Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Heavy Snow

There was heavy snowfall, and Ah Bing braved the severe cold to practice beating the iron drum, and his two little hands were red and purple from the cold... The summer was scorching hot, and little Ah Bing practiced fingering under the scorching sun, his little finger was cut by the strings, bleeding profusely... A Bing, who had a high fever, babbled in his sleep from time to time: "...Father, mother, where are you?..." After hearing this, Hua Qinghe was heartbroken... Two years later, A Bing will be eight years old. On this day, he will learn from the old Taoist priest and formally become a Taoist boy.The initiation ceremony is about to begin.

Little A Bing stood excitedly outside the hall, while Taoist priests in multicolored vestments stood in two rows holding various flutes, sheng, and flutes, waiting for the hour.When the auspicious time came, Taoist music sounded, and the old Taoist priest ascended to sit in front of the incense table. He wore a lotus crown on his head and yellow silk longevity shoes on his feet. He sat with a solemn expression. A Bing walked into the hall with the music. Go up to the statue of Laojun and kneel down to worship, and then kowtow to the old Taoist priest. After the worship, the old Taoist priest comes down and presents scriptures for him personally.

From then on, the eight-year-old A Bing officially became a Taoist boy and entered the Taoist music hall. In the early morning, Dharma drums were played three times, and A Bing and the Taoist priests dressed up and went to the hall to offer incense and water to the Taishang Laojun.Then chant the "Taishang Laojun Qingjing Sutra", "Three Refuges" and so on, and then listen to the Taoist preaching.The morning class was over, Dharma drums and Dharma music were played, and A Bing and all the Taoist priests retreated from the altar and went out of the hall during the performance.

In the afternoon, A Bing practiced silk and bamboo with everyone. Hua Qinghe was very strict with A Bing, and A Bing also studied very hard. The cold weather is coming, there is heavy snowfall, and it is snowing heavily in Wuxi. Hua Qinghe set up an iron drum in the monastery, and let the little A Bing beat the drum in the snow. A Bing's hands were frozen and he kept beating. Qinghe stood aside and guided. The old Taoist stood watching from the window, came out and praised little A Bing, saying: "This child has perseverance, and he will become the heir of Taoism in the future. I will train him." Then he turned his head and said to Hua Qinghe: "From tomorrow, I want to preach to him the classics of Taoism, and let him come to my room at night."

"Yes, Daoist." In the evening, Ah Bing went to the old Taoist priest's house, next to the soybean oil lamp, the old Taoist priest sat upright, and his brother Zhang Daohua, who was three years older than Ah Bing, sat kneeling below him. A Bing knelt down and sat cross-legged on the futon. The old Taoist said: "Everyone can be a god..." A Bing asked: "Master Taoist, what is a god?" "Good question. Immortals are our belief in Taoism. The earliest one is the Taishang Laojun we enshrine. The highest level of Taoist cultivation is to become an immortal and ascend to heaven and become Taoist."

A Bing asked again: "What are the benefits of immortals?" The old Taoist said: "Immortals are immortal. Like becoming a Buddha, they are for the salvation of all living beings." A Bing asked: "How can I become a fairy?" "Becoming an immortal requires merit. The greater the merit, the sooner you will become an immortal. Therefore, you must cultivate your body and mind well to become an immortal. The Yellow Emperor and Lao Tzu are all our gods. We worship the gods every day, repent to the gods, and pray for the truth. In order for the gods to help us become enlightened and ascend to heaven as soon as possible."

Daohua said: "Master Taoist, I understand, it is what you told us before to 'shin fast' and 'sit and forget'." "Yes." The old Taoist priest said, "'Xin Zhai' and 'Zuo Wang' are proposed by Zhuangzi, and they are the ways for us to cultivate ourselves and become immortals. Xin Zhai is to get rid of distracting thoughts in our hearts, so we must have no desires and do nothing, let Our hearts should be ethereal. Sitting and forgetting is to forget everything, including forgetting the world, and even our own existence, so that we can be in harmony with the world. Only in this way can we attain the Tao. Dao Tong A Bing, Dao Tong Dao Hua, you Can it be done?"

"can." "Okay, get out of class is over now, Daoist A Bing stays here." After Dao Hua left, the old Taoist priest said, "A Bing, Dao boy, do you know why I want to give you extra lessons?" "The Taoist chief wants Ah Bing to become a real Taoist." "Yes, I am going to make you the abbot of the Taoist family in the future, so you have to work hard to cultivate your heart, can you do it?" "can do it." "Secondly, you like Dao music very much, but Dao music is fairy music. If you want to truly reach the realm of fairy music, you must first understand the Dao mentality. God is here."

