When Liu Zhilue heard this, he first scoffed, then laughed and said: "You two, please stop being polite! Since you are both brothers and sisters, then Aneng and I..." When Liu Zhilue said this, he rolled his eyes. , his eyes stopped on Huineng’s face, and he said, “Can we become brothers?”
"Okay! That's what I meant." Huineng said happily.
Liu Zhilue and Huineng hit it off immediately, and the more they talked, the more they agreed with each other. They felt regretful that they had met so late. They immediately burned incense, used heaven and earth as evidence, and sworn a knot with Jinlan, officially becoming brothers.
Liu Zhilue was two years older than Huineng and was respected as his elder brother.
After Liu Zhilue and Huineng became sworn brothers, he said to his younger sister Liu Zhixiu, "My sister, from today on, you will call brother Huineng your second brother."
Liu Zhixiu's face turned red. He looked at Huineng and muttered: "Second brother, please sit down. If my second brother hadn't saved me that day, my little sister..."
Huineng said humbly: "It's nothing, I just happened to catch up."
Liu Zhilue joked from the side: "Yes, coincidence is God's will. Otherwise, how could my little sister know Huinengdi? This is probably fate, a natural fate."
Liu Zhixiu and Huineng were a little embarrassed by Liu Zhilue's remarks.
Liu Zhixiu touched the corner of his clothes with his hand and changed the subject: "Second brother, how is your recovery going?"
Hui Neng patted his chest and said, "Okay, everything is fine!"
Liu Zhilue said implicitly: "Brother Huineng, if you don't do anything good, my little sister will be completely ruined!"
Huineng asked in surprise: "Sister Zhixiu, the snake venom on your feet has not been completely eliminated?"
"Well, you sucked out all the snake venom. What I'm saying is that during the few days when you were poisoned and comatose, my little sister didn't eat or sleep. She stayed by your side and kept giving you cold compresses. Wipe it. If you wake up a few days later, she will die from exhaustion or cry to death." Liu Zhilue said humorously.
Huineng stood up and bowed, saying, "Thank you very much for taking care of sister Zhixiu during her illness."
Liu Zhixiu's face turned red and he muttered in a low voice: "Don't listen to big brother's nonsense."
Liu Zhilue pretended to be surprised and said: "What? Amei, are you saying that Big Brother is talking nonsense? Whose eyes looked like giant pandas from crying a few days ago?"
Liu Zhixiu ran out of the living room with a shy face.
She came to the small pool in the courtyard and sat facing the water. The water in the pool is as calm as a mirror, and a lotus flower stands gracefully in bud. Zhixiu's beautiful face is reflected on the water. It is pure, shy and beautiful. The human face and the lotus complement each other. The flower makes the human face three-thirds white, and the human face is a little shy when stained with the lotus. It is comparable to the flowers:
Feng'er was affectionate and secretly sent Liu Zhilue's conversation with Huineng: "Brother Huineng, who else is there in your family?"
"There is only one mother."
Liu Zhixiu seemed to be immersed in some kind of fantasy. There was a hazy longing in her eyes, and she was immersed in great happiness...
A little bird flew through the sky, leaving behind a string of sweet cries.
The sweet chirping of birds woke Liu Zhixiu up from her dream. She was so embarrassed that she covered her hot cheeks with her hands.
Liu Zhixiu's hand slowly moved away. The girl's face reflected in the water was still red. She smiled silently and reached out to disturb the world in the water.
The voices of Liu Zhilue and Huineng were vaguely inaudible. Liu Zhixiu thought for a moment and walked into the kitchen.
Liu Zhixiu carried a plate of fruit and quietly walked along the corridor towards the door of the living room.
In the living room, Liu Zhilue was still chatting with Huineng.
Liu Zhilue asked: "Brother Xian, are you going north this time to visit relatives and friends or to do business?" Huineng said: "I am neither visiting relatives nor doing business. It can be said to be to study."
Liu Zhilue said: "Oh, I really didn't realize that my wise brother is also a scholar."
Huineng smiled slightly and said: "I don't dare to take it seriously. The study I am talking about is not the study of you scholars. I want to go to Huangmei Dongshan Zen Temple to worship the Fifth Patriarch Hongren as my teacher and learn Buddhism..."
