The four kindnesses are: one is the kindness of the father, the second is the kindness of the mother, the third is the kindness of the Tathagata, and the fourth is the kindness of the teacher. Parents have worked hard to give my body. Tathagata and Master, diligently educated and nurtured my wisdom. They are all kind to me and hard to repay. "Guanfoxianghaijing" says: "If you don't repay the kindness of others, it is the cause of your degeneration to Abi Hell." From this point of view, how can you ignore the four kinds of kindness that reward you? ◎ To repay the kindness of the parents, the only way to support them is to make the parents happy, and then use the Dharma to guide the parents so that they can leave the six paths of reincarnation. To repay the teacher's kindness, you should follow the teacher's teachings, work hard to practice, and provide for the teacher with four things: clothes, food, bedding, medicine. As for the deep grace of the Tathagata, it is especially difficult to repay, only to develop bodhicitta, make a grand vow, and learn from the Bodhisattva to stand up and transform yourself. Master Lianchi said: "As a child, you must be able to free your parents from the troubles of life and death, in this way the child's practice will be regarded as success." "Surangama Sutra" said: "To give this heart to the world, it is called repaying the Buddha's kindness ."-Excerpted from An Shiquan Book "Wenchang Emperor Silently Doing Good Virtue": Repaying the Four Kindness
All conditioned dharma arise because of conditions, so they are all impermanent. Things that didn't exist will come into being, and what already existed will disappear. So they are all impermanent, and they all come about because of causes and conditions. Impermanence will be painful, and painful so there is no me in it. Without me, a wise person should not cling to me and what I have. If you cling to me or what I own, there will be endless sorrows. In all worlds, the heart should abandon pursuit, and should leave desire. -What Mahākāśyapa Says Before Nirvana
A person who is a monk should not be close to his relatives. The heart of caring about relatives is like fire and snake. "Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom"
There are three kind of Dharma: one, conditioned; second, unconditioned; third, Dharma that could not be passed through by word. The above three include all the Dharma. ——"Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom"
What is the meaning of Anutpattika-Dharma-Kṣānti? What is called cut off? What is called known? The Buddha replied to Subhuti: To obtain Anutpattika-Dharma-Kṣānti, even not to produce a little unkind character, is the called Anutpattika-Dharma-Kṣānti. Cut off all the worries that the Bodhisattvas should cut off, is called cut off. To use wisdom to know that all Dharmas should not arise is called known. -"Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom" Volume 88
Kshanti is a kind of wisdom, which is different from forbearance. Here, the word Kshanti can be interpreted as thorough cognition, that is, to be able to recognize things clearly in the heart, to be able to understand it thoroughly, this is Kshanti; therefore, Kshanti is an alias for wisdom. The wisdom that can realize the immortality of all Dharma is called "Anutpattika-Dharma-Kṣānti". Therefore, the realm that Kshanti can understand is the truth of non-arise, all dharma should not arise and never devastate.
What is knowing the world? Answer: Knowing two kinds of worlds: one is the world of sentient beings, and the other is out of the world of sentient beings. And truthfully know the world, the cause of the world, the destruction of the world, and the way out of the world. Moreover, knowing the world not in a secular way nor knowing in the wrong way; knowing the world is impermanent because of suffering, and suffering is not myself. Moreover, knowing that the world is not permanent nor impermanent, it is not bounded or boundless, it is neither going nor non-going, not being attached to the above cognitions, being pure and not deteriorated, and just like nothingness. This is called knowing the world. -"Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom"
Everyone's habits are formed by many previous life accumulations. Even an Arahant will inevitably have the previous habits. The following two examples:
Example 1: Śāriputra led the Buddha's son Rāhula to accept the invitation of the believer to eat the fast in the believer's home. The believers respect the wisdom of Śāriputra, and provide Sariputra superior diet, but provide young Rāhula inferior diet. Buddha said that accepting this differentiated diet is an impure diet. Because of this incident, Śāriputra decided to never go to the believer's home to eat fast.
The king came to the Buddha to intercede for Śāriputra. The Buddha said that Śāriputra has been a firm-minded person since his many lives, and it is difficult to be persuaded. The Buddha talked about the cause and fate of Śāriputra in the past many lives:
There used to be a king who was bitten by a poisonous snake and was dying of life. He sought medical treatment everywhere. The doctor thought that in order to detoxify, the only way to detoxify was to let the poisonous snake suck the venom from the king’s wound. So the doctor set up a brazier on the ground with a raging fire inside, and then caught the snake and told it to suck the king’s wound. Otherwise, Just throw it into the fire and burn it to ashes. However, the poisonous snake resolutely refused to suck the wound, and would rather jump into the fire and burn to death. This snake is the previous life of Śāriputra long ago.
Example 2: Pilinda-vatsa, on the way to beg for food, he always passed the Ganges River. Because of his bad eyes, he said before crossing the river: "Little maid, don't flow!" To help Pilinda-vatsa crossing the river, the Ganges goddess stopped the flow and waited until Pilinda-vatsa crossed the river she let the river flow again. However, the Ganges Goddess was very unhappy when Pilinda-vatsa called her a "little maid", so she came to the Buddha to lodge a complaint. The Buddha asked Pilinda-vatsa to apologize to the goddess of the Ganges river. Pilinda-vatsa said very respectfully: "Don't be angry, little maid, I apologize to you." After listening to Pilinda-vatsa's apology, everyone laughed and thought he was insincere. The Buddha said that Pilinda-vatsa's behavior and tone were very sincere, and his words were not malicious. So the Buddha talked about the cause and fate of Pilinda-vatsa's past lives. Because in the past five hundred lives, Pilinda-vatsa was born in a Brahman caste family, which is the highest caste class in India. So his arrogance is the habit of many times in his previous lives, and he still has the remaining arrogance habit until this life.
