Most of the time the human heart is loose, like frenzy, like drunk. Being able to keep one's mind respectful and cautious is the first door to all merit. If you can control your mind, you can meditate, and you can generate true wisdom. With true wisdom comes liberation. To be liberated is to end suffering. All of the above come from the control of the mind.
When Buddha Shakyamuni was in the human world, there was a blind bhikkhu who could not see and rely on his hands to grope. One day, this blind bhikkhu was groping with his hands to mend clothes, and the sewing needle slipped out of his hand. The blind bhikkhu said, "Which person who loves merit can help me sew a needle?" At this time, Buddha Shakyamuni came to the bhikkhu's residence, the Buddha said to the blind bhikkhu, "I am a person who loves merit, and I will weave needles for you." The bhikkhu heard the voice of the Buddha, and hurriedly got up and put on his clothes to bow to the Buddha. The bhikkhu said to the Buddha. "The Buddha's merit has already been perfected, why do you still say that you love merit?" The Buddha replied, "Although my merit has been perfected, I deeply know the cause of merit, the result of merit, and the power of merit, and now I have cultivated to the most perfection among all sentient beings, it is also because of this merit. So I love merit." After the Buddha praised the benefits of merit, he preached the Dharma to this bhikkhu. This blind bhikkhu attained dharma-eye purity, and his naked eyes not only recovered vision, but were also brighter than before. Although the Buddha's merits have been perfected, in order to educate his disciples, he still sets an example to accumulate merits. -A superficial translation of a passage of "Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom"
The Luoyang River in Quanzhou, Fujian Province is close to the sea. In previous years, although there were ferries to ferry people, countless people were drowned when they encountered strong winds and waves.
During the period of Dazhong Xiangfu in the Northern Song Dynasty, a boat was almost overturned by the wind and waves, and suddenly a voice in the air shouted: "Don't hurt the great scholar surnamed Cai." Then the weather calmed down, and everyone in the boat was safe and sound. When asked about the people on the boat, none of them found the surname Cai. There is only one woman, and her husband's surname is Cai. The woman was several months pregnant at the time. She was secretly surprised, and immediately made a vow: "If my son does become a scholar in the future, a bridge must be built here to facilitate people's travel."
Later, the woman did give birth to a son, and this child was Cai Xiang, who was later named Duke Zhongding Cai by the emperor. When Cai Xiang went to Quanzhou after being awarded the champion, his mother was still alive. The mother urged Cai Xiang to quickly build a bridge over the Luoyang River.
Considering the unpredictable water depths and the frequent tidal waves, it was extremely difficult to start construction, so Duke Cai delayed for more than a year. And Cai Xiang's mother urged more earnestly. Therefore, Duke Cai wrote an official document to the God of the Sea and sent a messenger to deliver it. The messenger drank heavily, threw the document into the sea, and then lay down on the seashore and slept. When he woke up, the envelope had been replaced. The messenger took the letter back and handed it to Duke Cai to open it. There was only one word "vinegar", and the ink seemed to have just been written.
When Duke Cai saw it, he suddenly realized: "It was clearly that the God of the Sea order me to start work on the 21st day on You Shi （5:00 pm to 7:00 pm)!" (Because the left side of the vinegar word in Chinese is You, and the right side of this word is the combination of the three words twenty, one, and day.)
On the 21st day, the tide really receded, the sediment was more than ten feet high, and for eight consecutive days, the tide did not rise to the place where the bridge was built, so the bridge was successfully built. The bridge is 360 feet long and 15 feet wide, with a total cost of 14 million, so it was named Wan'an Bridge.
[Note] At that time, there were 15 people including Lu Shi, Wang Xi, Xu Zhong, monks Shi Yibo and Shi Zongshan who were in charge of the construction of Wan'an Bridge. We only mention Duke Cai here because he was the one who took the lead.
Excerpted from An Shiquan Book "Wenchang Emperor Silently Doing Good Virtue"：The God of the Sea shows promise
Manjushri Bodhisattva came to the place where the Buddha was, and saw a woman who was sitting near the Buddha and had entered a state of right concentration. After Manjushri Bodhisattva bowed to the Buddha, he asked the Buddha for advice: "Excuse me, why is this woman able to sit close to the Buddha but I can't?" The Buddha told Manjushri Bodhisattva: "You wake this woman up and let her get out of the state of righteous concentration. Ask her yourself." So, Manjushri Bodhisattva flicked his finger to wake the woman, but it didn't work; he called the woman with a loud voice, but it didn't work; he pulled her hand, but it didn't work He used his supernatural powers to shake Tri-sahasra-mahā-sahasra-lokadhātu, but it still didn't work. Manjushri Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, "World Honored One, I cannot wake her up." So the Buddha magnified the light and illuminated the world below. The Sarvanivāraṇa-Viṣkambhin bodhisattva mahāsattva came to the Buddha from the lower world and bowed to the Buddha. The Buddha said to Sarvanivāraṇa-Viṣkambhin bodhisattva mahāsattva, "Come and wake up this woman." Then Sarvanivāraṇa-Viṣkambhin bodhisattva mahāsattva flicked his finger, and the woman rose from right concentration. Manjushri Bodhisattva asked the Buddha: "World Honored One, what is the reason that I can't wake up this woman even if I shake Tri-sahasra-mahā-sahasra-lokadhātu, but Sarvanivāraṇa-Viṣkambhin bodhisattva mahāsattva can wake her up with just a flick of a finger?" The Buddha said: " In the past, it was because of this woman that you first developed the Supreme Enlightenment; it was because of the Sarvanivāraṇa-Viṣkambhin bodhisattva mahāsattva that this woman first developed the Supreme Enlightenment. For this reason, you cannot awaken her. Moreover, your merits and virtues have not yet been perfected in the realm of the right concentration of the Buddhas. You can be at ease in the right concentration of the Bodhisattva, but you have not yet achieved freedom in the right concentration of the Buddha." - "Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom"
A villager named Zhou Shiyuan in Linchuan, Jiangxi Province, went into the mountains to pick tea and was hooked by thorns. He fell forward and was stabbed into the flesh by the tree, bleeding profusely. Thinking that all of his companions would pass by this way, and fearing that they would also be hurt by the thorns, he endured the pain, sat on the ground, and pulled out the thorns with all his might. At this time, he suddenly found that there was light flashing under the root, and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an ingot of gold. He took the gold home and used it as the capital of the business. After three years, he became a rich man. [Note] There are many poisonous weeds and bad trees in the world, enough to hurt people. If you encounter such plants, you should cut them down immediately, let alone cultivate them.
Excerpted from An Shiquan Book "Wenchang Emperor Silently Doing Good Virtue"：Obtained gold after pulling the thorn