One year, I went to a 100-year-old village and saw that there was a very small land temple. There is a couplet at the door of the temple, the upper couplet reads: somewhat a little spirited, the lower couplet is: the size is an official, I laughed when I saw it, and the status of the father-in-law of the land was low, but it was a little arrogant, and it was very well written.
So I walked in, looked at the statue of my father-in-law for a while, and thought to myself that this is a little fairy, although I am also a practitioner, but I only worship the Buddha and Bodhisattva, and I will not worship this.
At this time, I heard someone say: It's rare that someone from my small temple also came.
When I heard it, it was a temple blessing, sitting next to it, and he looked about forty or fifty years old. Hunchbacked, very short, round appearance. I really look like a father-in-law of the land. I said: I didn't expect such a small fairy temple to be guarded by someone
He smiled and said: Don't look down on the land temple, although the land father-in-law is ugly and the official is small, in fact, he has a lot of power.
I said, "Really?"I heard that in order to be able to become a god like the land, you must accumulate blessings and do good deeds in your previous life, and you must cultivate honestly for a lifetime.
He smiled and said: Your wishful thinking is very good, and you want to be a land for the rest of your life, and this is how you accumulate blessings and do good deeds that you may not have in several lifetimes. Because it is not easy to cultivate to the spirit of having a landed father-in-law.
I said, "The father-in-law of the land has spirit, doesn't he?"
He said: The spirit of the father-in-law of the land is, in three words, - down-to-earth.
If a person cultivates this spirit, it goes without saying that he can be a father-in-law of the land, and everything can be used.
What does it mean to be grounded?It's just that don't be too vain in your life and do things, and don't always pursue those unrealistic flashiness. From beginning to end, the eyes are on the present, and the moment can be on the things that are caught.
Eat with your heart when you eat, and walk with your heart when you walk. Treat people and things, sincere and kind. Be impartial on your heart. It's not always cranky all day long. There is no delusion of vain exaltation, very duty. This actually means that a person lives a simple and simple life. This is groundedness, that is, the spirit of the father-in-law of the land.
Of course, this spirit is very difficult to achieve, because we have many goals, we want to become a Buddha, we want to become enlightened, we want to be a teacher, we want to change the world. However, often they can't be the master of this acre and three points of land.
Therefore, if you want to soar into the sky, you must first make the decision of your own territory before you can call the land. You see a lot of people who are engaged in cultivation who sit up and sit up with great energy, recite sutras, look decent, and talk about the truth, and they are omnipotent. But in my own territory, when something happens, troubles and sorrows flock to me, I have no way at all, I have no control at all, and I run around with things.
So the land father-in-law is actually a method. What does he do?He is the caretaker of the land. What is land?The land is the heart, and the heart must be stable, defendable, and visible.
The old man of the land father-in-law sat here. Just this piece of heart is stubborn, clear, and distinct. Even the sun and moon, cloudy, windy, rainy, thunder and lightning can't affect him.
If you cultivate this method well, it is called being able to keep your heart, and guarding your heart is to keep this heart of returning to the basics. Therefore, if there are practitioners who can learn the spirit of defending the land and protecting the territory, it must be very effective.
The second article of the spirit of the father-in-law of the land is to bow his head and be willing to be a son of a cow.
He was of a humble position and held a small official position. But he is willing to do things that others don't do, and take over jobs that other great gods don't want to do.
Many people look down on the father-in-law of land. In particular, there are only Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the eyes of those who engage in cultivation, and they feel that the land father-in-law is not a big thing, but in fact, the land father-in-law is a great god and has great merits. They are on the front line of work and are the immortals at the grassroots level.
If these land fathers-in-law only accept the respect of incense but do not do practical things, then the common people will suffer. Therefore, the immortals at the grassroots level are also bodhisattvas. If you beg him for a little thing, other gods probably can't take care of it.
But sometimes he is very spiritual. Why?Because he is always very low-key and pragmatic, and he is very willing to sacrifice. Also warm-hearted and careless about returns.
