Buddhism has not yet heard of a one-armed Buddha, but in history there was indeed a great monk who taught the Dharma with one arm. That great saint was the founder of Bodhidharma. Successor, the second ancestor of Chinese Zen, Master Huike.
The origin of Master Huike’s enlightenment
The second ancestor, Master Huike, had a common surname of Ji, Hulao (also known as Wulao, now Chenggao, Henan) County northwest) people. His father's name was Ji. Before Huike was born, he was always worried about having no children. He thought: "My family is very good, how can I have no children?" So he prayed to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas every day for protection, hoping to have a son to inherit the ancestral legacy. After praying devoutly for a period of time, one evening at dusk, I sensed the Buddha's light filling the room. Soon Huike's mother became pregnant. In order to express gratitude to the Buddha, after Huike was born, his parents named him "Guang".
Huike had extraordinary ambitions since he was a child, he was broad-minded, well-read and well-remembered, and he dabbled in Confucianism, especially "Poetry" and "Yi". He liked to travel around the mountains and rivers, but was not interested in running a family and establishing a career. Later, I came into contact with Buddhist scriptures and felt deeply that "the teachings of Confucius, etiquette, customs, and Zhuangyi's books did not fully understand the wonderful principles." Therefore, I concentrated on Buddhist principles, detached myself from the outside world, felt at ease, and came up with the idea of ??becoming a monk. Seeing that his ambition was unchangeable, his parents allowed him to become a monk. So he came to Longmen Xiangshan in Luoyang and studied Buddhism with Zen Master Baojing. Soon he went to Yongmu Temple to receive full ordination. After that, he traveled to various lecture halls to study the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism. After years of study, although Zen Master Huike has a full understanding of the scriptures and teachings, personal life and death matters are still a mystery to him.
At the age of thirty-two, Zen Master Huike returned to Xiangshan, gave up his past practice of simply pursuing knowledge of words, and began to practice practice. He meditates from morning to night every day, hoping to use the power of meditation to solve the problem of life and death. Eight years passed like this. One day, while meditating, Zen Master Huike suddenly saw a divine man standing in front of him and told him: "Why should you linger in this evil when you are about to receive the fruit of your desire? The great road is (not) far away, and you are to the south (if you want to Once you have attained the holy fruit, stop clinging to sitting here and staying here. The great road is not far from you, so just go south!" Zen Master Huike knew that the Dharma Protector was enlightening him at this time, so he changed his name to Changed to divine light. The next day, Zen Master Huike felt an unbearable headache, like needles pricking him. His orator, Zen Master Baojing, wanted to find a doctor to treat him. At this time, Zen Master Huike heard a voice in the air telling him: "This is a completely different person, not an ordinary headache." Zen Master Huike then told his teacher what he heard. When Zen Master Baojing saw that his parietal bone was indeed bulging like five peaks, he said to Zen Master Huike: "This is an auspicious sign. You must achieve enlightenment. The protector guides you to go south, clearly telling you that in Shaolin Temple Master Bodhidharma facing the wall is your teacher." Zen Master Huike then bid farewell to Master Baojing and went to Shaoshi Mountain, where he came to the place where Master Bodhidharma faced the wall and served him day and night. At first, Patriarch Bodhidharma just meditated facing the wall and ignored him at all, let alone taught him anything. However, Zen Master Huike was not discouraged, but became more respectful and pious in his heart. He constantly inspired himself with Gude's spirit of forgetting his body for the Dharma: "In the past, people sought the truth, broke bones to extract marrow, pricked blood to relieve hunger, covered mud with hair, and threw themselves into cliffs to feed tigers. If this was the case in ancient times, who am I?" In this way, he stayed outside the cave from morning to night every day, not daring to slack off at all. After a period of time, one year on the night of the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, the weather suddenly turned cold, the wind was biting, and it snowed heavily. Zen Master Huike still stood there, motionless. When it was almost dawn, the snow actually reached his knees.
At this time, Patriarch Bodhidharma slowly turned around, glanced at him, felt pity, and asked: "You have been standing in the snow for a long time, what do you want to ask for?"
Zen Master Huike shed tears and replied sadly: "I only hope that the monk will be merciful, open the door of nectar, and widen the community."
