Many years ago, I read a passage when Uncle Li became a monk in Hangzhou—
The willows and the waves are waving by the West Lake. There is no more suitable scene of farewell than West Lake.In the spring of 1918, a Japanese woman and her friends searched all over the temples in Hangzhou and finally found her husband who became a monk in a temple called "Hupao".
38At the age of 1998, he turned out to be a teacher at Zhejiang Provincial No. 1 Normal School on the other side of West Lake. Not long ago, he resigned from his teaching position and left the school, and became a monk here.Ten years ago, he met his wife while studying in Japan, and has experienced many reunions and separations since then, but this time it was the final farewell, and her husband decided to leave this prosperous world and convert to Buddhism.
Several people ate a relatively speechless vegetarian meal at the vegetarian restaurant in Qianlinhu, Yuemiao.The husband handed his watch to his wife as a farewell memorial and comforted her, "You have the skills and will not lose your job when you go back to Japan."The people on the shore cried bitterly as they looked at the boat that was gradually moving away, and the people on the boat did not even look back. (The original source of this passage is Huang Yanpei's article "I'll talk about Mr. Li Shutong, too." )
This poor Japanese woman may not understand why her husband is so kind and so righteous... Yes, what else in the world is more cruel and heartbreaking than this love scene? When I read this, I burst into tears, tears falling like rain.
I was still very young at that time. I gritted my teeth with the peerless talented man Li Shutong, and regarded him as the most affectionate and selfish man in the world.His talents turned into clouds and smoke in my mind in an instant.From then on, there was no Li Shutong in the world who could write poetry, lyrics, calligraphy, painting, seal carving, music, and acting..., only one generation of famous monk Master Hongyi!
Several years later, I read a letter written by Li Shutong to his Japanese wife before becoming a monk:
Chengzi:
Regarding the matters I decided to become a monk, I have explained to the people concerned clearly about all matters around me.I talked to you last time, and I guess you already know that I became a monk is just a matter of time.After a while of thinking, can you understand my decision? If you have agreed to me to do so, please write me and tell me that your decision is very important to me.
For you, I have to accept the pain and despair of losing someone who is deeply related to you. I understand this feeling.But you are extraordinary. Please swallow this bitter wine and live with it. I think you are not a vulgar and cowardly soul living in your body.May the Buddha's power benevolence help you through this difficult time.
I am not a matter of being heartless and righteous in making such a decision. For the more eternal and more difficult journey of Buddhism, I must let go of everything.I let go of you and the reputation and wealth accumulated in the world.These are all passing clouds and are not worth nostalgic about.
What we want to build is a future bright Buddha land, in the Western Paradise of Wuji, let’s meet again.
In order not to increase your pain, I will not go back to Shanghai again.Everything in our home is at your disposal and is a memory.Life is short for decades, and the deadline is always coming. Now it is just to advance it. We will be separated sooner or later. I hope you can see through it.
In front of the Buddha, I pray that the Buddha's light will bless you.I hope you will take care of it and recite the great name of Buddha.
Shutong Wuwu July 1st
1918On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Li Shutong officially converted to Buddhism.After taking the ordained for a few weeks, his Japanese wife, a Japanese lady who had a deep love for him, was heartbroken and took her youngest son from Shanghai to Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. With the last glimmer of hope, she persuaded her husband not to abandon her and become a monk.This year is the 11th year since the two met.However, Shutong had made up his mind and did not even let his wife and children enter the temple gate. His wife had no choice but to leave, but just asked sadly at the closed door: "Why do compassion hurt me alone?" His wife knew that she could no longer win back her husband's heart, so she wanted to meet him for the last time.In the early morning, there was a mist of West Lake, and two boats were facing each other.Li Shutong’s Japanese wife: “Shutong——” Li Shutong: “Please call me Hongyi.”Wife: "Master Hongyi, please tell me what love is?" Li Shutong: "Love means compassion.”
