True master
Zhen Ke Master, Zi Da Guan, the late name of the Old Man of Zibai, later honored him as Zibai Venerable, one of the four great monks of the late Ming Dynasty.
Throughout his life, he carried the Dharma as his heart, preached the Dharma, and died.
During his 41-year monastic career, he traveled all over the north and south of the great river, the western Shu and eastern Yi.
Everywhere he went, he saw a deserted ancient temple, and Master Zhenke tried his best to repair it.
It was precisely because of his dedication to Buddhism that in his limited lifetime, he directly and indirectly repaired and revitalized fifteen abandoned ancient temples and Buddhist temples, which won wide praise from monks and the people.
This is unique in both the Ariake generation and in the entire history of China.
Devote yourself to Buddhism
The ancestor of Master Zhenke, originally a native of Juqu (present-day Jurong County, Jiangsu), later migrated to Wujiang (present-day Wujiang County, Jiangsu) to settle on the banks of Taihu Lake.
Just as he was about to be born, his mother, Lady Shen, dreamed that an extraordinary person gave him a very large, fresh peach with green and tender branches attached to it.
When Madame Shen saw it, she did not feel overjoyed, and in her dream she actually laughed loudly--this laugh suddenly woke up, and then she gave birth to a son smoothly, that is, the later generation of high monks and true masters.
When Master Zhenke was born, followed by his loud croaking sound, the delivery room was filled with a refreshing fragrance that could not be dispersed for a long time.
When he was not long after he was born and was still in his infancy, people were surprised to find that this little boy was completely different from the childish appearance of other weak children, but his eyes were bright and his face was calm, just like those who practiced the old way, quite contemplative.
Therefore, it was predicted that he would become a great instrument in the future.
When he was really young, he grew tall and burly, but he was agile and alive, liked to chase and play, and was strong and strong, like a heroic beam.
When he was a little older, The True Mage's ambitions became more determined, and even his parents could not control him.
At the age of seventeen, he wore a sword in his waist, bid farewell to his parents, and went to travel in all directions and gain a wide range of knowledge.
One day, he came to Gusu (present-day Wu County, Jiangsu), wandered among the city roads, and suddenly it rained heavily, and people fled to seek a place to temporarily avoid the heavy rain.
And only The True Mage was alone, but he was not in a hurry, he was not in a hurry, he did not care about the soup all over his body, and he was still walking in the city with his head held high.
Just at this time, a monk from Huqiu (in the northwest of present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu) called Mingjue, braved the rain to hurry.
Seeing Master Zhenke, he was very shocked by his calm Buddha statue, and consciously used his own wooden cover to cover the rain for Master Zhenke.
The two of them went together to the residence of the monk Mingjue in Huqiu Temple. That night, Master Zhenke rested in the meditation room of the enlightened monk.
Between the words of the two people, there is a great speculation, and there is a lot of hatred for each other.
Late at night, the monk Mingjue specially recited the Eighty-Eight Dharma Numbers, and Master Zhenke listened to it and was greatly moved.
At dawn the next day, Master Zhenke, who had been sleeping all night, jumped up from his bed, went to the Mingjue monk's bedroom, untied the more than ten gold he had brought around his waist, donated it to the Enlightened monk, and asked him to shave his hair.
Seeing that he was sincere and persistent, the monk nodded his head in agreement. Since then, Master Zhenke has honored the enlightened monk as his teacher and devoted himself to Buddhism.
From the night of the shaving, Zhenke will accompany the green lights at night, face the ancient Buddha, meditate and chant, and even stay up all night!
When the enlightened monk saw it, he was pleased with the person he had chosen, and his mantle could be passed on by him and even carried forward.
At this time, the monk Mingjue had been thinking of raising 100,000 taels of red iron and casting two large bells so that they could be beaten day and night.
When Master Zhenke heard this, he jumped up and told his teacher:
You don't have to worry about this, I'll go for you!"
After saying that, he went straight out of the temple. Before coming to a rich family and sitting on the gate with his palms together, he did not speak for three days and three nights, let alone fast.
When the master saw this, he was amazed and earnestly asked him what his request was, and he must have fulfilled his wish.
Only then did Master Zhenke explain his own meaning in detail.
When the master heard this, he greatly appreciated his kindness to his Fa- and saw that he was so ascetic and sincerely moved, and sure enough, he donated 100,000 taels of red iron to him.
Master Zhenke gladly ate the iftar meal sent by his master, and then returned to Huqiu Temple with these red irons.
