Chapter 9 free bird

In front of the famous historic site "Pura Temple" in Chiang Mai, Thailand, there are many "release birds" for tourists to release. "Freeing birds" are usually a pair, placed in a Zong-shaped cage made of thin bamboo, placed all over the ground, guarded by local women or children, tourists who come to worship in the temple, as long as they spend a few For a small amount of money, you can buy a pair of free birds, open the cage, and the two little birds will fly into the air.There are eminent monks in front of the temple, who pray for tourists who release birds.

However, no matter how many tourists there are and how many birds are released, the number of birds in front of the temple will never decrease. There is no mark on the bird, and I often wonder if there are any birds that were released and then caught back into the cage?Is the constant coming and going of the cage and the sky a kind of reincarnation for the bird? This scene reminds me of a scene I saw in the countryside a few years ago.A turtle catcher caught many sea turtles and put them in front of a temple in the countryside for good-hearted people to buy sea turtles and release them to "do meritorious deeds". life.Once, I saw two sea turtles owned by the turtle seller. The bottom of their shells had engraved the names of many people who had been released; obviously, every name on the shells was a release, and they were lucky enough to return to Dahai, unfortunately, has repeatedly fallen into the net of the turtle seller and has become a tool for making money.

But there are still some people who released their lives, carved their names, and floated to the sea. Does the sea turtle who has repeatedly fallen into reincarnation have knowledge? These two similar incidents that happened at different times often remind me of "life release". Why do peddlers who encourage others to release life do not want to do meritorious deeds themselves, but must be done by others?We saw a beautiful scene of releasing animals. The birds were flying freely in the air, and the sea turtles were slowly swimming in the water. Anyone can feel that kind of happiness. The only people who can’t feel it are the hawkers, right?Unfortunately, birds and turtles have become the livelihood of the stubborn.

Regardless of the release of birds or sea turtles, it is just a reincarnation of life, but I remember that there are two reincarnations of life and death. There is an old custom in Malaysia, that is, during the Ching Ming Festival, when the souls of the dead are rescued by the stream, lotus flowers are released, which is called "releasing life lotus".At that time, there were crowds around the stream, watching the lotus float away to the far side of the stream. Everyone believed that as long as the dead soul in the stream clung to a lotus, they could be reborn in the west and be reborn as human beings. During the Ching Ming Festival, there are people who sell lotus flowers exclusively.

It is not known whether there are ghosts who were reborn in the west because they climbed the lotus. All over China, there is a custom of releasing river lanterns. On the July Ghost Festival, every family will paste a river lantern and "release animals" into the river in the dark of night. It is said that these river lanterns can guide the way and make those wandering rivers The soul, guided by the lamp, can find its way and be reborn.When I was a child, I watched people set off river lanterns, and I was always by the river at midnight, watching those lights go out one by one in the lonely night sky, I felt sad and beautiful.

The female writer Xiao Hong is here, and there is a section describing the scene of setting off river lanterns. I think it is the most beautiful section in literary works describing the setting off of river lanterns: When the light was turned off, Jin was in a hurry, and the lights were all on, and there were tens of millions of spectators. This move was really unreasonable.There are so many river lanterns, the number is uncountable, probably several thousand.The children on both sides of the strait applauded and jumped to welcome.The grown-ups, on the other hand, were overwhelmed, and remained silent, intoxicated by the lights and the colors of the river.The lights made the river glow faintly.The moon in the sky jumps over the water.It's really a life where there will be such a good situation.

It took a long, long time for the river lamp to flow from the upper reaches of Fanli Road.It took a long, long time before the flow passed. In the process, some of them died halfway through the flow.Some were washed up on the shore, and were hung up where weeds grew on the shore.Also, whenever the river lanterns flowed downhill, some children would grab them with poles, and some fishing boats would grab one or two.Later, the river lights became more and more sparse. When you go to the lower reaches of the river, you will appear desolate and lonely, because the flow becomes less and less. It seems that the river there has also turned black, and there is one less river as it flows.

When the river lantern came from the upper reaches, although there were many outdated people and many drowned on the road, I never felt that the river lantern was carried away by ghosts. But when the river lantern flows from far away upstream, people are full of joy. When the river lantern flows past them, there is nothing wrong with it. The people looking at the river lantern felt emptiness in their hearts for no reason: "Where is the river lantern going to go?" Where did the released birds, sea turtles, lotus flowers, and river lanterns end up?This is probably the big question of the ages. Many ancient customs have repeatedly shown people's curiosity about the unknown world. Facing the vastness of the sky and the sea, the length of the streams and rivers, and the animism of all things, people seem to be How insignificant!

But we always hope to connect with the sky and the sea through the released birds and turtles; through the lotus flowers and lanterns floating on the river, we can communicate with the unknown world.In the end, we keep asking ourselves: where are they going?Because of these things, the course of our lives rings with hope or sorrow. When I was young, I liked origami boats. I put it in the river. Although I didn’t know where it flowed, I hoped that it could float to a cheerful and happy place. There was nothing special about the little paper boats in my childhood. Meaning, sometimes, represents a distant, magnanimous, free hope.With this longing in the river, there is life.

Just as I hope that those released birds can fly into the forest and jump briskly; I hope that those released sea turtles can return to their hometown of the sea and swim freely.It's a pity that this hope is very small, because there are people's utilitarianism inside, and where there is utilitarianism, there can be no real freedom. I also hope that those dead souls drifting in the river can really cling to the lotus and hold the river lantern to find the bright road to the west. That road may be far away, because people put down their selfless love in the river It is possible to arrive.

— November 3, 1982