On the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, it is the birthday of the Buddha Shakyamuni, and believers call it "Buddha's Birthday" and "Buddha's Birthday", and the most mainstream name is "Buddha Bathing Festival".

According to legend, when the Buddha was born, he pointed to the sky and the ground with one hand, saying: "I am the only one in the world and the underground." Then the heavens and the earth shook, and the nine dragons spat out water to bathe it.

Therefore, the believers of Buddhism poured the Buddha statue with fragrant soup on the Buddha's birthday day to help the Buddha take a bath, which is called the "Buddha Bathing Festival" - the "Songkran Festival" of the Dai nationality is actually called the "Buddha Bathing Festival", which belongs to the product of the integration of national tradition and Buddhist culture.

Zhou Hexuan came to Xiamen by steamer, and then changed to a sampan to ride the waves, and finally arrived at the Nanputuo Temple under the Wulao Peak.

As far as the eye can see, I can see the believers who worship the Buddha, stretching from the seaside to the halfway up the mountain. Many pious men and women even kneel down and kowtow after walking a few steps, as if this is how they can show their hearts to worship the Buddha.

Zhou Hexuan took Yu Peichen and Sun Yongzhen to the shore and walked up the stairs along the crowd of worshipping Buddha.

Along the way, you can see not only the rich and noble families wearing gold and silver, but also the low-level civilians in ragged clothes. Some people have solemn faces and do not dare to show the slightest disrespect on the Buddha's birthday; There are also people who laugh and play and worship Buddha as an outing pleasure.

Most of the believers who come to worship the Buddha bring rich gifts. Even the poor at the bottom often hold a small amount of sesame oil. To put it bluntly, these are birthday gifts for the Buddha.

The more Yu Peichen looked at it, the more angry he became, and he couldn't help muttering: "Now China is in a situation of internal and external troubles, and an illusory Buddha's birthday is a wasteful amount of money. This money is used to worship the Buddha, and it is better to donate it to the soldiers on the front line of resistance against Japan! ”

Zhou Hexuan did not comment, and asked with a smile: "Yongzhen, what do you think?" ”

Sun Yongzhen scratched his head and said: "E-Niang said, whether you meet a god or not, it's always good to worship first." ”

"Hahaha," Zhou Hexuan laughed, "Your mother is very reasonable, representing the general psychology of Chinese towards gods and Buddhas." ”

Yu Peichen disagreed, and even moved out the lyrics of "The Internationale": "There has never been a savior, and it does not rely on the immortal emperor." It is up to us to create human happiness! ”

Zhou Hexuan restrained his smile, looked at those ragged, skinny, but pious believers, and said with emotion: "I don't reject legitimate religion, but I am disgusted with some bad forms of religion. For example, these poor people, their families have no money to spare, and they may be reluctant to eat a pound of sesame oil for a year. But they took the sesame oil they had saved so hard and ran to the temple to offer it to the Buddha, which was a very bad behavior. ”

Yu Peichen said: "There are also Buddhist teachings, which make the people's will depressed and submissive. If everyone believes in Buddhism, China will be hopeless, and the Japanese will easily occupy China. ”

Zhou Hexuan corrected with a smile: "What you said may be correct elsewhere, but the Nanputuo Temple here is different. ”

"What's the difference?" Yu Peichen asked.

Zhou Hexuan explained: "Whether it is the previous abbot Master Taixu, the current abbot Master Chang Yi, or Master Hongyi who is rectifying the precepts of the Buddhist Academy, these three people are all advocating patriotism and resistance against Japan. ”

Yu Peichen was surprised: "The monk also talks about patriotism and anti-Japanese resistance? ”

Zhou Hexuan nodded and said, "The successive abbots of Nanputuo Temple all belong to the staunch Buddhist reformers. For example, the abbot here, they keep pace with the times, and each abbot can only serve two consecutive terms. In particular, the previous abbot, Master Taixu, had traveled all over the world and founded a Buddhist college in Nanputuo Temple, and even had a graduate school. He once preached on a Buddhist theme called "The New Youth and the Morality of National Salvation." ”

Yu Peichen was a little incredulous, she couldn't connect the monk with the salvation of the country.

