"No," the fortune teller said calmly, "but according to this digging method, I'm afraid I won't be able to dig it out for a month!"
People stopped.△↗
The fortune teller walked aside and whispered something to the local village chief and some old people.
After a while, the old man came over and said: "So people born in December, whether they were born in the year of the dragon or not, left the bottom of the river and went to the shore."
"There must be a white snake within five steps." The fortune teller said, walking to the southeast of the coffin and stopping four or five steps away from the coffin. "Find two people to dig down three feet with a wooden shovel."
Several people quickly ran back to the village to pick up the wooden shovel (a wooden shovel is a farm tool used by farmers to separate wheat grains and wheat bran using wind power, similar to a shovel, but made of mulberry wood).
The sun was getting weaker and weaker, and the fortune teller said: "We may not be able to dig it out today. Cover it with something to make sure it doesn't get caught in the rain!"
After a while, the farmer came with a wooden shovel and dug down at the designated place as instructed. White snake? That's an immortal!
The old people all murmured in their hearts that there is indeed a kind of small white snake in the local area, but it is extremely rare. When the old ladies see the small white snake (about as long as chopsticks), they will kowtow, find a plate covered with red cloth, and put it on the plate.
White Snake, please come home and burn incense.
Strangely enough, the white snake always climbs onto the plate obediently, enjoys the incense for a few days, and then disappears without a trace.
The fortune teller drew a circle of about one foot, and the two men began to dig. Indeed, the mud here was obviously easier to dig than other places. After a short effort, one man shouted: There are a bunch of frogs!
"Stop digging!" the fortune teller hurriedly stopped. Everyone was surprised. It is normal to dig frogs in winter. What's the fuss?
Everyone saw more than ten frogs crowded together. How could there be snakes where there are frogs? And this is a cemetery, a dead place, so how could there be frogs?
Frogs symbolize money, wealth and honor. In some places, frogs are called toads, which is homophonic to money. Wherever there are frogs, it means that the land is full of energy. Ancient books say that dragons are used to produce prosperity, and burials are used to generate energy.
This qi refers to the qi of the mountains. Wherever the qi is good, there will be animals, or fish, just right.
In such a place, if a person stands on it and jumps, he will feel the hollow thumping sound inside. If the bones of the ancestors are placed on it, the bones will be white and shiny.
But there is a premise, that is, before the ancestors are buried, and now after the burial, there are still frogs and fish living freely here, then there is a problem.
Only if the vitality here is strong enough can living things survive, and burying ancestors naturally involves taking advantage of the vitality.
The Burial Scripture written by Guo Pu during the Eastern Jin Dynasty is a classic work on the study of geography and Feng Shui. The first sentence of the opening chapter of the Burial Scripture is: The buried person is the source of vitality.
This sentence alone is full of knowledge and the most fundamental truth.
All buried remains are meant to capture the vitality generated by the earth. Without this vitality, there would be no need to go to such great lengths to deal with the remains and funeral rituals.
This anger is not anger in English. It is a simplified ** in ancient Chinese, which is a lively and vigorous energy, especially coming out of the ground. It is the so-called earth energy.
The ancients believed that the human remains must be buried in the soil underground in order to obtain these lively and vigorous energies. Therefore, what everyone usually talks about is to be buried in the ground.
The remains of ancestors must be buried in the soil so that they can truly rest in peace and be truly nourished by the earth, so that their souls can rest and have a sheltering effect on future generations.
If you don't get into the soil, no matter how excellent the surrounding geographical conditions are, you still won't be able to absorb these qi, and everything will be in vain.
It is because of this that the tomb is called a place of death, because the life here is absorbed by the dead, and the frogs under the coffin are nourished by the life of the ancestors.
There is still life in the tomb, which is an extremely strange thing, so the old people started praying again, for no other reason than that, who has seen such a thing? There is such a big coffin? What's more, it was alarmed anyway. " "People"?
In the middle of winter, the fortune teller was sweating all over his forehead. Later I heard from him that he almost ran back.
The fortune teller took out the frogs one by one. There were no white snakes, nothing but frogs!
It shouldn’t be! The fortune teller didn’t know what he had done wrong. That’s what his father told him! How could there be no white snake?
He stood up and asked loudly: "Are there any people born in the year of Dragon or born in December who have not left the show? You will be responsible for the consequences if you find out!"
A few of the onlookers left in disbelief. No wonder, who can't see this kind of thing up close?
The old people vaguely understood in their hearts: "It's not that White Snake is afraid of them, but it's not beneficial to these people."
At this time, someone shouted: "Snake! The snake is on the wooden shovel!"
is not that right?
In the mud on the shovel, a small white snake exposed part of its body. The difference from usual is that this white snake is not completely white, but has some spots (no one said what color the spots are), which is the same as everyone has seen before. Another thing that was different when it arrived was that it exposed its head and spat out messages frequently, making it very alert. Snakes in winter should not be like this.
