A black marble tablet at the foot of the mountain, engraved with four golden characters 'Pudu Temple', I don't know what it is, I have a sense of awe and intimacy in my heart, I actually stood in front of the stone tablet, stared at the name of the temple for a long time.

The monastery was hidden in a few small hills that were not very tall, and along the slope of the third level, I walked towards the temple with mixed feelings and trepidation. After turning a corner, my mood suddenly relaxed, but I didn't expect that on this small hillside, there was actually a pool of clear water.

It was a small, man-made lake, with twists and turns around the embankment, and a small nine-curved bridge leading to a pavilion in the middle of the lake. I glanced up at the pavilion, and the torii on it was engraved with three large characters: 'Liberation Pond'.

I did not walk from the nine-curved bridge to the pavilion, but stood on the embankment of the lake, quietly watching the calm surface of the lake, from time to time fish spit out a string of bubbles and sink back to the bottom of the lake.

A rustling sound brought me back to reality, and I turned to see a monk in a gray robe holding a large broom in both hands, struggling to sweep away the dead yellow leaves by the release pool.

The old monk glanced at me, still cleaning carefully. I understood that when he saw me carrying a travel bag, he must have thought that I was either a tourist or a pilgrim to Pudu Temple.

Walking up the stone steps by the release pond, a large area of dark blue asphalt suddenly appeared in front of you. On the yellow wall built along the mountain, a small mountain gate appeared in front of me.

I stared at the mountain gate, and I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. I thought that the scale of this Pudu Temple was very large, but I didn't expect the mountain gate to be so small.

When I stepped into the high threshold, I realized that there were wooden wings on each side behind the mountain gate. Walking through the corridor surrounded by two wings, I was stunned.

I really didn't expect that the mountain gate just now was not the real mountain gate. A magnificent building appeared in front of me, with a bronze incense burner more than one meter high on each side, and in the round arched mountain gate, the smiling Maitreya Buddha was offering in the middle of the mountain gate.

At this time, it dawned on me that the real mountain gate was opened to the south. Due to the topography, people could not enter from the south side of the mountain gate, so a small mountain gate was opened on the west wall for people to enter and exit.

This Pudu Temple, like most temples, is surrounded by the Buddha statue of Maitreya Buddha in the middle of the Tianwang Hall of the Mountain Gate, and the four King Kongs are enshrined around it.

When I was a child, I entered the temple, and I liked to look at the Buddha statues of the four King Kongs in the Hall of the Heavenly King, and I felt that they were tall and mighty. Unlike children my age, they were scared when they saw the idols, but instead of being scared, I felt a sense of closeness, and I always felt that the idol's eyes seemed to be watching me.

These days of studying in the online Buddhist community have finally helped me to understand the names of the four heavenly kings and the laws of their hands. The Four Heavenly Kings are also known as the 'Four Great King Kongs', that is, the Oriental Heavenly King, whose name is Dora, is white, wears armor, holds a pipa, and is the god of music; the Southern Growth Heavenly King, whose name is Bi Liuli, is blue, wears armor, and holds a sword, and is the protector of the Dharma; the Western Wide-eyed Heavenly King, whose name is Viliubo Fork, is white, wears armor, and holds a green snake; and the Northern Duowen Heavenly King, whose name is Bishamen, is green, wears armor, holds a treasure umbrella in his right hand, and holds a silver mink in his left hand, and is the god of subduing demons and giving wealth.

Legend has it that there is a mountain named Gandhara Mountain in the unimaginably tall Sumeru Mountain, there are four peaks on the mountain, and the four heavenly kings will each live on one peak and protect one side of the world, so they are called the four heavenly kings. The Four Heavenly Kings also have the meaning of 'wind and rain', the sword holder is also the wind (front), the pipa holder is tuned, the umbrella holder is rainy, and the snake holder is Shun.

Slowly turned around in front of the Four Heavenly Kings, and after a glance, he arrived at the Daxiong Treasure Hall behind. But I was not in a hurry to leave the Heavenly King Palace, I was eager to see what the Demon Suppression Pestle held by the Veda Bodhisattva behind Maitreya Buddha looked like.

In the past, although I had been in many monasteries, I had never noticed that the pestle in the hands of Veda Bodhisattva, who stood with his back to Maitreya Buddha, was different, and that different methods of holding them had different meanings.

Legend has it that when the Buddha Shakyamuni attained Nirvana, the evil demon exerted his magic power to snatch away the Buddha's bones. At this time, Veda Bodhisattva stepped forward and chased after the evil demons in time, striving to take back the Buddha's relics from the evil demons. Therefore, Buddhism regarded him as a god who drove away evil spirits and protected the Dharma. The temple enshrines Veda and often makes his statue stand behind the statue of Maitreya Buddha, facing the Mahavira Treasure Hall, to support the Dharma and protect the monks.

Vedic Bodhisattva holds the vajra demon pestle, which means destroying evil and supporting righteousness, eliminating demons and defending the way. The vajra demon pestle he holds in his hand has three different postures in different monasteries, which represent different meanings: first, Wei Tuo's hands are together, and the demon pestle is horizontal in front of his chest, which also means that Heshi welcomes foreign monks to live in this temple, which is one of the symbols of the jungle temple in the ten directions; Second, the demon pestle in the hand is to touch the ground and stand, the demon pestle to touch the ground is to imply that this temple has abundant funds and materials like the earth, and can withstand the permanent residence of foreign monks in this temple, and it is also a jungle in ten directions; Third, the pestle of Wei Tuo may be carried on the shoulder, indicating that this temple is a temple for descendants, and foreign monks are not welcome to live in this temple.

