Fang Zheng said with a smile: "The teacher has long told you that in China, the Buddha and the Tao, in the endless years, each other's cultures have been integrated, exchanged, and learned from each other's strengths and weaknesses, so that today's Buddha and the Tao are born, and the essence of both is to make the world more good, less and more evil."

According to legend, this festival first began in Taoism, that is, the parade of the three officials in the lower realm.

Taoism believes that this day is the day of forgiveness of the sins of the emperor of the local officials, to put it simply, it is the day when high-ranking officials come down, observe the people's feelings, correct those who have misjudged, or redress unjust cases. On this day, the Taoist priests chanted the practice to welcome the arrival of the local officials and liberate the evil spirits. Transcendent Ancestors......

Correspondingly, it is the folk custom of July and a half, when the ghost moon rises and the ghost door opens.

Folklore believe that the whole month of July is the Ghost Month. The ghost door of the first year of junior high is opened, and the fifteenth ghost door is closed. In this month, after the silence of spring and summer, ghosts can come out to move again, so it is called ghost door opening. In order to avoid hurting people, the people hold various activities to appease the ghosts. Similarly, on this day, their ancestors will also return from the underworld, and their descendants will greet the ancestors and worship the ancestors, which is somewhat similar to the Qingming Festival.

The name of Obon comes from Buddhism, and the Buddhist scripture "The Buddha Says the Bon Sutra" records such a story:

One of Shakyamuni's top ten disciples, Mulian, after receiving the six divine powers, wanted to repay his parents for their nurturing kindness, that is, he inspected with the Tao eye and saw his deceased mother suffering in the hungry ghost path, so thin that her skin and bones were not human. Muren was very sad, so he served the rice in a bowl and wanted to give it to his mother, but as soon as the food was delivered to his mother, it turned into a fire and burned his mother's mouth, causing him to suffer greatly.

Helpless, he cried and begged the Buddha to help save his mother. The Buddha said: "Your mother is deeply sinful, you alone can not be saved, you have to rely on the power of the monks of the ten directions, you have to set up a grand Bon offering on the 15th day of the seventh month, when the monks settle down in the summer and practice to complete, and offer all the monks of the ten directions with a hundred flavors of food, and rely on their spiritual power to save your mother." ”

So Mu Lian did what the Buddha instructed him to do, and his mother really got out of the way of hungry ghosts.

The Buddha also said: "In the future, when all the Buddha's disciples practice compassion and filial piety, they can take the day of self-indulgence on the 15th day of the seventh month, that is, on the day of the Buddha's liking, that is, during the 90 days of the summer of the Buddha system, the monks gather together in one place to live in peace, adhere to the precepts, and purify their actions. In addition, the Buddhas of the ten directions rejoiced in their diligent practice of living in peace and perfection, so it is also called the Buddha's day of joy and joy. On this day, prepare a hundred flavors of food and drink, set up a wide range of Bon offerings, and make offerings to the monks, which can not only add blessings and longevity to the living parents, but also allow the deceased parents to leave the sea of suffering and get happiness, so as to repay the parents' nurturing grace. ”

So there is the Buddhist Bon Festival, just right, the time of the three is on July 15, and they all advocate worshipping the ancestors and promoting the culture of filial piety.

Therefore, the so-called Zhongyuan Festival is a Taoist saying, Obon is a Buddhist saying, and Halloween and the Seventh Half are folk sayings.

When there are too many and too complicated things in the festival, many festival means collide on this day, some are forgotten and abandoned, and some are confused...... At least in the folk, there is not much difference anymore. ”

After listening to this, the red boy on the side didn't say anything, Obon is also a first-class festival in his world, in his world, it is the real gate of hell opened, thousands of ghosts come out of the abyss, countless gods and Buddhas gather together, beyond the souls of the dead, that is the big scene! But the world is different, he has nothing to say.

"I see, Master, what are we doing on this day?" asked the lone wolf curiously.

Fang Zheng said: "You will know when the time comes, calculate the time, and tomorrow will be." Before Fang Zheng's voice fell, Yang Ping, the village accountant, came up the mountain, and as soon as he came in, he pulled Fang Zheng to talk to the side, and after talking a lot, he went down the mountain in a hurry.

"Master, what is Master Yang here for?" asked the squirrel curiously.

"Explain the Obon festival tomorrow, how about the little lotus flower you carved?" asked Fang Zheng diverting the subject.

When the squirrel heard this, he shrank his neck in embarrassment and honestly carved a lotus flower. Seeing this, Fang Zheng also shook his head helplessly, the squirrel is active by nature, so he has been quietly squatting there to carve, which is indeed a little difficult for him. I don't know if his temporary interest can last for a few days.

The next day, Fang Zheng went down the mountain early, and the monkey followed closely. As for the red boy, he is not interested in going down the mountain to mingle today......

After going down the mountain, Fang Zheng saw that the village had begun to be arranged, and an offering table was placed at the door of every house, and a black line was drawn behind the offering table with black firewood ash, separating his yard from the offering table.

"Master, what is this for?" the monkey asked, looking at such a scene.

