Morning bell, evening drum, day after day, it seems endless.
Every day seems to be exactly the same as yesterday. Some people feel boring, while others feel at ease. The eerie years, whether long or short, are originally in people's hearts.
In a blink of an eye, Ghost Li has stayed in Tianyin Temple for many days, listening to the bells ringing in the morning and the drums ringing in the evening, from an unknown place in the temple every day on time, living in silence. For some reason, after only a few days, he seems to have integrated into this strange environment, and he is silent every day, just in a daze.
He is in his prime at the moment, and his health is excellent. Although he was seriously injured, firstly, he is young, secondly, he has a high level of self-cultivation, and Tianyin Temple is unexpectedly generous to him, and he is not stingy with any good medicine. Use it on him casually. With the status and reputation of Tianyin Temple, the good medicine in the temple is naturally the first-class good medicine in the world, and the effect of the medicine is quickly exerted. His injuries and illnesses healed very quickly.
However, within a few days, he was able to get out of bed and barely walk, but when he was walking, he still had severe pain in his chest, and after walking a few steps, he would have to gasp for breath. However, even if it is so, it has already made the people who came to visit him very happy. They praised that they have never seen such a fast recovery in the past. It seems that they will fully recover within a month.
On weekdays, Ghost Li got along with them indifferently, and occasionally talked with them. Both sides avoided talking about their opposing identities. It seemed that in the eyes of the monks of Faping Tianyin Temple, Ghost Li was just an ordinary person they kindly rescued. , rather than the demon cult monsters they were willing to snatch from the Qingyun sect at the risk of the world's disgrace. And Gui Li never asked why the people in Tianyin Temple wanted to save him.
The days passed by like this, Gui Li's body got better day by day, these few days, he has been able to walk down the ground relatively easily, sometimes when the morning clock and evening drum rang, he would pull a chair and open the window, and sit by the window He leaned aside and listened carefully, it seemed that the sound of bells and drums in Tianyin Temple had a different charm to him.
During the days when he was recuperating from his wounds, only Faxiang and Fashan often visited him among the monks in Tianyin Temple, and almost none of the other monks came, let alone Master Puhong and other ordinary senior monks. And because of his injuries, Gui Li never left this room. Except for occasionally opening the window to look out, what he saw before his eyes was nothing more than a small courtyard with red walls and green tiles, and a few dwarf trees were planted in the courtyard.
It's just that for Gui Li, such an ordinary and simple courtyard has a long-lost familiar feeling. From the day he opened the window, although he didn't show it, in his heart, he immediately fell in love with it. this place.
Listening to the morning bell in the morning and the evening drum in the evening, such a peaceful and leisurely time, but in a short period of time, he couldn't let go of it, and he was intoxicated.
Who knew that in his heart, the biggest extravagant hope he ever had was to live such a peaceful life...
Mount Sumeru, Tianyin Temple, in the vast and magnificent palaces and pavilions, in that small courtyard in a strange and remote corner, living, living, living like this...
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"Squeak!" The wooden door was pushed open at once, Fa Xiang walked in alone, glanced into the room, and then landed on Gui Li who was lying on the bed. Gui Li closed his eyes, not sure if he fell asleep.
Fa Xiang smiled slightly, turned around and closed the door, and said to Gui Li: "How do you feel today, is your chest still hurting?"
Gui Li moved his body, slowly opened his eyes, glanced at Faxiang, and said calmly: "You have to ask this question every time you come, don't you find it annoying?"
Faxiang smiled and shook his head, turned his eyes, but walked to the other side of the wall, in front of the picture enshrining the statue of Guanyin, took three sticks of fine sandalwood from the altar table, put it on a thin candle beside him, and lit it. Then it was inserted into the copper incense burner.
Light smoke curled up and drifted into the air, and the portrait of Guanyin suddenly became a little hazy, and the air gradually began to waft a thin scent of sandalwood.
Dharma together, bowed three times to the image of Guanyin, then turned around, looked at Guili for a long time, and suddenly said: "Aren't you coming to pay respects?"
Gui Li was stunned for a moment, and looked at the portrait involuntarily. In the image, the Guanyin master has a compassionate, dignified and beautiful face, with a pair of slender eyes looking lightly, as if he is looking at all things and mortals in the world. Looking at myself in general.