A Bing listened blankly... "Thirdly," the old Taoist priest said meaningfully, "If you really want to enter the realm of human music, you have to enter it with your heart, not with your hands..." "Enter with your heart, not with your hands..." A Bing was thinking. In the evening, A Bing followed Hua Qinghe to the busy market. Looking at the noisy market, A Bing said, "Master, let's go to a place where there are few people. There are too many people here, so it's not good to be quiet and do nothing." Hua Qinghe said: "A Bing, the real peace and inaction is not in a quiet place, but seeking peace in the midst of noise. The most fundamental thing is to find peace of mind."

"How can you calm down in such a noisy place?" Hua Qinghe stood still and said: "If you want to be calm, you must first have no desire, that is, you must get rid of greed. This has nothing to do with whether it is lively or not. If the environment is quiet and you keep greedy, then you will not be able to calm down." A Bing said: "Master, I understand that being quiet and doing nothing is to reduce greed and make the mind peaceful, not to make the environment quiet." "Yes, the most important thing in our Taoism is the peace of mind." "Master, I understand."

That night, A Bing asked, "Master Taoist, how can we comprehend the Dao?" "Good question." The old Taoist said kindly, "Of course to understand the Dao, you must understand it with your heart. This Tao cannot be explained clearly in a sentence, and you have to experience it yourself." Daohua asked: "Master Dao, the Dao is what you once told us, 'Tao begets one, one begets two, two begets three, and three begets all things'?" Daohua glanced at the master proudly. The old Taoist said: "Daohua, don't just memorize it, but comprehend it with your heart." The old Taoist took a look at him, and said: "Lao Tzu said: Tao is a thing, but it is trance. Trance is trance, there is image in it, trance is in it, there is thing in it, sly and dark, there is essence in it." ... Tao is invisible and intangible, to comprehend the true meaning of Tao, one must first purify one's mind, and one cannot understand it if one is eager for success." A Bing listened carefully... In the scorching summer, A Bing, who was sweating profusely, was practicing fingering under the scorching sun. His little finger was cut by the strings and bled profusely. "A Bing, what's wrong with your hand?" The old Taoist priest came to see him and asked distressedly. After bandaging A Bing's fingers, the old Taoist priest said, "Take a rest for two days, don't exhaust your body." The old Taoist priest said to Hua Qinghe: "A Bing is still young, so I'm afraid I'll damage my body if I train like this." Hua Qinghe said: "If the hours are not strict, I'm afraid they won't be useful when they grow up." One day, the old Taoist leader took Abing, Daohua and other apprentices to a village to do fasting and offering sacrifices.A Bing played the huqin very well. The master of a rich family in the village praised A Bing very much. He rewarded him with a pipa and asked him to learn it hard. Daohua was very jealous when he saw it. The next morning, when A Bing was playing the pipa, Daohua came over and said, "You are very proud, aren't you? Do you think that Juren appreciates you? Forget it, you should listen to what everyone says about you!" A Bing stopped playing the pipa and asked, "What are you talking about?" "Call you an illegitimate child, a bastard!" "What did you say? I'm an illegitimate child?" A Bing stood up. Dao Hua said, "Yes, a bastard!" "Why are you bullying people?" "Bullying people! Then tell me, who are your father and mother? Have you seen them?" "This……" Daohua said contemptuously again: "Hmph, you still want to get ahead just because you are a bastard!" "Daohua! What are you talking about?" The old Taoist priest came over and said sternly to Daohua, "Shut up, how can a Taoist speak wild words? How do you know whether A Bing has parents?" "I heard what people said." "Can you bully people because of hearsay? How do I usually teach you? Go to the clean heart room and reflect on it. Your mind is too restless. You should calm down." Daohua had no choice but to walk towards Jingxin Chamber with his head down. A Bing stood there blankly. The old Taoist came over and said cordially, "A Bing, don't listen to his nonsense, practice your piano!" A Bing was still standing there. "Am I really an illegitimate child? Yes, other people have parents, why don't I..." Hua Qinghe came over, saw A Bing standing there in a daze, and said, "A Bing, what's wrong with you, standing here in a daze! Come on, you have to practice the piano after dinner." During the meal, Hua Qinghe asked: "A Bing, what's wrong with you, who bullied you?" A Bing just lowered his head and ate the rice without saying a word. "This kid's temper is getting more and more stubborn. If you don't say anything, let's eat quickly. After eating, we have to practice the piano." That afternoon, Ah Bing was returning from a Taoist temple in the village with a Taoist priest. As he was walking down the street, Ah Bing heard someone behind him say, "This Ah Bing is a little bastard." A Bing's face changed when he heard this, and when he returned to Chong'an Temple, he went to find Hua Qinghe, who was chopping firewood. "Master, who are my parents? Where are they?" Hua Qinghe was taken aback for a moment, the ax almost cut off his own foot, and slowly, his expression changed... He turned his head back in pain and said: "A Bing, from tomorrow onwards, you don't want to learn music arts, go and learn from the old Taoist master!" "Ah, why is that?" "No reason, your Taoist knowledge must be further studied." "Master, I want to learn art, master..." From then on, Hua Qinghe never let A Bing learn from him, and he seldom played the piano. In the evening, the sun was setting, and the sky was dyed crimson by the setting sun. On the small slope outside Chong'an Temple, there was a moving sound of the piano, Hua Qinghe was playing the erhu.A gust of autumn wind blew, and the red maple leaves on the tree fell to the ground. He stopped playing the piano, looked up at the sunset in the west, and let out a long sigh... I was thinking in my heart, alas, it is such an evening, under such a setting sun, he often sits with Yan Zhuyue, looking at the sad and beautiful sunset in the sky, that is, under this beautiful red maple tree, he kissed for the first time Bamboo month. Alas, Zhuyue, why did you leave, why did you have the heart to leave me... Hua Qinghe played the piano again, the sad sound of the piano echoed in the autumn wind and fallen leaves. A Bing came over and said, "Master, your piano is so moving... Ah, Master, why are you crying?" "No...no, it's...the wind blows the sand into the eyes." Hua Qinghe rubbed his eyes and stopped playing the piano. "Master, why don't you play the piano anymore? Why did you stop playing the piano when I was by your side? Master, why did you suddenly stop teaching me? Why..." "No reason, Master just wants you to learn the Dao well and be the successor of Chong'an Temple in the future." A Bing said anxiously: "Master, I will learn the Dao well, but there is no contradiction between playing the violin and learning the Dao well!" "No, A Bing, the master wants you to inherit the great scriptures of Taoism, which requires you to practice hard; as for Daoyue, you should not involve it in the future, you should learn from the Taoist master!" "No, master, I beg you, I like Dao music, I want to learn music." "Let's go, let's go back. The old Taoist master will teach you the scriptures in a while." Hua Qinghe stood up, pulled A Bing and left. This morning, after the old Taoist master finished his lecture, A Bing stayed. He asked the elder: "Master Dao, I am already eight years old, but I still don't know who my mother is. Master Dao, I want to know who my parents are." The old Taoist who was sitting with half-closed eyes trembled slightly when he heard this. After a while, he opened his eyes and said to A Bing, "Son, your parents certainly exist. If you don't, how could you come into this world?" Yes! When you should know, you will know, you should still practice Taoism with peace of mind now!" "Taoist...I want to know now." Ah Bing shouted anxiously. However, the old Taoist priest closed his eyes and recited the scriptures.A Bing walked out of the house helplessly, he looked at the vast sky and shouted: "God, tell me, who are my parents?" A Bing was forced to stop his art studies, and he didn't know who his parents were, so he felt very sad.On this day, the Taoist priests of the Sanqing Temple were doing the dojo. A Bing braved the wind and rain to listen to them playing Taoist music alone. On the way back, he stared blankly at the children on the road. He envied that they had their parents with them, but he did not... … The rain was getting heavier and heavier, but A Bing still stood still, the rain and tears streaming down his face together. "A Bing, why are you standing here? Go, go back." Hua Qinghe found him and pulled A Bing back. He used an umbrella to cover A Bing from the rain.Back in the monastery, Hua Qinghe helped him change his clothes and said, "Look at the rain, you're going to be sick." After changing his clothes, Hua Qinghe gave him ginger soup, but at night, A Bing still developed a high fever. A Bing cried in a daze: "Father, where are you?" Hua Qinghe came in, and when he heard the shout, his heart trembled... He patted his head, "Ah! It's so hot, I have a fever." The old Taoist priest also came in and said, "Get him a doctor quickly." Hua Qinghe went to ask for a doctor. A Bing sobbed in a low voice: "My parents, where are you? Why do other children have parents, why don't I..." The old Taoist felt very heavy when he heard this. The doctor came, he felt A Bing's pulse, prescribed a prescription, and said: "It's a cold, it doesn't matter, just take two doses of medicine, sweating and you'll be fine." Hua Qinghe took the medicine and went back to the house. The old Taoist priest whispered to him, "This kid has a heart attack, or else, tell him the truth!" Hua Qinghe shook his head and said, "The child is still too young, he can't bear it, let's talk about it when he grows up." The old Taoist priest sighed and said, "Take good care of him, you don't have to go to the ceremony tomorrow." The old Taoist priest went out, and Hua Qinghe went to make medicine.He brought the medicine bowl, woke up A Bing, and said, "A Bing, drink the medicine quickly, and you will be fine after taking the medicine." A Bing drank the medicine, Hua Qinghe covered him with a quilt, and then sat by the bed to watch over him. From time to time, A Bing uttered dreams about looking for his parents: "...Father, where are you?..." Hua Qinghe felt as if his heart was twisted when he heard this.