From-Four Poems "Bodhisattva" by Master Huineng, the Sixth Ancestor.
Original: Bodhi has no trees, and the mirror is not a stage. There is nothing, so there is no dust.
The world is empty. Everything in the world is empty talk. If the heart is empty, there is no need to resist the temptation from the outside. Everything passes through my heart, leaving no trace.
Extended data:
The story of treeless bodhi
When Master Huineng, the sixth ancestor of Zen Buddhism, first entered Buddhism, his master asked them to write a poem to explain their understanding of Buddhism, so the elder brother said, "As a bodhi tree, my heart is like a mirror, so I always wipe it and keep it from dust."
Huineng, on the other hand, put forward a different understanding of the views of the master elder brother. He said: "Bodhi has no trees, and the mirror is not a stage. There is nothing, where will it cause dust? "
Judging from the cultivation and realm of Buddhism, Huineng is obviously much higher, so Huineng was finally taught by Master, and was called the sixth generation of Zen Buddhism (you can understand it as "the head").
The master elder brother's beautiful poem is understood as follows: "As a bodhi tree, my heart is like a mirror. Wipe hard, don't get dust. "
It means: Disciples are like bodhi trees (Sakyamuni Buddha enlightened under bodhi trees in those days), and disciples' hearts are like a bright stage mirror, which should be brushed constantly to prevent it from being polluted by dust and dirt, which will hinder the bright nature (for this reason, it takes ten years to grow a tree, but it takes a hundred years to grow a man).
Huineng explained it this way: "Bodhi has no trees, and the mirror is not Taiwan. There is nothing, so there is no dust. "
It means: Bodhi tree is not a bodhi tree, but a metaphor of wisdom. A bright mirror is not a mirror, but a metaphor for a quiet heart. Our heart is quiet, what dust will catch it there?
The difference between them is that Shen Xiu expresses his feelings with the help of concrete images, while Huineng transcends Shen Xiu's realm and directly sees the essence of things without metaphor.
Baidu encyclopedia-bodhi without trees