Master Rihui: Basic Knowledge of Buddhism Chapter 4 Observation of the Origin of Responsibility and Discussion on Life and Death Chapter 3 Diagram of Life and Death Reincarnation

Shijiazhuang Xuyun Zen Forest's First Seminar Demonstration

Pure wisdom

Lecture 1: Stay at present

(2009On the evening of December 1, 2019 )

Dear friends:

Since the Xuyun Zen Forest opened, it has been seventeen years since it was opened.Although it is named after the Zen Forest, this is the first time that I have actually practiced Zen seven.There are many people who want to participate in meditation, and everyone is very enthusiastic. This is a very good phenomenon, which shows that everyone has a heart that strives for the Tao.

The most important thing in learning Buddhism is practice.The purpose of practice is to slowly reduce the worries, the more wisdom, and the more awareness;That is, you need to practice how to look inward rather than outward;How to manage yourself, not others.There is no choice for practicing. Whether you become a monk at home, a man or a woman, a young man or an old man, you can practice it and must practice it.Don’t wait for practice, and don’t wait until you are old, place, or time.Where is the green mountains and the temple?The office is a dojo, the family is a dojo, the factory is a dojo, sitting on a car is a dojo, sitting on a plane is a dojo, walking on a road is a dojo, and walking on a dojo.You can practice everywhere without choosing the time and place.

When practicing, you must grasp the current thought. If the current thought cannot be taken care of properly, there will be no place to implement the practice.Because our life is the present, life is not in the past, not in the future, life is in our present moment.Our life can live to the age of seventy, eighty, and ninety, but even if we live to the age of one hundred, this hundred years is composed of many life points, and these many life points are still composed of countless present.Therefore, the present is every moment of life activity. If we can grasp every moment of life activity, let it understand clearly and be awakened, we will have a place to practice.A secret of practice and a fundamental method of practice. The fundamental way to start is to stay at the present moment.Be able to stay in the present, be aware of the present, and make every present clear and clear. Our life begins to be enlightened, and our life begins to slowly be liberated from the boundless troubles.

When you listen to me, you may concentrate your thinking and your entire life on every voice of my voice, without making a second thought, and slowly feel it, and see what kind of state we have when we are confused.This is the easiest way to understand and the easiest way to grasp.Life is at this moment. We must concentrate on every moment of life activity, clearly aware of what I am thinking, and clearly aware of what the activity of my life is like at this time and here.

While working hard, don’t think about what happened yesterday.Yesterday is the past, the past is not yesterday, nor is it the previous hour, the past is the moment before the current thought process;The future is not tomorrow, nor is it a later thought. It is the next point in the life flow, the next moment in this moment.Only when we can observe the activities of life so subtle and settle down in the present can we truly become a highly concentrated mental state of our practice.

The so-called peace of mind means to concentrate our spirits here and now.The Diamond Sutra says, "The past mind cannot be obtained, the present mind cannot be obtained, and the future mind cannot be obtained";The three minds of the past, present and future are unattainable.This thought of the past disappeared like a dream;This thought of the future has not yet arrived, it is just a fantasy;The current thought is like a bubble in the water, and it will die when it is born.The three minds are unpredictable, but we must find a place to settle down in this state of unpredictable and unattached mind.Staying at the present moment and not having a single thought is such a state of mind and state of hard work.

In the first chapter of the "Platform Sutra", the Sixth Patriarch said that after he got his robe from Huangmei, he walked back to Guangdong step by step along a passage from north to south of Jiangxi and Guangdong.At that time, when the people under the Fifth Patriarch learned that the Fifth Patriarch's mantle was taken away by a man who chopped wood in Lingnan, many people were indignant.Among them, there is a general Huiming who was a fourth-rank general before he became a monk. He was big and thick and very strong.When he heard this news, he colluded with everyone to chase Huineng and regain his mantle.How many people were chasing Huineng at that time?There should be more than one, two, ten or eight, because at that time, thousands of people gathered under the seat of the Fifth Patriarch, and at least one hundred or dozens of people wanted to regain their mantle.These people set out on the road at the same time. Because Huiming, the seat of Shangshi, was strong and had martial arts, first arrived at Dayu Lingtou, which bordered Guangdong and Jiangxi.When the Sixth Patriarch Huineng saw that the seat of Huiming had already chased him, he calmly placed his robe on a stone on the ridge and sat in a row beside him.When Master Huiming saw the robe and bowl, he was overjoyed and was about to take it away.But he never expected that the weight of the bowl should not exceed five kilograms was as heavy as the earth at that time.Master Huiming couldn't help but sit in front of such a reality. He realized that the Buddha's mantle was not something that anyone could get at will. He immediately gave up his thoughts of snatching the mantle and bowed to Huineng for repentance.Then I said, I did not come for the sake of the robe and bowl, but for the sake of the Dharma.At this time, the Sixth Patriarch Huineng said to Master Huiming that since you have come for the Dharma, you must now stop all causes and no thought arises.And further said, "When you don't think about good or evil, which one is the true face of Master Ming?"When Huiming heard the Sixth Patriarch's teachings, he immediately realized it.What did he realize?Just like a person drinks water, he knows the temperature and heat.

The so-called "not thinking about good or evil" is that at this moment, what is the origin of our life?This is an extremely critical issue, because our thinking is either thinking about good or evil, thinking about bodhisattva, the arhat, or thinking about hell, hungry ghosts, or animals. Our thoughts have never stopped for a moment.All these thoughts are delusional distinctions, and they are not settled in the present. Only by letting our minds return to the present and return to the origin of life, can you fall off the bottom of the barrel and realize that this is the case.

Therefore, the most fundamental method of practicing is to stay at the present moment.Staying in the present is actually a matter of not having a single thought, because you don’t want the past, the present, and the future. You completely let go of all your thoughts, delusions, discriminations, and attachments, and even let go of the thought you let go. What else can bind us?What else can make us happy or not?It is wrong to be happy, it is not right to be happy, because the truth of all things is neither a happy appearance nor a displeasure, nor a pure appearance.The so-called true form has no form, "All appearances are false. If you see all appearances that are not appearances, you will see the Tathagata."The so-called non-figure form is not a good form, not an evil form, not a happy form, not an angry form, not a clean, not a sloppy, not a human, not a demon, and eliminate all distinctions. At this time, what you see is unmoving."If you see all appearances that are not appearances, you will see the Tathagata."The Tathagata is still motionless, "nowhere to come from, nowhere to go."

We work hard in the meditation hall to clean up all the appearances. This process is the couplet I wrote at the door of the meditation hall. First, we must "focus on one mind and not be confused" and focus on one mind and not be confused. That is to completely and completely settle in the present, and then we can have a high degree of awareness and "see that the five aggregates are empty."The five aggregates are our life, and our life is composed of five elements: form, feeling, thought, action, and consciousness.None of these five elements can exist independently. They depend on each other. Once separated, life will end.Not only when the five aggregates are separated, our lives end, even when the five aggregates gather, their nature is empty.Only by completely seeing through our lives and being bearish can we completely let go.If you let go, you can be free, that is, "overcome all sufferings."Therefore, we must learn to "see that the five aggregates are empty". If you can be empty, you can let go; if you can be empty, you can stay at the present moment; if you can be empty, you can eliminate troubles and open up wisdom.However, in the process of truly working hard, do not have a mind to eliminate worries, nor do you have a mind to open up wisdom. You have nothing to ask for, and the water will come naturally. As long as you have achieved your skills, you will not ask for anything and be content with it.

I hope we will grasp these four words well in these seven days: Stay at the present moment.