Chapter 9 yellow rope wrist

When we came back from Thailand, my wife and I had a yellow thread tied around our wrists. It was a golden cotton thread, worn on the wrist like a beautiful bracelet.That yellow, the noblest color of Thai Buddhism, is reminiscent of cassocks and gold pagodas.That thread leads to the karma of Aruthaya. On the third day in Bangkok, Thai-Chinese writers Chuanwen and Xinhui took us to Aruthaya, 88 kilometers away to the north, to pay tribute to the abandoned capital of the Ayutthaya Dynasty.Parked in front of Menggu Bodhi Buddhist Temple, across the green shade of early summer, the colorful monuments can be seen faintly, like the ghosts of the Ayutthaya Dynasty.But when he turned his head, the Buddhist temple in front of him was bright and dazzling. The red-tiled roof with a 50-degree slope was propped up by high pillars and white walls. On the high eaves was the snake king Naga, and on the dangerous ridge was the bird king Gruda. , impressive style.

We took off our shoes and entered the temple according to etiquette. As soon as we stepped into the main hall, we couldn't help but catch our breath.That heavy ton, what, ah, Buddha statue, is pressing down on us one after another. How can the majestic momentum be carried by the eyelashes looking up, let alone be compared to it!After the neck and chest got used to this kind of heavy load, I could gradually see the top according to its steep outline. The rosette with four layers of gold leaves was held up high, and the tower-shaped crown almost touched the red lacquered and gold painted square ceiling. A dark bronze Buddha statue.It sits on that high head, with its right leg crossed over its left leg, its sole facing upwards, its left hand spread flat in its bosom, its palm facing the sky, its right hand covering its right knee, its palm facing inward, and its fingers pointing downwards, pointing to the ground.Looking up from under the rosette, the round knees and five fingers look extraordinarily heavy.

This is the famous "Bhumisparsa Mudra" (Bhumisparsa Mudra) in the sitting position of the Buddha statue, also known as "Maravijaya".It turned out that before Sakyamuni became enlightened, the demon Mara refused to accept it and asked him what kind of virtue he had, so that he could realize himself and save others.Sakyamuni said that his predecessor had already accumulated good deeds in his previous life, so he changed from the sitting posture of samadhi to the gesture of subduing demons, pointing to the ground, calling the goddess of the earth to come out to testify.She twisted a lot of water from her long hair, which is exactly the virtue accumulated by Sakyamuni in her previous life.She twisted more and more, and finally the flood flooded the entire army of the demon.Sakyamuni resumed the meditation sitting posture of samadhi, and became enlightened.On the murals of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok, there is an earth god with bare breasts twisting his hair to put out a fire, and among the many demon soldiers, half have been tamed, and half are still showing their teeth and claws.

One said that this matter was just a fable, because that day he was lying under the Sakyamuni tree, his mind was uncertain, he wanted to achieve enlightenment, and he wanted to return to the world to seek pleasure.Finally, he dropped his hands and pressed his knees, expressing his determination not to get up until he fully realized.However, the so-called subduing demons is precisely subduing the demons in one's heart.Or the story of growing water is more vivid. Thinking of this, he felt even more admiration and emotion for the gesture of pressing his right palm to his knee, and couldn't help but stare blankly.Later, I asked people, and went to read the book by myself, only to find out that the Buddha statue is 22 and a half meters high, plated with Burmese gold, and cast in the second half of the fifteenth century, which is equivalent to the Ming Yingzong to Xianzong dynasties. The overlooking state is said to be the style of the Sukhothai Dynasty.In 1767, Burma invaded and burned down the 417-year-old Ayutthaya Dynasty in one fell swoop.It is said that the largest sitting Buddha in Thailand could not be taken away that day, and it was left in the wild under the influence of wind and rain.Therefore, this Buddha statue looks quite vicissitudes, not as glamorous as other statues in Bangkok.It is too tall, not to mention that the seat is already higher than the head of a person, so it is impossible to see that the body is black lacquer, or the true color of bronze worn by the years.I only feel that in the dark shadows, there are two eyes on the high place, the slender whites set off the black eyes, looking down at us piercingly, and no matter where you hide, their eyes will not shine.

A little bit of bright cinnabar on the face of the Buddha adds to the mystery and solemnity of the Dharma.But there are two charming colors on the Buddha.The yellow mantle draped obliquely over the left shoulder shone with golden silk.On the open left palm, there is a bunch of colorful flower belts hanging from the thumb, which are woven with pure white jasmine, and there are also long tassels decorated with Thai orchids.This flower is called Zebra Lai (Puang9-Ma9-Lai) in Thai. Not only can you borrow flowers to offer Buddha, but you can also give them to others. "Do you want to offer incense?" Chuanwen walked over and said.

