"The end of the road is shaped, and the starting point is shapeless. Keep moving forward, and what will greet you must be brilliance." This is Lin Qingxuan's collection of essays "Your Heart is Soft, But You Have Strength" "The last sentence of the last article in this book. When I closed the book, the time was 11:40 pm on January 29. This was the 10th book I read in January 2018, and the ninth one I read. Lin Qingxuan's collection of essays "Live Life with Joy".
The word count of the 10 books is approximately 2.3 million words.
There is no golden house in the book, and there is no Yan Ruyu in the book. But reading is like medicine to me. Although it can't cure my stupidity, it can't make me as a fool reach a peaceful and far-reaching state. At least I can see the joy, anger, sorrow and joy in my heart in the tranquility of reading. Especially after reading these two books by Lin Qingxuan, I understand that the crown of life is: "At the mercy of fate, reinvent yourself and be reborn from the ashes." Even in the face of adversity, thousands of people can point to thousands of people. It means that you should calm down and tolerate the world with a soft heart. Maybe you will achieve a refined self and a self that transcends yourself.
Lin Qingxuan is known as one of the "Eight Great Contemporary Prose Writers". He encountered Buddhism at the age of 32 and went to the mountains to practice for 3 years. Therefore, his prose more or less contains the language of Buddha or contains Buddhist references. When reading "Element", there is a sense of purity of the Buddha. In his words, you can reflect on your own heart.
He is really a master of prose. Each article is taken from life: a temple, a pot of tea, a lily, a chrysanthemum, a tea cube, a cicada, and a pancake. , a paper basket... can all be turned into wise and timeless words. Every word and sentence reveals a natural, ethereal, and wonderful sense of music, calming the impetuous soul. As I read, I felt as if I had walked into a quiet empty valley, and a quiet and ethereal song floated in, washing away the dust in my soul and letting go of the present moment; while reading, I felt as if I was sitting on a slowly blooming flower. On the lotus, I reached the other shore where "the body and mind are settled, and the worries are calmed down."
What makes these two books unique is that most articles are preceded by a simple and exquisite picture, a naughty cat, a vase of flower arrangements, a violin, a cup of tea... in the picture Below are a few lines of inspiring words from the next article. For example, the illustration at the front of the article "A Sunny Window" is a tall, clean and bright glass window. On the windowsill is a black porcelain cup with a handle growing green plants with cloud-like leaves. Next to it is this article. Classic sentences: Only those with a clear heart can have true love, and only those who love flowers can grow the most beautiful flowers. In front of the article "The lights of the years have fallen asleep" is an extinguished lantern, and next to it are two thick hard-cover books staggered and overlapped. There are two lines of text below: When the lights of the years have fallen asleep, some past events are still as vivid as if they were in the developer of memory. We see them emerge, but after all, they are in the past. The illustration at the front of the article "Learning to See Flowers" shows a pair of rough men's hands holding a handful of black soil, and a small pine tree with lush branches. The text next to it is: I think that the twists and turns in the world are actually the same as those in the world. Like fruit trees. Sometimes we are faced with the chill of winter, but our branches have to be cut off, and even the juice in our hearts is shed.
Every text written by Lin Qingxuan is soft. If you want to savor it carefully, you need a cup of tea, a cigarette, a period of time and a quiet corner, read slowly, chew slowly, Slowly appreciate the Zen-like wisdom and remote poetic beauty in his words.
The core of the article "One Mind, One Situation" is to "live in the present", which is similar to the "look at your feet" in the following article "Step by Step to Breeze". Living in the present requires cutting off the "past" and the "future" so that the mind can be in one mind and one state. Stay in the Zen of every moment: No matter how hard you try, you can't stop a flower from fading, so appreciate the fading of the flower when it wilts. In short: eat when you should eat, drink tea when you should drink tea, sleep when you should sleep, be happy when you should be happy, endure pain when it comes, and die calmly when your life ends. This is what we call living in front of our eyes, living in this world.
The article "A Breeze Rises Every Step" has a simple and clear title, but it contains profound philosophy. The core of this article is to ask people in the secular world to "look at their feet", because a breeze arises every step of the way. If you don't look at your feet, you will fall immediately. It includes the three spirits of Zen. The first spirit is: live in the present, not in the past and the future. Most of the worries in life come from the constraints of past habits and future expectations. If you live in the present situation all the time, your worries will be cut off immediately. The second spirit: treat everything in life with an equal attitude, do not give up the reflection and experience of the process for some special purposes, and be kind to the moment in front of you. The third spirit: use the Dharma as a lamp, use yourself as a lamp, and get rid of dependence. When the candles in the mountains are extinguished, you must not only look after your steps, but also use your eyes and soul as lights to walk carefully. As long as you light the lamp in your heart and live wholeheartedly, you can manifest a fulfilling life. In short, this short article warns us that life and death are short, just one step away. Don’t look at the deep sky or the endless distance. No matter whether the lights are off or on, no matter the wind, rain and lightning, no matter the mountains and deep valleys, you should always look at your feet. The space between your feet is also the universe.
"Warming a pot of moonlight and drinking wine", the title of the article is very poetic. Warming a pot of moonlight and drinking wine, how romantic, how leisurely, how to live in the moment.
"Use an empty bottle to store tonight's sweet-scented osmanthus fragrance. When the sweet-scented osmanthus fades and autumn passes, open the bottle cap and savor it carefully.", "Put the warmth of first love in an exquisite glass box, and wait until youth is over When we are old, opening the lid of the box and seeing a stream of heat in front of us is enough to comfort us." "Put the moonlight in a wine pot and drink it with a slow fire... There is a true meaning in this, it is a fairy. The world." These are the first three sentences of this article. Such imagination, such mood, and such words can wash away the dust of the years and dust in the depths of the soul. This is a text about drinking, which combines drinking with the season. There are different ways to drink in different seasons: in spring, you can drink Acanthopanax bark in front of the garden full of blooming rhododendrons; Drink beer among the flowers; in autumn dusk, boil the green leaves with chrysanthemums, and get drunk with the begonias; in the cold winter season, facing the honeysuckle flowers between the fences, warm a pot of Daqu with wintersweet. Connect drinking with ancient celebrities: when drinking light wine, it is appropriate to read Li Qingzhao; when drinking sweet wine, it is appropriate to read Liu Yong; when drinking strong wine, it is appropriate to read Dongpo Ci. Others, such as Xin Qiji, should drink sorghum in small sips; read Fang Weng, drink Daqu in large gulps; read Li Houzhu, it is best to boil ginger juice with Mazu old wine until the bitter taste is gone; as for Tao Yuanming and Li Taibai, they should drink it in both strong and light drinks. All fine items are available. Integrate drinking with Buddhist scriptures: Although Buddhism emphasizes that the four elements of wine, sex, wealth, and energy are empty, I feel that drinking can almost reach the realm of Buddhism. I wonder if you can tolerate the frivolous name and replace it with drinking and singing quietly. Even if the goddess scatters flowers, she will not be able to cover her body. She will forget all her honors and disgrace, and her past events will turn into a wisp of smoke and become cause and effect. Isn’t this what Buddhism calls the realm of penance and deep cultivation?
What a wonderful article about drinking. If words can really warm the moonlight from last year to this year, and warm it in the cold present, and think about it alone, it will be "the heart is the Buddha".
Written at 6:00 am on January 30, 2018