"If Buddhism is not separated from the world, how can it transcend the world?" Yun Kong couldn't understand how two relative concepts could be equivalent.
"Have you read the Diamond Sutra? The sutra says, 'The so-called Buddha Dharma is not Buddha Dharma. It is called Buddha Dharma.'"
“I read it when I was a kid and I still can’t figure it out.”
"At the first level, attachment to the Dharma is attachment to "being"; at the second level, one has penetrated emptiness and understood that the Dharma is not the Dharma. However, if one is attached to "emptiness", it is still an attachment; one has to reach the third level. The realization of neither emptiness nor existence, the impartial "Middle Way", is the original intention of the Buddha."
"I still don't understand enough, so for me, the so-called world is not the world, but the world?"
"Can."
"For Master, a temple is not a temple, but a temple?"
"It's okay." Deng Huo said, "It's just a game to play with words, and it's meaningless to talk about Zen. After you realize it, you still have to practice it, otherwise it's just a matter of filling a clay bowl with water, Yun Kong."
"I'm sorry, Master."
"Taoism is natural, Buddhism is natural. Sentient people in this world are like ruthless people, and ruthless people are like sentient beings. See both sides clearly, and don't stick to the middle. This is your test in this life. What my teacher can help you is to give you the test in advance, and you will use it in the future. of."
So that’s it, did Deng Xin Deng Huo use his death as the subject for Yun Kong’s exam?
But this is an exam where no one will mark the papers.
"Master, I will listen to your instructions." Yunkong stood up, bowed deeply to the abbot, and stayed up for a long time.
The monks were whispering to each other, and as the scene gradually became chaotic, Xushu suddenly announced: "Open the Sutra──!"
As soon as these words came out, all the monks immediately adjusted their sitting postures and listened respectfully to the abbot's teachings.
"Today is my last sermon for you," Deng Huo said slowly. "Today we are talking about Ananda being asked about the heart of the Buddha by the Buddha. The beginning of the Shurangama Sutra says that Ananda answered the question of the heart seven times... …”
※※※
The mountain breeze is bleak and the sound of bamboo is rare.
The sky on this day was not particularly tragic, and the clouds were still lightly returning.
The lights of the lamp came together to the bamboo bush outside the temple, and passed away quietly in the cool breeze blowing through the bamboo forest.
The decaying trees slowly came to the outskirts of the courtyard where the monks gathered, clasping their hands together and chanting: "Amitabha."
The monks were miserable, and the sound of sobbing and whimpering soon spread throughout the entire place.
The tall wooden frame has been prepared, and the abbot who was peacefully preaching yesterday will be reduced to ashes the next moment.
Both the wick and the lamp were carried onto the wooden frame.
They were sitting on the firewood pile, their expressions and postures were the same as before, as if they were about to give a sermon.
Yun Kong held the torch high, facing the strong wind with his slender body, and whispered: "Use the fire to lead the way, so that my teacher can find a way back to heaven and earth."
Even he himself couldn't hear this sentence. As soon as he uttered each word, it was blown far away by the wind.
As soon as the torch touched the firewood branch, the flames immediately engulfed the abbot's body.
First, the moisture in the abbot's skin and flesh was burned dry, and gradually it became dry and cracked. The blood in the blood vessels began to boil, bursting through the blood vessels, and gushes out from the cracks in the muscles. The flames couldn't help but scream when they were drenched.
His scalp gradually carbonized, and the flesh on his face was peeled off one by one by the flames, finally revealing the bones underneath.
Yun Kong has been keeping a close eye on these changes.
Cremation symbolizes release.
The light of the lamp asked him to watch and understand at the same time.
Practitioners in ancient India sat quietly and meditated in the forest of abandoned corpses. From observing the decay process of the dead corpses, they realized the impermanence of life and death, which is called "White Bone Viewing". Yunkong's visualization in the cremation has the same principle.
With a "pop" sound, the belly of Dengxin Denghuo split open, and the liquid that flowed out caused the fire to emit white smoke. Fortunately, the two of them stopped eating three days before their death and did not drink water the day before, so not much liquid flowed out.
Yun Kong watched the master's skin turn into carbon powder and fly away in the flames, peeling off to reveal the skeleton supporting the skin, like a spring cicada that sheds its old shell and welcomes a new life.