Seeing the Vajra Demon Pestle held by the Veda Bodhisattva in the Heavenly King Hall of the Puzhao Temple, I couldn't help but secretly rejoice. The statue of Naveda Bodhisattva has a kind face, and his hands are holding the demon pestle, which shows that this Pudu Temple is really a temple name, ten jungles. Actually, what I'm most concerned about is to see if this statue of Veda Bodhisattva is similar to the gold-armored god general or the black-armored god I saw in my dream.

I watched it for a long time, and I felt that the two were very different, as if the faces I saw in my dream were more hideous, and the Veda Bodhisattva here was obviously much kinder, and I couldn't tell whether I was happy or disappointed.

Out of the Heavenly King Palace, a fragrance came to my nose. This is not the smell of incense and candles, in the huge courtyard, there is a two-person tall osmanthus tree planted on the left and right, and it is full of golden osmanthus flowers.

On both sides of the courtyard are antique two-storey buildings with wooden structures, and the majestic Daxiong Treasure Hall is particularly magnificent because it is built on the mountain and has to climb more than a dozen steps to enter.

After walking around the Mahavira Hall, I was worshipping in front of the tall Buddha statue of Shakyamuni, when I suddenly heard the voices of several women in the courtyard outside Nobita.

Walking out of the Daxiong Treasure Hall, I was surprised to find that there were actually several women holding statue basins with a change of clothes in them, standing under the osmanthus tree and talking. It is not surprising that female pilgrims enter the temple, but why do they appear in the temple like this? It's like living here.

I was stunned for a while, and then I realized that they should be the female laymen who entered the temple and cultivated in the Buddhist group. I was a little indignant, I heard them say that lay people should not appear in front of the Mahavira Hall in casual clothes when they are practicing in the monastery, which is a great disrespect to the Buddha.

Alas! Whatever, I'm in despair now, how can I have the leisure to take care of such things. Perhaps, as the Buddha said, in the period of the end of the Dharma, although there were many people who believed in Buddhism, few people were really learning and understanding Buddhism. Most monasteries have already broken many of the rules of Buddhism in our traditional concept for the sake of incense money.

It seems that it is located in the deep mountains, but the famous Pudu Temple is not exempt from vulgarity. A wave of disappointment welled up in my heart, and then it immediately vanished. I was surprised to find that the female laymen in front of me were not very old, and they all looked like young women in their thirties. Damn it, in the holy land of Buddhism, I actually moved the heart of lust, Amitabha, sin! Sin!

I saw a young monk wearing glasses sitting at the table on the side of the Daxiong Treasure Hall, and a small sign hanging next to the door, 'Zhike Office'. I hesitated for a moment and stepped into the Zhike, where the young monk stood up, bowed to me and folded his hands and said, "Amitabha! Is there anything wrong with the donor? ”

I also clasped my hands together and said, "Master, may I ask, are these people outside here monks cultivating here?" ”

The young monk looked at me suspiciously, and nodded slowly. Seeing that he was suspicious, I quickly said, "Master, I studied Buddhism online, and I also want to be ordained in a monastery to become a layman. Master, can I stay at your temple for a few days? ”

Zhike monk said: "Amitabha, the little monk Huiming, on the order of the abbot, specially received pilgrims and laymen who came to the temple. Donor, if you have not yet been ordained as a layman and want to stay in this monastery, can you pay for some meals? ”

When I heard Huiming say that I need to pay 20 yuan a day to live in the monastery, I was overjoyed, which was much cheaper than living in a hotel outside, and the rest of the money on my body was enough for me to live for a while.

Master Huiming helped me register, took a key and said, "Master Mo, please come with me!" I hurriedly followed him and walked to the opposite wing.

Hui Ming said as he walked: "Master Moshi, you haven't been ordained yet, you are not a layman, there may be some monasteries that you don't know the rules of, I have to explain it to you." The laymen who live in our monastery have to follow the monks' system in their daily lives, and they have a lesson in the morning and evening in the Mahavira Hall. In addition, you have to pay attention to the matter of meals, one meal a day, no lunch after lunch! ”

I was surprised and said, "One meal a day? Then don't you starve? What does it mean to skip lunch and skip food? ”

Master Huiming said solemnly: "Starting at half ten in the morning, vegetarian food will be provided in the temple. If it's past noon, then you'll only be hungry for a day, because according to our Buddhist saying, the meal after noon is used to pay homage to the dead, also known as the ghost meal. You laymen always mistakenly think that we monks are very leisurely, but in fact we have to do a lot of homework every day and have to recite a lot of scriptures. By the way, don't expect the monastery to provide you with breakfast, we monks and laymen can only eat once a day, and only the old and infirm monks can make an exception to drink some gruel in the morning with the permission of the abbot. ”

He looked at my travel bag and said, "Master Mo, since you live in this temple, you have to abide by the rules of the temple, you are not allowed to bring your own food to steal food, let alone bring meat and fishy things into the temple, do you remember?" ”