Chapter 4 03 Avalokitesvara with Thousand Hands

"Sometimes, I am very envious of the clergy, because anyone who finds them has already made some kind of psychological preparation." On a boring afternoon, the partner threw down the notebook in his hand, without thinking Such a sentence popped up. I thought for a while: "Are you referring to attitude?" Partner: "That's right, monks or priests are much more relaxed than us, at least they don't have to delve into the damn causes, they only need to follow the teachings to comfort the parties, or warn them when necessary." I took off my glasses and rubbed my eyes: "The servants of God, don't teach the doctrine, so let them also conduct psychological analysis? I think this is very good, at least temples and churches will not compete with us."

Partner: "So, you don't have to rack your brains..." Me: "I remember you said that you once had the idea of ​​going to seminary when you were a child, but now you are tempted again?" Partner: "Actually, I've been in a state of uncertainty." I looked at him curiously: "This is not like you, I thought you would never be entangled, is there anything you can't let go of if you haven't become a monk?" Partner: "No, no, that's not the problem." Me: "What is that?" My partner looked at me solemnly: "Because I have never seen the Buddha appearing before, and I have never been inspired by the Lord."

Me: "You mean you need a miracle?" The partner nodded, didn't say anything more, and ended the topic I thought would continue with silence. A few days later, when a monk appeared at the door of the clinic, I couldn't help but stare at the back of my partner for a long time, because I had to suspect that the guy seemed to have some kind of sentience. "...So, you can hypnotize here?" The monk took off his hat and his coarse coat, revealing the two ring scars on his head and the khaki monk robe on his body.He looked about 40 years old. The partner quickly glanced at the monk: "Yes, but the fee is not low, and it will not be discounted because of status." His greed for money is never written on his face, but shown in practical actions.

The monk smiled faintly: "Okay, no problem." Then, he took out a small cloth bag from his arms, opened it, and found a credit card from it, "When shall we start?" I stood in the hallway outside the door, sternly looking at my unscrupulous partner, who responded with an innocent face. Me: "Do you dare to take anything?" The partner showed a confused expression: "What's the situation?" Me: "This is a monk..." Partner: "Shouldn't there be psychological problems in serving God?" Me: "That's not what I mean, Buddhism has money precepts..."

Partner: "That's right, so he swiped his card!" I looked at this greedy guy tangled for a while: "Don't be stupid, I didn't mean that monks can't touch money, but they shouldn't have their own property." Partner: "What's new about this, there are accountants in temples now... you mean he's a fake?" Me: "No... The problem is that you can't tell the truth from the fake. It's fine if it's fake. If it's real, is it appropriate to charge money?" My partner looked at me puzzled: "Why did you suddenly become so devout? What about the sky-high consecration fees and huge incense fees in those temples? I don't think there is anything wrong with the fees?"

I froze there, momentarily at a loss for words, not knowing what to say. My partner looked at me with a half-smile: "Well, I'll talk to him first, and then you decide whether to hypnotize or not." I hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded. "You are too out of date." After speaking, he shook his head, turned and returned to the reception room. After arranging for the monk to sit down in the study, the partner turned around and went to another room to get his notebook. I poured a glass of water and put it in front of the monk: "Excuse me... um... which temple do you belong to?"

The monk smiled and said a temple name.It was a temple on the outskirts of the city. I had heard of it, and it was well-known locally. Me: "You... If you have some kind of confusion, shouldn't you solve it through practice? Why did you think of coming to us?" The monk still maintained a peaceful face: "Faith is belief. Some problems are better understood by professionals. After all, this is the age of science. Westerners believe in God, but isn't the industry of psychological counseling developed in their place? " "This master is right." His partner came in with a notebook from the door, "Faith can solve most of the problems, but sometimes you need to turn to other disciplines." He glanced at me glance.

I didn't say anything more, and sat aside embarrassingly. The partner sat down, spread out the notebook, put his elbows on the table, clasped his hands together, leaned forward, with a meaningful smile on his face: "Master, what's your question?" Monk: "I have been a monk for 5 years, and I have always been fine. Recently I started to have nightmares, but I couldn't remember what it was when I woke up. I only remembered that the dream content was related to Guanyin." Partner: "Avalokitesvara? Avalokitesvara?" Monk: "No, Avalokitesvara, do you know?"

