one
Recently, I took a trip to Qingcheng Mountain.
The founder of Chinese Taoism, Zhang Tianshi, a figure deified by later generations, is said to have attained Taoism and founded the religion in Qingcheng Mountain. Qingcheng Mountain became famous because of this.
In fact, before Zhang Tianshi, Qingcheng Mountain was already a famous mountain in ancient times. According to the "Historical Records·Fengchan Book", after Qin Shihuang unified the world, he ordered the officials responsible for worshiping temples to catalog the famous mountains and rivers across the country and uniformly stipulate the levels of the temples. At that time, there were 18 famous mountains listed as national sacrificial temples, two of which were in Sichuan, namely Dushan and Jiangci. This Jiang Temple is the ancient name of Qingcheng Mountain.
Qingcheng Mountain belongs to the Qionglai Mountains, backed by lofty snow-capped mountains and facing the open and fertile Chengdu Plain. "There are tens of millions of mountains in the southwest of Shu, and Qingcheng Peak is the most mentioned in the Immortal Scripture." Qian Qi's poem tells the status of Qingcheng Mountain in Bashu. Its value is more likely to be listed in the "Immortal Scripture". When I was in it and saw the green mountains and green springs, a sense of nostalgia came to me. "Since ancient times, famous mountains have waited for saints." Mr. Yu Youren's sigh when he visited Qingcheng Mountain also inspired the sense of vicissitudes in my heart.
Since the Han Dynasty, many civil servants, military officers, poets, poets, and alchemists in the past dynasties have come to Qingcheng Mountain and written their ideals of life, the ups and downs of the world, and the desire to enter the world of immortals on the rolling white clouds in the mountains. Under the lonely green light of the palace. In China, those whose merits and deeds will last forever will be given incense in a temple after their death, or simply listed among the gods. At the highest level of Taoist ideals, humans and gods are integrated. But I think it is impossible for saints and gods to become one. In ancient classics, those who made elixirs and made talismans, and achieved immortality by eating with deer and rosy clouds, were called gods. Sages refer to those with high moral standards and great wisdom who point out the direction of human life. Famous mountains are to gods, just like clouds are to the sky, and trees are to the earth. They are a mutually beneficial relationship. Like the Yellow Emperor to Kongtong Mountain, Laozi to Zhongnan Mountain, and Zhang Tianshi to Qingcheng Mountain. It’s impossible not to have the best of both worlds and complement each other. This seems to have become a stereotype. When people visit famous mountains and rivers, they often want to visit the relics of gods. With the development and popularization of science, people now no longer believe in the existence of gods. However, in order to resist the needs of secular life and the psychological desire to escape the pain of reality, people are still willing to let the ethereal world of gods temporarily paralyze their souls. On this issue, even those wise people who are well versed in Buddhist scriptures cannot avoid the common practice. There are several couplets in Qingcheng Mountain that can illustrate this problem:
Blessed places prove karma, meet by chance, who is the host and who is the guest
Famous mountains push the leader, sit on a futon quietly, half-hermit and half-immortal
Written by Yang Naiwen
A curtain of flower shadows meets the end of the Luan
Fragrant sesame and deer fetus all over the ground
Written by Zhang Wentao
The bell strikes the moon, the chime rests and the clouds return. Is it not a fairy island? Could it be a fairy island?
Birds bring spring, the wind blows flowers away, this is the human world, not the human world
Written by Anonymous
In their eyes, Qingcheng Mountain is the paradise where gods live. A ray of sunshine, a bouquet of flowers and grass, a curtain of dreams, and a green lamp are all projections of the souls of gods, and they can soothe the painful hearts of the world. "Troubles in all directions have brought us here." Don't simply interpret these tribulations as war and displacement. In fact, how many days in our lives are not lived through troubled times.
Gods are carefree. Career and fame, family livelihood, right and wrong, grievances, birth, old age, illness and death. As humans, we cannot escape all these hardships, but they never interfere with the lives of gods. This is the reason why people yearn for gods.
People who enjoy themselves immediately say: Prosperity, wealth and honor are like gods. I suspect this is what poor people say. People who can't even eat enough carrots and cabbage will naturally think that fatness, wine and meat are the life of gods. But those who have good food and clothing think that immortality is a god. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Xu Fu to lead five hundred boys and girls across the sea to find the elixir of immortality for him. Emperor Heng of the Han Dynasty "poorly sat down in front of the table in the middle of the night and did not ask the common people or ghosts and gods." He put aside national affairs and ignored the sufferings of the people and asked how to become an immortal. It can be seen that immortality is the first element of immortality. Therefore, all officials in the past dynasties would kneel down and shout "Long live my emperor, long live, long live my emperor" when meeting the emperor. During the ***, the slogan "Wish Mao Mao a long life without borders" also resounded inside and outside the Great Wall of China, all over the country.
