Master's advice made me suddenly enlightened, and it also made me regretful that I had not thought of this level.
The so-called bardo is mostly considered by the world to be a Buddhist theory of reincarnation. In fact, in the Taoist system, although the description and definition of reincarnation are different, the essence is the same.
After a person dies, according to custom, it is divided into the first seven and the last seven, that is, seven seven days, for a total of forty-nine days. We all know that the first seven days are the time for the soul to return to the dead, which means that the deceased will return to the place where he was alive on this day, or visit those who were reluctant to leave, or scare those who hated him during his lifetime. Generally speaking, if a person dies but cannot accept the fact that he is dead, then the first seven days are the process in which you have to accept the fact.
Starting from the first seven days, most deceased people will clearly know that they are dead. Once this awareness takes the initiative, the remaining time will be a decision to choose to go or stay. Taking seven days as a cycle, each cycle has a chance to reincarnate. These forty-nine days are also used to consume some of the yangshou that the deceased did not consume during his lifetime. On the forty-ninth day, it has also reached the final deadline. If you stay and don't leave, you will become a lonely ghost. Without the guidance of the master, it will be extremely difficult to die.
However, in fact, the "ghost" we refer to in most cases usually refers to the part that remains in the world forty-nine days after death. Those within the forty-nine days, although they also exist in the state of ghosts, Strictly speaking, it should be called the "bardo body".
But if the old man Uncle Ma mentioned was barely within the forty-nine days when he first appeared, he could be considered a bardo, but the second time he appeared was already a month later. Forty-nine days passed. So what exactly does it belong to?
I quickly searched in my mind for a book that my master had read to me before. It was the handwritten notes of my master’s master in his early years, which recorded the various ghosts that he had encountered in his life and remained in the world. There is a description of the bardo, which roughly means that if a person's death is accompanied by some sudden or unnoticed state, then the deceased is likely to continue the various behaviors and habits he had during his lifetime. This continuation after death is not a deliberate act of this kind, but rather the fact that they are simply unaware that they have died.
There are probably several situations in which a person will remain in the bardo state for a long time. One is a sudden and violent death, where the person dies before his thoughts have time to form a memory. The second is death due to long-term illness. Most of these people are in extremely poor physical condition, so the difference between death and immortality is so subtle that they cannot be noticed. The third is to die silently due to some reasons. This is very similar to the second. The difference is that this person's yang life has expired and he should have lived his yin life in the underworld. If there is a big cause and effect on him, he may even die. They have to suffer in hell, but these people have become accustomed to it because of a single habit for too long, and they don't even know that they are dead. There is also a rarer kind, which is someone who was sealed with magic right after death. As long as the seal is not lifted, this state of bardo will exist forever, but it can neither appear nor disappear. Kind of guilty.
The common feature of these bardos is that their daily lives are the same as before. If they do not show obvious signs of death, it is difficult even for living people to distinguish them, because they look indistinguishable from living people. Your body, clothing, and actions are all based on your inherent habits. Even those who see them only see the part that the bardo is trying to express to everyone. And this part will remain for far longer than the forty-nine days, because they have not made the choice between the underworld and the earth.
In other words, when Uncle Ma received the legal currency for the first time, it was raining heavily but the old man’s clothes did not get wet. This was a state in which the old man’s bardo body was revealed, and he was not aware of it in this state. When it rains heavily, there will be no chance of wet clothes. In this case, what Uncle Ma saw was like that.
I thought about it carefully, and suddenly I remembered what Uncle Ma said, that when the old man appeared for the second time, only I saw him, but the customer who was shaving his head at that time could not see him. This was somewhat inconsistent with the state of the bardo, so I concluded that the old man should have been in the state of the bardo when he appeared for the first time, but he had already appeared as a ghost the second time.
Since he is a ghost, it means that he already knows that he is dead, and has made his own choice under the premise that this time limit has long passed. He chose to stay. There must be a reason for staying. As long as this reason is found, there will be a chance to send away the old man's ghost, and the matter will naturally be solved.
I told Uncle Ma what I was thinking, and explained to him carefully what the bardo was. In the early days of liberation, many people still retained a lot of feudal customs in their minds. Uncle Ma used to be a high-level pier and a worshiper of his second brother Guan, so it would be easier for him to accept what I said. So he asked me, the old man didn't look like a bad person during his lifetime, and he had no grudge against me. Although the 5,000 French currency in those two chapters was not valuable, the 20 cents from the two head shaves was not a big deal, as long as It would be enough if I could send the old man away and give myself some peace.
