Chapter 1: Junior Brother Zhao and the Junior Brothers
The first day of the first lunar month in the 13th year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty was the "Chen of Tian La" for Taoism. It is recorded in "Yunji Qizhu" that "the first day of the first lunar month was named Tian La, and the fifth day of the fifth month was named Earth La", which is the "Five Emperors"
This day is also the day when Taoists set up altars to celebrate.
Wujiyuan is no exception. They set up an incense altar in the Sanqing Hall to pay homage to the Sanqing Taoist priests from a distance, worship the five great emperors, and wish for stable fortunes in the coming year. The celebration ceremony also includes a small link. For the Taoist priests of the Heyuan, this small
The link is just a trivial matter, but for Zhao Ran, it is a major event in his life.
Zhao Ran has been in Wuji Yuan for more than eight months, and has participated in many Zhai Zhai Dharma meetings held in the courtyard, such as the Sanqing Festival to celebrate the birthday of Sanqing Taoist Master, the Sanyuan Festival to worship heaven, earth, and water palaces, etc., but every time
During the ceremony, he could only stand at the steps outside the railing, kowtow to the ground, and worship from afar together with the firework Taoist priests. He could not even see clearly what the ceremony looked like.
But this time it was different. He finally wore a formal Taoist robe embroidered with black borders, climbed to the high steps of the Sanqing Hall, and received the ordination certificate amidst Jiang Gaogong's singing.
This is a cowhide scroll about a foot long. After unfolding, there are a few lines of small words on the scroll:
"Xuanyuan Guandu's ultimatum case review meeting is here. Taoist precepts, if a Taoist priest does not give the ultimatum but privately shaves his hairpin with an eighty stick, if there are any parents, the parents shall be punished, and the abbot of the palace and those who received the ultimatum privately shall be punished with the same crime. Fill in the words now
The ultimatum No. 648 is given to Taoist priest Zhao Zhiran, and the receipt must be received by the person who gave it."
The small characters written in ink at the bottom of the left hand corner "Zhao Zhiran was 18 years old, the son of Zhao Hong from Zhaozhuang, Shiquan County, Long'an Prefecture, Sichuan. In the first month of the thirteenth year of Jiajing, he became a monk in Wujiyuan, became a sutra chanting Taoist in the Sutra Hall, and became a Zhengyi Sect.
, see naturalization in this court." The middle part is printed with "right to Taoist Zhao Zhiran for receipt and approval."
The left half of the book is written on the first day of the first month of the thirteenth year of Jiajing/Li Yunhe of Xuanyuan Guanyuan/Zhang Yunzhao of Xizhenwu Palace/Xizhenwu Palace Gaogong Bai Tengming/Xizhenwu Palace Dianzao Song Zhicong/Wuji Palace Supervisor Zhong Tenghong/
The suffix is stamped with the purple seal of Xuanyuan Guanyuan, and the purple seals of Xizhenwu Palace and Wuji Academy.
That's right, Zhao Ran will no longer be called Zhao Ran from now on. He has officially joined the Taoist sect and is a Taoist priest. He is classified as "Zhi" and named "Zhao Zhiran". The ultimatum is a simple one, but there are seven people's names on it.
, starting from Xuanyuan Temple of Sichuan Province, going down to West Zhenwu Palace of Long'an Prefecture, and then to Wuji Courtyard of Guyang County, all levels of supervisors, high-level officials, and Dianzao were signed in turn. Only then did Zhao Ran become a great Ming Dynasty official.
formal Taoist priest.
Zhao Ran, who will be named Zhao Zhiran from today, holds the certificate in his hand, and the excitement in his heart is really beyond words. In the entire Wuji Courtyard, there are hundreds of fire masters, including the abbot, the supervisory court, and the "three capitals".
", the eight great deacons, "five masters and eighteen heads", those who chant sutras, Taoist boys, etc. have duties, but there are no Taoist priests. There are only one hundred, sixty-seven in total. From then on, he is the one-third of the
It's one and no longer the denominator. What a great thing! At least the monthly money has doubled five times, reaching the number of fifty taels!
However, there was one thing that surprised him. The other Taoist boy who received the ultimatum turned out to be an acquaintance, Zhu Meng, the legitimate son of the Sichuan Inspector General whom Zhao Ran had met at the Beacon Villa gathering a few months ago.
Zhao Ran still remembered the situation when the young master pursued Yu Mo at Beacon Villa but was rejected. Unexpectedly, in the new year, he also entered the Taoist sect, and he was the kind who directly received an ultimatum! Zhao Ran had long heard that this year
One of the two ultimatum places in Wujiyuan will be given directly to a certain disciple who has the foundation to practice Buddhism. Is it possible that this young master also has a talent for cultivation?
It's so irritating that people are more powerful than others. Zhao Ran struggled hard for more than half a year and used countless tricks before he finally accepted the ultimatum. This young master has done nothing. He is a serious Taoist priest from the beginning, and he seems to have a much better future in the future.
You are much broader! Which bone in your body is better? Why didn’t I see it?
The Dharma assembly was still going on, and it was difficult for the two of them to talk, but standing together, they naturally stared at each other. What did Zhao Ran think? Why did Zhao Ran feel that this young master seemed to have a lot of opinions about him? Look at how others looked at him.
