When Li Xiuyuan saw someone asking him questions, he was happy to answer them.
If someone can ask for advice, it means that someone agrees with his point of view and understands himself. This is a good thing. How can he be stingy?
"Just now this gentleman asked, those who pray to gods and Buddhas are protected, while those who do not pray to gods and Buddhas are harassed by evil spirits. First of all, strictly speaking, this sentence is not wrong. Worshiping gods and Buddhas will indeed get the protection of gods and Buddhas.
, but this does not mean that people who do not worship gods and Buddhas will definitely suffer bad retribution."
"Actually, whether you pray to God or worship Buddha without praying to God, a person who should be harassed by evil spirits will not change because of it. Just like a criminal who kills someone, it cannot be because he has entered a temple or burned incense.
It can protect him from being captured by the officials and from being beheaded and executed. Evil deeds are evil deeds and cannot be resolved by burning incense and worshiping Buddha."
Li Xiuyuan glanced at the few pilgrims around him and said: "All those who have ghosts in their hearts hope that heavy incense offerings will eliminate their own disasters. Such an idea is wrong in the first place. Real Bodhisattvas and Buddhas will not accept this."
Anyone who dares to accept offerings from people must not be a real Bodhisattva or a real Buddha. In my opinion, those who dare to accept their offerings must be first-rate evil spirits.
, pretending to be a Bodhisattva and a Buddha, deceiving the people, and defrauding people to obtain incense and offerings."
"Then according to what this gentleman said, burning incense and worshiping Buddha is useless?" the scholar who asked the question said solemnly.
Although Li Xiuyuan's words are reasonable, his principles feel like a lump in the throat and can easily break the hearts of believers, which is unacceptable to very devout believers.
Because agreeing with his words is tantamount to denying your own beliefs.
Li Xiuyuan saw the disgust of the pilgrims around him and said with a smile: "No, burning incense and worshiping Buddha is not useless. The reason why you burn incense and worship Buddha is because you believe in the compassion of Buddha and the kindness of Bodhisattva, and then you subconsciously learn to do it.
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas do some good things, such as releasing living beings, being charitable, not caring about others, not having grudges and impulses with others, etc.
If you start to learn from Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to do things like this, then congratulations, you have received the protection of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas."
"Someone once asked a master what a Buddha is. The master pointed to the person's heart and said, this is the Buddha."
"It can be seen that having a kind heart is a Buddha. If you worship the Buddha, you are doing good. If a person has a kind heart, he will be protected by kind thoughts. Ghosts and gods will avoid them when they see them, and evil spirits will not dare to harm them if they encounter them.
, in this way, you will naturally be protected.”
All the pilgrims were silent after hearing this. Although they could accept this truth, they also disagreed for a while.
Because they still don’t understand what Li Xiuyuan really means, and they still think that the Buddha is the Buddha and they have to worship respectfully. How can they dare to regard themselves as the Buddha?
"It's ridiculous, it's really ridiculous. If you say such fallacies, there will be no Buddha in this world? What are enshrined here are just wood and stones? You are simply slandering my Buddha."
Fang Shengyu couldn't help scolding him.
Li Xiuyuan shook his head and said: "No, there are Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in this world, but they will not protect you just because of your offerings. What they protect is goodness. The reason why they leave golden bodies in temples is because they need gold.
The image of the body is here to warn and awaken the world, lest some people do not believe in the Buddha and the good rewards obtained by good deeds, so that they fall into evil and wanton arrogance.
Because of moral decay."
"This principle is the same as the eminent monk leaving a golden body for the world to worship after he has passed away. The eminent monk leaving the golden body is actually proving the existence of the Buddha and the existence of practice. Otherwise, they can completely turn into a rainbow and go away, so why bother to stay?
A piece of skin remains in the world."
"So why is there a saying in Buddhism called "Buddha saves predestined people"? What is a predestined person? A person who is kind-hearted and can learn a bit of the compassion of the Buddha is a predestined person. Such people will not fall into hell or suffer in the underworld after death.
The evildoers will suffer in the underworld because of their evil deeds. Only when their sins are purged can they be reincarnated again. Some even commit serious crimes.
Extremely evil people are not even qualified to be reincarnated as human beings. Good people and bad people are treated so great. Isn't this enough?"