Arahants still have remaining habits, let alone ordinary people? Only by practicing to the realm of the Buddha can there be no habit. When the Buddha was in the world, a prostitute was instructed by a group of bad guys to buckle her abdomen with a basin and slander the Buddha in front of hundreds of Buddha's disciples, saying that the Buddha had defiled her and made her pregnant. Hundreds of bad guys around shouted: "I know it's true!" But the Buddha's face was no different, no shame on his face. Suddenly the basin fell from the abdomen of the prostitute to the ground, causing the prostitute's lies to be exposed on the spot. The earth shook as a result, the heavens scattered flowers for the Buddha, praising the Buddha's virtues, and the Buddha did not have the slightest joy. In daily life, even if the Buddha ate the food eaten by horses, he did not feel sorrow, and even if he ate the best food offered by the heavens, he did not rejoice. This is true regardless of diet, clothes, and bedding. The mind is always the same, there is no difference in anything, and is always unwavering. So the Buddha has forever got rid of the habit.
The Cizhou governor of the Tang Dynasty, named Wang Qianshi, had a benevolent and filial temperament, and was known for being calm and cautious, especially proficient in Buddhist scriptures.
In the sixth year of Zhenguan, his father passed away. His grief and grief were beyond the usual rituals. He carried the soil to build his father’s tomb and lived in a small hut on the left side of the tomb. He recites Buddhist scriptures every night to help his father to increase blessing in the other world.
People nearby often hear the sound of a chime in the place where he is chanting. The sound is clear and sweet, and the strange fragrance can be smelled from miles away.
[Notes] People who have just died, their consciousness is in a coma, there is no light in the road ahead, and a partner can not be seen in their eyes. For forty-nine days, they are terrified and fearful, and their suffering is indescribable. They always look forward to their relatives in the living world chanting sutras and reciting the Buddha for blessings and salvation.
Therefore, filial sons and grandchildren must not only have a good burial place for their parents, but also a good destination for their parents' spiritual consciousness. For example, the kernel of a peach or plum is the kernel that can grow endlessly. People nowadays only know that they must be sincere when attaching the clothes and utensils attached to the deceased relatives. However, people nowadays do not know how to bring their parents' spiritual consciousness to a peaceful place. Wouldn't it just take care of the husk and discard the kernels?
Excerpted from An Shiquan Book "Wenchang Emperor Silently Doing Good Virtue": The strange fragrance can be smelled from far away
Later Zhou (951-960), the last dynasty of the Central Plains during the Five Dynasties of China, there was a man named Zhang Yuan with the character Xiaoshi. At the age of sixteen, his grandfather had been blind for three years. Zhang Yuan worshipped the Buddha day and night, praying for the blessings of Buddha.
One day, when he was reading the Bhaiṣajya-Guru-Vaiḍūrya-Prabhāsa-Tathāgata-Pūrva-Praṇidhāna-Viśeṣa-Vistara-Guṇa-Sūtra, he saw the phrase "blind people can gain eyesight" in the scripture. So he invited seven monks to light up seven lamps and read the " Bhaiṣajya-Guru-Vaiḍūrya-Prabhāsa-Tathāgata-Pūrva-Praṇidhāna-Viśeṣa-Vistara-Guṇa-Sūtra" non-stop for seven days and nights. He worshipped Buddha and cried and said: "Master of heaven and humanity! Zhang Yuan is an unfilial grandson, and his grandfather is blind. Now he uses light to spread the magic world. May Zhang Yuan bear the darkness instead of his grandfather and let his grandfather's eyes see light again." He was so diligent after seven days. That night, he dreamed of an old man scratching his grandfather’s eyes with gold, and said to Zhang Yuan: “Don’t worry, your grandfather’s eyes will be restored after three days.” Zhang Yuan jumped up and woke up with joy in his dream. He told his family all about the dream.
After three days, my grandfather's eyes were restored.
[Notes] Nothing is good at curing diseases than prescribing the right medicine. The cause of blindness is mostly from previous lives slandering the Buddha and slandering the Dharma. Therefore, in order to cure the blindness of all living beings (for those who do not believe in the Dharma), we must show him the right eyes of the Vajra. The "Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra" says: "If there are sentient beings in the past, either because they slandered the Dharma, or because they slandered the saints, or because they prevented others from speaking about the Dharma, or because they changed the content when copying the Buddhist scriptures, or because they damaged the Dharma , or because of the concealment of the Dharma, the result of this karma is the blindness in this life."
"Fu Fa Zang Sutra" also said: "If you hinder others from becoming a monk, you will be reincarnated into hell, hungry ghosts and beasts. After your lives are over in these three realms, you will be reincarnated in the human being world, but you will be blind when you are born." Zhang XiaoShi can really be called a man who knows how to prescribe medicine.
Excerpted from An Shiquan Book "Wenchang Emperor Silently Doing Good Virtue": The Blind Can See