Teaching objectives:
1. Understand the spread of Buddhism in China and its influence on China culture.
2. Understand the language features of Tanjing and Bai Yujing, and accumulate content words and function words commonly used in classical Chinese.
3. Critically inherit the enlightenment of Buddhism to modern social life.
Teaching process:
First, import:
Introduction to Buddhism:
Buddhism is in China.
Buddhism, Christianity and Islam are called the three major religions in the world. Broadly speaking, it is a religion, including its classics, rituals, habits, the organization of religious order and so on; But Buddhism is very special among the major religions and thoughts in the world. All religions believe in God's creation and domination, but Buddhism is a complete atheist. So Buddhism is like religion but not religion, like philosophy but not philosophy, but science but not science. This is the greatest feature of Buddhism. In a narrow sense, it is what the Buddha said. In Buddhist terminology, it should be called Buddhism. In the preface of the Buddhist scripture "One Plus One agama", it is said: "All evil things should be avoided, and all good people seek purity, which is the Dharma". In a word, Buddhism is a teaching method and an education of Buddhism, which makes people stop evil and promote good. Simply put, the Buddha is the awakened one, the awakened one.
The introduction of Buddhism. It is difficult to determine the exact time when Buddhism was first introduced to China. Generally speaking, there are two versions: one is that in the first year of Yuan Shou, Emperor Ai of Han Dynasty (the first two years), the doctoral disciple was dictated by Yi Cun, the ambassador of Dayue Family. Another theory comes from the story of "White Horse Tuojing", that is, during the Yongping period of the Eastern Han Dynasty (58 -75), Emperor Hanming had a night dream, in which he dreamed that a golden man was flying around the beam in front of the temple. The next day, I asked the ministers, and the learned minister Yi Fu called him Buddha. Therefore, Ming Di sent messengers Cai Cheng and others to the west to look for Buddhism. In the 10th year of Yongping (67 years), he got to know She Moteng and Zhu Falan, monks from the Western Regions, and invited them to teach Buddhism in Han Dynasty. They returned to Luoyang with white horses carrying Buddha statues and scriptures. In order to welcome him, Ming Di built the first Buddhist temple "White Horse Temple" in Luoyang. In a word, Buddhism first entered China around 1 century.
The development of Buddhism. During the Han Dynasty, Buddhism was introduced into China for a short time and its spread was limited. There are few Buddhist believers, most of whom are social elites. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Buddhism developed rapidly due to the intensification of social contradictions and the conscious advocacy of rulers. This is manifested in two aspects: first, a large number of Buddhist scriptures have been translated, and Buddhism has spread more and more widely because of the translation of Buddhist scriptures; The second is the construction of many temples and the excavation of grottoes. As a symbol of Buddhism, the construction of a large number of temples is a powerful propaganda to Buddhism, while the Genting Grottoes in Datong, Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang and Maijishan Grottoes in Tianshui are another clever propaganda to Buddhism. "Four hundred and eighty temples in the Southern Dynasties, many pagodas in the misty rain" is a true portrayal of the development of Buddhism in this period.
The heyday of Buddhism. In the Tang Dynasty, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, on the one hand, stood on their own feet, on the other hand, lived in harmony under the intentional coordination of the rulers. The most important symbol of Buddhism prosperity in this period is the formation of many Buddhist sects. It mainly includes Tiantai Sect, Sanlun Sect, Faxiang Sect, Huayan Sect, Legalist Sect, Zen Sect, Pure Land Sect and Tantric Sect.
The turning point of Buddhism. From the late Tang and Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, Buddhism was difficult to change because of Buddhism, and more directly, it was difficult to change because of Huichang Buddhism and social unrest. In this process, Zen gradually replaced other sects and became the oldest and most influential sect in the history of Buddhism in China. In a.d. 1260, Kublai Khan of Yuan Shizu ascended the throne, which destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty and unified the world. Although Tibetan Buddhism-Lamaism was the state religion in the Yuan Dynasty, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Jesuits and Manichaeism were allowed to exist in the Han Dynasty. Among the schools of Buddhism in Yuan Dynasty, Zen was the most prosperous.
The decline of Buddhism. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Buddhism declined. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, both Buddhism and Taoism were excluded. After the end of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the rise of new ideas and new cultures and the promotion of scientific democracy inspired the people's consciousness, and the outbreak of the national revolution led to the gradual decline of Buddhism.