A folk proverb says: "A lie told a thousand times will become the truth." But lies such as "Long live, long live, long live" will never become reality even if told a hundred billion times. Among those emperors who accepted the worship of hundreds of officials and people, who else is alive in this world? Before her death, Queen Elizabeth said: "I am willing to use all my wealth in exchange for a moment of life." But the cruel laws of nature refused to make such an exchange.
For ordinary poor people, great wealth and great honor are out of reach, but immortality is both out of reach and unattainable for those who are rich and noble.
two
I walked slowly on the quiet mountain road of Qingcheng Mountain. It's a hot July day at the foot of the mountain, but it's as cool as autumn on the mountain. The dense woods protect pedestrians from the scorching sun, and the cool wind brings the fragrance of flowers. I think that living quietly in such a beautiful environment, not to mention the Taoist monk Zhang Tianshi, but even ordinary people will feel refreshed, their mood will calm down, and their thinking will gradually become more active.
I visited Shangqing Palace, Laojun Pavilion, Chaoyang Cave and other palaces in turn, and finally came to Tianshi Cave.
Tianshi Cave, also known as Changdao Temple, is the cave where the first generation Zhang Tianshi practiced. The core of Qingcheng Mountain Taoism is also here. The palace with more than 7,000 square meters is built on the mountain flat between Baiyun River and Haitang River. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and is airtight, but the Baiyun Valley facing the Gongguan Mountain Gate is an open land. Whether it is a misty spring morning or a misty autumn night, standing in front of this mountain gate, you can appreciate the changes in the mountains and rivers in the four seasons.
I strolled through the quiet courtyard of Chang Taoist Temple, passing through more than a dozen large and small patios and winding corridors. I saw the cave where Zhang Tianshi practiced in turn, and the ginkgo tree that was said to have been planted by him, where several people hugged each other. Occasionally, I also read the stone inscriptions scattered around the courtyard and the couplets and poems inscribed among the pillars. . A huge sense of tranquility and the warmth of ancient culture enveloped me. The ancient religionists were also masters of creating atmosphere. They worked hard to turn the illusory world of gods and goddesses into a reality.
However, in this courtyard, I am still thinking about why Mr. Yu Youren came up with this idea when he visited Qingcheng Mountain: Since ancient times, famous mountains have been waiting for saints rather than gods.
Regarding saints, I have already defined them before. In the five thousand years of Chinese history, only Confucius has ever received the title of "sage". Comparing the standards of Confucius, it is impossible for China to have another saint, but there are many great ones. Qin Shihuang, Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, Tang Taizong, Sun Yat-sen, and Mao Zedong are all great men. To use an inappropriate analogy, saints are designers of human life, while great men are engineers of human life. They are operational masters who turn the saint's blueprint into reality. In this way, Marx can be regarded as a saint, because Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Castro all built a country based on his theories.
Since the beginning of human civilization, there have indeed been very few people who can reach the level of saints. Sakyamuni, Jesus, Mohammed, Confucius, and Marx are all saints worthy of the name. There are countless contradictions in human life, but there is only one basic contradiction: the contradiction between spirit and body. The above-mentioned saints all proposed a complete set of solutions to this basic contradiction. These people became religious leaders. Marx's status as a religious leader is not obvious, but he is, after all, the spiritual leader of hundreds of millions of Communists around the world. In a sense, religious leaders and spiritual leaders are two aspects of the same thing, that is to say, they are connected with each other. The highest level of politics is religion. If it is difficult to understand in this way, we can put it another way: the process of human beings realizing religious ideals, the means and methods adopted, is politics.
As a veteran of the Kuomintang, Yu Youren devoted himself to politics all his life. He came to Qingcheng Mountain during the Anti-Japanese War, when the mountains and rivers were broken and the people were ravaged by Japanese pirates. The mood at that time must have been "as soon as I climbed up the stairs, I felt relaxed". He may feel bitterly that the country's strength is weak and people are in ruins because there are no saints in this country. Without the guidance of saints, politicians will only make things worse. As a politician, Yu Youren must have understood this deeply from his own perspective, so he lamented that "famous mountains have been waiting for saints since ancient times."
However, famous mountains and saints can be encountered but cannot be sought. According to Buddhist scriptures, Sakyamuni preached the Dharma on Lingjiu Mountain, causing flowers to fall from the sky. This Lingjiu Mountain is lucky. Our Chinese sage, Kong, climbed Mount Tai and became a small world. Mount Tai was lucky to have such a saint come to us. But generally speaking, there are many famous mountains in the world but too few saints. As a result, more famous mountains can only be used by monks and Taoists to live in humble dwellings and celebrities can visit them. I think this is due to the short history of human civilization. If the AD era had ten thousand or one hundred thousand years, our earth would probably have too few famous mountains and too many saints.
