Chapter 2409 Ideal Shanliang Country

Listen to the old monk proudly saying: "My master said that the name is a mark. No matter what it is, as long as others know it, it's fine. Even if it is my Buddha Tathagata, I should praise Amitabha Buddha. Even if I call my Buddha, it is normal. At worst, I don't speak, but I have silent thoughts in my heart, which is not too much! And the precepts of my Buddhist sect are fundamentally different from the old farmers in the past. Only by adhering to these rules can I be a monk, otherwise I am not a monk!"

"Namo Maitreya Buddha!" ​​Xiao Hua couldn't help but chant the Buddha's name, nodded and said, "Master is right, I am a little obsessed."

"Oh?" The old monk naturally couldn't hear any difference, but Fairy Jing was a little stunned, looking at Xiao Hua strangely, this "Namo Maitreya Buddha" Buddha name she had never heard of.

"What do you want to ask, young master?" The old monk raised his finger with some regret, sniffed it deeply in front of his nose a few times, raised his hand and pulled up a few grasses from the ground, and put the rhizome in his yellowed teeth while chewing it. Strands of grass green juice oozed out from the rhizome, emitting a fragrance.

Xiao Hua looked at the old monk's somewhat familiar movements and smiled: "I have been to many places and have seen many monks. Those monks are different from the old master. They wear clean monk's robes and cassocks, hold wooden fish and rosary beads, and most importantly, they hold bags. They don't farm. They beg for alms every day and ask people for alms. So when I saw the old master, I felt very strange. Could it be that the monks in Danliang are different from those in other places?"

The old monk scratched his head and smiled bitterly: "Young master, this question stumped the old man. In the past, The old man has never seen any monks. Later, there was Chenghui Temple in Centipede Ridge, and there were monks in Chenghui Temple. From the day the old man saw the monk, the monk had to farm. The old man has never seen a monk who does not work. The old man can't answer you. "

Xiao Hua thought for a while and smiled: "Master Chonghong doesn't know. I will go to the abbot of Chenghui Temple to ask. Can the master tell me why you have to become a monk instead of living a good life?"

"A good life?" The old monk Chonghong blinked his eyes and looked at Xiao Hua. "Young Master, how could you see that I lived a good life before? What's wrong with me becoming a monk?"

Xiao Hua didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and said, "It's my fault. I always thought that the monks in the temple were all alone and boring. They recited scriptures every day. There are so many rules and regulations. How can they be free and easy outside the temple?"

"Haha, that's what the young master and the young lady think." Old Monk Chonghong said with a smile, "The young master has the young lady to warm his bed. Naturally, he doesn't need to become a monk. But the old man is different..."

Jing Xianzi couldn't help blushing again and lowered her head slightly. She really didn't understand why Xiao Hua was so interested in such a vulgar old farmer!

Then Old Monk Chonghong told him the reason why he wanted to become a monk.

The old monk's experience was also complicated. When he was young, he was considered a good laborer in the village, but his family was poor and he couldn't marry a wife. Later, a woman who fled from famine to Shanliang State from another country passed by and stayed in his house. But later, there was a war on the border of Shanliang State, and this area became the territory of another country. The people in the village were either killed or fled. The old monk's family was separated in the escape. When the old monk returned here, everything had changed. In order to wait for his lost family, the old monk stayed in the village. His family did not come, but time came. Although the old monk could farm and make a living, it was not easy for him to live alone. If he remarried, he was too old and it was not easy to find a wife. The old monk had no choice but to find Chenghui Temple in Centipede Ridge and donated his paddy field to the temple. He even shaved his head and became a monk. He ate and drank in the temple every day, and cultivated the temple's land every day. His daily life was also taken care of by the young monks in the temple, which was much better than before.

After hearing what Master Chonghong said, Xiao Hua's brows were a little furrowed. It was not right to say that Chenghui Temple occupied the villagers' fertile land and turned it into private property. After all, Master Chonghong did it voluntarily, and Master Chonghong made it clear that there were many other people in similar situations. These old monks all donated their land to the temple voluntarily. Master Chonghong and other old monks could not finish planting these lands, but there were strong and young monks in the temple to cultivate them. These old monks could not eat meat, but they had no shortage of other vegetables, and even some silver and copper coins were distributed. Not only that, every day in Chenghui Temple, monks would urge Master Chonghong and other old monks to recite scriptures. Even if these old monks could not read, the monks would recite sentence by sentence and let these old monks recite along. The monks' ordinary homework was also necessary. Of course, the time for these homework might be much less than that in ordinary temples.

