One day in the seventh year of the Republic of China, in front of the Tianjin Hedong Grain Store, the newspaper boy pulled his throat and shouted: "Sell newspaper!" Sell newspapers! The third son of the Tongda Li family went as a monk! ”
In a few moments, the Ta Kung Pao was snatched up. Subsequently, this news, a stone shocked a thousand waves, from celebrities to ordinary people, there was a lot of discussion.
Why does a person become a monk cause an uproar?
Just because of this person is not ordinary.
The third son of the Tongda Li family is the famous Li Shutong.
Before his ordination, Li Shutong was a popular prince in a rich and noble village, a well-known artist, and a pioneer in the education of Wanjing Cong;
After his renunciation, he gave up his glory, abolished all his six arts, practiced asceticism and took vows, and became a generation of senior monks.
Half born of red dust, half of the Buddha, Li Shutong lived out the lives of others for several lifetimes.
Disciple Feng Zikai commented on the teacher:
When he was a teenager, he was a boy, like a dancing boy;
In middle age, he became a celebrity, like a celebrity; he did drama, like an actor; he studied oil painting, like an artist; he studied piano, like a musician; he ran a newspaper, like an editor; he was a teacher, like a teacher; he was a monk, like a high monk.
He does the same, he finishes the same, he puts down the same, and he never looks back.
No matter what he did, Li Shutong was very focused, as he himself said: "It is difficult to chant the Buddha, and it is difficult not to be distracted." ”
Concentration is the best practice for a person.
Focus on studying and repaying the country with thoughts
In the sixth year of Guangxu, in a courtyard in Tianjin, 68-year-old Li Shizhen was overjoyed, and the fourth aunt gave birth to a big fat boy for him.
This child is Li Shutong.
Li Shizhen is a well-known salt merchant, and he also runs a money shop and has a family fortune.
As a rich and noble prince, although Li Shutong wandered in the aristocratic class of Jinmen, his heart was full of worries about the motherland and his yearning for reading.
After the Sino-Japanese War, Li Shutong sighed: "Although the article is good, it is not enough to win. ”
Since then, he has begun to read some new books in order to serve the country.
In June 1898, the Guangxu Emperor promulgated the "Dingguo is the Edict", and Li Shutong admired Kang and Liang very much, and he engraved the seal of "Nanhai Kangjun is my teacher" in solidarity with the change of law.
Unfortunately, the change of law soon failed, and Li Shutong had to take his mother and flee to the French Concession in Shanghai for refuge.
Ten miles of ocean field, celebrities gathered.
In order to facilitate communication with the celebrities of the "Seongnam Cultural Society", Li Shutong directly lived in the Seongnam Caotang.
As soon as the door closes, block the strange Shanghai Beach from the outside, and concentrate on reading.
The following year, Li Shutong was admitted to the special recruitment class of Nanyang Public School and became a student of Cai Yuanpei.
In the Western learning system constructed by Cai Yuanpei, Li Shutongru was immersed in the boundary, and in only one year, he mastered Japanese and English familiarly, and even translated the Japanese version of "Private International Law", laying the foundation for studying in Japan in the future.
Under the sad situation of the family and the country, some people are pessimistic and world-weary, and go far away; some people are excited and excited, and they are facing Qin Twilight; some people give up on themselves, drunkenly dreaming of death...
But there are also people who hear the echo of their hearts soberly and do what they can.
In 1905, Li Shutong composed the magnificent "Motherland Song" for Huang Yanpei's "Shanghai Society": "I will ride a lion across Kunlun and fly a crane across the Pacific Ocean!" ”
After the publication of "Song of the Motherland," schools across the country adopted teaching materials, which greatly aroused the patriotic enthusiasm of the people.
Feng Zikai recalled: "My hometown of Shimen Bay, is a very remote town, a large group of primary school students, holding up the dragon flag, blowing trumpets, banging brass drums, standing up their throats and singing the "Motherland Song". ”
The philosopher Cicero once said, "If you devote all your energies to a single purpose, you will be able to achieve something." ”
Li Shutong conveys the spirit of the times, awakens the people and achieves himself at the same time. Later, he "shocked the sea with twenty articles" and was named "a master of the new world" by the Ta Kung Pao.
In an impetuous world, it is most difficult to calm down and do things wholeheartedly. And if you do this, those who want and desire will meet you unexpectedly.
The charm of concentration does not stop there, it also brings you infinitely closer to the purity and tranquility of the heart.
Focus on teaching and start the people's wisdom
After returning from studying in Japan, Li Shutong was invited by a friend to join the Zhejiang First Division and became an art and music teacher.
Once, Li Shutong took a student West Lake sketch, he was immersed in teaching and solving puzzles, if it were not for the sudden visit of the police, Li Shutong did not realize that he had long been targeted by the government - suspecting that he was privately mapping maps.
Li Shutong's concentration does not stop there, he attends an hour of class, and the time to prepare for class takes a whole day. In order to make the most efficient use of the fifty minutes of each class, he always wrote the board book in advance.
For the school, Li Shutong seems to have an inexhaustible heart.
