One day about 1500 years ago, a bearded monk came to the Yangtze River. He looked at the rolling river, broke a reed at the water's edge, threw it into the river, and then jumped up and walked away.
This is a legend. According to textual research, it was first written by Yuan Wu Keqin (1063 ~ 1 135). Now a Ming Dynasty stone tablet can be seen in the tablet gallery of Songshan Shaolin Temple, which shows this legend.
This legend is called "crossing the river with reeds", and the bearded monk named bodhidharma is an Indian monk. He came across the ocean from a distant place, and he wanted to guide all the people in middle-earth with his understanding of Mahayana Buddhism. However, his Buddhism was not understood by the people at that time. He was met by the Buddhist emperor in Jiankang (now Nanjing), but he had to cross the river north to find believers. What "crossing the river with one reed" is about his experience at this time. Then, he came to Luoyang, the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty, a powerful northern country, and lived here for many years. However, the activities to promote Buddhism were not smooth. The Zen he preached was ridiculed by the mainstream of Buddhism at that time, and he was not considered a virtuous monk. At that time, a book devoted to recording the deeds of monks (Biography of Monks, written by Liang Huijiao in the Southern Dynasties, was completed on 5 19). Later, it is said that he sat quietly in a cave in Songshan Mountain, not far from Luoyang, for nine years. While thinking about it, he realized the profound Zen method and created the Middle-earth Zen School, which was regarded as the ancestor of Zen. Perhaps many successful people in history were silent before their death, and their value was not known until after their death. So is he. There is a very emotional contrast between the indifference before death and the fame behind him. There is an old saying in China: "The poor live in downtown areas, but the rich have distant relatives in the mountains." His life can confirm the old saying that he can see through the world. When he was born, he was in a "poor" situation and people didn't know how to respect him. After his death, the "wealth" of spiritual property made people associate many irrelevant things with him, and it was also a practice to regard him as the founder of Shaolin Wushu.
Martial arts novels often describe lightness skill with images such as limping, stepping on duckweed and jumping on the grass. But since he is considered as the founder of the first martial art in the world, it is not surprising that he has the ability to "cross the river with one reed". The imagination of "crossing the river with a reed" may also provide some reference for martial arts novelists to create martial arts. However, the creator of the image of "a reed crossing the river" seems to have forgotten that the word "a reed" originated from a poem in the Book of Songs: "Who is the width of the river? A glimpse. " The original intention is that the river bank is not wide, and "one reed" is navigable; The meaning of "a reed", according to Confucius, a scholar in the Tang Dynasty, refers to a bunch of reeds instead of a reed. The reed painted in Crossing the River by a Reed has always been five leaves, which may contain Buddhist allusions of "one flower and five leaves", but this is not a simple question of how to be light.
According to legend, Dharma is the third son of King Tianzhu Xiang. Prajna Paramita, the 27th Buddha, worshiped Sakyamuni's disciple since childhood.
One day, Dharma asked his master for advice and said, "Where should I spread Buddhism after I get it?" Prajna paramita said, "You are going to Sinian (that is, China)". He also said, "After the Sinian, don't live in the south, where the monarch likes achievement and doesn't understand Buddhism."
According to Master's instructions, Dharma packed his bags and sailed across the ocean in a gondola. It took him three years to come to China. After Dharma arrived in China, Guangzhou secretariat learned about this matter and quickly reported it to Jinling. Wu Liang and Xiang Yan immediately sent messengers with Dharma to Nanjing to welcome him and entertain his guests.
Emperor Wu is a Buddhist and advocates self-liberation. Dharma is a Zen Mahayana school, which advocates sitting by the wall and benefiting all beings. Because of different views, every time I talk about Buddhism, I always don't speculate. At this time, Dharma felt that Nanjing was not a place to stay for a long time, so he left Xiao Yan and crossed the river to the north.