Partner: "I don't know much about religion... Does Avalokitesvara really have 1,000 hands?" Monk: "No, Avalokitesvara actually only has 40 arms." Partner: "Then why is it called 'Avalokitesvara'?" Monk: "The records in various scriptures are different, and personal understandings are also different. Some temples do enshrine the Avalokitesvara with 1,000 arms." The partner nodded: "Why did you become a monk 5 years ago?" The monk glanced out of the window, pondered for a while before opening his mouth: "After my family passed away, I couldn't accept the truth for a few years, and then I was instructed by a wandering monk...that's it."

Partner: "Understood. You just said that you started to have nightmares recently, and you haven't had them before, right?" The monk thought for a while: "It was normal before." At this moment, a trace of hesitation flashed quickly in his eyes, and it was fleeting.But I still see it. Partner: "So, do you remember what was in the dream?" Monk: "Can't remember, so I want to recreate the dream through hypnosis... When will we start?" Partner: "Soon, but usually there are some preparatory work before hypnosis, such as talking to learn some other information about you, as well as some elements in the dream that left the deepest impression on you, etc."

Monk: "Oh, okay, let me think about it...the dream also...by the way, I still remember seeing the lotus throne in the dream." Partner: "Where is the Buddha sitting?" Monk: "That's right." Partner: "It's beautiful...uh... I mean, gorgeous?" Monk: "No, holy!" The partner nodded: "Yes, holy... But, in this case, this dream doesn't look terrible." Monk: "I have thought about this too. At the beginning, this dream was not a nightmare, but then... and then... I can't remember it clearly." Partner: "Have you asked your master about this? You should have a master, right?" The monk sighed: "Master is always busy and is often away from the monastery. I can't find a chance to ask him. However, I have asked my senior brother." Partner: "What did he say? Demon barrier?" Monk: "Because I couldn't tell what kind of nightmare it was, my brother said maybe I wasn't diligent enough and asked me to chant sutras. But that's where the problem lies. The more I chant sutras, meditate, and do my homework, the more It's easy to have that nightmare..." Partner: "Wait, you mean, do you always have that dream?" The monk nodded solemnly. Partner: "Did anything else happen besides the nightmare?" "Other..." The monk lowered his head and thought for a while, "There is..." Partner: "What is it?" Monk: "Occasionally after sitting in meditation, I went to see the Avalokitesvara statue, and found that the evil side...well... is more obvious." Partner: "The evil side? I don't understand." Monk: "The statue of Avalokitesvara enshrined in the temple has 40 arms and 11 faces, which means it has 11 faces." Partner: "Every face has a different expression?" Monk: "Yes, there are those who are compassionate, those who enter concentration, those who show beauty, and those who are vicious." Partner: "Why are there vicious ones?" Monk: "'God's grace is like the sea, god's power is like prison', you must have heard of it." Partner: "So it's like this, I understand. It means that every time you finish your homework and go to see the statue of Avalokitesvara, you always find that the fierce face is the most obvious, isn't that right?" The monk nodded. Partner: "May I ask what kind of occupation you were in before you entered Buddhism?" Monk: "Be a carpenter in the village." Partner: "Before you became a monk, were you married?" Monk: "No." Partner: "Is the family objecting?" Monk: "My parents passed away, and I have no brothers or sisters." Partner: "What about the property before becoming a monk? Are they all sold?" Monk: "I am alone and have no property at all." Partner: "An offensive word: What did the wandering monk who instructed you to become a monk tell you?" The monk thought for a while: "It's roughly like 'The Sea of ​​Suffering Is Endless'." "Hmm..." The partner nodded thoughtfully. "Let's hypnotize him." The partner hung up the phone and glanced at the hypnosis room through the glass door as he spoke. The monk was sitting calmly on the sofa at this moment, tilting his head and waiting, seemingly admiring the hypnosis Light music playing in the room. Me: "I think so too, because according to my personal experience, this monk seems to have...a problem." My partner looked at me with interest: "You found out too? Tell me." Me: "It seems that this man is very religious, but there are other motives behind his piety." Partner: "Well, that's right. He's definitely different from those who are religious fanatics at the bottom of their bones... any more?" Me: "You asked if it was just when he started having that nightmare recently, he was lying... um... I mean lying to a certain