You see, there are often those who sweep the floor, wash the toilet, cook and cook, those volunteers, and ** in the temple. It's like the father-in-law of the land, who dedicates himself in obscurity, and there are many such people in society. He doesn't have a lot of power, he doesn't have a lot of responsibility, but he does great things. In fact, to practice, we must first cultivate the virtue of being willing to pay silently without care.
The third rule of the spirit of the father-in-law of the land is that his heart is simple and undifferentiated, and his heart is unmoved and not disturbed by the four directions.
He is an old man with a straightforward and simple heart. In his eyes, everyone is a native, and there is not much difference.
This straightforward spirit is the purity of temperament. Therefore, the ancients said: Wisdom and uprightness can become a god when you die. It's too hard to be smart and upright, because this cleverness is not shrewdness. It's not that you can be a slick person, but that you are smart and clear, you have to have a clear heart, neither muddy, nor confused, and see things very clearly, which is called stress.
Being a person is a bit of wisdom when you are stressed.
I asked: What is illuminated stress?
He said: "To take care is to see, and to respond is to respond." A person has the power to take care of his mind and the world, and the longer he passes, the more he will be able to take care of it.
Answering means that everything comes to him, and he can pick it up and be able to deal with it.
When you come, you can then call acceptance. It doesn't matter who you are or what you are, as long as you come, I will accept it, and I will not define it as good or bad. I should do my best to do what I need to do, and do it with my heart. Don't worry about success or failure, and don't run around with these things, which is called connecting stress.
This is easier said than done, because we are all used to only taking on the good things and not the bad things. We just want to take the money and the blessing. But when the calamity comes, when the unsatisfactory happens, we can't take it, we are depressed, we are depressed, and sometimes we are so excited that we have a heart attack and die. You can get angry and have a stroke at every turn.
In fact, the real response is that when you encounter good things, you will be happy for a while, and you will be over when you encounter bad things, and you will be troubled for a while.
And the father-in-law of the land taught us that everything must be viewed in a straightforward and ordinary way, and don't distinguish too much between his good and bad, because the good and bad in front of him, what you see is only a part, and you don't know anything about the good and bad and the bad behind him.
If you can do good things and don't like bad things, then nothing good or bad is just an experience for you. So you can be so chic that it's up to him to do good or bad. It is very similar to the character of the father-in-law of the land.
You see, the place where the father-in-law of the land works cannot be chosen, that place is poor to death, there is no incense in the ravine, and you have to go if you want to go. To him, which part of the Four Seas Shenzhou is not a treasure land and a blessed land?
As long as you don't have too much difference in mentality, persistence. If you can be at peace with what happens, then you can run to ** to be a father-in-law of the land.
You see, our land temple is crowded next to this small ravine. There is neither good feng shui nor good scenery.
It is precisely because the land is upright and unselective that he can cultivate that kind of generous and accommodating virtue. This is what the I Ching says: the terrain is kun, and the gentleman carries things with virtue.
The virtue of this terrain is the virtue of the father-in-law of the land. Why can Houde carry things?What are you carrying?It is the stuff that carries everything. On the earth, snakes, insects, rats, ants, saffron and willows, clean, filthy, prosperous, and dilapidated. The earth is never treated separately, and it is all carried, which is called virtue.
That's why Lao Tzu said that heaven and earth are not benevolent. There is no such thing as benevolence, righteousness, morality in heaven and earth. These are all things that we have come up with.
There is no distinction between good and evil in heaven and earth. What is heaven and earth?It is natural to have no concept. There are no rules. When a person cultivates the Tao, he must first imitate the earth, which is the foundation, and he must first cultivate and be a human being, and then move up. Therefore, it is said that man is the law of the earth, and the earth is the law of the sky. Heavenly law is the way, and the way is natural. We must first learn to endure, and then learn to transform.
Everything is extraordinary and holy, neither increasing nor decreasing, it is in the cycle of heaven and earth, birth and death, and you can't take it away, he can't throw it away, he can't live long, and he can't die well. As the saying goes, the flowers bloom and see the Buddha, and the flowers also see the Buddha. Therefore, those who understand, when they see the father-in-law of the land, they also worship respectfully as they see the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
When he said this, I was so happy that I was ashamed that I was sweating like rain, and I honestly prayed three times in front of the statue of my father-in-law.
This article is a story).