The Patriarch Bodhidharma said: "The supreme and wonderful way of all Buddhas will last for a long time. Hard work can be done with diligence, but endurance is not possible without patience. How can you use small virtues and small wisdom, be careless and arrogant, and hope for the true vehicle? Only by doing what ordinary people cannot do and enduring what ordinary people cannot endure can you achieve enlightenment.
How can it be achieved by people with little virtue, little wisdom, and carelessness? If you seek the One Vehicle Dharma based on small virtues, small wisdom, carelessness and arrogance, it will only be foolish talk and hard work without any results). ”
After listening to the teachings and encouragement of the founder, in order to express his earnestness and determination to seek Dharma, Zen Master Huike secretly picked up a sharp knife, cut off his left arm with a click, and put it on In front of the Patriarch, the snow suddenly turned red with blood.
Patriarch Bodhidharma was moved by Zen Master Huike’s pious behavior and knew that Zen Master Huike was a magic weapon, so he said: “Buddhas first seek the Tao and forget their form for the Dharma. , you have cut off your arm in front of me, how can you pray for it? (When all the Buddhas first sought the way, they did not hesitate to live and forget their bodies for the sake of the Dharma. Now in order to seek the Dharma, in front of me, you also followed the example of the Buddhas and cut off your own arm. If you seek the method in this way, you will definitely succeed.) "
Patriarch Bodhidharma then changed the name of Shenguang to Huike.
Zen Master Huike asked: "Can the seals of the Buddhas be heard? "
The Patriarch said: "The seals of all Buddhas cannot be obtained from humans. "
Zen Master Huike was at a loss when he heard this, and said, "My heart is not at peace, so I beg you for peace." "
The Patriarch replied: "I will send my heart to you. "
Zen Master Huike pondered for a long time and replied: "You can't find it if you look for it. "
The Patriarch then replied: "I am at peace with you. ”
After listening to the answer of the Patriarch, Zen Master Huike suddenly realized and became excited. It turns out that there is no real heart to obtain, and there is no real "restlessness" to be at peace with. Peace and uneasiness are all about Delusion.
After Zen Master Huike became enlightened, he continued to stay with Patriarch Bodhidharma for six years (also said to be nine years). Later, he inherited the mantle of the Patriarch and became the second ancestor of Zen Buddhism.
According to historical records, after the second ancestor Huike gave the Dharma to the third ancestor Seng Can, he immediately went to Yedu, kept a low profile, changed his appearance, and preached as appropriate, either in wine shops, or at the slaughterhouse. Practicing street talk, or accompanying the servants, one note can be played smoothly, and the four people have taken refuge in it, and this has lasted for thirty-four years.
Someone once asked the second ancestor: "Master is a Taoist, why are you like this?" You are a monk. A monk has the precepts of a monk. How can you go in and out of such unclean places?) "
The second ancestor replied: "I adjust my own mind, what does it have to do with you? (I observe and adjust my own mind, what does it have to do with you)! ”
Zen Master Huike is good at rhetoric. Although he has no intention of promoting his Zen method, more and more people know about his Zen method. As his influence expands day by day, his Dharma promotion activities have suffered At that time, the monks who adhered to the scriptures were attacked. At that time, a master named Bianhe was teaching the Nirvana Sutra in the temple. After listening to Zen Master Huike's lecture, his disciples gradually left the lecture and followed Zen Master Huike. Master Bianhe was so angry that he slandered Zen Master Huike in front of the governor Zhai Zhongkan, saying that he had listened to Master Bianhe's slander and illegally persecuted Zen Master Huike. , there was no resentment. It is recorded in the Denglu that Zen Master Huike lived for 107 years and died in the 13th year of the reign of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty (593).
