Fuping County was built in the second year of Hongwu. It is generally rectangular, with a length of 180 feet from east to west and a width of 120 feet from north to south. The city wall is high, thick, and indestructible. It also attracts water from nearby lakes to form a wide and narrow city wall. The deep moat greatly strengthened the defense.
When the rogue army was raging, Fuping County was one of the few cities in Xi'an that did not fall. Because it was not damaged by the war, the people's livelihood was in good condition.
On November 24th, Qin Feng and his party came to Fuping County.
After entering the city, he did not go to the county government office immediately. Instead, he found an inn to stay at, and then spread out his staff to secretly check the situation in the city.
At noon, Qin Feng took Xiong Da and Xiong Er for a stroll to Nanmen Street. Suddenly they heard the sound of drums and trumpets, and then a long team appeared.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
"Boom...boom!"
At the front of the team are twenty young monks, holding Dharma horns and Dharma drums. They are playing hard and clearing the way.
Then came thirty-two strong young monks, carrying four lotus thrones decorated with gold foil, silver foil, and colorful ribbons. On each of them sat a fat monk, wearing a five-Buddha crown and a brocade lanthanum cassock. Holding the Seven Treasures Rosary, it looks solemn.
Behind them were twenty young novice monks, holding Buddhist instruments such as bells, wooden fish, incense burners, wishful thinking, tin staffs, etc., and at the same time recited the Buddhist classic "Great Compassion Mantra" in unison.
"We are going to pay homage to the divine monk. The divine monk has great supernatural powers and boundless magic power!"
"Bless the holy monk and keep the little man and his family safe and free from disasters!"
…
Wherever the procession passed, people were kneeling on the ground, kowtowing, and muttering various words of prayer for blessing.
This situation made Qin Feng and others very curious.
There happened to be a small vendor selling persimmons on the roadside, so I went up to buy some and took advantage of the opportunity to inquire about the news.
"Are some of them from out of town?"
"Exactly, how did you know?"
"Haha, there are none of us locals who don't know about the Four Great Divine Monks. Those who don't know must be outsiders!"
"The Four Great Monks?"
"That's right, they are the four great monks on the lotus throne. All of them have great supernatural powers and boundless magic power!"
…
The conversation was fruitful.
Four great monks, named respectively: Shan Kong, Shan Chai, Shan Shi, and Shan Se, came to Fuping County with more than a dozen disciples more than three months ago. They then went around giving lectures and demonstrating magical powers, and they quickly attracted people. There are a large number of believers and they are respected as the Four Divine Monks!
Today is the auspicious day of the zodiac, and the four great monks are going to preach scriptures and save the world outside the South Gate. This is how the scene just happened!
"Monks... supernatural powers... believers... it's interesting. Come on, let's take a look!"
After asking about the situation, Qin Feng became interested, so he took the Xiong brothers and followed the crowd of people out of the south gate to see what happened.
There is a large open space outside the south gate, in the middle of which a two-foot-two-foot-high Dharma platform was built with bluestones. It is divided into three floors: upper, middle and lower. It is surrounded by Buddhist prayer flags, which are colorful and eye-catching.
"Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, walking in the deep Prajnaparamita for a long time, saw that the five aggregates are all empty, and survived all the hardships. Relic, color is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from color, color is emptiness, emptiness is color..."
Four great monks led a group of young novices to the high platform. They first recited a section of the "Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra" and then began to demonstrate their magical powers.
The first magical power: making money from oil pan!
A large iron pot was placed on a high platform, filled with vegetable oil. Twelve yellow and orange copper coins were thrown into it, and then the charcoal underneath was lit, and a blazing flame soon ignited.
In just a moment, the vegetable oil in the iron pot began to boil and white hot steam came out, showing that the temperature was extremely high.
"Amitabha...Amitabha!"
Immediately afterwards, Shan Kong, one of the four great monks, came to the iron pot, recited several Buddha's names, stood upright, took off his brocade lanthanum cassock, rolled up the sleeves of his gray monk's robe, revealing two white and fat legs. arm.
He raised his arms high to indicate that there was no protection on them, then with a loud shout, he reached into the boiling oil pot and fished out two copper coins.
Stretch out again, fish out again, and there are two more.
…
This was repeated six times, and all twelve copper coins were fished out.
Look at the two arms of the great monk Shankong. They are still white and fat, with no trace of burns at all!
"The holy monk is really powerful and has boundless magical powers!"
"The holy monk has a diamond protection body and is immune to water and fire!"
…
The people watching in the audience immediately became excited. The slogans became louder and louder, and their faces were full of admiration, as if they were seeing the arrival of the true Buddha.
Next, demonstrate the second magical power: killing ghosts and seeing blood.
Kongji, one of the four great monks, stood up, walked around the high platform twice, and then ordered the novice monks to invite a thin young man up.
"Amitabha, this benefactor, I see that your temple is black and your cheeks are sunken. This is because you are possessed by an evil spirit. The evil spirit keeps sucking your energy and spirit. After a while, I am afraid that your life will be in danger." !」
"What, I'm possessed by an evil spirit?"
