Da Suining

Chapter 173
"Father, I want to go to the Huguo Temple to meet the second prince, please show me." Xiang Sui Ning blessed a blessing.

Xiang Daying was overjoyed and could not wait to say, "Go quickly, hurry up." On the face, he pretended to be calm: "Since you want to go to Huguo Temple to pray for your family, then go."

"Father, she wants to see the Second Prince." Xiang Yan quickly corrected her.

"Whether it is to pray for blessings or to meet the second prince, you always go to Huguo Temple. Huguo Temple is the largest temple in Xuanguo. The masters there are also virtuous and qualified. Even those who go to burn incense It's either rich or expensive, it's not a low-level person, it's okay to go there, and the weather is fine today, go for a walk. If you meet the second prince, you can say a few words, but you have to remember that men and women are different. Just don’t be too secretive.”

"Yes, daughter remembers father's teachings."

There was a fire in Xiang Yan's heart, and her face was reddened by the flames.

Xiang Suining is trying to kill her.

The person she likes, she also wants?

Think beautiful.

Xiangyan hurriedly asked Xiang Daying for instructions: "Father, I'm going to Huguo Temple too."

"Yan'er, don't make trouble."

"Father, the second girl can go, why can't I go, besides, father also said that the Huguo Temple is safe, father, you are biased." Xiang Yan shed tears as she spoke.

She looks weak and weak, with tears streaming down her face, pear blossoms with rain, she couldn't be more wronged.

Xiang Daying surrendered directly: "Okay, okay, let's go, let's go together."

Xiang Suining had never been to Huguo Temple, on the contrary, Xiangyan had been there a few times before and was already familiar with the road.

The two got off the carriage in front of the mountain gate of Huguo Temple, and the driver drove the carriage to a forest not far away to wait, and let the horse eat some grass by the way.

The area around the Huguo Temple is flat, and the emperor decreed that it should be nearly doubled in size.Unlike Jiguang Temple or Qixia Temple, which are built on the mountain, there are countless steps to go back and forth to burn incense. People who walk have sore and painful legs. Once they burn incense, they have to lie down for a day before they can rest.

The Huguo Temple is paved with bluestone slabs, and the occasional paths are paved with Yuhua stones.

There are several circles of trees planted around. The outer layer is a variety of fruit trees, and the inner layer is a variety of flowers and trees. In summer, the lush flowers and trees wrap the Huguo Temple inside, which is very cool. Now it is the end of the year, and the flowers and trees are withered. The humidity is heavy, and Huguo Temple has another layer of moist beauty, shrouded in white mist, like a dream.

Maybe it's because a few sweet-scented osmanthus trees outside the mountain gate are in bloom, golden and full of fragrance.Looking up, it seems that the sky has been dyed golden for half a day, and the yellow light is shining.

The Shanmen archway is made of high-quality bluestone, majestic and towering. Standing under the archway, people feel that the wind from north to south fills their chests and their chests are cold.

Xiang Yan raised her skirt and stepped into the archway, turned her head and said to Xiang Suining behind her, "Don't follow me, you beg yours, I will be mine. Meet at the carriage in two hours. Don't make me wait for you, or I will go to the carriage first." Back in the car."

She said it as if she had waited before, never had she left happily in the carriage.

Seemingly worried, Xiangyan walked two steps and then turned around: "I warn you, don't touch the second prince."

Ha ha.

Xiang Suining intentionally teased her: "Why did I touch the second prince? What if the second prince wants to touch me?"

"With me here, the second prince won't even look at you. Don't think that with the emperor's backing, you can touch my people. The second prince has his own ideas. It's useless for the emperor to force someone he doesn't like." .”

Ok.

She has a lot of words, let her be reasonable.

Anyway, as long as Guo Kai is mentioned, Xiang Yan is like an old hen protecting her cubs, spreading her wings to peck people.

by her.

She walked to the left, and Xiang Suining walked to the right.

Xiangyan walked to the left, there was Qingliang Terrace and Qiyue Hall, after passing Qiyue Hall, there was a tomb, which was made of stones and covered with loess.

After the monks in other places sit down, they are mostly turned into dust and sprinkled into Tallinn.Therefore, there are many temples in Xuanguo, and there are pagoda forests outside the apse.

This is not the case at Huguo Temple. After the death of the abbots and young monks of the past dynasties, most of them were buried in these tombs. The difference is that the young monks were buried in a large tomb without leaving their names.There is a stone tablet in front of the abbot's tomb with inscriptions engraved on it.

Dozens of abbot's tombs are silent from far to near. Over time, the stones surrounding the tombs have become smooth and flat. Weeds have already grown all over the tombs. The weeds grow half a person's height, but they still look lush and lush.

The path connecting the tomb is paved with Yuhua stones brought from the south. The dark red Yuhua stones add a bit of color to the deserted and solemn tomb.

Walking down Yuhua Stone, passing through a round arch, there are dozens of houses with pointed roofs and gray walls. The houses are not big, and one can accommodate four people. There are many houses, which are located opposite the door. It's easy to get lost.

The people living in these houses are lay Buddhists. They devote themselves to the Buddha, and they have not yet escaped from the mundane life. They always spend ten days and a half a month in a year to come to Huguo Temple, do some cleaning work within their ability, and serve the Buddha. Lord's side.

Xiang Yan will pass through these places.

Of course, this was the route that Xiang Suining slowly figured out after going to the Huguo Temple a few times later.

