Morning classes are held from the main hall on the mountainside. Taoist priests who have been given nuns come from the Taiqing Hall in the west, and Taoist priests who have not been given nuns come from the Sanqing Hall in the east.
The main content of the morning class is chanting. Each person has a round futon and sits cross-legged on it. The Taoist leader stands on the lower left side of the altar in front of the statue of Sanqing. There is a square platform in front of him, with a wooden fish and bronze chime on it, and he sings When reciting, the wooden fish and the bronze chime will be struck from time to time. When a sentence is completed, the wooden fish will sound, and when a paragraph is completed, the bronze chime will sound.
The way Taoist priests sit cross-legged is different from the way ordinary people sit cross-legged. Taoist priests always sit cross-legged, with their left foot pressing on their right knee and their right foot resting on their left knee. This kind of cross-sitting posture is quite special and difficult for beginners to do, so they can only use the ordinary way of sitting cross-legged. posture.
While sitting cross-legged, you are also required to keep your waist straight, lower your eyebrows and close your eyes, and wrap your hands around the yin and yang from the lower abdomen. Embrace the yin and yang is a basic finger technique. The hands are bent and overlapped, and the thumbs touch each other lightly.
Most new Taoists have made some necessary preparations before worshiping at the mountain gate, and reciting the required scriptures is one of them. These people can recite the scriptures fluently as soon as they enter the temple. However, Nanfeng was not one of them. He was really not interested in boring and boring scriptures, so he only memorized a very small part of the morning and evening homework scriptures.
Fortunately, there were a large number of people in the palace, so he could hesitate and make up his mind.
The Taoist priest chanted sutras in a very low voice and in a soft tone. Even if everyone chanted them together, the sound would be deafening and deafening. In addition, he had to lower his eyebrows and close his eyes. Therefore, it didn't take long for Nanfeng to start to feel sleepy, but this was the first time he had practiced morning. If you fall asleep in class, you will definitely be laughed at by everyone, so you can only force yourself to stay energetic and suffer the time.
At first he hummed along, but eventually he stopped humming and stopped listening to the morning lesson. All that was left in his mind was the "dong" of the wooden fish and the "ding" of the bronze chime.
"Dong-dong-dong-dong-dong, ding. Dong-dong-dong-dong-dong, ding..."
At first, the "ding" of the wooden fish could make Nanfeng sober up. Later, the sound of the wooden fish stopped working, and only the crisp "ding" of the copper chime could cheer him up. In the end, the "ding" could not help him. It was about to stop working. Just when Nanfeng was about to fall asleep, the "bang" of the copper bell came from the top of the mountain, and the morning class was over.
"Oh, my mother-in-law, chanting sutras is not a good job. It's better to empty the toilet." Nanfeng stood up with a sigh and followed everyone out of the hall.
The Taoist priests who had taught the Taoist rituals went back to their rooms after the morning lessons. Those Taoists who had started earlier and had not taught the Taoist rituals went down the mountain to exercise after the morning lessons. But these Taoists who had just started were left behind by Tiangangzi, who first taught everyone how to burn incense, and then taught everyone how to sit, stand and walk.
Taoist priests also pay attention to when they offer incense. They can only be in odd numbers, one, three, five, seven or nine, and one is a regular incense, which means they offer incense on a daily basis. The three sticks are incense sticks, which are more formal incense sticks. The five branches are divination incense, which is used to worship teachers and ancestors and predict good and bad luck. The seven branches are Dharma incense, which will be used when practicing Dharma. The nine branches are ritual incense, used when praying to gods.
There are also requirements for the lighting and placement of incense. You cannot blow it with your mouth or place it randomly. Three sticks are in a line, and you have to insert them further back, up to three rows.
Everyone else was listening carefully, but Nanfeng was thinking wildly. If the ones in the front were inserted first, wouldn't it be easy to get burned in the back? Also, if you have to burn incense to perform a ritual to pray to the gods, will you be in a hurry when subduing the demons? Do you have to say to the monster, "Slow down, let me light the incense?"
There are three religions and nine streams. The three religions are not Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, but the three religions of Yuqing, Taiqing and Shangqing. The Taoists of the three religions are all nobles. Since they are nobles, they must have certain requirements for sitting, standing and walking.
Sit upright, tuck your buttocks and stand tall, your buttocks should not stick out, your upper body should be straight, and your shoulders should not be skewed.
Standing means standing up straight, with a certain degree of tightness and tightness. It should not be too loose or too stiff. If it is too loose, there will be no righteousness, and if it is too tight, there will be no nobility.
There are also requirements for walking. After the soles of the feet touch the ground, the center of gravity shifts to the heels. The stride length should not be too large or too small. A too large stride will appear reckless and careless, and a too small stride will appear timid. There are also rules for swinging your arms. You can't swing your arms unsteadily or randomly. It won't work if your elbows aren't bent, and it won't work if they're too bent.
