Time flies like an arrow, the sun and the moon reincarnate. In the blink of an eye, Budai monk has been traveling around the mountains for nearly ten years.
Over the years, he has no fixed place to live, no trace of his movements, his appearance is irregular, and his behavior is rarely standardized. He smiles with an open belly, hiding his virtues like an idiot, his words are overwhelming, and his behavior is not holy and extraordinary; he is real but not false, and he is mixed but not. Chao, so the world doesn't know who he is.
This year, Budai monk had been in central Fujian for a long time, and he wanted to return to Zhejiang and Zhejiang.
He passed by Wuyi Mountain and visited the layman Chen Daxu who had given him a large amount of wood.
Naturally, Chen Daxu respected him like a god and treated him with great sincerity.
Before leaving, Master Chen was reluctant to leave and asked him why he left the mountain and returned to Zhejiang.
The Budai monk actually said like ordinary people that it was difficult to leave his homeland.
Chen Daxu smiled and said: "Since it is difficult to leave our homeland, why did we run to Boling in the first place?"
Budai monk said: "When the Yuelin Temple was rebuilt, I shocked the world because I had a tree in the well, and I was suspected of confusing people with mysteries, so I had to go far away. Besides, if I hadn't run so fast, my master, the old monk Xiankuang, would have done it. Let me take over the position of abbot. As an idle person, how can I bear the trouble? So I escaped as soon as possible. In this escape, I traveled thousands of miles and ten or eight years."
Chen Daxu asked: "What is the surname of the monk? What year, month and day was he born? What is the geometry of Fala?"
Budai monk asked: "What, you ask in such detail, do you want to worship me as an ancestor?"
Chen Daxu also joked: "Whoever has an ancestor like you is unlucky for eight lifetimes! I think you, old man, always come and go without a trace, so I am very curious."
The Budai monk said: "Don't you know that my surname is Li, I was born on February 8th, and this Budai is the same age as Vukong."
Chen Daxu has been practicing Zen for many years, so he has a sharp mind and a clear mind. He smiled and said: "Since we can't say that your surname is Li, then your surname must be Zhang; if you were not born on February 8th, you must be..."
Budai monk hurriedly interrupted him: "As long as you know, no one will treat you as a mute!"
Master Chen smiled and said, "Okay, okay, okay. Monk is gone now. If someone asks you again, just answer like this. Don't fall into other people's right and wrong."
Budai monk replied with a verse:
I hate right and wrong and love the world too much,
What can I do if I think about it carefully?
Broad but with a belly that always endures humiliation,
Let go of the doomsday darkness.
If you meet a close friend, you must rely on him.
Even if we meet enemies, we are still republican.
To keep this mind free of worries,
Naturally attain the Six Paranas.
Chen Daxu asked again: "How can I, my foolish disciple, see the Buddha nature?"
Budai replied:
That is to say, one’s mind is that of a Buddha.
The most spiritual thing in the world.
The wonderful effects of vertical and horizontal are poor students,
Nothing is as real as the heart.
Chen Daxu added: "After the monk returns to Zhejiang and Zhejiang, he must stay in the temple permanently. Don't sleep in the street again. It is not good for your health."
Butai still replied with a verse:
I have Sanbaotang,
There is nothing else in it.
Neither high nor low,
Uncovered and unencumbered.
Scholars are not as good as they are,
It's hard to find someone who wants to ask for something.
A wise man understands the arrangement,
There is no craftsman in the ages.
Four doors and four fruits arise,
Offerings from all directions.
Master Chen understood that he was talking about Zen and inspiring himself, so he clasped his hands and said in salute: "Thank you, monk, for the enlightenment. I hope that the monk will stay for a while longer so that I can show my respect as a disciple."
However, that night, Budai wrote a verse on Jushi Chen's door:
I have a Buddha body,
No one in the world knows it.
Neither plastic nor pretentious,
Neither carving nor engraving.
Not a piece of soil,
No color at all.
I can't draw well at work.
No thief can steal.
The body is natural,
Pure and always bright.
Although it is one body,
There are tens of billions of clones.
After finishing writing, he walked away without saying goodbye to his master.
I don’t know when a monk begging appeared on the streets of Fenghua County, Mingzhou.
He was kicking on a pair of broken straw sandals, with his arms open, revealing a round, big belly.
He carried a curved Zen staff made of wood on his shoulder, and a cloth bag was carried on the head of the staff.
