Chapter 322: Heavenly Road

It's all about traveling and experiencing the local culture and customs. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Zheng Jingjing and the others also experienced the life of a snowy child, that is, grazing, with the Tibetan lions to help the villagers next door to graze their lives, they lived a period of unrestrained life, if it wasn't for the sun was too hot, they might really wander on the prairie every day.

What's even more amazing is that Zheng Jingjing and Mo Ke learned to ride horses, which surprised Wang Yaodu.

The unfamiliar nomadic living conditions allow these children who grew up in the city to experience another life state and world, which is necessary for life experience and future vision of society.

Because the world is very big, if you don't go out to see and experience other cultures, then you really can't jump out of the circle of life that you draw your own prison.

Life is short, and it is a very fortunate thing to experience different cultures and lives.

During this time, the biggest shock to them was that an old woman in the surrounding villages died, and the old woman also entertained them, Wang Yao didn't want to take them to the funeral, but Zheng Jingjing and they felt that they should say something.

Sky burial is the most widespread funeral ritual in Tibetan culture, and it is the same form of funeral as burial, sea burial and cremation in the Central Plains.

It's just that for them, who have been influenced by the Central Plains culture since childhood, it is difficult to understand the practice of sky burial.

In the Central Plains civilization, there is a saying of 'whole corpse', and this kind of idea that keeping the whole corpse after death is the greatest respect is deep-rooted, so it is completely incomprehensible to the practice of sky burial, in which the body is given to carnivorous birds after death.

They felt that there was no dead body, and feeding the corpse to wild beasts was extremely disrespectful to the dead.

But in fact, this tradition of sky burial is only for some believers, and if it is not a believer, this sky burial is meaningless.

The purpose of the celestial burial is not to sublimate the soul of the believer, but to feed the other living beings in this world with the soft voice of death, which is taken from the highest state of jackfruit in Mahayana Buddhism, sacrificing one's life.

There is a painting in the Dunhuang grottoes, which tells the story of a prince born with a bodhisattva heart, when he went out to play, he met a litter of tiger cubs and a tigress all the time, the tigress was skinny and was feeding a few tiger cubs, but because she was very hungry, she was ready to eat a tiger cub to satisfy her hunger.

The prince was saddened when he saw this, and said to his two brothers, "You see that tigress is so skinny that she is dying of hunger, but she still nurses her son." In my opinion, the female tiger will definitely eat the tiger cub when she is forced by hunger. ”

His two older brothers agreed with him, but said, "If the tigress doesn't eat, then when she starves to death, the cubs will starve to death." ”

In the end, the little prince decided to sacrifice himself to feed the tigress, and after the little prince sacrificed himself to feed the tiger, the two brothers and his parents were very sad, and the little prince, who had already turned into a Buddha, came down from heaven to relieve his relatives.

However, when the relatives thought of the tragic situation of the little prince after his death by sacrificing his life to feed the tiger, they were very sad and could not understand the little prince's approach, but in the end, they were dissolved by the little prince, understood the meaning of human beings with inherent death and compassion, and persuaded the people of the whole country to be good.

There are many things in this world that people don't understand, and most of the little prince's practice of sacrificing himself to feed tigers will not understand, and even feel irresponsible, but think about it objectively and calmly.

What exactly does death mean?

All human fears come from death, so human beings will always have suffering, but the question of which of these sufferings and troubles are necessary and which are unnecessary is very important for life.

Because human life is limited, some people live a long time, but they will die eventually, and some people have a very short life, but they also face death.

So death itself is an unavoidable topic.

If you are too attached to the matter of life and death, then life will be bound to the fear of death and give up some truly beautiful things in the world.

The subtlety of Buddhism lies not in how strong its chicken soup is, but in the fact that Buddhism uses reincarnation and the six realms of reincarnation to answer people's fear of life and death, weaken human beings' fear of death, and liberate some people.

Heavenly burial is a branch of this Buddhism that inherits this form of Buddhism and gives back to the world with physical almsgiving.

The ceremonies of the sky burial are very complicated and even very solemn, no worse than the burial in the Central Plains.

After the death of a loved one, the body needs to be enshrined, and the local archmages will perform the excess, chanting for three days, and then the celestial burial masters will perform the rituals, and finally go to the celestial burial platform for celestial burial.

Human beings have a cognitive difference, or a kind of prejudice, burying the corpse in the coffin, even if it is not eaten by insects, it will be decomposed by plants and land, cremation is more direct, the corpse is devoured by fire, and there are other ethnic groups such as water burial, the corpse is thrown into the river to be eaten by fish.

Whether it is plants, insects, vultures, fish, these are all living things, even fire and seawater, can be considered a kind of living thing, and when performing funeral rites, there is no difference, it is all physical charity, a kind of feedback to the world.

It's like a whale fall after a whale dies.

This is a magical law of nature, and no one can escape it.

Therefore, there seems to be no fundamental difference between celestial burial and disrespect for the deceased.

But even though the level in my heart has passed, the consciousness of witnessing the heavenly burial with my own eyes will make people truly feel what death is, what is impermanence in life, and what is life.