Second, the introduction of cultural common sense:
1, six ancestors Huineng
Huineng is the sixth ancestor of Zen. He lost his father when he was young and his family was poor. He adopted his mother by selling firewood. One day, he was selling firewood in the market, and when he heard someone reciting the Buddhist classic "Diamond Sutra", he realized something and decided to find a teacher to learn Buddhism. He bid farewell to his old mother and took refuge in Hong Ren. Hongren asked him, "Who are you and what do you want to see me here?" Huineng replied, "Disciple Lingnan came all the way to see you today, and there is nothing else but the truth of becoming a Buddha." Hongren scolded: "You are a savage in the hinterland of Lingnan. What qualifications do you have to become a Buddha? " Huineng calmly replied: "people are different from the north and the south, but the Buddha nature does not distinguish between the north and the south;" Although I am a Lingnan barbarian, unlike your noble mage, what's the difference between you and me? "Hong Ren was frightened, but he didn't expect the villagers to have such a profound understanding of Buddhism, so he stayed to be a walker and worked as a firewood, millstone and menial work in the temple.
One day, Hong Ren called his disciples to him and announced publicly that everyone should write a poem to explain his understanding of Buddhism. Whoever can truly understand the true meaning of Buddhism, the cassock and Buddhism will be awarded to him, and he is the sixth generation founder.
At that time, there was a famous first disciple, Shen Xiu. He quickly made a poem and quietly wrote it on the wall of the south corridor. I am a bodhi tree, and my heart is like a mirror platform; Wipe it frequently to prevent it from accumulating dust.
After listening to Shen Xiu's poems, Huineng knew that Shen Xiu had not realized the emptiness, so she read a poem and wrote it on the wall to give it to others. Yan Zi said: "Bodhi has no trees, and the mirror is not a stage. There is nothing, so there is no dust. " As soon as this poem was written, many monks gathered around to read it. They were all surprised and said, "Strange! I can't believe that someone who works as hard as him would do this. You really can't judge a book by its cover! " Seeing that everyone was so surprised, Hong Ren was afraid that someone would secretly harm him. He immediately wiped off Huineng's poems with his shoes and deliberately said, "I have never seen my nature!" "
The next day, Hong Ren quietly came to the rice threshing room and saw Huineng beating rice with a stone on his waist. He said to himself, "Should a Taoist forget his body for the sake of Buddhism?" Then he asked, "Is the rice paste ready?"
Huineng replied, "It's done, but it hasn't been screened yet." Hirohito struck the cymbals three times with his mord, and then left.
In the middle of the night, Huineng quietly came to Hongren. Hong Ren covered the window with a cassock and explained the Diamond Sutra to Huineng, saying, "Everything has no self, and it is born of the heart. When you realize your true nature, your heart will not stagnate. " Huineng listened very enlightened and realized the true meaning of Buddhism: "Everything cannot be separated from nature." When Hong Ren saw that he had really understood, he said to him, "It's useless to learn the law if you don't know your heart;" If you know its sincerity, you will see its authenticity, that is, a famous husband, a teacher of heaven and man, and a Buddha. " Then he gave Huineng the secret of Zen clothes and said, "You are the sixth ancestor." And told him to immediately go down the mountain and live in seclusion in the south, and to inherit and develop the cause of Zen after Hongren's death.
Since then, Huineng has always followed the teacher's instructions, mixed with everyone and kept a straight face. 16 years later, when Hong Ren died, he revealed the cassock he had hidden for many years and made clear his identity. He officially became a monk and became the leader of Zen Buddhism. He has taught in Caoxi Baolin Temple for more than 20 years, and his influence has spread all over the country.
Huineng's poems were appreciated by Hong Ren because he had a deeper understanding of the emptiness of Buddhism. Buddhists believe that everything is empty, the bodhi tree and the mirror platform are not real, and the human heart is not real. There is no dust at all, so why keep wiping it? As long as you realize that the world is empty, you can become a Buddha. This is completely idealism.
2. Introduction to Zen:
Zen is a school of Buddhism with China characteristics. It does not continue an existing sect of Indian Buddhism, nor does it fully believe in an existing classic. Instead, he established his own classics and flaunted his unique practice methods. This is a completely China Buddhism. It openly claimed that it was based on the teachings of Huineng, the sixth ancestor, and it was called the altar sutra in the form of a faction. This is the first Buddhist work created by China people themselves, and it is publicly and permanently called "Jing".
There are many legendary elements in the history of Zen. Although Zen Buddhism takes the Six Ancestors Tanjing as its sutra, its development is also after Huineng's preaching, but in Buddhist works, Zen Buddhism has a long history, even dating back to Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism. Although there are many legendary elements in it, it is accepted by most Buddhist works.