Back in the temple, Master Zhenke began to study behind closed doors, staying at home for more than a year.
Restoration of ancient temples and Buddhist temples
When Master Zhenke grew up to be twenty years old, the monk Mingjue gave him full ordination.
Then he began his life of wandering around.
One day, he met a monk on the road, who was walking while chanting Zhang Huan's "See the Tao", but he read "Cut off the delusion and re-increase the disease, and tend to be true or evil?" But he couldn't understand it, so he repeatedly read and deliberated, but he always didn't understand where the Zen machine was.
The True Mage listened, and unconsciously he was also confused, but he didn't know it.
So I obsessively pondered along the way, almost to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep.
One day, he was about to eat fasting, and he had just struck a single blow, but he suddenly realized that he was very happy, and he was very happy, and he cheered and said to himself:
If I'm not traveling, where can I understand this Zen machine?
If I could have been born in the time of the Tokuyama monks, and I could have awakened to Zen with a single stroke of his stick, where else would I have been able to use these four-way travel?
Sigh at the wrong time.
After that, Master Zhenke came to Kuangshan (i.e., Lushan, in Jiangxi Province), visited ancient temples, visited famous teachers, searched extensively for scriptures, and soon exhausted the teachings of the Xiang sect.
It stunned those Xiangzong disciples.
Then, The True Mage was still on the move, the soles of his feet were full of wind, and he was wandering in all directions.
Master Zhenke came to the capital city of Beijing.
As soon as he arrived at Kyoshi, he went to visit the famous Zen master.
Between the two questions and answers, The True Mage was agile and spoke from time to time, which made All-Rong nod his head in approval, so he left him to participate in the research together.
This participation in the research is exactly nine years.
Nine years later, Master Zhenke went south to his homeland to consult the gurudwara Zun Mingjue monk, and then left to Songjiang (present-day Songjiang, Jiangsu) for more than a hundred days; then turned to Jiaxing, where he and the prefect of Jiaxing Province saw each other and threw themselves into each other.
There is the Lengyan Temple in Jiaxing Province, where Master Changshui neglected the scriptures and was famous far and wide, but now it is abandoned and occupied by a large family, and openly regards the Pure Land of Buddhism as his own garden pavilion.
When Master Zhenke learned of this, he sighed in his heart and decided to take it back and repair it.
With the full support of Lu Guangzu, the prefect of Jiaxing, Master Zhenke finally got his wish.
At the same time that Master Zhenke ordered his disciple Mizo Daokai to supervise the repair of the temple, the prefect's younger brother Lu Yuntai specially built five meditation rooms for Master Zhenke in the temple, and both were completed at the same time.
To express his excitement, Master Zhenke pierced his left arm and then inscribed a column with blood:
If you don't investigate the mind, the zazen disciples increase their karmic suffering
If you can protect the Dharma, you can slander the Buddha and benefit from true cultivation
When Master Zhenke was traveling around the world, he once had a thought:
There are many Buddhist scriptures, and there are many volumes; people in remote places have probably not even heard the names of some of them, let alone the contents of these scriptures!
Therefore, he intended to engrave many sutras and spread out the monks and monks more generally, so that people would accept the Dharma more generally and believe in Orthodoxy.
As soon as he put forward this idea, it coincided with the ideas of Jiaxing Taishou Lu Guangzu, The Irregular Sicheng Feng Gong, Ting Wei Zeng Gong, TongQing Qu Gong, and many others.
Therefore, they began to engrave the Ming God Wan Li Ji Ugly (that is, in 1589 AD), which cost a lot of money, lasted four years, first in the resort of Wutai Mountain, and then moved to jingshan Shan Shunzhao'an and other places, and published tens of thousands of scriptures, all over the four directions, people praised.
After that, When Master Zhenke heard that Master Shan was far above the East Sea, he went to visit with a group of admiring believers.
However, when his party had just arrived in Jiaoxi (present-day Jiaozhou, Shandong), it was just in time for the autumn rains to flood, and the floods soared, crossing the road ahead.
When everyone saw it, they all said that the river was gushing and could not cross the past, so they had to avoid it for a while.
The True Mage did not believe it, and with all his enthusiasm, he took off his coat and jumped straight down into the river.
Everyone saw that the flood by the river was already deep enough to reach the shoulders, and they were afraid of going forward and causing accidents, so they all urged him not to take risks.
