After a while, the sound of Zhong Qi was loud, and the old monk monk Xian came to the pyre with more than 100 monks in robes, divided into four directions around the pyre, and sat down cross-legged. Led by the monks, more than 100 monks recited the "Amitabha Sutra" together.

The monk Fa Ming on the pyre looked at the monks below and other monks chanting cross-legged, and suddenly felt a little impetuous, and the fear of facing death came like a tide.

Feeling the uneasiness in his heart, Fa Ming closed his eyes, did not dare to look at Seng Xian and the others, and silently recited the mantra in his heart, wanting to use the mantra to drive away the evil demons in his heart and strengthen his belief in burning himself to the Buddha. It's just that I chanted it several times, but it didn't have any effect, but the old things went straight to my heart.

Fa Ming's family name is Xin, so his hometown is not Zhao County, his grandfather and Fa Ming's father were exiled to Zhao County because of the war in his early years, and worked as a domestic servant for the local clan. His father also married a local poor peasant girl, because Fa Ming's mother's family only had one daughter, so his father inherited the family business of his mother's father's family, and since then, he has some small family business to support his livelihood, so he has not worked as a domestic helper.

When Fa Ming was nine years old, because his family was poor, he was tearfully sent to Sanguang Temple by his father. Since entering the temple, Fa Ming, as a small novice, has no background, and has suffered a lot, humiliated by fellow monks, and is deliberately assigned to do more things than other monks. In order to get out of this situation, Fa Ming worked hard to practice Buddhism, and finally received full ordination and became a full monk three years ago after passing the exam.

At the end of April this year, his lay father brought some home-woven cloth and wheat fruits to Sanguang Monastery to give alms, and after visiting him, he told him some things about the family, and Fa Ming learned that his lay mother had fallen ill from the accumulation of silk and weaving cloth for several days. Although his lay father told him that it was not a serious illness, he was still uneasy, and asked the temple several times to come home to see it, but he was never allowed to do so.

In the middle of May, he took advantage of the opportunity to go out of the city to do business for a large family and secretly returned home, only to see that not only his mother was seriously ill, but even his father, who visited him at the end of last month, was sick in bed, and now he found it difficult to eat. What shocked him even more was that because his father could not serve on time and had no money to dredge, his eldest brother was also requisitioned, and his younger sister had already been sold to a big family as a slave because of the lack of money to buy medicine for his mother. Only the younger brother went to work in the fields.

Fa Ming heard about the changes in the family, knelt in front of his parents' bed, lay down beside the bed and wept, wanting to return home to serve his parents, and finally his father drove him away with a wooden stick after persuading him to no avail.

When he returned to the temple, Fa Ming never forgot his parents at home, and the more he thought about it, the more painful he became, and sometimes he fell to the ground and cried during the regular recitation. Although the temple sent monks to take care of him, it did not help him, and the situation in the family was always hanging in his heart.

One day he was on the way to a toilet, heard a few monks talking, said that more than ten years ago, a monk in Youzhou vowed to burn himself for the imperial court to pray for blessings, and finally alarmed the state and county, not only the temple was appreciated by the history of the assassination, and the official family gave thousands of horses, and his lay parents were also richly rewarded.

Ever since Fa Ming heard this story, his heart has slightly risen to the idea of emulating his predecessors. If you can exchange your crippled body for the happiness of your parents and younger brothers, you will also be considered filial piety and friendship.

After having this idea, Fa Ming talked to the monks who arranged to take care of him in the temple during the gossip, and he was willing to burn himself to pray for his parents, and to help his parents at home with some alms, and asked him to be the head monk of the temple on his behalf. When he went to bed that night, he dreamed that his grandfather was angry and did not allow him to burn himself.

Fa Ming was awakened and sat at the head of the bed until dawn, and talked about it at breakfast, although he did not say that he would not burn himself again, but in the next few days, the monk who took care of him secretly persuaded him to dedicate himself, and he also learned that the cooking fire in his parents' house had been cut off, and the only farming cattle had been sold.

