Chapter 54 Impermanence is like an illusion, how can the immortal peach last forever? (52)

"When will I be able to go back to the place where I was born?" A mage from the same village said with emotion many years ago.For a while, we all fell into silence. Although we are both from Mino, she was born in Sanmin Township where her father taught; I was born in Shanlin Township where my father taught.For those of us who left home to become monks and made our homes all over the world, in addition to our hometown of Meinong, we also have a kind of ancient nostalgia for the place of birth.Shanlin Township is not only the place where I was born, but also the hometown of my grandmother. In my memory, there are the most vague childhood fragments—including a small wooden house, a fairy peach orchard, and the figure of my grandfather.

It happened thirty years ago, and I still vaguely remember the day my grandfather took me to find my cousin, who lived in an orchard with deep trees.Along the way, grandpa held my hand and walked through the path in the forest, turning his head and telling me from time to time: "I will meet my cousin later, and he will give you a kind of fruit that you have never eaten before!" "Grandpa, what kind of fruit is it?" I looked up at my tall grandpa and asked inexplicably. "It's Xiantao!" Grandpa said, while climbing up a steep slope, he held my hand even tighter.

"Grandpa lied! Xiantao is eaten by gods, why are there here?" I pouted in disbelief. In the attic of the wooden house, I played up and down curiously.After a while, my cousin brought some yellow "peaches", "This is the fairy peach, grandpa didn't lie to you, right?" Grandpa peeled off the skin of the fairy peach and handed it to me. The sweet taste was very delicious. I ate half of it. "Eat the fairy peach, you will be as smart as a fairy." Grandpa touched my head and said kindly. More than ten years later, at the monastery where I became a monk—Xiangguang Temple in Chiayi, I saw fairy peaches full of yellow and clear fruits. My cousin's fairy peach forest and grandpa's kind smile came alive in the depths of my memory. .

It has been ten years since my grandfather passed away, and my uncle also passed away a few years ago.Time flies, is Xiantao Forest still there?Once, I asked my father, "Where is my cousin's orchard?" My father said, "It's on the mountain east of Dongping Village." How I want to go back to the old place and look for the fairy peach in my memory!I'm afraid that people are not, and things are not. "Don't go! There's no one there!" Father said with emotion. Where did everyone go?Looking at my father who is also aging, I am speechless.The fairy peach, which symbolizes immortality in mythology, is a proof of impermanence in real life.

The Buddha said: "All movements and movements in the world are signs of corruption and uneasiness." There is no other way except "be diligent and diligent, seek liberation early; use wisdom to illuminate and eliminate all ignorance and darkness." (This picture is provided by Wu Xiaodan)