But there are two sides to everything, the teachings of Zen Buddhism give more people the hope of cultivating positive results, and also lower the threshold for cultivating Buddhism, but at all times we have to admit that among the many Buddhist believers, there are also those who become very unhappy because of this proposition, and Emperor Wu of Liang back then is the most expressive one of them

It is rumored that Emperor Wu of Liang was one of the most respected emperors of Buddhism in Chinese history, this person lived his whole life like a Zen disciple, in a certain way, this person can actually be regarded as a very devout Buddhist believer, in order to express his yearning for Buddhism, Emperor Wu of Liang did a lot of things that were most meritorious in the eyes of Buddhists at that time: for example, as mentioned earlier, repairing Buddhist temples, copying scriptures, offering monks, and molding gold bodies to Buddha statues, not only that, He also often regarded himself as a propagator of Buddhism, promoting Buddhist teachings in his own ruling area, which was a well-known thing at that time, and Bodhidharma naturally heard about it, in order to promote his new views, Bodhidharma Patriarch once entered the palace to preach to Emperor Wu of Liang.

But after the palace, he was very helpless to find that his views were very different from those of Emperor Wu of Liang.

Emperor Wu of Liang asked Bodhidharma and said, "Look, I have built thousands of monasteries across the country and asked people to copy tens of thousands of scriptures.

When Bodhidharma heard this, he shook his head and smiled, saying, dear, it is useless for you to do that, whether you can become a Buddha or not, not depends on what you do, but on what you are thinking, when your inner world reaches the standard of a Buddha, you are a Buddha, but then again, if you are full of fame and fortune, and do those things for the purpose of becoming a Buddha, then you yourself have fallen into the trap of fame and fortune, and no matter how much you do, it will be in vain, and you will not be able to get out of the sea of suffering.

Besides, the Buddha is the culmination of thousands of wisdoms, and he understands very well, if your inner cultivation is not up to standard, even if you are the Buddha and his godfather, he will not be able to do it, Emperor Wu of Liang was speechless when he heard these words, and he patted his forehead more than a dozen times, and then asked him, What do you say, Lao Tzu spent so much money, used so many people, and wasted the boss's energy to do these things in vain? After hearing this, Bodhidharma smiled, said a "yes" in a flash, and took out the style of a religious leader to give Emperor Liang Wu a lesson, this Emperor Liang Wu was used to hearing flattering words, and after hearing it, he suddenly felt a little harsh, and saw that the other party's words were slightly disdainful, sneering, and a stomach full of resentment.

In this way, within a few words, the two of them fell apart, and Emperor Wu of Liang was furious and asked someone to beat the Bodhidharma Patriarch and throw him out of the palace again.

At this time, Bodhidharma should be the most depressed time, a person walked to the river with a small bunk cover, and he didn't even have the money to cross the river, so he stayed by the river for a few days, and Emperor Wu of Liang also walked out of the dead end.

At this time, Emperor Wu of Liang regretted it very much and felt that he had gone too far, so after learning the news of Bodhidharma's departure, he immediately sent someone to chase after him on horseback.

But he didn't think that when he chased to the middle of the Shogunate Mountain, the peaks on both sides suddenly closed, and he proudly sandwiched the envoy sent by Emperor Wu of Liang between the two peaks. At this time, I saw that the Bodhidharma Patriarch was wandering by the river alone, and he was quite depressed, but when he saw someone coming, he suddenly became energetic, he broke a reed by the river and threw it into the river, and stepped on the reed to float across the river.

Since then, the story of Bodhidharma's "crossing the river with a reed" has also spread more and more widely, it is said that there is a black stele in the Shaolin Temple that records this matter, I have not seen what it looks like, but I have just heard about it.

I remember that I heard this story when I was chatting with a Chinese teacher when I was in high school, and I don't remember exactly how I got the topic there, but one thing that deepened my impression of this Bodhidharma Patriarch was a small story I saw in a pictorial back then.

The pictorial is quite high-end, and this kind of thing like demons and monsters rarely appears, but that time it was different, there was an article on it, which was about a Zen leader, and I don't remember what the title was, anyway, the core of the argument was about a monk's "golden seated statue".

This monk, whose Dharma name is Huineng, should be the apprentice of the six ancestors of Zen Buddhism, that is, the apprentice of the apprentice of Bodhidharma, the apprentice of the apprentice, there are actually a lot of legendary stories about this person, even if you are not a believer in Buddhism, you should have heard a poem he wrote back then.

According to rumors, these six ancestors Huineng was originally a fire foreman, a monk who did chores and cooked, and in the temple, he belonged to the kind of people with a relatively low level of education, a very low status, and a particularly low probability of exposure.

And his master, the fifth ancestor of Zen Buddhism, Hongren, is a well-known monk, and the apprentice under his hand is too much, and he gives a large lecture when he has nothing to do, and every time he is full.

Said that once, the five ancestors Hongren gave a lesson to the apprentices, and he called the most outstanding one of the apprentices to ask him to write a poem to express his views on cultivation, because this person's appearance has always been very good, everyone thinks that this person is the mantle disciple of the five ancestors Hongren, and that person also lived up to expectations, and wrote a poem on the wall of the temple with a brush, specifically, about 20 words: "The body is a Bodhi tree, the heart is like a mirror platform, always wipe diligently, do not cause dust." ”

This poem is not difficult to understand, that is, it borrows a little more Buddhist allusions, and in general, it is like a good monk who is strict with himself at all times and expresses his determination with his master.

Everyone understood what this meant, and they slapped their feet and stomped their feet in unison to praise at that time, but at the same time that everyone was enthusiastic here, these six ancestors Huineng happened to pass by, he was of a low level, and he was not qualified to listen to the lecture here, while carrying water, he tilted his neck and glanced at the words on the wall, and suddenly smiled, and then, this thing came over and wrote another poem crookedly on the wall with a brush.

This poem has been widely circulated, and many people can recite it: "Bodhi has no tree, and the mirror is not a platform." There was nothing in the first place, where to stir up dust. ”

After these words were written, Sixth Ancestor Huineng respectfully put down the brush and walked away with the water by himself. Looking at those monks again, they all had nothing to say when they looked at each other, because these Zen disciples could see that what appeared in this poem was Huineng's comprehension of the teachings of this Zen religion, and I had to admit that his current understanding was much higher than that of all the senior brothers here