Huilian Tongxuan

"Huilian Tongxuan" uses the journey of the practitioner Huilian as a thread to connect various aspects of the world and Zen philosophy. A string of red sandalwood beads hides three thousand causes and effects, and the sound of a goldfinch leads to unresolved obsessions. She crosses the broken bridge to explore the confusion of consummation, helps the old woman and the lame white deer to let go of the past, and uses the lotus flower to illuminate the wisdom of cherishing each other between husband and wife. Plum blossoms sprout on broken walls, lotuses bloom in turbid water, and ordinary plants and trees are all opportunities for enlightenment. The so-called "tongxuan" is never the magical power to soar into the clouds and mist, but to see the wholeness in the shortcomings, and to find the perfection in the regrets. When the Buddhist beads on Huilian's fingertips became more and more moist, and when the cries of the goldfinch faded into silence, she finally understood: practice is not in the ancient temple of Gushan, but in every stop and look at the fireworks in the world, in the awareness that turns tears into nectar and allows the past to nourish new life. This is a practice about "heart" and a prose poem written for ordinary life.