On April 20, 2013, Gu Yu, the Zen Master of Life and elder Jinghui, a generation of Zen masters, left us. Seven years have passed, time has precipitated our sorrows, and the reluctance and heartache of the past have been transformed into the strength of our silent progress. The words left by Master about "Life Zen" - "Enlighten life, dedicate life", "practice in life, live in practice", "settle down in the present, keep one's word", "make good use of his heart, be kind to everything"... Are like a street lamp, leading us through the fog of life, on the bodhi path, and moving forward with determination. Gengzi Guyu, picking up the old texts, in order to cherish the grace of the master, I also hope that more people with good fortune will appreciate the wisdom and compassion of the elders, and have a Zen life without complaint, regret, worry-free, and fearless. —— Ming Bo Ji
Gu Yuhuaishi
Anyone who had been close to Elder Jinghui knew that Master had a preference for writing, a preference for books, and a preference for intellectuals.
During the period of presiding over the editorial work of "Fayin" magazine, he created and compiled the "Fayin Library"; during the period of propagating the Fa in Hebei, he devoted himself to cultural construction, founded the "Zen" magazine, created the "Virtual Cloud Printing Sutra Meritorious Collection", edited the "Zen Lamp Record Complete Book", and presided over the compilation and printing of the "Great Tibetan Classic".
Maybe because I also like to write and write books, Master will give encouragement from time to time.
Once, he said to me meaningfully, "Life Zen is to practice in life, to live in practice." In life, all the hearts and minds are on the road, and there is a lot of article to do. So, you can write about how the Buddha taught people to adjust their moods, you can also write about how the Buddha taught people to deal with family relationships, you can also write about the Buddha's view of wealth... Words are a convenient way to carry forward the Dharma, so do it with your heart! ”
Honor the sages
After the Spring Festival in 2013, when I wanted to go to Huangmei to get close to Master, Master called and said, "Put aside the almanac, you first help Master to update and publish the "Meditation Rhyme of the Scripture Window". ”
On April 19, I took a train to Taiyuan and worked with Guo Shun, who designed the layout, to adjust the layout of the poem. Busy until late, finally nuclear red. I thought, just wait for the isbile number to arrive, you can print. I breathed a sigh of relief.
When I came to Taiyuan, Yan Zhao's land was raining and snowing. On the train, a friend sent a text message: "Heavy snow in Taiyuan." The valley is full of snow during rainy seasons. "Originally, the spring was bright, who could have predicted that a heavy snowfall in Hebei and Shanxi would fall sharply that had not been encountered in decades." First it rained heavily, then it snowed, and the snow fell silently. As a result, the spring flowers and green branches all quietly bowed their heads. They could not shake off the snow on their bodies, so the safflower snow, at a glance, was shocking.
This night, I slept restlessly. Don't know why, always can't sleep.
On the 20th, it was "valley rain". Rain is born of a hundred grains. From this solar term onwards, the rain between heaven and earth will begin to be dense. In the early morning, to wash away the dust of a sleepless night, I took a hot shower. Just out of the bathroom, the phone rang.
For an instant, my world was blank. Yesterday's snow seemed to fall into my mind. At this moment, the snow melted and was about to overflow from the bottom of my eyes, and I couldn't help it. I took a deep breath, held my breath, and chanted "Amitabha."
I knew that sooner or later this day would come. But why did it come so early!
Tearful eyes misty, looking out the window, the thick snow above the tall and low buildings, like mourners in a line.
Eyes retracted indoors, the poetry on the table was still there, and the poet went!
When I looked back, I smiled
On April 20, at 6 p.m., I arrived in Huangmei. Brother Jianhua, who arrived in Huangmei County early, waited for us to arrive, briefly had dinner together, and then rushed to the Sizu Temple.
After entering the temple, we walked quickly to the abbot's liao.
The mages and laymen I met along the road all had tears in their eyes and a sad face.
Go to the room where Master lived, take off his shoes, and go inside.
The low, orderly sound of prayers in the room reflects the quiet here.
Master lay quietly on the bed, as if sleeping peacefully.
I held back my tears, leaned down, and bowed three times.
Meditation under the tree
On the morning of April 21, before inviting Master into the shrine, the sea monk and others bathed and changed clothes for Master. Master was soft all over, and everyone thought that Master would come back at any time.
Because Master is merciful, how could he bear to leave us alone?
During the Cultural Revolution, Master participated in the construction of water conservancy projects in his hometown, and when he pushed the dirt-filled car uphill, the hook of the tractor was unhooked, and he could not support falling to the ground, and the mud truck weighing more than a thousand pounds crushed his chest. At that time, the medical conditions were backward, and the medical staff only smeared some "red potion" on his external wounds, and did not let him rest. In fact, this injury hurt his heart and lungs, and since then he has buried the cause of coughing when he catches a cold.
