Master's call made me pause, and I was also annoyed that I hadn't thought of this layer.

The so-called bardo body, in most cases, is considered by the world to be a Buddhist term for reincarnation. In fact, in the Taoist system, although the depiction and definition of reincarnation are different, the essence is the same.

After death, according to custom, it is divided into seven first seven days, that is, seven seven days, for a total of forty-nine days. We all know in the first seven that it is the time to return to the soul, which means that the deceased will return to the place where they were alive on this day, or visit the people who were reluctant to give up in their lives, or to scare the people they hated in their lives. Generally speaking, if a person is dead but cannot accept the fact that he is dead, then the first seven days are the process of making you have to accept the facts.

And from the day of the first seventh, most of the dead will clearly know that they are dead, and once this consciousness takes the initiative, the rest of the time is a decision to go or stay. A seven-day cycle is followed by a chance to reincarnate once in each cycle. These forty-nine days are also used to consume some yang shou that was not consumed by the deceased before his death, and on the forty-ninth day, it is the deadline. If you don't stay, you will become a lonely ghost, and if you don't have the guidance of your master, it will be extremely difficult to die.

However, in fact, when we refer to "ghosts" in most cases, we usually refer to the part of the body that remains in the human world forty-nine days after death, and within forty-nine days, although it also exists in the state of ghosts, strictly speaking, it should be called "bardo body".

However, if the old man in Uncle Ma's mouth said that he could barely get within forty-nine days when he first appeared, and he was considered a bardo body, then the second appearance was already a month later, and forty-nine days had already passed. So what exactly does it belong to?

I quickly searched my mind for a book that Master had shown me before, which was the handwritten notes of Master's early years, recording all kinds of ghosts that he had encountered in his life. There is a description of the bardo body, which roughly says that if a person's death is accompanied by some suddenness, or a state of unnoticedness, then the deceased is likely to continue the actions and habits of the deceased into the afterlife, not intentionally, but without realizing that they are dead.

There are probably several situations that will form a long-term bardo state and remain in the state of bardo, one is a sudden violent death, and the person dies before the mind has time to form a memory. The second is to die of long-term illness, most of these people are in extremely poor physical condition, so the difference between death or non-death is so subtle that they cannot be perceived. The third is to die of silent exhaustion for some reason, this is very similar to the second type, the difference is that this person's yang life has been exhausted, and he should have gone to the underworld to live his yin life, if there is a great cause and effect in the body, he will even have to suffer in hell, but this part of the people are accustomed to it because of the habit of being too long, and they don't know that they are dead. There is also a relatively rare one, which is sealed by someone with a spell when he just died, as long as the seal is not lifted, this bardo body state will exist forever, but it can neither appear nor disappear, which is considered a kind of sin.

The common feature of this part of the bardo body is that their daily life is the same as before, and if they do not clearly show a dead state, it is difficult to distinguish even a living person, because they look no different from a living person. Their bodies, their clothes, and their behaviors are all made according to their inherent habits, and even if they are seen by the people, they only see the part of the bardo body that they are trying to express to everyone to see. And this part will stay for much longer than forty-nine days, because they are not making the choice between the underworld and the yang.

In other words, when Uncle Ma received the fiat currency for the first time, it was raining heavily but the old man's clothes were not wet, which is a state of the old man's bardo body, in this state he did not realize the heavy rain, and there would be no such thing as wetting the clothes, so what Uncle Ma saw became that state.

I thought about it carefully, and suddenly thought of what Uncle Ma said, that is, when the old man appeared for the second time, only I saw him, and the guest who was shaving my head at the time was not able to see it. This is a little inconsistent with the state of the bardo body, so I concluded that when it first appeared, the old man should have been in the state of a bardo body, and the second time it had already appeared in the state of a ghost.

Since he is a ghost, it means that he already knows that he is dead, and he has made his own choice on the premise that this time limit has long been exceeded. He chose to stay. And there must be a reason to stay. As long as this reason is found, there will be a chance to send away the ghost of the old man, and the matter will naturally be resolved.

I told Uncle Ma what I was thinking, and carefully explained to him what the bardo body is. In the early days of liberation, many people's minds still retain a lot of feudal customs, Uncle Ma used to be hi dock and worship the second brother, so it will be easier for him to accept what I said. So he asked me, the old man was not like a bad guy in his lifetime, and he didn't have any grudges against himself, although the fiat currency of 5000 in the two chapters was not valuable, but the two cents for the two shaved heads were not a big deal, as long as he could send the old man away and give himself a peace of mind.

