The ferry boat was undulating on the river, and my heart was wandering along with it. I looked up at the Fengdu Ghost Town in the distance. I wasn't afraid, but I felt a little uneasy.
I always feel like something different will happen this time.
Fortunately, it didn't take much time, and the boat arrived at the foot of Fengdu's famous mountain. Looking up, the mountain is covered with green trees, dotted with countless buildings, and many towers and pavilions stand against the mountain. It looks like a beautiful scenery, and there is no trace of it. The spooky connotation of a ghost town.
But at this time, what Li Na said to me last night came to my mind.
I remember she said to me: Brother Fan, when you go to Fengdu Ghost Town, you must be careful. Most ordinary people go to Fengdu Ghost Town for tourism, but only some people who have the opportunity and some practitioners can Discover the secrets of Fengdu Ghost Town...
I haven't discovered what secrets this ghost town has yet, and at this moment I feel a little sore in my balls.
Because the drizzle keeps dripping wet, it feels like I have urethritis.
This adjective came to mind, and I couldn't help but be secretly proud. You can only see such essential metaphors in other books.
After getting off the boat and arriving at the scenic spot, we first saw an archway with the words: Famous Mountains in the World.
Above these four words, there are two huge words: Ghost City.
There is also a statue of Bai Wuchang in the square of the tourist center of the scenic spot, wearing a high hat and holding a fan. The statue reads: You are here too.
This is quite interesting. You can see the statue of Bai Wuchang in the scenic spot. It may be the only place in the world that can do this.
Entering the ghost town, I remember seeing the Heng Ha Temple, which naturally enshrines the two generals Heng Ha. This is the story of King Wu's defeat of Zhou. Later, the two became the divine generals guarding the mountain gate.
Behind is the Hall of Repayment, which is dedicated to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, the leader of the Netherworld, who governs the underworld.
When it comes to Yincao, everyone is familiar with it, but they may not know the meaning of "Cao" here.
In fact, "Cao" is the official management organization in ancient times, which is equivalent to the current "division" and "bureau" of so-and-so.
The meaning of Yincao Jifu is the Cao of the underworld, the underground house.
People often hear about the Six Cases of Merit Cao, which refers to: Cao Cao from Heaven, Cao from Earth, Cao from the Underworld, Cao from God, Cao from Man, and Cao from Ghost.
The meritorious officer of the Six Cases is the official name of the underworld, and is responsible for delivering official documents from the underworld to the Emperor Yin.
And Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, the leader of the Netherworld, is actually one of the four great Bodhisattvas. However, the other three Bodhisattvas, Avalokitesvara, Manjushri, and Samantabhadra, all focus on saving all living beings, while Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva mainly saves all living beings. Save the "sinners" in hell.
Therefore, if we chant the Ksitigarbha Sutra regularly, it will have the effect of transforming ghosts.
I often tell everyone that if you have nothing to do, don’t recite Ksitigarbha Sutra randomly, as it will attract ghosts and sentient beings, but this statement is actually not recognized by some great monks.
Including if you go to the temple and ask, the answer you will get is: reciting any sutra will not attract ghosts. On the contrary, because you recite sutras, these ghostly beings will come to protect you, so recite it, it will be beneficial.
This is actually true. Chanting sutras is indeed beneficial, and beings in the ghost realm can indeed protect you. But the prerequisite is that you must have a certain degree of virtue, and you must persist in reciting sutras for a long time, so that others can protect you.
If you don’t understand anything, you recite it when you remember it, and you don’t recite it when you can’t remember it. You don’t have any virtue, and you don’t have enough piety. Do you think the beings in the ghost realm will protect the Dharma for you?
The answer is that not only will it not protect you, but it will make you angry. If you recite a few sutras to attract others, and then you stop reciting them, do you think they will pick on you?
Therefore, it is indeed for your own good that the monks ask you to recite sutras, but you must be clear-headed and first think about whether you have the patience and virtue to save sentient beings in the ghost realm.
If nothing can be done, you better not get into that trouble.
Note: If a ghostly being becomes your protector, to put it bluntly, he or she will start following you.
I am not pouring cold water on everyone, nor am I against reciting sutras. I am advocating reciting sutras, but I hope that everyone will not recite them blindly and be mentally prepared.
Closer to home, I wandered around the Fengdu ghost town for a long time in the drizzle. I walked on the Naihe Bridge and passed the Lioyang Palace. I also saw the legendary iron grate weighing more than 300 kilograms and admired the Sansheng Stone.
Ahead is the Thirty-Third Heaven and the Jade Emperor's Palace. After passing there, not far away is the Gate of Hell.
I think there should be a picture here, and after looking through my phone for a long time, I finally found it.
Guimen Pass is the dividing point between the Yang world and the underworld, and it is also a gateway. Entering Guimen Pass is the underworld.
It is said that entering the gate of hell is not casual. There are 16 ghost kings guarding the gate and two little ghosts guarding the gate. The souls of the dead who did good things in the world can pass through smoothly, but the souls of the dead who did evil things in the world will be sent to hell to be tortured.
In Fengdu Ghost Town, there is a new saying: Once you have passed the gate of hell, you will be safe throughout your life.
After passing the Guimen Pass, you will reach Huangquan Road. Huangquan is also called Jiuquan, which means a very deep spring. This name also has its origin.
As the saying goes, the sky has nine levels of heaven and the earth has nine levels of earth. Deep underground is the Yellow Spring, so the Yellow Spring is underground water. The ancients were able to dig out yellow water in tombs. When the spring well was dug to the deepest place, the water was also yellow, hence the name. Represents the place of burial after death.
There is a sentence in Bai Juyi's "Song of Everlasting Regret": "The poor blue sky above and the yellow spring below, both places are nowhere to be seen."
Biluo here is what Taoists say. Initially, Taoism had six heavens in addition to the nine heavens. Biluo is the first layer of sky among the six heavens. The ancients observed the sky and saw the sky full of blue clouds, so it was called Biluo.
Let me say it first, I am not talking about water. I am explaining traditional culture to everyone. This is serious business.
However, these six heavens, nine heavens, and thirty-three heavens are not actually real numbers. They are just a metaphor and an idea of the ancients. Due to space limitations, I will not go into a long discussion. If you are interested, go to Baidu.
Anyway, as I walked along the road, I saw another tablet advising people to do good deeds to avoid being punished in hell after death.
Finally, we came to the Temple of the Son of Heaven, where King Yama is enshrined, flanked by the four great judges, bull-headed and horse-faced men, the ten most sinister commanders, and so on.
Some people may say, isn’t King Yama from Buddhism? Why do many Taoists also believe in this?
In fact, the title "King of Yama" is transliterated from Sanskrit and is the abbreviation of Yama, also known as Yama, who is the king who manages the affairs of the underworld in ancient Indian legends.
This statement was also used after the founding of Buddhism. After it was introduced to my country, it was combined with Taoism and evolved into the Ten Halls of Yama.
So you don’t need to take these things too seriously, because any culture has a process of inheritance and integration, just like the wooden fish knocked by the monks. Many people don’t know that this thing was originally from Taoism, and Taoism still uses wooden fish today. It is not an exclusive magical weapon of Buddhism.
At that time, after I saw the Emperor's Hall, I followed the tourists to the two-sided gallery.
Because, these two sides are the legendary Eighteen Hells.
