Chapter 213: Sunrise in Songshan Valley, morning bell shocks birds (Part 1)

I first left the forest and came to the main road. There were quite a few tourists, all heading towards Shaolin Temple. There were many motorcycles and vans along the way and stopped to greet him: "Are you going to Shaolin Temple? The road is still far away. It's cheap to take my car, and it costs ten yuan per person."

I smiled and shook my head. Zicheng asked me: "Master, how far is Shaolin Temple?"

"Don't you look at it yourself?" A sign on the side of the road where I pointed at it said - Shaolin Temple five kilometers.

I walked forward to the gate of the Shaolin Temple scenic area. I spent money to buy a ticket and saw another sign: 2,400 meters away from Shaolin Temple, 2,800 meters away from the Talin Temple, and 5 yuan per battery car. I shook my head and smiled again, leading Zicheng all the way to Shaolin Temple. This thousand-year-old temple was built in the 19th year of Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Emperor Xiaowen of Wei was built by the Indian monk Batu. Thirty-two years later, Bodhidharma, the 28th descendant of Sakyamuni, crossed the river and came north to Shaolin. In the ninth year of the wall below the Wumei Peak, he created the Chinese Zen lineage. Shaolin Temple has since been regarded as the ancestral home of Zen.

The origin of Zen Buddhism began at the Lingshan Dharma Assembly. The Buddha sected flowers and smiled. The Buddha secretly ordered the true mind to hide the Dharma eyes and granted the kapok robe. Bodhidharma brought the kapok robe to Shaolin and passed it to the Sixth Patriarch, and was then taken away by Wu Zetian and disappeared unknown. But I know the whereabouts of the kapok robe, and it was on Facheng. Facheng brought the kapok robe back to Shaolin Temple, and he had the intention of returning the kapok robe to the ancestral courtyard, but over the years he did not seem to have found a true successor to the robe.

On the way, Zicheng asked me: "Master, you mentioned last night that Master Facheng once knocked on Master Feng's forehead in Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou more than two years ago. What's going on?"

"I was just about to tell you the rules for entering the temple, so let's tell you this story first..."

Two years ago, Feng Junzi went on a business trip to Hangzhou and went to Lingyin Temple to visit. He couldn't stand the harassment of the vendors outside the mountain gate, so he spent twenty yuan to buy a handful of incense and candles. In fact, he wanted to go and see that he didn't plan to burn incense and worship Buddha, but the little girl who sold incense and candles wrapped her too tightly and held the corner of his clothes. After entering the mountain gate, he burned incense and lighted wax all the way. When offering incense, he had to worship. Everyone around Feng Junzi was worshiping, and he also worshipped. He raised the incense and bowed to the sky, and bowed under the incense chest, but did not worship Buddha. He did not believe in Buddhism at first, and after sealing his spiritual consciousness, he was also unwilling to worship Buddha.

He was an individual guest, wandering around all the way, and from time to time he inserted into the tour guide to listen to the tour guide's explanation. Until the last time he entered the Medicine Buddha Hall, half of the incense and candles in his hand were not worshipped. As a result, he lit them all as if he had completed his task. The candles were inserted on the candle stand, and a large handful of incense burned, and he put them in the incense burner and left behind. He ran to the Buddhist temple to watch the fun. Many believers lined up to kowtow on the cushion in front of the Buddha statue, and Feng Junzi also lined up in the queue.

It was his turn to stand in front of the cushion, but he didn't kneel down, let alone kowtow. He stood there and bowed with a smile. When he bowed, he looked up at the Buddha statue in a thief, and then turned around and stepped out of the threshold in the surprised eyes of others. He thought he was very casual, and he had a change as soon as he walked down the steps of the hall. He heard a sound of gold and iron in the middle of his forehead, and his body was fixed in the local area out of thin air. The man was kept, but the golden wire color-changing mirror on the bridge of his nose flew out and landed on the stone floor a few meters away - because of the action of inertia.

Feng Junzi was stunned at that time and it took a long time to react. If a bystander saw it, he would definitely find it strange. This man strode down from the steps in front of the hall, and then hit the eaves of the incense burner in the middle of the yard. This big-bellied incense burner is more than one person tall, and there are four corners of the eaves that look like a small pavilion, which stretch out apart. Feng Junzi's forehead just hits it. But Feng Junzi himself felt even more strange. He didn't walk without eyes, so how could he not see such a large incense burner? He felt that he could not hit it, and a corner of the incense burner suddenly seemed to grow a piece to meet his forehead.

