Continued from "Zen Character Chronicles: Six Patriarchs Huineng Dajian Zen Master (17) Huineng Zen Method"
Final Chapter: The story before and after Huineng's death
In 712 A.D., there were three era names, on the nineteenth day of the first month of the third year of Jingyun of Tang Ruizong (712), he pardoned the world and changed the Yuan Taiji; On May 13 of the first year of Taiji (712), it was changed to Yuan Yanhe; In August, Tang Xuanzong ascended the throne and changed the Yuan to Xiantian. In the second year (713), it was changed to Kaiyuan.
In July of 712, Huineng suddenly instructed his disciples to build a tomb tower for himself at Guo'en Temple in Xinzhou (Xinzhou is Huineng's birthplace, now Xinxing County, Yunfu City, Guangdong Province). During the construction period, people were also sent many times to urge the construction period, asking to speed up the construction period, as if to rush to "move in".
Construction lasted nearly a year, and in the summer of the following year (713), the stupa was finally completed.
1
On the first day of July, Huineng gathered all the disciples together and said to everyone:
"I will be leaving this world next month, so if you still have any doubts about meditation practice, please come and ask as soon as possible, so that I can answer your questions and clear up your confusion. Otherwise, I won't be able to explain it to you again when I'm gone. ”
Hearing what the master said, knowing that the fate of the master and apprentice was over, Fahai and other disciples couldn't help but cry sadly. Among the disciples, there was one person who not only did not cry bitterly, but also did not even see his sadness at all, and this person was the Divine Society.
God will be at ease, and he will stand there calmly, as if Huineng's "last words" have not caused any waves in his heart. Seeing this, Hui Neng said to those disciples who were sad and weeping:
"The little master of the Divine Society is the latest, but he has reached the realm of no good and no goodness, and he can ruin his reputation and not move, and he will not be happy and sorrowful. But look at you brothers, crying and crying here, what are your mothers-in-law doing? You have been practicing Buddhism with me for so many years, and this is the result? ”
"Why are you grieving and weeping now? If I'm worried, I don't know where to go, but I know where I'm going, so you don't have to worry. If I didn't know where I was going, I wouldn't have told you in advance. ”
"The reason why you are sad and weep is because you don't know where I'm going, and if you know where I belong, you won't mourn and weep. You must know that there is no life and death in the world, and there is no coming and going, this is the only truth. ”
"You all sit down, calm down, and listen to this song "True and False Movements". After reciting this verse, you will be with me, and if you practice according to it, you will not deviate from the purpose of this sect. ”
So, Huineng recited this verse:
"There is no truth in everything, and nothing is true. If you see what is true, you see everything that is not true. If you can have your own truth, you can leave the false and the heart is true. The heart is not separated from the false, and there is no truth or truth. Being affectionate is to move, and being ruthless is not moving. If you can't practice, you can't move ruthlessly. If you really don't move, you don't move. Immobility is immobility, ruthlessness and no Buddha species. can be good at distinguishing phases, and the first righteousness is not moving. But to see it so is to be true. Repay the learner, and the effort must be intentional. Mo is not in the Mahayana Gate, but he clings to the wisdom of life and death. If the words are corresponding, then they are discussing the Buddha's teachings. If it is not corresponding, the gassho makes you happy. There is no fault in this sect, and it is a loss of morality. Persistently rebellious to the law, self-nature into life and death. ”
The key to this poem falls on the last two sentences: This sect has no fault, and the truth is the loss of the Tao. Persistently rebellious to the law, self-nature into life and death.
There is a distinction that is called "criticism", such as: life and death, movement, good and bad, and so on. The saying of non-distinction is "non-regression", no birth, no destruction, nirvana and silence.
If we cling to other dualities, we will never be liberated.
The tenet of Zen Buddhism is "non-destructiveness", i.e., not being attached to either end of existence and non-existence, that is, Madhyamaka. This is one of the most crucial and important characteristics of Hui Neng Zen. At all times, we must take a comprehensive view of the problem from the two aspects of opposition and unity, and we must never cling to one end of the spectrum.
After listening to the verses, everyone realized the Master's good intentions, and they all respectfully bowed to the Master to express their gratitude. Then I take it from my mind and practice according to this method, so that I no longer cling to my own discriminating mind.
