The bodhi tree has no tree, and the mirror is not a stand. There is nothing in the first place, so where can it cause dust (explain it)

Bodhi is originally a metaphor for wisdom,

A bright mirror is a metaphor for a quiet mind.

It is originally quiet, but where is the dust?

"Bodhi has no tree" is one of the four famous verses of Master Huineng, the sixth ancestor of Zen Buddhism in my country. The purpose is to explain that all potential dharma is like a dream, and to teach people not to have delusional thoughts and attachments, so that they can understand their minds, see their nature, and realize Bodhi by themselves.

Huineng was orphaned and faced hardships. He made a living by selling firewood in the market. After hearing a guest reciting the Diamond Sutra, he became enlightened, so he went to the Fifth Patriarch to study the Dharma.

One day, the Fifth Patriarch called all the disciples to come: "I tell you, life and death are important matters in this world. You only seek the field of blessings all day long, and do not seek to escape from the sea of ??life and death. If your own nature is confused, what blessing will you have? Can it be saved? You all go and see the wisdom for yourself. Each one writes a verse based on the nature of prajna. If you understand the general idea, I will give you the Dharma."

< p>Everyone was just waiting for Shenxiu to compose a verse. Shenxiu secretly wrote a verse on the wall and said: "The body is like a Bodhi tree, and the heart is like a mirror stand. I always brush it diligently to prevent it from causing dust."

The Fifth Patriarch ordered his disciples to Burn incense sticks in salute and recite this verse to the fullest. But he told Shenxiu personally: "When you wrote this verse, you didn't see your true nature. You only went outside the door, not inside the door. With such a view, you can't find the supreme Bodhi."

Although Huineng is illiterate. , as soon as you hear this verse, you will know that you have not seen your true nature. The trustee also wrote a verse: "The Bodhi tree has no tree, and the mirror is not a stand. There is nothing in the first place, so how can it cause dust."

Everyone was shocked. After observing it, the Fifth Patriarch wiped his shoes with a verse and said, "I haven't seen my nature yet." Because he had no place to live, his mind was born. Since it is so peaceful, why should there be a verse? The Fifth Patriarch's state of mind was vividly revealed,

"Bodhi has no tree": Bodhi is the path to enlightenment, so what kind of tree does it have? If there is a tree, then Bodhi becomes an object and becomes attached to. Bodhi originally has nothing. You say you are enlightened, but what does enlightenment look like? Is it cyan? yellow? red? White? Just give it a try and see that it is formless and formless.

Huineng means "a bright mirror is not a platform": You say that the heart is like a bright mirror, but in fact there is no platform at all. If there is a platform, there will be attachment. "Xin', why do you still need a stage?"

"There is nothing in the first place": There is nothing in the first place, and there is no appearance, nor a picture, or a form, so there is nothing at all.

"Where does the dust come from?": Since there is nothing, where does the dust come from? There is no place to live at all.

Extended information:

Huineng (638-713) was an eminent monk in the Tang Dynasty. The common surname is Lu. His father died when he was three years old. His family was poor. When he was older, he made a living by cutting fuel and selling firewood to support his mother.

When he was 24 years old, he resigned from his mother and became a monk. He went to Huangmeidong Mountain in Qizhou to pay homage to the fifth ancestor, Master Hongren. When I first started to travel, I worked with the crowd, stepping on the hammer and pounding rice. Later, he was highly appreciated by Hongren for his poems on how to achieve the Dharma, and he was entrusted with the Dharma and became the Sixth Patriarch of Zen Buddhism.

Because the competition within Buddhism for the status of ancestor was very fierce at that time, Huineng was in danger many times, and finally hid himself among the hunters and lived in seclusion for fifteen years. After Hongren passed away, Huineng began to teach the Dharma and receive precepts.

After that, he evolved Buddhism for more than thirty years, spreading the Dharma and saving countless people. Wu Zetian and Tang Zhongzong heard of his reputation and issued many imperial edicts to recruit him to the capital. However, he refused to obey the imperial edict because he was old and sick.

At the age of seventy-six, he went to Xinzhou to perish. There are two core ideas in it, one is the theory of self-inherited Buddha nature, and the other is the theory of sudden enlightenment and becoming a Buddha. In the history of world Buddhism, he is a thinker who integrated Chinese and Western Buddhist thoughts.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Bodhi has no tree