His heart moved, but then he sneered and said: "Why do I worship her, if she really has a spirit, I don't know how many times I have begged God and the gods and Buddhas in the past, and I have never seen them show mercy!"
Fa Xiang looked at him for a long time, Gui Li looked at him calmly, with a sneer still on the corner of his mouth, showing no sign of regret. After a while, Fa Xiang let out a long sigh, turned around, bowed his head to the Buddha statue of Guanyin, and muttered something softly, but he didn't know what to say.
Gui Li watched his appearance from behind him, and sneered continuously.
Faxiang finished saluting, turned around, the compassionate look on his face gradually faded, replaced with a peaceful smile, and said: "I see that you look good today, and your body has generally recovered recently, why don't we go out!"
Gui Li was startled when he heard the words, and said: "Go out, where are you going?"
Fa Xiang smiled and said, "Go where you want to go, meet whoever you want to see."
Gui Li frowned, then raised his eyebrows and said: "Why, could it be Master Pu Hong..."
Faxiang nodded and said: "Exactly. My teacher is very happy to hear that you have recovered. Let me come and have a look today. If you are not tired, we can meet again. I don't know what you want?"
Gui Li stared at Dharma for a long time, then suddenly smiled and said: "Okay, okay, okay, I've been waiting for this day for a long time, of course I want to see him, don't say he is in good health, even if he was seriously injured that day, as long as he is willing , I have to crawl to see him."
Dharma reconciled ten ways: "The benefactor is serious, please come with me."
After saying that, he led the way, walked to the door first, opened it and walked out.
Ghost Li immediately followed, but when he was about to leave the room, for some reason, he suddenly looked back at the picture of the Goddess of Mercy hanging on the wall. , smiling slightly, seemed to be staring at him too.
Gui Li frowned, snorted, but immediately turned around, never looked back, and went straight away, leaving only fine sandalwood, floating gently in the empty room behind him.
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Walking out of the courtyard, there is a passage about two feet long, four feet wide, with red walls on both sides, as high as two people, and the roof is covered with green glazed tiles. At the end of the passage is a round arch. At the time of the arch, a faint sound was heard from outside.
The sound was quite strange, at first it seemed to be the sound of monks reading the scriptures in the temple, but there were other strange sounds mixed in, some of which should not appear here in Ghost Li's imagination, such as village women gathering Chatting and talking together, or worshiping the Buddha loudly, there are even faint sounds of children crying.
How could such strange sounds appear in Tianyin Temple, which is known as one of the three great sects of the righteous way in the world
Gui Li was puzzled, he looked towards Faxiang, but he saw Faxiang's face remained unchanged, leading the way in front of him, and walked out towards the arched door. Gui Li frowned, collected himself, and walked out.
Outside the door suddenly opened up, but you can only see white jade as a stone, flat pavement as a field, and stone steps stacked in groups of nine, connecting up to the Daxiong Palace, which is as high as ninety-nine and eighty-one groups. Between the jade railings, you can see the majestic hall, which is extremely tall. In front of the hall, thirteen huge stone pillars soar to the sky, more than ten feet high. The golden wall on the top of the hall is brilliant. , in front of the dragon head on each roof eaves, ten auspicious beasts are engraved in different shapes and lifelike. (Note 1)
And His Highness's various carvings are gorgeous and exquisite, far exceeding the imagination of the world, and not ordinary people can make them. Behind the Daxiong Palace, on both sides and in front, there are towering halls connected to each other. They are either connected by squares, or connected by winding paths, and some are directly connected together, layered on top of each other. spectacular.
It's just that although this building is majestic and gorgeous, it is indeed amazing, but at this moment, what surprised Gui Li the most is not these, but on this solemn Buddhist holy place, there are countless mortals shuttling around at this moment, countless people Holding incense, kneeling to worship the Buddha, step square, inside and outside the temple, the incense is so prosperous that it is unimaginable.
The huge Tianyin Temple, which has a high status in the righteous way of the world, is like an ordinary temple, open to countless ordinary people to burn incense and worship Buddha.
Ghost Li never thought of this, he understood the strange noises just now, but he was even more confused about everything in front of him. Growing up on Qingyun Mountain since he was a child, he has long been accustomed to the so-called demeanor of a fairy family, a fairyland in a fairy mountain, which was originally only available to cultivators. On Qingyun Mountain, where have you ever seen an ordinary person come up the mountain to burn incense and pray
He turned his head to look at Faxiang, and asked in amazement: "This..."
