Picture/Zhaozhou Tower of Cypress after Snow

Wen/Jinghui Old Monk

Our life is full of Zen ideas and Zen strategies, which are called "magical powers and wonderful uses, transporting water and firewood". However, most people do not realize that they have the potential to experience Zen because of their self isolation, which is called "people do not know when they use Zen". Here we can pick up two cases of the ancients' saying Zen, understanding Zen and walking Zen by taking the opportunity of daily life, which should help deepen the understanding of Zen in life.

　　 Zen is everywhere

In the late Tang Dynasty, there was a Longtan monk whose master was the Emperor Daowu Zen Master. He stayed with Shifu for a long time and waited on Shifu every day. He felt that as the days passed, Master did not give him instructions on Zen meditation. One day, the Longtan Monk asked the Master: "I have not been instructed since I came." His Master said, "Since you came, I have never failed to instruct." The Longtan asked, "Where is the instruction?" The Master said, "You hold the tea, and I will receive it for you; you eat, and I will accept it for you; when you and Nan ①, I will bow my head. Where is not the instruction?" Longtan listened to the teacher's advice, He bowed his head for a long time without saying a word. The Master said, "If you see it, you will see it straight down, and if you think about it, you will be poor." At the moment when Master forced you to make contact, Longtan could not think about divination. At the moment, it opened its mind and understood its nature. So he further asked his teacher, "How can we keep our promise

This case clearly tells us the fact that as a Zen person's life, it is full of Zen opportunities. As long as scholars devote themselves to it, they can understand Zen opportunities everywhere and demonstrate the realm of Zen everywhere. Equally important, this case also tells us that the post enlightenment safeguarding skill is "but with all your heart, there is no divine solution".

　　 Normal mind is Tao

The key to experiencing Zen in life is to maintain an ordinary mind, the so-called "ordinary mind is Tao". The profound content contained in the following legal case may enlighten us on how to keep calm in life.

The active lawyer asked Zen Master Huihai, "Do monks still work hard when they practice?" The teacher said, "Work hard; If you don't want to sleep when you sleep, you will worry about everything. So it's different. " There is such a big gap between Zen people's eating and sleeping and ordinary people's eating and sleeping, which is the fundamental reason why we cannot experience Zen in our daily life of dressing and eating. If we remove the "hundred kinds of whiskers" when we eat and the "thousand ways of thinking" when we sleep, we can breathe out with the same nostrils as the Zen masters of previous generations.

notes:

① He Nan: The transliteration of Sanskrit vandana is a language of inquiry to the leader, which is one of the rites.

② Forced conversation: still forced.

——This article was originally published in the first issue of Zen in 1993