Huineng set out from Xinzhou and walked north, crossing mountains and crossing streams.
One afternoon, I walked into a deep mountain. He felt very thirsty, so he went to the creek to drink some water.
Suddenly, I heard shouts of "help" coming from afar.
Huineng ran away quickly, and as soon as he walked out of the woods, he couldn't help shouting: "Ouch!"
It turned out that there was a man who looked like a scholar who was running towards this direction desperately. Behind him, there was a beautiful tiger chasing him, and it was getting closer and closer.
Huineng had grown up in the mountains since he was a child and was used to seeing wild beasts, so he didn't appear panicked. After he stood still, he thought for a while, picked up a stone as big as a fist from the roadside, and picked up a wooden stick. He bravely faced it and shouted: "Don't panic, I'm here to save you!" "
When the scholar saw a man coming to save him, he ran towards him quickly.
Huineng said to the scholar: "Hurry and hide behind the big rock behind me, and wait for me to deal with this tiger."
"Okay." The scholar obeyed and ran to hide behind the big rocks.
The beautiful tiger saw that the scholar suddenly disappeared, and Huineng stopped in the middle of the road, roared, and rushed towards Huineng with its teeth and claws.
Huineng did not fight the tiger head-on, but moved out of the way with unusual flexibility. The leaping tiger jumped into the air and fell behind Huineng's body.
Before the tiger had time to react, Hui Neng stepped on the ground with his right foot and turned around quickly. at the same time. He raised the stick in his right hand. Hit the tiger hard on the butt.
The tiger couldn't catch the food, so it was hit by the stick instead. It rolled over on the ground several times, turned sideways, and stared at Huineng eagerly.
Huineng knew that he was riding a tiger now and must not retreat, otherwise, he would be eaten by the tiger that was forced to come forward. So, he opened his eyes wide and stared at the tiger. The two have become confrontational.
The tiger lowered its forelimbs, then jumped up, opened its big mouth, bared its extremely sharp teeth, and pounced towards Huineng again.
Hui Neng was not afraid in the face of danger. He looked at the tiger and threw the stone with his left hand towards the tiger's big mouth.
On weekdays, Huineng makes a living by collecting firewood in the mountains. He often throws stones at the wild fruits hanging high on the big trees, and his hit rate is quite high. Now, the distance between the two is quite close, and the tiger's mouth is wide open.
With Huineng's forceful throw, the stone was thrown directly into the tiger's throat. The tiger was so choked that it couldn't swallow and couldn't spit it out. It was very uncomfortable. It rolled on the ground several times, rolled down the hillside, and left. .
The scholar was still in shock, walked out from behind the big stone, stepped forward and saluted Huineng: "Thank you brave man for saving your life."
"It's nothing. Am I going to watch a big living person like you get eaten by a tiger?" Huineng waved his hand, wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked, "Where is this place?"
"This is Caoxi. It is under the jurisdiction of Shaozhou." The rescued scholar replied after breathing.
Huineng looked at him and asked: "Are you——"
The scholar replied: "The young man's name is Liu Zhilue, and he lives in the nearby Caohou Village. Caohou is the great-great-grandson of the former Wei Wuhou. The stream flows through Caohou Village, and this area is called Caoxi. You are -"
Huineng said frankly: "My surname is Lu and my first name is Huineng."
Liu Zhilue looked at him: "Looking at your luggage, are you going to the north to do business?"
Huineng shook his head: "No. I went to Huangmei Temple in Hubei Province to learn Dharma from Master Hongren, the Fifth Patriarch."
"Ah, you want to join Buddhism?" Liu Zhilue was taken aback, and the astonished light in his eyes gradually dissipated, and said, "What a coincidence, my aunt is also a monk."
Huineng was overjoyed: "So, Buddha and I are really destined."
Liu Zhilue pointed to the sky full of dusk clouds and said: "It's getting late, so you must have had a hard time traveling. Come to our village to rest for now."
Huineng tilted his head and thought for a while, then said: "That's good."
Returning to Caohou Village, Liu Zhilue asked his family to kill chickens and ducks to entertain Huineng with grand etiquette.
The more they talked at the banquet, the more they agreed. They immediately burned incense, using heaven and earth as evidence, and became brothers.
Night has fallen, and Caohou Village is covered in thick night.
Liu Zhilue and Huineng had just finished their sworn vows, and they were sitting in the living room drinking camellia tea. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew through their clothes, and a middle-aged nun appeared at the door.
When Liu Zhilue saw her, he quickly stood up and introduced her: "She is my aunt."
The middle-aged nun clasped her hands together and said: "Amitabha. I heard that the donor saved my nephew's life from the tiger's mouth. It is really a great kindness and kindness, comparable to that of Tianqi."
Huineng smiled: "Accumulating virtue and doing good is what each of us should do. Master, you are -"
The nun announced her family name: "The poor nun's Dharma name is 'Endless Treasure', and he is worthy of living in the mountain stream temple over there."
Huineng asked: "Master, do you usually recite the Nirvana Sutra or the Diamond Sutra?"
Wuwu Zang was surprised: "Ah, you also know the scriptures? The nun often recited the Nirvana Sutra." So, she talked with Huineng about the scriptures.