Fang Zheng said: "There is a saying in the folk, this kind of grass and wood ashes are equivalent to the ashes at the bottom of the pot, which can prevent ghosts from entering the door, and the ghost door is wide open tonight, although everyone takes the opportunity to worship their ancestors, but they must also guard against evil ghosts." ”

The monkey suddenly realized, scratched his head, and said, "Master, you have also talked about ghosts more than once, are there any ghosts in this world?"

Fang Zheng said: "The ghost is in the heart, the body is upright, the ghost in the heart is the ancestor, protecting the whole life; the body is crooked, the ghost in the heart is the evil ghost, step by step towards the abyss of all evils, and there will be no return." ”

The monkey looked confused, he couldn't understand......

Fang Zheng didn't intend to explain it clearly in a few words, some things should be understood when they should be understood, and it is useless to say more.

The villagers' offerings have not yet been placed on the table, and on this hot day, it is set early, and it will break quickly.

At the crossroads of the village, circles were also drawn in white lime, some larger, some smaller, no matter what it was, they were all concentrated at the intersection. When the two came, Sun Qiancheng was drawing a circle with Meng Meng. The two of them, one big and one younger, were very serious, and they didn't notice the arrival of Fang Zheng at all.

Meng Meng held the lime basin, her big eyes flickered, and she tilted her head and said, "Dad, why are all uncles and uncles drawing circles here......"

The monkey looked at Fang Zheng almost at the same time, and Fang Zheng smiled slightly, looked ahead, and let him listen to himself.

"This circle represents the grave of the deceased ancestors, and the circle should have a mouth to represent the entrance to the tomb, and at the same time, this mouth should face the direction of the tomb. Tonight, when we burned paper money for grandma, we burned it here...... Mengmeng, are grandpa and grandma good to you?" Sun Qiancheng said.

Mengmeng didn't know much about life and death, tilted her head and thought about it, and said, "It's good for me." ”

"Yes, so Mengmeng is going to burn paper with her father tonight, you know? Let the grandparents see how filial their good granddaughter is. Sun Qiancheng said.

Meng Meng nodded again and again: "Okay, okay...... Meng Meng is coming. The little girl jumped, the lime basin in her hand shook, the lime collapsed, a gust of wind blew, and the lime hula flew away.

The monkey was originally curious and got closer, but this time, the lime came coming at him, and he was stupid not to know how to dodge!

At this moment, a large hand blocked the monkey's eyes and kept the lime out, but it still got lime on his face, and his hair was white.

As soon as this movement came out, Sun Qiancheng looked up, and when he saw that it was Fangzheng, he quickly got up and said with a smile: "Master Fangzheng, how did you go down the mountain...... Oops, I almost forgot, it's July and a half, and you're going to have to work hard again today. ”

Fang Zheng clasped his hands together and said, "Amitabha, this is what a poor monk should do." ”

Sun Qiancheng said: "Master, I told you last time that our family moved here later, and except for my parents, my grandparents are not buried here. To be honest, I can't tell exactly where they are buried. Seeing that it is half a year of July......" Speaking of this, Sun Qiancheng looked at the white circle on the ground. The reason why he chose to ask Fang Zheng was because during the Qingming Festival, Fang Zheng helped him solve the problem of worshipping his ancestors and understood how to worship all the ancestors. If Fang Zheng doesn't come today, he is also going up the mountain to ask, and since he has encountered it, he naturally wants to ask for advice.

Fang Zheng said: "Donor, this matter is easy to do, just point the tomb mouth to the west." As the saying goes, it is right to drive a crane to the west and face the west. ”

When Sun Qiancheng heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he hurriedly thanked him: "Thank you Master for your advice, to be honest, this question has been bothering me for a while." I didn't expect it to be so simple......"

After speaking, Sun Qiancheng hurriedly squatted down and drew a large circle, with the gap aimed at the west.

Bidding farewell to Sun Qiancheng, Fang Zheng took the monkey to the only small shop in the village, and the small shop changed hands several times, and now it is Chen Jin who opens the small shop. Chen Jin wanted to pit Fangzheng, but because of a fire, Fangzheng saved the whole family, and the other party was extremely grateful. Later, Chen Jin's family was rebuilt, Chen Jin thought about it, and he didn't want to farm anymore, so he bought the shop, sat in the shop every day, put two tables, and watched everyone play idle cards, chat, and pass the time.

However, no one in Chen Jin's shop played cards today, because it was full of all kinds of paper money, and since Fang Zheng told them that the currency of the underworld only recognized paper money, not gold ingots or anything, no one in the village burned those things. So all the money that Chen Jin's family entered was yellow straw paper money, stacks of them, piled up there.

Chen Jinzheng was sitting at the door playing with his mobile phone, when he heard the movement, he looked up and saw that it was Fangzheng, so he quickly got up and said with a smile: "Master Fangzheng, are you here? ”

Fang Zheng shook his head and said: "The poor monk had no money before, so he had no choice but to take it for nothing." Now that the temple is full of incense, how can it be taken for nothing? This money still has to be paid. ”

"Master Fangzheng, you're not bored, you saved the lives of my wife and children, what's the point of giving you something? You have to take this, take it casually! If you don't take it, I'll ...... It's all packed and sent to you up the mountain, whether you want it or not, I don't want it anyway. Chen Jin directly began to play the scoundrel.