Morning bells and evening drums, day after day, seem to have no end.
Every day seems to be exactly the same as yesterday. Some people feel bored, while others feel at ease. The quiet years, whether long or short, are in the human heart.
In the blink of an eye, Gui Li has been staying in Tianyin Temple for many days, listening to the bells in the morning and the drums in the evening, which ring on time from unknown places in the temple every day, and spends his days in silence. I don’t know why, in just a few days, he still
As if he has integrated into this strange environment, he is silent every day, just in a daze.
He is now in his prime, and his body is in excellent condition. Although he is seriously injured, he is young, and his cultivation is high. In addition, Tianyin Temple is unexpectedly generous to him, and he is not stingy with any good medicine.
They all used it on him casually. With the status and reputation of Tianyin Temple, the good medicine in the temple was naturally the best medicine in the world. The medicine took effect quickly, and he recovered from all his injuries very quickly.
.
Within a few days, he was able to get out of bed and barely walk. However, when he walked, he still felt severe pain in his chest, and he would gasp for breath after walking only a few steps. However, even so, he also made the Dharma Minister and other people who came to see him happy.
He praised that he had never seen anyone recover so quickly in the past. It seemed that he would be fully recovered in less than a month.
Gui Li got along with them indifferently on weekdays, and occasionally talked with them. Both sides avoided talking about their opposing identities. It seemed that in the eyes of Fa Xiang and other monks from Tianyin Temple, Gui Li was just an ordinary person they kindly treated.
, instead of the demon cult demon they were willing to risk the world's disapproval and snatched from the hands of Qingyun Sect. And Gui Li never asked the question of why everyone in Tianyin Temple wanted to save him.
Time passed by like this, and Gui Li's health got better day by day. In the past few days, he was able to walk more easily. Sometimes when the morning bells and evening drums rang, he would pull up a chair, open the window, and sit by the window.
He listened carefully, and it seemed that the sound of bells and drums in Tianyin Temple had a different charm to him.
During the days when he was recuperating from his injuries, only Faxiang and Dharma Shan among the monks in Tianyin Temple often came to visit him. Almost no other monks came, let alone Master Puhong and other divine monks of the common generation. But because of his recuperation,
, Gui Li had never left this room. Except for occasionally opening the window and looking out, what he saw in front of him was just a small courtyard with red walls and green tiles, and a few short trees planted in the courtyard.
It's just that for Gui Li, such an ordinary and simple little courtyard felt a bit familiar after a long absence. From the day he opened the window, although he didn't show it, in his heart, he immediately fell in love with it.
Got this place.
Listening to the morning bells in the morning and evening drums in the evening, these peaceful and leisurely years had already made him unable to let go and intoxicated in just a short period of time.
Who knows that in his heart, his greatest hope was to live such a peaceful life...
Mount Sumeru, Tianyin Temple, among the vast and magnificent palaces and pavilions, in that strange and remote corner of the small courtyard, we live like this, live, live...
'Creak!' The wooden door was pushed open all of a sudden, and Fa Xiang walked in alone, glanced into the room, and then landed on Gui Li who was lying on the bed. Gui Li had his eyes closed, and he didn't know if he was asleep.
.
The Dharma Master smiled slightly, turned around, closed the door, and said sharply to the ghost: 'How do you feel today? Does your chest still hurt?'
Gui Li moved his body, slowly opened his eyes, glanced at Dharma Minister, and said calmly: 'Don't you find it annoying that you have to ask this question every time you come here?'
The Dharma Minister smiled and shook his head. He turned his eyes and walked to the wall on the other side, in front of the picture enshrining the statue of Guanyin. He picked up three sticks of sandalwood from the altar table and placed it on a thin candle next to it and lit it. Then it was inserted into the copper incense burner.
Light smoke curled up and floated into the air. The statue of Guanyin suddenly became a little hazy, and the fine scent of sandalwood gradually began to float in the air.
He put his hands together and bowed three times to the image of Guanyin. Then he turned around, looked at Gui Li for a long time, and suddenly said: 'Why don't you come over and bow?'
Gui Li was startled for a moment, and couldn't help but look at the portrait. The face of Guanyin in the image was compassionate, dignified and beautiful, and his pair of slender eyes seemed to be looking at all the creatures and mortals in the world. At this moment, he seemed to be compassionate. Look at yourself normally.
He was moved in his heart, but then he sneered: "Why do I worship her? If she really has a spirit, I don't know how many times I have prayed to God and the gods and Buddhas in the past, but I have never seen any mercy from them!"
