The golden body of Buddha enshrined in the temple became dirty.
This filth is not on the surface, but is mixed with the incense enshrined in the golden body.
What's even more strange is that the incense that was supposed to be enshrined to the Buddha in the Ciyun Temple of Jinping Mansion did not seem to be stored in the Lingshan Mountain. It just kept accumulating in the golden body above the main hall.
Regardless of why the Buddha's golden body here is contaminated with filth, but the Buddha refused to accept the incense from Jinping Mansion, does it also mean that the Buddha was well aware of the things going on here?
In the main hall at that time, Fahai secretly recited the mantra and wanted to use the golden body of the Buddha statue to communicate with the Buddha, but there was no reply.
Of course, Fa Hai would not sit back and ignore this matter, but because he had just arrived, his actions just now were already a bit impulsive, and he had not yet understood the local customs, so he did not move lightly.
No matter what kind of incident it is, only by finding out the truth can we prescribe the right medicine. Otherwise, I am afraid that the medicine will not cure the disease, and it will make things worse.
The eight spiritual bodies of Wukong, Xiao Bailong and Wu Jing were all sent out by Fa Hai.
Because they didn't know where the problem was, they could only use this method of casting a wide net. However, they were not looking for a needle in a haystack, just a few places to go.
The first is to explore whether there are demons and ghosts causing trouble in the city and the surrounding mountains;
Second, find out whether the local government, wealthy families, and big families are bullying the people in the fish and meat village;
The third is to see whether the pilgrims have done anything to corrupt the Buddha's virtues.
The rest were also investigated together when investigating the three items.
Dang, Dang, Dang!
"Hey, master, why is it suddenly so busy outside? Disciple, go out and take a look~"
At this moment, only Bajie was guarding his master. He heard the roar of gongs and drums outside, so he ran out to take a look, and came back to report: "Master, there are all the believers in the neighborhood, and the old master of the courtyard who brought the lamp to offer Buddha is also outside, saying I invited Master to go and have a look together."
"Since it's the master of the hospital who invites you, let's go out and take a look together."
After all, I lost interest, so I just glanced at it briefly and then gave it up.
The old master was also a discerning man. Seeing Master Sanzang's lack of interest at the moment, he didn't force him to stay. He just said a few words and let the monks leave. Then he personally sent Master Sanzang back to his room. On the way, he asked: "Old monk." Just now I saw that the Master was in low spirits. Could it be that he missed the moon in his hometown?"
After all, the old master is kind-hearted. He just heard that Master Tripitaka has been traveling abroad for fourteen years. He has come from the Tang Dynasty and has gone through such cold and heat. Now he has encountered the same customs as the Tang Dynasty. Thinking that Master Tripitaka was feeling homesick, he asked him this question.
Not to mention, Fahai, who originally had no such intention, suddenly thought of Jinshan Temple after hearing the words of the old master.
Various characters from that time seemed to appear in front of my eyes, as well as the full moon in Jiangnan.
"Amitabha." Fahai recited the Buddha's name, and a question rang in his heart: "If White Snake meets Xu Xian again in a few hundred years, there will be no way to achieve both ends. After all, it depends on human beings."
Beautiful love is always desirable.
Fahai, who has been walking in the world for fourteen years, is even more accustomed to the ups and downs, joys and sorrows of the world. In the past, he thought about transcendence and enlightenment, but now he has already understood that what he cares about is not the attainment of the spiritual mountain. Not to mention Arhats and Bodhisattvas. Even if you become a Buddha, it seems that it is not as good as this nostalgic human world.
The poor monk may be a spectator, but who says that the spectator is not in the mortal world?
When the master of the temple saw Master Tripitaka deep in thought, he didn't ask any more questions. He just said when he finally left, "The backyard of my temple is a good place. Master, you can go and relax tomorrow morning."
"good."
After returning to the side room, Fahai placed all the Buddhist scriptures collected along the way in front of him.
The Buddha never prohibited the spread of Mahayana Buddhism in Tianzhu. In fact, there is no need to go to Lingshan Mountain to collect various Buddhist scriptures, even in these private Buddhist temples, they can be collected in full.
Maybe they are not original, or there may be personal belongings brought by the transcriber, but in Fahai's view, these are real Buddhist treasures. Many Buddhist scriptures, even he has never seen them before.
The deeper they go into Tianzhu, the more scriptures Fahai has in his hands, and Fahai seems to understand a little bit why Buddha and Bodhisattva did not send people to send scriptures to Tang Dynasty, but let themselves come to get the scriptures.
It's just words on paper. No matter how subtle the meaning is, no matter how profound the Buddhist teachings contained in it are, it's only the insights of others.
