Chapter 392 It all depends on human effort; it seems to be somewhat fair
The golden body of Buddha enshrined in the temple is dirty.
This filth is not on the surface, but mixed with the incense enshrined in the golden body.
What's even more strange is that the incense that should have been enshrined to the Buddha in Ciyun Temple of Jinping Prefecture does not seem to be stored in the Lingshan Mountain. It just keeps accumulating in the golden body above the main hall.
Regardless of why the Buddha's golden body here is contaminated with filth, the fact that the Buddha refused to accept the incense from Jinping Mansion does this mean that the Buddha was well aware of what was going on here?
In the main hall at that time, Fa Hai secretly recited the mantra and wanted to use the golden body of the Buddha statue to communicate with the Buddha, but if he was lost in the sea, there was no reply.
Of course, Fa Hai would not sit idly by and ignore this matter. It was just because he had just arrived and his actions just now were somewhat impulsive. In addition, he had not yet understood the local customs, so he did not move lightly.
No matter what kind of incident it is, only by finding out the truth can we prescribe the right medicine. Otherwise... I'm afraid the medicine won't cure the problem, and I'm afraid it will make things worse.
Wukong, Little White Dragon and Wu Jing's eight spiritual bodies were all sent out by Fahai.
Because they don't know where the problem lies, they can only use this method of casting a wide net, but they can't find a needle in a haystack...it's just a few places to go.
First, it was to explore whether there were any demons and ghosts causing trouble in the city and the surrounding mountains;
Second, find out whether the local government, wealthy families and big families, in the fish and meat village, are bullying the people;
The third is to see whether the pilgrims have done anything to corrupt the Buddha's virtues.
The rest were also checked together when investigating the three items.
Clang clang clang!
"Hey, Master...why is it suddenly so busy outside? Disciple, go out and take a look~"
At this moment, Bajie was the only one guarding Master. He heard the roar of gongs and drums outside, so he ran out to take a look, and came back to report: "Master, it was the believers in the neighborhood who sent lanterns to offer Buddha... The old master of the courtyard is also there.
Outside, they said they would invite Master to come and have a look."
"Since it's the master of the hospital who invites you, let's go out and take a look together."
After all, I no longer had any interest, so I just glanced at it briefly and then gave it up.
The old monk was also a discerning man. Seeing Master Sanzang's lack of interest at the moment, he didn't force him to stay. He just said a few words and let the monks leave. Then he personally sent Master Sanzang back to his room. On the way, he asked: "Old monk."
Just now I saw that the mage was in low spirits... Could it be that he missed his hometown, the Moon?"
After all, the old master is kind-hearted. He just heard that Master Sanzang has been traveling abroad for fourteen years... He has walked from the Tang Dynasty and gone through such cold and heat, and now he meets this person who is like the Tang Dynasty.
custom... I thought Master Tripitaka was feeling homesick, so I asked him this question.
Not to mention... Fahai, who originally had no such intention, suddenly thought of Jinshan Temple after hearing the old master's words.
Various characters from that time seemed to appear before my eyes, as well as the full moon in the south of the Yangtze River.
"Amitabha." Fa Hai recited the Buddha's name, and a question rang in his heart: "If White Snake meets Xu Xian again hundreds of years later... there will be a way to achieve both ends. After all, everything depends on man."
Beautiful love is always desirable.
And Fahai, who has been walking in the world for fourteen years, is even more accustomed to the ups and downs, joys and sorrows of the world... In the past, he thought about transcendence and enlightenment... But now he has already understood that what he cares about is not what he wants.
The attainment status of Lingshan, not to mention Arhat, Bodhisattva...even becoming a Buddha, seems to be inferior to this fascinating world of mortals.
The poor monk may be a spectator, but who says that the spectator is not in the world of mortals?
When the master of the temple saw Master Tripitaka deep in thought, he didn't ask any more questions. He just said when he finally left, "The backyard of my temple is a good place. Master, you can go and relax tomorrow morning."
"good."
After returning to the side room, Fahai placed all the Buddhist scriptures collected along the way in front of him.
The Buddha never prohibited the spread of Mahayana Buddhism in Tianzhu. In fact, there is no need to go to Lingshan Mountain to collect all kinds of Buddhist scriptures. Even in these private Buddhist temples, you can collect them all.
Maybe they are not original, or there may be personal belongings brought by the transcriber, but in Fahai's view, these are real Buddhist treasures...many Buddhist scriptures, even he has never seen before.
The deeper they go into Tianzhu, the more scriptures Fahai has in his hands, and Fahai seems to understand a little bit why the Buddha and Bodhisattvas did not send the scriptures to the Tang Dynasty, but let themselves come to collect the scriptures.