Liu Zhilue also believed in Buddhism, so he would interject from time to time. The three of them chatted for most of the night.
With Liu Zhilue's persuasion, Huineng temporarily lived in Caohou Village.
He often went with Liu Zhilue to the Wuwu Tibetan nun's place to listen to her chanting sutras.
Huineng was good at understanding the main idea of the sutra. After listening to its recitation, he was able to explain the meaning of the sutra to Wuwu Zang nun and Liu Zhilue.
One time, nun Wuwu Zang came to Hui Neng with a Buddhist scripture and said, "There are several words in this Buddhist scripture that I don't recognize. I came here to ask you for advice today."
"Ask me for advice on words?" Huineng laughed out loud and confessed frankly, "Be aware that I don't even know half of the Chinese characters of Douda. But as long as you can read the scriptures, I can answer them. One or two.”
Nun Wuwu Zang was very surprised. Ba blinked his eyes in doubt: "How can you explain the meaning of the sutra since you are illiterate?"
Huineng told her: "The subtle principles of Buddhism are not in the words. Is it strange that I can explain the meaning of the scriptures despite being illiterate?"
Nun Wuhuizang was very surprised when she heard this, and had a premonition that Huineng was a strange person, so she told all the virtuous and famous elders in the village about the matter, saying: Huineng is an enlightened and enlightened person, and he should be Please come and make good offerings.
Soon, Cao Shuliang, the great-great-grandson of Cao Cao, Marquis of Wei Wu, and nearby residents rushed to pay their respects.
During that period, Huineng and Liu Zhilue worked together during the day and listened to the nun Wuwu Zang reciting sutras at night. After listening to and reciting the sutra, he turned around and explained the meaning of the sutra to the nun Wuwu Zang.
When the elders in the village heard about this, they came to pay their respects. After talking to Huineng and listening to his lectures on the scriptures, they couldn't help but laugh and admired him: "This Lu Xingzhe has such a brilliant view and has reached the level of heaven's secret." Enlightenment. It is not something that ordinary people can achieve. You can actually go to Baolin Temple to become a monk and become a master." He invited Huineng to live in the local Baolin Temple and called him Lu Xingzhe.
Huineng lived in Baolin Temple for a short time. He felt that without the guidance of a famous teacher, it would be difficult to achieve great things. He could not forget his original intention of seeking a teacher, so he said goodbye to Liu Zhilue and other villagers and continued to go north.
Huineng first went to the Xishan Grottoes in Lechang County and sat in meditation with Zen Master Yi Youyuan, and then listened to Zen Master Huiji reciting the "Tou Sui Sutra". However, after hearing Zen Master Huiji recite the sutra, he shook his head helplessly and sighed. "If this is what the sutra means, why should I have an empty seat?" Before he entered Buddhism, Hui Neng had already felt from the bottom of his heart that just sitting in meditation and practicing hard would not be of great benefit.
During the conversation between Zen Master Huiji and Hui Neng, he realized that he was a generation of dragons and elephants and was not suitable for practicing in this small temple. He said to him: "You should be a talent like a big roc spreading its wings and roaring in the sky. This little The bird's nest is not a place for you to rest. I have long heard that Master Hongren of Huangmei Shuangfeng Mountain is opening a Zen door. He is the fifth ancestor with profound Taoism. You can go to him to study Buddhism." This is exactly what Huineng originally wanted. So I made up my mind to continue crossing Meiguan and heading north.
In other words, before Hui Neng visited Master Hongren, the Fifth Patriarch, he had already had a certain understanding of the Nirvana Sutra. After arriving at Dongchan Temple, the specific atmosphere there enabled him to fully utilize his understanding of Buddhism in adversity. More vividly.
Huineng walked with his staff and barebacked his legs along the way, and spent the night at dawn. When you are hungry, you pick wild fruits from the mountains to satisfy your hunger; when you are thirsty, you go to the stream to grab a handful of water and drink it.
In this way, Huineng walked for more than a month and finally arrived at the boundary of Huangmei in Qizhou (now Hubei). This time was the sixth year of Emperor Xianqing's reign (661 AD), the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. After walking north for about twenty miles from Huangmei County, a broad river with clear waves flowed across the front. There is a unique mountain peak on the other side of the river - two towering peaks reaching into the sky, facing each other dangerously.
"Ah, Dongshan has arrived!" This is consistent with what Master Shi Hui of Jintai Temple in Xinzhou told him about the topography of Dongshan in Qizhou. Because Dongshan has two peaks standing side by side, it is also called Shuangfeng Mountain. On the two mountain peaks shrouded in clouds and mist, there are palaces and temples vaguely hidden among the white clouds and green trees. The place of pilgrimage is not far away, and the Buddha who has long been wanted to see is about to appear in front of him. Hui Neng felt inexplicably excited, and the fatigue after many days was gone.
Huineng took a ferry across the river. After landing, he climbed up the stone steps. After climbing for a while, the "Tiantian Gate" came into view. This "Tiantian Gate" is built of granite stones and spans the mountain road. On it are engraved the three characters "Dongzen Temple" written in seal script.
