Speaking of the eminent monk "Zen Master Daoji" of the Southern Song Dynasty, the first thing that comes to everyone's mind must be the image of Jigong created by the famous performing artist You Benchang. In the play, Jigong is in rags, drinks alcohol and eats meat, is dissolute and does not stick to trivial matters. Although he seems crazy, does not abide by the rules, and does not respect etiquette, he always helps those in need, punishes rape and eliminates evil.
Zen Master Daoji is not only a rare saint in the world, but also a talented poet. His poems are free and indifferent, but every word is precious, containing his own realm of life. For example, he wrote in the poem "To Captain Feng": It has been many years since I shaved off my hair and wore it, but the only reason was the same poem and wine. Sitting and watching Maitreya's aerial drama, Hinata slept on top of Vairocana. You must be able to bully the ten saints when you let go, and you must keep your head low and not give in to the three sages. There is no one in the vast universe, only monks walking around the streets.
The truly virtuous people often do not show off their talents and do not care about the world's evaluation of them. Everything they do comes from their true intentions and coincides with the great road between heaven and earth. The life of Zen Master Daoji is exactly what Tang Bohu said, "The world laughs at me for being crazy, but I laugh at others because they can't see through it." As everyone knows, it is not that the Zen master is crazy, but that ordinary people like us cannot understand the realm and height of the Zen master.
As we all know, there are two famous sayings of Zen masters, "The wine and meat pass through the intestines, but the Buddha's heart remains." However, few people know that these two famous quotes also have the second half, "If people in the world imitate me, they will definitely join the devil's path." There is a little story about the origin of these sentences. Legend has it that in the late Ming Dynasty, Zhang Xianzhong, the leader of the peasant uprising army, led his troops to attack Chongqing and forced monks in a suburban monastery to eat meat. For the monks, this was undoubtedly a great shame and humiliation. Eating it is disloyal to Buddhism and a blasphemy to faith. If you don't eat, it's hard to save your life.
At this time, a monk named Poshan stood up. He said that as long as Zhang Xianzhong promised not to massacre people at will after breaking the city, he could eat meat. Zhang Xianzhong agreed, and then Monk Poshan said these words while eating meat. In the spirit of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva of Mahayana Buddhism, "If I don't go to hell, who will?" Monk Poshan sacrificed himself and saved thousands of people. This is the great righteousness of monks, but it has been misunderstood until now, which is really heartbreaking.
As far as Zen Master Daoji is concerned, he shows up drinking alcohol and eating meat just to cover up his noble virtues and blend in with all sentient beings, so as to facilitate salvation. Unfortunately, for thousands of years, we ignorant mortals have been taking the teachings of saints out of context and misunderstanding them. It’s not that there are no saints in the world, it’s just that our wisdom is still shallow and it’s difficult to practice.