When Zong Zhenlei entered the parking lot to park, Li Ruhui ran to buy tickets for Yongzuo Temple.

The temple of Eizoji Temple is on a raised platform, and the ticket office is located under the high platform.

Li Ruhui came out of the ticket office, saw that Zong Zhenlei was already waiting under the steps to enter the temple with her camera bag, smiled at him, took his photo bag, and pulled him up the steps of Yongzuo Temple.

As soon as she arrived at the top platform, Li Ruhui wanted to "sneak attack", and suddenly asked Zong Zhenlei: "Don't look back, how many steps have you just walked?" ”

"This kind of problem can also stump people?" Zong Zhenlei smiled and said: "Obviously, there are two layers, the lower level is eighteen, and the upper level is sixteen. ”

"Well, you're observant!" Li Ruhui shook her hair to the side: "Let's ask again, is there any saying for the number of steps?" ”

"Absolutely!" Zong Zhenlei stopped in front of Yongzuo Temple, and this time he became serious: "The number eighteen has a special meaning in Buddhism and Taoism. From the perspective of Buddhism, the eighteen worlds are the roots, dust, and consciousness worlds, and the six roots, six dusts, and six consciousnesses; For practitioners, only by treating the understanding of the 18 worlds before the practice as empty can there be no more delusions, attachments, and cravings in their hearts, and they can transcend themselves. ”

Zong Zhenlei glanced back at Li Ruhui, probably finding that she didn't speak as if she was listening carefully, so he continued: "So the eighteen steps here can be a reminder, implying that only by knowing its connotation can we get rid of troubles and gain physical and mental freedom." As for the number sixteen, I don't know if it has anything to do with the meaning that the two towers are sixteen zhang apart...... However, this staircase seems to be modern and has nothing to do with Ming Dynasty architecture. ”

Li Ruhui's lack of reaction was actually thinking about another question: "In this way, walking up the sixteen steps also symbolizes a reminder to the practitioner that he needs to go through the sixteen meditations to enter the Fa Gate?" ”

Zong Zhenlei smiled: "Good student, very good at drawing inferences!" ”

Li Ruhui said: "After the exam, it seems that some students have not lived in vain, they have read a lot of books over the years, and they can add a little red flower." She said as she took a few steps to the gate of the temple, apparently not wanting to continue the fight with him.

The two entered the temple gate.

Yongzuo Temple is divided into a temple and a tower courtyard, which belongs to the Ming Dynasty building in the third courtyard of the temple and the two towers of the tower courtyard.

According to the division of labor agreed in the car, Li Ruhui's task is to shoot the brick carvings of the guest hall and the meditation room, and Zong Zhenlei shoots the brick carvings of the abbot's room, the Daxiong Palace, and the three holy pavilions upstairs of the Daxiong Palace.

In late April, it was the time when the peony flowers bloomed in Yongzuo Temple, and the courtyard where the peony flowers bloomed was crowded, which was completely unexpected by Li Ruhui. When I went to buy tickets just now, Li Ruhui saw that there were not many people buying tickets, and she was still snickering, thinking that she could have a quiet shooting environment; It's only now that I realize that it's too early to rejoice.

Li Ruhui has always been quick to work, and after a while, her shooting task has been roughly completed; She wanted to finish it as soon as possible and then called Shangzong Zhenlei to transfer to the tower courtyard, where the ground was spacious and people would not be so crowded.

While filming, Li Ruhui remembered the scene of the video conference when the research team of four people was established.

At the meeting, Professor Li announced that the research team of the project is composed of him, Li Ruhui and Zong Zhenlei, and Singapore sponsors Hong Xitai and Professor Li are jointly responsible for the progress. After Professor Li introduced Li Ruhui and Zong Zhenlei to the sponsors, the sponsor Hong Xitai also introduced himself in Mandarin with a southern accent. He is a retired perfumer who now has a studio in the capital to fund this project in order to fulfill his father's entrustment.

After the meeting, Zong Zhenlei told Li Ruhui that he had paid special attention to Hong Xitai when he learned that the topic that Zong Zhenlei was studying was related to the Japanese imperial family during the war years, and he was very interested, and asked a few questions about the Japanese imperial family; He has a good impression of the patron's willingness to learn and respect for researchers.