I am very glad that I read this letter after I believed in Buddhism and studied Buddhism.In the past, I could not understand or forgive.Now, although I have tears in my eyes, my heart is warm.It took me many years to finally realize the "feelings" of Master Hongyi.He is not "ruthless", it is clearly "Tao is ruthless but has feelings"?
For many years, in my mind, Li Shutong is the image of a monk in Hangzhou who is determined, cold, sees through the world and feels as if he is dead.For many years, I have always regarded converting to Buddhism as an irresponsible self-escaping.
However, this is not the case.Before becoming a monk, he reserved three months' salary and divided it into three parts. One of them was handed over to his old friend Mr. Yang Baimin to his Japanese wife, and asked his friend to send his wife back to Japan.From this detail, we can see Master Hongyi's inner tenderness and guilt, as well as his carefulness and thoughtfulness in dealing with things.
It is said that the news that Li Shutong became a monk caused sensation and speculation at that time.Most people in the world cannot understand, and the most incomprehensible are those readers who are moved by his poems, especially those sentimental female readers, who have lost their sustenance for a while, and they are in pain.There is a female reader who fell in love with Li Shutong wholeheartedly. After he was ordained, she came to the temple to look for him every day and begged him to return to secular life.How did Master Hongyi deal with this matter? He sent someone to give the woman a poem, which included two sentences: "I will give you a bowl of merciless tears, and I wish I could not meet you before I shave you.”
How gentle and compassionate! Not only did he not blame the woman for disturbing the cultivation, he said to the woman in a very regretful tone: It’s not that I refuse to accept you, but it’s just that we met too late. We have no fate in this life, we can only be ruthless to you.We can be sure that the woman must have realized something after reading the poem, and was filled with mixed feelings. Even if she was unwilling to give up, she had to accept her fate.In fact, she left crying and no longer disturbed Master Hongyi.
(This may be a misrepresentation of Zhang Guanli Dai, because this poem was actually written by another poet Su Manshu. The whole poem is "Wu She is soaking in the waves like snow, and she personally holds the red leaves to write the poem.I will give you a bowl of merciless tears, and I wish you had not met before you shaved it." )
As for why Li Shutong became a monk, when I was young, I was puzzled and kept asking.Now, I have even thought it was unnecessary to ask.You can't understand it even more if you read the letter he wrote to your wife.
His student Feng Zikai once explained this: How did he sublimate from art to religion? People were surprised at that time and thought that Mr. Li was stimulated, and suddenly "enjoyed the monk".But I can understand his heart, and I think his becoming a monk is of course.I think human life can be divided into three levels: one is material life, two is spiritual life, and three is soul life.Material life is about food and clothing.Spiritual life is academic literature and art.The soul life is religion."Life" is such a three-story building.Too lazy (Or powerless )Those who walk the stairs live on the first floor, which means making a good material life, dress and eat well, honor and wealth, and be filial and kind to the grandson. This is how satisfied.This is also a kind of outlook on life.People with such a view of life account for the majority of the world.Secondly, happy (Or powerful )Those who take the stairs will climb up the second floor to have fun, or live in it for a long time.This is a person who focuses on academic literature and art.They devote their full efforts to research in their studies and devote their whole heart to literary creation and appreciation.There are many such people in the world, namely the so-called "intellectuals", "scholars", "artists,".There is another type of person who has strong "desire for life" and has a lot of foot strength. He is not satisfied with the second floor, so he takes the stairs and climbs up the third floor.This is a religious person.They are very serious in life. It is not enough to satisfy the "material desire" and it is not enough to satisfy the "spiritual desire". They must explore the ultimate in life.They think that property and descendants are all external things, academic and literary are temporary beauty, and even their own bodies are illusory existences.They are unwilling to be instinctive slaves and must pursue the source of the soul and the fundamentals of the universe, so as to satisfy their "desire for life".This is the religious.There are only these three types of people in the world.
