizhan admired Master Shenxiu like the sun and the moon, so he "dede" ran to Yuquan Temple, joined Master Shenxiu, and has been practicing Zen for three full years.
This year was the first year of Wu Zetian's Jiushi year (AD 700). Master Shenxiu was invited by the royal family to go to Luoyang, the capital, to promote Zen. Xiao Huizhan wanted to follow his master to the capital to see the excitement.
Shenxiu said: "Hui Zhan, once my teacher arrives in the capital, he will be overwhelmed with daily mundane affairs. I'm afraid I won't have time to guide you in practice. So..."
"Are you also going to send me to the remote and remote Lingnan?" Xiaohui Zhan is a small person but a big kid, and she has already figured out Shenxiu's intentions.
"Yes, yes, when you are young, you should imitate the good boy, study the good teachers all over the world, and understand the secrets of life and death. And the Sixth Patriarch's Sudden Enlightenment Zen method is exactly your great good teacher. Because of him in Lingnan , the desolate land has turned into a Buddhist country that everyone yearns for.”
Therefore, Xiao Huizhan, who was full of hope, failed to go north. Instead, he was sent south by his master Shenxiu to visit the Sixth Patriarch in Lingnan.
…
It is worth mentioning that 34 years later, in the 22nd year of Kaiyuan of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (AD 734), it was this same Hui Zhan who went north with the Sixth Patriarch Huineng’s Sudden Enlightenment Zen method and practiced it in Dayun, Huatai (now Huaxian County, Henan Province). The temple held an unobstructed meeting and formally declared war on the Beizong founded by Master Shenxiu. I wonder if Master Shenxiu asked him to go south at this time. Did he think of it?
From Dangyang, Jingzhou, to Shaozhou, Guangdong, it is more than two thousand miles away. For a 13-year-old Huizhan, it is really too far away.
Traveling through mountains and rivers, sleeping in the open air, exposed to rain and sun, the bumpy road caused a layer of blood blisters on the soles of Xiao Huizhan's feet. Because he kept walking, the old blood blisters had not yet healed, and new ones had appeared...
The pain can be imagined!
After the layers of blood bubbles dried up, they finally condensed into a layer of dead skin. However, when he crossed a ditch, he pushed hard, and the dead skin split deeply, and blood spurted out...
Xiao Huizhan couldn't put on her shoes, so she tore her clothes and wrapped up her soles. Step by step, step by step, she finally arrived at Caoxi, the place where the Sixth Patriarch Huineng preached Dharma. She walked into Baolin Temple and walked to Liuzhou. In front of Zu Huineng.
When the Sixth Patriarch saw this young novice monk who had traveled thousands of miles to seek Dharma, he felt happy and asked with a smile: "It must be very hard for you to come all the way. Have you brought the root? If you have brought it, You should know your protagonist. You might as well talk about it."
Although Huizhan was young, he had already studied under Master Shenxiu for three years. He knew that the foundation mentioned by the Sixth Patriarch was Buddha nature, so he said without thinking: "No abiding is the foundation, and seeing is the Lord."
What he means is that one is based on not being attached to any phenomenon, and being able to realize this is Buddha nature.
However, the Sixth Patriarch had a keen eye and had already realized that he had no enlightenment in his heart and was just following what others said and parroting.
Zen Buddhism is most taboo about selling other people's words.
The Sixth Patriarch Huineng scolded him mercilessly: "You little novice monk, why do you speak so carelessly!"
Hui Zhan was extremely smart, extremely smart, very strong, and very quick in reaction. He immediately asked: "Master, when you are sitting in meditation, do you see me or not?"
The naughty ghost finally met his nemesis. The Sixth Patriarch picked up his Zen staff and hit him three times on the head "dong, dong, dong", and then asked: "When I hit you, does it hurt or not?"
Can the hard Zen staff not hurt when it hits the bare head?
Is not it? Xiao Huizhan grimaced in pain early on, but he endured it and said, "It hurts, but it doesn't hurt either."
The Sixth Patriarch had long expected that he would answer like this. He smiled and said, "Then, let me tell you, I have seen and not seen."
Xiao Huizhan keenly captured the fleeting Zen opportunity and asked: "How can it be both seen and not seen?"
The Sixth Patriarch patiently explained: "What I mean by seeing is that you always see your own faults; what I mean by not seeing is that you don't see the rights and wrongs of others. And what you say is neither painful nor painful. What's the point? I'll hit you. , If you don’t feel pain, then you are just like a stone or wood; if you feel pain, then you are no different from an ordinary person, and you may even have thoughts of hatred in your heart.”
Xiao Huizhan's face turned slightly red and she lowered her head unconsciously.
The Sixth Patriarch continued his compassionate teaching and said: "When you originally asked me whether to see or not to see, you went to two extremes. It is either this or not. It is a wrong way of thinking. And what you said about pain and non-pain does not have anything to do with life. and annihilation, this all shows that your body and mind have not been liberated at all. You have not yet seen your true nature, yet you dare to play tricks and make fun of others in front of Lao Na!"
Huizhan felt that all the internal organs were clearly visible to the Sixth Patriarch, and those colorful intestines could not escape the Patriarch's eyes. He fell to his knees with a plop and kept kowtowing in repentance.
Seeing that he knew his mistakes and could correct them, and that he was a malleable person, the Sixth Patriarch quickly helped him up, sat him down across from him, and continued to teach him: "If you are confused in your heart and do not see your own nature, you should go and consult a wise master. Learn how to practice by knowing your mind and nature. If you have enlightened your mind, you should practice according to the law."
As he spoke, the Sixth Patriarch changed the subject and suddenly asked: "You are traveling here, must you be hungry?"
ps: Supplementary chapter No. 4.
