After listening to Faru's words in the miscellaneous room of the North Courtyard, Zhang Shaofei said very gratefully: "Second Senior Brother, you don't need to enlighten me, I understand the elder's true intentions very well, not only am I not resentful, but I am very grateful for his teachings to me, so that I can realize the road that points directly to Buddha nature. ”

Hearing this, Fa Ru was stunned. He seemed to be caught in a fog, standing in the sun stupidly, motionless, his expression was sunny for a while, cloudy for a while, sometimes nodding, sometimes shaking his head, with a puzzled look.

"Second Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother! …… Second Senior Brother! Zhang Shaofei called him for most of the day.

"Oh......" Faru only then reacted a little.

After Faru reacted, he blinked, glanced at Zhang Shaofei, didn't say anything, and took Zhang Shaofei to the backyard to the north.

In front of Zhang Shaofei is a long corridor running through the north and south, with two rows of blue-gray brick walls and tiled roofs lined up on both sides. At the end of the promenade is an open field, a few rows of flower bases, lush bluegrass, cypress forests, and in the middle is a century-old Bodhi tree, with vigorous branches and green leaves. In the distance are mills and endless vegetable fields.

Faru arranged Zhang Shaofei to live in Huiqing's monk's room and assigned tasks: "You get up at six o'clock every morning, and the work you have to do is to carry water, scoop rice, grind flour, collect firewood, plant vegetables, ......."

"Okay." Zhang Shaofei grinned and nodded.

Zhang Shaofei was about to walk away, but was stopped by Faru.

Zhang Shaofei turned around and asked, "Second Senior Brother, what else do you have to order?"

The law is like a positive color: "There is a way, the state has national laws, and the temple has temple rules." You are a lay disciple who has not yet lost your hair, and all the miscellaneous servants are in the north courtyard and on the mountain here. The elder lives in the abbot's room next to the south corridor, and you should not go to the south corridor without the permission of the elder and me, so as not to disturb the peace of the elders. Remember, if you cross the thunder pond for half a step, you will be punished by the temple rules. ”

"Got it." After Zhang Shaofei nodded in agreement, he repeated loudly, "Without the permission of the second senior brother and the elders, I can't go to the south corridor." ”

That night, Zhang Shaofei lay on the bed, happy in his heart: today, the elder promised to accept him as a disciple, although he was still a lay child. But after all, the long-cherished wish of many years has come true, and the first step of the distant Buddha path has finally been taken.

……

From this day on, he began his spiritual life in the temple -

Carrying water, licking rice, grinding flour, collecting firewood, and planting vegetables have become the norm in Zhang Shaofei's day.

Almost every monk has to work in the monastery for a period of time before he or she becomes a monk—a monk who does chores.

That is to say, the walker is in the period of being inspected and tested, and those who can pass can be shaved, otherwise they will be eliminated.

It is precisely because of this that the so-called practice of the practitioner is the practice of asceticism - doing the most onerous chores, but without any status, and even if he is wronged, he can only keep it in his heart.

At that time, Zhang Shaofei - Zhang Xingzhi, was in such a position in Dongchan Temple.

In the east, the morning light has not yet been spitted out.

The morning star, still hanging in the gray and black sky, blinked.

Zhang Shaofei had already gotten up, barefoot, carrying a bucket, and went to the mountain stream behind the temple to fetch water. When the other brothers got up at the regular time and went to the kitchen to pick up the bucket, the pool was almost filled by Zhang Shaofei.

At that time, there was no rice milling machine in the world, and all the rice eaten by the monks of the seven or eight hundred monks in the monastery was made by hand.

The process of making rice is actually not complicated, but it is definitely a hard work. A mortar, slowly chiseled with a large whole stone. It is shaped like a huge wine cup, and the diameter of the mortar is not less than 70~80 cm. A large stone mortar usually takes four people to lift it. There are threads in the mortar, and the body of the mortar must be buried in the ground, and the mortar mouth is exposed to the ground, and the surrounding area is flattened with lime mixed river sand to facilitate cleaning.

On the top of the mortar, there is a "skushi" made of a large tree segment, and there is a pole and pestle under the head, and the mouth of the pestle is pressed with iron teeth. In the middle of the belly, there are crossbars on both sides to support the warping, just like the acrobatic "warping board" in the middle to support that thing, dig a deep pit in the ground at the tail of the "Pipe", when the center of gravity is moved to the tail of the "Pipe" and press it down to the pit, the head of the "Pipe" is raised, and then the head is lifted, and then the Hammer is lifted, lifted up, and then Lick down, and repeat it mechanically, which is the Dump Rice.

A wooden pole or bamboo pole is placed horizontally on the top of the mortar for the handrail of the person who is making rice. But when the rice is down, people are already sweating. Therefore, it is a man's job, and it must be a strong man with a lot of strength to be competent.

The rice room of Dongchan Temple is lined up in a zigzag pattern with six pairs of wooden rice pairs.

There is no skill in stepping on the rice, and it all depends on the strength of the whole body. Therefore, the monks in the house are all tall and strong, with thick shoulders and round waists, and a weight of more than 200 catties.

And Zhang Shaofei was not tall at that time, weighing less than 100 catties. Others can press the heavy hammer with their weight alone, but he must kick down with all his strength to lift the hammer.

Therefore, every time he steps on it, he has to exert twice as much effort as others; Although he wakes up early and works late every day, it is difficult for him to complete the quota task.

Zen temples have strict rules, so Zhang Shaofei was punished by the governor and monk every day: kneeling incense in front of the Buddha statue - kneeling on the time when an incense burns out.

Gradually, he lost sensation in the lower half of his body, and unconsciously took a nap, losing his balance and falling to the ground......

The prefect monk kicked him hard in the ass and scolded: "You confessed your sins in front of the Buddha, and you even dared to take a nap and sleep!" For a person like you, who has great disrespect for the Buddha, what kind of home and practice do you have? I think you'd better get down the mountain as soon as possible and live your worldly life!" ”

Zhang Shaofei was so ashamed that he opened his bow left and right, and slapped himself a few times. One is to punish oneself, and the other is to drive away sleepy insects.

Zhang Shaofei opened his mind, he was agile and empty, and his wisdom was clear, and he quickly found the crux of the problem - his weight was too light to press the hammer down, so his efficiency was very low.

"If you want to speed up the rice, you have to increase your weight. How can I add weight?" Zhang Shaofei came up with a way to hang a stone on his waist, so that when a person stepped on the stone pestle, he could lick it up hard and quickly.

Zhang Shaofei's method of scooping is to use ingenuity, speed up, and greatly improve the quantity and quality of rice processing. Therefore, Zhang Shaofei produces more rice every day than other monks.