Although I use the three-story building as a metaphor, I don’t have to go from the first floor to the second floor and then get the third floor.There are many people who go straight to the third floor from the first floor and do not need to be hooked on the second floor.There were many people who couldn't even stay on the first floor and ran up to three floors in one go.However, our Master Hongyi walked up layer by layer.Master Hongyi’s “desire for life” is very strong! He must do his life thoroughly.In his early years, he was filial to his mother and loved his wife, and lived on the first floor.Middle-aged people concentrate on studying art and leveraging their geniuses in many aspects, so they moved to the second floor.The powerful "desire for life" cannot make him satisfied with the second floor, so he climbed up to the third floor, became a monk, practiced the Pure Land, and studied the precepts. This is of course, and it is not surprising.Being a human being is like drinking alcohol; if you have a small amount of alcohol, you will be drunk if you drink a glass of Huadiao wine. If you have a large amount of alcohol, you will feel that drinking Huadiao is light and you must drink sorghum wine to be satisfied.Literature and art are like flower carvings, and religion is like sorghum.Master Hongyi has a lot of alcohol and cannot enjoy drinking Huadiao. He must drink sorghum.I have a very small alcohol tolerance and can only drink Huadiao, and it is rare to drink a sip of sorghum.But those who drink Huadiao can quite understand the hearts of those who drink sorghum.Therefore, I have always thought that Master Hongyi’s sublimation from art to religion is of course, which is not surprising.The highest point of art is close to religion.The last peak of the second-story escalator is the third floor, so it is inevitable that Master Hongyi will sublimate from art to religion.
Feng Zikai's "three-story life" theory swept away the secular people's mental measurements of bankruptcy, escape from the world, disillusionment, love breakup, political frustration, etc., which are realistic and deafening.I think Feng Zikai should be the teacher who knows him best.
With my ordinary eyes, I will never be able to understand Master Hongyi’s mind and realm throughout my life.
Lin Yutang said: "He once belonged to our era, but he finally abandoned this era and jumped out of the world."Zhang Ailing said: "Don't think I'm a proud person, I've never been - at least, outside the walls of Master Hongyi Temple, I'm so humble."Zhao Puchu commented that he was "the endless treasures of the world, and a full moon shines on the heart of the sky."
In fact, he should not be considered a Qizhen or Mingyue, he is just for his own heart.He became a monk not to be the eleventh ancestor of the Vinaya School, nor to be known as the "Four Great Monks of the Republic of China" together with Xuyun, Taixu and Yin Guang.If you abandon your family and destroy your karma, you will not be able to do this. You will have great enlightenment.He doesn't want those false names.He is the real one, 63 years, 39 years in the world, and 24 years in the Buddha, abides by the precepts, obeys the hardships and keeps oneself, preaches the scriptures and teaches meditation, and saves all sentient beings, but calls himself "The Two One Old Man": Nothing is done, and a man grows older, and nothing is worth it.
There were two small things that made people think deeply when Master Hongyi passed away.First, the post "sadness and joy" written on the eve of his death. Whether it is the sentence itself or the ink treasures he wrote, it makes people see the extraordinary state of mind of a monk in front of the entrance of life and death, which is both sad and joyful and thought-provoking.Second, he instructed his disciples to remember to put a bowl of clear water under the shelf of the urn to avoid burning the passing insects and ants to death.It is not surprising to pity the lives of ants when you are alive. This is a general requirement for those who practice Taoism. However, when you are about to die, you still want to worry about not hurting the creatures in the world. This delicate mind cannot be found without a truly compassionate person. It truly makes people respect it when they hear it!
There is a scene in the movie "A Bright Moon": In the early morning, the mist of West Lake, and two boats face each other.Xuezi: "Shutong--" Li Shutong: "Please call me Hongyi."Xuezi: "Master Hongyi, please tell me what love is?" Li Shutong: "Love means compassion.”
In the past, I only knew that Tang poem, "I returned you to tears, and I wish I could meet before I got married."How could this sentence "I'll give you a bowl of heartless tears, and I wish you hadn't shave you" is a bit more compassion than the helplessness of that sentence!
Because of understanding, he is compassionate.
Love is compassion!