After 1988, when Master came to Hebei to preside over the work of the Buddhist Association, he also shouldered a lot of work of the Buddhist Association of China, so he traveled back and forth between Beijing and Hebei. As a witness, the sea monk has always lamented that Master "has many tasks at a time, always runs several magazines at the same time, builds many monasteries, and should do several places of rituals, and has a lot of ease and enjoyment."
Xu bu huangmei mountain
In 2003, Master's center of gravity for propagating the Dharma moved south to Hubei, and while xingfuding The Yangyuquan Temple and Dumen Temple, he continued to build huangmei sizu temple, Luhua'an temple, Lao zu temple and other dojos, and also presided over the xingfu Xingtai Dakaiyuan Temple in Hebei.
Once, when Master was returning from Hubei to Xingtai Yuquan Temple to do ordination for several practitioners preparing to become monks, he received a call from Hubei saying that there was an event there that he hoped Master would attend. Master didn't say a word and immediately returned by car. Late the next night, Master rushed back to Xingtai from Hubei. The next morning, Master shaved the number of walkers and in the morning he took a bus to Beijing. Don't say that it is an old man over seventy years old, how can a young and strong young man resist such a rush?
Master, we disciples never seem to have considered your illness. We have always been naïve enough to think that Master is the incorruptible body of Vajrapani, and that he will never grow old or tired. As a result, we develop psychological dependence. However, master is a flesh and blood body after all, and in order to make the disciples realize impermanence, you are around, and now, like a boat monk who overturned the ship, you are throwing your hands off the cliff and leaving a boat with a bright moon.
Lead the crowd to smoke and repair
Master began to revive the dojo in his sixties, and for more than twenty years, when he started to do things, he always regarded himself as a young man, and he was always able to do it. Now, he couldn't move, so he gave up on the cliff and let go completely. Life is like a dream of Buddhism, everywhere in the dojo, whether it is facing the terrifying waves of history, or facing the common karma of all beings under the blood and tears, Master is as tenacious as a bodhisattva, silent and responsible, in the whole process, his heart is unencumbered, there is no gain or loss, free and free.
When the old monk of the Void Cloud began to revive the Ancestral Ancestor Dojo, when it was about to be completed, the Void Elder would take the initiative to leave. Some monks asked the old man about this. The old man said, "If I finish everything, what else are you young people doing?" ”
In the Lotus Sutra, When Shakyamuni Buddha spoke of the "Rulai Shou Zhi Pin", he said that the life of a Buddha and a bodhisattva is immortal, and the reason why it is manifested as birth and death is to make people have a correct view that is rare in the human body and that the Dharma smells bad. Otherwise, people will feel that the Buddha and Bodhisattva are always there anyway, and when I want to learn the Dharma, I can go to him at any time.
Master's distant departure should also be of this type.
Pure Wisdom Elder Fa Xiang
On April 25, on the way to the Master's Incarnation Kiln (the foundation site of the Shwedagon Pagoda on the hill to the right of the Sizu Temple), a brilliant rainbow appeared in the clear blue sky. Before the start of the Dharma Festival, from the sky on the northwest side of the mountain, nine white clouds floated, connected together, like nine lotus petals. After the Chuanyin Elder raised the fire, wisps of white smoke came out of the incarnation kiln.
Where did Master go?
Some say "Lotus ascends to the top", and Master went to the Pure Land World of Amitabha Buddha.
Some say "increase the rate of Tu", and the master went to Maitreya Bodhisattva's Tushi Heavenly Palace to listen to the Dharma.
The days I went to Huangmei, my wife was at home taking care of her five-year-old son Youyou. Yuyou asked her mother curiously, "Why do you always cry?" "Your master and grandfather are gone." "Mom, don't you cry, Master and Grandpa are in heaven now." "How do you know?" Yuyou said, "Don't believe me, you put up a ladder to the clouds, let's climb up and have a look." ”
Fairy tales are unbridled. However, these fairy tales are not the best comfort for us adults!
Perhaps at this moment, at the festival of Maitreya Bodhisattva in the Heavenly Palace, the sky was full of rain, and after the master saluted Maitreya Bodhisattva, he got up and returned to the old monk of the Void Cloud, and together with the bodhisattvas, he listened to Maitreya's teachings with a smile!
In fact, Master is still in the human world.
Qu finally disappeared, and several peaks on the river were green
Many years ago, someone asked Master, "If there is an afterlife, what are you going to do?" ”
Master said, "I make a vow before the Buddha every day: If all sentient beings have not yet become Buddhas, they will not take the mud here." Therefore, in the next life, I still want to be a monk and live for all sentient beings. ”
For Zen people who have broken through life and death, life and death are nothing more than a change of clothes. At the end of the first phase, he will turn away, but his sad wish makes him inseparable from all sentient beings, and he still wants to come back and "enter the mud and water, humiliate and prosper together" with all sentient beings.
Because for Master, although there is an end in this life, there is no end to the sorrow.
——(Excerpt from "Twenty Years of Zen with the Teacher")
Song of the Wishers Ma Mingbo's debut platform