If you observe with one heart and realize that all things in the world are phases, and the truth is pure and unformed, then there will be no more wrong perceptions, no wrong behaviors, and no more suffering.
There was an elder in Shravasti, who devoted himself to the construction of pagodas and temples. After his death, he was born into heaven. Because his wife missed her husband, she often went to clean the pagoda and temple built by her husband. One day, she saw her husband in the air and said to her: "I am your husband. Because of the merits of building the pagoda and temple, I was born in heaven. Because I saw you miss me, I came down specially. But this world is stinky and cannot be approached. If you want to be my wife again, you have to make dedication to the Buddha and the monk diligently, repair and clean the pagoda and temple, and make a wish to be born to the heaven where I live." She followed her husband’s words to do it, and she was born to heaven after her death, and get together with her husband. The couple came to see the Buddha together, and the Buddha explained the Dharma for them. They all attained Sotāpanna (birth seven times to heaven and seven times to the human world, and the cycle of life and death will be ended). [Note] It is said in the Buddhist scriptures that it is even better to sweep a palm-sized place of a pagoda than to sweep the monastery around the world. It can be seen that the merits of sweeping the pagoda are great! -Excerpted from An Shiquan Book "Wenchang Emperor Silently Doing Good Virtue": Be a couple together
Medicine can cure common diseases, but it cannot cure diseases caused by cause and effect. The cause of the Han Dynasty can cause the result of the Tang Dynasty. The following is an example:
At the time of Emperor Han Jing, the leaders of the seven vassal states were arrogant and presumptuous, among which Wu State had the intent of rebellion. Chao Cuo saw this sign and was worried about the unrest, so he persuaded the emperor to think about reducing the land of the vassal states. As soon as the seven vassal states heard about this, they immediately rebelled. The emperor was very worried, ready to discuss how to crusade the rebels. Yuan Ang, the prime minister of the state of Wu, took the opportunity to persuade the emperor to punish Chao Cuo because he had personal injustice against Chao Cuo. Emperor Han Jing really put Chao Cuo to death. The emperor only began to regret it when others had written to the emperor to avenge Chao Cuo, but Chao Cuo had already been killed.
This incident has passed for a long time, from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty. During the time of Tang Yizong, there was a national master named Wu Da who happened to meet a monk in the capital before his fame was revealed. This monk was seriously ill, and everyone disliked him, except that Master Wu Da was very respectful to this monk and did not show any disgust at all. When parting later, the monk was moved by his sincerity and said to Master Wu Da: "If you are in danger from now on, you can come to Chalong Mountain in Pengzhou, Xishu, to find me. There are two pine trees on the mountain as a mark."
Master Wu Da lived in Chang'an, and his reputation increased day by day. Emperor Yizong worshipped him as a national teacher and bestowed him a throne of agarwood. The emperor's favor on him deepened day by day.
Suddenly one day, a face-shaped sore grew on Master Wu Da’s knee. The sore was just like a human being in eating and drinking, which caused Master Wu Da to be extremely painful. The best doctor did not know what the disease was. At this moment, Master Wu Da suddenly remembered the sick monk's parting instructions, and went straight to Chalong Mountain. By the time it was dusk, there was no one looking around, and when he was wandering, he saw two pine trees in the cloud from a distance, and he walked in this direction, and he ran into the sick monk. Master Wu Da told the monk his pain. The sick monk said: "It doesn't matter, there is spring water under this rock. If you go to wash it tomorrow morning, it will be better."
The next morning, a boy took him to the mountain spring. When he was holding water to wash the sore, the sore suddenly shouted: "You can't wash me, I still have grievances to say. You may know history well. You have read the killing of Yuan Ang recorded in the Book of the Western Han Dynasty. What's wrong with Chao Cuo?"
The national teacher said: "I have read it." The sore said: "You are Yuan Ang, and I am Chao Cuo. How about the grievance of being killed! I want revenge for several lifetimes, just because you have been reincarnated for ten lifetimes as moral monks who strictly observe the precepts, so I could not take revenge. Now you are favored by the emperor, you have developed fame and fortune, and damaged your virtue, so I have the opportunity to take revenge. Today, thanks to Arhat kanankabharadhvaja who teach you to wash me with Samadhi water, I will stop grieving with you from now on." When Master Wu Da heard it, his heart was greatly shaken. When he held the water to wash the sore, the pain went through his bones, and he fainted and woke up again, and the sore was gone. The three-volume "Water Confession" handed down in later generations is the confession made by the Master Wu Da after he recovered from his illness.