About Zen Master Huike. During his lifetime, there are some records in Volume 1 of "The Record of Lankavatara" written by Zen Master Huike in "A Brief Introduction to the Essentials of Cultivating the Way and Enlightenment of the Mind" - "The Lankavatara Sutra says: Muni's Silence Contemplation is this. Then stay away from life and death, which is called not taking. Among all the Buddhas in the ten directions in this world and the next, if there is one person who does not become a Buddha by sitting in meditation, there is no place for him. The Ten Grounds Sutra says: In the bodies of living beings, there is a Vajra Buddha, like a sun wheel, with perfect body brightness and boundless vastness. It is only covered by the five shadows and heavy clouds, so that no living beings can see it. If there is a wise wind, the five shadows are floating, the heavy clouds are extinguished, and the Buddha nature is fully illuminated, radiant and pure. "The Avatamsaka Sutra" says: It is as vast as the Dharma Realm, and ultimately as empty space. It is also like a lamp in a bottle that cannot illuminate the outside. It is also like the clouds and mist in the world that rise from all directions. The world is dark, but the sun rises brightly and cleanly. The sunlight does not break down and is only a fog barrier. . The pure nature of all sentient beings is also like this. They are just clinging to it, having delusional views, and being burdened with troubles, which obstruct the holy path and cannot be manifested. If you do not have any delusional thoughts and sit quietly (quietly), you will naturally be clear and pure on the day of great nirvana.
A popular book says: Ice is born from water and ice restrains water; ice disappears and water flows; delusion arises from truth and delusion leads to truth; delusion ends and truth is realized. That is to say, the ocean of mind is clear and the body is empty and pure. Therefore, those who follow words and language as the Way are like lamps caught in the wind, unable to break the darkness, and their flames die out. If you sit quietly and do nothing, like a lamp in a secret room, it will break up the darkness and reveal things clearly. ...If sincerity does not arise from within, even the Buddhas on the sands of Hengsha will do nothing in three lifetimes. It is knowing that all sentient beings have their own minds and hearts. The Buddha does not save sentient beings. If the Buddha can save sentient beings, in the past I met countless Buddhas on the sands of Hengsha. Why can’t I become a Buddha? It's just that if sincerity doesn't come from within, if you can speak it with your mouth but not with your heart, you will inevitably follow the karma and receive the shape. Therefore, Buddha-nature is like the sun and moon in the world, fire in wood, and Buddha-nature in people. It is also called the lamp of Buddha-nature, and it is also called the mirror of Nirvana. It shines brightly in the sun and moon, and is round and pure inside and outside, boundless. Just like refining gold, when the fire of gold is exhausted, the nature of gold will not be destroyed, all living beings will be destroyed in life and death, and the Dharma body will not be destroyed. Just like the destruction of a mud ball, and the destruction of waves, the nature of water is not broken, the life and death of all living beings are destroyed, and the Dharma body is not broken. ... "The Avatamsaka Sutra" says: Just like a poor person who counts his treasures day and night but doesn't have a penny to spare, the same is true for many scholars. Readers may also take a quick look at it, but it is urgent to give it up. If you don’t give it up, it is the same as writing. How is it different from boiling running water in search of ice, and boiling soup in search of snow? ..."
Another layman, Xiang, heard that the Second Patriarch was prosperous and wrote to Tong Hao: "Shadows arise from shapes, and echoes follow sounds. To make shadows is to use shapes, but not to recognize shapes as shadows. Raise the sound and stop the sound, but you don’t know that the sound is the root of the sound. Eliminating worries and achieving nirvana is a metaphor for removing form and finding shadow. To stay away from all living beings and seek Buddhahood is to seek the sound of silence. Therefore, we know that confusion and enlightenment are the same path, and ignorance and wisdom are not different. The nameless person makes a name, because the name means non-life. It is unreasonable to act rationally, and arguments arise because of its principles. Illusion is not real, who is right and wrong? False and without reality, how can it be empty? You will know that you have nothing to gain and nothing to lose. Before I could pay him a visit, I chatted with him about this idea and looked forward to answering him. After reading it, Zen Master Huike wrote back:
"Bei Guan's intentions are all true, but the principles of true secludedness are actually different."
This is what Mimani calls rubble, but suddenly he realizes that it is a real pearl.
There is no difference between ignorance, wisdom, etc. You should know that all dharmas are the same.
I am sorry for these two disciples, so I wrote this book with words and words.
There is no difference between contemplating the body and the Buddha, so there is no need to look for the other. ”
The two quotations quoted above basically represent the Zen views of Zen Master Huike and the mainstream development of Zen Buddhism in later generations.
You can dream of him, which means that you have a relationship with Buddhism. I have a very deep affinity with the Dharma, especially with Zen Buddhism. Maybe you are a very talented person, but now, the opportunity is ripe. I hope you can practice well, or do more good deeds, and accumulate merit. I don’t want to humiliate you. A profound connection with Dharma.