Zen calls itself "not writing", "teaching others" and "communicating with heart". It started at Lingshan Fair, and the Tathagata presented flowers to the public. Everyone didn't understand its meaning, only his disciple Ye Jia "broke his cheek and laughed", so he paid for it. Ye Jia also became the ancestor of the so-called Indian Zen. After 27 generations, the secret was passed to Dharma. Dharma came to China to preach during the reign of Liang Wudi in the Southern Dynasties, and was called the ancestor of Zen in China. Later, Buddhism preached about Hui Ke, monks and ladies, faith, forbearance and wisdom. Huineng accepted the clothing method and became the sixth ancestor of Zen Buddhism, which was divided into two factions: North and South. After the "An Shi Rebellion", Huineng's disciples went north to Luoyang to preach the Dharma, with great momentum. The Northern Sect gradually faded out, while the Southern Sect became the mainstream of Buddhism in China.
"Zen" is a transliteration of Sanskrit, which refers to a mysterious state of mind that is focused on an object and presented in complete silence. This is a way of practicing, hence the name Zen, which shows that Zen attaches importance to meditation. Different from other schools that focus on the interpretation and discussion of classics and theories, Zen pays more attention to understanding than theory and has made great progress in meditation. Generally speaking, Zen thought mainly includes the following aspects:
(1) Buddha nature is inherent.
Zen believes that Buddha's nature is inherent in all living beings, but the difference from holiness lies in whether it is realized. Therefore, the Buddha is in the heart, and the heart is the Buddha, so there is no need to seek it. On the one hand, it is pointed out that there is no distinction between Buddhism and nature, as Huineng said: "People have north and south, and Buddhism has no north and south; The monk's body is not the same as it is yet. What is the difference between Buddha's nature? " On the other hand, it is pointed out that in practice, we should rely on people's subjective initiative, emphasizing "we should look at our own heart and our own nature", but "only with this heart can we become a Buddha".
(2) live and not live.
Huineng's so-called "immortality" is to maintain inner harmony and natural circulation without persistence. Therefore, he opposes some Zen masters deliberately killing their own thoughts and making their hearts die, and also opposes the way of clinging to meditation. His aim is to keep his body and mind natural in the process of fate. Therefore, the activities of participating in meditation are linked with the daily life of meditation practitioners, and it is emphasized that while walking, living, sitting and lying down, the realm of Zen is experienced all the time. "Sit if you want to sleep, it will be cold when you are hot, and it will turn into fire when you are cold", "You will be healthy when you are sleepy, and you will get a quilt when you are shirtless in summer" (according to Zen master Jing Cen). Later Zen masters compared Buddhism with ordinary things such as "catkins, bamboo needles, hemp thread", "carrying water and chopping firewood", all of which revealed that "a normal mind is Buddha"
(3) Epiphany.
Zen believes that the transformation from all beings to Buddha is between one thought, and the form of transformation is "enlightenment" or "epiphany" Huineng said: "Thinking before is confusing; After thinking, you will become a Buddha, and after thinking, all beings will become a Buddha. God believes that enlightenment is "a corresponding thought becomes consciousness", which is completed immediately without gradual progress, so it is called "epiphany". Why is epiphany equal to enlightenment to Buddha? This is because the human heart has Buddha nature, but it is hidden by delusion. Once the delusion is gone, it will suddenly see itself. So epiphany means that the whole person's heart has undergone a qualitative change. Huineng said, "When you think of goodness, wisdom comes into being. Yi Deng can destroy darkness for a thousand years, and wisdom can destroy stupidity for a thousand years. " That is to say, as long as Yi Deng is bright, it will break the dark state, and as long as you realize it, you will get rid of the illusion. We can see from the case-solving of Zen that in order to educate his disciples, the Zen master who is familiar with Buddhism often talks in various strange ways, such as case-solving, bravado and Kan Kan, and even drinks, curses, fights and drinks, so as to enlighten his disciples to instantly eliminate secular delusions.
Although the dominant idea of Zen is idealistic and unscientific, we can still find some wisdom of life from Zen language by embracing the spirit of heroism and discarding its dross. Zen was once a hot topic in society. Some people think that if you are faced with all kinds of troubles and can't extricate yourself, reading a little Zen talk and participating in the front will help you enter a happy and carefree state and make your mind free and easy. There are some specific understandings that can also guide us to think about life issues, such as:
Yi Dao, a Zen monk, often warned people not to gossip, which is a very true moral maxim. Many people like gossip, which leads to mutual suspicion and intrigue between people and produces a lot of internal friction. If this habit is broken, it will undoubtedly help us build a harmonious society. The Zen masters also taught people that "it is better to be poor and enjoy yourself than to worry about wealth", "You are worthy of your heart, but you are ashamed", "You know the future of Mo Wen" and "Saving a life is better than building a seven-level pagoda". These aphorisms are extremely incisive and thought-provoking.