The fire burned for a whole morning and an afternoon before the soft tissue was completely burned.
The bones turn to ashes in the fire, just like the complete integration of man and heaven and earth.
The two brothers Deng Xin and Deng Huo seemed to have been made a big joke since they were born, with two bodies but only one consciousness.
At this moment, with the help of the flame, they finally became one.
The flames slowly died down.
On the wooden frame that had collapsed due to the fire, there were ashes mixed with wood ash and ashes.
The nostalgia of the monks has long been completely burned by the fire. What they are eager to know now is whether the abbot has left any relics symbolizing his spiritual practice.
Yun Kong took out a cloth bag and grabbed the ashes one by one. Occasionally he touched some hard lumps and placed them next to the wooden frame.
All the monks looked excitedly at the growing lump: "The abbot is indeed an accomplished monk."
Only Fan Shu walked up to Yun Kong indifferently and helped him pick up the ashes.
"Khan, why don't you take those relics with you?"
"No, Uncle Fanshu," Yun Kong said, "If they want it, just give it to them."
Yun Kong took away the ashes, left the relics, and then said goodbye and went down the mountain.
When the abbot entrusted him to decide on the next abbot, he left it to the monks in the temple to decide on their own.
He knew that even if he followed the master's instructions and appointed a candidate for the abbot, no one would be convinced, and it would only increase the chaos in the temple. So the best way is still for them to decide, although Yun Kong can also guess who they will choose.
If there are a majority of people who have practiced cultivation and have certificates, they will choose Fanshu.
If there are more people who value appearance and authority, they will choose the rotten tree.
Dengxin and Denghuang also understand, so they don't make a choice.
Yun Kong understood what his master meant, so he didn't make a choice.
He only needed to accomplish one thing for these two mentors.
He scattered the ashes all the way down the mountain, letting the ashes fly away in the wind, or fall into the wet soil and grass roots, or into the mountain streams and swamps, or disturb the diligent worker ants, or mix into the hazy mist.
The wicks and lights have truly returned to heaven and earth.
Yun Kong went down to the foot of the mountain, shook the bag, and cleared out the last few ashes.
He looked back at the mountain again.
Yinshan Temple is hidden behind rocks and can never be seen again.
Maybe he'll never come back.
※※※
Yun Kong didn't pay attention. When he was scattering his ashes, he saw someone lying in the grass on the side of the road.
He sat up suddenly, picked up the ashes scattered on his body, rubbed them with his fingers, and looked at the powder on his fingertips with a dull look: "Is it you?" After thinking about it, he asked again: "Or are you the one who is right?"
The man sneered, gently brushed away the ashes on his body, and stared coldly and arrogantly at Yun Kong's back going down the mountain.
"Have you grown so big?" He said softly so that no one could hear, "Please live a good life for a few more years."
What should come has come, and what should go has gone. Wu Weiren stood up and followed Yun Kong down the mountain.
※※※
"This child is really weird." The butcher held his newborn daughter and looked at her bald head and plump earlobes.
"Maybe," his wife said as she lay tired, "it's the great monk who came to my house."
"Hey, don't I have to change my career?" The butcher laughed loudly.
The baby girl was not frightened by his deafening laughter and cried. She just rolled her eyes and kept looking at the stubble on his face.
Time flies.
The baby girl grew up safely and often liked to play with the wild children in the neighborhood. At only five or six years old, she already knew a lot of things.
While playing that day, she heard the ringing of a bell from a distance, so she left her companions and stared blankly in the direction of the ringing.
She saw a Taoist priest.
The ringing came from the Taoist priest's hand. Two old yellow copper bells were constantly being blown against each other by the wind.
She stared blankly at the Taoist priest for a while, then ran towards him.
When the Taoist priest saw her running, he stopped and looked at her curiously.
There were many rushes growing along the roadside. The girl picked one and handed it to the Taoist priest.
The Taoist priest thought it was funny, so he teased her and said, "Little sister, is this for me?"
The girl did not answer this boring question. She just smiled mischievously and said, "The cloud is empty."
Yun Kong was startled.
The girl succeeded and ran and jumped away.
Yun Kong watched her leave in trance, then turned the rush in his hand.
Seeing that it was getting late, he put the rushes into his waist bag and hurried on.
