Lu Jia dreamed that she had become a carp and was swimming happily in the water.

This time and space is in the Tang Dynasty, a small town in the south of the Yangtze River.

On a rainy morning, a fisherman sat listlessly on the side of the market with a shabby bamboo basket on his back, his clothes wet and sticking to his back. The cuff frayed fabric is reminiscent of a rag for someone's stove.

Wearing a shabby bamboo hat on his head, the bamboo strips are uneven inside and out, and it looks like they will fall apart at the slightest touch. There was a red carp in a wooden basin on the ground underfoot.

The fish swims around in the water, probably because the tub is too small for it to swing its tail at all, and the so-called swim is just a circle along the edge of the basin in the water.

"Uncle, can I exchange these two strings of copper coins for a fish for you?"

The fisherman looked up, and there were drops of water running down his thinning hair on his dark brown face, and he didn't know if it was sweat or rain.

The wrinkles on the forehead were side by side like hemp ropes, and they were still unneatly placed and crooked.

Following the voice, he raised his head and saw a handsome little monk standing in front of him, and saw the two strings of copper coins he was carrying, and the old fisherman's eyes lit up.

"Okay, the little master will also give you this wooden basin" hurriedly took the two strings of copper coins, for fear that the little monk would regret it and grabbed it in his hand.

Also, in this era of one or two baked cakes and a penny, I thought that there was no hope of catching only one fish today, but it turned out that a big head came, and two strings of money could buy several bigger fish.

Just when he was thinking in his heart that the money would be enough for a few days, and the old woman at home would be very happy, the delicate little monk opposite had already left with a wooden basin and satisfaction.

The little monk in the coarse cloth robe walked away in the fog and rain until he disappeared, and no one noticed all this.

The little monk returned to the Great Bell Temple and went straight to the outside of an old monk's meditation room. He knelt on his knees outside the wooden door and bowed, his forehead on the ground, silent and motionless.

The paint of the wooden door is mottled early, the door frame and handle have been worn and shiny, and the smooth texture of the wood has no burrs, and I don't know how many years have passed.

The voice of the old monk in the wooden door was gentle and calm: "Kongchen, where have you been today?" "The presiding master is meditating, and his closed eyes are not open.

The little monk replied to the master a little timidly outside the door:

"Master, the disciple went to the East Market this morning"

"Kongchen, what doubts do you have today?"

"Master..... The disciple has something unclear, please.... The master solves the doubts of the disciples..."

"Empty dust, come in and talk."

"Yes, master." Kongchen was meticulous in his respectful manners.

Kongchen got up and gently pushed open the wooden door, turned around and closed it gently after coming in, and first bowed respectfully at the door before walking in front of the old monk.

The abbot's meditation room is extremely clean and tidy, with a small desk on the wall dedicated to the portrait of the Buddha Patriarch, eyes slightly open, eyelids lowered to look at all beings, looking compassionate and *. The author's penmanship is delicate and rigorous, and the lines are smooth and lifelike. It seems to be the work of a celebrity.

There is a plate of incense burner on the desk, and green smoke slowly floats out of the hollow hole of the incense burner, forming a random and long thin line. The smell of sandalwood soaks into the heart and spleen, and suddenly gives birth to tranquility.

Take a few steps forward, still on your knees, and bow with your head on top of your head.

"Empty dust, look up."

"Monks are not allowed to go out of the temple and enter the market at will, you have a good Huigen, and you grew up in the temple since childhood, I think something disturbed your heart."

Although the presiding master's eyes were slightly closed when he spoke, he could still see his love for the empty dust.

"Master, the rainy season is the most humid recently, and Kongchen went to Dongshi to buy a new futon for Master to keep out the dampness and cold, but he didn't want to meet a fisherman selling a fish on the way, and the disciple couldn't bear it, so he exchanged two strings of money for a fish..."

"Hmm. Kongchen, you have always been very good-rooted. ”

"The disciple wants to ask: After death, where will the soul die?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Master, a few days ago, I received a letter from my uncle, saying that both parents in the family have passed away. Although the disciple has his heart to my Buddha, the disciple does not dare to forget the grace of childbirth. ”

"Empty dust, the place where the soul dies, according to what karma and what way to do before death. There are clouds in the Jizo Sutra: [Father and son are close to each other, divergent paths, even if they meet, they are not willing to accept it. When you were an infant, your parents abandoned you outside the gate of the temple in the cold winter that day, and although they came to visit you later, they refused to accept you back, did you ever resent this? ”

"The disciple has no grudges. There are no parents in the world, they have given me life, which is a great grace. Empty dust replied.

"Since you have a concern in your heart, why don't you return to the world?" The host continued to ask.

"The disciple's heart has turned to the Buddha, and he only wishes to always be with the green lantern, and he can serve the master in this life."

"Everything is cause and effect. Father and son, flesh and blood, are all cause and effect in the world. For example, the fish you saved today is also the cause and effect of your previous life. Monks don't save money, these will become a shackle to our practice, you go, you don't have to buy anything outside of your body for the master. ”

"The disciple obeys the teacher's teachings."

Kongchen released the fish into Zixi Lake, not far from the Great Bell Temple.