Write and publish a speech for the alumni association's magazine "Xiangyang";
Creatively hold comic meetings; "smash the field" in the Chinese studies class, and advise students not to drill into the pile of old paper, it is best to go to "Robinson Crusoe";
As an art teacher, he actively wrote the "History of European Literature"; even more in the autumn of 1914, he boldly used "nude models" to sketch...
Stills from the TV series "A Round of Bright Moon", Pu Cunxin played Li Shutong
For students, it seems that there is no end to the heart.
There was a student named Liu Tianping, who was quite talented in music, but his family was in a cold situation, and Li Shutong not only gave him living expenses, but also tried his best to send him to Japan;
There was a student named Li Hongliang, who was disrespectful to Li Shutong in class, considering the student's self-esteem, Li Shutong invited him to his room after class, gently exhorted, said not much, and pointed out;
There was a student named Feng Zikai who had a conflict with the director of teaching and was almost expelled. At the critical moment, it was Li Shutong who stepped forward again.
There are many such things, Li Shutong has a true feeling for the students, and the students return to "learn to achieve".
Cartoonist Feng Zikai, music educator Liu Tianping, Guoxue master Pan Tianshou, musician Wu Mengfei, calligrapher and painter Qian Juntao, big journalist Cao Juren...
They are like the light refracted by Li Shutong, illuminating the bleak and dull art world of the late Qing Dynasty. Together, they used art to open up the wisdom of the people and open the eyes of the poor people to see the world.
If focusing on reading is to exert force on oneself, then focusing on teaching is to be affectionate to others.
The deep friendship between teachers and students often touched Li Shutong, who hid his sorrows in the landscape of the West Lake and found a pure land for his heart.
Zhuangzi once said, "Do not be distracted by your intentions, but concentrate on God." ”
It is in this silence that Li Shutong has the opportunity to peer deeper into his heart.
Focus on the practice of returning to basics
When Uncle Li was 4 years old, his father died, and many senior monks and masters were invited to the family to recite the sutra. Li Shutong thought it was funny, so he played the role of a great monk and meditated and chanted.
No one thought that thirty years later, Li Shutong would really put on the robe of fate.
In 1918, the 38-year-old Li Shutong, dressed in haiqing and wearing mangshoe shoes on his feet, became a monk at the Hupao Temple in Hangzhou, with the legal name "Hongyi".
Everything about Li Shutong dissipated in the world in an instant.
He distributed his cherished collection to his friends and sealed the golden stone antiques in the Xiling Seal Society;
He ended his coaching career and took a group photo with his favorite disciples Feng Zikai and Liu Zhiping;
He sent the money back to his family in Tianjin and his Japanese wife, and wrote a letter of farewell.
Cut off mundane things and love affairs, wash away the lead, and return to peace.
After his ordination, Master Hongyi strictly observed the precepts, and he once said, "Buddhist pedestrians who do not strictly adhere to the precepts, if they talk about profound concentration and great wisdom, they are a lie!" ”
He was not an abbot, did not have disciples, and lived a minimalist life. A piece of clothing has more than two hundred patches, and an umbrella has been used for decades.
His nephew Li Shengzhang had met Hongyi in Hangzhou and saw him wearing a hundred robes, using a flattened wicker as a toothbrush and brushing his teeth with salt water. He also saw Hiroichi pick up the turnips thrown by others and eat them with relish.
To live the most bitter life, we must also recite the most difficult scriptures.
The Vinaya to which Master Hongyi devoted himself was harsh in discipline and profound in doctrine, and almost became a master.
Therefore, Master Hongyi vowed to interpret the scriptures, write and write books, and eventually carry forward the Nanshan Vinaya sect, which has been lost for more than 700 years.
There is a saying in the Buddhist saying: "Out of the valley, out of the trees, back to the basics, the personality is perfect." ”
The reason why Master Hongyi was able to concentrate on his cultivation was only because he kept one of his own hearts, found his true self in the illusion of the world, and cultivated the right results.
In the vast world, we are in a hurry, panicking, and all kinds of desires are rampaging in our minds.
In fact, we do not recognize that what disturbs us is never a disturbing world, but a mind that we cannot settle down.
Focus on the heart, the action will not be blind, life will be peaceful.
In 1942, Master Koichi's old illness recurred, and before his death, he wrote "Intersection of Sorrow and Joy".
"Sad" is that all beings in the world are suffering, and "happy" is that one is "strict with the law, pure inside and outside."
In the customs, no matter what Li Shutong does, he will do it to the extreme, without complaint or regret.
In the monks, Master Hongyi has zero heart, concentrates on cultivation, and has no desires or desires.
This consummation comes from wholeheartedness to life and from great compassion for the world.
Liang Qichao once said: "If there is no specialization, it cannot be achieved, and if it is not involved, it cannot be passed." ”
It is not difficult for a person to focus on one thing, it is not difficult to focus on a period of time, it is rare to do everything in life seriously and attentively.
"Learn from the nobles, do not take the flood as the sage."
Concentration is a kind of practice, which is a deep affection for life.
May you concentrate on doing things, loving people wholeheartedly, and guarding yourself intently in the long years of your life.
Encourage with the King.
Author | Jin Shanyue, using the pen as a paddle, crossed him by herself.
Image | Network (if there is infringement, please contact to delete)