The look in his eyes clearly showed that the person who came here was not kind. After thinking about it for a while, Zhao Ran understood that this person probably regarded him as his love rival.
At the end of the Zhai Zhai Dharma Assembly, the two of them each held a volume of the "Precepts and Codes" awarded to them and returned together. Why did they go together? There was no way, because they were "of the same age", so they lived in the same house.
Of course, today's living conditions are much better than when I was a fire worker. The small courtyard still has three rows of wing rooms in the east, west and north, but each row of wing rooms is opened up and is extremely spacious, with one room covering the other three rooms. Zhao Ranhe
Zhu Meng was assigned to live in the east wing. After entering, there is a living room that doubles as a study room. There are two desks on the left and right, complete with pens, inks, paper and inkstones.
There are two bedrooms on both sides of the study, one for each person, separated by a curtain, relatively private. The bedroom is no longer a large bed, but a serious carved elm bed!
In the living room, seeing all the cross-eyed eyes staring at him, Zhao Ran coughed dryly: "Uh... junior brothers..."
"Hold on! You must know clearly who is the senior brother and who is the junior brother!" Zhu Meng waved his hand and solemnly stopped Zhao Ran's words.
Zhao Ran smiled: "Naturally, the first step is to learn first and then grow up..."
"That's right. The first one is the one who leads the way. Please take out the ultimatum from Junior Brother Zhao. Let's see who goes first and who comes last?"
Zhao Ran was at a loss for words. The two people's ultimatums were both awarded on the same day. Naturally, it was written on the same day - "the first day of the first month of the thirteenth year of Jiajing". If you want to rely on this as a basis, you really can't tell the difference.
"Junior brothers, senior brother, I entered Wujiyuan in April last year!"
"Otherwise, although Junior Brother Zhao entered Wuji Temple last April, he was not considered to have entered the Taoist sect. He was just doing hard labor in the courtyard. If hard labor is counted, then I would just go to any Taoist temple to sweep the floor and clean the tables. Wouldn't it be wrong?
Does it count as entering the Taoist sect? Oh, by the way, when I was three years old, I entered the Jingshou Palace in Chengdu and burned incense. In total, how many years earlier did I enter the Taoist sect than Junior Brother Zhao? Seventeen or eighteen years? In my opinion,
Since I started on the same day, I should tell my age by age - I was born in March of the seventh year of Zhengde, I wonder how old Junior Brother Zhao is?"
When it comes to birthdays, Zhu Meng is more than three years older than Zhao Ran. Zhao Ran is definitely incomparable, but he cannot give in, so he sneers and changes the subject. In fact, in the Taoist Shifang Jungle Temple,
It doesn't matter who is the senior brother and who is the junior brother. This is not a descendants' temple, which pays attention to strict seniority and seniority. In Shifang Jungle, what really matters is the job.
There are many Taoist priests of the Tengzi generation and even the Yunzi generation who have worked hard for decades and are still just Taoist boys chanting sutras. However, some astute Taoist priests of the Zhizi generation are in high positions at a young age and boss those senior Taoists around.
, and the old Taoists still obeyed respectfully and solemnly, and no one thought it was inappropriate.
The reason why the two of them were arguing over the title of senior fellow apprentice was purely out of emotion. Zhao Ran didn't care at first, but the more Zhu Meng behaved like this, the more he wanted to continue fighting. This is what people say is fighting for a breath.
Naturally, there was no result from such an argument, so the next "Junior Brother" and "Junior Brother Zhao" started calling out to each other.
"Aren't all the junior brothers from Chengdu Prefecture? Why did you come to Wujiyuan to receive the ultimatum? Is there a problem on the other side of Jingshou Palace?" It is said that Zhu Meng was born in Chengdu Prefecture, and he should have received the ultimatum in the Taoist temples under the jurisdiction of Jingshou Palace.
Instead of going to the Wujiyuan under the jurisdiction of Zhenwu Palace in the west of Long'an Prefecture to receive the ultimatum, this is completely against the trend.
"Junior brother Zhao seems to be from Shiquan County. Didn't he receive the ultimatum in Wujiyuan of Guyang County?" Yes, Zhu Meng's words are very reasonable. You yourself don't act according to common sense, and you belong to the category of "receiving an ultimatum across counties"
"Am I still not allowed to "receive an ultimatum across the government?"
Zhao Ranxin said that this Zhumeng was very powerful and had sharp words. He was really difficult to deal with. He couldn't help but reveal the opponent's background at that moment: "Junior brothers, could it be that Taoist Yumo is here?"
What he said was purely malicious speculation, but he really hit the point. Zhumeng really became a Taoist priest for the sake of Yumo Taoist talent. The secret place where Yumo is located, Huayun Pavilion, is a descendant of Long'an Mansion.
Temple, if Zhu Meng wants to "follow in the footsteps of Yu Mo", he must go to the Shifang Jungle under the West Zhenwu Palace to receive the ultimatum, otherwise the descendants' temple that will be moved in the future will be the Kuixing Pavilion in Chengdu Prefecture.
Seeing the color change on Zhu Meng's face, he randomly let out a "hum" and walked away.
Zhao Ran secretly said "It feels so good", and Shi Shiran took the "Precepts and Regulations" and went back to his bedroom to study.