Under the heavy impact, he was not hurt at all, and his glasses fell to the ground were not broken. Feng Junzi picked up his glasses, touched his forehead again, looked at the incense burner and suddenly turned around and saw the Buddha statue sitting in the hall. He showed a hint of doubt, a look of suddenness, and left Lingyin Temple with a wry smile. This head was knocking heavy enough!

Later, he went back to Wucheng to drink with his classmates and talked about this during a chat. I felt something was wrong when I heard it. Could it be that a petty Bodhisattva was joking with him? This is not impossible. I once saw Mrs. Guan selling dates on the street. With the help of alcohol, I carefully asked about the situation at that time - what did he see when his forehead was smashed? Feng Junzi said: "At that time, golden light flashed in front of me, and I saw something in a trance, like a bowl used by monks to beg for alms, flying away from my eyes!... It was probably an illusion. If it weren't an illusion, it would definitely be a ufo!"

I asked him to describe in detail what the mini-shaped ufo that he saw in a daze at that time? The more he said it, the more familiar it became, the more it was Facheng's purple gold bowl. Among the masters of the times, he had such a profound cultivation and such a funny manner. He dared to tease Feng Junzi and did such a funny thing. I'm afraid only Facheng was the only one. Last night, he saw Facheng's purple gold bowl flying from the air and knocked the owner of the Hu Pavilion to the ground with a clang. I can be sure that he also smashed Feng Junzi's forehead like this.

I told Dan Zicheng this "public case". Dan Zicheng was laughing at the corners of his eyes and eyebrows, but he didn't dare to laugh out loud, which seemed disrespectful to his master. I bounced his forehead and said, "Don't laugh for now, do you know the rules for entering the temple?"

Dan Zicheng: "Do you want to kowtow? Otherwise you will be hit?"

"You and I are not Buddhist disciples, but I have a connection with Buddhist masters. I still have the respect I deserve. In the same year, Ge Jujizan, a living Buddha in Guangjiao Temple in Wucheng, gathered his fellow practitioners to ask me about it. That was my first time entering the temple. After I entered the door, I also worshiped the Buddha to show etiquette and respect. But I did not burn incense and kowtow because I am not a Buddhist... You may not believe in it, but you cannot disrespect it. Once you enter the Buddhist temple, you must do that, otherwise you will not go in."

Dan Zicheng: "If you understand, burn incense and kowtow, burn incense and kowtow in a regular manner, or be a tourist honestly. If you want to say hello to the Bodhisattva, you must be polite, and at least you cannot be fooled at the door of someone else."

"It's good to know. Shaolin Temple has arrived. Let's go in."

The mountain gate of Shaolin Temple is exactly the same as what you see in movies and TV. The black lacquered square plaque written by Kangxi's imperial pen is hanging high. If there is anything different from other temples, it is the staff. The ticket collectors and the caretakers of the scenic spots are not monks, but security guards in uniforms.

Walking through the mountain gate, there are upward slopes, with steles of all dynasties on both sides. Dan Zicheng was very interested in these steles, and took my hand to ask this and that. I slowly explained it to him as I walked. For example, "The Monument of the Bishop of the Shaolin Temple of King Qin of Tang Dynasty", "Praise of Su Dongpo Guanyin of Song Dynasty", etc. The steles here not only have important cultural, historical, religious value, but also have calligraphy value. Not only are there steles written by famous masters such as Su Dongpo, Zhao Mengfu, and Dong Qichang, we actually found the steles of the inscriptions of Cai Jing, a powerful minister of the Northern Song Dynasty.

"Isn't Cai Jing a treacherous minister? How could the stele he wrote here? The handwriting is quite good!" Anyone who has read "Water Margin" probably knows Cai Jing, and Dan Zicheng asked curiously.

I replied, "It's not just good-looking, Cai Jing is a calligrapher and has good talent and knowledge, but he is a treacherous villain after all... Speaking of talent and knowledge, Wang Jingwei is also very talented, but unfortunately he is still the world's largest traitor in ancient and modern times."