This is the first morning class for newcomers. As the head of Xiahe Hall, Tiangangzi naturally has to respond to Ying Jing'er, but he only responds to Ying Jing'er. After teaching the basic skills, he handed over the next things to the ministers of Xiahe Hall. .
Sitting and standing are relatively easy, but walking is difficult. The ministry requires everyone to practice walking in teams of ten according to Tiangangzi's words. He observes and guides from the side.
Seeing that everyone looked ugly, the minister stopped everyone and let them pass by one by one.
"Hurry up, hurry up, I'm not asking you to go to Mianjun, why are you pacing?"
"Slow down, slow down, what are you in a hurry for?"
"Have you ever been possessed by a demon and walked only on your toes? The soles of your feet were on the ground."
"Which family are you the eldest lady of? You are not swaying gracefully, but you are twisting your waist and crotch. It is not beautiful. Do you understand? Walk straight."
"What are you jumping about? Are you a zombie? Come back and walk through it again."
"What are you doing by lowering your hands to your chest? It's not like I'm asking you to get on the sedan chair and get married. Why are you so stupid that when I ask you to lower your hands, you won't move vertically?"
After more than ten years of absence, everyone suddenly stopped leaving. The more critical the ministry, the more nervous everyone became, and the more nervous they were, the more mistakes they made.
"Oops, your right leg is in front, and your left hand is also in front?"
"Why are you laughing? You, fat kid with exposed front teeth, come out and leave."
"You are not a duck. Why are you shaking around and making fun of others? Go back and stand still. Stare at me? Don't think that because your father is Zongzheng, I won't dare to hit you. Lingyinzi, bring me the bamboo board."
As a result, most of the people followed the fat man and got hit by the bamboo plank, but Nanfeng didn't get hit by it. He didn't get hit by it not because he was the headmaster's disciple, but because he walked in the most natural way, neither nervous nor relaxed.
"See, that's right," Minister Xu praised Nanfeng, "As the saying goes, the road is natural. It must be disciplined but not too rigid."
Nan Feng was in a good mood after being praised, and had a good impression of Minister Xu. Unfortunately, Minister Xu later hit Zheng Xian on the hands that were raised on her chest, so the impression was not as good as before.
I did nothing else all morning. I just practiced walking. I finally stayed up until breakfast. After breakfast, I started to suffer again. New Taoists need to learn a lot of scriptures. They learn in the dining hall of Xiahe Hall and sit and listen.
The husband was invited from the Collection Hall. Two old masters taught the Tao Te Ching in the morning and the Taiqing Sutra in the afternoon.
Not only did they have to listen, but they also had to memorize it. The three headmaster disciples sat at the front and became the old man's key targets. Nanfeng lost three people in one day, and the next day he forced the young master Zong Zheng who had been beaten in the morning to sit at the front. , the little fat man’s father was a high-ranking official, and he didn’t want to go at first, but he was kicked twice by Nanfeng, so he went.
The fat man took Nanfeng's place in the front and was embarrassed. Nanfeng sat in the back and dozed off. Later, he bullied the old mage because he was too old and too blind to sleep on the table.
After three days of this, Nanfeng couldn't stand it anymore. He knew that these boring things were indeed useful, but he just couldn't keep up the energy. He also knows that he cannot attract others' attention, but he just doesn't like to sit in class and listen to scriptures.
So he went to find Tian Chengzi, but Tian Chengzi only gave him a lesson and did not help him find a job to skip classes.
After listening to it for another day, I still felt tortured, so I went to find Tianqizi, but Tianqizi scolded him back.
In fact, compared with other new Taoists, he is quite lucky, because he does not have to attend lectures at night, while others attend lectures during the day, and at night he has to go to his master to learn the Dongshen Sutra, which is the first of the Nine Sutras.
There are fruits in the mountains in autumn. After a few days of observation, Nanfeng discovered that students were not counted by name in class, so he sneaked out to pick fruits. When he came back, he pocketed a bag with his Taoist robe and distributed it to a group of fellow Taoists. Everyone benefited from him and would not hesitate. Complaint, if asked by the gentleman, he would say that he was there just now and thought he had gone to the hut.
They were all teenagers, and few of them could really calm down. Seeing Nan Feng having fun, some of them had the courage to go with him. At first, they were together, then in small groups, and by the last class, there were only a few of them. more than ten.
You can't do bad things with too many people. If there are too many people, bad things will happen. In the end, it will still be bad things. Tian Chengzi called Nan Feng over to teach him to be reasonable and to warn him.
But after two days of being honest, Nanfeng couldn't sit still anymore and ran away again. He had money, so he ran out to buy wine and fruits, and went to the secular affairs hall to drink with some of his former friends.
Naturally, his behavior could not escape the eyes of Tian Chengzi and others. After everyone investigated, they decided to take a drastic action and treat the root cause of the disease, so they moved Nanfeng's seat to Zheng Xian's left.
This move worked wonders. Since then, Nanfeng has stopped skipping classes...