But The True Mage crossed the river in anger and actually crossed the river!
Afterwards, Master Zhenke admonished his disciples:
At the juncture of life and death, people should be brave enough to go forward and put everything outside the degree; otherwise, they will lose confidence and lose their opportunities.
When the crowd listened, they all nodded their heads in approval.
Later, Master Zhenke came to the Dumen (i.e., the gate of the capital city) and went to pay homage to the Gurudwara Pagoda of the Sui Dynasty.
In gratitude to Gong Gong for seeking to protect the Fa-rectification and not to be disturbed by evil ways, he specially carved a stone stele to show his admiration.
At this moment, Master Zhenke heard the locals say that this Buddhist family resort in front of him had actually been occupied by the Li family.
The True Mage then decided to redeem the resort. However, the Hao Right just didn't agree. The True Mage had no choice but to go to the other side first and turn around and then plot this matter.
Master Zhenke led his disciples all the way west to the famous Ancient Sanjin Land (around present-day Shanxi) for sightseeing, and then entered Guanzhong, crossed the boardwalk, went south to Shuchuan, and traveled to the famous mountain of Emei.
Then it goes east of the Yangtze River over the Three Gorges, through Xiangyang and Jingzhou, climbing Mount Taihe, until Kuanglu (present-day Lushan), and finally back to Huqiu Temple.
At this time, the Huqiu Temple was far less prosperous than it was then, sparsely populated, the temple was decadent, and it looked deserted - the Monk of Mingjue had already returned to the west!
True Mage returned to the old place, not feeling sadness coming from it, and sighing.
At this time, because the incense was difficult to continue, it was difficult for the monks in the temple to maintain their fasting meals.
In order to survive, the monks had to take the ancient trees in the temple as a price and exchange rice with nearby families to live.
When Master Zhenke returned, the towering ancient trees of Huqiu Temple that had been lush and green were actually left with only the last one.
The monks were forced to be helpless, and they were ready to exchange this last ancient tree for five buckets of rice. Master Zhenke kept trying to persuade him, but he couldn't understand it.
At this time, a few small beggars suddenly appeared, and they begged for white rice from the family that had brought rice to change trees. The owner of the house had no choice but to give it to them.
As a result, the lumberjack's axe had to be suspended, and the tree was temporarily allowed to survive.
The True Mage was also worried that the tree had already suffered the scourge of swords and axes, and one day, it would either be blown down by the fierce wind or die of old age.
The mage used great compassion to bury the sword marks and axe marks one by one with fine soil, and secretly prayed: If the Huqiu Temple will continue to flourish in the past, then the dead tree will come back to life!
Later, although the tree was severely damaged, it actually survived tenaciously, and the Huqiu Temple, under the unremitting efforts of Master Zhenke, also flourished day by day, and it was comparable to the past.
Seeing that the Huqiu Temple was becoming more and more prosperous, Master Zhenke was relieved to go north to the Beijing Division again and come to the Mingcha Temple in the west of Jingxi.
Empress Dowager Cisheng heard about it and specially appointed her close attendant Chen Ru to come and offer fasting food.
As a result, Master Zhenke was able to accompany him to the Lei Yin Temple.
Just under the Buddha's throne inside the treasure hall, Master Zhenke inadvertently discovered countless hidden gold and silver.
When The True Mage saw it, he thought that it was Heavenly Help, so he took out some of it and went to redeem the Huan Gong Pagoda Courtyard that had not been redeemed in the past, but his heart was troubled; as for the other gold and silver, he still buried them all and did not take any money himself.
Just when Gen Zhenke stopped at the Monastery this time, he personally instructed everyone that they must worship the Buddha before they can fast.
Once, however, one of his Buddhist friends came to visit, forgot his vows during the conversation, and picked up chopsticks to prepare for dinner without paying homage to the Buddha.
Suddenly, Master Zhenke suddenly realized his mistake and hurried to visit the Buddha; then he made it clear to the monk that someone in the monastery had violated the precepts and should be severely reprimanded for the Thirty Plates.
When the governor heard this, he was stunned and did not know who it was.
Master Zhenke said:
This man is not someone else, it is myself.
After saying this, he knelt down in front of the statue of the Buddha, urged the governor monk to scold him, and the staff was fought with two strands of war, and the blood was pouring out, and it was unbearable to see.
When the crowd saw it, they were ashamed, as if they were on their backs, and they were full of praise.
