Author: Insight Moon
In the book "Li Shutong's Zen Life", Li Shutong is summarized as follows:
Thousands of lonely and lonely guests, thousands of thoughts return, often self-congratulatory; half a life of prosperity and half a world of monks, a thought to put down, all calmly.
In the first half of Li Shutong's life, he experienced prosperity and hardships.
After experiencing love but not being able to, letting go, asking but not being able to, and being unwilling, he slowly saw through the red dust, let go of the past, let go of himself, and became the world's admired Master Hongyi.
As he said when he was preaching Zen: "Do you want to be cured? Do you want to avoid difficulties? ”
The best practice in the world is to let go of life, and the best practice in the world is to let go of oneself.
01
- Letting go of desires is a kind of freedom.
In 1880, Li Shutong was born in Tianjin, his father was a jinshi, and the family was engaged in a salt merchant business, which was a real rich family.
Many people spend their lives pursuing wealth, but Uncle Li was born rich and noble.
When he was young, he was like the ordinary rich second generation at that time, visiting the theater, studying Western gadgets, and enjoying the material enjoyment brought to him by the rich family.
As he grew older, Li Shutong felt more and more that wealth was like a dream, and at the age of fifteen, he wrote:
Life is like the day of the West Mountain, and wealth is like frost on the grass.
I didn't expect it to be a prophecy.
When he was thirty years old, Uncle Li returned from studying abroad, and he was greeted by the news of his family's bankruptcy.
As a result, relatives are looking for death and life, and they are very afraid of the hard days ahead.
One of his elder brothers held the family's Song Dynasty porcelain and refused to let go, and his legs were broken by officers and soldiers.
His third aunt refused to leave the palatial mansion and died in the pushing.
Some people say that it is easy to go from thrift to luxury, and it is difficult to go from luxury to thrift.
This sentence is true for the laity, but it is not true for Li Shutong.
Because he has let go of his desires, the external material is nothing more than the need to fill his stomach and sustain life, and there is no talk of enjoyment or suffering.
Later, when Li Shutong decided to become a monk, he chose to practice Vinaya.
Vinaya is an ascetic.
He wore straw sandals, rags, and his torn cotton jacket on his back, running around, lecturing and traveling.
As a guest at his friend Xia Yazun's house, Li Shutong's luggage was nothing more than a broken mat, a broken quilt, a broken washcloth, and a broken toothbrush.
The washcloth was worse than a rag, and Xia Yazun wanted to change it for him, he said: "Where, it's still in use, you don't have to change it." ”
Life is simple, but the soul is rich and at ease.
Yellow rolls and green lights, morning bells and dusk drums, this time has been gone for decades.
He carried forward the Nanshan Vinaya, which had been lost for more than 700 years, and eventually became the eleventh generation patriarch of the Vinaya.
Buddhism has a saying: Suffering is not bitterness, happiness is not happiness, it is just a temporary desire.
If you are obsessed with your desires, you will never find true freedom.
Because of greed, you want more.
Because of vanity, they want to stand taller.
Because of fear, I want to grasp everything I once had.
Only by learning to let go of desires can we feel the sudden enlightenment of "going back and not changing their happiness", and realize the transcendent things of "a cloud of smoke and rain for a lifetime".
02
- Letting go of obsession is a kind of sobriety.
At the age of eighteen, Li Shutong fell in love with Yang Cuixi, the first singer in Tianjin.
The two fell in love with each other and were sincere.
But the Li family, the richest man in Tianjin, how could they allow a woman from Liyuan to enter the house.
Under the strong opposition of his family, Li Shutong could only temporarily put aside the idea of marrying Yang Cuixi and went to Shanghai to deal with things.
When Li Shutong came back again, Yang Cuixi had already been taken to Beijing.
There is a sentence in "Shangyang Fu": After all, people will be troubled by the things they are young and unobtainable for a lifetime.
Since then, Yang Cuixi has become an obsession in Uncle Li's heart.
Later, Li Shutong was admitted to Shanghai Nanyang Public School.
In Shanghai, he met many women like Yang Cuixi, such as Xie Qiuyun and Li Pingxiang.
tried to find the shadow of Yang Cuixi in these geisha and express her sorrow.
It wasn't until his mother fell ill and died that he seriously reflected on his actions.
When Uncle Li became a monk, someone asked him: What is love?
He pondered for a moment and then replied: Love is compassion.
In Li Shutong's eyes, love is no longer attached to one person, but to let go of love and hate and love all beings equally.
Although he bid farewell to the red dust, he still preached the scriptures and preached, promoted Buddhism, and helped the people with the heart of joining the WTO.
执于一念，必将受困于一念。
If you can let go of your obsession and treat it with a different state of mind, it will be the great wisdom of life.
In "Zhuangzi", it is said: It is better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes.
In the face of unchangeable results, clinging to old feelings, it is better to let go in time.
If you are obsessed, you will not be confused, and if you are confused, you will not be enlightened, so there is a saying of "obsessed and unenlightened".
When you learn to let go of unrealistic persistence and obsession, you will find that letting go at the right time can also solve many problems.
Learning to let go of obsession is not only a state of mind, but also a kind of sobriety.
03
- Let go of the past in order to move forward better.
There is a sentence in the "Four Teachings of Lifan": In the past, for example, he died yesterday, and in the future, he was born today.
Uncle Li probably thinks the same way.
His life has been without twists and turns:
was born in a wealthy family, but because his mother was born as a maid, the mother and son suffered a lot;
met a woman who fell in love with each other, but had no choice but to have no fate, and finally the wild goose shadow flew apart;
and was able to take his mother away from the dark family at the age of Li, but his mother died;
When he returned from studying abroad, he was greeted by the news that the family business was bankrupt, and his family was separated......
These past events made him feel the heaviness of life.
Which one is long-lasting, love, life, wealth, or friendship?
Finally, he decided to leave everything behind and become a monk.
Before he became a monk, he wrote to a friend:
"Life is short for decades, the limit is always coming, now it's just to advance it, we will be separated sooner or later, I hope you can let go. ”
Since then, there is no Uncle Li in the world, and only Master Hongyi has returned.
The past cannot be chased, the past cannot be kept, and since the things have passed, then we must learn to let go.
Once upon a time, there was a man who felt the weight of life and wanted to find a way to liberation.
So, he found the philosopher Plato.
Instead of giving him an answer directly, Plato asked him to carry a basket on his back and walk on a gravel road.
At each step, you have to pick up a stone and put it in the basket.
Halfway through the journey, the man felt that the basket was getting heavier and heavier, and it was difficult to continue.
When Plato saw him like this, he said, "Why don't you put it down and try it?"
Sure enough, carrying the basket without stones, he felt much more relaxed, and soon passed the gravel road.
When we came to this world, we all carried an empty basket on our backs.
The past is like a stone, piling up in the basket little by little, and we will feel more and more struggling.
Learn to let go and let go of the past, so that we can move forward better.
Instead of dwelling on one thing and frowning all day long, it is better to raise your head, stand on tiptoe, let go of your obsession and burden, and let your heart be free.
Because in life, there is nothing that cannot be let go, and only by giving away can you gain. Only when you let go of it can you gain something.
▽
When Master Hongyi passed away, he left four words: sadness and joy.
These four words are the best summary of life.
In this life, peaks and troughs alternate, with great joy and great sorrow.
If you are not immersed in joy, you can calmly face the gains and losses;
Only by not being confined to grief can we face impermanence bravely.
When you can let go of the past and let go of yourself, you can break out of the cocoon and become a better version of yourself.
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