Shanghai is prosperous

Chapter 423 The Ginkgo Tree at Ashoka Temple
The sky is high and the clouds are talking, and the sun is setting.The Ashoka Temple in autumn is always majestic and quiet, giving people a little bit of Zen.The wooden eaves of the temple are quiet and quiet.Standing in the temple, I suddenly feel refreshed, peaceful and quiet.

Flying eaves and Baoding, the net area is spacious.Three incense sticks, one for Buddha, one for Dharma, and one for monk.Wang Yiyuan and Xiao Xiaoxiao held the incense up to their foreheads, closed their eyes and made a wish, and bowed devoutly.

The Buddha statue is silent, the prosperity and decline of life, the reincarnation of the past, gradually drifting away in the curling cigarette.Wang Yiyuan felt a super-mortal cleanliness and serenity in his heart, and suddenly a unique solemnity and tranquility arose.

Burning incense in the temple means to ignite your own heart incense and light your own heart lamp. At this time, you can get the blessings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, so that you can gain wisdom.

The incense of Ashoka Temple is given as a gift, one pack per person, nine sticks of fragrance, three sticks in each hall and three sticks in front and back.Buddhism believes that when offering and burning incense in front of the Buddha, a wisp of green smoke curls up straight up, which can convey people's confidence to the Buddha, so as to achieve the communication between man and Buddha.

This practice of presenting incense is unusual, showing the great difference between Ashoka Temple and other temples.It not only shows the fraternity of the temple, but also plays a role in environmental protection. It kills two birds with one stone, and makes tourists feel good about Ashoka Temple.

If you go to Ashoka Temple carefully, there are only devout pilgrims and leisurely walking monks here. Wang Yiyuan thought, what other temples offer incense now? Maybe this is the pure Buddhist atmosphere? ?

Ashoka Temple is one of the "Five Mountains of China" of Chinese Buddhism and one of the "Five Temples of China" of Zen Buddhism. It is known as the "Eight Auspicious Lands".What are the eight auspicious signs?Eight auspicious signs, also known as the eight treasures of Buddhism, symbolize the power of Buddhism.The eight auspicious signs are referred to as wheel, snail, umbrella, cover, flower, pot, fish and long.

Buddhism uses these eight utensils to symbolize auspiciousness, which are called "Eight Auspiciousness" or "Eight Treasures of Buddha".Among them, the faluo is the first-grade pattern, with a wonderful sound and auspicious sound; the pan length is the eighth grade, which can be used as a representative of "eight auspiciousness".

Wang Yiyuan and Xiao Xiaoxiao bowed down in turn.Between the eaves of the Daxiong Palace, there is a square forehead of "Daxiong Palace", and the horizontal plaque under the lower eaves reads "Jue Xing Ju Yuan", which is the imperial book of Emperor Qianlong.The horizontal plaque in the hall is inscribed "The Roaring Lion" is also the imperial pen of Emperor Qianlong.In the center of the hall are statues of Shakyamuni Buddha, in the east are plastics of Medicine Buddha and Venerable Ananda, and in the west are Amitabha Buddha and Venerable Kasyapa.

The square forehead between the eaves of the relic hall, with the inscription "The Hall of Miaosheng", was made by Emperor Xiaozong of Song Dynasty, and the yellow plaque on the lower eaves wrote "The Hall of Relics".In the middle of the hall, the tower with the vertical forehead "Buddha's top light" hanging on the beam is the imperial book of Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty. The horizontal plaque "Bright and solemn" is hung on the south side. There are statues of Libin and Ashoka under the tower, and behind the stone tower is a reclining Buddha statue of Sakyamuni, about four meters long.

It's a pity that the gate was closed that day, and it took a chance to see the Buddha's relic.

After the two visited the Tianwang Hall, Daxiong Hall and Relic Hall on the central axis, there is a long corridor leading to the Hall of Five Hundred Arhats on the right side of the temple.There are many rows of five hundred golden bodies of Arhats in the hall, and the Dharma looks solemn.

This morning, Wang Yiyuan and Xiao Xiaoxiao set off early and arrived at Ashoka Temple before nine o'clock in the morning.Wang Yiyuan was already very familiar with this place, and the two went to find the housekeeper monk who arranged for the believers.

