What is the essence of the Sutra of the Six Patriarchs

1. What is the use of practicing meditation when the mind is peaceful, what is the use of keeping the precepts, and what is the use of practicing meditation

Don't be too rigid in learning Buddhism, don't be too persistent, grinding bricks and sitting meditation is just a form of practice, not the true meaning of becoming a Buddha, if you don't go to the Buddha to understand the Buddha's principles, at most you can only sit there and rest, and become a Buddha is not sitting out, but enlightened and cultivated. The purpose of studying Buddhism is to cultivate our own mind, and keeping precepts and meditating are all for the purpose of cultivating the mind, and if we study Buddhism too much to cling to the superficial form, we will abandon the basics and pursue the end, and it will be difficult to truly benefit from the Dharma.

2. Kindness is filial piety to parents, and righteousness is compassion for each other

A Zen master said: When a person becomes a Buddha, only by being a good person can he become a Buddha. Many people study Buddhism and are obsessed with how to become a Buddha, but they ignore how to be a human being.

Studying Buddhism does not require you to meditate and recite the Buddha every day, but to learn to be a compassionate and upright person, and learning Buddhism does not require you to be obsessed with such things as chanting the Buddha, eating a vegetarian diet, and chanting sutras, but to be filial to your parents, serve your teachers, and cultivate the ten good karma.

When you are filial to your father and son, when you do a good job of people, then you can chant Buddha and meditate, and then you can add icing on the cake.

3. If you are a true cultivator, you will not see the world

Cultivation is one's own business, and a true practitioner will only think about his own mistakes and never judge the rights and wrongs of others. Diamond Sutra

It says, "All appearances are false, and if you see things that are not appearances, you will see them as they are."

If a true practitioner often sees all kinds of faults in the world, it is because his delusions have not been eliminated, and his own cultivation is insufficient.

If you often see the faults of others, it is actually your own faults, and then you must reflect on yourself, and when you see that all sentient beings are bodhisattvas, you yourself will practice bodhisattvas.

The essence of the Six Patriarchs Sutra is Zen, and the idea of Zen is based on the idea of non-thought, non-appearance, and non-dwelling, and through the practice of the Sutra of the Six Patriarchs, we can understand the true meaning of Zen, and it can also have a huge impact on our lives, and the truth of the Sutra of the Six Patriarchs can conform to the development of the times.

1. Knowing the heart and pointing directly to the heart.

Knowing your heart is the true heart that discovers your own heart; To see oneself is to see oneself as it is. I saw my true nature, so I said that it was straight to my heart. Knowing one's own heart, seeing the nature of immortality. It is the realm of Zen enlightenment.

2. If you want to get a pure land, you should purify your heart; Follow the purity of the heart, that is, the purity of the Buddha's land.

When we are practicing, if we want to reach the Pure Land, we should first purify our minds and get rid of our disturbing delusions. When our hearts are clear, the environment we see is naturally free from filth, and there is a pure land everywhere.

3. There is nothing in the first place, where to stir up dust.

It's nothingness and nothing, what dust will it be stained with?

Recite the Altar Sutra often:

It can make people's hearts unencumbered. In order to achieve a clear and unencumbered mind, I believe that we should start from the following three aspects. First of all, be good at grasping the moment.

Time flies quickly, and the world is changing. What we are doing or have done is a thing of the past in an instant. We can't grasp the past, the future has not yet come, and we can't **. The only thing we can grasp is now.

"The Sutra of the Altar of the Six Patriarchs".It is one of the most important classics of Zen Buddhism, and it is also the only patriarch's work in Han Buddhism that is respected as a "scripture", which can be described as "the pinnacle of the localization of Han Buddhism". The Altar SutraIt is also excellent in ChinaTraditional cultureIt is also a supreme treasure full of life wisdom.

The Altar Sutra describes the legendary and inspirational life of the sixth ancestor Master Huineng, reflecting Master Huineng.

The spiritual character of upward and benevolent. The "Altar Sutra" cites a large number of public cases and parables, and expounds the profound and profound Zen machine in a simple monologue, and its method of enlightenment can enable us to open the inner wisdom as quickly as possible and see the true face, so it is called Dunjiao, which is the method of "pointing directly to the hearts of the people and seeing the nature to become a Buddha".

In "Questions", the six ancestors mainly answered two questions, one is that Bodhidharma met Emperor Wu of Liang.

, the answer about merit; The second is how to look at the issue of reciting Buddha and reincarnating in the West. In this regard, the six patriarchs gave us incisive teachings from the perspective of Zen Buddhism.

After answering the doubts, the six ancestors told the public the key points of how to practice as a layman. "Ode to Nothingness" illustrates that it is a practice that does not have any religious form. Again, the key to practice is insight and intention.

As long as you have superb insight and good intentions, whatever you do can be practiced.