The name "Zixi Lake" has a moving legend:

Legend has it that a hundred years ago, there was a scholar who lived in a thatched hut by the lake, at that time this small lake did not have a name, his wife was kind-hearted, virtuous, gentle and beautiful, he said: "My wife is as clear as a morning stream, I give my beloved wife the name of Zixi, if he is in high school, he will name this lake "Zixi Lake." ”

Later, the scholar really won the top prize, and when he returned home, his wife had died of illness. The testament left to her by his wife on her deathbed reads: Concubine Ben Siluo, I wish Tofu Jun, for many years, I have been grateful to my husband for his mercy on the concubine. so that the concubine is safe. The concubine made a wish to the Buddha: "In the next life, I would like to turn into a fish, just to see you again......"

Zhuang Yuen Long wept to death several times.

When the emperor heard about this, he posthumously named Zixi as a "virtuous and virtuous" lady. And agreed to the request of the champion, the lake was given the name of "Zixi Lake", in order to make the fine character of Mrs. Xianzhen known to the local public, a monument was also erected by the lake, which recorded the love story of Mrs. Xianzhen Zixi and Zhuangyuanlang.

Until now, this Zixi Lake was not allowed to be fished.

Kongchen carefully lowered the wooden basin to the surface of the water and slowly sank halfway underwater, and the carp jumped and quickly scurried back and forth in the water a few times, and swam back again.

"You are very safe here, even if you are fateful, you don't have a name, you are dressed in red, can you be called red?"

Naturally, the carp would not answer him.

The empty dust sprinkled a handful of crushed dry food, and immediately, a large field of carp appeared on the surface of the water.

The red dress is particularly conspicuous among this group of carp.

This carp has a soul, that is, Lu Jia's divine soul came across time and space and attached it to it. But Lu Jia can't speak now, and even slowly adapted to being a fish and the little monk in front of him. The little monk looks like a person...... Who is it? I vaguely remember a person named Wu Xing...... But who is Wu Xing?

Kongchen would often come to Zixi Lake to see the fish, and would feed it something to eat every time. Kongchen sat on a stone by the lake, reading scriptures to "Red Clothes".

He said to the "red robe": "Master said: All things have spirituality, and I hope that in the next life, you can be reborn more freely. ”

After a long time, Lu Jia not only adapted to being a fish, but even forgot that he was originally a person, and all the memories about people. The fish's memory is only seven seconds, but every time the "red dress" sees the dust, it will involuntarily swim over, as if every time, it is reacquainting itself with the dust.

The bells of the Great Bell Temple echoed for a long time, far away. Under the setting sun, the figure of Kongchen reading the scriptures carefully, looking so quiet.

Later, after the abbot of the Great Bell Temple sat down, Kongchen, as the abbot's personal disciple, succeeded as the new abbot.

A hundred years later, Kongchen passed away, and before he died, Kongchen called his disciple to his side and gave him some advice.

Besides, the "red clothes" listened to the empty dust chanting every day, and after a long time, they opened up their wisdom. From this day onwards, there was no longer any empty dust to chant sutras, and the red clothes stayed by the lake day after day.

One day, "Red Dress" finally understood that the empty dust would not appear again, and jumped up and crashed into the stone by the lake, and the only strength it had left jumped on the shore a few times, and the red scales were full of mud, and slowly, the "Red Dress" cheeks rose and fell weaker and weaker, until finally opened its mouth and stopped moving.

Nai Ho Bridge.

A woman in red, who looked the same as Lu Jia, walked on it blankly, not knowing what she was looking for, and she didn't know who she was. It's like having a dream, and I don't know if I'm turning into a fish or if the fish is becoming myself.

On the other side of the bridge, Meng Po brought a bowl of soup and handed it to a monk, who was exactly what Kongchen looked like when he was young.

"The master didn't want to enter the underworld, so why bother to come here? Re-entry into reincarnation? ”

Kongchen replied: "The fate of the three worlds is not over, and it cannot be fruitful. ”

In the first life, he was a scholar, but he lost the love of his life when he was the top student in high school. His wife was named "Lady of the First Rank [Xianzhen]", and before she died, she prayed: May she turn into a fish in the next life and see him again.

In the second life, he forgot about the past and became a monk.

It turned out that the fish he saved had already been a fateful encounter. He named the fish, chanted it every day, and continued the front again.

In the third life, he re-entered the reincarnation as a monk, and he chanted sutras for the carp, and the carp had good fortune and could be reincarnated as a human being.

"In the first life, we were indebted to her, but in the second life we forgot each other. I hope that in the next life, I can cross her to the other side. ”

After that, Kongchen drank Meng Po soup in one go.

In the winter of that year, in the New Year, Chang'an City was lit up with lights, firecrackers rang out, and there was a celebration everywhere.

In a small farmhouse courtyard outside Dongcheng, Spring Festival couplets and blessing characters have been pasted on the gate of the courtyard and on the doors and windows outside the house, and bunches of corn, peppers, garlic, and bacon are hung on the wall. There are also a few pumpkins on the windowsill. Inside the room, there was a commotion.

"Brother Li, you wait outside the door first, your lady is about to give birth, the delivery room is not clean, don't come in if you are a man."

This Brother Li listened to the lady shouting in the house, and he was in a hurry, and he didn't know where to put his hands and feet in a hurry. I had to keep walking around outside the door.

Suddenly, there was no sound, and Brother Li pushed open the door in a panic and broke in:

"Lady! Wife! ”

"Oh, big brother Li, how did you get in? Why don't you listen to a woman's delivery room if it is not clean? ”

"Sister-in-law Zhang, what's wrong with my lady?"

"Brother Li, congratulations on the safety of your mother and son, mother and son are safe."