Only by walking through it step by step can you truly appreciate the mystery.
Perhaps in my own world, the Consciousness-only Buddhism passed down by Master Tripitaka has been discontinued for two generations, that is, no one can feel its true meaning. There are times of apparitions.
That is to say, only the Taoist place where the Victorious Buddha and the Pure Altar Messenger are not located in Lingshan can still appear in the human world from time to time.
At this moment, Fahai was thinking, if he were replaced this time, would he be able to reproduce the Dharma of the Consciousness-Only Sect?
But again, it’s all about human effort. If you don’t do it, how will you know if it will work?
After reading the scriptures all night, Fa Hai did not feel tired, but was full of energy and wished he could discuss Buddhism with the eight hundred Arhats.
Looking back, he saw that Bajie didn't look like he was sleeping at all, and when he opened and closed his mouth, he was drooling. He shook his head with a smile, and did not wake him up. He opened the door and stepped out.
Taking a deep breath of the morning air, I felt refreshed and open-minded.
It's just that the three disciples haven't come back yet. It seems that this matter in Jinping Mansion is a big deal. Fahai's brows, which he had finally relaxed in Yuhua Prefecture, are gradually wrinkled again at this moment.
I don’t know what they found.
It is the first month of the year and the New Year is approaching.
Fa Hai remembered the words of the old courtyard master last night, so he walked to the backyard. After walking around, the garden was elegant and the scenery was beautiful. It was indeed a good place to go.
Not long after, the great sage came back first.
When he came to the room, he saw Bajie sleeping soundly, but the absence of the master did not disturb his sweet dream, so he went to look for the master in the back garden.
Seeing the peach blossoms turning red in front of him, and the green willows turning new, the Great Sage reported to the master from the side:
"The disciple went to visit the mansions of the prefects in the city and the noble families in the county. For a while, I didn't see them bullying the people. Even if there are some inappropriate things, it is inevitable. After all, people who use their power to bully others are not uncommon everywhere. However, after careful instruction from the disciples, they were all willing to do good deeds. During this period, the disciples discovered something that seemed ordinary in the local area, but was actually very inappropriate, so they visited for a few more hours, so they came late."
"Tell me carefully." Fa Hai sat in a pavilion.
"I wonder if Master still remembers that the master of the courtyard here once said that during the Lantern Festival in Jinping Mansion, there was a golden lantern bridge?"
Fahai nodded: "This is indeed true, I will remember it."
"My disciple went to explore last night. There are three golden lamps on the Golden Lamp Bridge. The lamps are as big as jars. There is sesame oil in the lamps. This oil is not ordinary oil, but crisp sesame oil. Three lamps, each The cylinder weighs five hundred kilograms, and the three cylinders total one thousand five hundred kilograms. It is said that this lamp is only lit for three nights, that is, last night, tonight and tomorrow night." The Great Sage paused, "The disciple was still surprised at the time, saying that five hundred kilograms of lamp oil , even though there are forty-nine large lanterns in each vat, they are all tied with lanterns, wrapped in silk, and as thick as a chicken. How can they be lit in three nights? People all say that they only light them tomorrow night. Seeing the Buddha appear, the oil will be gone tomorrow night, and the lamp will be dimmed."
"Buddha." From Wukong's words, Fa Hai very keenly extracted the key information. "Where is the Buddha who likes to collect sesame oil for worship?"
Wukong said angrily: "Master, regardless of where the Buddha is from, do you know how much this sesame oil costs?"
"Come on."
"People say that each tael of this oil is worth two taels of silver, and each pound is worth thirty-two taels of silver. These three lamps are worth a total of 48,000 taels of silver. There are also miscellaneous payments for use, and there will be more than 50,000 taels. Two, but it can only be burned for three nights. And these sesame oils are only offered by 240 large lamp oil households every year. Each family spends more than 200 taels of silver per year." The great sage cupped his hands and said: "The prefecture and county's All kinds of work are relatively good, but this big sesame oil owner is very tired."
"This is not a secret. It is a custom that has been passed down in Jinping Mansion for I don't know how many years. It is said that if the oil is enough tomorrow, it means that if the Buddha closes the lamp, the grain will be abundant. If he does not work for a year, he will be old. It causes famine and drought, and the wind and rain are irregular. Therefore, everyone wants to make offerings like this. People all over the city have such legends from ancient times to the present."
"The disciples think that the filthiness of the Buddha's golden body may be related to this matter."
As soon as the Great Sage finished speaking, Wu Jing also came back. He went to investigate the pilgrims everywhere, and he also explained his findings seriously.
The pilgrims were all very devout, and none of them had particularly bad morals. Even if there were some who behaved inappropriately, he had taught them carefully and since then they had devoted themselves to doing good.
Then he also talked about the legend of this golden lamp.
"Disciple went to Mintian County. The county covers an area of 240 miles. Every year, there is a commission of labor to extract sesame oil. The purpose is to use the sesame oil to light golden lamps for three nights to worship the Buddha." Wu Jing paused and then said. He added: "It is also because they know that even big households will be affected, so successive prefects and county magistrates have exempted them from taxes elsewhere and dedicated them to this item. Otherwise, even big households will have a hard time."
The great sage couldn't help but taunted him, "This disciple didn't know who the merciful person was."
"Compassion?" Fahai said, "If it is truly compassionate, then the government should provide money to buy these 1,500 kilograms of sesame oil every year for worship."
After listening to the Master's words, the Great Sage suddenly thought of something else, "Master, do you think this sesame oil was really collected by the Buddha?"
Bajie, who came over at some point, suddenly said, "I think it's probably the Buddha who died. Otherwise, what did the rat spirit we met a while ago eat?"
"Second Senior Brother, I'm afraid you may have misunderstood the Buddha this time." This was the little white dragon who came back last. After landing, he bowed his hands to the master in greeting, and then said: "Master, this disciple has already inquired clearly. Within the jurisdiction of Jinping Mansion, there are A Qinglong Mountain. There is a Xuanying Cave in this Qinglong Mountain. There are three fairies in the cave: the big one is called King Pihan, the second one is called King Pishu, and the third one is called King Pichen. They are three rhinoceros spirits."
"The disciples discovered that they are all fairies who have attained enlightenment for thousands of years. They became spirits since they were children who loved to eat Suhe sesame oil. They came here to pretend to be Buddha statues and coaxed the officials of Jinping Mansion to set up golden lamps and use Suhe sesame oil for the lamp oil. Every year he On the first half of the first lunar month, it is these three demon kings who are acting in the name of the Buddha when they transform the Buddha statue into oil."
"How did you detect it so clearly?" the great sage asked.
"It is also because these rhinoceros spirits have visited my Dragon Palace in the West Sea. When I was young, I heard my father and elder brother mention them. Therefore, when I recognized them in Qinglong Mountain, I went back to the West Sea and asked my elder brother for advice. Then I went to find out whether they were cannibalizing people in Jinping Mansion and causing harm to the whole party. So I came a little late."
"how?"
"They only eat sesame oil, but they have never eaten humans. Because they are all water attributes, they also have some methods of precipitation. Therefore, by collecting the sesame oil, they can ensure that the weather in Jinping Mansion is smooth." Xiao Bailong said: "Precipitation without authorization. It is a grave crime committed by Fan Tian Tiao, but they are doing it in the name of Buddha, and Jinping Mansion is at the foot of Lingshan Mountain and does not even care about Buddha, so it is naturally inconvenient for Heaven to take action, so I, Xihai, have no involvement in this matter."
At this point, Fahai also knew where the filthy air on the Buddha's golden body came from, and why the incense was left in the golden body of the main hall and had not been collected.
"Well" the great sage scratched his head and sighed: "If the three goblins act like this, this matter is actually not particularly expensive. Fifty thousand taels of silver a year can guarantee good weather. Isn't this better than the inspiration of the Tongtian River? Is the king more just?"
Listening to the Great Sage talking about the Tongtian River, everyone also thought of the carp spirit that escaped from the disciples of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Although he is also a spirit that collects offerings and appears, he is a pair of children, a boy and a girl every year.
In comparison, these three rhino spirits only need 1,500 kilograms of Suhe sesame oil every year, which seems to be much more reasonable.
The words are so.
But that’s not how the accounts are calculated.
Because these 1,500 kilograms of sesame oil were not shared by the entire Jinping Mansion, but fell on the 240 large lamp oil companies in Mintian County. Although they were said to be large companies, Wu Jing actually went to see them. No better than ordinary farmers.
Although this Suhe sesame oil is very valuable, the output is very small, and it takes a lot of manpower and material resources.
The sesame oil produced is basically used for worship. In addition to making offerings to this so-called "Buddha", one must also make offerings to the palace.
What you can keep and sell for yourself is almost enough for daily expenses, and there is actually no balance at the end of the year.
Since these three rhino spirits love this Suhe sesame oil so much, how can they do it with only 1,500 kilograms per year?
What they limit is actually production.
They do have some knowledge. They are not just fishing from the lake, but they know how to keep harvesting. Although the annual output is less, it is more durable. It has been a little over a thousand years.