The Faxiang looked at him for a long time, and Gui Li looked at him calmly, with a sneer still hanging on the corner of his mouth, showing no sign of regret. After a long while, the Faxiang sighed, turned around, bowed his head to the statue of Guanyin, and said softly I muttered something, but I didn’t know what to say.
Gui Li looked at him from behind and sneered.
After the Dharma Minister finished his salute, he turned around. The compassionate look on his face gradually disappeared, replaced by a peaceful smile, and said: 'I think you look good today, and your health has generally recovered recently. Why don't we go out!'
Gui Li was startled when he heard this and said: 'Go out, where are you going?'
The Dharma Minister smiled and said: 'Go where you want to go and meet the people you want to see.'
Gui Li frowned, then raised his eyebrows and said: 'Why, could it be Master Puhong...'
The Dharma Prime Minister nodded and said: 'That's right. My teacher was very happy to hear that you have recovered and asked me to come over today to have a look. If you are not tired, I can meet you. I wonder what you think?'
Gui Li stared at the Dharma image for a long time, and suddenly smiled and said: "Okay, okay, okay, I have been waiting for this day for a long time. Of course I want to see him. Not to mention that he is well, but he was seriously injured that day. As long as he is willing , I will crawl to see him.'
The Dharma and the Buddha joined together and said: 'The donor has spoken seriously, please come with me.'
After that, he led the way, walked to the door first, opened the door and walked out.
Gui Li followed immediately, but when he was about to walk out of the room, for some reason, he suddenly looked back at the picture of the statue of Guanyin hanging on the wall. In the smoke, Guanyin showed kind eyes. , smiling slightly, seemed to be staring at him.
Gui Li frowned and snorted, but immediately turned around and walked straight away without looking back, leaving only the thin sandalwood scent floating gently in the empty room behind him.
Walking out of the courtyard, there is a passage about two feet long and four feet wide. There are red walls on both sides. It is as tall as two people. The top is also covered with green glazed tiles. At the end of the passage is a round arch. When you get closer, When I was doing the arch, I heard a faint sound coming from outside.
The sound was quite strange. At first glance, it seemed to be the sound of monks reciting scriptures in the temple, but it was also mixed with other strange sounds, some of which should not appear here in Gui Li's imagination, such as a gathering of village women.
They were chatting together, or believers were worshiping the Buddha loudly, and there were even faint sounds of children crying.
How could such strange noises appear in Tianyin Temple, which is known as one of the three major sects of righteousness in the world?
Gui Li was startled and doubtful, and looked towards Fa Xiang, only to see Fa Xiang's face unchanged, leading the way out towards the arch. Gui Li frowned, composed himself, and walked out.
The door suddenly opened up, but all I could see was white jade as stone, paving as a field, stone layers stacked in groups of nine, connecting up to the main hall, which was as high as ninety-nine and eighty-one groups. And between the jade carved railings,
I saw that the palace was majestic and extremely tall. In front of the palace, thirteen huge stone pillars soared into the sky, more than ten feet high. The golden wall on the roof of the palace was brilliant, and eight roof ridges were equally divided on it, carved in the shape of a dragon's head. Each roof ridge had a dragon's head.
Previously, ten auspicious beasts were carved on each of them, with different shapes and lifelike shapes.
The various carvings of His Highness are gorgeous and exquisite, far beyond the imagination of the world, and cannot be made by anyone. Behind the Main Hall, on both sides, and in front, there are towering halls connected to each other, or there are squares in between.
Or the paths are winding and connected, and some are directly connected together, layer upon layer, which is very spectacular.
It's just that although this building is majestic and gorgeous, it is indeed more than awe-inspiring, but at this moment, what makes Gui Li the most astonished is not these, but the fact that on this majestic sacred place of Buddhism, there are countless mortals running through it at this moment.
Holding incense, they knelt down to worship the Buddha. The incense was so abundant on the steps, squares, inside and outside the temple that it was unimaginable.
The huge Tianyin Temple, which has a high status in the world's righteous path, is like an ordinary temple in the world, open to countless secular people to burn incense and worship Buddha.
Gui Li had never thought of this. He understood the strange sounds just now, but what he saw in front of him made him even more confused. Growing up in Qingyun Mountain, he had long been accustomed to the so-called immortal family style.
The fairyland and the fairyland were originally only accessible to Taoists. On Qingyun Mountain, where have you ever seen an ordinary person go up to the mountain to burn incense and pray for wishes?