extent, he was probably disturbed by other nightmares before, maybe not necessarily It's a dream... and what's more, he deliberately played down many problems before he became a monk." The partner put his index finger on his lower lip and stroked it back and forth, without saying a word. Me: "Also, there is one more thing I'm not sure about..." Partner: "What?" Me: "Visual effects, you know? He said he could see the ferocious face of Avalokitesvara, which is particularly obvious. I guess there is... um... how to say it?" Partner: "You want to say something like psychological projection? In religion, it's called a 'demon'." Me: "That's right, that's the one. I only see the key points related to my own thinking." Partner: "Very well, it seems that I don't need to order anything. Start?" Me: "I'll go get ready and set up a video camera for me." The monk looked at me calmly: "Can I remember what I said during hypnosis?" I took out the pen from my coat pocket and held it in my hand: "Yes, if necessary, I will give you a hint when the hypnosis is about to end, and you will remember it. It doesn't matter if there is confusion in short-term memory, there is a camera." I Pointing to the camera behind him. The monk took a deep breath: "Okay... I remember what you said just now: don't meditate, don't concentrate, relax. Let's start." I nodded: "Yes, that's it... as you said... relax... take your breath slowly... that's fine... I'll take you back to that dream you wanted to go to... ..." The monk's body began to lean back. Me: "You feel a heavy weight on your shoulders... imagine... you are in a dark tunnel... far ahead, the end of the tunnel..." The monk began to relax a certain vigilance and was slowly entering the state. I carefully and cautiously avoided words that irritated him, and it took me several minutes to let his head tilt on the back of the sofa. "...you're almost at the end of the tunnel..." His breathing was slow and heavy. "3..." "2……" "1……" "Tell me, what kind of dream was that?" The partner sat on the chair not far behind the monk with a half-smile. Monk: "Light...is light..." Me: "What kind of light?" Monk: "...Holy... Eternal... Compassionate..." Me: "What's in that light?" Monk: "...here...is this a holy place? There are...colorful...lights everywhere." Me: "Well, you're in the Holy Land. What else?" The monk had a yearning and pious look on his face: "That...is a lotus...my Buddha...compassion..." Me: "Is the Buddha on the lotus throne?" Monk: "I...can't see...the light...can't see clearly..." I waited patiently for a while: "Now? Can you see it?" Monk: "Look...I saw...it is...Avalokitesvara..." Me: "Is it tall?" Monk: "Yes..." Me: "And what happened?" Monk: "Is there a... sound?" He seemed unsure. Me: "What sound?" Monk: "...Someone is shouting..." Me: "Can you hear what you're shouting?" The monk twisted his body uneasily: "...kill..." My partner and I were stunned, and after a quick exchange of glances, I continued to ask: "Is someone shouting 'kill'?" Monk: "...it is..." Me: "The 'kill' of 'kill'?" Monk: "'killing'...'killing'..." Me: "Who is shouting? Can you see it?" Monk: "I...can't see, only...only sound..." Me: "Then you..." The monk interrupted me suddenly: "Avalokitesvara...Avalokitesvara with Thousand Hands...has changed!" Me: "Changed? What has become?" Monk: "The faces, those faces, have changed!" Me: "What has become?" Monk: "Other... other..." Me: "What kind of face does it look like?" Monk: "Like a devil in hell." Me: "And then?" Monk: "...come down from the throne...I...I..." Me: "Is Guanyin coming for you?" Monk: "Yes." At this point, he gripped the fabric of the sofa and appeared to be sweating. Me: "Is Avalokitesvara chasing you?" Monk: "Yes... chase me... kill me..." Me: "Are you running away?" Monk: "I'm running...but it hurts..." Me: "What hurts? Your body hurts?" The monk was already dripping with sweat: "Yes..." Why do I?" Monk: "Grass... all turned into blades... blood... a lot of blood..." I think if it goes on like this, it won't be long before he wakes up from the hypnosis.So, I looked up at my partner and asked for his opinion on whether to end the hypnosis early. The partner shook his head. I thought about it carefully, and continued to ask: "You bleed a lot, didn't you?" The monk didn't seem to hear my inquiry: "Grass, those grasses, trees, are all blades! Blood... all... a sea of ​​blood! Blades! I can't run anymore... I'm about to overtake... Save me Me! Brother save me! Master save me! Buddha save me! That face! Don’t kill me!" At this moment, his body was tense to a certain extent, and he was waving his limbs on the sofa stiffly, as if he could jump at any time look the same. I glanced at my partner again, and he still shook his head. Monk: "That face! Bodhisattva save me! Help! Help! Dad! Mom! I was wrong! I was wrong!!!" The partner nodded at this time. Immediately, I