Chapter 4 fourth quarter

Two years ago, Xuande began to carve the statues of the Four Heavenly Kings, and there are four statues to be carved in total. The four heavenly kings are the gods who protect the four directions of the east, south, west and north of Sumeru.They are the Heavenly King of Growth in the South, the Heavenly King of the Country in the East, the Heavenly King of Guangmu in the West, and the Heavenly King of Duowen in the North. The carving material is four pieces of ancient cypress, because Huguo Temple obtained cypress with a tree age of hundreds of years. After the cypress is cut, it must be air-dried for two years.When Xuande was about to start carving, the cypress just arrived.

Xuande first carved the Southern Zengtian King, which took half a year to complete; the second was the Eastern Chiguo Heavenly King; the third was the Northern Duowen Heavenly King.It takes half a year to carve each heavenly king.The Western Guangmu Heavenly King is the last one. A month ago, Xuande first sculpted an evil ghost, and then prepared to sculpt the divine body of King Guangmu. Just when the Guangmu Heavenly King was about to be completed, a strange thing happened suddenly. Originally, each of the four gods was stepping on an evil ghost tightly under their feet.When there were only a few days left to complete the carved divine body of King Guangmu, one night, the evil spirits under the feet of King Guangmu suddenly disappeared.

"Missing?" Qingming asked Xuande. "Yes, disappeared." Every carved statue of a heavenly king, from the pedestal to the evil spirits and gods, is made from the same piece of cypress.Take Guangmu Heavenly King as an example, the sole of the right foot of Guangmu Heavenly King should be connected with the back of the evil spirit that is stepping on it. Unexpectedly, the evil spirit under his feet disappeared.There is no trace of someone cutting it off with a chisel. At noon on the day when the evil spirit disappeared, Guangmu Tianwang was indeed still stepping on the evil spirit.Xuande confirmed this point.

That night, Xuande got up to go to the bathroom, and suddenly wanted to see the sculpture of Guangmu Heavenly King.It's no wonder that the work that lasted for two years is finally about to be completed. After going to the toilet, Xuande lit a candle and stepped into the carving room.At this time, Xuande found that the evil spirit had disappeared. However-- The next morning, when Xuande stepped into the carving room again, he found that the evil spirit had returned to the feet of King Guangmu. Could it be that what I saw last night was a dream? On this day, Xuande continued to work as usual.In the evening, when the work was over, Xuande thought about the strange things that happened last night.

"Okay, let's finish it all tonight." Xuande muttered to himself. Although it can be finished tomorrow, as long as we work harder tonight, we should be able to finish it. Xuande made such a determination. So, after dinner, Xuande prepared candles and went back to the carving room to have a look... "The evil spirit has disappeared again." This time, the evil spirit did not return to its original position until the second and third days. On the fourth day, Xuande finally couldn't hold back, and came to Qingming's mansion to avoid people's eyes. The temple didn't know anything about it.

Xuande said that if the monastery knew about it, the monastery might remove his position as a Buddha statue sculptor. "The reason why the evil spirits disappeared is probably because of me." "How do you say that?" "Master Qingming, do you know not to respect the law?" The so-called Bie Zun Dharma is the method of making offerings to many gods other than Sakyamuni and Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva individually as the main Buddha. "There are many types of Bie Zun Dharma, not only can be dictated, but also practiced differently by the masters of the past dynasties. I don't know all the Dharma, but I can count as knowing a little bit."

What Xuande means is that if the gods are the Four Heavenly Kings, there is a way to enshrine the Four Heavenly Kings as the main Buddha. “Every time we carve a Buddha statue, no matter what Buddha statue we are carving, we always focus on that Buddha statue wholeheartedly. That is to say, during the carving, that Buddha statue is equivalent to the main Buddha of our carvers.” Therefore, every time Xuande carved a new Buddha statue, he would sprinkle cold water on his body first. Then— "I didn't practice the Dharma when I carved the Guangmu Heavenly King..."