Chapter 552 Straightforward 【Subscription】
Fangzheng couldn't laugh or cry when he saw this, what is this? He has seen a lot of cheaters, but this is the first time he has seen this cheater.
There was no other way, Fangzheng could only thank him, chose two bundles of yellow paper money, a few candles, and some nails, and then left.
The last stop was Wang Yougui's house. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Wang Yougui busy there. Song Ergou, Ma Laizi, accountant Yang Ping, Yang Ping's brother Yang Hua, secretary Tan Juguo, Jiang Zhou, Fan Qing, Qiu Xiaoye, Guan Xiangfeng is in the yard, talking about something.
Seeing Fangzheng approaching, everyone got up quickly.
Wang Yougui smiled and said: "Abbot Fangzheng, you came just in time, we are discussing, look, how big should this altar be? In the past, our village was poor, and we were fooled. This year, we are rich, so we must not be fooled. ? At the very least, we must get the most beautiful one in eight villages.”
Fangzheng shook his head helplessly and said, "Worshiping ancestors doesn't need such a big ostentation. Worshiping ancestors is like worshiping Buddha, and the heart is better than anything else. To give a simple example, Tan Benefactor, do you want your grandson and granddaughter to buy you a luxury house?" , Luxury car but never come back once a year, is it filial?"
Tan Juguo shook his head resolutely and said: "I'd rather those little brats come back to see me, have a chat, let me scold you. I can give them money..."
Fangzheng nodded and said: "The ancestors are similar. It's not easy for them to come back. What they want is to see sincere filial piety, not a pile of food and a tall table. Everyone has left. What's the use of looking at these? "
Wang Yougui said: "Make it bigger, and the ancestors will also be honored."
"That's what you think, what's down there, have you been there?" Fangzheng asked back.
Wang Yougui was dumb...
Fangzheng continued: "The poor monk has never been there. The living people don't know what it looks like down there. Looking at the world of the dead from the eyes of the living, it's like putting your comfortable shoes on the feet of an elephant." Will he be comfortable? Since you don’t know, it’s better to be filial to them with sincerity and affection. Whether it’s the world of the living or the world of the dead, there is one thing whose value remains the same, and that is true affection.”
Everyone suddenly realized...
Jiang Zhou said: "After living for so long, this is the first time I've heard such remarks. Some masters and wealthy families I met in the city wanted to burn real gold and silver to show their filial piety. Now think about it, they It's not true filial piety, it's just showing off..."
Guan Xiangfeng said: "I've seen a local tyrant burn ten Ferraris at a time... Now that I think about it, it's really stupid."
Fangzheng smiled and said, "No amount of burning is of any value other than polluting the air and promoting the concept of copper stink. Maybe it can show face to the living, but what about the ancestors? If they don't care, burning more treasures is useless. After all, they are still unfilial." .If the ancestors have knowledge in the underground, most of them are still the ones who were ridiculed..."
Speaking of this, Fangzheng paused and said: "No one knows whether there is a soul in the world", but ancestor worship has been a kind of inheritance of filial piety since ancient times. If ancestor worship becomes purely showing off, without the inheritance of filial piety culture, A family will lose its cultural heritage, and without its heritage, no matter how much money is left, and if there is no virtue, it will capsize and drown sooner or later."
When everyone heard this, they nodded thoughtfully.
Jiang Zhou sighed: "Master Fangzheng, you should bring these words to class..."
Fangzheng shook his head and said: "The poor monk has the insight to stand on the podium. Those who understand understand better than me, and those who don't understand may not be useful if the poor monk speaks."
Everyone fell into deep thought.
The topic changed. Since the altar does not need to be too luxurious, it is simple. Everyone brought materials to the entrance of the village and began to build the altar. Fangzheng did it himself, Jiang Zhou cooperated, and with everyone's concerted efforts, a simple altar with simplicity and Buddha nature was built.
It is said to be a sacrificial altar, but in fact this altar is called Shigutai. There is a mage's seat on Shigutai. In front of the mage's seat is enshrined the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva who has crossed the evil spirits below. At the same time, there are three spirit cards and soul-calling banners on the Shigu platform. Fangzheng inserted a pair of blue, red, and green triangular paper flags on each sacrifice, and wrote words such as "Yu Lan Festival" and "Ganlumen Open". So far, the Shigutai was built.
Looking at the completed Shigu Terrace in front of him, a picture flashed in Fangzheng's mind. Zen Master Yizhi once said that Yizhi Village didn't pay much attention to it in the early years, and it was simply burning paper money and it was over. These teachings were all brought from the south, and Zen Master Yizhi did not say who brought them. There are only a few villages near Yizhi Mountain that celebrate the Obon Festival in this way, and Zen Master Yizhi will take Fangzheng along the way to these villages every time. The villages that Zen Master Yizhi has never been to are basically not so particular... Now it seems that this particular way of living is mostly brought by Zen Master Yizhi.
After the Shigu Terrace is set up, the altar needs to be opened. First, Fangzheng will perform the purification, that is, face the Buddhist altar and recite scriptures such as "Great Compassion Mantra", "Ten Small Curses", and "Heart Sutra". , but the Internet is well-developed. He has read and recited these scriptures on the Internet, so he is no stranger to them.