"It's just that the world is stupid and whitewashes the true meaning of the Buddha without permission. If they think they like gold and silver, they think the Buddha also likes gold and silver, so they build gold bodies and waste extravagance. Some people like money themselves, so they think the Buddha also likes money, so they pretend to use the Buddha's intention.
, asking for money from pilgrims, some people are greedy and think that the Buddha is also greedy, so they need expensive incense every time they worship the Buddha."
Li Xiuyuan shook his head when he said this: "It is obviously the greed of the world, but it is forced on the Buddha, so that some temples are now smoky. These temples cannot attract Bodhisattvas to stop, but the Buddha's visit has attracted demons and ghosts to occupy them.
They have golden bodies, occupy incense, and pretend to be Buddhas and Bodhisattvas."
After saying this, he saw that Fang Shengyu was holding back his face and turned red. He wanted to refute but couldn't find the words to refute.
His knowledge is not low, and the reason why he cannot refute it is because what Li Xiuyuan said does make sense.
Moreover, those of the surrounding pilgrims who had some understanding of Buddhism also felt that his words were in line with the original meaning of Buddhism and did not contain any heresy.
The Buddha standing in the temple with compassionate and kind eyes is actually making a gesture to let the world learn from the Buddha's compassionate gesture and achieve the purpose of persuading people to do good.
"Husband, look, how can this happen? The Buddha incense on my body cannot be lit." At this time, Mrs. Fang, who was worshiping the Buddha, prayed in her heart and prepared to offer incense to the Bodhisattva in front of her.
But I saw the fine Buddhist incense burning on the oil lamp, but it couldn't be lit no matter what.
It seemed as if what was burning on the oil lamp was not Buddhist incense, but an iron rod.
"Is there such a thing?" Fang Shengyu was surprised and quickly took a closer look.
If this is the case, the Buddhist incense really cannot be lit.
He checked it and found that there was clearly nothing wrong with the Buddhist incense. It was neither fake nor damp. However, when he put it on the oil lamp, it still could not be lit.
"What's going on? Is it possible that what you just said has reached the ears of the Bodhisattva? Now that the Bodhisattva has appeared, he is unwilling to accept the offering from this female pilgrim?"
"Doesn't this young master's words come true? There must be something wrong with them. Even the Bodhisattva doesn't respond to them."
"The great and compassionate Bodhisattva has appeared."
Seeing such a scene, although it was just a trivial thing, but in this Buddhist place and at this special time, how could it not arouse the imagination of the pilgrims, thinking that it was the result of the Bodhisattva's appearance.
And they also thought that the female pilgrim in front of them must have done something bad, and now she was discovered by the Bodhisattva.
Immediately, many people looked at Mr. Fang and felt something was wrong. They did not think that Li Xiuyuan was blaspheming the Bodhisattva, but that this pilgrim himself was unclean, and even the Bodhisattva did not want to accept your incense.
"Brother Li, how could this be? Did you cast a spell?" Seeing such a scene, Zhang Bangchang suspected that Li Xiuyuan had cast a spell and asked in a low voice.
Li Xiuyuan shook his head and said: "In my opinion, the Xiangguo Temple in the capital is a pure land. There are eminent monks stationed here and Bodhisattvas appearing. How could I cast spells randomly in such a place? Moreover, my spells are rarely cast on people.
Unless it is a spell that can help people, rather than using spells to do whatever you want, this is the moral character and conduct that a person who studies magic should have."
"It's not a spell you cast, so to speak." Zhang Bangchang's face became a little solemn.
However, Fang Shengyu on the side seemed to have heard a few words, and suddenly said sternly to Li Xiuyuan: "It must not be my wife's fault that the Buddhist incense cannot be lit. Maybe it is you who secretly slandered my wife's reputation and reputation."
clean."
"My lord, you wantonly slander others in front of a crowd of Bodhisattvas. This is not what a scholar should do. Maybe the person who will suffer retribution is not me but you, sir, because you are doing what you are doing."
An evil thing." Li Xiuyuan said.
He felt that the incense could not be lit just now because the Bodhisattva here appeared. You must know that this Xiangguo Temple is an unusual temple. He had seen it when he came here before.
It is not impossible for a Bodhisattva to actually appear.