His speech is unclear, and he often speaks incomprehensible words and irrelevant things, so people always don't know what he means.
He would sit or lie down anywhere on the bridge or on the street. At night, he would just find an eaves or a doorway and start sleeping soundly...
One day, it was the market day in Fenghua City. The pot-bellied monk came to the street and saw that the market was bustling with people, crowded and crowded. He let out a long sigh and said: "What do you want to do when you run south and north? Days and years fade away in an instant. Your own spiritual knowledge must be understood urgently. Don't teach yourself to be caught in the wind and thunder."
How did the people in the market understand the Zen meaning in his words? He was still busy with his own business and doing his own business, and no one paid any attention to him.
He then pointed at the crowd and recited: "If you seek fame and gain, you will be busy in vain. Gaining fame and fame will trap others. You must also look back to your mother's face. A spiritual heart is the king of enlightenment."
He chatters like this every day on the street, regardless of whether people listen or not, he keeps talking anyway.
Someone asked him: "Monk, what is your dharma name?"
He took out the cloth bag and said, half chanting and half singing: "I have a cloth bag, which is empty and has no worries. Open it in all directions and feel at ease."
A scholar asked him: "Why do you always carry a cloth bag?"
He replied: "Inclusive of the universe."
The scholar who asked the question had read many Zen quotations while studying Confucius' "Zhi Hu Zhe Ye", so he was quite familiar with the meaning of Zen.
He asked: "What's the interest?"
The pot-bellied monk replied with a verse:
Perfect enlightenment, bright light, super emptiness,
At present, everything is the same.
The ten dharma realms are all covered,
Only Zhenru is too ignorant.
Needless to say, this pot-bellied monk who can speak gatha is the Budai monk.
In fact, even if he was not called Budai Monk before, he is still Budai Monk now - he has been a monk and left the county for more than 20 years, and his image has changed drastically. No one knows that this fat and slovenly monk is the handsome man from Changting Village back then. juvenile.
Because people always saw his staff carrying a cloth bag, they all called him Budai monk.
His cloth bag is indeed curious.
All his utensils, whether they are water bottles, wooden fish beads, tattered clothes, or rotten straw sandals, are all stored in the bag. It seems that he has everything he needs and can never finish it.
He would walk along the street, no matter what he saw, no matter whether it was useful or not, he would often beg for some, and then stuff them all into his bag, but he would never be able to fill it.
There is a cloth bag here. If it can cover the past, present and future, why not open it so that everyone can take a look at it?
The half wooden stick in his hand can no longer hold up the sky and the earth. He should simply put it down and stop laughing for himself.
…
One day in early summer, Hu Sanjiang, a young man living on the bank of the Xiangjiang River, caught a large red-tailed carp from the river.
At noon, he had just brought the cooked fish to the table. Before he could use his chopsticks, he suddenly saw Budai Monk walking from the east side of the street. Hu Sanjiang loved playing pranks. Seeing that Budai Monk was begging for everything, he secretly decided to play tricks. He gave it a try.
When Budai monk walked to the door of his house, Hu Sanjiang shouted: "Budai monk, my food is ready, do you want it?"
The cloth bag naturally accepts all comers.
However, what Hu Sanjiang handed him was a braised carp!
In order to embody the compassionate spirit of Mahayana Buddhism, Chinese Han Buddhist monks became completely vegetarian starting from the time of Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty. Monks who eat meat and fish are regarded as breaking the precepts and will be kicked out of the temple without mercy!
Hu Sanjiang brought the fragrant braised big carp under the nose of Budai monk, with a proud smile on his face...
However, he never dreamed that Monk Budai picked up the braised fish, opened his mouth and took a bite without hesitation, then squinted his eyes and smiled, stuffed the whole carp into the cloth bag, and walked away.
The blue clouds fall,
The long sky and the lonely moon.
Able to live outside animals,
Wonderful and quiet.
Used to hiding in shops,
What a wonderful hero.
All I have with me is my Zen staff and bag.
There is no harm in eating meat and blood to satisfy hunger.
Farewell, farewell, it’s even snowier in the Jade Palace and Qiong Tower.
Hu Sanjiang worked hard for a long time to touch the big carp, and endured the greed for a long time before cooking the delicious food. It just disappeared without a trace and was put into the crazy monk's bag!
He originally wanted to make fun of others, but instead he was treated like a monkey. He was like a bastard on the pier of a bridge. He had nothing to say and nothing to complain about. He couldn't eat anything all day long - he was already full of anger. .
