Many friends are familiar with the famous gatha above. It was left by Jigong Living Buddha. In fact, Jigong has a prototype in history. He was an eminent monk in the Southern Song Dynasty. His dharma name was Daoji, lay name Li Xiuyuan - these basic information are consistent with what is said in "The Complete Biography of Jigong".

This is just like the Tang Monk in "Journey to the West" is actually the Tripitaka Master Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty. The supernatural powers are fake, but most of the personal information and deeds are still similar. The artistic processing done by people in order to respect eminent monks is higher than life, but it also comes from life.

Monk Daoji is proficient in medical skills and has helped many people. This is why the story in the book about the "Stretching Legs and Eye Pills" that can cure all kinds of diseases comes from "rubbing" on his body, and his " "Eating wine and drinking meat" seems to be completely different from the Buddhist precepts. Brothers who have read Hongchen Jun's previous article, have you thought of the second ancestor Huike?

After Huike passed on the mantle to the third ancestor, Monk Can, he began to go down the mountain to eat meat, drink wine, and hang out at fireworks venues. When others questioned him, he retorted - "I will adjust my mind and talk to you." What's the matter?"

But whether it's the Second Patriarch or Master Daoji, they are both eminent monks of Zen Buddhism, so they pay more attention to "seeing the mind clearly" rather than simply "keeping the precepts". Then again, living Buddhas can do this kind of thing, but ordinary people can't. That's why Jigong specially emphasized - "If people in the world imitate me, it will be like entering the devil's way." And the second ancestor also went down the mountain alone to complete his own karma, and did not Drag others with you.

But in later generations, there was also a Zen monk who also broke the precepts to eat meat and drink alcohol, but he did it to save people. This was Zen Master Poshan.

02

Zen Master Poshan

Zen Master Poshan was an eminent monk in the Ming Dynasty. He was born into a wealthy family and was a descendant of Duke Jian Zhongding. However, But he did not like wealth and honor, and devoted himself to cultivation.

Later, he traveled around as a traveling monk, apprenticed and studied Dharma, but he could never find the opportunity. Once he came to Potou Mountain in Hubei Province and felt that as soon as the opportunity came, he made a great vow that within seven days he would In any case, one must achieve enlightenment, which is the legendary "seclusion".

But on the last day, he still didn't, so he said - "Whether you realize it or not, your life depends on today!" Then he strode towards the mountainside, and suddenly fell down, almost losing his left foot. He broke, but he became enlightened at that moment.

There is no way, this is the method of Zen - "It takes many kalpas to be confused, but it only takes a moment to realize it." Many eminent monks of Zen broke the illusion and became enlightened in this way. The second ancestor Huike once did not hesitate to Broken arm to seek Dharma, Zen Master Poshan's trip was exactly the same.

After his enlightenment, Zen Master Poshan continued to travel, and later became the abbot of the Jiahe East Pagoda Temple formerly hosted by the Caodong Sect, and became the founder of the Caodong Sect - this is also one of the five Zen sects after one flower blooms and five leaves .

03

Demon King Zhang Xianzhong

Later, Master Poshan’s reputation grew and grew. At that time, he was invited by the monks in his hometown of Bashu to go there. Conduct legal education.

But at that time, it was already the Chongzhen period. The world was in chaos and thieves were on the rise. Poshan Zen Master did not just practice behind closed doors, but went out to actively mediate and guide the local powerful armed forces, peasant rebels, and officers and soldiers. Although most of those people wouldn't listen to them, they gave him some face due to his status as an eminent monk, thus saving many people around him.

But the real devil finally appeared. It was none other than Zhang Xianzhong, the famous rebel leader in the late Ming Dynasty!

At that time, there were thirteen leaders in their clan. Initially, they were headed by Gao Yingxiang. Later, after Gao Yingxiang died in the battle, he was succeeded by Li Zicheng, a "general" who was famous for his strong martial arts and good at rushing into battle. The famous "Chuang King".

Li Zicheng has great personal charm. Most of the other twelve rebel armies obey his Zhihu, but Zhang Xianzhong is one of the rare people who does not buy it. He has extraordinary martial arts and courage, and also He is ambitious and only wants to be king and hegemony. How can he be willing to be someone else's little brother?

So the two gradually drifted apart. After several twists and turns, Li Zicheng finally broke into Beijing. The last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen, committed suicide. The Ming Dynasty fell and Li Zicheng established a new Dashun regime.

Zhang Xianzhong went all the way west into Bashu, established the Daxi regime, and began a crazy massacre. Not only the resisting officers and soldiers and local armed forces, but also ordinary people were not spared. The entire Sichuan was The slaughtered corpses were scattered all over the field, and not even one out of ten was left, so there was a saying in later generations that "Zhang Xianzhong massacred Sichuan".

Of course, there is also a saying that the later Qing Dynasty was discrediting Zhang Xianzhong to cover up his crimes. The truth of this has not yet been determined, but Zhang Xianzhong's cruelty and bloodthirsty is basically a fact, it is nothing more than how many people he killed.

04

Whether to break the precept by eating meat or to save others, it seems like a difficult question, but it is actually very simple

And Zhang Xianzhong is not only easy to kill, but also likes to force others to do things, such as forcefully The chaste and fierce women took the initiative to cater to them and took pleasure in it.

At that time, Master Poshan still came to persuade this force not to harm the people as before, but Zhang Xianzhong was different from the other armed forces. He agreed to Master Poshan’s request, but in exchange for Poshan must eat a bowl of meat.

This is Zhang Xianzhong’s bad taste. Killing people is just fun for him. Maybe he thinks it is more fun to watch a monk who has been enlightened for many years break his precepts.

At that time, a large bowl of greasy meat was immediately placed in front of Master Poshan. At this time, he had two choices, either eat the meat and break his many years of precepts and even cultivation; Watching Zhang Xianzhong's men massacre the surrounding villagers.

Shakespeare once left a famous saying in "Hamlet" - To do or not to do is a difficult problem, and now for Zen Master Poshan, eating meat or not is also a difficult problem.

But this is just the wisdom and vision of us ordinary people. It is not a problem at all for an eminent monk like Poshan Zen Master, especially he is also a master of Zen Buddhism, so he smiled slightly and ate the meat without hesitation. Next, he said the famous saying of Master Daoji at that time - wine and meat pass through the intestines, but the Buddha remains in his heart.

After all, Buddhism says, if I don’t go to hell, who will go to hell? In order to save others, many eminent monks are willing to sacrifice themselves, and Zen Master Poshan is no exception.

05

The Theory of the Red Dust

In fact, this kind of problem is not only in the past, but has also appeared in modern times.

I was reading the introduction of Master Xingyun, saying that once I attended an event, the host made a mistake and forgot that there were some onions and garlic in the rice. Some friends may only know that monks cannot eat meat, but in fact onions You should also not eat particularly spicy vegetables such as garlic and leeks. The former is called "fishy" and the latter is "meat". The latter is actually the combined name of the two things.

But Master Xingyun also ate the food. When someone asked him later, he replied that there were many people present at the time. If I revealed this matter, firstly, the people involved would be punished, and secondly, It also ruined everyone's mood, so I just ate what I ate. Whether I break the precept or not, the most important thing actually depends on my own intention.

This is the realm of an eminent monk. If a monk with a lower level of cultivation shouts on the spot, he himself will appear to be "observing the precepts", but his anger will be rampant, and Making everyone around you embarrassed is actually a big mistake.