Faxiang smiled slightly and said: "Today happens to be the first day of the new year, so there are more people. Although the temple is full of incense, there are not so many people on weekdays. It's just that every day on the first and fifteenth day, there are people from hundreds of miles around. It is the custom of coming to worship Buddha." (Note 2)
Gui Li shook his head, hesitated for a while, and finally asked: "No, I just find it strange, why do you let the common people come in to burn incense and worship Buddha?"
It seemed quite expected that Faxiang Guili would ask this question, nodded his head, made a gesture of walking this way, then led Guili to the back of the main hall, and said as he walked: "Actually, Tianyin Temple also met with Qingyunmen and other clans are not open to the secular world, but after my benefactor Master Puhong took over as abbot, he and the other three uncles comprehended Buddhism and made a great wish, saying: Buddha is the Buddha of all living beings, not my own. Foye. So he decided to open the mountain gate to accept the people."
At this point, Fa Xiang stopped, turned around and pointed to the road of countless steps leading to the Daxiong Palace, and said, "Did you see that long stone step?"
Gui Li nodded and said, "What?"
The Dharma is in harmony with ten ways: "That was when a master uncle saw the steep mountain road. Although the people had the heart to worship the Buddha, there were many weak people who were unable to move up the mountain to fulfill their vows. So he used his great supernatural powers to spend ten years with his own strength. Thanks to this, I forcibly opened up this smooth road to the Buddha Sea on the originally steep mountain road, and I did such a good deed with immeasurable merit."
Gui Li couldn't help being respectful, and his face became serious, he said: "There is such a great senior, may I ask his name?"
Faxiang glanced at him, and after a moment of unexpected silence, he said in a low voice, "That uncle, named Puzhi, has passed away more than ten years ago."
Gui Li's body stiffened abruptly, as if the word "Pu Zhi" hit his mind like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, shaking his mind to pieces.
Fa Xiang looked at Gui Li's face that changed from sadness to resentment, he let out a long sigh, and said in a low voice: "Forget it, let's go, the abbot is still waiting for us!"
Gui Li followed the Faxiang and walked over in a dull manner, but his steps, which were relatively easy at first, had become extremely heavy at this moment. After walking for a few feet, he suddenly looked back with a complex expression, and saw a crowd of people in the distance, countless people walking on the stone steps, old people, men, women, and children, all with pious faces walking down the stone steps. Walking by, chanting the name of the Buddha in their mouths, as if they walked this way, they were getting closer to the Buddha.
The expression on Gui Li's face was complicated and difficult to understand, he clenched his hands into fists and then slowly released them, after a long while, he finally turned his head slowly and walked forward. Dharma Xianghe who was waiting in front of him did not say much.
The two went together, leaving only the countless believers and the silent Buddhist path behind, in the world.
This place was originally a human world, not a fairyland or a Buddha realm.
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After passing the Daxiong Hall, there is still a long string of temples and temples behind. After all, Tianyin Temple is a famous school, and its grandeur cannot be compared with ordinary temples. It's just that Faxiang led Guili all the way back, but he didn't stop at any of the palaces and pavilions, he just walked towards the back mountain.
All the way, Gui Li just followed behind Fa Xiang, without saying a word, his face was full of thoughts, he turned a blind eye to the magnificent and exquisite buildings around him.
It was only at the end that Faxiang took him out of the back gate of Tianyin Temple and walked up a small mountain road to the top of Mount Sumeru, Gui Li frowned and said, "Why, is Master Puhong not in the temple? "
Dharma Xiang nodded and said, "That's right. Although this temple is open to the secular world, it is an act of great merit, but monks need to be clean after all. My teacher and several uncles are people who love tranquility and have always lived in the small temple on the top of the mountain. We also generally call it 'Little Tianyin Temple'." After speaking, he smiled slightly, revealing two pieces of white teeth.
Gui Li nodded silently, without saying anything, followed Faxiang to the top of Mount Sumeru.
Although Mount Sumeru is not as towering as Qingyunmen Tongtian Peak, it is definitely not low. The Tianyin Temple they came out just now was in the middle of the mountain, but they went up this time and walked for half an hour before they saw the plaque of the Little Tianyin Temple.