Dan Zicheng: "Isn't it Wu Sangui the world's largest traitor since ancient times? Why did he become Wang Jingwei again?"

"Wu Sangui? That's what is said in "The Deer and the Cauldron". At that time, there was no Wang Jingwei. When Wang Jingwei came out, Wu Sangui could only rank second... I told you that this is to tell you that it is not enough for a person to have talent, and it is not enough for a practitioner to have supernatural powers."

Dan Zicheng responded quickly: "It is not enough for Shaolin monks to have martial arts alone."

"It's right. Fame and profit are not enough. After all, this is the ancestral home of Zen Buddhism! Master Facheng thought of coming here to find the successor of the robe and bowl and sending the kapok robe back, and he might be disappointed. Let's go and find the monk."

It seems not easy to find a monk at Shaolin Temple, because it is full of tourists coming and going, talking and laughing, and the huge Shaolin Temple is even noisier than a vegetable market. The bell sounds came from the bell tower next to the hall, and the sounds were very impetuous. When I walked over, I saw a few modern girls paying for the bell ringing. This is also a tourism project.

After passing through the abbot's room, he came to Lixue Pavilion. A "Snow Seal Heart Bead" written by Qianlong was hung above the shrine. A flag-raising tour guide was holding a small trumpet to explain. A couple hugged each other and took photos. The photographer must take photos in. The tour guide also explained: "Take photos here means being intimate..." So everyone rushed to take photos. Lian Danzi Chengdu frowned and muttered to me: "Master wants me to enter Buddhism to pay rituals, but none of these people are rituals."

"They are them, you are you, and they are not my disciples, so I don't have any control."

Dan Zicheng: "Master Facheng can knock on Master Feng's forehead in Lingyin Temple, why don't he knock on these people's foreheads in Shaolin Temple?"

"Fa Cheng knocks on you Master Feng, which is mysterious Zen. If you knock on these people, it will be really boring."

Dan Zicheng: "Where is Master Facheng? Do you want to find a monk to ask?"

"No need to ask, just follow me, you can see it if you have the chance."

After visiting Shaolin Temple, I took Dan Zicheng to the Talin again. The Talin is about 400 meters west of Shaolin Temple. It is the burial place of the bones of monks of all generations. The pagodas here can be said to be relics pagodas, of course there are also body bone pagodas and robe pagodas. In short, this is a large cemetery, and it may also be the most lively cemetery in the world. Adults and children talk and laugh, eat snacks and call friends. Many people climb up the ancient pagoda while the security guard is not prepared to pose for their companions to take photos. I think the current abbot of Shaolin Temple will definitely not be lonely after his death, and there will be people who often step on his grave to take photos.

In the pagoda forest, we saw Master Facheng. Facheng was still the same, with long white eyebrows and a child-like innocent smile. He was trying to persuade tourists who climbed up the pagoda to take pictures, and pointed to the inscription on the pagoda to explain the origin of the pagoda - which monk's tomb was the tomb tower, what deeds and merits had been made during his lifetime, and what kind of Zen cases had been left behind. The old monk spoke very seriously, and some of the tourists were impatient and some were very interested. As Facheng spoke, he talked about one-finger Zen. Dan Zicheng and I also came to the crowd to listen to the old monk's speech.

"Isn't one-finger Zen kung fu? Master Haideng's two fingers are holding the big top, which is two-finger Zen, and using one finger to play upside down is one-finger Zen." Many tourists asked.

Facheng shook his head: "That is one finger Zen, not one finger Zen, this finger is not another finger. There was a monk named Koti in the Tang Dynasty. After he had achieved great enlightenment, he asked everyone about the Dharma, and only spoke one finger without saying anything..."

Zicheng stood aside and listened very sensible, and I was also very interested. On Zhaoting Mountain, Ge Jujizan Living Buddha once said nothing, and the gentleman on the top scholar bridge pointed to the moon and became delusional, each with his own mystery. Facheng was talking vigorously, and a bald monk in his thirties squeezed into the crowd and greeted, "Facheng, it's time to eat!... I ran here to chat without any trouble." His expression was a little impatient, and he seemed to look down on this monk Youfang who came to sit in another place.