quickly told the monk in front of me who was almost soaked in clothes and was about to go into a frenzy: "When I count to '3', you will wake up and remember what was said in the hypnosis..." Suddenly, he jumped up suddenly, stared at me for a long time with a face full of horror, then looked around for a while, and then slumped on the ground weakly. he woke up. We buckled up the oxygen mask and watched the monk's breathing gradually calm down. Partner: "I'll watch the video later, take a break first, it's just a dream, calm down." The monk lay there, nodding feebly. My partner suggested that I go to the back of the hypnosis room. After closing the glass door, he asked me, "Did you guess it?" I thought about it for a few seconds: "Roughly... right? Not sure." Partner: "I'm basically sure, but I can only let him talk about the details. I can't speculate on this." Me: "Can you tell me, what are you sure about?" The partner glanced at the monk lying on the sofa in the hypnosis room again, and lowered his voice: "He should be a fugitive, a fugitive who killed someone." This is not what I thought, so I looked at him puzzled. Partner: "What? It's not the same as your idea?" Me: "Uh...how are you sure he killed someone? I don't think that points to..." My partner interrupted me: "I think that the self-condemnation in his dream stems from his past behavior. You must have heard this point. Killing, it must mean killing people, otherwise there would not be such a heavy self." Condemnation. And at the end of the dream, he begged his senior brother, master and Buddha to save him, which proves that he has been using some way to escape the crimes he once committed..." Me: "You mean he became a monk because of this?" Partner: "His initial motivation for becoming a monk should not be self-salvation, but to escape the wanted." I nodded: "Well, maybe..." Partner: "However, during the process of becoming a monk, he had some kind of regret for his past behavior. It was not a remorse for exempting sin, but a confession from the heart, which is why he had this dream." Me: "But... don't you think it's a bit far-fetched?" The partner raised his wrist and looked at his watch: "I don't have time to go into details now. I'll talk to you in detail after I finish what I have to do. Don't talk for a while, let me talk to him." I didn't understand what time he was referring to: "Time? What time? You've already confirmed it, so what are you talking about?" The partner looked at me seriously: "Give him a chance to turn himself in, otherwise he will never be redeemed." After watching the video, the monk turned pale and began to fidget. He was no longer the calm and peaceful priest when he first entered the door. Partner: "Dreams are like this, you should remember everything by now, right?" Monk: "Well, I... see, thank you, it seems to be a demonic obstacle, I must not be diligent enough in my homework..." He stood up after speaking. Partner: "Huh? Are you leaving?" Monk: "It's getting late, it's time to go back... I think I still have to practice hard, thank you for helping me recall that dream..." He stood up and walked towards the door in a panic. I glanced at my partner, he motioned me to be quiet, and calmly waited for the monk to reach the corridor before speaking: "Once you step out of this door, no one can save you." The monk froze and stood there stiffly. Although I can't see his expression at this time, I can guess it. The partner continued slowly: "Your coat is in the reception room, you can take it and leave, we won't stop you. But... once you leave here, there is really no one to save you. " The monk turned his head, and sure enough, his expression was shocked: "I...don't understand what you're talking about..." Partner: "Come back and sit down, this is the last chance." The monk stood at the door for a few minutes, then slowly returned to the sofa and sat down.He was emotionally unstable at this time, and seemed to be hesitating all the time. The partner deliberately slowed down his tone: "It's our profession to study human psychology, so many things can't be hidden from us. Not only us, I believe you can't hide it from your master, so you don't even dare to mention this to him. You didn't Remember all dreams." The monk did not speak, but stared at his partner.At this time, I was preparing for the worst in my heart-frontal conflict. Partner: "You have killed people, and you became a monk out of evasion of the law. But you know very well that whenever you really devote yourself to your faith, your past will be vivid in your mind. So, from this perspective Say, that is indeed your demonic barrier. However, this demonic barrier cannot be broken by eating fast and chanting scriptures. You know this better than me. I don’t want to say that I am here to enlighten you or help you. I just want to I want to remind you that all of this is