The Light of Buddha in One’s Heart

Source: The Internet

During a period of time when I was most depressed and in total despair, I incidentally came across a story about the religion of Zen. After reading it, I felt that my outlook became bright and positive. I could not stop saying to myself: Basically, life can be so simple.

There was an old monk, who in his last few living years, wanted to hand-over all his teachings to one of his disciples. But amongst the numerous disciples whom he had, only three of them had come to understand the principle of Zen. The old monk could not decide who should inherit the lineage.

One evening with low cloud and misty light, the old monk, realising that his life was about to come to an end, felt that it was time for him to choose his successor. He summoned the three disciples. He asked each of them to go and buy one thing in order to see who would buy the cheapest item that could fill the whole Zen room.

The old monk gave each disciple a copper coin. Two disciples went out straight away but the remaining disciple sat next to the old monk in meditation, without a single movement.

Not too long, one disciple came back. He told the old monk that he had bought a few carts of dry hay that would no doubt fill the whole Zen room. After listening to this, the old monk shook his head, full of disappointment.

Thereafter, the other disciple returned. He just took a candle out from his sleeve, and then lit the candle. As soon as the old monk saw this, he intoned “The Buddha Amitabha”, and the expression of total satisfaction shone from his face.

Now, the old monk turned his gaze to the disciple sitting next to him. The disciple simply stood up, returned the copper coin back to the old monk, and with both hands together in salutation, he said, “Sifu, the thing I bought is about to come!”  When he finished speaking, he blew out the candle and the Zen room fell into complete darkness. The disciple pointed his finger towards the door and said, “Sifu, please look, the thing which your disciple has bought is arriving….”

The master and disciples looked out towards the door with anticipation; all they saw was half the sky in the East, all of a sudden the full moon rose from the horizon, gradually rising higher and higher. The golden moonlight shone into the Zen room. The Zen room was filled with brightness, with a radiance that was crystal clear.

The old monk was so surprised that he was silent for a while. The Zen room was momentarily filled with complete silence. After a long while, the old monk asked the disciple, who had sat in meditation, “How did you think of such an idea?”  The disciple, with both hands together in salutation, humbly said, “The dry hay no doubt can fill the Zen room, but this will make the Zen room dirty and dark. It is cheap and practical but it is only an average idea. The candle is the size of a small finger, it’s not even worth a copper coin and the light can fill the whole Zen room. The one who bought the candle has much wisdom but failed to use it properly.” The disciple remained silent for a moment, then turned serious and solemn, and continued to say, “The moon is out, just like the crystal clear hall of brilliance. The moon is regarded as a priceless matter amongst the nine levels of the sky!  What is the moonlight?  The moon shines and the sky lights up; the sky lights up and the earth lights up, when both sky and earth light up, the heart also lights up; Buddha lights up the four corners of the world, Buddha lights up my heart, hence moonlight equates to my Buddha!  Now, I’ve managed to obtain my Buddha without spending the copper coin, this is precisely because there is the light of Buddha in my heart!”

The old monk, in acknowledgement of these words, immediately took off his robe and put it on his disciple, “The light of Buddha in your heart is the highest form of wisdom amongst the ultimate level of Supreme Wisdom!”

The old monk had found his successor and I was also awakened by the meaning of Zen in my daily life: The light of Buddha in one’s heart is the same as our happiness and contentment, joy and warmth filled with in our daily life, even including all truth, benevolence, beauty... ....

That is why, if we have happiness and good fortune in our hearts, our lives will be similar to the moonlight, that unreservedly remains shining in our hearts, thereby keeping us far away from worries, misery, despair, negativity... ....