Fang Zheng couldn't laugh or cry when he saw this. What's this? He has seen many people who are cheating on their debts, but this is the first time he has seen this cheating person on giving gifts.
Fangzheng had no choice but to thank him, choose two bundles of yellow paper money, a few candles, and some nails, and then left.
The last stop was Wang Yougui's house. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Wang Yougui busy there, Song Ergou, Ma Laizi, accountant Yang Ping, Yang Ping's brother Yang Hua, secretary Tan Juguo, Jiang Zhou, Fan Qing, Qiu Xiaoye, Guan
Xiangfeng is in the yard, talking about something.
Wang Yougui said with a smile: "Abbot Fangzheng, you came just in time. We are discussing how big the altar should be. In the past, our village was poor and we were all fooled. Now that we are rich this year, we can't continue to fool ourselves."
?At least we should make it the most beautiful one in every village."
Fang Zheng shook his head helplessly and said: "Sacrificing ancestors does not require such a big pomp. Worshiping ancestors is like worshiping Buddha. It is better to be sincere than anything else. To give a simple example, Donor Tan, you want your grandson or granddaughter to buy you a mansion.
, is it filial piety to buy a luxury car but never come back once a year?"
Tan Juguo shook his head decisively and said: "I would rather those brats come back to see me, chat, or let me scold me. I can also give them money..."
Fang Zheng nodded and said: "It's the same with our ancestors. It's not easy for them to come back. What they want to see is sincere filial piety, not a bunch of food and a high table. People are gone, what's the use of seeing all this?"
"
Wang Yougui said: "Make it bigger so that our ancestors can also benefit from it."
"That's what you think it's like down there. Have you ever been there to see it?" Fang Zheng asked rhetorically.
Wang Yougui was speechless...
Fang Zheng continued: "The poor monk has never been there. No living person knows what is down there. From the perspective of a living person, the world of the dead is like putting your own comfortable shoes on the feet of an elephant."
Will he be comfortable? Since we don’t know, it’s better to be filial to them with sincerity and true feelings. Whether it’s the world of the living or the world of the dead, there is one thing whose value remains unchanged, and that’s true love.”
Everyone suddenly realized...
Jiang Zhou said: "I have lived for so long, this is the first time I have heard such remarks. Some masters and wealthy people I met in the city wanted to burn real gold and silver to show their filial piety. Now think about it, they
It's not really filial, it's just showing off..."
Guan Xiangfeng said: "I once saw a wealthy man who burned ten Ferraris at once... Thinking about it now, he was really stupid."
Fang Zheng smiled and said: "No matter how much you burn, it has no value other than polluting the air and promoting the concept of copper smell. It may show face to the living, but what about the ancestors? Unexpectedly, it is useless to burn more treasures. In the end, it is still unfilial.
.If the ancestors were secretly aware, they would probably still be the ones who were laughed at..."
Speaking of this, Fang Zheng paused and said: "No one knows whether there are souls in the world, but ancestor worship has been a kind of inheritance of filial piety since ancient times. If ancestor worship becomes a mere show off, without the inheritance of filial piety culture,
A family will lose its cultural heritage. If it loses its heritage, no matter how much money is left, if its moral integrity is not enough, it will capsize and drown sooner or later."
When everyone heard this, they nodded thoughtfully.
Jiang Zhou sighed: "Master Fangzheng, you should say these words in class..."
Fang Zheng shook his head and said: "With this little knowledge of the poor monk, I don't have the nerve to stand on the podium. People who understand know better than me, and what the poor monk says may not be useful to those who don't understand."
Everyone fell into deep thought.
The topic changed. Since the altar did not need to be too luxurious, it would be simple. Everyone brought the materials to the entrance of the village and started to build the altar. Fang Zheng did it himself, Jiang Zhou cooperated, and everyone worked together to create a simple altar.
Simple, but with simplicity everywhere, the altar of Buddha nature is set up.
It is said to be an altar, but in fact it is called Shigu Terrace. There is a mage's seat on the Shigu Terrace. In front of the mage's throne, there is a statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, who transcends the evil spirits underneath. There is a plate of noodles placed under the statue.
prepared rice, peaches and other items, while
There are three spiritual tablets and soul-calling flags placed on the Shigu stage. Fangzheng placed a handful of blue, red, green and other colors of triangular paper flags on each of the sacrifices, and wrote "Yu Lan Festival", "Ganlu Gate Opens", etc.
With the words written on it, Shigutai has now been built.
Looking at the Shigu Terrace built in front of him, a picture flashed in Fang Zheng's mind. Zen Master Yizhi once said that Yizhi Village did not have these particularities in the early years, and it was all done by simply burning paper money. These particularities are all
It came from the south. Who brought it specifically? Zen Master Yizhi didn’t say.
There are only a few villages near Yizhi Mountain for the Lanpen Festival, and Zen Master Yi Zhi always takes Fang Zheng to these villages. This is basically not the case in villages that Zen Master Yi Zhi has never been to.
Being fastidious... Now it seems that this fastidious practice was probably brought over by Zen Master Yizhi.
After the Shigu Terrace was decorated, the altar had to be opened. First of all, Fangzheng had to perform the ritual, that is, facing the Buddhist altar and reciting the "Great Compassion Mantra", "Ten Little Mantras", "Heart Sutra" and other scriptures. Fortunately, although Fangzheng did not know how to do it before,
, but the Internet is developed. He has read and recited these scriptures on the Internet, so they are not unfamiliar to him.
Then write a good essay and pray to the Buddha and Bodhisattvas for their compassion and guidance in the lower realms;
Then Fangzheng performed the soul-inducing ceremony, read and recited the essays written on yellow paper to attract the ghosts into the altar, and then recited the "Heart Sutra", "Rebirth Mantra" and three mantras; finally, the meritorious master who hosted the Bon Festival also
It was Wang Yougui who used a red pen on the ceremony's inscription to indicate the completion of the ceremony!