"Yes." I replied immediately. "Each set of incense candles is ten baht." Chuanwen said. We each bought a set from the incense table at the entrance of the Buddhist hall.The so-called set turned out to be a lotus, a candle, three incense sticks, and a piece of gold leaf, wrapped in two larger pieces of beige tissue paper.Following Thai believers, we walked to the long incense table under the lotus seat, put a one-and-a-half-foot-long single-flowered white lotus in a shallow copper basin, lit a red candle and inserted it into the candlestick, and finally burned more incense and inserted it into the pot. incense burner.The lotus is the seat of the Buddha, the candle is the light of enlightenment, and the three sticks of incense are dedicated to the Buddha, Dharma, and monks, the so-called Three Jewels.While the incense was curling up, we also knelt down and prayed together with everyone.

"What should I do with the gold leaf?" I asked Xinhui beside me. "Tear it off and stick it on the Buddha," she said. "Thai people's tradition," said Chuanwen with a smile, "if you stick it on the Buddha's head, you will gain wisdom. If you stick it on the Buddha's mouth, you will be good at speech. If you stick it on the Buddha's heart, you will have a broad mind and a fat body." When I looked up at the Buddha, it was as tall as a five-six-story building, so it was more than "monk Zhang Er, confused"?The lotus platform is already higher than my head, and it is impossible to "hug Buddha's feet temporarily".In a hurry, part the tissue paper and remove the glittery gold leaf.How to do it?At first glance, some people simply posted it on the bottom of the rosette, so they posted it.When I looked back at how I saved the post, she had already posted it, and she was walking over contentedly.It turned out that there was another three-foot-high Buddha statue under the niche, whose face and body were covered with gold leaves.

"If you like," Xinhui said, "you can also put a yellow mantle on the Black Buddha." She took us to the front of the ticket desk.A box with a yellow thread reads: "Wear yellow man, one hundred and thirty baht at a time." That's more than one hundred and fifty yuan in Taiwan dollars. "How do you wear it so high?" I asked. "They will do it for you," Xinhui said. I paid Thai currency immediately.The bhikkhuni took out a whole yellow mantle from the cabinet, and watched me under the lotus altar.Soon, there was a sound bouncing off the roof.While looking up, the human head poked out from behind the huge shoulders of the Buddha statue, and with a low cry, a golden-orange waterfall fell from mid-air, splashing my head all over me.When Huang Hong stopped, I embraced him.But it won't last long, because she started to take up the thread at Huang Man's end.When the white scallops are collected, the golden-orange waterfall will flow back and rise.This time it's my turn to let her go.When I looked up again, the yellow man I donated had floated on the left shoulder of the Black Buddha.The ceremony is complete.

I donate Huangman, not all out of curiosity.That morning, in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok, when I was kneeling in the lobby with the crowd, I unintentionally stretched my legs and put the soles of my feet on the Emerald Buddha.That would be an offense to the gods, and it makes me uneasy.Now being Buddha Phhiman, subconsciously, it should be redemption, maybe the merits and demerits can be offset in the dark? It is said in the "Six Patriarchs Altar Sutra" that Emperor Wu of Liang once asked Bodhidharma: "What merits and virtues do I have in building temples to teach monks and offering food and fasting all my life?" Bodhidharma replied: "There is really no merit." Every time I read this paragraph , can not help but feel funny.Who knows that a pure heart is a Buddha, and there is no need to ask for it.Inspector Wei asked this question, and the Sixth Patriarch answered well: "Emperor Wu's heart is evil, and he doesn't know the true Dharma. Building temples to save monks, giving alms and setting up fastings is called seeking blessings, and blessings cannot be regarded as merit. Merits are in the Dharma body, not in cultivating blessings." "As long as the heart is pure, offending the Jade Buddha unintentionally is not a crime.On the other hand, burning incense, kowtow, and donating money to wear robes are not even comparable to Emperor Wu of Liang, so what merits are there?

Thinking of this, I smiled frankly.Go to the ticket counter and take out four tickets from the box full of yellow lines.One is kept on my left wrist, one is tied by myself, and the remaining two are going to be brought back to Taiwan for my two daughters. This beautiful slender bracelet, which is still attached to my left wrist, bears witness to Arothaya's dream.