So I made an appointment with Uncle Ma, and the next morning, I went to his shaving stall and started to investigate there. Before parting, I asked Uncle Ma to tell me about his eight characters, so that I could give him a hexagram in the evening, just in case.

That night, I discussed this matter with Master again, and Master told me that you are becoming more and more proficient in your craft, and you will not blindly start when you receive an order, and you know how to analyze it first, which is very good. This time, although it is not a difficult list, but you also have to do it well, most of the souls who first become ghosts in the bardo body and then become ghosts are more miserable, although some of them are because of their own sins in life, you try to treat them well, death is dead, can it be worse than this?

I nodded and said I will, just on the right to offer incense to the grandfather, and then use Uncle Ma's eight characters to start the hexagram, but the master said to me again, I hope that after this matter is successfully completed, you can regain your confidence.

It turned out that although I had practiced diligently and been active in my work since the past few days, Master still saw that my confidence was greatly frustrated by the first order. I knew that sooner or later I would have to get out of this state, but Master's plain words of encouragement made me feel empowered.

Uncle Ma's hexagram also confirmed my initial suspicion. His hexagram falls in the three palaces of Zhen, the east belongs to the wood, and the gods fall into the three palaces, and the main middle-aged man is puzzled, so if he does not understand, there will be serious strain on the right side of the waist and abdomen. To put it simply, if Uncle Ma still doesn't realize that the old man is a ghost, then after a while, his body will have yin and evil due to the relationship between contact with ghosts, and the so-called yin evil will cause the body to get sick. So I had to solve this problem as soon as possible.

Early the next morning, I rushed to the vicinity of Wanglongmen, and according to the address given to me by Uncle Ma, I quickly found his shaving stall. It's not far from where I lived when I was a kid, so I occasionally meet someone I know along the way. Uncle Ma had been waiting for me there for a long time, and after saying hello, I didn't waste any time, but started to summon soldiers and horses directly at the location of the shaving stall.

This is actually a countermeasure that I have already thought of the night before, according to the usual order, I should have done the water method first, and after I had some clear clues, I should let the soldiers and horses show the way. It's just that the rampant soldiers are more difficult to restrain themselves, and they belong to the inferior soldiers and horses, so they are not listed among the five mountains of Kyushu, and the farther away from the holders of the soldiers and horses, the more difficult it is to control, and if it escapes, it will inevitably harm people again. This time it is a matter of the dead, and judging from what Uncle Ma said, although he is an old guest and has known each other for several years, he has no more intersection except for shaving his head, and Uncle Ma doesn't know where this old man lives, but I think to myself that most people trim their hair and generally don't go very far, let alone an old man, so this old man's home must be nearby.

After the release of the soldiers and horses, because the old man's ghost had appeared in the shaving stall, and just a few days ago, although I could not directly detect the traces left by the old man's ghost, my soldiers and horses could. All that remains is to follow the smoke of incense and find the old man's home. Because home is the place where he spends the most time, and if he does the water method there, things will basically be more accurate.

But in broad daylight, walking down the street with incense in hand and a bell, it is still somewhat eye-catching. In those years, Master told me that we must wear casual clothes and be as low-key as possible when we go out, but now we are not very in line with the country's thinking, and when we encounter some radicals, we can only suffer. I didn't understand what Master was saying at the time, but since He told me to do it. So I asked Uncle Ma to borrow a towel and cover my head and mouth, although it was only more noticeable, but no one knew who I was.

Fortunately, this road was not long, and the guidance of the soldiers and horses soon took me and Uncle Ma into a small alley, which was similar to the small alley where Uncle Ma set up a stall, and at the end of the narrow end, there were a bunch of low houses. After crossing a few small puddles of water that had accumulated due to the uneven potholes of the cobblestone road, the corner smoke stopped.

I took a closer look at the house in front of me. It's not a house at all, it's a few random beams built on top of the broken walls, and then tarps and tiles are laid so that the whole "roof" looks sloping. The tiles had broken a lot, revealing the tarp underneath, and the door was in the shape of a door nailed out of a few large strips of wood, with a bolt on the door, but no padlock, just fastened to prevent the wind from blowing the door open. By the door were two notched bowls, and a blackened metal can and bottle, which sat on a small brick stove.

I suddenly felt a sour feeling in my heart, after so many years of liberation, why are there still people living so hard?