These two things finally made him make up his mind, and after thinking about it all night, he went to see the head of the temple early the next morning, and said that he would voluntarily burn himself. The temple master also persuaded him a few words, but Fa Ming still insisted on burning his body, and asked the temple master to send someone to send some rice grain to his parents to spend his day, and the temple master agreed to his request in one bite.

He has been thinking about this matter in his heart for the past two days, although he decided to dedicate this body to his parents, but the fear of death surfaced in his mind after he returned to the monk's room, especially when he was asleep at night, his grandfather scolded him again, if he dared to self-immolate, even after death, he would not see his unfilial descendants, so Fa Ming's idea of self-immolation was slightly shaken.

At breakfast that day, he was not in a state of mind and could not swallow, and the monk asked him the reason, and he told him what had happened in his dream last night. Later, many monks in the temple came to persuade him, saying that the matter of burning his body had been spread, and it was too late to regret it.

If he can hold the burning puja as scheduled, he will give a lot of alms to his lay parents, and if he can keep the relics, the temple will treasure the relics, build a relics pagoda for him, and worship his relics in it, and be worshiped by the monks and laymen with incense.

Under the persuasion and intimidation of more than a dozen monks in turn, Fa Ming had no choice but to cut off the idea of vacillation. Early this morning, several monks led by Huizheng came to him and said that they had prepared a pot of specially prepared wine for him, and after taking it, he would not be so painful when he was subjected to karmic fire, but his tongue would be numb, and his throat would be burning.

After taking it, he felt like a fire in his throat, his tongue gradually became numb, and he had difficulty speaking and pronouncing. Hui Zheng told him that this was probably due to the nature of the wine, and that no one would drink this wine on weekdays, so he didn't know what the similarities and differences were, but he heard that this wine was a little different from person to person, and told him not to panic.

Fa Ming opened his eyes and looked at Li Yuezu and his wife standing side by side under His Royal Highness Shakya, Tuoba Shen and Li Niangzi, and remembered his parents and younger siblings at home.

I really want to see my father, mother, brother and sister again!

Fa Ming closed his eyes and held back the tears in his eyes, afraid that the people below would see it.

。。。。。。

Tuoba Shen watched Seng Xian and others sit in a row and chant sutras, knowing that today's big scene was about to start. Looking at the pyre, sometimes opening and sometimes closing his eyes, Fa Ming, who looked restless, really didn't look like a person who voluntarily burned himself. But he wasn't tied up, and it was hard to understand that he wasn't voluntary.

"Your Highness......"

Tuoba Shen turned his head, looked at Li Niangzi, and wondered, "What's the matter with Li Niangzi?" ”

"The little woman looks at this Dharma monk, she really doesn't seem to be a person who is willing to burn her body, and she doesn't know if she is persecuted, why doesn't Your Highness send someone to ask?"

Tuoba Shen also has this intention, no matter whether this monk is really voluntary or not, he will not waste any energy if he asks again, if he is forced by others, it is a great thing to save him by himself.

looked at Lu Guang and Liu Teng, thought about it and asked Liu Teng to ask, this person is stronger than Lu Guang in terms of mouth, and he is older and looks more reliable than Lu Guang.

Liu Teng hurriedly ran to the pyre, looked at Fa Ming with his eyes closed, and was about to ask, when he saw the monk sitting on the ground and said: "The auspicious time has come, I don't know if Tan Yue is here, what are you doing?" If the auspicious time passes, I am afraid that I will collide with the Buddha. ”

How could a person like Liu Teng, who had suffered a lot, be frightened by the old monk's words, but the old monk didn't wait for him to ask Fa Ming first, and his indiscriminate interjection made him a little suspicious in his heart.

Glancing at the old monk, Liu Teng said: "There is no him, just by the order of His Royal Highness my family, I came to ask this Fa Ming a few words." After speaking, he didn't wait for the monk to answer, so he asked Fa Ming on the pyre: "Master Fa Ming, my Royal Highness has something to ask you, you can tell the truth." ”

Fa Ming opened his eyes when the monk interjected just now, and listened to Liu Teng's words, Fa Ming didn't know what to say, this matter was indeed his initiative to request, but in the end he was a little remorseful, the monks in the temple persuaded and forced, I don't know if it is voluntary, I opened my mouth, only to feel that my throat hurt, my face couldn't help frowning, but my mouth could only make a "ah, ah" sound, it hurt.

