Zen is a very mysterious thing. It can be understood but cannot be expressed in words. If you do it reluctantly, you will get twice the result with half the effort. I'm not afraid of trouble and will tell you about it!

Let’s talk about it first:

Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching says at the beginning: “The Tao can be Tao, but it is not Tao; the name can be named, but it is not named.” The mystery of Taoism and Buddhism The family's Zen skills are as profound as they are unpredictable. During the Warring States Period, Dong Guozi asked Zhuang Zhou (Zhuangzi), a representative of Taoism: "Where does the so-called Tao exist?" Zhuangzi said: "Tao is everywhere." Dongguozi said: "You must point out the specific place where it exists. Okay." Zhuangzi said, "Among the ants." Dongguozi said, "Why are you in such a low and humble place?" Zhuangzi said, "Why are you even more humble?" ?" Zhuangzi said: "In the bricks and tiles." Dongguozi said: "Why is it getting lower and lower?" Zhuangzi said: "In the urine." Dongguozi was speechless.

This is Zhuangzi's famous saying, "Tao is drowned in shit." Looking at all things with the eyes of Tao, all things are equal, and there is no distinction between high and low, good and evil. The Tao exists even in the lowest things.

Let’s talk about Zen when eating and sleeping:

Hui Hai, a student of Mazu Daoyi, has a famous dialogue:

The master came to Hui Hai and asked: "You Are you still working hard in practice?"

Hui Hai replied: "You are working hard."

The master asked: "How do you work hard?"

Hui Hai Said: "Eat when you are hungry, and sleep when you are sleepy. (Eat when you are hungry, sleep when you are sleepy.)"

The Master was confused and asked: "As long as it is a person, who is not hungry?" Just eat and sleep when you feel sleepy? Is this also called practicing hard? "

Hui Hai said: "Others' eating and sleeping are very different from my eating and sleeping."

The master asked: "What's the difference?"

Hui Hai said: "They don't eat when they should eat, and they ask for all kinds of things; they don't sleep when they should sleep, and they care about everything. This That's the difference between us."

From the perspective of spiritual practice, Master Huihai eats when he should and sleeps when he should. Although he is the same as ordinary people, or even like pigs, his state of mind is the same. Big difference. Ordinary people eat when they need to eat and sleep when they need to sleep. This is the initial stage of Zen cultivation, "seeing mountains is mountains, seeing water is water." Later, when practicing, things become more complicated, so "seeing mountains is not mountains," "Seeing water is not water", this is the second stage. When one reaches the level of Master Huihai, from complex to simple, and returns to nature, it seems that he has returned to the first stage of eating when he should and sleeping when he should. But this is just It just looks like it, but the realm is completely different.

Whether we understand or not depends on our fate!