There is a monk named Shen Guang in China, who is from Xingyang, Henan. At that time, Shen Guang gave a lecture in Yuhuatai, Nanjing. The local people said: "Shen Guang gave a lecture euphemistically and sweetly, and the golden lotus was born on the ground, and the stubborn stone nodded." The people who watched the lecture were packed three floors away. Dharma left Liang Wudi for the north and passed by Yuhuatai. When he saw Shen Guang preaching there, he squeezed into the crowd and listened attentively. When Dharma was listening, he heard some nodding and some shaking his head. Nodding your head means you agree with Shen Guang, shaking your head means you disagree with Shen Guang. During the explanation, Shen Guang found that Dharma shook his head and thought it was the biggest disrespect for himself. He asked Dharma, "Why did you shake your head?" Because of his different views on Buddhism, Dharma gave in and left Yuhuatai to cross the river to the north.
After Dharma left, someone in the audience said to Shen Guang, "Do you know who that man was just now? He is the Indian monk bodhidharma, who is well versed in Buddhism and has profound knowledge. " Hearing this, Shen Guang felt very ashamed. When master came, he was rude just now. So I quickly chased dharma to apologize. Dharma walked ahead, followed by Shen Guang, until you reached the bank of the Yangtze River. Dharma is in a hurry to cross the river and stop at the bank. There is no bridge, no boat or even a figure on the vast sea. How can we cross the river here? Dharma is in a hurry. Who knows "God never shuts one door but he opens another"? At this helpless moment, Dharma suddenly found an old lady sitting not far from the shore, with a bundle of reeds beside her, as if waiting for the boat to cross the river. Dharma thought to himself, if he is old, why is he alone without an escort? Let it be! Had to ask her father for help. So he stepped forward, respectfully saluted the old man and said, "Old Bodhisattva, I want to cross the river, but I don't have a boat. Please give me a reed so that I can walk instead of walking. "
The old man raised his head and studied Buddhism carefully. I saw his eyes protruding, a full face of beard, curly, burly, calm, strong image and extraordinary appearance. The old man nodded secretly and took out a reed and an instrument. Dharma took the reed in both hands, thanked the old man and left. When he got to the river, he put the reed by the river, only to see a reed flower with its head held high and five reed leaves unfolded. Dharma treads on reeds and crosses the Yangtze River.
Regardless of fatigue, Shen Guang chased Dharma to the river. When he saw Dharma crossing the river with a reed, he angrily ran to the old man's side. Without asking indiscriminately, he picked up a bundle of reeds beside the old man, plopped it into the water, jumped on the bundle of reeds and hurried across the river. Strangely, this bundle of reeds did not advance, but quickly sank into the water. Seeing that the situation was not good, Shenguang waded out in a hurry and almost drowned. Shen Guang rushed to the muddy old man and gently listened to the rebuke: "If you give him a reed to cross the river, why can't I give you a bundle of reeds?"
The old man answered unhurriedly: "He is my reed, helping others;" You are the reed that robbed me. Everything has a destiny. Can you help me for no reason? " The old man said, "In a blink of an eye, there was no one over the vast river. At this moment, Shen Guang knew what he had lost, and he sighed in shame. He called the weather ineffective, and he shouldn't call the ground. He was very sad and regretted it.
After Dharma crossed the river, he walked with a mord in his hand, worshiped on the mountain and meditated in the temple. In the third year of Xiaochang in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 527), he arrived at Shaolin Temple in Songshan Mountain.
Dharma saw here surrounded by mountains, dense forests, beautiful scenery, quiet environment, prosperous Buddhism and love affairs. I think this is really a rare pure land of Buddhism. So he used Shaolin Temple as a missionary Dojo. Widely accept monks and disciples, preach Zen for the first time. Since then, Dharma has become the ancestor of Zen in China, and Shaolin Temple is called the ancestral home of Zen in China. Now there are statues of statues and reeds crossing the river in the stele gallery of Shaolin Temple. The ancients had a poem praising:
Meet again after passing the water and cross the river alone.
The sun is pitiful, just like two horses, singing softly.