When he woke up early the next day, Hu Sanjiang found that the white rice he had not eaten yesterday had changed its taste - it was hot yesterday and the rice had been stored all day and had already gone rancid.
Just as he was about to pour it out, he suddenly thought of something, smiled strangely, and left it intact in the sun to dry...
At noon, Budai monk passed by the front door again.
Hu Sanjiang shouted: "Monk, do you want some rice?"
Budai monk opened his mouth and smiled: "Donor Hu, you are always so charitable."
"Then open the mouth of the bag." Hu Sanjiang said, took out the rotten rice and hid it behind his back.
The cloth bag monk was very obedient and opened the cloth bag as expected. Hu Sanjiang actually poured the rotten rice into his cloth bag...
The originally rancid rice, after being exposed to the sun all morning, exudes a foul and sour smell that can almost turn a person upside down!
However, Budai monk was not angry at all. Instead, he smiled and said, "Thank you, thank you, Donor Hu, for the fragrant rice."
Hu Sanjiang said with a bad smile on his face: "Since it is fragrant rice, you should hurry up and enjoy it!"
Budai monk said: "Don't be in a hurry, don't be in a hurry, you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry."
After a while, Budai monk took out the rice from the bag and actually started eating it.
Oh my gosh, that's spoiled sour rice. If you eat it, you'll get stomachache and diarrhea! However, Budai monk ate it with gusto, as if the rice was extremely fresh and delicious.
Sure enough, the fragrance of fresh rice is wafting around.
A few greedy little boys appeared out of nowhere and rushed to ask Monk Budai for fragrant rice. Monk Budai gave them some, and the children ate happily.
Hu Sanjiang, who was snickering on the sidelines, was dumbfounded. When Budai Monk and the others finished their meal and walked away, he was still stunned at the door.
A few days later, Hu Sanjiang and a few young friends found a sticky net and went to the river to fish.
Their luck was so bad. After struggling for a long time, they could not catch any live fish, but there were many dead fish hanging on the fishing net.
The bellies of these fish are soft, their scales are falling off, and they have been dead for who knows how long.
"Damn it, it would be great if these dead fish could come back to life, then we could have a nice meal." Hu Sanjiang said while picking dead fish from the fishing net.
At this time, he looked up and saw the figure of Budai Monk in the distance. After Hu Sanjiang whispered a few words to a few friends, one of the young men shouted to Budai Monk: "Budai Monk, it's so fun in the river. Come and play." Water."
The Budai monk really came over, put down his cloth bag, rolled up his trouser legs, and splashed water with them in the water.
Hu Sanjiang took advantage of him not paying attention, sneaked up to the river bank, and put all the dead fish into his cloth bag...
The Budai monk probably just laughed and seemed oblivious to all this.
Having had enough trouble and being tired, people came ashore one after another.
The cloth bag monk picked up the cloth bag that was weighed down by the dead fish and said doubtfully: "It's strange. It was obviously empty when I put it here, so how did it become bulging?"
Hu Sanjiang and the others hid aside, covering their mouths and enjoying themselves secretly.
The cloth bag monk opened the mouth of the cloth bag and saw half a bag of dead fish. He said stupidly: "You naughty fish, if you don't swim in the river, why are you in my cloth bag?"
"They're in your bag!" Hu Sanjiang said jokingly.
The Budai monk actually nodded and said: "Yes, yes, we can jump into the river and play in the water, and the fish can naturally get into the Budai to sleep."
He frantically said to the dead fish: "Hey, hey, mountain monk, I have come out of your river. You can no longer stay in my cloth bag!"
As he spoke, he carried the cloth bag to the water's edge and dumped all the fish, large and small, into the river. He murmured: "Those who want to go go, those who want to stay stay, and those who want to leave never look back. What you leave behind will never come back.”
At this time, something incredible happened. The fish came to life, swaying their heads and tails one by one, and swam into the depths of the river...
Could it be that there is something magical about this crazy monk’s bag?
That day, at a crossroads in the city, Hu Sanjiang and a group of young people surrounded the cloth-bag monk, insisting on seeing what was in his cloth bag and what mechanism he had.
Unexpectedly, the Budai monk was very generous. He shook the sack upside down in front of everyone. What rolled out were leftover rice balls, dry food, daily needles and thread, as well as Buddhist beads, wooden fish, and cassocks for leg wrapping.