The fortune teller carefully took the little snake and placed it next to the coffin, or to be precise at the bottom of the coffin. The little snake quickly burrowed down and disappeared after a while.
When they saw the little white snake crawling under the crystal coffin, the timid people began to scream, Oh my God? Where did it go? How could it happen?
It is true that snakes drill holes, but snakes themselves cannot make holes. Most of them use the holes of eels. What's more, in such a cold day, the little snake can still be so active. The nerves that have been tense for a day cannot bear too much. weird.
Most of the people knelt in the mud and kowtowed in the most traditional but also the most respectful way of paying homage - the twenty-four prayers.
This is an extremely complex way of kowtowing, which contains the Eight Diagrams. It is generally the most solemn way of kowtowing when a close relative passes away. The elders take the lead, step by step, take square steps, and kowtow!
The twenty-four prayers were over, and everyone was kneeling on the ground at a loss!
Yes! According to common sense, you should cry now. For example, if the deceased is the uncle of the person kneeling down, you should cry for the uncle! If you are a younger generation, you should cry for the uncle, etc.
But no one knows the name of the person who is kneeling down this time. How should he be called? What if, what if this person is not a human being? Will the heaven and earth and the people of heaven and earth ignore the principle of using human beings to worship? Will the heaven and earth be angry and everyone will be resentful?
At this time, the fortune teller said: "Okay, just kowtow. It's getting late. Let's go back to the shore to rest. We will be fine early tomorrow morning."
Everyone returned to the shore in silence. Who wanted to eat? Those who were born in the year of the dragon and others who could not watch from the side anxiously asked this and that? What is going on?
The fortune teller's incomprehensible attitude also made people confused. People who had not seen the white snake were shouting: "Tomorrow we will use a hammer to hammer it -"
Before he finished speaking, he was blocked by a dirty muddy hand. The old people glared at the young boy fiercely. He was so ignorant. What else could he do if he had already listened to the old man?
Whenever a coffin is excavated during construction, it should be moved if it can be moved. Once it needs to be moved, a sensible person should be asked to pay homage to the coffin, bring out the wedding materials, and place them properly.
The fortune teller said calmly: "What should come out must come out, otherwise you will be in trouble!"
Everyone looked at the gentleman with questioning eyes, "Look at tomorrow. I have one hundred and eight black dog cutouts here. Paste them on the wall of the yard. Remember, two must be posted on all doors."
, it must be posted on the water tank. This must be done by those born in the year of the Dragon. Remember to stick it when the sun comes out. If it is cloudy tomorrow, don’t stick it!”
The Feng Shui master's voice was not loud but very firm, a firmness that could break everything.
Everyone felt a little reassured, after all, someone was making plans and commanding decisively.
"Also, you must see how much water is in the water tank and how high the wet marks are on the outside of the water tank." the fortune teller instructed.
Everyone agreed and returned to their shacks (the laborers didn't have any good accommodation, they were just temporary tents, otherwise they wouldn't have gone to the yard where people were killed).
The black dog paper-cut in my hand is very ordinary. It is just a dog cut out of black paper. It is used to ward off evil spirits. Most people use new paper to cut it. This one seems to be several years old. The paper is a little worn.
old.
It was surprisingly quiet at night, even the usual snorers were silent. Of course, no one could sleep, especially those assigned to the task who were very excited.
The old people smoked their own rolled cigarettes, and the flashing lights made everyone hope that dawn would come sooner.
"Do you think this has anything to do with Bald-tailed Old Li?" an old man asked gently.
Ah? People who live by the Yellow River should know this legend. Bald-tailed Old Li is synonymous with the Dragon King. Once in sixty years, the Yellow River will overflow.
Legend has it that a long time ago in ancient times, in a small rural courtyard, a young daughter-in-law guarded her old mother who was ill in bed. The old mother really wanted to drink fish soup. It was raining heavily outside. Where could she buy fish?
Besides, there was a place to buy it but no money. At this moment, there was a burst of thunder and lightning, and a large golden carp fell from the sky, weighing 5 or 6 kilograms!
The daughter-in-law was overjoyed and took the fish back to the house. Seeing the pitiful appearance of the carp, she couldn't bear to kill it, so she chopped off the tail and released the fish.
Strangely enough, my mother recovered from her illness after drinking fish soup.
This carp is the Dragon King who was demoted to the mortal world. It is also said that he was defeated in a battle with other dragons, was knocked down to the mortal world, and became the Dragon King of the Yellow River.
Fortunately, the Dragon King was reasonable and did not punish his filial daughter-in-law, but it became a habit. He would come out every sixty years, and the Yellow River would flood once. He, Nan'an, and Yang still have this saying. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature.