Chapter 259 Heart Buddha Temple"Let's start from the Heavenly King Palace?" Shi Feizhe said. "Okay!" Lechen naturally had no objection. The Hall of Heavenly Kings is the first major building after entering the mountain gate of the temple. It usually enshrines the Four Heavenly Kings, Maitreya Buddha, and Skanda Bodhisattva. The four heavenly kings, with green faces and angry eyes, hold umbrellas, pipa, pearls and swords on the left and right of the Heavenly King Hall. Maitreya Buddha is in front of the Heavenly King Hall, and Wei Tuo is behind Maitreya Buddha. "Tell me, why are the Heavenly Kings built so tall? And so scary?" Shi Feizhe said, pointing at the Four Heavenly Kings. "The Four Heavenly Kings are guardian gods who guard the world in four directions: east, south, west and north. Together with Maitreya Buddha and Weituo Bodhisattva, they symbolize protection and guardianship." Liaochen said. "Who to protect and guard?" Shi Feizhe asked. "Of course they are the monks and believers in the temple." Liaochen said. "If I remember correctly, only the Buddhist sects put gods at the gates of temples to defend against foreign enemies." Shi Feizhe thought for a while and said, "Is there a reason for this?" "Of course." Liaochen took a ball of tobacco, put it in his mouth and chewed it, and said honestly: "Because I'm afraid of being robbed."
Of course Buddhist temples are afraid of being robbed, because Buddhists are the richest. Buddhism in the world is equal to being rich. The ordinary wealthy families have several generations of inheritance, but they don’t have as much money as the Buddhist temples. This defensive mentality is also reflected in the architectural layout of the temples and in the mentality of the monks. After entering the monastery, the first place you visit is the Hall of Heavenly Kings. Maitreya Buddha is the future Buddha who will attain enlightenment and spread the Dharma in the future world after the Nirvana of Sakyamuni Buddha. The worship of Maitreya Buddha symbolizes hope and future Buddhist teachings. Bodhisattva Weituo is the guardian deity in Buddhism, known as the "guardian general". He is responsible for protecting Buddhism and the Sangha and exorcising evil spirits. Plus the Four Heavenly Kings. If you taste it carefully, you will find that this Heavenly King Hall is very flavorful. It seems that even after becoming a monk, they are still afraid that someone will come and kill them. It’s like some people always claim to be victims but never say why others persecute them. Shi Feizhe had seen such people or groups in his previous life. They claim to be the smartest nation in the world, they try to gain sympathy by being victims, but then they act like complete incompetents! After leaving the Heavenly King Hall, there is a spacious courtyard paved with flat stone slabs. On both sides are planted lush pines, cypresses and various flowers, exuding a faint natural fragrance. There is an incense burner in the center of the courtyard, with smoke rising from it. In addition to the fragrance, you can seem to smell the tobacco. Shi Feizhe took a look inside the incense burner and found that there was not only incense ash but also cigarette ash. "You guys are having a great time smoking!" Shi Feizhe said, looking at the ashes. "These are all tobacco leaves that we grow ourselves. Sometimes they get damp and moldy. We can't waste them," Lechen explained. This makes sense. Only if you have grown these things yourself, you will not be willing to throw them away. After the incense burner, there is a hall. In general temples, this hall is called the Great Hall, and the one in front is the Buddha Mother Hall.
In Buddhism, "Great Hero" is an honorific title for Sakyamuni Buddha, because he overcame all worldly troubles and obstacles and achieved the supreme enlightenment, that is, became a Buddha. Obviously, there is no Sakyamuni Buddha here. When Shi Feizhe entered the Buddha Mother Hall, the first thing that caught his eye was the black-bodied, golden-faced statue of the Buddha Mother enshrined high in the center. The entire body of the Buddha Mother was as black as ink, with a hint of horror, but the face above her neck was shining with golden light, and her expression was kind and gentle, as if she was staring at the person in front of the Buddha statue. There is an incense table in front of the Buddha Mother statue, on which cakes, fruits, and incense burners are offered. Shi Feizhe could tell at a glance that the statue of the Buddha Mother was exactly the same as the girl in Liaochen's arms back then. Below the Buddha Mother was a stone carving of a Buddha child. The pillars of the main hall are engraved with scriptures and Buddha statues, each of which is solemn and majestic. The walls inside the main hall are painted with exquisite murals, depicting the story of how Lachen Shizun met the Buddha Mother Bodhisattva in a desperate situation, and realized the Buddhist teachings through heart-to-heart communication. The murals were colorful and vivid, and Shi Feizhe enjoyed viewing them with great interest. "Why is my statue made of stone? I remember it was rumored to be golden?" Shi Feizhe said, pointing at the statue of the Buddha. The statue of the Buddha was seven points similar to him. When he looked at the statue of the Buddha, it was as if he was seeing his past self. In the past, in the Mobei wilderness, Shi Feizhe heard others say that there was a golden Buddha statue next to the Mother Bodhisattva. Liaochen was indeed an honest monk. He said, "The temple's expenses are too high, so I scrapped it off." "..." You really say whatever you want! He is indeed a ruthless person who would sleep in a wasteland just for a few dozen cents. "How much is the expenditure in your temple? You can even scrape this off." Shi Feizhe was speechless. What kind of temple actually scraped off the gold plating on the Buddha statues? "You can't possibly lose money right at the beginning, right?" he asked again. Liaochen nodded and said, "Farming cannot support a temple." "You are a real warrior, and you are better than most people? I'm afraid that one person can reclaim hundreds of acres of land, but this can't support a temple?" Shi Feizhe felt incredible. "Seeds are very expensive, and grains are worthless. Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea are all very expensive, even the incense is expensive." Lechen said. "Isn't the incense burned by pilgrims?" Shi Feizhe asked. "In the beginning, I didn't want to rely on pilgrims." Liaochen said, "My Buddhist teachings penetrate the hearts of people. It's not that I don't want to pass it on to them, but that they can't understand it." "Since I cannot spread the Dharma, I feel ashamed to accept money from them." "Especially now, they are asking for money from the Buddha Mother, which makes me laugh and cry." Liaochen said honestly: "I can pull out the weeds in the field, but the field will still grow weeds. If the weeds next to the crops are gone, the crops will become weeds." "Over the years, I have pulled less and less grass. Because I found that even around me, there are grasses." "They are all my disciples. They were all brought up by me personally!" "They just think farming is hard, they want to open branch temples somewhere else, they want to become weeds."
"If it were many years ago, I would have killed them all." “But they are already the second batch.” "What if the third batch is still like this? It seems like there's something wrong with this field. There's magic that's turned the crops into grass." "Buddha, what do you think we should do?" In front of the Buddha Mother Temple, in front of the statues of the Buddha Mother and the Buddha's son, Liaochen told the Buddha's son about his confusion over the years. The weeding monk has not changed, but the farmland is still the same farmland. There is still so much grass and so little crops. "Since there is a problem with the field, why not overturn it and start over?" Shi Feizhe looked at him and said seriously. Bald Donkey may like to eat squid.
(End of this chapter)