fate. Now the choice is yours, which is almost the same as it was a few years ago." The monk froze for a while, then slowly lowered his head. The partner pulled the chair closer, kept the forward-leaning posture, bowed down and looked into the monk's eyes, and released the last weight: "One step, just one step, heaven or hell." The monk was silent for a long time, and finally spoke tremblingly: "I, I used to be a gambler, and I refused to change after repeated admonitions, so my wife ran away with the child. My mother was mad at me...but...but I am still obsessed...There is Once I asked my dad for money and was scolded by him, I just... I just... him... I, I am a beast..." When he said this, big tears fell on his knees , "I ran away for two years. Once when I was starving to death in the mountains, I met a monk who saved me... Later... Later I felt that he found out that I had killed someone, because he always persuaded Me: I still have to take the initiative to atone for the evil I have accumulated too much, otherwise...otherwise I will struggle in hell forever...I will...kill him too...and then wear his clothes and go around pretending to be a monk...until the current master took me in … At the very beginning, I was still thinking that I would be fine after a few years of patience. Later, when I listened to Master’s lecture, I really thought of taking refuge. But in the past few years, the sins I committed were always Over and over again in front of my eyes... I have recited the scriptures hundreds of times, but it was useless... I didn't dare to tell the master, so I sneaked to find you... I didn't expect it...it seems to be destined." He looked up at his partner and smiled helplessly.At this point, he had tears streaming down his face. The partner frowned and looked at him for a while: "You have made mistakes again and again until now." The monk closed his eyes and nodded. Partner: "Can I guess what was the last sentence of that monk you killed before he died? Four words, right?" The monk opened his eyes and looked at his partner in surprise, his lips were trembling. The partner stared into his eyes and told him word by word: "It's time to turn around." The monk couldn't bear it anymore, fell to his knees, clutched the floor with both hands, and wept bitterly. After recording the testimony, it was already very late. After entering the study, my partner opened the window, took out a cigarette from the drawer, lit it himself, and then threw me one too.He rarely smokes and doesn't let me smoke here, so I'm a little surprised by his behavior now. "Today's event is a bit interesting." He leaned against the window and threw the lighter to me as he said. I sat at the desk and lit a cigarette, then looked at him: "No, you have to tell me the whole idea, I can't figure out how you found out, because in my opinion, this is too outrageous." The partner thought for a while: "Well... I know... let's start from the beginning when he came in." I shifted so that I was facing him. Partner: "When he first came, I felt very strange, because Buddhism attaches great importance to cultivating the mind. Regarding things like dreams, the monks' views are basically linked to their state of mind, and they would never come to us for clarification. So, I know this People have problems. When he talked to me next, he mentioned that he dreamed of Avalokitesvara, and I already learned a lot of information." I expressed my incomprehension: "Isn't that just the beginning? How could you..." My partner interrupted me: "Remember when he mentioned Avalokitesvara, he asked me if I understood it? My answer was 'I don't know'. In fact, I lied." I thought about it carefully: "I did ask... But, I still don't understand what happened to Avalokitesvara." Partner: "During our conversation, he also said that Avalokitesvara does not have 1,000 hands, but only 40 or more arms. Let's not go into this further, what I want to say is that Avalokitesvara in his dream It represents the meaning. If you don’t understand the Thousand-Handed Avalokitesvara, you will definitely not be able to understand what it means in his dream.” Me: "OK, tell me." Partner: "In the 40 palms of Avalokitesvara, each has an eye, and those eyes will emit a light of compassion when opened, and each light of compassion contains 25 ways of liberation and redemption. Together, there are 1,000 kinds in total. The way of liberation and redemption, so the full name of Avalokitesvara is 'Great Compassion Thousand-Armed Thousand-Eye Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva'." Me: "So that's it...the appearance of Avalokitesvara in his dream represents salvation...this is really beyond my knowledge...how did you know?" My partner smiled: "Did you forget? When I was young, I planned to engage in theology...Let's talk about it, so when he asked me, I deliberately said that I didn't know