Everyone knew that the master would not stay in the world for a long time, and Fahai, as the first seat, asked Huineng: "After the monk passes away, who will be handed over to the cloth?" ”
Huineng said: "I started to say the Dharma in the Dafan Temple, and until today, you have recorded the content of the speech, and you will recite it well in the future." These recorded records of the transmission of the Dharma are called the "Fa." If you practice in this way, you will be Fa-rectification. ”
"As for the Dharma robe, it will not be passed down from now on. Because the foundation of Zen Buddhism in this land is already very strong, there will be no more wavering, and there is no longer a need for a Dharma robe to prove anything. ”
Huineng's minutes of transmission of the Dharma were later compiled and edited by Fahai, and the book was "The Altar Sutra of the Six Patriarch Masters", which was later referred to as the "Six Patriarch Altar Sutra" or "Altar Sutra".
2
On the 8th day of the seventh month of 713, Huineng suddenly said to his disciples: "I want to go back to my hometown in Xinzhou, and you should quickly prepare a chariot and a horse and a ship for me." ”
The disciples knew that Master's departure was a farewell and wanted to leave him behind.
Huineng said: "All Buddhas want to attain Nirvana, even the Buddha will manifest Nirvana after 80 years in the world, let alone me!" There is a coming, there is a go, this is common sense, and my form should also have a place to rest. ”
Hearing what Hui Neng said, everyone could understand, so they no longer kept but continued to ask, "Master is going, when will he come back?" ”
Huineng said: "The leaves fall back to the roots, and there is no mouth when they come." ”
There is no mouth when you come, and there is no nose when you go, and it is convenient to come and go.
The disciples then asked, "To whom will Master's Dharma be transmitted?" ”
Huineng replied: "Those who have the Tao can get it, and those who have no heart can get it." ”
The crowd asked, "Will there be any calamities after Master's death?" ”
Huineng replied, "After I die, someone will come and steal my head." And if you catch him, do not make it difficult for him. ”
3
On the third day of the eighth month of the second year of Tang Xuanzong (713 AD), after Huineng finished fasting in Guoen Temple, he said to his apprentices: "You all sit down in order, and I want to say goodbye to you." ”
Fahai asked, "What teachings did Master leave so that future generations could see Buddha nature in person?" ”
Huineng replied, "If you know your own mind, you are Buddha-nature." If you don't know your true mind, you won't be able to find Buddha-nature even after thousands of eons. ”
How to see the Buddha? It is enough to recognize what sentient beings are. It is precisely because sentient beings think that there is a difference between a Buddha and sentient beings that they are obsessed with the existence of a Buddha, and because of the existence of sentient beings, there is the existence of a Buddha.
The Buddha, on the other hand, is equal in nature, without distinction, and in the eyes of the Buddha there is no Buddha and no sentient beings.
So, the difference between a Buddha and sentient beings is not what you see, but what you are seeing. From beginning to end, only the observer makes a difference, and what is observed makes no difference.
What are sentient beings? Look at everything differently! Knowing that this is the nature of sentient beings, then naturally see "Buddha".
Because the "Buddha" cannot be seen directly, but only indirectly.
Why can't the Buddha be seen directly? Because there is no distinction between Buddhas, there are no external characteristics that are "visible". For example: What is water? You can never see water, because all you see are waves, raindrops, rivers, lakes and seas...... The "incarnation" of these waters.
If sentient beings are waves, then Buddha is water. As long as you see the waves, of course, you know the existence of water, but you can never see the real "water". Sentient beings are the embodiment of the Buddha, so they can only see sentient beings but cannot see the Buddha.
Therefore, Hui Neng said: "I want to see the Buddha, but I want to know all sentient beings." Only for all sentient beings to be obsessed with the Buddha, not for the Buddha to be obsessed with all beings. ”
Huineng continued: "After I pass away, don't mourn and weep like the layman. If I accept other people's condolences and still wear linen and filial piety on my body, then I am not my disciple, nor is it the performance that a practitioner should have. Finally, I will say another verse: The vultures do not cultivate goodness, and Tengteng does not create evil. Silence is cut off from seeing and hearing, and there is nothing to be done. ”
After Huineng finished speaking, he sat there and stopped talking. When it was time for the third watch, Huineng suddenly said to the disciples beside him, "I'm leaving." After saying that, Master Huineng sat there peacefully and passed away as if in meditation at the age of seventy-six.
At that time, the house was suddenly filled with fragrance, and a white rainbow ran from the sky to the ground, illuminating the woods white, and the birds and beasts all over the mountain were screaming to see off the master.
4
In November, officials and subordinates in Guangzhou, Shaozhou, and Xinzhou, as well as many monks and lay people, including Huineng's disciples, vied for the return of Huineng's true body.
Guangzhou Dharma Temple is the place where Hui Neng first turned to the Dharma and was ordained, Xinzhou Guoen Temple is Hui Neng's hometown, and Caoxi Baolin Temple is the place where Hui Neng preached the Dharma for 37 years and the starting point of the prosperity of Chinese Zen Buddhism. All three places have reasons to welcome Huineng's real body "home".
