The master exhausted his last bit of strength and solemnly wrote four big words: "Sorrow and Joy".
This is the last ink of Master Hongyi’s life.
After writing these four words, the master did nothing else but recite the Buddha's name.
Master Hongyi (1880-1942), whose common name was Li Shutong, was a native of Pinghu, Zhejiang, and was born in Tianjin. He is not only a talented art educator, but also a generation of eminent monks. The master whose "twenty articles shocked the world" integrated poetry, lyrics, calligraphy and painting, seal cutting, music, drama, and literature into one body. He pioneered the splendid culture and art of China in many fields. He pushed the art of calligraphy in ancient China to the extreme, "simple and perfect, as if it were made by nature." Modern cultural celebrities such as Lu Xun and Guo Moruo regarded it as the ultimate honor to receive a calligraphy from the master. He was the first pioneer to spread Western music to China. His "Farewell Song" has been sung for decades and has become a classic. At the same time, he was also the first teacher in China to pioneer nude sketching. With outstanding artistic attainments, it has successively cultivated some cultural celebrities such as the famous painter Feng Zikai and the musician Liu Zhiping. He dedicated himself to the Buddha, did not eat after noon, studied Vinaya diligently, promoted Buddhism, and saved all sentient beings from the sea of ??suffering. He was regarded as the eleventh generation ancestor of the Vinaya sect by Buddhist disciples. He has left endless spiritual wealth for the world. His life is full of legend. He is a typical figure in China who is extremely gorgeous but ends in mediocrity.
Master Taixu once gave this verse:
Sealing the mind with teachings, tightening the body with discipline, and making the inside and outside pure, are the causes of Bodhi.
Mr. Zhao Puchu commented on the master’s life as:
Endless treasures for the world’s eyes, a full moon shining in the sky, a mixture of sorrow and joy in the heart: Master Hongyi
From: Si Dust
The word "sadness" in the Buddhist discourse system does not mean "sadness" or "sadness" as ordinary people use it. The "compassion" that Buddhism talks about is the Sanskrit word Karuna, which means "compassion" for "compassion". Sui monk Huiyuan's "Mahayana Yi Zhang" explains: "Love and compassion are called kindness, and compassion is compassion." He also said: "Kindness can bring happiness (giving joy), and compassion can remove suffering (make it free from suffering)." Regardless of it. "Love" and "compassion", or "pleasure" and "relieve suffering", all refer to compassion and rescue for "all living beings", rather than the sentimental feelings of the "sad" person. Kumarajiva's famous translation "Great Wisdom" clearly states: "Great compassion brings happiness to all living beings, and great compassion relieves the suffering of all living beings." The "great compassion without preconditions, great compassion for the same body" advocated by Mahayana Buddhism puts more emphasis on "compassion" The true meaning of "compassion" - love for parents, children, and lovers is "predestined" love, "love" rather than "kindness"; "unpredestined kindness" is universal love for all life, including "unpredestined" love for you ——Beings that appear to have nothing to do with you. In the same way, general sympathy for the suffering of others is only "compassion" rather than "compassion". Real "great compassion" is a "fellow" feeling for the suffering of all living beings, that is, "empathizing" with the suffering of others as one's own. of pain. Therefore, Master Hongyi’s final writing is by no means an “invisible follow-up of inner emotions in the world”, nor is it a reflection of the master’s fundamental problems in life that “have not actually been resolved.” On the contrary, from a Buddhist point of view, behind the master's serene Nirvana image and the last words of "the intersection of sorrow and joy", it just reflects that the master "fundamentally solved" the fundamental problems of life at the time of Nirvana.
As for the word "Xin", Buddhism believes that the fundamental issue in life is just the word "life and death". "Ending life and death" - that is, having a thorough insight into the causes of suffering in life and the methods to eliminate suffering and practicing it personally is the only way to solve the fundamental problems of life. The famous "Three Dharma Seals" of Buddhism say: "Everything with outflows (outflows, namely troubles) is suffering", indicating that life is full of troubles because sentient beings do not understand the truth that "all actions are impermanent and all dharmas have no self". If the six "fundamental troubles" in life (namely, greed, anger, ignorance, doubt, conceit, and evil views) are not freed, "karma" will be created due to "outflows" (referring to all human physical and mental activities, body, speech, and mind). Three karma')", and new troubles will arise due to "karma", and this reincarnation will never end.
Therefore, the Buddha taught all living beings to diligently practice the three disciplines of "precepts, concentration, and wisdom" to understand their minds and see their nature, and finally get rid of troubles and end life and death. Therefore, being able to "be as happy as a child" before dying is also the best explanation for "fundamentally solving" the fundamental problems of life. Most people talk about death and struggle hard before death, so the Buddha summed up the "eight sufferings" of life including the "suffering of death" (referring to birth, old age, illness, death, separation from love, meeting with resentment and hatred, not getting what you want, and the five sufferings). Take the aggregate)". Only those who have "fundamentally solved" the fundamental problems of life can get rid of all worries when they die, can feel "joyful", and can write the four words "the intersection of sorrow and joy" that are as deep as the sea and as light as white. Like a stream; as heavy as a mountain, yet as light as the words that smell the fragrance of flowers from afar.
Excerpt from: Bible Reading Notes (23) Master Hongyi’s Contemplation of Joy and Sorrow
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