"What are you doing? With your qualifications, it will be difficult for you to take revenge. You can only waste your time in this temple."
"But joining Shaolin is my only chance. If I don't succeed after ten years of practice, I can wait for twenty years. If I don't succeed after twenty years of practice, I can wait for thirty years. As long as I persist, one day I can succeed."
No one in the open space made a sound, only the young man's voice echoed. After a long while, he sighed, turned around and said a few words to another Shaolin disciple next to him. The disciple turned and left. He turned to Zhang Xuanye and said:
"I have reported your matter to the uncle of Luohan Hall, and I will wait for him to make a decision. If he doesn't agree, there is nothing I can do."
Zhang Xuanye immediately kowtowed heavily:
"Thank you, Master, for your mercy."
Not long after, the Shaolin disciple came back and said a few words in Kongran's ear. A smile appeared on Kongran's face and he said:
"Uncle Jueyi has agreed to admit you into the program."
After hearing this, the young man was overjoyed and immediately knelt down again and said:
"Thank you, master, thank you, master."
Kongran waved his hand and said:
"You go to the right first."
The young man bowed once more before standing up and walking to the right.
With his precedent, there were immediately many people who were unwilling to leave and were asking for help. Several teenagers were also crying and shouting. However, after asking for their names, Jueran took out the paper and took a look at it, his face expressionless.
road:
"If you have his perseverance and perseverance, it would be okay for me to accept you, but your performance in the past three months has not been good, and you have been lazy several times. Your lack of qualifications can be made up for by perseverance and hard work, and your qualifications are not the same as those of you."
If you don’t have enough perseverance, you won’t be able to enter this school.”
The young man was speechless after what he said. He pulled his head and retreated into the crowd.
Next, Kongran persuaded the unwilling teenagers to retreat, and finally had everyone sent down the mountain.
In the end, only thirty-five people in total passed the test, including two disciples who had perseverance but lacked qualifications.
From today on, those who pass the test will be Shaolin's official disciples and are qualified to practice Shaolin intermediate martial arts. At the same time, they will be taught various martial arts by senior brothers or uncles from Luohan Hall. If they are lucky, they may be accepted by Shaolin monks as disciples.
Becoming a formal disciple does not mean that you don't have to work, you still have to work, but the treatment is much better, the authority has been increased, and the living place has been changed. Ye Chen still has to go to fetch water early every morning to exercise.
Of course, after becoming an official disciple of the Shaolin Temple, every new entrant to the temple still has an important choice to make, that is, whether to become a monk or a lay disciple.
The so-called lay disciples are the formal disciples of Shaolin who have performed the Three Refuge Ceremonies but do not need to take the ordination.
Disciples who are monks, also called disciples of Buddhism, need to shave their hair and take the ordination and formally convert to our Buddha.
The difference between lay disciples and monastic disciples is that lay disciples can choose whether to keep the precepts, whether to keep them or not, and to marry and have children, while monastic disciples must abide by the rules and precepts within the sect, and will be punished if they violate the precepts.
It seems that lay disciples have no restrictions and are much more comfortable than monks.
But in fact...it's much more enjoyable. Most people can't stand all kinds of strict rules and precepts. Moreover, both of them are formal disciples. They can both practice Shaolin martial arts, and they can also practice the seventy-two unique arts of Shaolin if they meet the requirements.
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However, there is an unspoken rule between lay disciples and monastic disciples, that is, lay disciples cannot become senior officials in the Shaolin Temple. For example, the abbot and the head of the four halls of the first courtyard must be monastic disciples. At the same time, the few magical skills of the Shaolin Town Sect can only be held by monks.
Only disciples who can become monks can practice, such as the Yi Jin Jing, the Marrow Cleansing Sutra, the Vajra Indestructible Gong, etc.
Therefore, Ye Chen's choice was to become a monk and shave his head to become a monk.
Anyway, after he learns the unique skills of the Shaolin sect, he can return to secular life.
Shaolin Temple does not restrict eminent monks from returning to secular life, but there are very few or no real eminent monks who return to secular life.
After all, those who have learned and succeeded in those few special skills are basically in their seventies or eighties. At such an old age, they are basically empty of all four things, and there is no thought or need to return to secular life.
But Ye Chen was different. As long as he had enough potential points, he could cultivate to the top in just one year and become an invincible super master. At that time, no one could stop him if he returned to secular life.
Shaolin Temple accepts many disciples every year, but very few actually choose to become monks. Basically, there are only one or two out of ten, and sometimes none. For example, among the thirty-five people in his class, only three chose to become monks.
Others all chose to become lay disciples.
The three people are Ye Chen, Zhang Xuanye, and a descendant named Wu Wenguang.
Zhang Xuanye chose to become a monk because he probably felt that his qualifications were too poor and he would have to wait for more than ten years before he could successfully practice and take revenge, so he simply became a monk directly. Once he had completed his revenge, he would lose everything and just become a monk for the rest of his life.
The idea of Wu Wenguang, the descendant, was very simple. He could guess that he came here for Shaolin martial arts. He wanted to practice a few Shaolin secrets before the end of the advent time and take them out. It would be very profitable whether for personal use or for sale.
Unlike other descendants who may have last wish tasks to complete, Wu Wenguang's last wish is probably related to Shaolin.
The tonsure ceremony was held in the Main Hall. After three days of fasting ceremony, the three of them were officially shaved and had a ring scar branded on their heads.
Shaolin lay disciples also have to shave their heads, but there are no ring scars on the top of their heads. This is the difference between lay disciples and monks. Those with ring scars are monks, and those without ring scars are lay disciples.
As a monk disciple, Ye Chen was officially awarded the Buddhist title Kong Xin after his tonsure. He is a Shaolin disciple of the Kong character generation, which is the lowest generation today.
As for lay disciples, they also have a dharma title, but it is not given by the master. Instead, they take one character of their name and their seniority. For example, if Ye Chen chooses to be a lay disciple, his dharma title will be Kong Chen.
To be honest, Ye Chen felt a little weird about his Buddhist name... it was hollow, meaning he had no heart.
There is no need to change the official titles, they are all arranged according to seniority.
From the day of his tonsure, Ye Chen officially entered Shaolin and began his career as a monk who strictly abides by the rules and precepts.
There are a lot of rules and regulations in Shaolin Temple, but there are mainly ten, which are the so-called Ten Commandments, which must be observed, even by lay disciples.
Ye Chen took a look and found that it was similar to what he had imagined. He had to be compassionate, not bully the weak, not kill people and set fires, etc.
However, one of the commandments was different from what he imagined, and that was drinking alcohol and eating meat.
This article is specially stated. Shaolin monks do not have to abide by this article, but they are not allowed to kill at will. This means that Shaolin monks can eat meat but not drink alcohol.
After thinking about it, it’s normal. Shaolin monks specialize in martial arts. How can their bodies bear it if they don’t eat meat? The so-called vegetarian diet for monks does not include monks.