worldly life under the background of reciting scriptures and repentance verses as well as burning incense and worship buddha, especially the actual situation of rural life should be seen. it needs a process to improve rural believers’ quality meanwhile it also needs a process to improve their own qualities of buddhist circle in rural areas. now the buddhist circle universally exists a state of mind fearing to be slapped label “feudalistic superstition”. i think it unnecessary and there should be making a concrete analysis of concrete conditions. the most important of all for buddhism in the world is whether believers believing in religion could benefit from it as well as how much it can contribute to people. (from words of chan by shi yongxin)
now many people believe the statement of the dharma ending period and think that buddhist ethics slump in modern society. in fact, each era’s buddhist ethics are about the same. patriarch bodhidharma taught the “four mental formations”, accounting for exaggerated buddhist atmosphere at that time; xuan zang, a monk in the tang dynasty,journeyed to india to seek scriptures, which declared the confusion of buddhist thought at that time; meditation master huaihai in baizhang mount made monastic rules for buddhists, which indicated that great monasteries (conglin) had no manners and so on. browsing through historical records, we can find out that there is always the criticism of the existing society. after reading the biographies of eminent monks and dharma lanterns, we would think that eminent monks in tang dynasty and song dynasty converged. in fact, this was an illusion. the eminent monks and dharma lamps gathered eminent monks over hundreds of years together. there are no several eminent monks per decade according to average number. we always have great expectations of our own time, which is not a good thing, particularly bad for practitioners. unreasonable expectation itself is a delusion. we should be common in mind, treating our time and our own cultivation. (from words of chan by shi yongxin)
if gongan of chan buddhism is compared to beautiful flowers, then making the beautiful flowers grow is unremitting meditation practice of monks. we appreciate flowers, being not only see flowers, but also see branches and leaves that supporting flowers, even roots and soil. flowers cannot leave branches, leaves and roots. if flowers left them, the former would fade. these gongan is so too and cannot isolate from monks’ daily practice. only the basic stuff is profound and daily practice is enough or sufficient, meditation practice will be able to blossom and yield fruit. if people couldn’t ensure fundamental daily meditation practice, then a whole life of practice would not be able to blossom too, much less yielding fruit. there is a famous gongan of chan buddhism that buddha picked up the flower with smile. the buddha picked up a flower by which all people were under a spell but only buddha is not so. as we read gongan of chan buddhism, all stories about gongan are beautiful flowers. whether we could be under a spell, it lies in ourselves. (from words of chan by shi yongxin)
practicing kungfu is a profession. martial arts is the foundation and kungfu lies in youself. practicing kungfu has to be firm or solid: basic skills, sets, attack and defence as well as kungfu, working steadily. the orderly kungfu practice can change disorderly. chan is the root and kungfu lies in your heart. you must contemplate from your heart. kungfu can’t be superb until finding your true self. (from words of chan by shi yongxin)
some people establish undertakings that are vigorous but may have a sense of emptiness; what some people do is the social edge career but may be very full. therefore buddhism thinks that it is not necessary for each one to become a monk and it is also necessary for everyone to have a very good job industry. no matter what you do, this is always a discipline or practice in every industry. that is also both responsibilities and obligations for society. trying to satisfy people is the very state or the realm towards kindness and ascending. (from words of chan)
chan practice needs the enlightenment and shaolin kungfu also needs enlightenment. at the beginning of practicing shaolin kungfu, people is usually in the physical training stage. you will be able to improve kungfu only with correct methods and hard work. practicing to a certain extent, you will be beyond the physical training stage and enter upon a new phase. you have to practice with your heart during this period which does not mean practicing carefully and diligently but enlighten yourself by the heart. becoming a holy one or an ordinary people hinges on this one action. if you can enlighten mental cultivation methods of chan wu, then you will attain the supreme realm of chan wu; if you does not enlighten it, you will waste your life. enlightenment or no enlightenment is talent but not destiny. people with sharp root of wisdom enlighten themselves early. however, as long as people with blunt root of wisdom can correct themselves, sooner or later they will attain enlightenment. (from words of chan by shi yongxin)
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