3
Jailed
In July of the Ming Dynasty's Wanli Dynasty (1593 AD), Master Zhenke, together with Master Shan, prepared to compile the "Records of the Lanterns of the Great Ming Dynasty" and went to Rui Cao Xi Cave to open the Dharma Vein.
They first came to Kuangshan (present-day Lushan, Jiangxi), searched for scriptures, practiced unremittingly, and persisted for three years.
It was not until 1395 A.D. that Master Shan enshrined the Holy Mother of the Western Heavens, received the Great Tibetan Scriptures, and built a towering Haiyin Temple.
However, the other records of the "Records of the Lanterns of the Great Ming Dynasty" that they compiled inadvertently violated the Holy Anger, so Master Shan was arrested and imprisoned, and soon after, he flowed into Leizhou, and the Haiyin Temple, which they had worked so hard to build, was also burned to ashes.
At that time, Master Zhenke was still living in Kuangshan, and when he suddenly heard about the incident, he was not alarmed, and quickly recited as many as a hundred lotus sutras in front of the statue of the Buddha, hoping that the Buddha would bless Master Huanshan.
Then, he rushed to the Beijing Division, hoping to rescue Master Shan from prison; however, when he arrived at the Beijing Master, he heard that Master Shan had been released to the south, so he rushed south non-stop, day and night, and finally caught up with Master Shan on the edge of the Yangtze River.
The two met and sighed.
Master Zhenke shook Master Shan's hand and said:
If you hadn't survived, I wouldn't have lived long!"
Not long after this, Wu Baoxiu, the taishou of Nankang (present-day Nankang County, Jiangxi), was framed and imprisoned by the adulterers, and his wife, at the thought of it, actually committed suicide by throwing herself into the ring.
When Master Zhenke heard this, he couldn't help but think of the previous and after events in his heart, and sighed:
The world is so dark, I should still have compassion!
Therefore, he went down to Kuangshan again, went north to the Beijing Division, and after many efforts, he finally met Wu Taishou, who was in prison and had a different face.
Remembering his lifelong integrity, Gen Zhenke secretly taught him the "Vishnu Buddha Half-Buddha" and told him:
If you can persevere and recite it a hundred thousand times, you will be out of prison!
Wu Taishou was suspicious, but there was nothing else to do in the prison, so he began to recite.
And when he recited it eighty thousand times day and night, he actually impressed the kindness of Emperor Shenzong Zhu Yijun, and once again sent Yousi to carefully investigate and interrogate the case, and finally he was acquitted and released.
Since then, Wu Taishou has devoted himself to the Buddha, admired the Dharma, and worshipped the five bodies to the ground.
After Master Zhenke rescued Wu Taishou from prison, he once declared to the world:
If Master Shan does not come back, it is a major sin for me to be born to cultivate Buddhism;
The non-stop mining tax is a major sin of my salvation;
And the inability of the "Ming Dynasty To Pass on the Lamp" to the world is another major sin for my wise life!
If I can fulfill these three wishes and liberate myself from my guilt, even if after death, the soul does not enter the King's House City, I am willing!
However, not long after, the whole court was disturbed and angered by an evil book that deceived the public, and some traitors who were jealous of the Zhenke Mage's mighty magic weapon took the opportunity to report to the imperial court, and a kind and kind True Mage was arrested and imprisoned by the government who was wise and foolish!
When he arrived in prison, The True Mage was still upright and righteous.
One day, he asked the jailer to bring him clean water, bathe himself alone, and then say to his attendant, the monk:
I am about to return to the Buddha's kingdom, and you will go to the Protectors of Jiangnan for me!
After saying that, he read a poem and sat down.
Yushi Cao Xuecheng had always respected The True Mage, and suddenly heard that the Mage had been rounded up, rushed to the prison to pay respects to Bi, and could not help but sigh:
Mage, you've gone! You've got good!
Before the words could be heard, The True Mage actually woke up again and slowly, his eyes were wide open, and he stared at Cao Yushi a few times, but he didn't speak, nodded, and then he passed away again.
This day is the 17th day of the 17th month of the 12th month of the 1603 A.D. Of the Myeongjin Sect's Wanli Festival. The Master died at the age of sixty-one and the monk was forty-one years old.
Twelve years after the enlightenment of Zhenke (Wanli Yidi, 1615 AD), his body was buried at Shuangjing Mountain.
The following year, his closed disciple Monk Dharmakaya relocated him to Manjushri Pagoda in Wufeng.