As the New Year approaches, some devout families return to temples to pray, burn incense, and worship the Buddha.
Li Ximan's house was full, and before dawn, he set off under the starry sky to the Buddhist temple fifty miles away.
A large family of seven or eight people were silent, and the coldness of the night penetrated their bones.
The little girl who had just learned to walk couldn't help but cry, but her father slapped her a few times to stop her crying.
"Listen up, our Ximan family has said that he will enter a temple and become a monk official in the future. From now on, the whole family must behave accordingly."
Li Ximan pursed his lips and said nothing. After all, given their family's status, they could not enter through the gate of the Buddhist temple. They could only kowtow to the inside from outside the door wall.
Dad’s arms were bulging, filled with various miscellaneous coins and broken silver particles. The family’s harvest for the year was wrapped in the cloth as incense money.
Thinking of this, Li Xi's heart felt sour. He thought of the monk he had seen a few days ago. The gold thread embroidered on his sleeves was already all the wealth his family could save without eating or drinking for a year.
It's good to be a monk and an official. Your family can enjoy good food and drink, and you don't have to be as happy as in previous years.
In the village, eighty years ago, a boy became a monk. The whole family moved out of the village and went to the city to enjoy their happiness.
Li Ximan has kept his goal in mind since he was a child, to enter Buddhism and become a monk official.
For this reason, he repeatedly expressed his goodwill to the monks and even agreed to test his friend Li Gui.
In fact, Li Ximan was extremely smart and had already guessed the seriousness of the matter. If Li Gui revealed his yearning for immortality, he would surely meet an extremely tragic end and even involve his whole family.
At that time, Li Ximan not only did not feel guilty about the epidemic, but was looking forward to it, wishing that Li Gui would give him the opportunity to make meritorious deeds.
It's just a pity.
As we continued walking forward, the stars above our heads began to become sparse, the night began to become dull, and the night wind gradually calmed down.
The night is coming to an end and the day is about to break, but the road has not yet come to an end.
Passing by another village, I heard the sound of gongs and drums, and many villagers gathered around a magnificent house, with the door open.
Various furniture and objects were moved out like a stream, and some women were crying, but they were held back by people around them.
"Master Zhang read Buddhist scriptures and became enlightened overnight. He donated all his family property and entered a temple to practice Buddhism."
“It’s really a beautiful thing worth spreading!”
Among the crowd, there were also ignorant children who asked, "What will his family eat if his family property is gone?"
As a result, the expressions of the adults around him changed drastically and they hurriedly covered the child's mouth.
The monks and officials were present to count the belongings, and their faces were all glowing, and they praised Mr. Zhang repeatedly.
Li Ximan thought that once the rich man Zhang from the next village became a monk, there would be no rich people in the village, and sooner or later he would become like his village.
The surrounding villagers were still marveling that Mr. Zhang's family was rich, with so much gold and silver, so much food that they couldn't even carry it, and countless silks and fabrics. When Li Ximan's family left the village, they could faintly hear the voices of women and children in the wind.
Crying sound.
"Is that the rich man's female scroll?"
Li Ximan thought to himself.
Soon, they arrived at the area under the jurisdiction of the temple and saw a black dot on the horizon in the distance, which was the temple at the end of the horizon.
Starting from the foot, there is the field occupied by the temple. All the birds and animals on the field, including the working people, are the property of the temple. The fields here are fertile and vast, with no end as far as the eye can see. They are more fertile than those cultivated in the village.
Excellent paddy field.
On these lands, you can get several times the harvest with just a little effort. It is the best land that farmers can only dream of.
Li Ximan's father was one of the top crops in the village. His eyes widened when he saw the fertile soil in the field.
However, those who work in the fields are not capable farmers, but the walking corpses who are as thin as firewood.
These people were tenants of the temple. They knew that they were guilty of serious sins and took the initiative to work in the monks' fields.
They farmed to atone for their sins, and they did not rest until they died of exhaustion.
While walking, suddenly a person fell to the ground in the east. A monk nearby noticed it. He stepped forward to investigate, shook his head, and sent someone to carry the body away. The other criminals with numb expressions continued busy with their farm work after watching.
No sadness at all.
The closer we get to the temple, the clearer the sky becomes. The night fades and dawn comes. As we walk on the road, we see people coming from all directions. The purpose of these people is the same as that of Li Ximan’s family. They all want to get to the temple before it opens and be at the front of the queue.
It’s a good location to kowtow to the Buddha statue in the temple and absorb some fragrance.
Amidst the bursts of Sanskrit singing, the temple was right in front of us, with crowds of people scattered everywhere, divided into areas.
Li Ximan's house was full, he walked to the southeast corner and stood there, took out the multi-grain pancakes in his arms, and distributed them to the rest of the family.
Li Ximan's dry food is two white flour steamed buns with pickles sandwiched between them. They are fragrant and soft when kept in his arms.
The family was eating and waiting. The time came quickly and they heard a bell ringing in the temple.
The monks opened the door, and the building inside was tall and solemn. The corners, eaves and other parts were all covered with copper and iron.
The huge incense burner and copper tripod, if melted and minted into coins, would be worth more than a million.
Li Ximan even noticed that the monk officials who went to the village for assessment were usually very proud and admired by everyone.
However, among the many monks in the temple, this big shot in his eyes was standing on the sidelines and was not a core high-level person.
When the poor people saw the temple open, they knelt down one after another, waiting to burn incense and pray for blessings.
"Get out of the way, get out of the way."
After a while, a powerful slave opened the way, drove away the crowd kneeling on the ground, and carried out a sedan from a distance. The outside was covered with soft satin. Although the inside could not be seen clearly, judging from the neat clothes carrying the sedan, it was definitely a big shot.
The monks and officials quickly came out to greet the people in the sedan chair with smiles, and invited them into the temple.
The crowd stirred for a while and then calmed down. They probably knew that the wealthy pilgrims were coming and the ceremony was about to begin.
"He's definitely a high-ranking official in the state capital. I never saw monks and officials being so polite!"
Whether you can enter the temple depends entirely on whether you are sincere, and whether you are sincere or not depends entirely on the incense and money.
The richer the family, the more money they pay for the first incense stick every year, which is used by the monks and officials in the temple.
Therefore, the fragrant oils offered in temples are all supplied by rich families, and poor families like them all use them for free.
Not long after, the bell rang, and rows of monks chanted sutras, shook their chimes, and walked back and forth.
The wealthy and powerful man, supported by his entourage, walked to the incense burner, held up a thick incense stick, and inserted it into the incense burner.
Suddenly, the monks stood up and chanted sutras, and a solemn atmosphere enveloped the inside and outside of the temple.
The poor people kneeling on the ground kowtowed hurriedly, one by one harder than the other, and some even left blood stains on the ground.
After a while, a monk took a merit box and walked through the crowd, collecting money for incense.
Father Li Ximan took out the treasure from his arms and put it into the box with both hands.
But the box was too big and too deep, so much money was saved every penny and thrown in, but there was no response at all.