The housekeeper monk and Wang Yiyuan knew each other naturally, and after a while of greetings, he said something more, benefactor, there will be a Buddhist meeting in the lecture hall in the afternoon, and an eminent monk from Mount Putuo Buddhist College will come to give lectures, you can go and listen.

After registration, Wang Yiyuan thanked the housekeeper monk, and the two went to the dining hall for breakfast.It is the fasting time at this time.Coming from such a far place from Shanghai, it is also a small blessing to have a morning meal in the temple.

In the car that arrived, Wang Yiyuan had already told Xiao Xiaoxiao about his indissoluble bond with this temple, especially going to Shanghai after drawing lots here, and the process of reconnecting with her here on New Year's Eve.

At that time, the car was driving on the Hangzhou Bay Kuaihuan Bridge.Xiao Xiaoxiao couldn't help crying.She covered Wang Yiyuan's driving hand, and said with tears in her eyes, you bastard, you actually went to the temple to celebrate the New Year when it's Chinese New Year?

Xiao Xiaoxiao choked up and said, I remember I asked you at that time, where exactly is the Chinese New Year.You faltered and hawed back then and refused to tell me directly.Who would have thought that you would celebrate the New Year in a temple? You really suffered?

She asked, it's just that you have nowhere to go, so it's okay in the factory?

Wang Yiyuan smiled and said, I have been in the factory for several years.The first Spring Festival when I first came to Shanghai was spent in the factory of Mr. Xiao, a Taiwanese from Oriental International Trade.You should also know about the factory?
He said, however, Ashoka Temple is my blessed place.The reason why I went to Shanghai a few years ago was to find a job, to set up a printing factory, and now all aspects of my work are going smoothly.Of course, the most important thing is to find you.At its root, all these blessings come from the Ashoka Temple.

Wang Yiyuan said, so I am full of special gratitude to Ashoka Temple.I don't know if you can understand that when a person feels confused about the future, or even hurts deeply, even a ray of light, really just a ray of light, can bring him infinite relief and hope.Ashoka Temple once brought me such light.

In the backyard of Ashoka Temple, there are two thousand-year-old ginkgo trees.These two ginkgo trees are majestic and strange, with a diameter of more than two meters, and it takes six or seven people to embrace them.Looking up, the leaves are in the stage of turning green to yellow.

Among the ancient temples and famous temples all over our country, if you are careful, you will find that there are ancient ginkgo trees in most of the temples.

These ginkgo trees are vigorous and straight, and the tree shape is tall, forming a scene of "ginkgoes in the sky with ancient beauty", which has a magnificent momentum.The leaves are fan-shaped, the veins are parallel, clean and elegant, and have a religious artistic conception that is not disturbed by the world. In Buddhism, the ginkgo tree is called the "sacred tree", and the ginkgo fruit is the holy fruit.

Therefore, most temples like to use ginkgo trees instead of the sacred tree in Buddhism, the Bodhi tree, so it is called "Chinese Bodhi tree".Ginkgo is long-lived, and its juice is a natural insecticide. Therefore, even though many tree species are planted in temples and ancient temples, other tree species die one after another when they are young, but the ginkgo trees live more and more vigorously.

The thousand-year-old trees and the ancient temples in the deep mountains are guarded by wind and rain. The ginkgo sets off the solemnity and majesty of the temple.

Although it was not yet late autumn at this time, the two thousand-year-old ginkgo trees in Ashoka Temple still had golden leaves fluttering and falling, covering the grass, stone roads and eaves with sporadic golden patches. Against the background of the thousand-year-old temple, it becomes a beautiful scenery in autumn.

Not far from the ginkgo tree, there is a forest of stone steles, on which are engraved passages of Buddhist scriptures.

It is written on the first stone tablet that the Buddha said: All conditioned dharmas are all due to the combination of causes and conditions.Flowers bloom, leaves yellow and leaves fall, because there is a beginning, so there is an end.Fate arises from fate, fate dies from fate, everything in life is nothing but fate.

(End of this chapter)