(a)

On the day after your 60th birthday, I went to the Warm Pavilion where you had disappeared last and listened to the new Theravada of the temple where the Yunjing royal family was enshrined explain the Buddhist concept of life and death. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

The sixtieth century means the successful end of a life and the grand opening of a new life. In the customs of that time, after the age of 60, the main task of a person is no longer to worry about earthly affairs, not to support his family, not to continue to be busy, to take care of children and grandchildren, but to let go of all kinds of daily trivialities, all kinds of calculations, and use most of his energy, or even all of his energy, to plan and prepare for his next life.

Among them, the most important things include: going to the monastery and listening to the Dharma Master explain the specific process of death, explaining what will happen after death, explaining the operation of the netherworld, explaining the changes of the soul in each seven days after death, and explaining the process of reincarnation.

On that day, the Good Death Master told me in great detail how the deceased would experience sensations at each stage before and after the death of the body, how the constituent elements of the body would dissolve into the other, how the functions would cease layer by layer, and finally, how the consciousness would painfully separate from the physical body and enter the bardo world. The final separation process was very painful, like peeling off the shell of a living turtle.

He continued to explain in detail what the Netherworld Divine Consciousness would encounter. The first seven days, the second seven days, and even the seventh seven days, each of these seven days is a cycle, and the consciousness encounters many different things. The consciousness will see the relatives around him crying bitterly, and the tears of the people around him will make the consciousness feel very sad, like hot sand falling on the skin like a torrential rain. The Consciousness will see his own corpse, and the Consciousness will want to speak to his loved ones, but the relatives will not hear him at all. The consciousness will panic and run around, longing to return to the body, hoping to find another body somewhere. Sometimes, the Divine Consciousness will also meet acquaintances from the past and see them suffering in the Netherworld. Sometimes, the Divine Consciousness would see huge lightning and earth-shattering thunder like the end of the world, and see many hideous-looking, mountain-like creatures, armed with various weapons, and let out a thunderous roar, rushing towards them from all directions. Some of the gods would fall into a huge river, and see countless men and women floating in the river crying, and many Yaksha holding steel forks in their hands would randomly pick up men and women from the crowd and throw them into the air, throwing them into a bloody blur.

The memory of the bardo consciousness is seven times that of the pre-life period, and it can remember many details of the life, and the scenes in the life will be replayed in a single moment like a three-dimensional image. The bardo consciousness can also move at an extremely fast speed, because without the drag of the body, it almost immediately goes wherever it wants.

The Venerable Master went on to talk about reincarnation after 7749 days. After seeing all kinds of horrors in the bardo realm, some bardo divine senses were extremely frightened, and they took refuge everywhere, and when they saw some caves on the mountain, they hid in a panic. As soon as he hid in it, he entered the womb of an animal, and when he was born, he was already a beast.

Listening to the mage's detailed explanation of the process of death and the afterlife, I felt that his explanation was very real, and the logic was very rigorous and systematic, not like it was made up, but like a truthful description of people who had been there and returned to the world.

I asked the Good Death Master, does everyone experience these things after they die? Will someone like the old general too? Will someone like the former emperor do the same?

The Good Death Master said, No. There are several types of people who do not go through the bardo phase. One is a pure-hearted and benevolent person, who will hear the bursts of fairy music after death, and when he sees the heavens coming, he will go directly to the heavenly realm; One is the extremely evil person with a hideous heart, who will not experience the bardo realm after death, but will directly fall into a different level of hell; There is also a kind of person who wishes to be reborn in the Elysium of Amitabha Buddha, blessed by the great wish of Amitabha Buddha, and when he is dying, he will see Amitabha Buddha or Avalokiteshvara, or the Great Trend Bodhisattva lead the beings of Elysium to come to greet him with a lotus platform, and when they climb the lotus platform, they will appear in the five-colored lotus flower in the Seven Treasure Pools of Elysium. Those who have passed away in the heavenly realm and those who have passed away in the Elysium can be very peaceful and calm when they die, and there is no expression of painful struggle, but those who have fallen into hell will be frightened and frantic when they die, showing all kinds of intense physical and mental pain.

The Good Death Master said that His Majesty was physically and mentally stable when he was mourned, and there was no madness and coma, and there was no dying struggle, so he must have gone to a good place.

Hearing the mage say this, Liu Shen's serene expression at the last moment appeared in front of my eyes, and I was deeply relieved to think of the shallow smile on the corner of his mouth.

(b)

That day, as I sat there listening to the Venerable Master's lecture, a thought arose in my mind.

The best years of my life have passed, but, compared to you, compared to Liu Shen, it seems that I have not provided enough help to all the beings in this world. I spend so much time on household chores, and I don't have much time left to do things that can help the people.

From that day on, I set a rule for myself and insisted on doing so:

Every night before I go to sleep, I do one thing. Think back, have I done anything today to reduce the suffering of life in this world? Has anything been done to increase the joy and peace of this world?

I will kneel in front of the tablets of my ancestors and face yours and check myself.

I put a big porcelain jar at the head of my bed, and if I confirmed that I had done one of these things that day, I would put a white stone in that jar. If not, I will blame myself in my heart why I have lived for a day and have not done anything to take care of the common people.

In order for me to live a long life and live with children and grandchildren, you have endured so much hardship, and I have wasted this day in vain.

I will feel very sorry for you, sorry for many people, dead and alive.

From the age of 60 until I died, I continued to do this every day.

(c)

Strange to say, every night, when I put white stones into the porcelain jar, something magical often happens.

Many times, I clearly and truly saw Liu Shen standing behind me. He didn't know what the stone represented. He wanted to know. But he never asked me.

When he appeared, he just stood there silently, quietly watching me do so.

When I looked back at him after putting the stones, he would always smile warmly at me and say, "Qin'er, it's late at night, now, can we go to sleep together?" ”

When I walked up to him and tried to take his hand, he disappeared as if he had appeared out of nowhere. I was the only one left, facing the darkness of the night. (To be continued.) )