He pointed at these things and said: "Look, you can't even see it if you see it. If you don't see it, you don't see it. If you look at it, it's in vain."
He picked up these broken things one by one and asked people one by one: "What is this?"
Strange to say, they were all ordinary objects, but when they were held in his hand, they seemed to have a different meaning, and people didn't know how to answer them. Before people could react, he had already put the bag back...
…
Besides, this year, Xu Wan, the commander of Wuyong Youdu under Qian Liu, who had just been crowned King of Yue by Jin, launched a mutiny.
As the turmoil spread, Chen Zhang, the governor of Quzhou, secretly accommodated the rebel generals, and Ding Zhang, the general of Wenzhou, also expelled Zhu Ao, the governor appointed by Qian Liu. Even in the small town of Fenghua, a town general with a background as a street gangster drove away the county magistrate. He sat in the county government hall.
How does this ignorant general know how to manage the economy? Everything was based on his likes and dislikes, he changed government orders at will, and acted willfully, making a good Fenghua County a mess and a mess.
People complained, but there was nothing they could do - in those days, whoever held the handle of the knife was God.
God knows why, but the town general disliked seeing monks the most. On this day, he rode a tall horse and led a group of wolf-like soldiers to the Yuelin Temple three miles outside the city.
At that time, Yuelin Temple owned a large area of fertile land on both sides of the county river, either through donations from Dharma protectors or from the government.
Moreover, Yuelin Village on the seaside is even more wealthy, with thousands of acres of paddy fields, tens of thousands of acres of mountain forests, and large tidal flats.
If you can get rid of those useless monks and put those properties under your own account, a lot of white money will flow in like running water every year...
The town general has long coveted the property of Yuelin Temple, because the county magistrate originally blocked it in every possible way and never succeeded.
Now I have a sword and a gun, and I have the power of life and death. Let’s see who dares to stop me!
Amidst the sound of chickens and dogs jumping, the town general and his party walked out of the city gate. In the distance, Yuelin Temple, covered by green trees and with the faint palaces and pavilions, was already in sight.
However, at this time, the team in front suddenly stopped.
"What's going on?" The general came forward on his horse and found that a pot-bellied monk was blocking the way——
The monk was lying on his back in the middle of the road with his chest exposed and a cloth bag under his head.
Needless to say, he is the Budai monk.
The town general pointed his riding whip at him and shouted: "Bold monk, how dare you block my general's team! Get away quickly, otherwise, the iron hoofs of my war horse will crush your belly!"
However, although the general's roar was like thunder, shaking the heaven and earth, the Budai monk did not move. He did not know whether he was asleep or dead.
The general didn't care, he whipped the horse's butt hard, and really drove the horse forward to trample the cloth-bag monk lying on the ground!
A good horse sees the shadow of the whip and runs.
What's more, the town general was riding a well-trained war horse, not to mention that the war horse was whipped again. It neighed and rushed forward...
Although the belly of Budai monk is big, it is still made of flesh and blood. How can it withstand the trampling of horse hooves?
He was about to have his stomach broken and his brain split apart, and he died under the iron heel——
Suddenly, just when the horse's hoof was about to step on Budai Monk, the war horse let out a frightened neigh, and the man with the front hoof stood up——
"Bang!"
The town general who was riding on his horse was suddenly thrown off his horse. He was so dizzy from the fall that it took him a long time to get up.
He unleashed all his anger on the war horse and cursed: "Beast, how dare you hit me!" He raised his whip high and was about to beat the war horse——
At this time, Budai monk said: "Since it is an animal, how can you behave like an animal?"
When the town general heard this, he was furious and said: "Okay, I haven't settled the score with you yet, but you dare to scratch the tiger's butt and scold me first!"
The Budai monk laughed and said, "I'm not scolding you, but reminding you. You said the horse is a beast, and the beast naturally doesn't understand your thoughts. If you fall off the horse and take it out on it, aren't you worse than a beast? "
The general was so angry that he was trembling all over, but he had no reason to say, so he cursed loudly. If the three generations of Budai monk's deceased ancestors were aware of it, they would definitely be scolded to the point where they would lie restless and their bones would rattle. However, the Budai monk remained silent and looked at the town general with a smile on his face, as if he was watching the clown's performance with great interest.
While cursing, the general suddenly felt that he was like a monkey playing tricks in front of this smiling monk.
Gradually, his voice became lower and finally stopped completely.
