Master Yin Guang, the thirteenth ancestor of the Pure Land Sect, is a rare eminent monk in modern China who comes back with his wish.He transformed himself into his own life, and the general outline of teachings to be a human being and studying Buddhism is: to be loyal and do your best, to be free from evil, to do nothing, to practice all good, to establish a foundation for humanity;Truly for life and death, the Bodhicitta, honestly chanting Buddha's name, and seeking rebirth in the Pure Land, are shortcuts to learning Buddhism and practicing.
1936In 2018, the Japanese invaders launched a war of aggression against China, with the country in danger, people were panic, and society was uneasy.The Buddhist community held a Dharma Assembly for protecting the country and relieving disasters in Shanghai, with thousands of participants.I asked Master Yin Guang, who was in seclusion, to attend the Dharma and recite the Buddha's name for seven days.On the eighth day, at the request of the believers, I gave a lecture on the purpose of giving refuge and giving me advice.Several teachings written in the Dharma Club are all about the key points of being a human being and studying Buddhism. They are summarized as follows:
1. Explain the importance of the law of cause and effect
These teachings repeatedly explain the principle of cause and effect, quote examples of cause and effect, and reveal the origin and harm of the fallacy, with the purpose of establishing people's correct understanding of the laws of cause and effect in the world and beyond.
When the Buddha was about to enter Nirvana, he said to his great disciples: "If you have any questions about the Four Truths of Suffering, Accumulation, Extinction, and the Way, you can ask questions immediately, and you should not have doubts and not seek solutions."The Buddha said this three times in a row, but no one asked a question.What's the reason?Because they have no doubts.At that time, after using his mind to observe their hearts, Atu (sound: Leak) said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, the moon may become hot, the sun may become cold, and the Four Truths spoken by the Buddha will never change."The Four Noble Truths are the truth about the causal relationship between the world and the world.When the Buddha was about to enter Nirvana, he asked the great disciples whether they had any doubts about this, which shows his importance in Buddhism.They are all great Arhats with six supernatural powers (the ability to know the heavenly eye, the ability to know the heavenly ear, the ability to know the divine foot, the ability to know the other mind, the ability to know the fate, and the ability to lose all defilements). Therefore, they deeply believe that the law of cause and effect is the eternal truth, without any doubt.
Master Yin Guang said: "The principles of the world and the world do not express the word "mind nature";Things that are beyond the world do not have the word cause and effect."This shows that everything in the world and beyond cannot transcend cause and effect.It is also said: "All Buddhas achieve enlightenment and sentient beings fall into the three paths, and they will not be out of cause and effect."The Buddhas attain enlightenment are the cause of extinguishing afflictions and karma and escaping from the cycle of life and death. The result is the result of Nirvana and Nirvana, which is the result of cultivation of cause and achievement.The fall of sentient beings into the three realms is the cause of greed, anger, and ignorance. The result of the three evil realms is also the cause of self-sowing and self-receiving.Therefore, no one is beyond cause and effect.
Master Xuyun said: "The word "cause and effect" summarize the Dharma spoken by the Buddha."It can be seen that the Three Twelve Divisions talk about cause and effect, and there is no Buddhism without cause and effect.He also said: "The word "cause and effect" is something that all saints, ordinary people, the world, and the world cannot escape!"It is clearly stated here that even saints with supernatural powers above the Arhats cannot escape the cause and effect. Can we ordinary people still escape?
However, there are still many people today who do not understand cause and effect and do not believe in cause and effect;Even some monks and lay Buddhists despise cause and effect.It is believed that cause and effect are the low-level teachings of Buddhism and superstitious.Master Xuyun had long proposed in "The Essentials of Meditation" that "deep belief in cause and effect" is a prerequisite for learning Buddhism.If a Buddhist practitioner does not understand cause and effect and does not believe in cause and effect, it will really make people worry about the future of Buddhism!
It must be pointed out that cause and effect are the core of Buddhism. If you do not understand cause and effect, you will not understand Buddhism;If you don’t believe in cause and effect, you will not be able to gain the true benefit of Buddhism.Therefore, these teachings by Master Yin have very important practical significance today.
