Buddha is rice .VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.

Buddha taught that there are "Hang Ha number of Buddhas" and "I am a Buddha. Sentient beings that are Buddha will become. " Therefore, I firmly believe that from the ancestors like Ca Lettuce, Ma Minh ... down to Luc To Hue Nang and many famous Chinese Zen masters, both King Tran Nhan Tong of Vietnam ... have become Buddhas.

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Story: 

A Zen monk came to ask the Venerable Master:

- Please give a brief sentence "What Is Buddha?" for me to be enlightened and teach to the masses.

The Venerable Master replied:

- Buddha is rice.

Three days later, the monk went to the Venerable Master and said:

- I don't understand anything.

The Venerable Master said:

- On thinking for another three days.

Three days later the monk reached the Venerable White:

- I still don't understand.

The Venerable Master said:

- Think for three more days.

Three days later the monk went to see the Venerable. The Venerable Master asked:

- Have you eaten?

The monk replied:

- Ate.

Where is the meal now?

- The rice is in the stomach.

What does the rice turn into?

- Chili citronella nourishes the body.

Do you still see the rice?

- No, I don't.

Hearing that reply, the Venerable Master said:

- Also ask, we beat thirty poor.

Finished pedaling the monk falls rolling tickle. At that moment the monk became enlightened.

Written comment:

What is the great monk enlightened to?

- If we say, "Buddha is a great enlightened being" then Buddha is just a word and we do not know how Buddha is enlightened.

- If we say, "Buddha is a man with 32 good forms" it is like going to see the beauty pageant, seeing only the outward appearance but not seeing the depths of that person.

- If we admire the Buddha image to imagine the Buddha, it is just a Buddha made of jade, gold, bronze or wood, stone. That is "the dead Buddha".

- If we listen to Buddhist scriptures to understand Buddha then Buddha is just a sound. Sometimes chanting like a machine ends "where it is". Then we are forever just sentient beings diving in samsara.

Relying on those things, Buddha is still Buddha, I am still me. If "Buddha is rice", then when "has not eaten rice", that is, if he has not been enlightened, then Buddha is Buddha, I am me. And when he "ate" that meant Buddha had entered us, this Buddha transformed into the vitality of our body, feeding our body and mind. Then how much debris, defilements, defilements are thrown out.

The Zen Buddhism or ancient Zen masters did not stop at worshiping Buddha or praising the Buddha, but sought to transform oneself into Buddha. Zen Zong or the Zen masters not only praise (praise) the Buddha, but become enlightened and then practice Zen in order to immediately enjoy the attainment of the Buddhas is peaceful, free, free of clinging.

Zen Zong or the Zen masters do not ask the Buddha for salvation, but instead. Self-reliance, self-liberation is the weakness and power of Zen Zong.

Therefore, it can be said that Zen Zong is terrible, very admirable and scary. We should not underestimate Zen and play around with it. Through contemplating koans, Zen is a sect that makes Buddhism come to life, making Buddhism not just a religion full of rituals, chants, prayers, and pleas like other religions. Just staying in these things, believers and even monks will become dull, persistent in lust and samsara, and wait for the monk to save when he dies. The principle of Zen Buddhism is to "light a torch on your own" to be like Buddha.

In Zen Zong, you must first enlighten and then cultivate. Not enlightened, but said that meditation is bad, like the person who borrowed the king's clothes to wear but not the king, that is not the Zen master. But what is enlightenment to say? Is a sudden seeing in a certain wonderful or desperate moment "Buddha nature" or "Buddha truth" manifests right in your mind. Those who only heard or heard the lecture on Buddhahood but did not intuitively see the Buddha nature right in themselves, would practice anything but fail to say Zen. A practitioner who has not seen the Buddha nature manifest vividly, like blood circulating in the body, like the breath, as the lifeblood of his mind ... but cultivating ... is like a person digging for gold without seeing gold ore. On the ground, it will be in vain. That's why the Zen masters prayed even though they were beaten by the Patriarch, kicked some pedal, twisted their nose,

Meditation of koan is the gateway to entering Zen. In Great Master Suzuki's Zen Commentary (Tue-Si translation), "Without koan, Zen consciousness loses its sign (the instructor) and there will never be a state of enlightenment."  

If you want to know the life of Buddhism, the wonderful vigor, the determination, the hardship of the Zen masters, please see also the "Buddha is three pounds of thorns" koan of Dong Son. Then anecdotally, a monk asked Nam Vien, "What is Buddha?" Then he asked again, "What is not Buddha?" Then another monk said, "I don't know him." Then another time he said, "Wait until there is Buddha I will tell you."

And then the trick of suspicion of Ma To sermon (upper court) but said the sermon (lower court) to teach the disciple a vivid image, appears before the eyes of "Sac ie Thi Khong". But seeing "Sac means No". (not reading chant, or talking plainly) that means attained Bat Nha wisdom.

In Christianity there is no spiritual practice to become God.

There is no practice in Islam to be Allah

In Hinduism there is no practice to become a God (Brahma)

Only in Buddhism is it possible for anyone to become a Buddha. So Buddha taught that there are "Hang Ha and the number of Buddhas" and "I am a Buddha. Sentient beings that are Buddha will become. " Therefore, I firmly believe that from the ancestors like Ca Lettuce, Ma Minh ... down to Luc To Hue Nang and many famous Zen masters of China and King Tran Nhan Tong of Vietnam ... have all become Buddhas.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.7/8/2020.