What Huineng said happened to be heard by Liu Zhixiu who came to the door of the living room carrying fruits. He couldn't help but get distracted, and with a "clang", the porcelain fruit plate in his hand fell to the ground. Liu Zhilue and Huineng heard the noise coming from outside the door and stood up at the same time.
Liu Zhilue said, "Brother Xian, you haven't recovered yet. Please sit down first, and I'll go out and take a look." Huineng thought to himself that this was someone else's home, and more things to do would be better than less things to do, so he sat down again obediently.
Liu Zhilue walked out of the living room and saw a mess outside the door: a porcelain plate was smashed to pieces, and a few fruits were scattered on the ground. On the other side of the corridor, Zhixiu's figure flashed and turned into the kitchen.
Upon seeing this, Liu Zhilue chased after him and saw Zhixiu hiding in the kitchen wiping tears.
Liu Zhilue asked with concern: "Amei, what's wrong with you?"
Liu Zhixiu said: "I...I...I was walking carelessly, tripped and dropped the plate." Liu Zhilue joked: "Look at you, you are so old, you are about to get married, and you are so careless, you will inevitably suffer in the future. Mother-in-law’s scolding.”
Liu Zhixiu twitched silently as if he had been stabbed in a sad place, and big tears fell down.
Liu Zhilue was a little panicked when he saw this, and quickly comforted her and said: "Don't cry, don't cry! It's just a plate, just drop it."
Liu Zhixiu tried hard to control his emotions, but he couldn't stop crying. She turned her head and choked: "Don't worry about me, go and accompany the guests. I, I, I'll be fine in a moment."
Liu Zhilue murmured in a low voice: "Girls cry sometimes and laugh sometimes, it's always so inexplicable."
…
Liu Zhilue had just finished reading. Unexpectedly, Huineng said with great interest: "Brother Zhilue, the article "The University" you just read seems to me..."
"What does it look like? Did you not understand?" Liu Zhi paused for a moment, and then said, "It's no wonder. When I started listening to Mr., I couldn't understand it at all." When he said this, he looked at Huineng, "How about Brother Yu interpret it for you?"
Huineng smiled faintly and said "oh" noncommittally.
Liu Zhilue picked up the cup of fragrant hot tea on the coffee table, took a sip, moistened his throat, and said seriously like a teacher teaching a student: "In the sentence 'Ming Ming De' at the beginning, the first The first 'ming' is a verb, which means to carry forward; the second 'ming' is an adjective, which means noble and glorious."
…
Huineng was listening attentively. In fact, as early as his childhood, in Li Xueru's school, he learned about the grammatical features taught by his teacher such as "verbs, adjectives, function words, prepositions, part-of-speech identification, sentence components and structures, subject, predicate, object, adverbial complement, and clear separation of stems, branches, and leaves." He already knew it by heart. Out of politeness, Huineng listened attentively.
Finally, Liu Zhilue said like a comment: "The first sentence, in turn, is the purpose of "The University", which is to promote noble virtues, to care for the people, and to achieve the highest state of kindness."
When Huineng heard this, he couldn't help but beat his hands together and said excitedly: "Brother Zhilue, you explained it so well!"
Liu Zhilue looked at Huineng's expression and thought: This is a great article about governing the country and bringing peace to the world! He didn't quite believe that Huineng could understand "The Great Learning".
Liu Zhilue looked at Huineng and said, "Really? Wait until Brother Yu reads a few more sentences and you can listen to what they mean."
"Yeah." Huineng nodded.
"Knowing to stop can lead to concentration. After being calm, one can be still. After being quiet, one can be at peace. After being at peace, one can think about it. After worrying about it, one can gain." Liu Zhilue recited a sentence casually, put down the book, and asked: "Dear brother, do you understand?"
Huineng couldn't help but applauded: "The writing in the book is so good! From another perspective, it is about Buddhism and practice!"
Liu Zhilue was dumbfounded when he heard what Huineng said! He asked helplessly: "My dear brother, did you hear correctly? What I read to you was the Great Learning in the Confucian classic "Book of Rites", not the Buddhist scriptures narrated by Sakyamuni Buddha."