Master Taixu has been re-elected as abbot for two consecutive terms, leaving his post at the end of his term last year, and is now preaching Buddhism in various parts of the south. The content of his lectures is particularly interesting, such as "Buddhism and Modern China", in which he often teaches teachers and students of Buddhist colleges to love the country and religion, and establish the spirit of dedication to the country and the rise and fall of Buddhism.

The slogan of patriotism has always been placed in front of the love religion by Master Taixu.

Until the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Master Taixu immediately worked hard and called on Buddhists across the country to take action and devote themselves to the anti-Japanese salvation movement. He also published a "Letter to Japanese Buddhists," hoping that Japanese Buddhists would stop the Japanese imperialist war of aggression in the spirit of peace and stopping killing. At the same time, he also organized the "Buddhist Youth Protector Group" to actively participate in ambulance, publicity, and fund-raising work, and even directly participated in the anti-Japanese underground struggle.

This kind of patriotic monk, Zhou Hexuan has to admire, and he is fully worthy of the title of "master".

The three of them continued on their way, and soon came to the gate of the temple, where hundreds of worshippers had gathered.

Li Shutong, who has been ordained as Venerable Hongyi, is leading the teachers and students of the Buddhist Academy to distribute condolences to the believers. According to the number of gifts brought by the believers, they gave back clothes and food of similar value, and called it a reward from the Buddha - of course, some local tycoons have to spend a lot of money, and Nanputuo Temple will not refuse, after all, the monks still have to rely on this for food.

Zhou Hexuan very much agrees with this, because what he hates most is to use religious beliefs to collect money.

"The Great Monk is well!" Zhou Hexuan stepped forward and said.

Li Shutong immediately replied: "Amitabha, it turned out that Mr. Zhou visited, and the poor monk really can't afford to be called a 'great monk'." ”

For monks, they should generally be called "Dharma Master", but they should never be called by their Dharma name. For example, when you see Li Shutong, you can call "Master", you can also call "Master Hongyi" or "Master", and never call "Hongyi" directly, because this is very impolite.

Of course, there are more advanced titles, that is, "monk" and "great monk".

Ordinary monks are not qualified to be called "monks", only those who are profound in Buddhism and highly respected.

Li Shutong handed over the matter to his disciple to deal with, took Zhou Hexuan and the three of them straight to the Buddhist Academy, and said, "It is really a bit presumptuous to invite Mr. Zhou this time. Lay monk Manzhi (Lu Bicheng) said that Mr. Zhou has studied Buddhism quite a lot, and the poor monk is trying to ask for benefits in person. ”

"Mr. Bicheng is also in Nanputuo Temple?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

"Exactly." Although Li Shutong had already cut off the edge of the dust and did not stay in foreign objects, he couldn't help but smile bitterly when he mentioned Lu Bicheng.

When he was in Europe, due to Zhou Hexuan's flickering, Lu Bicheng was provoked to return to China to ask Li Shutong for Buddhism. This is amazing, Lu Bicheng was quickly suppressed by Li Shutong's Buddhist cultivation, and then stuck like a piece of kraft candy.

Uncle Li was also invited by Master Chang Yu, the abbot of Nanputuo Temple, to rectify the precepts of the Buddhist Academy, but who knew that Lu Bicheng also came cheekily, and he couldn't get rid of it.

What does a woman in Lu Bicheng look like when she stays in the monk's temple all day long?

Li Shutong's idea is very simple, since Lu Bicheng was fooled by Zhou Hexuan, then trouble Zhou Hexuan to fool her away again.

Of course, there was another reason why he invited Zhou Hexuan to participate in the Buddha Bathing Festival: "Mr. Zhou, Senior Brother Chang and I both hope that you will come and give a speech to the teachers and students of the Buddhist Academy, the theme is patriotism. ”

"Let me give a lecture at the seminary?" Zhou Hexuan was momentarily stunned, he had never dealt with monks.

Set yourself a small goal first: such as collecting:. Mobile version URL: m.