At half past eleven in the evening, I called the middle-aged woman, it was her appointed time, and I don't know why it was so late. Listening to her voice, she was a little haggard, and told me that she had just recited the entire "Jizo Sutra" and repeated it every day, but it still had no effect. I asked what was going on, and she sighed and said that she had believed in Buddhism for so many years, but she didn't expect the Buddha to bless her at all, and asked me if the Buddha was deliberately testing her, just to help her become a Buddha.

I laughed: "You first tell me about the situation at home, as for whether the Buddha wants to save you, that's not something that a mortal like me can see." ”

The middle-aged woman said, "Well, you're still very honest, and even you don't understand it." ”

She began to tell me that her surname was Zhu, that her home was in downtown Wuhan, and that she lived with her wife, son, daughter-in-law, and little grandson. Eight years ago, she had high blood pressure, which was very serious, and an old monk at a temple said that if she believed in Buddhism, she would get better. So she began to eat a vegetarian diet and chant sutras, doing good deeds and releasing life. Half a year later, her high blood pressure was really cured, so Ms. Zhu believed in the power of the Buddha even more and began to become a real layman. Eat vegan like monks, even onions, ginger, garlic and leeks, celery, coriander and other dishes with obvious smell do not eat, chant scriptures every day, do good deeds everywhere, participate in large-scale release activities at least three times a year, and buy nearly 1,000 yuan of live animals to put each time.

In the past few years, Ms. Zhu has not only believed in Buddhism herself, but also mobilized her family to follow suit. The son and daughter-in-law are not so highly conscious, they don't listen to any persuasion, they don't eat vegetarian or recite Buddhism, and they don't have time to participate in the release, so she has to persuade her wife. My wife had to follow for the sake of face, but it was difficult for many people to persevere in reciting the "Dizang Sutra" every day, after all, it took nearly two hours to recite it once. Three years ago, Ms. Zhu's wife died of a cerebral infarction, and her son and daughter-in-law both said, why is it okay if we don't believe it, but my father and you don't live long by eating vegetarian and reciting Buddhism.

Ms. Zhu's explanation is that her wife is not sincere enough, so it is better not to recite Buddhism and not eat vegetarian. At the same time, she felt that it might be her wife's good fortune, and she had risen to the west and become a positive result, so she believed in Buddhism more devoutly. Every time a relative or friend fell ill or even died, she had to rush to the first time to recite the scriptures for her, and many people were very grateful to her.

About five months ago, her little grandson, who was less than one and a half years old, suddenly began to get sick, not cold, no fever, no pain or itching, just crying in the middle of the night, and couldn't be coaxed. I went to the hospital for a comprehensive examination and said that there was no problem, and then the daughter-in-law took the child back to her parents' house, and the result was fine. When I go home again, I start to make trouble again, no need to ask, there must be something at home. But I don't know what the problem is, that day Ms. Zhu went to the field for seven or eight days, the child was also very safe, and Ms. Zhu began to cry again when she came back. Now the daughter-in-law quit, saying that the mother-in-law did not recruit anything unclean, and the neighbors also gossiped, saying that the child always cries when he sees the old man, which means that the old man has little longevity. Frightened, Ms. Zhu's son took her to a big hospital for a physical examination, which cost more than 4,000 yuan.

The results of the examination came out, and Ms. Zhu was healthy from her brain to the soles of her feet, except for her blood pressure was a little low. The doctor asked her about her lifestyle habits and recipes, and said that she ate too lightly, and there was a lack of salt and sodium and potassium in her body, so she just put salt normally. Because Ms. Zhu believes in Buddhism, there is almost no salt in stir-frying, so she doesn't care. Since it was not Ms. Zhu's life, her son also began to wonder if his mother had recruited something.

Of course, Ms. Zhu does not admit that her life is very simple, except that her home is a park, and then there are a few relatives and friends' homes and animal release activities, and she never goes to unclean places. But it was obvious that the problem was Ms. Zhu, she had to go to the temple to worship the Buddha and burn incense, and also found an old monk to do rituals. Every night at home, he recited the Jizo Sutra and exorcism mantras, but with little effect.

The grandson made a good solution, as long as he was not at home, the daughter-in-law had to move back to her parents' house, and Ms. Zhu asked her son to leave, but the son felt sorry for the old lady and stayed with him. Because Ms. Zhu was in a bad mood, she often met and chatted with middle-aged and elderly female Buddhist friends who also believed in Buddhism, complained and complained, sometimes chatted until late before sending them away, and sometimes stayed to live with Ms. Zhu and talked all night. Xiao Zhu didn't care much in order to let her mother have an outlet, as long as she was happy.

I thought it was only a child who had an accident, but I didn't expect adults to be uneasy. Sometimes I heard a knock on the door in the middle of the night, and at first Xiao Zhu thought it was my mother's Buddhist friend, and there was a sensor light in the corridor, but I couldn't see anything from the door mirror. Xiao Zhu had the courage to open the door, but it was empty. When it was closed again, there was a knock on the door, and he and Ms. Zhu thought it might be a prank by the neighbor's child, so they didn't care.

That night, Xiao Zhu got up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, and when he passed by the living room, he saw a person sitting on the sofa. Xiao Zhu was busy with work, and went to bed early at night, thinking that his mother's Buddhist friend stayed for the night, and he couldn't sleep in the middle of the night to sit in the living room, and he didn't care in a daze. After peeing out, the person disappeared, and Xiao Zhu still thought that this person was walking so fast.

A few days later, Xiao Zhu woke up again at night, and saw someone on the sofa again, but not one but two, sitting side by side facing the direction of the TV, as if watching TV. It wasn't lit at night, and the TV was naturally not turned on, Xiao Zhu thought to himself where these two people came from, what were they watching, and they were his mother's Buddhist friends? But he didn't see any guests when he went to bed last night, could it be that he came in the middle of the night?

When peeing in hygiene, Xiao Zhu thought to herself, a person can't sleep in the middle of the night, and it can be understood to sit in the living room, but two people can't sleep, and they are sitting side by side in the dark living room, which is not normal. Coming out of the toilet, Xiao Zhu turned on the light directly, and the living room was suddenly bright, but the sofa was empty, and there were no two people sitting.

Maybe when they saw themselves coming out to the toilet, the two of them went back to the bedroom for fear of scaring the owner. Xiao Zhu thought so and turned off the light again. I went back to the bedroom and closed the door, and just got into bed and lay down, I heard a TV program coming from the living room through the door. This voice is not small, Xiao Zhu is not very happy, thinking to himself how the old people are more ignorant than the young people, this is the second half of the night, you are old and light, you want to watch TV can be understood, but can't you be quieter?

So, Xiao Zhu wanted to turn over and go out to tell. As soon as she opened the bedroom door, Ms. Zhu in the master bedroom opposite also opened the door, and scolded angrily with her face: "What kind of TV are you watching in the middle of the night, you won't go to work tomorrow?" The two walked to the living room and saw that the TV was showing a late-night movie, and the living room was empty.