The Zen sound emitted by the rotating Jinglun of the funeral monk procession was like a magic sound in the ears, which made people's heartbeats become much smoother, and the relatives carried the body to the heavenly burial platform, and there was a strange smell in the air, not a disgusting carrion, nor a good-smelling herb.

Flocks of vultures and eagles swirled in the sky, and after the celestial undertaker blew his whistle, they landed around the celestial burial platform, watching quietly.

Wang Yao did not see bloodthirsty tyranny in the eyes of these flesh-eating creatures, but instead had a kind of humanized peace.

Jin Taeran and Mo Ke's faces had turned pale, because there was blood on the masonry of the Heavenly Burial Tai that had not yet faded.

Although Zheng Jingjing and Xu Qingmei's faces were ugly, their expressions were solemn.

Zhao Fei hid behind Wang Yao, trembling all over.

Su Yong held a strange magic weapon in his hand, knelt on the ground and recited Zhangxiong's prayer.

The leading archmage performed the final ritual for the body and left with the monks, taking with him the prayer wheel rotation and the Sanskrit sound array.

The celestial burial master sent a signal to the vultures performing the celestial burial, and the large birds that were originally quiet spread their wings and took off at the same time, but strangely did not make a birdsong sound, and dozens of vultures circled around the sky burial platform a few times before swooping down the corpse.

Wang Yao's pupils shrank suddenly, and the girls all subconsciously closed their eyes.

A faint smell of blood wafted in the air, making Wang Yao frown.

Dozens of vultures wrapped the carcass, and no one could see what was inside, only the bright red blood flowing slowly on the stone platform.

In about a few minutes, the celestial burial master struck the instrument in his hand again.

Wang Yao looked at the vultures that were rising in the air, looked at the remains of the white bones again, sighed softly, reached out and took Zheng Jingjing and the others beside him into his arms, and pushed them to turn around and walk outside.

Because they may not be able to accept the next picture.

Su Yong waited until after the ceremony to accompany the families of the deceased.

"Aunt Yangjie said that the sacred birds here don't eat living beings, is it true?"

Wang Yao replied, "Vultures are carrion creatures, because of evolutionary reasons, claws and pecks are not suitable for hunting, so most of them only eat dead creatures, they are the executors of heavenly burials, and the local people regard them as the incarnation of the monks and monks, and they are sacred birds that do not kill, which is also correct." ”

"Although I can convince myself intellectually, I still feel that this kind of funeral ceremony is a little unacceptable. Kim Tae-ran's eyes were blank.

"You can not accept it, but you have to learn to respect. Wang Yao reached out and touched Jin Tairan's little head, "Everyone has the right to choose, you can not accept it or not understand, but don't be prejudiced and resisted at will, this world is very big, you are very small, you must learn to be in awe." ”

Jin Tairan did not refute Wang Yao for the first time, and nodded sullenly.

Wang Yao is sure that this is the closest thing they have come to death in their lives, and it is also the turning point that changes them.

Sky burial is only a funeral ceremony, but it has great educational significance for the living, when the ceremony is over, the living people who return to reality will continue to work hard to live with the mourning of the deceased, which is the last kindness of the deceased to their loved ones.

This kind of pure kindness can touch people's hearts.

"They're alright. After going back, Zheng Jingjing and the others all went back to their rooms to rest, and they didn't even eat dinner, and Su Yong was a little worried.

"It's fine. Wang Yao smiled, some things have to be experienced sooner or later, "What about you?"

"I'm fine, my mother-in-law went to reincarnate and enjoy happiness, the gods and birds cleaned her up excessively, and she will be blessed in the next life. Su Yong's smile was innocent.

Wang Yao smiled gently, "You are also blessed." ”

Su Yong smiled and shrugged, "Grandpa said, my good fortune may be you." ”

Wang Yao's movements froze.

......

After watching the heavenly burial, Qu Yuan walked along the 'Heavenly Road' with Wang Yao for a day, and wrote the first part after returning.

"Early in the morning I was standing in the green pasture

I saw the Condor draped in that glow

Like an auspicious cloud flying across the blue sky

Bring good fortune to the children of collectors

At dusk I stood on a high hill

Look at the railroad to my hometown

Dragons climb over the mountains

Bring health to the snowy plateau

It was a magical heavenly path

Send the warmth of the world to the frontier

From then on, the mountain is no longer high, and the road is no longer long

The sons and daughters of all ethnic groups gathered together

At dusk I stood on a high hill

Look at the railroad to my hometown

Dragons climb over the mountains

Bring health to the snowy plateau

It was a magical heavenly path

Take us to heaven on earth

Barley wine butter tea will be sweeter

The song of happiness spreads everywhere"

PS: Thank you Na Meow for 1000, Wind Shadow Xuanyuan 2 for 100 tips~

Major Qu Yuan is really the lyricist of "Heavenly Road".

I know that many people may not accept the sky burial culture, and even some resistance, but I think this is just a funeral ceremony without other superfluous and complicated colors, and I want to provide readers with another way of looking at things, rejecting prejudice and blind obedience, and learning to think independently.