Third, text research:
1. Explain the two chapters of the Tanjing according to the notes. (See the notes in the textbook)
2. Read two altar sutras and summarize each one.
3. What are the language features of Tanjing? Please explain the text briefly.
Huineng accepts the law
This passage is about Huineng's clothes and her forbearance.
Huineng's poems show his subtle understanding of Buddhism and are appreciated by Master Hong Ren. Master Hong Ren wanted to teach Huineng clothes, but he was afraid that others would harm him, so he chose to call Huineng to the Buddhist temple in the middle of the night and secretly teach the Diamond Sutra. Huineng was gifted and intelligent. Under the guidance of a famous teacher, he immediately understood. Therefore, Hongren taught Huineng the clothing method and gave guidance. This sentence has two meanings. One is to preach the Dharma to Huineng, declare him as his own successor, take his cassock as a token, and pass on the Dharma from generation to generation. The other is to teach one's own school's "unique secret", that is, "heart-to-heart communication", which does not depend on the way of words and deeds, nor on the practice method of guiding Zen scholars to realize themselves. After the spread of Buddhism, Hong Ren said, since ancient times, teaching clothing methods has often caused internal disputes in Zen Buddhism, and people who have received clothing methods are often angry. And warned him not to stay here long and leave here as soon as possible. This shows his caution.
Nan neng Bei xiu
Hongren settled in Shuangfeng Mountain in Huangmei, with a lot of talents. Huineng inherited the mantle, first lived in seclusion in the south, and then went to Caoxi Baolin Temple to preach the Dharma. Although Shen Xiu failed to inherit the mantle, she also had considerable attainments in Buddhism. After Hongren's death, she was called by Wu Zetian to preach in yuquan temple, Dangyang County in the north. As a result, there have been two factions, the North and the South, which are called "South Energy and North Show". On the one hand, this division is based on geographical differences, on the other hand, it is based on different ways of understanding Tao. Huineng believes in the Diamond Sutra, emphasizes epiphany, and thinks that we should go straight to the theme and "point to people's hearts"; Shen Embroidery School, on the other hand, believes in the Shurangama Sutra, emphasizing gradual enlightenment, believing that it takes a long time to achieve enlightenment, and slowly removes all kinds of obstacles in the heart like dust.
This paper puts forward my own views on this understanding, pointing out that although the north and south regions are different, in fact, their teachers are the same, all of which are Zen methods taught by Hong Ren. In their understanding of human nature, they are consistent, that is, they all think that everyone has an unchanging truth in his heart, and all beings cannot understand it because of confusion. From the way of enlightenment, although the emphasis is different, they complement each other. The text says: "Buddhism is a kind of. When I saw the late illness, I gradually saw it. When I saw the illness, I was exhausted. " This "law is a kind" refers to the "law", which is the self-purification of all beings. Because the peaceful Buddha nature of all beings has always been obscured by delusions, only by eliminating delusions can the truth be revealed. However, because people's understanding ability is late and ill, those with poor understanding ability can understand slowly through step-by-step practice, while those with strong understanding ability can guide them to understand instantly, that is to say, teaching students in accordance with their aptitude. In fact, there is no mutation in the law itself, because people's consciousness is instantaneous, and only because people's roots are different, and the processes and methods before consciousness are different.
Problem inquiry
What are the characteristics of the language of the altar sutra?
As a record of Huineng's preaching, Tanjing has two characteristics in language: first, the language is concise and clear, and it is not flashy. Zen pays attention to "heart-to-heart communication" and "no writing", so it doesn't work hard on words and sentences, but uses the spoken language at that time, mixed with some classical Chinese elements, forming a writing style between elegance and vulgarity. For example, in the passage "Huineng receives the Dharma", I explained the Diamond Sutra to monk Hong Ren, and immediately wrote the result "Huineng heard it and realized it". On the one hand, it shows that Huineng has a high understanding of Buddhism, on the other hand, his language is concise and powerful, which conforms to the purpose of Zen Buddhism. Another example is the sentence in "South Energy and North Show", which is concise and concise, and dialectically analyzes the problem of "why it is getting worse and worse", with neat classical Chinese and vernacular elements (such as the quantitative phrase "one kind", which is rare in classical Chinese). The second is to be good at using metaphors. For example, the phrase "Buddhism has been taught since ancient times, and the spirit is like hanging silk" in Huineng Shoufa is very vivid, which is a metaphor for the danger of hanging on a silk thread in one breath.
Fourth, homework:
1, read six Analects of Confucius.
2. Read the reading guide by yourself.