"That's right, but the donor need not be afraid. Let's see how the poor monk uses some tricks to make this harmful evil spirit reveal its true form and then kill it!"
While he was talking, the great monk Kongji waved, and a young novice monk came over, carrying a peach wood tray, on which were placed yellow watch paper, clear water, talisman water, wooden ring knives and other items.
"Om, mum, mum, hum... the bold evil spirit has not yet revealed his true form... poof!"
Monk Kongji muttered something, then he picked up a piece of yellow form paper, dipped it in some water and put it on the young man's chest. Then he picked up the bowl and took a big mouthful of talisman water and sprayed it on it. The yellow form paper that had nothing on it immediately became A blood-red ghost shadow appeared, with teeth and claws showing, extremely evil!
"Ghosts, there really are ghosts!"
"The divine monk's magical power is so powerful that he immediately made the evil ghost reveal his true form!"
…
"There is a ghost, there really is a ghost in me... Monk, help me!"
Seeing the ghost appear, the people watching screamed in fright.
The thin young man's legs even weakened and he almost collapsed on the ground. Fortunately, he was supported by two young novices next to him.
"Donor, don't be afraid. Watch as the poor monk kills this evil ghost and sends it to the eighteenth level of hell, where he will never be reincarnated!"
The Sian Chay monk murmured something while he picked up the wooden sword next to him and struck the ghost figure three times in a row. Three bloody wounds immediately appeared, which was terrifying.
Then he tore off the yellow form paper and threw it into the charcoal fire nearby, where it quickly turned into ashes!
…
Seeing that the evil ghost was eliminated, the people watching suddenly cheered.
The thin young man knelt on the ground and kowtowed, thanking him for saving his life.
Next, Shanshi and Shanse among the four great monks came on stage one after another and performed the paper turtle swimming and the lamp smoke turning into a snake, and received waves of cheers again.
After demonstrating their supernatural powers, the four great monks began to preach. The content of the sermons was: The way of heaven is lacking, and the end of the world is coming. All living beings will fall into endless hell and suffer unspeakably. Only by worshiping the Buddha sincerely and taking the magic talisman can one escape from hell and enter bliss. world……
After finishing speaking, let the young novice monks distribute magic talismans to the people in the audience.
Of course, the magic talisman is not given for free, you must sincerely worship the Buddha.
How to show sincerity? Naturally, it is proved by external things.
The already enthusiastic people took out their belongings and threw them into several merit boxes in front of the high platform, which were quickly filled to the brim.
There were also some fanatical people who knelt in front of the four great monks, begging to be ordained and become monks, and to follow in their spiritual practice.
…
"The demon monk...the magic stick...damn it!"
Among the crowd, Qin Feng watched the whole process, his eyes suddenly flashed with cold light and murderous intent.
The so-called supernatural powers of the four great monks can deceive others but cannot deceive themselves. It is just a little trick.
That’s all.
Fishing out copper coins from an oil pan: There is just a layer of oil floating on the surface, and white vinegar is underneath. The boiling point of white vinegar is very low. As long as it is slightly heated, a large number of bubbles will be generated, forming the scene of a rolling oil pan. In fact, the temperature inside is not high, so it won’t happen at all. Harmful to human skin.
Kill ghosts and see blood: It's just a chemical reaction between turmeric juice and alkaline water that turns red. Middle school students in later generations will understand that they can play even more smoothly.
…
To put it bluntly, the so-called four great monks are just four charlatans who use some tricks to defraud ignorant people of their wealth.
If they were just defrauding the property, the harm would not be too great, but if the four demon monks had ulterior motives to deceive believers and gather people to rebel, it would be a big trouble.
And such things are not uncommon in history!
For example, during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Maitreya Mahayana sect tampered with Buddhist doctrines, preached the Three Suns Tribulation, and then deceived ignorant people into killing people to accumulate merit. They also said that killing one person was a Bodhisattva of one abode, and killing ten people was a Bodhisattva of ten abodes. They also combined it with crazy drugs. It makes people submissive, so that father, son and brothers do not know each other, and the only thing they do is kill!
During the Song Dynasty, the White Lotus Sect used witchcraft to intimidate the people and amass wealth. They also organized a skirmishing army to attack cities and plunder lands, killing people and setting fires, which caused great damage to society.
The Red Lotus Sect, Green Lotus Sect, White Sun Sect, Manichae Sect, etc. that appeared one after another... are all like this, confusing the people and causing great harm to others!
…
The four demon monks must be eliminated immediately before they become too big.
Mobilize troops and horses to arrest four monsters and show their heads to the public?
That’s not right!
Qin Feng looked at the people around him who were already in a frenzy and shook his head helplessly.
If the army is mobilized to arrest people, the four demon monks will definitely incite the people to resist. In that case, many innocent people will die, and they cannot just sit idly by. What should we do?
Worry!