In view of the fact that the three parties have been arguing, everyone burns incense and prays, agreeing that the place where the cigarette flutters is the place where the master is willing to return. As a result, the cigarette was pointed directly in the direction of Cao Xi at that time.
So on November 13, Huineng's body and mantle and other relics were moved back to Caoxi from Xinzhou Guoen Temple. On July 25 of the following year, Hui Neng's true body was invited out again, and the disciple Fang Wei smeared Hui Neng's whole body with traditional Buddhist incense mud.
Remembering that Huineng had prophesied that the head would be stolen, he wrapped the master's head and neck in layers with a cloth made of iron sheets and paint, and then sent it to the pagoda.
In the tenth year of Kaiyuan (722), in the middle of the night of August 3, I suddenly heard the sound of pulling iron chains in the tower, and the monks in the temple were shocked and hurriedly got up to search. I saw a man in filial piety clothes coming out of the tower, and then saw that the master's real body had a scar on his neck, so he reported the thief to the state and county yamen.
The county ordered Yang Kan, the state assassin Shi Liu Wuxi, and issued an official document to urgently arrest the criminals. On August 5, the thief was caught in Shijiao Village and escorted to the Shaozhou Yamen for interrogation.
It turned out that the criminal's name was Zhang Jingman, who accepted 20,000 yuan from the Silla monk Kim Dae-bei at the Hongju Kaiyuan Temple, and asked him to steal Huineng's head and bring it back to Haedong Silla to be offered.
Yang Kan and Liu Wuxi listened to the prisoner's confession and did not immediately pronounce the sentence, but personally went to Cao Xi to seek the opinion of Zen Master Ling Tao, a disciple of Huineng.
Zen Master Ling Tao said, "According to the law, the prisoner should be beheaded." However, God has the virtue of a good life, and my Buddha has always been compassionate, and he came to steal the master's true body head, but also to take it back and worship it, which is different from other thieves, and his sin is forgivable. ”
Liu Wuxi sighed and said: "Only then do I know that Buddhism is really broad-minded!" So Zhang Jingman was acquitted.
In the first year of Shangyuan (761), Tang Suzong sent an envoy to welcome the mantle of Master Huineng to the court to make offerings, this is because the gods will contribute to the court in the Anshi Rebellion, and Nanzong has become the orthodoxy of Zen at that time because of the promotion of Huineng disciples.
On the fifth day of May in the first year of Yongtai (765), the Tang Dynasty Sect dreamed that Master Huineng asked for the return of the mantle.
So he issued an edict to the assassin Yang Mian and said: "I dreamed that Zen Master Huineng asked for the return of the Dharma robe to Cao Xi, and now I will send Liu Chongjing, the general of Zhenguo, to send it back solemnly. You can set up a proper place in the original monastery and assign monks to guard it so that it does not get lost. ”
But then there were many incidents of stealing robes, but each time the thieves were caught before they could escape far.
5
In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, led the troops to pacify Guangdong, and appointed Yin Chongke as the Baoxin Army to command all parts of Guangzhou.
But not long after he took office, he encountered a rebellion in the five states under his jurisdiction.
Yin Chongke immediately led troops to quell the rebellion, and in the process of quelling the rebellion, the remnants of the rebels in Shaozhou came to Caoxi Baolin Temple, not only looted the temple, but also set fire to the Baolin Temple.
However, when the fire burned and everyone fled in all directions, the monk who took care of Huineng's real body did not live up to his mission, and desperately lifted Master Huineng's real body and ran out and hid Huineng's real body, so as to escape.
In this catastrophe, the Baoling Temple was finally destroyed by fire, but Huineng's true body was preserved, and now it is stored in the Nanhua Temple in Shaoguan, Guangdong.
In the third year of Taiping Xingguo (978), Song Taizong ordered the rebuilding of Baolin Temple, and renamed Baolin Temple Nanhua Temple, which is still used today.
About Master Huineng's nickname:
Master Tang Xianzong is a Zen master of Dajian; Song Taizong added a name for the Dajian vacuum Zen master; Song Renzong added Dajian vacuum Pujue Zen master; Song Shenzong added Dajian vacuum Pujue Yuanming Zen Master.
Known as the Six Patriarchs of Zen Buddhism by later generations, Huineng played a crucial role in the flourishing of Zen Buddhism in China due to his contributions to the localization of Buddhism, which has influenced him to this day.
Huineng has a special position in Zen Buddhism in China, and is known as the "Three Sages of the East" together with Lao Tzu and Confucius.
Zen Figures: The Six Patriarchs Huineng Dajian Zen Master (18) Immortal
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