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?

The first line is what Hui Neng said

Bodhi has no tree in the first place, and the bright mirror is not a stand. It is nothing in the first place. What kind of dust will be stained there?

First of all, let’s talk about the origin of this poem

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Zen Buddhism spread to the fifth ancestor, Master Hongren. At that time, Master Hongren gave lectures in Huangmei, Hubei, and had five hundred disciples. Among the remaining people, the leader is undoubtedly the eldest disciple, Master Shenxiu. Shenxiu is also recognized as the heir to the Zen mantle. Hongren was getting old gradually, so he wanted to find a successor among his disciples, so he told his disciples that everyone should make a Jizi (a poem with a Zen feel), and whoever did it well would pass on the mantle to him. At this time, Shenxiu wanted to inherit the mantle, but he was afraid that doing this Jizi for the purpose of inheriting the mantle would violate the Buddhist concept of doing nothing. So he got up in the middle of the night and wrote a poem on the wall of the courtyard: The body is a bodhi tree, and the heart is a mirror stand. Wipe it frequently to avoid dust. The meaning of this Shoujizi is to take care of your own soul and state of mind at all times, and to resist external temptations and all kinds of evil spirits through continuous practice. It is a worldly mentality that emphasizes the role of spiritual practice. This understanding is not consistent with the enlightenment of the Zen Mahayana sect, so when everyone saw this Jizi the next morning, they all said yes, and they all guessed that it was made by Shenxiu and admired it very much. Hong Ren I didn’t make any comments after seeing it. Because he knew that Shenxiu had not yet had an epiphany.

At this time, when the monks in the temple were talking about this Shoujizi, they were overheard by a fire-headed monk in the kitchen, Zen Master Huineng. Huineng asked others to take him to see this Jizi. What needs to be explained here is that Huineng was illiterate and could not read. He heard others talk about this Jizi, and at that time he said that this person had not yet realized the true meaning. So he made another Ji Zi himself, and begged others to write it next to the beautiful Ji Zi. Bodhi has no tree, and the mirror is not a stand. There is nothing in the first place, so how can it cause dust. With this Jizi, we can see that Huineng was a man of great wisdom (some people in later generations said that he was the reincarnation of the tenth monk). His Jizi is very consistent with the concept of enlightenment in Zen Buddhism. It is a transcendent attitude. The main meaning is that the world is inherently empty. Everything in the world is empty. If the heart is inherently empty, there is no need to resist external temptations. Everything will pass by the heart without leaving any trace. This is a very high state of Zen Buddhism. People who understand this state are called enlightened.

After Hongren saw this Ji Zi, he asked the people around him who wrote it. The people around him said that it was written by Huineng, so he called Huineng and said it in front of him and other monks. : The writing was messy and gibberish, and I personally erased the mark. Then he hit Huineng three times on the head and left. At this time, only Huineng understood the meaning of the Fifth Patriarch, so he went to Hongren's Zen room at three o'clock in the evening, where Hongren explained to him the Diamond Sutra, one of the most important classics of Buddhism, and passed on the mantle Give it to him. Then in order to prevent Shenxiu's people from harming Huineng, Huineng escaped overnight. So Huineng traveled south overnight, and after living in seclusion for 10 years, he founded the Southern School of Zen in the Putian Shaolin Temple. After Shenxiu learned about it the next day, he sent someone to chase Huineng, but he failed to catch him. Later Shenxiu became the protector of the Liang Dynasty and founded the Northern Sect of Zen.