The agenda after the opening of the altar was worship and repentance, which was usually carried out according to the "Water Repentance of Compassion" ceremony. However, Founder did not have enough manpower to arrange such a large-scale ceremony, so he simply chanted sutras and recited the "Repentance Essay" and ended it.
In the middle, simple activities such as paying tribute and fasting to the monks will be added, and the worship and repentance will end.
It's so simple, and there is another main reason. If the "Water Repentance of Compassion" is really carried out, it would be great if Fang Zheng can finish the One Finger Village this night, and there is no need to go to other villages. After all, the ceremony really has to go through the entire process.
, but it is very complicated and troublesome.
Of course, lack of manpower is also a flaw, and Founder has nothing to do about it.
After setting up Shigutai, Wang Yougui took Fangzheng and Monkey on his motorcycle to several other nearby villages and helped them set up Shigutai one by one. When he returned to Yizhi Village, it was already evening. Due to the need
There were too many villages to visit and time was tight. When the sun set and it got dark, Fang Zheng and Monkey simply ate some vegetarian food and shouted to the top of the mountain. The next moment, the bell rang and the Bon Festival practices began.
!
As the bell rang, someone from every household walked out of the house and put bunches of incense at the door. Those with good family conditions would put incense in large quantities. This is called cloth field, which symbolizes a good harvest. From a distance, the whole
The village is shrouded in this layer of green smoke, and the interior is dotted with stars, giving it a somewhat dreamy feel, as if the sky is hanging upside down and falling in the village, lighting up the stars.
Then the offerings in large and small pots were brought out and placed on the altar table to worship the ancestors.
The monkey followed Fang Zheng to the Shigu Terrace carrying a large basket of tributes. Fang Zheng took out the tributes and sprinkled them around. This is called the flame mouth. The tributes sprinkled out were given to those lonely souls and wild ghosts to calm them down.
to express their grievances and offer sacrifices to the souls of the dead.
Then Fang Zheng came on stage and sat on the mage's seat. Some words were written on the spiritual tablets placed in front of him. There are no more spiritual tablets, as long as you have them. And the flame mouth that Fang Zheng just used can be used together, no matter how many ghosts there are.
Paying homage and chanting sutras again...
After the scriptures were recited and the flames finished, Fang Zheng stood up and got off the altar. He nodded slightly to many villagers and everyone came to the river.
Everyone held a lotus lantern, lit the candles on it, put it into the river, and floated down the river. Some of the lanterns were quickly extinguished, but everyone was not angry, but rather happy.
When the monkey saw this, he didn't understand again and asked in a low voice: "Master, their lights are all out, why are they still happy?"
"People have their own paths, ghosts have their own paths. People take the yang path, and ghosts take the yin path. The ancients believed that underwater is obscure, dark and moist, like the underworld, so they thought it was the yin path, that is, the path of ghosts. Tonight there are hundreds of ghosts.
Walking at night, it is easy to lose your way. If you cannot enter the underworld, you will become a lonely ghost.
Therefore, water lanterns are released to help them light their way and guide them to report to the underworld. In some places, soul boats and soul rooms are also prepared. The soul boat can carry the ghosts directly to the underworld, and the soul room allows them to stay in the underworld.
There is also accommodation below. But we don’t have the conditions, so we didn’t do it either…
As for why they are happy when the lights go out, because when the lights go out, it means that a ghost has been sent away." Fang Zheng explained in a low voice.
The monkey suddenly understood, but there were still many doubts in his eyes.
After setting off the water lanterns and sending away the souls, the grand Obon Festival was over. Fang Zheng quickly took a motorcycle to other villages and walked around. When Fang Zheng came back, the sky was already dark.
It was bright, and walking on the mountain road up the mountain, the monkey finally asked what was in his heart
Doubts: "Master, you said that ghosts are in the heart... Actually, you don't believe there are ghosts in this world at all, so why are you doing this Bon Festival? Since there are no ghosts, it takes so much energy and waste.
What are you doing with so much manpower and material resources? It feels like it’s wasted effort and a waste of food?”
Fang Zheng shook his head slightly: "My teacher has long said that don't look at things by their appearance, you have to see what they bring. I really don't believe in ghosts, but I also said that everyone has a ghost in their heart, and some ghosts
They need to be suppressed and memorialized, otherwise they will come out and make trouble."
"I don't understand..." Monkey shook his head decisively and said bluntly.
Fang Zheng rolled his eyes and said: "Let's be honest, money is easy to make in this world, but if you lose your conscience, you have nothing! Without conscience, no matter how much money you have, it is just a big disaster! On the contrary, if you have a conscience, you will have nothing."
No matter how poor a person is, there will be a lot less hatred and a lot more warmth in this world. Whether it is this ceremony or worshiping ancestors during the Qingming Festival, it reminds everyone not to forget to honor their parents.
.Filial piety comes first. If a person is filial, no matter how bad he is, he will not be bad. Perhaps the effect of this kind of festival cannot make the heinous people turn around, but it can prevent the slightest and give some advice to children and people who have new evil thoughts.
Wake up, cultivate filial piety in their hearts from childhood, and when they grow up, as long as filial piety is still there, no matter how bad they are, they will not be hopeless. Do you understand now?"
ps: Please subscribe, please give me a monthly ticket... I will make an appointment with a big star, and then I will resign and become a full-time codeword dog! I need everyone's help...
ps: I set out for Shanghai in the evening, finished there, and immediately went on a business trip. Day after day... I felt like I was going to die. It looked like I was about to return to the era of two thousand... I was heartbroken.