When Xiao Hua heard old monk Chong Hong talk about Chenghui Temple, there were not only old monks like them, but also some orphans who were taken in and became novice monks since childhood; ordinary poor people and people in need near Centipede Ridge, whenever they had any difficulties, they would come to Chenghui Temple to find monks to solve them. Xiao Hua couldn't help but turn his head to look at Fairy Jing and whispered: "The elderly are taken care of, the young are taught, the poor are supported, the needy are helped, and the widowed, lonely, disabled and sick are all taken care of?" Although Fairy Jing was not a Confucianist, she was in charge of a country and had heard about this. She nodded slightly: "What you said is very true, the national teacher of Shanliang country... is not simple!"

"Yes, after listening to Master Chonghong's words, Xiaosheng had the urge to meet this Buddhist master." Xiao Hua also smiled, and then asked the old monk Chonghong, "Master, you know Xiao Jian?"

"Xiao Jian?" The old monk was stunned and shook his head slightly, "Which village is he from?"

"Haha, Xiao Jian is not a young man, he is the previous king of your Shanliang Kingdom..." Xiao Hua smiled and explained, "Do you know this person?"

"It turns out that the man who has no son is called Xiao Jian!" Upon hearing this, old monk Chonghong exclaimed through gritted teeth, "Of course the old man knows this man! If this man hadn't lost the cockfight bet, the old man's village would How could it have been seized by a neighboring country? If soldiers from neighboring countries hadn't come over, how could the old man's house be gone? It turns out that this damn turtle's son was called Xiao Jian! He was so mean! Eat his flesh and drink his blood..."

"Namo Maitreya Buddha!" ​​Xiao Hua said hurriedly, "Master has violated too many precepts today, be careful of the Buddha being angry."

"Humph, even if the Buddha is angry, the old man will scold him!" When the old monk Chonghong heard this, he couldn't help but say, "How good our Shanliang country was before. When the old man was young, the whole village The surrounding villages are all very good, but because of this son-in-law, the villagers near Centipede Ridge have been ruined. Alas, if it weren't for the monks from Chenghui Temple, we wouldn't know what we are doing now. What will it be like!”

"Oh!" Xiao Hua's heart moved when he heard this, and he suddenly asked, "Does the old master know who the current leader of Shanliang Kingdom is?"

"Who is Ai?" Old monk Chonghong waved his hands angrily, "They beat me and I beat you. It has nothing to do with the old man. The old man just wants to live his life."

"Haha, then there have been no wars in the past ten years, right?" Xiao Hua asked again.

"Of course not!" Old monk Chonghong said with a smile, "With the Buddha in our Shanliang country, how can there be war?"

"It makes sense!" Xiao Hua smiled, stood up and said, "Master Chonghong, do you always have time to take Xiaosheng to visit the abbot of Chenghui Temple?"

"Of course, of course..." Old monk Chonghong stood up hurriedly, raised his right hand out of habit, and tried to knock on the stone under him. Unfortunately, this time he hit nothing. The old monk was a little embarrassed and said with a smile, "Oh, it's hard to change the habits of many years! But as Master said, as long as you have Buddha in your heart, all habits can be changed."

"Probably! This is naturally blessed by Buddha." Xiao Hua replied with a smile.

"Let's go, young master, please follow the old man to Centipede Ridge. The abbot of Chenghui Temple likes knowledgeable people the most. I remember that many scholars came to the temple in the past." Although the old monk Chonghong is not young, he can walk as fast as flying. Walking very fast on the mountain path, talking while walking.

Although Centipede Ridge is said to be a mountain, it should actually be called a ridge. It is not high in itself, but the ridge is quite large and stretches for a long time. Just like a centipede, it has many hillsides.

In addition to common trees, there are also many fruit trees planted on Centipede Ridge. These fruit trees form forests one by one. Where there are no fruit trees, there are sometimes melon gardens, sometimes wheat fields, and occasionally you can see a patch of bean vines. There are also some monks in these places, some old, some young, and some melon gardens are guarded by bare-headed novice monks.

These big and small monks, like Chonghong, all have smiles on their faces. Maybe they can't say Amitabha in their mouths, maybe they don't have clean monk robes, but when they see Xiao Hua and Fairy Jing, they all put their hands together and salute with a smile. Xiao Hua was delighted to see it.

"Chonghong..." Not far away, a huge temple covered the mountains. Large and small monks' houses were hidden among the relaxed green cypresses. A rough voice came from the mountain road, "You don't work in the fields. Why are you running back? Are you hungry?"

Xiao Hua looked up and saw a thin, middle-aged monk wearing a moon-white monk's robe. The monk's robe looked extremely shabby, but the shabbyness of the monk's robe was inferior to the monk's sad face. Quite a few.

"Master..." When the old monk Chonghong saw this person, he immediately stopped, clasped his hands and said respectfully, "I was just working in the fields when I happened to encounter these two donors coming to find Chenghui Temple. I am afraid that they touched the wrong place. Just bring them up." (To be continued...)