Facheng patted his clothes and stood up and said, "Dear donors, the old monk is going to use fasting... Junior Brother Yongming, I was just talking about one-finger Zen. Do you know what one-finger Zen is?" As he said that, he smiled and stretched out a finger and shook it in front of the monk.

At this moment, a group of people walked out from the depths of the pagoda forest. There were monks and lay people, and there was a fat and big ears surrounded by a middle-aged monk. The middle-aged monk was majestic and very fat. The most special thing was that his monk's robe was bright yellow. The yellow-clothed monk happened to hear Facheng's words and said majesticly in the reprimanding language: "Facheng, you don't practice the homework in the temple, and you don't help others. You show off your mouth in the pagoda forest every day, and you'll be useless to get water from the bamboo basket!"

At this time, Facheng had already seen Dan Zicheng and me, nodded and greeted me, then turned around and asked the monk in yellow: "Who said that the bamboo basket cannot be used to fetch water?"

The monk in yellow was stunned: "What did you say? Do you want to use a bamboo basket to fetch water?" Everyone else laughed, but quickly stopped smiling, because Facheng really took out a bamboo basket from somewhere and said with a constant expression: "There is a bamboo basket, but I don't know where there is water."

The crowd of people watching did not disperse, and they all looked curiously at the old monk who wanted to use a bamboo basket to fetch water in public. But how could there be water in the tower forest? At this time, Dan Zicheng walked over with a smile and said, "Master Facheng, I have water here, mineral water!"

The mineral water we bought on the road, Zicheng, only took a few sips and had half left. He unscrewed the lid and poured it into the bamboo basket, but no drop was leaked! Facheng nodded and said, "Thank you, the little donor, the old monk is here to beg for alms. Do you still have water?"

Fa Cheng walked towards the tourists who were watching with the bamboo basket. Everyone was surprised and interested. They didn't know what trick the old monk was doing. Those who had mineral water around took it out and unscrewed the lid and poured it into the bamboo basket. He circled around him, and when he was not too late, he filled a full basket of clear water. The water swayed in the bamboo basket, but no drop was spilled out.

Now there are more people watching. Some tourists greet their companions: "Look, look, some monks are doing tricks!" Someone explained cleverly: "The bamboo basket must have a trick, and there is a layer of transparent film under it."

Fa Cheng walked to the monk with a basket of clear water and smiled and handed the basket to him. The monk in yellow was stunned by the sight, and subconsciously reached out to take the bamboo basket. As soon as the bamboo basket came to his hand, the water flowed all over the ground, making his shoes and pants wet. At this time, Fa Cheng expressed the same feeling as he had just said: "It's so empty to get the bamboo basket!" Even the tone was learned vividly, and the onlookers, including me, couldn't help laughing out loud.

Fa Cheng threw the bamboo basket at the feet of the monk in yellow, and put his hands together and said, "The old monk is leaving, so let's keep this bamboo basket for a souvenir." After saying that, he took out a piece of cloth from the monk's robe sleeve and draped it on his body. It seemed that it was a cassock, but it didn't look like a cassock, because it was different from the cassock we usually saw.

The robes, also known as patchwork robes, are said to be made of patches made of rags from folk alms, which means that a robes are all made of patches! However, the robes we see now are not like this. The red or germanium base materials are mostly decorated with golden square stripes, and when they are unfolded, they look like a brick wall. But Facheng is wearing a real patchwork robes, and each piece is not too regular. They are sewn together in large and small sizes, and the color is different from the old and the old.

Strangely, when Facheng put on this cassock, his expression became solemn and kind, and even his smile became profound. The stranger feeling was that this person was right in front of him, but he didn't look like he was right in front of him. Facheng put on the cassock and turned around and walked out of the Talin without looking back. No one noticed Dan Zicheng shouted in the crowd: "Master Facheng, how to solve the Heart-Shut Lock?"

"The bamboo cage is empty, and the fool is carrying water in it. He laughed at me, how could he know whether the basket water is empty or not? The heart-killing lock cannot be removed, and where does the cycle of reincarnation fall like a shackle? I asked him, which heart needs to be liberated?..."

The sound of singing like a nursery rhyme came from afar, and Facheng had already floated away, leaving only a group of stunned tourists and monks. He left, putting the kapok robe on his body and took it away. Dan Zicheng murmured to himself, "How to solve the Heart-Shut Lock?"
Chapter completed!