China's Zen Buddhism is characterized by advocating moving firewood and transporting water. Why is it the way to carry firewood and water? Tao, in fact, is just that there are no distractions in my heart and I can't afford to be paranoid. At this time, no matter what you do or move firewood, you are in the way. Otherwise, when carrying firewood and water, you will have more delusions. For example, when moving firewood and water, I always complain that the road is not good. In this way, moving firewood and carrying water is just moving firewood and carrying water, not moving roads.
Seeing this, Zen Master Mazu Yi Dao advocated that "a normal mind is the Tao". He often said to his disciples, "Tao does not need to be repaired, but it should not be polluted." What is pollution? However, the tendency to give up and make things is pollution. If you want to know the Tao directly, a normal mind is the Tao. What is a normal heart? There is no trick, no right or wrong, no choice, no rupture, no holiness. Not an ordinary person, not a saint, but a bodhisattva. "
Mazu's "normal mind" is to stay away from false creation, without right and wrong, taking and giving up, and of course, without the distinction between secular holiness and good and evil. This kind of artistic conception, which does not fall to any side but conforms to the middle way, is not that right and wrong are indistinguishable and good and evil are indistinguishable, but that it is not polluted by these relative concepts.
What is a normal state of mind? Someone once asked Zen master Jing Cen how to be normal. He said airily, "Go to sleep, sit down, sit down." . But this person still didn't understand, and even asked, "Scholars can't. What is the intention? " ? He replied, "heat is cool, and cold is fire." In addition, some people asked Zen master Wen Qin how to be normal and conform to the Tao. He said: "You can have tea and eat at any time, and enjoy watching the water and mountains. Every day is drinking tea, eating, watching water and mountains. This life without desires and needs is still bound there. This is relief, and uncomfortable!
Now I'll give you a few familiar Zen case-solving questions about normal mind:
Once, Zen master Lv Yuan asked Zen master Dazhu Huihai, "Do monks still need to study hard to learn Buddhism? Dazhu replied, "Of course I study hard. Yuanfa asked, "How to study hard? Dazhu replied, "Eat when you are hungry and sleep when you are sleepy. Yuanfa said, "People are like this. Do they work as hard as the master? Dazhu replied: "Not the same. Yuan Fa said, "Why is it different? Dazhu replied: "They refused to eat when they were eating, but they asked for it in every way; I refuse to sleep when I sleep, but I do everything I can to care. Therefore, their efforts are different from mine. "Source method Jackson have nothing to say. Although both of them are trying to do the same ordinary things, one is critical and never satisfied, which is a kind of persistence, and greed and delusion can easily follow, leading to no peace; The other let go of all his hard work and was satisfied. Since there is no persistence, greed can't be born, and he can naturally enter the meditation of unintentional living.
At the end of one summer, Master Ling You of Weishan greeted his disciple Master Huiji of Yangshan and said, "I haven't seen you up the mountain all summer. What are you doing down there? " Yangshan replied, "I hoed a field at the foot of the mountain and planted a basket of seeds." Instead, he asked Master Weishan, "Unknown monk, what did you do all summer? Weishan replied, "I eat at noon and sleep at night." "Yangshan said," the monk didn't miss this summer. Weishan Zen master wants nothing but daily necessities, and the most rare thing is that his disciples understand it. Therefore, the teaching methods of the two Zen masters were later praised as the unique Yang school in Zen.
Shi Qianchan and Pang Jushi are two famous Zen masters in the contemporary world. One day, when Pang Jushi just joined Stone Zen Master, Stone asked Pang Jushi, "What's your daily life like since you met the old monk? Pang Jushi replied, "Ask me about my daily affairs, and I have nowhere to speak. "Stone said," I asked you because I knew you would. So Pang Jushi presented a poem. The first two sentences are: "There is no difference in everyday things, but I am self-harmonious." Si Tong Jackson agreed with him. There is nothing in daily life, but I am in harmony with myself. So, where there is an opening, if there is an opening, there is no need to just tell yourself!
Baiyun Shouduan, a Buddhist monk, said that the four wishes of Sakyamuni Buddha are "All beings have endless wishes, endless troubles, boundless Buddhism and supreme Buddhism", and Fahua also has its four wishes, that is, "Eat when you are hungry, add clothes when you are cold, stretch your feet to sleep when you are sleepy, and love the wind when you are hot." Although this sentence is humorous and creative, it is also reasonable.
Zen master Huikai, the enlightened man of Huanglong, revealed more clearly that it is good as long as there is nothing in my heart except the common things like spring flowers, autumn moon and winter snow in Xia Feng. There is a witness: "There are flowers in spring, moons in autumn, cool breeze in summer and snow in winter. If you don't mind your own business, this is a good time on earth. 」
A discerning person can know at a glance that all ancestors have no distractions, and often their hearts are pure, so they are naturally content to do rough work, nature, and even any realm, which coincides with the Tao.
If we can treat people with a normal mind of getting something for nothing, we can make good friends and make greater achievements. Because of the mentality of not worth the loss, you can practice three rounds of physical fitness for others. Because you have the mentality of getting something for nothing, you will have no worries and no constraints, and you can give full play to everyone's talents.
This shows that a normal mind can make a person more calm, fully express himself, and truly realize what is a free and easy life realm in a busy life, without tension and mental stress.
This is normal. The mind is the Tao. In short, the so-called Tao means that everyone is single-minded. But now we don't separate our thoughts, but we have delusions and distractions, and people have right and wrong, which is not normal. With fate unchanged, encounter fate unchanged. What we are now is not the same. What we are not is the same. This is our normal mind and the road to Buddhism.