Then write a good essay and pray to the Buddha and Bodhisattva for guidance in the lower realm;
Then Fangzheng performed the soul-inducing ceremony, read the prose written on yellow paper to attract ghosts into the altar, and then recited the "Heart Sutra", "The Mantra of Rebirth", and the Three Mantras; It was Wang Yougui who used a Chinese ink pen on the bulletin of the Dharma meeting, which heralded the completion of the opening of the altar!
The agenda after the opening of the altar is confession, which is generally carried out according to the ceremony of "Compassionate Water Confession". However, Fangzheng does not have enough manpower to arrange such a large-scale ceremony, so he simply recited the scriptures and finished after reading the "Went of Confession" up. In the middle, simple activities such as paying tribute and fasting monks are added, and the worship and confession is over.
It's so simple, and there is another main reason, if it is really carried out according to the "Compassionate Water Confession", it would be great if Fangzheng can finish Yizhi Village this night, and there is no need to go to other villages. After all, the ceremony really needs to go through the whole process, but it is very cumbersome and troublesome.
Of course, lack of manpower is also flawed, and Fangzheng has nothing to do about it.
After setting up Shigutai, Wang Yougui took Fangzheng and Houzi to several other nearby villages on a motorcycle, and helped them set up Shigutai one by one. When they returned to Yizhi Village, it was already evening. Because there are too many villages to go and time is short, when the sun sets and it gets dark, Fangzheng and the monkey simply ate some vegetarian food and shouted to the top of the mountain. The next moment, the bell rang, marking the Obon Festival Practice begins!
As the bell rang, people from every household walked out of the house, and then planted a handful of incense sticks at the door. If the family conditions are good, a lot of incense sticks will be planted. This is called Butian, which symbolizes a good harvest. Seen from a distance, the whole village is covered by this layer of green smoke, and the interior is full of stars, which has a somewhat dreamy feeling, as if the sky hangs upside down and falls in the village, shining like stars.
Then the offerings in large and small basins were brought out and placed on the altar to worship the ancestors.
The monkey followed Fangzheng with a big basket of tributes to Shigutai. Fangzheng took out these tributes and sprinkled them around. resentment, offering sacrifices to the dead.
Then Fangzheng stepped onto the stage and sat on the mage's seat. Some words were written on the spirit tablet in front of him. There are no more spirit cards, as long as there are. As for the flame mouth that Fangzheng cast just now, no matter how many ghosts there are, they can all be sacrificed together. Chanting again...
After the scriptures were read and the mouth of flames ended, Fangzheng got up and got off the altar, nodded slightly to the villagers, and they came to the river.
Everyone held a lotus lantern, lit the candles on it, put it into the river, and floated down the river. Some lights went out soon, but everyone was not angry, but rather happy.
Seeing this, the monkey didn't understand again, and asked in a low voice, "Master, their lights are all off, why are you so happy?"
"People have their own way, ghosts have their own way, people follow the Yang way, ghosts take the Yin way, the ancients believed that underwater is obscure, dark and humid, like hell, so they think this is the way of Yin, that is, the way of ghosts. Hundred ghosts tonight Traveling at night is easy to get lost. If you can’t enter the underworld, you will become a party of ghosts and ghosts. Therefore, put water lamps to help them illuminate the way to go, and guide them to report to the underworld. In some places, spirit ships will also be prepared , spirit room, the spirit ship can carry ghosts directly to the underworld, and the spirit room allows them to have a residence below. But we don't have this condition, so we didn't make it...
As for the lights being off, why are they happy, because when the lights are off, it means that a ghost has been sent away. "Fang Zheng explained in a low voice.
The monkey suddenly realized, but there were still many doubts in his eyes.
The krathongs were set off and the souls of the dead were sent away. The grand Obon Festival was over. Fang Zheng hurried to other villages on a motorcycle and walked down the road. When Fang Zheng came back, the sky was already dark At dawn, on the way up the mountain, the monkey finally asked the doubts in his heart: "Master, you said that ghosts are in your heart... Actually, you don't believe that there are ghosts in this world at all, so why are you making such a fool?" Orchid Bon Festival? Since there are no ghosts, why spend so much energy and waste so much manpower and material resources? It feels like useless work, and a waste of food?"
Fangzheng shook his head slightly: "Master Wei has said long ago that you don't look at things on the surface, you need to see what he brings. I really don't believe in ghosts, but I also said that everyone has a ghost in their hearts. It needs to be suppressed and sacrificed, otherwise they will come out and make trouble."
"I don't understand..." Monkey shook his head resolutely, and said bluntly.
Fangzheng rolled his eyes and said, "Let's be blunt. Money is easy to earn in this world. If you lose your conscience, you have nothing! Without a conscience, no matter how much money you have, it's just a big disaster! On the contrary, people with a conscience No matter how poor a person is, there will be less enmity and more warmth in this world. Whether this ceremony is good or the ancestor worship on Qingming Festival, it is to remind everyone not to forget to honor your parents. Every kindness and filial piety come first. If a person is filial, then It’s not that bad. Maybe the effect of this kind of festival can’t turn the heinous people back from suffering, but it can prevent the lapse of time, remind children and those who have new evil thoughts, cultivate filial piety in their hearts from an early age, and grow up. Now, as long as Xiao is still there, no matter how bad it is, it will not be incurable. Do you understand now?"
PS: Asking for a subscription, asking for a monthly pass... The target god made an appointment, and then resigned to become a full-time code word dog! Need everyone's help...
PS: I set off for Shanghai at night, ended there, and went on a business trip immediately, every day... I feel like the rhythm of death. It looks like I'm going back to the era of two thousand... My heart is full.