But what I doubt is that even if a saint comes out, will we humans really have peace of mind in life? Judging from the above-mentioned saints who have appeared, although they have had an extremely profound impact on human life, this impact will continue and even intensify. But isn’t today’s human life still dominated by the jungle and full of dangers? Moreover, the most troublesome thing is that these saints we recognize also have different opinions. The human beings who followed them were divided into several incompatible camps. They "make a noise while you sing and then I will appear on the stage." The lighter ones fight with red faces and the heavier ones fight against each other. The sage Confucius said: "You will not survive if you make trouble for yourself." Human beings are born with aggression and are self-produced. In the face of such an essence, even if a thousand or ten thousand saints appear, they will not be able to save the final outcome of human tragedy.
Expecting saints to save us ignorant humans is just the kind wish of the wise. "If the mountains and rivers are waiting for you, the flowers and willows will be even more selfless." However, what about the selflessness of mountains, rivers and trees? When humans were building their spiritual homes, they did not think of using them as building materials!
three
Famous mountains are to saints, just like horses are to heroes, beauties are to celebrities, they complement each other. However, Xiang Yu kisses the neck, where is his black young horse? Qian Qianyi died, and Liu Rushi could only commit suicide by throwing herself into the ring. Although Mount Tai, which Confucius climbed, is the most valuable of the Five Mountains, today's people who are seeking fame and fortune would rather go to Diaoyutai to find a national leader to take a picture than go to the top of Mount Tai. , experience the Yunshui mentality of "climbing Mount Tai and minimizing the world". In the eyes of those who seek fame and fortune, big names are more important than Mount Tai, but Mount Tai is lighter than a feather.
In today's economic boom, a word has come out called "celebrity effect". For example, if you let celebrities advertise, the product will sell better. If you hold an ordering fair and let celebrities help, the orders from this ordering fair will increase greatly. In the eyes of businessmen, everything in society is measured by the ruler of "profit", which is unfortunate. What is even more unfortunate is that in today's China, everyone seems to be a businessman. Someone once joked: "A piece of wood falling on the street can hit three general managers." From the perspective of society, this may be a kind of progress, but from the perspective of the history of civilization, it may be a kind of degeneration.
After the "celebrity effect", there is also the term "famous mountain effect". There is a certain famous mountain in a certain region, and the leaders of the region are thinking hard about how to use this famous mountain to promote the development of the regional economy. When a big businessman comes, the leaders must send out all their troops to accompany him to the famous mountain, in order to get him to invest here. Although it is a good thing to "serve as an official for a long time and bring benefits to one party", it may not be feasible to place all your hopes on businessmen. Nowadays, when you walk in famous mountains all over China, the people on the mountain roads are either big officials or big businessmen. At this point, you may sigh that the era of "famous mountains have been waiting for saints since ancient times" has passed, and today it has been replaced by "famous mountains have been waiting for businessmen since ancient times." If Mr. Yu Youren is here, how will he feel?
The world is declining and material desires are rampant. This is because there are no saints. Today's politicians, whether from the East or the West, are all about treating the head when it hurts and the foot when it hurts. Humanity is embarking on an unprecedented battle for wealth. In this war, the value of famous mountains depends on whether they can be turned into money-making tools.
From the killing of war to the grabbing of wealth, human beings have obviously entered from one misunderstanding to another.
Four
After visiting the courtyard of Tianshi Cave, I sat down in the tea shed in the courtyard and ordered a pot of tribute tea to taste slowly. The tea soup is light yellow and slightly bitter. When drinking, the whole body feels cool. "The wind blows the pine trees, and the moon shines on the mountains and plays the piano." When I visited Qingcheng Mountain, I maintained this leisurely mood. However, the reverie caused by the phrase "Since ancient times, famous mountains have been waiting for saints", but some confusion seeped into my leisurely life.
I bought a copy of "Qingcheng Mountain Chronicles" compiled by modern people in Tianshi Cave. When I came back and read it, I really liked one of the poems in it:
I was busy picking up my tattered cassocks, and it was already late to put my gear in order.
I leave the cave with white clouds brushing my sleeves, and cross the horizon with the bright moon on my shoulders.
It's a pity that new birds are singing on the branches, and it's hard to leave the old flowers planted by the fence.
I told the dogs and cats to follow me, and I don’t need to live in other people’s homes.
This poem is carved on the rock wall of Baiyun Ten Thousand Buddhas Cave in the back mountain of Qingcheng. The author of the poem is obviously a scholar who saw through his fame and became a monk. He abandoned the fetters of the world and wandered in the woods and springs, surrounded by flowers, birds, and dogs and cats. What kind of saint, what kind of businessman, what kind of celebrity, these words have probably been forgotten by him for a long time.
As I write this, I wish I could pack my bags right away and, like him, live a life of "carrying the moon on my shoulders to the end of the world".
