The Life Story of a Fortune-teller _ Mirror _

What does Bodhi mean without a tree and a mirror?

"Mirror" here refers to our hearts. It's a long story to understand accurately.

This is Master Huineng, the sixth ancestor of Zen Buddhism. When they first entered Buddhism, his master asked them to write a poem to explain their understanding of Buddhism. So the elder brother said, "Being a bodhi tree makes my heart feel like a mirror. Always wipe, don't get dust. "

Huineng, on the other hand, put forward a different understanding of the views of the master elder brother. He said: "Bodhi has no trees, and the mirror is not a stage. There is nothing, where will it cause dust? "

Judging from the cultivation and realm of Buddhism, Huineng is obviously much higher, so Huineng was finally taught by Master, and was called the sixth generation of Zen Buddhism (you can understand it as "the head").

The master elder brother's beautiful poem is understood as follows: "As a bodhi tree, my heart is like a mirror. Wipe hard, don't get dust. " It means: Disciples are like bodhi trees (Sakyamuni Buddha enlightened under bodhi trees in those days), and disciples' hearts are like a bright stage mirror, which should be brushed constantly to prevent it from being polluted by dust and dirt, which will hinder the bright nature (for this reason, it takes ten years to grow a tree, but it takes a hundred years to grow a man).

Huineng explained it this way: "Bodhi has no trees, and the mirror is not Taiwan. There is nothing, so there is no dust. " It means: Bodhi tree is not a bodhi tree, but a metaphor of wisdom. A bright mirror is not a mirror, but a metaphor for a quiet heart. Our heart is quiet, what dust will catch it there?

The difference between them is that Shen Xiu expresses his feelings with the help of concrete images, while Huineng transcends Shen Xiu's realm and directly sees the essence of things without metaphor.

However, this case has led many people in the secular world to think that epiphany is higher than gradual enlightenment, so there is a tendency to belittle beauty and praise wisdom. In fact, it's like the story of the ancients eating seven sesame cakes. After eating seven, he was full. If he realized it, he knew that the seventh baked wheat cake would be full, so I would only eat the seventh one! According to this comparison, Shen Xiu is 1-6 baked wheat cake, and Huineng is the seventh baked wheat cake. The two come down in one continuous line, and no one can live without anyone.