the allusion of Avalokitesvara, so that he could say it with confidence." More. And, you were half right. The Avalokitesvara that appeared in his dream did represent salvation, but the redeemers hunted him down. Think about it, his very serious ego that came from the subconscious Condemnation... I can't think of any more reasonable cause other than killing people. Therefore, when the hypnosis is over and I understand the content of his dreams, I can conclude that he has killed people... It's not my random guess. " Me: "That's right... I can understand that the grass and trees turned into blades. It alludes to the days when he fled. The grass and trees were all soldiers. I can also understand the sea of ​​blood. It should come from the scene after he killed someone, and he was captured by him." The religion you believe in has been magnified, and it is estimated that there may be concepts such as the sea of ​​​​blood and hell in it... But what about the lotus throne? Does it have meaning?" Partner: "The lotus throne may be a bit difficult for you to understand, it is like this: the lotus seat in Buddhism is originally the lotus flower in the spiritual pool outside the hall of the heaven scriptures. 'Pure and untainted'. Also, the cross-legged posture that monks meditate in is actually a bit like a lotus flower, so that posture is also called 'lotus posture'... Anyway, the lotus throne is in his dream They all mean cleansing and liberation, that’s why he dreamed of them. If these elements are put together, he hopes that he can eliminate the heinous deeds he has committed through the act of becoming a monk, devoting himself to Buddha and self-cultivation. But , He is very clear that it is a multiple sin, the more he devotes himself to practice, the greater the self-condemnation, so that the Thousand-handed Avalokitesvara, who has a thousand ways of salvation, is chasing and killing him-this means unforgivable." I sighed: "Okay, beyond hope, powerless." The first sentence refers to my admiration for my partner's knowledge, and the latter sentence refers to the analysis of today's matter. Partner: "If I hadn't been interested in religion, I'm afraid I would be equally helpless on this matter today... However, there are things I didn't expect." Me: "Which point?" Partner: "I didn't expect him to kill that Yunyou monk..." Having said that, we are all silent. After a while, I thought of a question again: "By the way, it's not over yet. How can you be sure that you can persuade him to surrender? What if he becomes aggressive and plans to kill both of us? See, don't you think it's a risky thing to do?" Partner: "It's a bit risky, but I'm ready." Me: "Is there? Why didn't I see it?" Partner: "Remember that I made a phone call just after talking to him and before hypnosis? In fact, it was a call to a reliable friend, and I asked him to call me in an hour. If I didn't answer or say something If it’s strange, call the police. But I didn’t bet everything on this, and I made preparations myself: when he came out of hypnosis on his own, I gave him oxygen.” Me: "Oxygen inhalation? What's the matter? What's the purpose?" Partner: "Have you forgotten what you learned? Pure oxygen can make people excited, right? What about the other function?" It took me a while to remember: "...obedience..." My cunning partner smiled smugly. I shook my head: "You are too scary..." The partner put away his smile: "In fact, this is all auxiliary. The most important thing is that he has repented of the crimes he has committed, so I dare to do this. If he is not in that state, I will not give him the last one." Chance." I said nothing because I saw a gleam of pity in my partner's eyes. He folded his shoulders and lowered his head, as if he was talking to himself: "I don't know how the punishment will be determined in this situation. If it is the death penalty, I hope he can rest in peace, including the people he killed..." We were all silent, each thinking about something. After a while, I broke the silence: "I think if you are engaged in a religious profession, you should do well... Oh, yes, one miracle is missing..." The partner raised his head: "There is no lack, I have seen a miracle." Me: "You mean that the Avalokitesvara in his dream might really be saving him?" Partner: "Maybe that's...but what I'm going to say is another thing that I've been ignoring all the time. Think about it, there are so few people who spread their thoughts and beliefs and affect the entire human race Society, and it lasted for thousands of years... Is there anything more miraculous than that? No, it's a miracle." What he said was something I never thought of. The partner turned and closed the window: "It's getting late, shall we go have dinner? Your treat." I nodded and started packing my things. His words about the recognition of miracles made me think for a long time.