It's just words on paper. No matter how subtle the meaning is, no matter how profound the Buddhist teachings contained in it are, it's just other people's insights.
Only by walking through it step by step can you truly appreciate the mystery.
Perhaps in my own world, the Consciousness-Only Buddhism passed down by Master Tripitaka has been discontinued for two generations, so no one can feel its true meaning... and the Tantan Merit Buddha went to Lingshan after he succeeded in retrieving the sutra.
In the ashram, there are rare times when the spirit appears.
That is to say, only the dojo where Victorious Buddha and the Pure Altar Messenger are not located in Lingshan Mountain can still appear in the human world from time to time.
At this moment, Fa Hai was thinking, if he were replaced this time, would he be able to reproduce the Buddhist Dharma of the Consciousness-Only Sect?
But as the saying goes, everything depends on human effort. If you don’t do it, how will you know whether it will work or not?
After reading the scriptures all night long, Fa Hai did not feel tired, but was full of energy and wished he could discuss Buddhism with the eight hundred Arhats.
Looking back, he saw that Bajie didn't look like he was sleeping at all, and when he opened and closed his mouth, he was drooling... He shook his head with a smile and did not wake him up. He opened the door and stepped out.
Taking a deep breath of the morning air, I felt refreshed and open-minded.
It's just that the three disciples haven't come back yet. It seems that this matter in Jinping Mansion is a big deal... Fahai's brows, which he had finally relaxed in Yuhua Prefecture, are gradually wrinkled again at this moment.
I don't know what they found.
It is the first month of the year and the New Year is approaching.
Fa Hai remembered the words of the old master of the courtyard last night, so he went to the backyard. The garden was elegant and the scenery was beautiful... After walking around, it turned out to be a good place.
Not long after, the great sage came back first.
When he came to the room, he saw Bajie sleeping soundly, but the master was not there... so he didn't disturb his sweet dream, and went to look for the master in the back garden.
Seeing the peach blossoms turning red in front of him and the green willows turning new, the Great Sage reported to the master from the side:
"The disciple went to visit the magistrates in the city and the mansions of the noble families in the county. For a while, I didn't see them oppressing the people. Even if there are some inappropriate things, it is inevitable. After all, people who use their power to bully others are not uncommon everywhere.
However, after careful instruction from the disciples, they were all willing to do good deeds... During this period, the disciples discovered something that seemed ordinary in the local area, but was actually very inappropriate, so they visited for a few more hours... Therefore
Late."
"Tell me carefully." Fa Hai sat in a pavilion.
"I wonder if Master still remembers that the master of the courtyard here once said that during the Lantern Festival in Jinping Mansion, there was a golden lantern bridge?"
Fahai nodded: "It is indeed true, I will remember it, Master."
"My disciple went to explore last night. There are three golden lamps on the Golden Lamp Bridge. The lamps have large jars... There is sesame oil in the lamps. This oil is not ordinary oil, but crisp sesame oil. The three lamps
, each cylinder weighs 500 kilograms, and the three cylinders total 1,500 kilograms... It is said that this lamp is only lit for three nights, that is, last night, tonight and tomorrow night." The Great Sage paused, "The disciple was still surprised at the time.
Speaking of five hundred kilograms of lamp oil, even if there are forty-nine large lamps in each tank, they are all tied with lamp grass, wrapped in silk floss, and are as thick as a chicken... How can it be used up in three nights? People
They all said that after lighting up the lamp for the next night, Buddha appeared, and the oil for the next night was gone, so the lamp went out."
"Buddha." From Wukong's words, Fa Hai very keenly extracted the key information. "Where is the Buddha who actually likes to collect sesame oil for worship?"
Wukong said angrily: "Master, regardless of where the Buddha is from, do you know how much this sesame oil costs?"
"Say it."
"People say that each tael of this oil is worth two taels of silver, and each pound is worth thirty-two taels of silver. These three lamps... a total of 48,000 taels of silver. There are also miscellaneous payments for use, and there will be five
There are more than ten thousand taels, but it can only be burned for three nights... And these sesame oils are only offered by 240 large lamp oil households every year. Each family spends more than 200 taels of silver every year." The Great Sage cupped his hands and said:
"Every job in the prefecture and county is relatively good, but this big sesame oil owner is very tired..."
"This is not a secret, it is a custom that has been passed down in Jinping Mansion for I don't know how many years... It is said that if there is enough oil tomorrow, it means that the Buddha has put away the lamp, and the grain will naturally be abundant; if he does not work for a year,
But there has been drought every year, and the wind and rain are irregular. Therefore, everyone wants to make offerings like this. Every household in the city has such legends from ancient times to the present."
"Disciples think...the filthiness of the Buddha's golden body may be related to this matter."
