There is a story about Zen Buddhism that "The Woman Burns the Temple". It has many versions. Today I will tell you a version I heard. In the late Tang and early Song dynasties, Buddhism was very popular in the Central Plains. There is a family of three, the mother, son and daught

There is a story about Zen Buddhism that "The Wo Zi Burns the Temple". It has many versions. Today I will tell you a version I heard.

At the end of the Tang and early Song dynasties, Buddhism was very popular in the Central Plains. There is a family of three, the mother, son and daughter-in-law are all devout Buddhists. Less than a hundred days after their son and daughter-in-law got married, the son was arrested and joined the army, leaving only the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in the family.

One day, a Chan and his son, who were in their forties, came to the village, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, decided to offer him. All believers in Buddhism know that offering sacrifices to monks is better than respecting all Buddhas in the ten directions and three times.

Without monks, there is no Buddha, and there is no Dharma, so offering sacrifices to monks means offering sacrifices to Buddha, offering sacrifices to Dharma. So the monk built a thatched hut not far from his mother-in-law's-law's house and lived in it. The mother-in-law asked his daughter-in-law to deliver food to him every day.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law gave the monk three-year meal regardless of wind and rain. One day, the mother-in-law said, "Daughter-in-law, go and see how the Zen and Zi did in three years."

The daughter-in-law went to deliver the monk three years of food. When the meal arrived, the monk was meditating with his eyes closed. The wife went up and hugged the monk in her arms and said, "I want it, I want it!" The monk said proudly, "Ah, the dead trees are on the cold rocks, and there is no heating for three winters." Do you think his meditation skills are powerful? You are a dead tree, I am a cold rock, and I don’t have any evil thoughts when I hug you two people, and I don’t even feel anything.

This skill is amazing! The daughter-in-law went back and told her mother-in-law about the two words that the monk said. My mother-in-law said, "I raised a fool in vain! I drove him away and asked him to go out to study!"

Where can I study? Go to Jiangxi and Hunan and Hubei. At that time, there were many great masters in Jiangxi and Hunan and Hubei. Practitioners went to that area to study. The word "going around the world" came from this and has been passed down to this day. But today, its meaning has completely changed.

This monk was not convinced and thought to himself: I am so good at being so good. I hold the beautiful woman in my arms. I feel like she is a dead tree. My heart is like a cold rock. I will not have any evil thoughts in three winters, and I will not feel anything. Why do you drive me away? However, in the past, gentlemen who were righteous and gentlemen who encountered problems always looked for reasons in themselves and would not look for others - this is the biggest difference between ancient people and modern people, so he left the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and went to the world to study.

Half a year later, he returned to his old lady's house and said to him, "You provide support to me for another three years." The old lady agreed, so the daughter-in-law gave him another three New Year's Eve dinner. One day, the mother-in-law said to her daughter-in-law again, "Three years have arrived, you can go and take the skills of Zen and Zi." The daughter-in-law went to the thatched hut, put the rice basket, hugged the monk and said, "I want it, I want it!" This time, the monk opened his eyes and hugged the daughter-in-law and said, "Heaven knows, the earth knows, you know, I know, don't let your mother-in-law know." After the daughter-in-law returned, she told the monk what she said. The mother-in-law happily said, "Let's go, daughter, pick him out of seclusion, and finally you didn't raise a fool!" The mother-in-law summoned hundreds of people in the village, and invited the monk out like welcoming the living Buddha out of seclusion, so that he could accept the worship and offerings from everyone in the village.

What is Zen? This is Zen. Zen does not deny everything in the present, recognize everything in the present, but is not transformed by everything in the present, transcends one's own mind, changes one's mind, transcends and overtakes external factors. Obviously a beautiful woman in the 28th place is holding you, how could you think she is a dead tree and a stone? How can you deny the real beauty in front of you? This can only show that you are extremely hypocritical, psychopathic, deny the present, and think you have the skills! What is Zen? "Beauty, beautiful girl, although you are beautiful, my heart is not moved." - This is Zen.

But what is Zen now? "Ugly, ugly, my heart doesn't move." It turns out that it's because she is ugly that your heart doesn't move! If you have the ability, you are: "Beauty, beautiful woman, my heart is still unmoved." But what is the best Zen? It is what the ancients said, "Wine, sex, wealth and energy do not hinder the Bodhi path" and "pass without trace", this is the wonderful use!