Mr. Wei asked the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, "I heard that when the Patriarch Bodhidharma first arrived in Liangwu City, Emperor Wu asked him: I have built temples and monks throughout my life and donated bribes. What are the merits of it? Patriarch Bodhidharma replied: There is no

Wei Gong asked Sixth Patriarch Huineng: "I heard Bodhidharma When I first arrived in Liangwu City, Emperor Wu asked him: I have built temples and monks throughout my life, and donated monks to set up vegetarians. What are the merits of it? Bodhidharma replied: There is no merit. I don't understand why this is. I wish to listen to Zen Master Huineng's teachings."

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng replied: "It is indeed not merit. Don't doubt the words of the Patriarch Bodhidharma. Because Emperor Wu's heart is evil, he does not know what the Dharma is, building temples and monks, giving and setting up vegetarian food, these are just seeking blessings, and you should not regard "blessing" as "merit". Merit is in the Dharma body, not in cultivating blessings."

From this we can see that merits need to be achieved through practical practice, and giving good deeds is just seeking blessings. First, you have the merits of practice as the basis, and then give naturally. This is the use.

instead of trying to obtain merit through giving without the merit of practicing. This is impossible. If so, those who are good at giving can become enlightened and become Buddhas.

Sixth Patriarch Huineng said: Seeing nature is merit, and equality is virtue. Every thought is free from stagnation, common nature, true and wonderful use is called merit. Being humble in your heart is a merit, and being abenevolent in your manners is a virtue. The self-nature establishes all dharmas is a merit, and the mind is free from thoughts is virtue. Inseparable from one's own nature is merit, and applying without any defilement is virtue. If you seek merit and Dharma body, but do it according to this, it is true merit. If a person who cultivates merits has a strong heart, he will always be respectful. If you always have a light heart, and if you keep me, you will be useless. If one's nature is false and unreal, one has no virtue. It is because one is arrogant and always cares about everything.

Seeing the nature is the merit, equality is virtue: refers to the enlightenment of the mind and nature, and seeing the true nature after enlightenment, that is, enlightenment and becoming a Buddha. This is the merit, that is, practical practice and dedication to enlightenment of the mind and nature is the merit. After seeing the nature, you will naturally have the mentality of equality of all beings, which is a virtue that naturally reveals.

Every thought is free from stagnation, common nature, real and wonderful use, called merit: Every thought comes from the good in one's own nature. Without stagnation, one can use infinitely wonderful uses, and this is merit.

Inner humbleness is a merit, and layman's etiquette is virtue: After understanding the mind and seeing the nature, you will naturally be humble in your heart, so it is a merit. If you can be humble, you can treat everything naturally with courtesy. Quotes are virtues that are revealed.

Self-nature establishes all dharmas, and the mind is free from thoughts is virtue: After enlightenment, you will naturally understand all dharmas, just like Buddha faces different people, teaches different dharmas, and all dharmas are the same school, and they are still about seeing the nature, so it is merit. The essence of the mind is neither good nor evil, and free from thoughts means that there are no evil thoughts, evil thoughts, selfish desires, etc. When you have no evil thoughts when dealing with anything, it is virtue.

Inseparable from one's own nature is the work, and applying the untainted is virtue: Being able to always stay away from one's own nature is the work, which is the 'sense of nature is the Tao', which is the merit. Being able to act according to one's nature at all times is to apply one's own nature and not let evil thoughts and selfish desires be contaminated by one's nature. In this way, act is an exterior of virtue.

If you seek the Dharma body of merit, but if you do it according to this, it is the true merit: If you want to obtain the Dharma body of merit, as long as you follow what is mentioned above, it is the true merit.

If a person who cultivates merit, his heart will not be gentle and always practice universal respect: If a person who truly cultivates merit, his heart will not underestimate anyone or things, and always maintain a universal respectful heart.

The heart is always lighter, and I keep myself and I have no effect: The heart always despise others, and the ego has never stopped, this is lack of effect.

The self-nature is false and unreal, that is, it is self-non-virtuous, because I am arrogant and always careless: The self-non is always false and unreal, this is without virtue, and it is centered on one's own selfish desires and is extremely arrogant, so I often despise everything, which leads to lack of virtue.

Every thought is endless, and the mind is straight is virtue: Every thought is uninterrupted, and the above 'every thought is uninterrupted, common nature' is the same meaning , and is also the meaning of ' good care and care '. Protect the good thoughts emitted by each self-nature, rather than the evil thoughts emitted by self-nature. This is the meaning of hiring. Then treating everything with an upright and honest attitude is virtue.

This means the same as the lieutenant general of Confucian "University ". If you can protect the good thoughts emitted by your own nature, it will naturally be "sincere". If you do not act according to your own nature, you do it according to your own evil thoughts, but act according to your own evil thoughts.

Self-cultivation is the work, self-cultivation is virtue: Cultivation is the work, ‘nature’ is the ‘heart’, ‘Buddha’ is the ‘heart’, so Cultivation of the mind is the work, and self-cultivation is the virtue .

'Cultivation of self-cultivation is on the 'sentence', and 'correct heart' is on the 'not sent'. A correct mind is "middle", and a physical cultivation is "harmony".

''' means "the joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness are not released, which is called the middle" , which means that when emotions are not released, it is called ' in ', that is, ''.

's's sent' refers to "sending and borrowing the middle section, which is called the sum" , which means that emotions have been sent out, but can use the "middle" when 'not sent' to control , which is ' and ', that is, '' to cultivate '.

With the ‘middle’ of ‘correcting the mind’, there is the ‘harmony’ of ‘cultivating the body’, so it is said that “ If you want to cultivate your body, you must first correct your mind ”.

The body has emotional bias, and it can be corrected by the 'middle' of "correcting the mind", so it is said that " is upright and then the body is cultivated ".

From this we can see that Correcting the mind and cultivating nature is the work and the body. Cultivating oneself is virtue, and it is the use, and the body and use are one source. With the body of "gong", there is naturally the use of "virtue" .

The Confucianism calls "benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, and wisdom" are all , which naturally arises and exposes in the heart under different circumstances. The essence behind it is a body of the heart , which is the work.

is just a different mind in different situations and gives different effects. When he saw his father, he was filial to him, when he saw his leader, when he was loyal to him, when he saw his husband and wife, when he saw his friends, and when he was trusted to him, etc.

But these are not intentional, and they still emphasize "inaction", which is the way of nature, the pure natural expression in the heart, and the "straightness is called Tao". There is no slight deliberation, which requires " to be the body '.

If virtue cannot be revealed, you must think about being blocked by your own selfish desires, so as to effectively restrain yourself and restore rituals, eliminate selfish desires, and let the natural principles of this heart be naturally revealed.

Therefore The Sixth Patriarch Huineng said: Merit must be seen in the nature, not what is required by giving and offering. Therefore, the difference between blessings and merits is different. Emperor Wu does not know the truth, and it is not my ancestor Bodhidharma who has done it.