After Liang Yaocheng left the Shimen teahouse, Huineng saw that although the place inside Shimen was spacious, there was only a simple bunk bed. After cleaning it up, he helped Mr. Li go to bed to rest first, and then patrolled the cave to see if there was anything there. A suitable place for you to sleep.
However, except for some farm tools for farming, wooden beds, wooden platforms, wooden benches, and kitchen utensils for temporary rest, nothing else was found inside.
Huineng had no choice but to go outside and find some dry thatch and spread it at the end of the stone gate. Quan Zuo made a bed on the floor to sleep.
After everything was tidied up and arranged, Huineng entered the kitchen. Seeing that there were all kinds of firewood, rice, oil, salt, vegetables, etc., he started to wash the pots and light the fire to cook.
After a while, Huineng prepared a steaming meal, brought it to the wooden table, and asked Li to get up for dinner.
Looking at this steaming meal, Hui Neng felt all kinds of emotions, including joy and sorrow.
Fortunately, after these years of separation, I could finally be reunited with my mother. I ate food cooked by myself for the first time. I finally had a home that was not a home, where I could avoid being hunted and where I could stay for the time being.
Sadly, my father died young and I was dependent on my mother. I don’t know how much hardship I endured and how many sins I suffered when I was a child. I finally grew up and became an adult. I was supposed to get married and have children, honor our ancestors, and revitalize our family, but I don’t know why. Determined to go north to seek Buddhism, away from home and relatives...
Nowadays, he has achieved success in Buddhism and has become the Sixth Patriarch. He has returned, but he still has to live in exile. Why not teach him to be sad...
But despite all his thoughts, he never imagined that it was not his elder brother Shenxiu who wanted to kill him, but his fellow Xinzhou fellow Yan Fakui (now Yingyin)!
Just imagine, one day, Hui Neng legitimately takes the position of the Sixth Patriarch of Zen Buddhism. If he recognizes him, will he not die?
As the saying goes: It is better for you to die than for me to die. Regarding this, it makes sense that Yingyin pursues Huineng all the way and wants to kill him...
Imagine again, if there had not been Yingyin’s hot pursuit, Huineng would not have been able to hide Huaihui in the Xinzhou area, and Buddhism would not have been able to penetrate deeply into the human world and become a Buddhism for the working people; and Huineng would not have been exposed to the sky. On the mountain, we help the people solve their problems and guide them to change their traditional way of making a living - hunting less, killing less animals, reclaiming wasteland according to local conditions, planting trees and flowers, mushrooms, fungus, bamboo shoots, medicinal materials, and rice, etc., to make the sky dew. The mountain has truly become a natural green treasure house (more on that later).
As Huineng later said in the "Sixth Patriarch Altar Sutra": "Buddha's teachings are in the world, and they are not separated from the world. Looking for Bodhi after leaving the world is just like looking for a rabbit's horn."
The meaning is: All spiritual enlightenment is achieved in the world, because many things happen by chance, and one must use these opportunities to enlighten one's own heart. It would be impossible to find your own essence without these. Leaving can only be called annihilation and emptiness. Even if you leave this world to seek Bodhi, a lot of wisdom will appear, because it is impossible for people to completely eliminate emptiness. It is easy to follow the path of self-prejudice when learning Buddhism, but it is not easy to achieve Buddhism.
…
Huineng saw Mrs. Li holding chopsticks, choking and sobbing. For a moment, she felt emotional about her life experience.
The past memories flooded into my mind, and I was so confused that I didn’t know how to comfort my mother. I even had the intention of “returning the cassock and the golden bowl to Dongzen Temple, and whoever becomes the Sixth Patriarch”...
This meal was cooked by Huineng himself. I didn’t expect to finish it in such an atmosphere...
After Hui Neng put away the dishes and chopsticks, he silently returned to the bed. He couldn't stop his thoughts and kept asking in his heart: Why should I run away from my fellow disciples? Why did they set fire to the mountain and kill everyone? They have already returned to their hometown in Xinzhou, so why are they still chasing after them?
My thoughts once again focused on the cassock golden bowl...
Huineng naturally picked up the cloth bag and wanted to take out the cassock and golden bowl to take a look. When he just untied the bag, a dazzling light shone out from the bag. He only heard a "squeak" sound, and the big stone in the middle of the wall at the end of the floor slowly opened under the rays of light.
Hui Neng quickly stepped forward, observed with the bright light, and exclaimed as if he had discovered a new world: "Ah, a cave within a cave! Mother, come and take a look, there is another cave here!"
Li was sulking when she suddenly heard Huineng shouting and hurried over to take a look.