2. Pay attention to laying the foundation for being a human being
Buddhism is based on people, and first learn to be a human being when learning Buddhism.Master Yin proposed: "To be loyal and do your best, to be free from evil and keep your sincerity, to do not do any evil, to practice all good, to establish a foundation for humanity."This is the essence of traditional morality and an important foundation for being a human being.
Being a person starts with family, starting with thoughts, and starting with daily life."Duan Yue" means respect and harmony."Ethics" means ethics and ethics."Exercise your points" means that you fulfill your duties and obligations.Such as father's kindness and son's filial piety.When you start from your thoughts and actions, you must "relax your evil and keep your sincerity.""Idle", prevent and stop."Evil", evil, including all kinds of delusions.Such as the three poisons, the five desires, etc."Save", preserve, maintain, maintain."Sincerity", sincerity and mindfulness.To be idle and keep your sincerity means to extinguish delusions and maintain righteous thoughts."Do not do any evil, do all good" is the principle of being a human being and the program of Buddhism."Don't do any evil" starts with strictly observing the five precepts.Today's bad people and criminals in society have all violated the Five Precepts.Killing is a violation of murder;Robbery and corruption are violations of theft;Making a relationship between men and women and seeking prostitution is a crime of adultery;Slander and fraud are the precepts of lying;Causing accidents, taking drugs or selling drugs after drinking is a violation of alcohol precepts.Those who do not observe the Five Precepts will be criticized by public opinion and sanctioned by national laws in this life;After death, you will fall into the three paths and it is difficult to protect your human body.If you can keep the five precepts, you will be protected by the good gods who protect the precepts in this life.If you keep one precept, you will have five gods who protect the precepts and good deeds to protect them in secret;If you keep the Five Precepts well, there will be twenty-five good gods who protect the precepts and protect them. What other disasters cannot be eliminated?As long as you can keep the Five Precepts well, it will not be difficult to "perform all good deeds".The ten virtues shall prevail:
1、Protect and release animals without killing;2. Don’t steal but donate;
3、Practice Brahmacharya (pure practice);4. Say honest words without lying;
5、Say gentle words without slandering;6. Speak mediation without slandering;
7、Say simple and upright without frivolous words;8. Practice the view of impurity without greed;
9、Cultivate compassion without anger;10. Cultivate the view of cause and condition without being ignorant.
Being able to seriously observe the Five Precepts and actively pursue the Ten Virtues has laid the foundation for being a human being, which is the program of practicing the human and heavenly vehicle practice.Only on this basis can we talk about life and death, exiting the samsara of reincarnation, being born in the Pure Land, and becoming a Buddha.So don’t take these four sentences simply. This is the starting point of practicing transcendental Dharma and the foundation of practicing Bodhisattva practice.
3. Point out the shortcuts to studying Buddhism and practicing
In the original way, all the Dharmas spoken by the Buddha are equal and have no superiority or inferiority.Due to different seasons and conditions, the roots and causes of sentient beings are different, especially those who have the Dharma-Ending Age, who have shallow roots of good deeds, weak blessings, heavy karma, and many retreats.Even if you can practice, it will not be easy to achieve the fruit.The Great Treasure Accumulation Sutra says: "The practice of the Dharma-Ending Age is rare (less) to attain enlightenment (achieving fruit).Only by reciting the Buddha's name can one save life and death."So, when choosing a method, you must meet the time and opportunity.If you are not a powerful weapon, you should follow the time: 1. Achievement with precepts during the Dharma period;2. Achievement through meditation during the period of image Dharma;3. Achievement in Pure Land during the Dharma-Ending Age.The contemporary eminent monk Master Daoyuan said it well: "In the Dharma-Ending Age, sentient beings cannot overcome life and death without chanting the Buddha's name, and cannot save sentient beings."Master Yuanying was a Zen sect craftsman. He preached the "Lingyan Sutra" in his early years, and was called "Lingyan Sutra".The middle-aged dream Buddha asked to promote the Pure Land. In the "Explanation of Amitabha", he said: "Therefore, I return to the Pure Land of the Heart, and call myself the Master of the Three Seeking Hall, seeking blessings, wisdom, and rebirth in the Pure Land."The old lay Buddhist Li Bingnan, a great master of the contemporary Pure Land Sect, said: "I have studied the meditation and studied the Dharma from Master Zhenkong of Peking, and studied with the abbot of Jingju Temple in Jinan for eight years.Later, he went to Chongqing and studied the secret Dharma again at Gongga Living Buddha and Nuona Living Buddha, and chanted mantras in accordance with the Dharma for eight years.No one can achieve anything ashamed.Be sure of the tips of Master Yin Guang (later taking refuge in Master Yin) and still practice the method of chanting Buddha."He was still spreading the Dharma at the age of 97. In his later years, he often said, "If you do not succeed in practicing Pure Land, you can assert that you will not succeed in practicing other methods.If you can achieve success without this method, I will be a great lie and go to hell!”