As soon as the Great Sage finished speaking, Wu Jing also came back. He went to investigate the pilgrims everywhere and carefully explained his findings.
The pilgrims were all very pious, and none of them had particularly bad morals. Even if there were some who behaved inappropriately, he had taught them carefully and since then they had devoted themselves to doing good.
Then he also talked about the legend of this golden lantern.
"Disciple went to Mintian County. The county covers an area of 240 miles. Every year, they are responsible for collecting sesame oil... just to use the sesame oil to light golden lamps for three nights to worship the Buddha." Wu Jing paused.
He added: "It is also because we know that even big households will be affected, so successive prefects and county magistrates have exempted them from taxes elsewhere and dedicated them to this item... Otherwise, even big households will have a hard time.
."
The great sage couldn't help but taunted him, "This disciple didn't know who the merciful person was."
"Compassion?" Fahai said: "If it is truly compassionate... then the government should provide money to buy these 1,500 kilograms of sesame oil every year for worship."
After listening to the Master's words, the Great Sage suddenly thought of something else, "Master... do you think this sesame oil was really collected by the Buddha?"
Bajie, who came over at some point, suddenly said, "I think it's probably the Buddha who died. Otherwise, what did the rat spirit we met a while ago eat?"
"Second Senior Brother... I'm afraid you may have misunderstood the Buddha this time." This was the little white dragon who came back last. After landing, he bowed his hands to the master and said, "Master, this disciple has already inquired clearly.
Inside, there is a Qinglong Mountain, and there is a Xuanying Cave in the Qinglong Mountain. There are three goblins in the cave: the big one is called King Pihan, the second one is called King Pishu, the third one is called King Pichen... They are three
A rhinoceros spirit."
"The disciples found out that they are all fairies who have attained enlightenment for thousands of years. They have loved to eat Juhe sesame oil since they were children... Then they became spirits. They pretended to be Buddha statues and coaxed the officials of Jinping Mansion to set up golden lamps. The lamp oil was made from Juhe sesame oil.
Every year on the first half of the first lunar month, he transforms into a Buddha statue and collects oil...It is these three demon kings who act under the guise of Buddha's name."
"How did you find out so clearly?" the great sage asked.
"It is also because these rhinoceros spirits have visited my Dragon Palace in the West Sea. When I was young, I heard my father and elder brother mention them, so when I recognized them in Qinglong Mountain, I went back to the West Sea and asked my elder brother for advice.
Then I went to find out whether they were cannibalizing people in Jinping Mansion and causing harm to others... so I came a little late."
"how?"
"I only eat sesame oil, but I have never eaten humans... Because they are all water attributes, they also have some methods of precipitation. Therefore, if they collect sesame oil, they can also ensure that the weather in Jinping Mansion is smooth." Xiao Bailong said: "
Precipitating water without permission is a major crime in the world, but they are doing it in the name of Buddha, and Jinping Mansion is at the foot of Lingshan Mountain... Even Buddha doesn't care about it, so Heavenly Court is naturally even more inconvenient to take action, so I, Xihai, don't do anything about it either
Ask."
At this point, Fa Hai also knew where the filthy air on the Buddha's golden body came from, and why the incense was left in the golden body of the main hall and had not been collected.
"Well..." The Great Sage scratched his head and sighed: "If the three goblins acted like this, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary... Fifty thousand taels of silver a year can guarantee smooth weather...
Isn’t this more fair than the Inspiration King of the Tongtian River?”
Listening to the great sage talking about the Tongtian River, everyone also thought of the carp spirit that escaped from the disciples of Guanyin Bodhisattva... Although he is also a spirit who collects offerings and appears, he is a pair of children, a boy and a girl every year.
In comparison, these three rhino spirits only need 1,500 kilograms of Suhe sesame oil every year, which seems to be much more reasonable.
That's the truth.
But that's not how the accounts are calculated.
Because this fifteen hundred kilograms of sesame oil was not shared by the entire Jinping Mansion, but fell on the 240 large lamp oil companies in Mintian County. They were said to be large companies... In fact, Wu Jing also went to see it.
After that, they are no better than ordinary farmers.
Although this sesame oil is very valuable, its output is very small and it takes a lot of manpower and material resources.
The sesame oil produced is basically used as an offering. In addition to offering to the so-called "Buddha", an additional portion must be offered to the palace.
What you can keep and sell for yourself is almost enough for daily expenses. There is actually no balance at the end of the year...
Since these three rhino spirits love this Suhe sesame oil so much, how can they do it with only 1,500 kilograms per year?
What they limit is actually production.
They do have some knowledge, and they are not the masters of fishing in the lake... They know how to keep harvesting. Although the annual output is less, it is more durable. It has been a little over a thousand years.