Note: ① Chao Cuo (200 BC-154 BC) Western Han Dynasty political commentator, born in Yingchuan (Yu County, Henan). At the time of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, he served as Taichang in charge. Later, he was trusted by the prince (laterEmperor Han Jing Di), and was named "Think Tank". When Emperor Han Jing ascended the throne, he was appointed as Yushi. He urged Emperor Han Jing to reduce the fiefdom of the vassal states to prevent them from rebelling and maintain the stability of the whole country. Soon, Wu, Chu and other seven vassal states launched a rebellion in the name of punishing Chao Cuo. Chao Cuo was accused and killed by Yuan Ang.
② Yuan Ang (?-148 BC) was a native of Chu vassal states in the Han Dynasty. He was once the prime minister of the vassal state Wu. In the time of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, Chao Cuo asked Yuan Ang’s crimes to be investigated, and Yuan Ang was later pardoned. Later, when vassal state Wu, vassal state Chu and the other vassal states rebelled, Yuan Ang persuaded Emperor Han Jing to kill Chao Cuo. After the chaos, he became the courtesy of the king of vassal state Chu, staying at home from illness, and was later killed by the king of vassal state Liang.
(Note) Arhat kanankabharadhvaja is the disciple of Buddha Shakyamuni! When the Master Wu Da met him, he was just a sick monk. How could Master Wu Da know that he was not a mortal? The venerable name of Arhat kanankabharadhvaja didn’t know until the sore opened its mouth to speak, how can such a karma disease be cured with the medicine of the world! Some diseases can be cured with medicine, and some diseases cannot be cured with the best medicine. Medicine can cure common diseases, but not diseases caused by cause and effect. Master Wu Da is a very vivid example!
Profound Dharma: emptiness, nothingness, no phase.
Hu Muting Yushi said that someone in his village raised a pig. As long as the pig saw the old man next door, it would scream and rush to bite him, but it was not the case when it saw other people.
The old man next door became very angry with it and wanted to buy this pig to eat its meat. But soon he came to his senses and said, "This is probably what the Buddhist scriptures say about the grievances of previous lives! There are no unsolvable grievances in this world."
So he bought the pig at a high price and sent it to the Buddhist temple to be a long-life pig. Later, when the old man saw the pig again, the pig leaned in front of the old man with its ears down very friendly, not in the same state it used to be.
I have seen a painting by Sun Zhong, "The Arhat Who Condescends the Tiger". There is also a poem written by Li Yan, a native of Bashu. The main idea is that: a compassionate person rides a tiger, as if driving a good horse. Is it because it is inherently docile? It is the compassionate heart that resolves its fierceness. It can be seen from this that between heaven and earth, all sentient beings can become friends. I hope that all beings can get along with each other sincerely, and don't be afraid of each other and don't be hostile to each other. I think this inscription can serve as circumstantial evidence for the story told by Hu Muting Yushi.
In the past infinite kalpas, Buddha Shakyamuni sacrificed his life in order to realize the Buddhadharma at the time of cause. Sometimes in order to obtain a sentence and a verse, or give up the throne, or leave his wife and leave the children, it can be said that it is abandoning everything.
This is because the wonderful nectar method is not always encountered in the world. However, the secular people do not know the preciousness of Buddhist scriptures, and tend to despise Buddhist scriptures. However, after two to three thousand years, it will be impossible to obtain a piece of paper from the Buddhist scriptures. According to the "Dharma Disappearance Sutra": "When the Dharma is about to disappear, the monk's robes will naturally turn white, let alone the Buddhist scriptures." Among all the Buddhist scriptures, the Śūraṅgama Sūtra will disappear first, and the Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra will be the last to disappear.