So I made an appointment with Uncle Ma. Early the next morning, I would go to his hair-shaving stall and start investigating. Before leaving, I asked Uncle Ma to tell me his horoscope so that I could give him a horoscope at night, just in case.
That night, I discussed this matter with my master again, and my master told me that you are becoming more and more proficient in your craft now. When you receive an order, you don't blindly act on it. You know how to analyze it first, which is good. Although this matter is not a difficult one, you still have to do it well. Most of the dead souls who first become ghosts and then become ghosts are miserable. Although some are due to their own sins during their lifetime, you should try your best to treat them well. Even if you die, how can it be worse than this?
I nodded and said I would do it. I was about to offer incense to my ancestor, and then use Uncle Ma's horoscope to make a divination. But the master said to me, I hope you can regain your confidence after this incident ends successfully.
It turns out that although I have been practicing diligently and doing things actively during these days, Master still saw that my first order made my confidence quite frustrated. I knew that I would get out of this state sooner or later, but Master's simple words of encouragement made me feel even more powerful.
Uncle Ma's hexagram exactly confirmed my initial guess. His hexagram falls in the third house of Zhen, the due east belongs to wood, and the yongshen falls in the third house. It indicates that a mature man is confused when something happens. If he cannot understand something, he will suffer from serious strain on the right side of the waist and abdomen. To put it simply, if Uncle Ma has not realized that the old man is a ghost, then after a while, his body will produce Yin evil due to contact with ghosts. The so-called Yin evil will cause the body to become sick. . So I have to solve this problem he encountered as soon as possible.
I rushed to the Wanglongmen area early the next morning. According to the address Uncle Ma gave me, I quickly found his hair-shaving stall. This area is not far from where I lived when I was a child, so I occasionally meet one or two people I know on the road. Uncle Ma had been waiting for me there for a long time. After saying hello, I didn’t waste time and started summoning soldiers and horses directly at the barber stall.
This is actually a countermeasure I had already thought of the night before. According to the usual order, I should do the water method first, and then let the soldiers and horses show the way after I have some clear clues. It's just that rampant soldiers are more difficult to control. In addition, they are inferior soldiers and horses, so they are not included in the Nine Provinces and Five Mountains. The further away from the holder of the soldiers and horses, the harder it is to control them. If it escapes, it will inevitably happen again. It will harm people. What we want to investigate this time is the matter of the deceased. Judging from what Uncle Ma said, although they are old customers and have known each other for several years, they have no more interactions except for shaving their heads. Uncle Ma doesn’t know either. Where does this old man live? But I thought to myself that most people don’t go very far to get their hair trimmed, let alone an elderly man, so this old man’s home must be nearby.
After releasing the soldiers and horses, because the old man's ghost had appeared at the barber stall, and just a few days ago, although I could not directly detect the traces left by the old man's ghost, my soldiers and horses could. All that's left is to follow the incense smoke and find the old man's home. Because home is the place where he spends the longest time, if he does the water method there, things will basically be more accurate.
But walking down the street holding incense and ringing a bell in broad daylight is still a bit eye-catching. In those years, Master told me to wear casual clothes when going out and keep a low profile as much as possible. Now we are not in line with the country's ideas. If we meet some radicals, we will only suffer. Although I didn't understand what Master said at the time, since he told me, I followed it. So I asked Uncle Ma to borrow a towel and wrapped it around my head and mouth. Although it only made me more noticeable, no one knew who I was.
Fortunately, the road was not long. The guidance of the soldiers and horses quickly led me and Uncle Ma into a small alley. This small alley was similar to the alley where Uncle Ma set up his stall. Behind the long and narrow end, there were a bunch of short of houses. After crossing a few small puddles caused by the uneven stone road, the smoke stopped around the corner.
I took a good look at the house in front of me. This is not even a house. It is just a few random beams erected on the top of the broken wall, and then tarps and tiles are laid on it, so that the entire "roof" looks sloping. The tiles have been broken a lot, exposing the tarpaulin underneath. The door is in the shape of a door made of several slightly larger long wooden boards. There is a lock on the door, but there is no padlock. It is just locked. Just let the wind blow the door open. Beside the door were two chipped bowls and a metal can bottle that was burnt black. The bottle was placed on a small stove made of several bricks.
I suddenly felt sour in my heart. After all these years of liberation, why are there still people living so hard?