He turned to look at the Dharma and asked in astonishment: 'This...'
The Dharma Minister smiled slightly and said: "Today happens to be the first day of the Lunar New Year, so there are more people. Although the temple is very busy, there are not so many people on weekdays. However, on every first and fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, people from hundreds of miles around are there."
It's the custom to come over and worship Buddha.'
Gui Li shook his head, hesitated, and finally asked: 'No, I just feel strange, why do you let people come in to burn incense and worship Buddha?'
It seemed that it was expected that Gui Li would ask this question. He nodded, made a gesture of walking this way, and then led Gui Li to the back of the main hall. As he walked, he said: "In fact, Tianyin Temple was also
The Qingyun Sect and other sects are not open to the secular world. However, after my mentor Master Puhong took over as abbot, he and three other masters and uncles meditated on Buddhism and made a great vow, saying: Buddha is the Buddha of all living beings, not just me.
Foye. So he decided to open the mountain gate to accept the people.'
Having said this, the Dharma Minister stopped, turned around and pointed to the countless steps leading to the Mahavira Palace, and said: 'Have you seen that long stone step?'
Gui Li nodded and said: 'What?'
Dharma Xianghe said: "That was when an uncle saw that the mountain road was steep and that although the people were determined to worship the Buddha, many were weak and had difficulty moving, so they could not go up the mountain to fulfill their vows. So he used great supernatural powers to spend ten years with one person's strength.
With great merit, he forcibly opened up this smooth road to the Buddha's sea on the originally steep mountain road, and did such a good deed of immeasurable merit.'
Gui Li couldn't help but stand in awe, his face became serious, and he said: 'There is such an amazing senior, may I ask his name?'
The Dharma Minister glanced at him, and after a moment of unexpected silence, he whispered: 'That uncle's name was Puzhi, and he has been dead for more than ten years.'
Gui Li's body suddenly stiffened, and the word "Puzhi" hit his mind like thunder from a clear sky, shaking him to pieces.
The Dharma Minister looked at Gui Li's face, which was changing from sadness to anger. He sighed and said in a low voice: 'That's it, let's go, the abbot is still waiting for us!'
Gui Li followed the Dharma image blankly and walked over, but his originally light steps had become extremely heavy at this moment. After walking a few feet, he suddenly turned back with a complex expression, and saw a crowd of people in the distance, countless people.
People walked through the stone steps, old people, men, women, and children, all walking on the stone steps with pious expressions on their faces, chanting Buddha's name, as if they were getting closer to the Buddha by walking this way.
Some.
The expression on Gui Li's face was complicated and difficult to understand. He clenched his hands into fists and slowly released them. After a while, he finally slowly turned his head and walked forward. Fa Xiang, who was waiting in front, folded his hands and chanted Buddha's name, but he didn't say much.
What.
The two of them went together, leaving only the countless believers and the silent Buddhist path behind them, in the human world.
This place was originally the human world and is no longer the realm of immortals and Buddhas.
After passing the Main Hall, there is still a long string of temples behind it. After all, Tianyin Temple is a famous sect, and its magnificence cannot be compared with ordinary temples. It’s just that the Dharma Minister led Gui Li all the way back, but there was no one among them.
Stopping at the palaces and pavilions, we just walked towards the back hill.
Gui Li just followed Fa Xiang all the way without saying a word, his face was full of thoughts, and he turned a blind eye to the gorgeous and exquisite buildings around him.
It was only at the end that the Dharma Minister led him out of the back door of Tianyin Temple and walked on a small mountain road to the top of Mount Sumeru. Gui Li frowned and said, "Why, isn't Master Puhong in the temple?"
'
The Dharma Minister nodded and said: "Yes, although the opening of this temple to the secular world is an act of immeasurable merit, monks need to be clean after all. My mentor and several uncles are all people who love tranquility and have always lived in the small temple on the top of the mountain.
We also generally call it "Little Tianyin Temple". After saying that, he smiled slightly, showing two white teeth.
Gui Li nodded silently, said nothing more, and followed the Dharma image to the top of Mount Sumeru.
Although Mount Sumeru is not as towering as the Qingyunmen Tongtian Peak, it is certainly not low. The Tianyin Temple they came out of just now is already halfway up the mountain, but this time they went up and walked half a mile.
At that time, I saw the plaque of Xiaotianyin Temple.