From the outside, the Little Tianyin Temple is indeed a small character. It can only enter and exit the courtyard three times. It is far from the magnificent Tianyin Temple on the middle of the mountain, but it is far away from the secular world. Bamboo is densely formed into a forest, and the mountain wind blows, loosens the bamboo and shakes, the indescribable tranquility and elegance, compared with the hustle and bustle at the foot of the mountain, it is another taste.
Gui Li is just recovering from a serious injury. After walking so many miles, his forehead is already slightly sweaty. He stopped for a while and rested. Looking back, he saw the incense burning in the Tianyin Temple in the middle of the mountain, and it was so far away. , I could see it clearly, there was a faint human voice, with an indescribable reverence and solemnity.
Gui Li stared into the distance for a long while, dazed, didn't know what he was thinking, after a long time turned around, Faxiang nodded and led him into Xiaotianyin Temple.
This place is much simpler than that at the foot of the mountain. The two of them passed through the Buddhist hall in the middle, turned two turns to the right, and walked into the back hall. There are three pure meditation rooms. Fa Xiang walked forward, towards the door of the meditation room in the middle, said loudly: "Master, the benefactor Zhang Xiaofan has come."
Immediately, an old but kind voice sounded in the meditation room, saying, "Please come in!"
Fa Xiang turned his head and made a gesture of invitation to Gui Li, Gui Li hesitated for a moment, then walked into the house, but Fa Xiang stopped outside, as if he didn't intend to go in together.
Walking into the meditation room, Gui Li took a look around. This meditation room is unpretentious, and all the decorations are almost exactly the same as the meditation room where he recuperated his wounds at the foot of the mountain. But today, the world's most righteous leader, Abbot Puhong, the abbot of Tianyin Temple, is sitting cross-legged on the meditation bed, holding a string of rosary beads in his hand, looking at him with a smile on his face.
"You're here." Master Pu Hong said with a calm voice and a smile.
For some reason, facing this divine monk, Gui Li's originally turbulent heart quickly calmed down, took a deep breath, nodded and said: "Yes."
Master Puhong looked at him carefully, from top to bottom, his eyes were shining with strange compassion and light, and the rosary in his hand was turning slightly, and he said after a long while: "You must have something to ask me? "
Gui Li immediately nodded and said: "That's right, I'm very strange, why did Tianyin Temple take the risk of falling out with Qingyunmen to save me, and also, why do you..."
He asked anxiously, speaking very fast, but only halfway through the question, he stopped involuntarily. Master Pu Hong stretched out his right hand and stopped in mid-air, preventing him from continuing.
Ghost Li was puzzled, and looked at Master Puhong in confusion. Master Puhong bowed his head and chanted a Buddha's name, but got off the meditation bed, stood up, and said to Ghost Li: "Before you ask me, I'll take you to meet someone first!"
Gui Li was startled, and said: "I see someone, who is it?"
Pu Hong didn't answer, just walked towards the outsider, and said slowly: "This man has wanted to see you for a long time, and I know that you must also want to see him very much."
Gui Li was stunned, but followed him subconsciously, for some reason, his palms were sweating, and his heart beat suddenly accelerated, as if there was something in front of him that made him fear.
Faxiang had been standing quietly outside the meditation room, seeing Master Puhong coming out with Ghost Li so quickly, his expression didn't change much, he just took a step back and stood aside. Master Pu Hong glanced at him, nodded, and without speaking, he led Gui Li to another direction, which was the last small courtyard among the three courtyards, leaning against a mountain wall.
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"Note 1: The carving of auspicious beasts on the cornices of temples is a unique architectural regulation in ancient China. There are extremely detailed division rules. In terms of number, from emperors to officials to ordinary people, there are detailed regulations. It cannot be exceeded, otherwise it will be a crime of disrespect. , is enough to kill the whole family. There are ten auspicious beasts on the roof. Since ancient times, there is only one place in China, which is the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City. It is the only one in the world. This is a fiction, readers just laugh at it.
Note 2: Burning incense and worshiping Buddha on the 15th day of the lunar new year is quite popular in China, where Buddhism is widely spread, or it is called Fashi, or Buddhist Association, from Lama Temple in Beijing to small temples in rural Fujian in the south. I grew up watching my grandmother burn incense since I was a child, and it is still the same now. When I start writing, I can't help but sigh when I think of this. 』