Hui Neng said: "Both Buddhism and Confucianism educate people. Take the passage you just read. The so-called way of a university lies in Ming Ming De. Ming Ming De means knowing one's mind, seeing one's nature, and being enlightened. How to understand Ming De?" What? The method mentioned in the book is very correct. First of all, you must achieve "stop", know the stop and then have concentration. Only after you have mastered the skill of stopping can you have concentration. Only after you have settled down can you truly be still. After being quiet, you can be calm and think. , can think, and only through thinking can the door of wisdom be opened, and only then can one be able to understand virtue, that is, to understand one's mind and see one's nature. These principles are exactly the same as the process of practicing precepts, concentration, and wisdom in Buddhism."
Liu Zhilue looked at Huineng in surprise, as if he didn't recognize him.
This time, it was Huineng's turn to be afraid that he wouldn't understand.
Therefore, Huineng explained in a more popular way: "The precepts mentioned in Buddhism are like dense woods. With its barrier, the wind from outside cannot blow in. With this protective layer, our hearts are just like the tranquility in the forest." The deep pool is always in a quiet state with no waves on the surface and no sediment on the bottom. This is concentration. In this state of concentration, not only is the water clear and transparent, everything in the water can be seen at a glance, but the water surface is as calm as a mirror. It can illuminate the sky and the earth; the changing winds and clouds in the sky, the low-flying birds in the sky, and the movement of wind and grass on the ground cannot be hidden from its discerning eyes. At the same time, it is clearly aware of itself but remains calm, and will not be disturbed by the complicated external waves. This It is the wisdom that arises from concentration. This kind of wisdom is not intelligence or knowledge, but the most fundamental wisdom of human beings!"
The autumn wind was bleak, and the night fog blew into the hall from the entrance to the patio, making the wind and dew cold. When Liu Zhilue heard what Huineng said, he shivered suddenly like a gust of cold wind, and was so shocked that he was stunned...
After a while, he came back to his senses, couldn't help but cheered repeatedly, and even clapped his hands unknowingly.
Huineng felt a little embarrassed by him and shouted: "Brother Zhilue, what are you doing?"
Liu Zhilue said sincerely: "Brother Xian, what you said is so good! I really admire you."
Huineng said humbly: "Brother Zhilue, I'm sorry, I'm just expressing my feelings."
Liu Zhilue picked up the "Book of Rites. University" on the stage and said with emotion: "I have read "Book of Rites. University" for so long, but I still don't understand the way of university and how to understand virtue. Moreover, almost all Confucian scholars , just take these words literally as a kind of knowledge, a kind of general understanding. No one has ever thought that it is actually a practical method of cultivating the mind! Listening to your words is better than reading ten years of books! Please accept it Brother Yu, I bow." Liu Zhilue stepped forward to salute Huineng very seriously.
Huineng hurriedly supported Liu Zhilue and said: "Brother Zhilue, how can there be any reason for an elder brother to salute a younger brother? Don't be so polite."
Liu Zhilue shook his head and said seriously: "No, I am not being polite. Although you are speaking from the perspective of Zen practice, the truth is the same. It seems that Buddhism is boundless and is indeed a golden key to unlock the great wisdom of life. ah!"
Huineng affirmed: "Brother Zhilue, you are right! Buddhism is boundless and is indeed a golden key to unlock the great wisdom of life."
Liu Zhilue said with admiration, "I didn't expect, dear brother, that you are so proficient in the teachings of Buddha nature."
Huineng said humbly, "No, I just listened to some Buddhist teachings from an old layman who has studied Buddhism for many years and Master Shi Hui, and learned some terms and anecdotes."
Liu Zhilue said, "My aunt often lectures me on Buddhist scriptures, but I still don't understand what is the use of learning Buddhism?"
Upon hearing this, Huineng asked with great interest, "Brother Zhilue, is your aunt a Buddhist?"
"Yes. My aunt became a nun at Shanjian Temple not far from the village. She has a strange name, Wuwunzang."
Huineng said casually: "Endless Treasure, this is a good name for the Dharma! In Buddhism, the virtue is infinite, which includes the endless virtue, which is called treasure. It symbolizes the boundless and all-encompassing nature of the Buddha."
"Oh, I heard what my dear brother said, this Dharma title is really elegant! When you have the opportunity, I will take you to ask my aunt for Buddhist teachings." Liu Zhilue said happily.
Huineng said excitedly: "Okay!"