From the outside, Xiao Tianyin Temple can really be called a small word. The courtyard can only be entered and exited three times, which is very different from the magnificent Tianyin Temple halfway up the mountain. However, this place is far away from the world, and only the green pine trees can be seen around it.
The bamboos are densely forested. The mountain wind blows and the loose bamboos sway. It is indescribably quiet and elegant. Compared with the bustle at the bottom of the mountain, it is a different feeling.
Gui Li had just recovered from his serious injury. After walking for a long time, he was already sweating slightly on his forehead. He stopped for a while and looked back. He saw in the distance that the incense in Tianyin Temple in the middle of the mountain was blooming, with strands of incense floating in it. It was so far away.
, I could actually see it clearly, and there was a faint human voice in it, with an indescribable sense of piety and solemnity.
Gui Li stared into the distance for a long time, in a daze, not knowing what he was thinking. After a long time, he turned around and the Dharma Minister nodded and led him into Xiaotianyin Temple.
It was much simpler here than at the bottom of the mountain. The two of them passed through the central Buddhist hall, turned two turns to the right, and walked into the back hall, where there were three pure Zen rooms. The Dharma Minister walked forward and headed towards the middle Zen room.
At the door, a loud voice said: 'Master, donor Zhang Xiaofan has arrived.'
An old but kind voice immediately sounded in the Zen room, saying: 'Please come in!'
The Faxiang turned around and made an invitation gesture to Gui Li. Gui Li hesitated for a moment and then walked into the house. The Faxiang stopped outside, as if he had no intention of going in together.
Walking into the Zen room, Gui Li took a look around. The Zen room was simple and unpretentious, and all the furnishings were almost exactly the same as the Zen room where he was recuperating at the foot of the mountain. But nowadays, the righteousness of the world is huge, and the abbot of Tianyin Temple, Pu Hongshang, is
The man was sitting cross-legged on the Zen bed, holding a string of rosary beads in his hand and looking at him with a smile.
"You're here." Master Puhong said with a calm voice and a smile.
Somehow, facing this divine monk, Gui Li's initially turbulent mood soon calmed down. He took a deep breath, nodded and said, 'Yes.'
Master Puhong looked at him carefully, from top to bottom, with strange compassion and light shining in his eyes. He also turned the rosary beads in his hand gently and said for a long time: "You must have something to ask me?"
'
Gui Li immediately nodded and said: 'Yes, I am very strange, why Tianyin Temple took the risk of falling out with the Qingyun Sect to save me, and why do you...'
He asked the question in a hurry and spoke very fast, but he was only halfway through the question when he stopped involuntarily. Master Puhong stretched out his right hand and stopped it in mid-air, preventing him from continuing.
Gui Li was puzzled and looked at Master Puhong with some confusion. Master Puhong lowered his head and chanted a Buddha's name, then got off the Zen bed, stood up, and said to Gui Li: "Before you ask me,
Let me take you to meet someone first!'
Gui Li was startled and said, "Who is this person?"
Pu Hong did not answer, but walked towards the outside world and said slowly: 'This man has wanted to see you for a long time, and I know that you must also want to see him.'
Gui Li was stunned, but followed him subconsciously. For some reason, his palms became sweaty and his heartbeat suddenly jumped up, as if there was something terrifying in front of him.
Faxiang had been standing quietly outside the meditation room. When he saw Master Puhong coming out with Gui Li so quickly, his expression did not change. He just took a step back and stood aside. Master Puhong said to him
He took a look, nodded, and without saying a word, he led Gui Li in another direction. It was the last small courtyard among the three courtyards, leaning against a mountain wall.
Note 1: Carving auspicious animals on the eaves of palaces is a unique architectural regulation in ancient China. There are extremely detailed rules. The number ranges from emperors to officials to ordinary people. There are detailed regulations and cannot be exceeded. Otherwise, it will be disrespectful and punished.
It is enough to kill a person and exterminate a family. Since ancient times, there has been only one building with ten auspicious beasts on the roof. It is the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City. It is the only one in the world. This is a fiction. Readers, please just laugh.
Note 2: Burning incense and worshiping Buddha on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month is quite popular in China, where Buddhism is widely spread. It is also called a religious ceremony or a Buddhist meeting. From the Yonghe Temple in Beijing to the small temples in rural Fujian in the south, this is mostly done. I watched my grandmother burn incense when I was a child.
Growing up, this is still the case today. When I write this, I can’t help but sigh when thinking about this. (To be continued)