Tang Seng once made a grand wish, burn incense in the temple, see the Buddha and worship the Buddha, and sweep the tower when encountered.
When passing through the Jinguang Temple of the Han Kingdom, their master and apprentice encountered the theft of the pearl, and the monks were wronged.
Tang Seng made a wish in front of the tower, hoping to find the jewel as soon as possible and wash away the grievances of the monks.
After making a wish, Tang Seng and Sun Wukong's master and apprentice, each holding a broom and a glass lamp, opened the tower door and swept from the first floor to the 12th floor.
We generally sweep the stairs from top to bottom, only in this way, the dust falls down, and finally it can be swept clean.
But Tang Sanzang has always swept the tower from the bottom to the top.
This is true of the original book, and the same is true of the TV series.
This is not a mistake, it contains a method of self-cultivation for the Chinese.
Summarized into twelve words, namely: low starting point, net at the moment, dirty at the beginning, and ordinary way.
All practices don't happen overnight.
Everyone has a low starting point, and when they start, they don't understand anything and don't know anything.
There is no shame in this, everyone is the same, and acknowledging this is the beginning of progress.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang was a man of the year in the court.
But he also couldn't get up in the morning and didn't speak honestly.
Lazy and arrogant, insincere.
Wherever he went, no one wanted to accept him.
Later, in Zeng Guofan's military camp, he got rid of his bad problems little by little.
Zeng Guofan himself used to be just a country boy.
After being admitted to the Jinshi, he was still full of promotions and fortunes.
It wasn't until he met his mentor Tang Jian that his life began to go on the right path.
If you are not afraid of a low starting point, you are afraid of not working hard.
The nine-story platform begins with the soil, and the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Step down and try to do it.
As long as you persevere, a single sand and stone can be piled up into a towering mountain, and a brick and a tile can also build a high-rise building.
When Tang Seng sweeps the tower, from the bottom to the top.
So the dust kept falling, and just after sweeping the underneath, it was dirty again.
The old man said, "The bear breaks the stick, breaks one and throws the other."
It would be a wasted effort to do so.
But that's not how Buddhists think.
The present moment is pure, and the place where the present stands is clean.
The most important thing in self-cultivation is to learn to focus on the present.
I've heard a story that is very emotional.
Zen Master Yuanyuan came to visit Zen Master Dazhu Huihai and asked for advice on the method of cultivating the Tao and working hard.
He asked Zen Master Huihai, "Monk, do you also work hard to cultivate the Tao?"
The Zen master replied, "Work hard!"
Youyuan asked again: "How do you work hard?"
The Zen master replied, "Eat when you are hungry, and sleep when you are sleepy." ”
Youyuan asked a little puzzled: "If this is hard work, then isn't everyone working as hard as the Zen master?"
The Zen master said, "Of course it's different!"
Youyuan asked again: "Why is it different? Isn't it all eating and sleeping?"
The Zen master said, "Ordinary people don't eat well when they eat, they have all kinds of thoughts, and when they don't sleep well, they have all kinds of delusions. I'm certainly not the same as them. ”
Eat when you eat, sleep when you sleep.
The true meaning of practice is to let go of distracting thoughts and focus on the present moment.
The future cannot be obtained, and the past cannot be kept.
The only thing one can grasp is the present.
Only by doing a good job in every moment can life have the possibility of comprehension.
Many people are dedicated to three purposes, doing this and thinking about that, but in the end, they can't do anything.
When you go up the higher steps and look further back, you find that the steps behind you are dirty again.
It's not that you didn't do well in the past, it's that you've improved.
When you improve, and you look back, you find a lot of shortcomings.
If a person looks back on the past, it is all glory and all merit, it means that he is going downhill.
When Zeng Guofan was in his later years, many people thought that he had practiced all his life and should be satisfied with himself, right?
But when I opened the diary, it was still a reflection and a question of myself.
Ask yourself why you are lazy, why you can't do your best.
Decades like a day.
In fact, he has done a lot better than ordinary people, but he is still not satisfied, continue to work hard, continue to climb.
In this life, we must learn to look back, reflect on ourselves, and correct ourselves, so that we can continue to update and move forward.
Wang Yangming once had a student who couldn't attend classes because he was busy with official business.
So he came to Wang Yangming to express his regrets.
Wang Yangming said: Practice in everything, and official duties are also practice.
True practice does not mean that you should meditate in meditation and be serious.
But in ordinary life, in a meal, at work, in dressing and cleaning.
It's not those lofty things, it's just the little things of daily life, and if you do it well, it's practice.
Before Tang Sanzang swept the tower, there was a paragraph at the beginning that described it like this:
That night, the sky was full of stars and moons, and the drums on the tower were even more drummed. The cold wind rises on the four walls, and the lights of thousands of homes are bright.
After Sanzang finished bathing, he put on a small-sleeved shirt, tied a ring tape, put a pair of soft male shoes on his feet, held a new broom in his hand, and said to the monks: "You wait for a peaceful sleep, and wait for me to sweep the tower." ”
Tang Seng actually swept a lot of towers along the way, which was just a common thing for him.
But he was still dignified enough, serious enough.
Still meticulous.
This is the practice of a person.
Wholeheartedly and conscientiously doing every little thing in life is cultivation and true Buddhahood.
It's a completely responsible attitude towards life, and it's the best attitude toward life.
Life is a practice.
No matter how big or small, urgent or slow, you can take it seriously and reflect seriously.
Don't regret your mistakes, don't complain about regrets.
Single-mindedly, keep moving forward.