Li Ruhui finished filming the guest hall and came to the front of the meditation room. She felt that the two weeks passed really fast and the efficiency was quite high: after the establishment of the research team, she and Zong Zhenlei went to Yongzuo Temple the next day, and after the first video conference on the progress of the project, Zong Zhenlei went to Fujian on a business trip, and she used this time to revise her graduation thesis; Zong Zhenlei came back last night, and today they came to Yongzuo Temple to carry out the second observation of entering the temple.

Li Ruhui stood by the flower pond next to the meditation room, and saw a graceful peony flower come into view, so she couldn't help squatting down, ready to take a picture of the "Zixia Fairy" in front of her; When I work, I leave one or two artistic photos of the scenery, which is my little hobby.

Suddenly, between the peonies, she noticed a cold gaze directed at her, like a cold current in the sun, a complete alternative.

She looked up again, but found nothing; Looking around again, I saw a bustling crowd of people, and no one who paid attention to her.

Li Ruhui rubbed her eyes, looked around, and didn't find anything unusual. She took a deep breath and glanced around again, only the tourists were watching on their own. She thought that maybe she had lost her eyes, adjusted her mood, and picked up the camera again.

When photographing the building just now, Li Ruhui noticed that the outer wall pillars of the Daxiong Hall, the meditation hall, and the guest hall all have the petals of a nine-petal lotus; She remembered Zong Zhenlei's talk about the topic of "Nine Lotus Guanyin", and his approval of her statement that the temple was "related to the emperor", and further speculated that the building statue here was related to the Empress Dowager Li.

That was the last time they were in the tower courtyard, Zong Zhenlei and Li Ruhui "discussed" whether this temple was related to the royal family, he said: "It's better like this, since you said that this temple has the possibility of 'involving the emperor', let's look for it together to see if there are any 'emperor-related' signs in other places here, so as to support your speculation." ”

Li Ruhui was prepared, happily raised her hand, pointed to the words "Xuanwen Pagoda" and said: "This 'Xuanwen' counts, right?" I remember when we were in middle school, we also discussed the long honorific title of Empress Dowager Li, 'Cisheng Xuan Wenming Su Empress Dowager', which had the word Xuanwen in it."

"Empress Dowager Li is the mother of Wanli Shenzong, of course she is a member of the royal family, is there anything else?"

"Does the eaves count? Xuanwen Pagoda is made of peacock blue glazed tiles, which looks luxurious and solemn; The eaves of Wenfeng Pagoda are brick, which is different from the eaves of Xuanwen Pagoda. ”

"This pagoda is a Buddhist building, and the use of peacock blue glazed tiles is obviously a match for Buddhism, because the glass color in earlier Buddhism is blue, in addition, blue symbolizes the color of the sky, so it also has the meaning of worshipping the sky; I think that from the peacock blue glazed tile eaves alone, it can only show that the cost is high, and it is difficult to judge whether it is related to the royal family. ”

"Then I'll look for it!"

"I also observed some signs, you see, under the eaves of the first floor of this Xuanwen pagoda, there are eight vertical columns, and there is a lotus flower as a pillar support under each vertical pillar, in addition, in the brick carvings on eight sides under the eaves of this layer of tower, there are lotus leaves, only above the main entrance, in addition to lotus leaves, there is also a lotus flower, so that counting, there are nine lotus flowers under the eaves of the first layer of the tower."

"What do the nine lotus flowers mean?"

"Remember the Nine Lotus Guanyin we discussed in middle school?"

"Remember! Isn't Nine Lotus Guanyin the Empress Dowager Li? ”

"That's right! The word 'Xuanwen' and the Nine Lotus both point to the same person, that is, the Empress Dowager Li; you see, just now we have seen the Three Holy Pavilion, is there an introduction that the name of the pavilion in the past was Guanyin Pavilion? ”

"Yes."

"You look from the Xuanwen Pagoda to the Guanyin Pavilion, you can see the south and east sides of the pavilion, you count the vertical pillars under the eaves of the pavilion, how many are there?"

"Ten, what's wrong?"

"You put the half of the two corners of the head and tail together as one, isn't it nine?"

"yes!"

"Have you noticed the lotus pillar under the hanging pillar?"

"Lotus Pillar Support...... Ah, that's nine lotuses! ”

"Nine lotus, plus the previous name of this pavilion......"

"The former name was Kannon Pavilion! I see, Nine Lotus Guanyin! ”

"From this side, there are nine lotus pillars, and I estimate that from the northwest, that is, from the city, you can also see that there are nine."

"As soon as you say this, I remembered, when I looked at the inside of the Guanyin Pavilion just now, I noticed that there are eight vertical pillars on the lower edge of the dome of the main hall, and there is a lotus on each pillar, and then, the dome is like a lotus upside down, and the relief lotus flower on the top of the lotus cave in Longmen Grottoes has the same effect, so it seems that there are also nine lotus flowers! Aha, the brick carvings here are so wonderful, there are so many signs related to Empress Dowager Li...... I'll look for any other signs in the tower. ”

Speaking of "Nine Lotus Guanyin", Li Ruhui remembers that she first learned about how Empress Dowager Li was called "Nine Lotus Guanyin" in the high school reading group.

At that time, the students in the reading group noticed the life experience of Empress Dowager Li, who listened to politics in the early years of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, and everyone first debated whether she was from Shanxi or Beijing. Only after checking the information did she know that when she was twelve years old, she followed her mason father Li Wei from her hometown in Linfen Yicheng, Shanxi Province to Tongzhou Miao County, the capital, and then had a unified understanding and the controversy ended. After figuring out the question of origin, everyone became interested in Li Caifeng's ascendant history; Through reading history, I learned that she entered the palace of Yuwang Zhu Zaikun at the age of fifteen and became a maid; At the age of sixteen, he was fortunate to be killed by Zhu Zaikun, and at the age of seventeen, he gave birth to Zhu Yijun. Four years later, Zhu Zaikun ascended the throne of Ming Muzong, and Li Caifeng was named a concubine. After another six years, Zhu Zaikun died, and Zhu Yijun ascended the throne as Mingshenzong, who was only ten years old at the time, and established the year name Wanli; As a result, the twenty-seven-year-old Li Caifeng became the queen mother.

Some classmates in the reading group suggested that this Empress Dowager Li was too powerful, and she was displaced from Shanxi to the capital with her father before the age of sixteen, so she should not have had the opportunity to read much; She followed Zhu Zaikun at the age of sixteen, and when her husband died at the age of twenty-seven, she began to support the little emperor to listen to the government, how did she learn to rule the world in just a few years?

Another classmate explained with the history he knew, and he said the cause of the "Nine Lotus Guanyin": not long after the Empress Dowager Li supported the little emperor Shenzong to ascend the throne, she got up one morning, saying that she had been taught by the Nine Lotus Bodhisattva in her dream, and then recited the "Nine Lotus Bodhisattva Sutra" throughout, and then ordered the cabinet scholars at that time, Shen Shixing, Xu Guo, and Wang Xijue, to write the words of the lotus flower; Empress Dowager Li ordered the "Yonglian Fu" to be engraved on the "Ruilian Fu Tablet in Cishou Temple", and engraved after the "Nine Lotus Bodhisattva Tablet" with the "Imperial System", and placed next to the Yongan Wanshou Pagoda of Cishou Temple; Cishou Temple is located in the capital city of Balizhuang, which was built by Empress Dowager Li in order to pay tribute to her husband Muzong Zhu Zaikun. Since then, Empress Dowager Li has been revered as the incarnation of the Nine Lotus Guanyin Bodhisattva.

As for why Empress Dowager Li did this, the classmate quoted a scholar's analysis that in addition to believing in Buddhism, she also raised her own worth by proclaiming herself as a bodhisattva to meet the needs of governance. In fact, after the death of her husband, Ming Muzong Zhu Zaikun, she listened to the government through the curtain and used her Buddhist beliefs to form a political alliance with the ministers of Buddhism in the palace, strengthening her court power, and ensuring the status of Shenzong, who ascended the throne at the age of ten, and her own court status.

Li Ruhui remembered Zong Zhenlei's video report after that, talking about the initial observation of Yongzuo Temple, and found that this temple was related to the Nine Lotus Guanyin Empress Dowager Li, but he explained it with his unique "play" speech.

The word "play" was named by Li Ruhui for Zong Zhenlei's penchant for hypothetical reasoning. According to Zong Zhenlei, sometimes it is also beneficial to "play" it, because in this way, the general situation can be predicted, and then verified.

As she thought about their argument about their different understandings of this "play", she held up her camera and prepared to take a few more pictures of peony flowers.