From then on, after more than 8806,000 years (the previous 8406,000 years should be counted in the ninth minor kalpa. The next 400,000 years should be counted in the tenth minor kalpa), Maitreya Bodhisattva will be born in the human world from the Tushita Temple as a Buddha, and at that time, there will be Dharma again in this world (the Maitreya Bodhisattva becomes a Buddha who is the fifth Buddha in the Bhadrakalpa).
After that, in the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth kalpas, no Buddha was born in the world. The cycle that human life increases and decreases is called a small kalpa. Every small kalpa is about 16.8 million years.
By the fifteenth calamity, after ShiZiYue Buddha will be born in the world, a total of 993 Buddhas will come to the world one after another, which can be said to be the most prosperous period of Buddhism.
From then on, in the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth, four minor kalpas, no Buddha will be born in the world. At the 20th minor kalpa, there will be Lou Zhi Tathagata (that is, Skanda Bodhisattva) will be born into the world and become a Buddha. And the number of one thousand Buddhas in the Bhadrakalpa will be just completed. At the same time, the world of Saha will collapse.
Since then, it has to go through sixty kalpas (among them, in the first twenty kalpas, the world collapses, in the middle twenty kalpas, the world does not exist, and in the last twenty kalpas, that is when the future Nakshatra kalpa will be forming again), and then the Sunlight Tathagata will be born into the world (He is the first Buddha of the future Nakshatra kalpa).
It can be seen that the Dharma is so difficult to encounter. We are fortunate to be born in a time when there was Dharma. We should study Dharma hard.
My original manor, located in Shangheya, south of Cangzhou, has now been sold to others. In that manor, there were five old "Shuiming Towers". Looking from the Tower, you could overlook the Weihe River, and watch the boat sails coming and going under the guardrail. This "Shuiming Tower" is the same as the "Dufan Tower" of Zhang Xuefeng's grandfather's house. It is a good place to climb high and overlook. My grandmother, Mrs. Zhang, came to live in this village every summer to escape the summer heat. Several of our descendants will take turns to wait and accompany her.
One day, when I pushed the window on the "Shuiming Tower" and looked south, I saw dozens of men and women boarding a ferry. The ferry had already untied the cable and was about to set off. Suddenly, a person on the ferry fisted and shot an old man down in the shallow water on the shore. The old man's clothes and shoes were all wet. He struggled to sit up and yelled at the people on the ferry angrily.
By this time the ferry was already out of shore. At that time, just after the heavy rain, the Weihe River suddenly soared, and the flood wave slumped, surging loudly. At this moment, a grain-carrying ship with full sails went down the current, just like an arrow from the string, hitting the ferry. The ferry was hit and shattered, and dozens of people on board fell into the water, and no one survived. Only the old man who did not board the boat survived. Only then did he turn his anger into joy, and clasp his palms together to recite the Buddha.
Someone asked the old man where he wanted to go? The old man said: “I heard yesterday that a cousin of my family took twenty taels of silver from someone’s family and was going to sell his child’s daughter-in-law to be a little wife. It is said that he is going to sign a contract today. I can’t bear to let him sell that girl, so I quickly mortgaged my few acres of Susukada to someone else, and got twenty taels of silver to redeem the girl. I didn’t expect... alas, alas!” Everyone listened and praised him, they all said: "This punch must have been made by the gods." So everyone hurriedly helped the old man find another ferry and sent the old man across the river. At that time, I had just turned ten years old. I only heard people say that this old man was from Zhaojiazhuang, but unfortunately they didn't ask his name at that time. This was in the reign of Yongzheng and in the year of Kuichou (1733). —Ji Xiaolan "The Righteous Old Man Avoids Disastrous"
A stone mountain with a radius of 13 miles, if a long-lived celestial man passes by once every 100 years, he wipes the big stone mountain with his clothes every time he passes, and the time it takes him to wipe out this stone mountain using his clothes is still shorter than a Kalpa. Spread mustard seeds in a city with a radius of 13 miles. If the long-lived celestial man passes through once every 100 years and takes away one mustard seed at a time, the time it takes for the mustard seeds to be taken out is still shorter than a Kalpa. Bodhisattva has made great righteous aspirations in countless such great kalpas, and is willing to free all sentient beings, break all ties, and achieve supreme righteous enlightenment. This is called aspiration. -"The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom"