Chapter 23 Chapter 21

When they arrived in Shenzhen, Xie Huiren changed cars. Sally's right-hand drive car was always inappropriate for driving on the roads in the mainland. As soon as the car drove into the foot of Nanhua Mountain in Shaoguan, we saw a majestic temple in the distance. "Looks like it's big enough." Sally looked a little excited, and she sped up a little, "Tell me, what kind of imperial edict is there in this temple?" "Phaspa's imperial decree is the only one in the whole country, and it is hidden in this temple." Sally's question obviously represents a large number of people. At least, Xie Huiren has heard many people ask, "How can such an important thing be kept in such an unknown temple?"

"You really think it's not famous? This is one of the most important Buddhist temples in China." Seeing Sally's disapproving expression, Xie Huiren continued, "It's called the No. Zen originated here. At that time, Master Huineng, the sixth patriarch of Zen, lived here, and now there is his real body in the temple." "Huineng?" "Yes, have you heard of 'Nan Dun Bei Jian'? It is the famous dispute between sudden enlightenment and gradual enlightenment. The founder who talked about sudden enlightenment is the Huineng just mentioned. You must have heard his story, right? The ancestor was called Hongren, and he asked his disciples to make gatha, and if they did well, they could inherit his mantle. One of his disciples was named Shenxiu, who wrote such a poem, "The body is a bodhi tree, the heart is like a mirror stand, always diligent Wipe away, so there is no dust'. Another disciple of Hongren, who was not a monk at the time, was just a walker, but he changed this poem..."

"I know, I know." Sally rushed to say, "There is no bodhi tree, and the mirror is not a stand. There is nothing in the first place, so where does the dust come from?" Xie Huisheng smiled, nodded, and said, "Yes, the person who corrected this poem is Huineng. It is said that he doesn't even know the words, but after listening to someone read the "Diamond Sutra", he fully understands the Dharma. He is the later The Sixth Patriarch of Zen Buddhism, this temple is an important temple where he lived.” Sally turned her head hastily, and took a look at Xie Huiren, "So it's really possible that there is a baby here, after all, a master lived here."

Xie Huiren smiled, "It's more than just one treasure. This temple has a close relationship with the royal family. There are thousands of Buddha cassocks from the Tang Dynasty, damask socks from the Tang Dynasty, and five hundred arhats carved in wood from the Northern Song Dynasty. The Phagsi Pawen imperial decree is just one of the trifles." Sally stuck out her tongue, "Do you think we will find the legendary treasure here?" "I don't think it's that easy. I just want to try my luck and see who knows these Phagspa scripts when I come here." In fact, he knew in his heart that this hope is very slim. It seems that these questions should be asked to experts who study Mongolian scripts , and the monks in the temple are unlikely to know.

Just as she was talking, Sally had already parked her car in the parking lot at the gate of the mountain.When I got out of the car, I saw Caoxi Gate head-on.Entering Caoxi Gate, passing through Fangsheng Pond and Wuxiang Pavilion, they saw a mountain gate with "Baolin Gate" written on it. "Well, this temple was originally called Baolin Temple. The current name, Nanhua Temple, was bestowed by the emperor in the early Northern Song Dynasty." He bowed his head in thought for a while, and then said to Sally, "I'll go to the back and find the temple. Master in the temple try his luck, you walk around in the temple, I will come back to you after finishing my work."

Sally was a little upset, "Why, you didn't take me with you?" "No, don't get me wrong, what I mean is, the front is a tourist attraction, but the back is where the masters clean up, you..." "Okay, it's inconvenient for girls, I understand." Sally continued her words mischievously, which amused Xie Huiren. "Well, don't go far. There are many places to play here. Over there is a big clock that is said to be made of 10,000 jin of copper, and there is a cauldron with a diameter of almost two meters. It's fun." Xie Huiren smiled at Sally, turned around and left.

Sally suddenly felt a sense of loss. She pinched the hard stuff in the canvas bag, wondering if she should hand it over to Xie Huiren now, but he had already walked away while hesitating. Nanhua Temple is indeed a big temple, Sally bought a guide map, and while reading the introduction, wandered around aimlessly.She doesn't know much about Buddhism, nor has she ever believed in Buddhism. However, it seems that she is no stranger to temples because of her childhood experience. Walking, I like the quiet atmosphere of the temple. She walked in along the central axis of the temple. This is a large temple with seven entrances. In the Hall of Heavenly Kings, the Hall of Great Heroes, and the Hall of Six Patriarchs, she bowed down and offered incense respectfully.When kneeling in front of the Buddha statue, the more she wanted to have no distracting thoughts, the more quickly those thoughts that she tried to suppress flooded into her mind. It was often after kneeling for a long time that she hurriedly made a wish, but the other A wish followed closely in her heart, and in the end, she didn't know what wish to make.Just recite silently in your heart, Buddha will bless you, brother...

She felt very strange, even a person like her who did not believe in Buddhism, would be respectful and rigorous when entering the temple. At that moment, it seemed that there was a magical power that cleansed people's hearts, and they did not dare to have any dirty thoughts. Dharma is boundless.Sally thought of the word unconsciously. Finally, Sally made all the wishes in her heart, and she felt much lighter, walking in the temple, and also had the leisure time to play.While she was carefully looking at the five hundred arhats in the Northern Song Dynasty woodcarving, Xie Huiren stood beside her at some point.

Sally asked him hastily, "Is there any gain?" Xie Huiren shook his head in frustration. In fact, this was as early as he expected. "Don't worry, maybe we should not come to the temple, but to the scholars and experts." Xie Huiren nodded. He knew that what Sally said was right. Most of the temples were monks who were practicing. Going here to find experts who study ancient characters is tantamount to looking for a fish on a tree.It's just that he wasted a few hours of driving, which made him regret it.Fortunately, the years of meditation have not been in vain, he will not let the depression affect him, everything is always difficult at the beginning, and at this time he does not feel so sad.

Sally seemed to want to make him happy, pointing at one of the five hundred arhats, and softly called, "Look, he looks so weird." Xie Huiren finally smiled, "Ha, if you go to Biyun Temple in Beijing or Qiongzhu Temple in Kunming, Yunnan, it will be an eye-opener." "Oh? Why, what's so interesting there?" "Well, it's really fun." Xie Huiren said with a smile, "The 444th Arhat in the Arhat Hall of Biyun Temple in Beijing is called 'Venun of Breaking Evil Seeing', but he wears armor and is full of military uniform. He looks mighty, haha, This is the statue that Emperor Qianlong made for himself, and it got mixed up in the Arhat Hall. Maybe Emperor Qianlong also wanted to become a Buddha, but he knew that his qualifications were not enough, and he was only worthy of being an Arhat."

Sally didn't dare to laugh even if she wanted to, she pursed her lips and said, "This isn't nonsense." "If you want to talk about nonsense, the one in Yunnan is more interesting. It is a sculpture of five hundred arhats in the late Qing Dynasty, and there is a statue of Christ in it." "Huh?" Sally opened her mouth wide. She couldn't tell whether she wanted to laugh or was surprised. "What happened?" "Perhaps there were some missionaries from France occupying Vietnam and Britain occupying Myanmar at that time, and they went to Yunnan to carry out activities. The common people can't do anything about them, they can't stop them, and they don't have the power to oppose them. It's better to call Jesus an Arhat." "It's not messed up anymore? Isn't the Buddha very angry?" "In fact, the five hundred arhats themselves are legends. The Buddhist scriptures only say that in the year when the Buddha passed away, five hundred people headed by Mahakassapa gathered in the Qiye Cave outside Rajgaha, and recited the words spoken by the Buddha in his life, and wrote There are Sutras, Vinaya, and Lun Sanzang, so the beginning of the Buddhist scriptures is "I heard it like this", which means "I heard what the Buddha said." This is the first collection in the history of Buddhism-the word collection is edited in Chinese However, in Sanskrit, it means a meeting of monks." "You mean, the Buddhist scriptures were not written by the Buddha?" "Buddha never wrote a single book! The habit of ancient Indians was to memorize it and pass it on orally instead of writing. This is a bit like the folk oral literature in ancient China. But it also has disadvantages. Later, Buddhism split, and some The faction of the other party simply does not admit that the scriptures of the other party were spoken by the Buddha. This is really dead without proof." Sally was obviously hearing such a thing for the first time, "My God, I always thought that Buddhist scriptures were all written by Sakyamuni." "Yes, many people think so, but unfortunately it's wrong." Xie Huiren pointed to those arhats again, "Like the five hundred arhats, the Buddhist scriptures only say that the five hundred disciples of the Buddha gathered the Tripitaka, but they never wrote down their names, but The Chinese gave them all names. Besides, the ancient Indians used to use 'five hundred' and 'eighty-four thousand' to mean many, and the Chinese used to use 'three' and 'nine', so 'five hundred' is not It must really be five hundred people." Xie Huiren rolled his eyes and laughed again, "Well, not only five hundred people, but half a person." "What half-person?" "In the legend, there is also a person who should have been named an Arhat. When he went to the Buddha to listen to the seal, he was late because he was drunk, so he didn't report. People can only treat him as a half-arhat and let him stand outside the Hall of Arhats. gone." Sally laughed dumbfounded, "Who is so confused?" "You must know how many other monks are so crazy—Jigong. He is still standing in the aisle in the temples in the south of the Yangtze River." They walked while talking, and they all felt that time passed quickly during the chat, and their spirits were relaxed a lot, temporarily forgetting that there were more important things on their bodies. After leaving the mountain gate, they remembered that there were complicated Phagspa inscriptions and the mysterious Buddhist treasure. "Where are we going now?" Xie Huiren pondered for a while, then smiled mysteriously, "Do you remember that your general manager, Mr. Cheng, said that his teacher was a Mongolian, and he was a scholar who studied a Mongolian script that has disappeared?" Sally opened her mouth wide, "God, do you remember what he said casually?" Xie Huiren smiled triumphantly, "Okay, let's call him—coincidentally, it seems that his teacher also has a very deep understanding of Buddhism."