Liu Teng saw that the monk only said "ah" but did not say anything else, and his face looked very painful, and he felt that there must be something hidden in it. He did not ask any more questions, but turned and went to the temple of Shakya.

"How? Is this law voluntary? Tuoba Shen asked

"Your Highness, the little slave has asked, but the little slave is stupid......"

"The auspicious time has arrived, send the monk to return to the wonderful realm!" There was a loud shout in the distance.

Tuoba Shen looked up and saw four novices with torches in their hands lighting the pyre at the same time in all four directions.

Liu Teng also saw this scene, and also confirmed the conjecture in his heart, and said hurriedly: "Your Highness, this Fa Ming must be caused by the persecution of the monk, and the little slave Fang saw that the Fa Ming could no longer even speak, so it can be seen that the monk was secretly harmed." ”

Tuoba was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted, and said to Yu Zhong: "Yu Qing, you quickly send someone to save Na Fa Ming." ”

This fire has just been burned, and it is not big, and it is still too late to save it.

Yu Zhong didn't have time to agree, so he beckoned a few soldiers around him and ran towards the fire.

Seng Xian just looked at Liu Teng's face, and knew that something was wrong, he drugged Fa Ming, but he didn't want him to talk nonsense to the letter, but he didn't expect that Liu Teng would come over to ask in the end.

Fortunately, Fa Ming didn't say anything, and his sin could not be cured with a small suspicion. The matter of burning his body was indeed requested by Fa Ming himself, and he was justified when it came to the capital. Seng Xian secretly gritted his teeth and simply lit the fire.

Looking at the rapidly spreading flames, Seng Xian and the monks felt the high temperature coming to their faces, and hurriedly took a few steps back, and the sound of chanting in their mouths became higher and higher, as if they could send Fa Ming to the western sky by relying on this chanting sound.

Looking at the flames that were about to devour Fa Ming, Seng Xian almost wanted to laugh wildly, as long as this Fa Ming died, these people would bite their mouths, with the identity of outsiders, the prince had the right to meddle in local affairs, and when the time came, he would go to Feng Taishou to do some work, and it would not be a big deal in the end.

Fa Ming looked at the flames surrounding him, thinking in his heart that it would be better if it was over, and he would save himself from suffering endless suffering in this world. In a mist of eyes, through the distorted heat, he suddenly saw a familiar figure in the crowd, a man with gray hair and many wrinkles on his face, who was very similar to his father, with a sackcloth towel tied to his head and holding a bamboo cane, staggering through the crowd. At first, he thought it was because of his own demons, but after a few more looks, he was sure that it was his father.

He didn't want to die, he wanted to go down to see his father, hug him and cry bitterly, and then go home, even if he died, with his parents. He wanted to get up and jump off the fire, but he felt as if someone was grabbing his robe behind him, and he quickly flew to see it, and it turned out that when he closed his eyes and chanted, someone tied his robe to the pyre, and he hurriedly reached out to untie it, but it was a dead knot. A burst of flames rushed in, and Fa Ming fell in the flames, and was quickly engulfed in the flames, and he did not see his father wearing a sackcloth on his head again, but could only hear the noise of the whole audience, the sound of bells and chimes, and the sound of chanting.

"Son!" A man dressed in rags, with a sackcloth towel wrapped around his head, holding a bamboo cane, and a wrinkled face rushed out of the crowd and threw himself into the fire, looking like he was about to throw himself into the fire, but was fortunately intercepted by Yu Zhong and others who arrived.

Yu Zhong looked at Fa Ming who fell in the fire and did not move for a long time. They came late, and the timber was obviously tampered with, and they didn't have time to save Fa Ming.

Tuoba Shen saw this, and naturally knew that in this burning scene, the monk was absolutely not clean, looking at the old man who had fainted, a wave of anger rushed to his heart, and he no longer thought about the rules that the prince could not interfere in local political affairs, and shouted: "Liu Teng, go and order Yu Qing to detain all the monks in Sanguang Temple, and strictly interrogate them, and they must be thoroughly investigated." ”

"Yes!"