In the morning, on a rare sunny day recently, a team of about nine people was walking quietly on the road.
Among them were monks, strong men, and fierce women.
Some of these people have indifferent expressions, some have a close relationship with each other, and occasionally do some intimate actions that make others find it annoying, and some are exhausted.
They come from Dongcheng Temple, Manly Philosophy Society, Equality Society and other organizations.
They are also active in Liangzhou County on weekdays, but due to the small number of people in the group, they cannot call hundreds of people to parade and publicize each event like the Life Association and the Arhat Association.
Compared to others, they just entertain themselves, and even ordinary people don't even know they exist.
So naturally, the small group was praised as having good taste, noble interests, and not conforming to the secular world. It was difficult for them to recruit new members, so it became a recommendation membership system.
Except for Dongcheng Temple, new members can only join if recommended by two or more members.
Usually, they meet once a week, usually at a member's home or in a pub, where everyone talks and laughs, shares news, promotes relationships, and complains that others don't understand their ideas and pursuits.
But since three of the four county roads were cut off, food was in short supply, and the animals in the farms were "released" into the wild and forests by people from the Life Association. Food prices in the city continued to rise and people were unable to make ends meet. They no longer had the so-called leisure time. Elegant gathering.
There is no food to eat, and when you are hungry, no matter how lofty your ambitions are, you will inevitably be unable to muster the strength.
What's more, just getting together with a group of guys in similar situations to vent their bitterness?
The only special thing is Dongcheng Temple.
Usually there is only a lot of incense in the temple, but the number of monks in the temple is not large. In addition, the abbot has the foresight to save some food every year to avoid the monks in the temple not being able to eat in bad years.
As a result, it is now in use. Although their temple is not rich, everyone can still have enough food and clothing, continue not to give birth, and go back and forth to chant sutras and worship Buddha.
This also caused many ordinary people to abandon their families and children, kick out their wives who were in trouble, resolutely cut off their hair, became monks, and "escaped" into Buddhism after hearing about it.
They no longer care about the lives of their children and wives. They just want to avoid starving to death.
There are more and more monks in the temple in Dongcheng. Even though the abbot has adjusted the conditions and consciousness for entering Buddhism, there are still many people who are crowded at the door and are bleeding, just hoping to work as a novice cleaning the floor in the temple. Eat in one bite.
As a result, the food in the temple gradually became unsustainable, and the abbot had to ask his young novices to go to the unemployed relief station in Dongcheng District to find suitable jobs.
I heard that a lot of people have died in the city recently, and maybe they can take over the work of reciting sutras to pray for the dead. In this regard, their monks are professionals.
Just with the dice-like ring scars on their heads, others can't compete with them.
The abbot, presiding elders and others went to wealthy merchants one by one to seek opportunities to teach scriptures at their homes.
It's just that the entire Liangzhou County is in a recession now. When the wealthy businessmen see the situation in Liangzhou County, they are even less willing to spend extra money. They directly become iron roosters with no money, guarding their family's granary and surplus wealth, and plan to survive the winter. Say it again.
In this age, even they are not willing to be taken advantage of and invite a few bald donkeys to chant sutras in their homes.
As for the annual incense provided to the temple, it has long been discontinued.
There is another reason for this.
When people from the Life Association "released" the animals in the farm, I heard that people from the Arhat Society were also involved.
Behind the Arhat Association, there are several temple elders involved.
Without the supply of pigs, cattle and sheep, the wealthy businessmen would not be able to buy meat even if they had money. They were accustomed to fine clothes and fine food, so naturally they hated the Life Association and the Arhat Society, and by the way, they hated the Dongcheng Temple.
Later, when the senior monk and the junior monks in the temple communicated and reported the situation, they found that none of them had earned the incense money.
The young monks discovered that the families of the deceased people were worried about food. Although the families were sad that a relative had died, they had already tried their best to bury them, and there was no money left to save the souls of the deceased.
People also said: "A living person has no money to eat, and the whole family will go down to accompany him at any time. How can he have the money to hire a monk to recite sutras for salvation? I believe that my relatives will understand under Jiuquan. What's more, since the monks are known as He is so compassionate that he even asks for reward for saving souls, so how can he have any compassion at all?"
The young monks were speechless.
As for the great monks, they could not persuade the wealthy businessmen to offer incense, so they naturally had no money to buy food.
At this time, the monks in the temple discovered that the fruits and vegetables grown in the "Lingzhi Garden", one of the courtyards they looked down upon the most, as well as the green onions and potatoes in the winter greenhouse, turned out to be their biggest life-saving straw.
Finally, when the Dongcheng Temple came up with a solution, it conducted a surprise inspection on the novice monks' ability to recite scriptures, and all those who failed were expelled from the temple. In order to prevent riots, they also arranged for strong "warrior monks" in advance. In case anyone is dissatisfied and makes trouble, they can be kicked out directly when the time comes.
By the way, the elders and masters changed their strategy and used the reason that "there is evil in the donor's family" and combined with the current situation in Liangzhou County, coaxed and threatened wealthy businessmen to ask for incense in the name of opening a forum to lecture and reciting scriptures to drive away evil spirits.
As for the novice novices, they are those who are able to farm. They use all the glass resources in the temple to build greenhouses. Those who are not able to farm go to the unemployed relief center every day to find suitable jobs.
The novice novices who are just looking for a job are now the most looked down upon.
They can't make money, can't get incense from others, and eat for free every day. Other monks often look at them strangely, and secretly say, "What's the use of just reciting scriptures?"
They wanted to say that there were only a few things taught in the temple. They were either doing cleaning work or chanting sutras. The most they could do was carry water and water the fields. There was no way they could find jobs in the outside world.
It's a pity that they can't. If they dare to talk back when they can't make any money, they will definitely be expelled from the temple, and then they will starve to death on the streets.
Therefore, the few novice monks in the team took this mission most seriously.
As long as they live in groups near Yingchuan Road for a period of time, each person can receive three silver dollars. Where can you find such a good thing in the world?
Although several people traveling with them would often see scenes that would make them angry and dare not speak out, so they could only recite "Amitabha" silently, but for the sake of the reward for this mission, they still endured it.
"What are you looking at, you bastard!" A strong-looking woman with a strong body said to one of the two men accompanying her.
She stared with eyes like cowbells, and her words shook like thunder.
"Amitabha." Novice Xuankong chanted the Buddha's name, intending to persuade the woman.
As a result, the woman glared and pointed at Xuan Kong: "Little bald donkey, do you dare to interrupt?"
So Xuan Kong was immediately pulled away by his companions to avoid getting into trouble.