Huineng lit the oil lamp and led Li into the cave to watch.
This stone cave is as spacious as a stone house, about three feet high and six feet wide. To Huineng and Li's surprise, there are stone tables, stone benches, stone beds, stone water tanks, etc. in the stone house.
What is even more amazing is that the stone cave runs through the top of the mountain. There are water droplets on the mountain top, which happen to be dripped into the stone water tank. The water is as clear as nectar and will not overflow.
The top of the mountain is covered with bananas, yellow buds, sand pears, huamin, walnuts, papayas and other fruit plants that can be used to satisfy hunger.
Huineng breathed a long sigh of relief and secretly rejoiced, "This is a unique place for self-cultivation! How similar is it to Turtle Mouth Rock in Shang Ailing in Huaiji?!"
Just when Hui Neng was puzzled, just when Hui Neng was disheartened and wanted to quit, it seemed that Hui Neng had once again been protected by the Buddha.
Otherwise, there would be no need to include the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, and it would not be a Buddhist scripture for the working people.
…
Huineng was so tired that he fell down on the stone bed, put the cloth bag containing the golden bowl of cassocks on the inside of the stone bed, and fell asleep.
Seeing this, Mrs. Li took off her cloak lovingly, covered Huineng's body, and then quietly left the stone house in the cave.
From that day on, Huineng and Li lived in Shimen and lived in seclusion.
In this tranquil mountain wilderness, Hui Neng often recalled the sutras taught to him face to face by the Fifth Patriarch Hongren. He quietly understood the true meaning of it and understood the inner meaning of Zen. He gained a lot in his heart.
The creation of his Zen thought greatly benefited from the influence of the world in this area, the spiritual inspiration of the landscape and cultural enlightenment, as well as the "Inscription of the Heart" and "Inscription of the Heart" presented to him by Tan Cui from Ailing Guizuiyan in Huaiji Lenkeng. "Jue Guan Lun" and so on, it is quite appropriate to draw on the strengths of others and incorporate everything into one.
Whether it is the scorching summer or the severe winter, Huineng is either looking up at the leisurely and tranquil green water and green mountains, or looking up at the vast and blurry Milky Way. His thoughts wander between tangible objects and intangible hearts, thinking hard about what the Fifth Patriarch said. The relationship between Chuan Dun Jiao and the wonderful attainment and inheritance of "One should have no abode but one's mind" in the Western Diamond Sutra.
Everything in the world is changing, and Western Buddhism should also change in China.
How does the water of the Ganges merge into the rivers of Middle Earth?
This is a big question that Buddhists think about.
The Tathagata Zen taught by Bodhidharma has never been separated from its sect. Its main purpose is to "enlighten the sect through teachings" and practice the characteristics of enlightenment.
The traditional culture of the Central Plains should include three aspects: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, of which Buddhism is an important component. However, the Buddhist system is so vast that it would be difficult to read it all in a lifetime.
The Buddha Sakyamuni himself should have been aware of this problem, so he gave a special lecture on the Diamond Sutra. Once you have learned the Diamond Sutra well, you will have mastered the fundamental content of Buddhism.
However, the Dharma taught by the Fifth Patriarch of "pointing directly to the human heart, becoming a Buddha by seeing one's nature, without establishing words, and teaching it to outsiders" emphasizes that it points directly to the source of the heart, responds to the situation, and has a tacit understanding at the moment, that is, the heart is a Buddha. This should be It is the source of living water of Buddhism. Hui Neng's understanding was already extremely high, and he also received the true inheritance of the Fifth Patriarch Hong Ren. In addition, he had a fate with Fa Rong's disciple Tan Cui, discussed the meaning of scriptures, and studied Buddhism, Taoism, and Zen. Being familiar with legal principles has played a big role in promoting it.
…
Huineng spent many years practicing in seclusion at Shimen, a pure place in Tianlu Mountain, and began to conceive of the "Tan Sutra" that reflected Chineseness and common people, and determined to create "the Sinicization of Buddhism."
"Wonderful understanding of the mind" has brought Huineng's Buddhist Zen philosophy to a new level. The theory of mind he cultivated has invisibly integrated the Confucianism and Taoism of traditional Chinese culture on the basis of Mahayana Buddhism, and realized The complete transformation of Tianzhu Zen in China has formed a Zen ideological system "suitable for China's national conditions".
This laid a solid ideological foundation for him to return to Buddhism in the future, open up the door of Buddhism, and promote Chinese Buddhism: the Buddhism of the working people - the culture of the Sixth Patriarch.
