Su Dongpo and Zen Master Foyin from Jinshan Temple are not only close friends but also fear and friendship. They often discuss and practice Buddhism. They have a lot of experience. One day they wrote a verse and felt that they had a lot of experience.

Picture/text Tian Rougang

Su Dongpo and Jinshan Temple Zen Master Foyin not only are confidants but also friends who are afraid and honest with each other. They often discuss and practice Buddhism. They have a lot of experience. One day, I wrote a verse and felt quite experienced. At that time, Su Dongpo worked in Guazhou, Jiangbei, and was separated from Jinshan Temple by a river. Writing the verses, sending the scholar to cross the river, and sending Zen Master Foyin to Zen. The verse is written like this:

Chu's head in the sky, and the rays of light shine on the vast world.

Eight winds cannot blow, sit upright on the purple golden lotus.

roughly means: bow to the Buddha and receive the Buddha's light. After I practice, I will no longer be shaken by external forces. Even when facing the eight winds of benefit, decline, destruction, praise, praise, ridicule, suffering and happiness, I can calmly handle it, just like the Buddha sitting upright on a lotus seat, not being moved by the world.

After reading it, Zen Master Foyin picked up his pen and wrote four words - fart, fart. Then, he asked the servant to take it back.

Su Dongpo originally thought that the bookkeeper would definitely bring back the praises from Zen Master Foyin. But as soon as I saw the verse, I wrote four words: fart, fart. So he was unhappy and thought he should have been praised, but instead he was scolded for "faring". He was dissatisfied, so he immediately crossed the river and rushed to Zen Master Foyin to argue.

After meeting, he asked Zen Master Foyin: "We are already friends, how can you start to curse?"

Zen Master Foyin laughed and said: Oh! Aren’t you “ Eight Winds can’t blow, sit upright on the purple golden lotus”? Why did you hit you across the river just by just two farts? Only then did Su Dongpo convince himself that his own realm had not yet reached the state of "still motion".

Only by learning can you learn by learning if you can learn from Su Dongpo and Zen Master Foyin do not easily “like”. Nowadays, people with teachers and friends have a friendship, except for giving thumbs up, what are the discussions about right and wrong, high and low, and enlightenment and ignorance? I remember the couplet of Zheng Banqiao in the Qing Dynasty, "Why do you like it when you scratch the itch through the shoe, and you can curse it in three parts." It's really a matter of not publishing!

Of course, there are many beauties who appreciate themselves in the mirror, and I probably think that there are too few who are liked. It is also a current trend to post a work. But it was not without it. In Yuan Mei 's "Suiyuan Poetry Talk": Some people always praise their poems, which is very annoying to everyone. An old man who is sophisticated told me: "Don't blame me. If he doesn't like him, who else can praise me?" This is really impossible. Especially when half a bucket of water sways as a praising yourself, it is an overly extravagant desire to rush into the sea of ​​applause.

​In the Supplementary Volume 54 of "Suiyuan Poetry Talk", there are some anecdotes:

"Suiyuan Poetry Talk" was famous all over the world at that time. Poets either personally or ask someone to recommend it, and they sent their works continuously. The poem "great occasion" was unprecedented, Yuan Mei was overwhelmed and complained frequently. With his strict standards, it is difficult for ordinary manuscripts to enter this "dragon gate". However, a scholar had repeatedly advised his relatives to deliver his poems to Mr. Yuan Mei before he died of illness and tried to include them in the "Suiyuan Poetry Talk". He believed that death was quickly destroyed, but poetry could be immortalized by Yuan Mei's "Poetry Talk". He also praised himself, but fortunately, several poems caught Yuan Mei's attention. His name was Zhang Zhuotang (Shi Zhun) and he was able to be conveyed.

Selected "Spring Rain":

"The sound of rain drizzles and sounds like the empty courtyard, making the cold wash away the spring.

I can't sleep for a night, so I can't worry about the flowers."

"In the sickness":

"The disease is so empty that I have been sanitizing for three years. I wake up from my dream and warm up a book.

I still have tired my wife and decoct medicine late at night, and the servant is lazy and I ask the doctor for help."

Poems entered Mr. Suiyuan's "Poetry Talk", and people are still alive even if they die.

There was a period of popular self-recommendation. I wrote a short article "Self-recommendation may not be true" and expressed disapproval (see the picture below), which is similar to the current self-recommendation.

It is true that good self-praise does not abandon true feelings, just as every bird will find its own mountain. Mutual praise includes both a common language of mutual appreciation and a common people who are kind to others. However, to truly manage a peach blossom land, you still have to be respectful and maintain the deepest purity and original intention in your heart. Let the breeze sway from the black and white words, and inspire yourself and your friends to work hard for their inner love.

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