Pure Land is the two-power method, and it is the easy way to practice.As Master Yin said: Between Zen and Pure Land, "comparing the difficulty and ease, there is a difference between heaven and earth."And it also cited that Peng Yunzhang, He Guiqing and Zhang Fei, who were Zen monks in the late Qing Dynasty, enjoyed great wealth and honor in this life, committed evil deeds, and eventually fell into depravity.It is also the case that Wu Yinzhi, a Tanhua in the late Qing Dynasty, knew that he was a monk in his previous life, disdained chanting Buddha's name and even believed in Buddhism.Inspiring thought-provoking!Therefore, Master Lianchi, a high-ranking monk in the Ming Dynasty, said: "I observe that the wealthy and noble people who have always been outstanding in history were mostly monks in their previous lives....However, nine out of ten people who are confused and unaware of turning back after reincarnation;One tenth of them live up to the causes and conditions of the previous life.What is the reason?Because there are too many retreats in the five turbidities and evil worlds, it is inevitable that wise people will be!Behind Zen Master Jie is Su Dongpo, behind Zen Master Qing is Zeng Lugong, behind Zen Master Zhe, behind Zen Master Zhe, he is greedy for wealth and more distress... This is why good teachers from ancient and modern times encourage people to abandon the five turbidities and evil worlds and seek rebirth in the Western Pure Land.”
To quote Zen Master Yuanze of the Tang Dynasty, he has realized something and can know the past and future, "and he cannot escape from life and death,... It is so difficult to rely on his own efforts to overcome life and death;Relying on the power of Buddha to achieve life and death is as easy as that of that.It is inexplicable that people in the world often give up the power of Buddha and rely on their own strength!"At the end, Master Yin said with great sincerity: "I hope that all people will think carefully about the past of these five people, like losing their parents, saving their heads, and thus benefiting others, and cultivating pure karma, so that they can meet in this life!”
The principle of cultivating pure karma is to "really make life and death, develop the Bodhicitta, recite the Buddha's name honestly, and seek rebirth in the Pure Land."The true purpose of life and death". The purpose of practice must be to escape from life and death, not to seek to eliminate disasters and avoid difficulties and blessings from humans and heaven."Growing the Bodhicitta", Pure Land is a Mahayana method, and you must make a great vow to save sentient beings in order to correspond to the power of Amitabha's vow.Only by being undoubted, uninterrupted, can it be called "chanting Buddha's name honestly".Only by having the three resources of faith, aspiration and practice can we achieve the goal of "rebirth in Pure Land".This is the shortcut to learning Buddhism and the principle of cultivating purity.
These teachings by Master Yin always implement and repeatedly explain the laws of cause and effect in the world and beyond, and sincerely encourage people to have good intentions, speak good words, do good deeds, and be good people.Believe in cause and effect, stop doing evil and do good, and lay a deep foundation for being a human being;On this basis, it is possible to achieve it by keeping precepts and practicing, pursuing life and death, and leaving the samsara of reincarnation.In choosing the method, it is affirmatively pointed out that only those sentient beings in the Dharma-Ending Age can practice pure karma, which is the most stable, direct, timely and opportunity method.Master Yin will show his true intention of saving life in his life again in these teachings.Words are ordinary and unconventional, and every sentence is practical.If we can learn repeatedly, understand deeply, and follow the teachings.Now we can eliminate karma, eliminate disasters and avoid difficulties, increase blessings and wisdom, and achieve what we want;When you are dying, your mind is not greedy, your mind is not confused, your mind is revealed, and you will be guided by Amitabha's vows, and you will be reborn in the Pure Land, and you will be free in your life and will never retreat.