Continued above:
Huineng since inheriting the mantle of Hongren, immersed in fifteen years, to the first year of Yifeng began to preach the Dharma, however, just one year before the first year of Yifeng, the second year of Shangyuan (AD 675), the fifth ancestor Hongren passed away, at the age of seventy-three.
Two days before his death, Master Hongren said to his disciple Xuan Zhen, who was serving in his later years: "I have taught many people in my life, but there are only ten who can really promote the Dharma and teach me. These ten people are Shangshou Shenxiu, Shaozhou Huineng, Zizhou Zhixu, Baisongshan Liu Zhuji, Huazhou Huizang, Suizhou Xuanyue, Songshan Lao'an, Luzhou Faru, Yangzhou Gaoli Monk Zhide, and Yuezhou Yangfang. ”
Among these ten people, except for Huineng one in the south, the rest of the people are in the north or the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to promote Buddhism, the Dongshan method has been widely spread, so that Bodhidharma Zen has developed into a large sect under the Hongren sect, and the prevalent spread of its law, the first to recommend Huineng and Shenxiu.
Huineng took "Prajna" as the sect and opened the law in the south; Shenxiu takes "Ranga" as the sect and spreads Zen in the north.
As a result, the two systems of Zen Buddhism were formed.
After the fifth ancestor Hongren passed the mantle to Huineng, Shenxiu was sad and left the Dongshan Zen Temple. When he was about sixty years old, Shenxiu resumed his life at home for a time, and not long after, he went to Yuquan Temple in Dangyang Mountain, Jiangling (now Dangyang County, Hubei).
When Huineng was at the height of his Dharma propagation in the south, the more famous Zen master in the north was Faru. Faru entered the Dongshan Zen Temple only one year earlier than Huineng, he served Hongren for 16 years, until Hongren passed away, he left Huangmei.
In 686 A.D., Fa Ru preached the Dharma in Songshan Shaolin Temple, four years later, Fa Ru was destroyed, and at this time was 85 years old Shenxiu, the reputation was restored, the original Central Plains scholars under the Fa Ru Sect, then gathered under the Shenxiu Sect, so that Shenxiu in a short period of time, became "the master of the two capitals, the three emperors".
Huineng lived in Caoxi Baolin Temple in Shaozhou, Guanghua disciples, and Shenxiu lived in Yuquan Temple, Dangyang County, Nanjing Prefecture, and recruited monks.
The disciples of the two Hongren sects, one in the south and the other in the Central Plains, all took Zen Buddhism as the call, and for a time, the two religions prevailed, affecting the Han land, and naturally, people called it like this: "Southern Sect Huineng, Northern Sect Shenxiu." ”
Because there is a distinction between the southern and northern sects, there is also a difference between epiphany and gradual enlightenment, but many people who study Buddhism and seek the Dharma cannot figure out what the purpose of the two sects is. Huineng explained to the Zeng people:
"Originally, Buddhism has only one purpose, but there is a difference between the north and the south of the people who teach the Dharma. There is only one kind of Dharma, but there is a difference between the speed and the slow understanding of scholars. Knowing quickly is an epiphany, and knowing slowly is gradually realizing. There is a gradual understanding, but there is no gradual difference in Buddhism, only because the practitioner has the distinction of being intelligent and slow, so there is a saying of epiphany and gradual enlightenment! ”
Someone spread Huineng's words to Dangyang Yuquan Temple.
One day, a group of disciples under Shenxiu's sect gathered together to discuss this matter.
A disciple was extremely dissatisfied and said, "Patriarch Nan speaks inappropriately. They have an epiphany, and we come to an enlightenment, because they are clever and we are dull. Isn't this a deliberate attempt to exalt themselves and belittle us? ”
"Why don't you stop there," the other disciple took over with an angry look on his face, and said, "Patriarch Nan deliberately exalted himself, and obviously didn't take Master Shenxiu in his eyes. I think that at the beginning, when he was in Huangmei Dongshan, Master Shenxiu was the Theravada disciple of Hongren, but the ancestor of the Southern Sect was just a practitioner. ”
Another disciple said, "Not really! The ancestor of the Southern Sect is illiterate, I heard that he was originally a woodcutter, what strengths are worth boasting about! The Southern Patriarch is not as good as Master Shenxiu at all, I don't know what the Fifth Patriarch thought at the time, and forcibly passed the robe that originally belonged to the Shenxiu Master to the Southern Patriarch, otherwise, the Southern Patriarch would not have such a spirit? ”
Disciples, you and I are talking word by word, but unexpectedly, Shenxiu happened to pass by, and I heard the disciples' discussions clearly.
The disciples found that the master was standing aside, and for a moment they didn't know what to do, so they folded together one by one and bowed their heads.
Seeing this, Shenxiu smiled and said to everyone: "Master Huineng is from the same class as me, but unlike me, he can obtain the clothes of the Fifth Ancestor Hongren Master because he has the wisdom of no teacher, and he can deeply comprehend the highest method of becoming a Buddha, I am not as good as him." You must not speak in vain and underestimate others. If you think about it, wouldn't it be unreasonable for the Fifth Patriarch to personally teach him the mantle and the Zen method? ”
When the disciples saw Shenxiu say this, they looked at each other, but they still didn't dare to answer, and the previous anger did not know where to go.
Shenxiu sighed and said, "I only hate that I am separated from Master Huineng by thousands of mountains and rivers, and I am an old man, and I have no way to contact him, so I am in vain by the emperor's grace and the support of everyone." I'm not as good as Master Huineng, and you don't see it that way, so you don't have to be taught from me alone, you can go out for a walk, you might as well go to Caoxi, listen to Master Huineng's lectures, or you can have a little more knowledge, at that time, Master Huineng and I are good and bad, and you know in your hearts. ”
When the disciples heard this, they thought that Shenxiu was angry, knelt on the ground, and bowed one after another: "Master is angry, we will not leave Master, we will not go to Caoxi, we will serve your old man for the rest of our lives." ”
Shenxiu shook his head helplessly and turned away.
Update tomorrow.