After parting with Xiangyan behind the mountain gate, she walked forward with small steps.

It turns out that after passing the mountain gate, there is another main gate of Huguo Temple, which is another gate.

There are two stone statues at the door, which are two piercing stone lions. The threshold painted with red paint is very high, and the two doors are also very high. Xiang Suining looked up and saw the plaque on the door "Huguo Temple" "Three words hang squarely.

These two doors are almost the same as palace gates.The two stone lions were originally heavy and cumbersome, but compared with the gate, they became like little pets.

There are door couplets with a black background on both sides of the gate. Yellow characters are written on the door couplets with ink stained with gold leaf. The characters are antique and I don’t know what font it is, but it looks clumsy and down-to-earth.Although not cute, it is in line with the monk's temperament.

The door couplet reads, "Sama seal proves that the Ganges River is full of happiness, and the seven treasures are adorned with auspiciousness and auspiciousness."

Entering from the side door, you can see two saponins trees that need to be surrounded by several people standing in the courtyard. The saponins trees are so lush that they almost grow into the clouds.

In front of the saponins tree is a copper censer several feet long. The incense here seems to be very strong. The incense ash in the censer is almost full. There are various thick and thin incense sticks in the incense ash. The longest one can be as tall as a person.

Bypassing the saponins tree is the Ninefold Gate.

The first gate is the Hall of Heavenly Kings, where Maitreya Bodhisattva is enshrined, and behind the Bodhisattva, Weituo Bodhisattva is enshrined, and further back, there are more treasure halls.

Such as the Daxiong Hall, the Guanyin Hall, the Garan Hall, the Dizang Hall, the Arhat Hall, the Master Hall, the Dharma Hall, and the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion.

Behind the Daxiong Hall, the ground is raised three to four meters high, and a spacious platform was built, at least as big as three houses of ordinary people. There is also a large copper incense burner on the platform. In front of the incense burner is a gray futon. On the right side of the incense burner is a large black vat with a large bowl and burning candles in the vat.This is for believers to light incense.

The copper censer here is also full of incense.The smoke from the copper incense burner curled up into the air.

The air is full of sandalwood.

After passing the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion, we entered another courtyard. The round door was a bit short, and after entering, there were a group of buildings with blue tiles and white walls.

These layers of houses are almost unrecognizable. People say that the emperor has 72 concubines in the six courtyards of the Three Palaces. There are too many houses in the palace to sleep. The emperor always has to sit on the shoulders when walking in the palace, otherwise I can't stand my legs.Although there are not so many houses in Huguo Temple, it still hurts people's feet to leave.

Such as the living room, the Zhaitang, the meditation room, the hall, the bathhouse, the hut, the West Cleansing, and the release pond. The release pond alone is larger than the backyard of Xiang Suining's house. There are countless types of fish in it. The oldest tortoise has lived for 300 years. On sunny days, it will climb on the stones in the release pond and turn over to bask in the sun.

Of course, Xiang Suining didn't know about this road map until later.

The first time she went to Huguo Temple, she was like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden. She just felt that the hall was solemn and the temple was also magnificent. Monks in gray clothes passed by in twos and threes, without saying a word, without anger or hatred, all Take it easy.

There are hundreds of monks registered in Huguo Temple.

This is an overwhelming existence in Xuanguo. Xuanguo is not big. Although there are many temples, temples with more than 50 people are considered to have begun to take shape.

In addition to the letter guests ranging from far and near, as well as laymen living here, the number is too large to be counted. Even the vegetarian meals served twice a day in the dining hall need to be steamed in the largest iron pot. Two pots of rice.

The day when Xiang Suining came was even more lively.

Unexpectedly, on this day, Huguo Temple was holding a waterway ceremony.

The name Waterway Fahui is no stranger to Xuanguo people.

In the past few years, the emperor could not sleep at night and had nightmares again and again, even taking the medicine prescribed by the imperial physician did not help. One day, he lay down under the east window to rest in a trance, and fell asleep and had a strange dream.

He dreamed that he was in the wilderness, empty and there was no one there. While he was wondering, he met a fairy who asked him, people in the six realms are suffering. As the emperor, why don’t you do the Water and Land Dharma Assembly to help you? What about sentient beings?

After waking up, the emperor was stunned for a long time. He had been on the throne for many years, and it was the first time that an immortal fell into his dream.

Think about the drought in several state capitals in the first half of the year. There was almost no drop of rain for half a year. The crops dried up and died, and the people were displaced.

Now that the plague in Qingcheng is spreading, and the people are suffering tremendously, when will such days be the end?
What will become of these dead people?Do they have an afterlife?
Perhaps this is the reason why the fairy fell into a dream.

Since the immortal guides, how can you not do it.

The emperor personally summoned the abbot of the Huguo Temple to ask what the dream meant.

The abbot turned over the scriptures and showed it to the emperor, and sure enough, he saw a story about a Bodhisattva entering his dream to save all sentient beings.

That being the case, let's do it.

The emperor personally rewarded Huguo Temple with two taels of silver for the cost of the waterway ceremony.

The ritual mandala has been set up, divided into outer and inner altars and outer altars.

In the middle of the inner altar, three statues of Vairocana Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha, and Amitabha Buddha are enshrined. There is an altar below, on which there are incense candles, flowers and various fruits. There are copper chimes, bucket drums, cymbals, hand bells and rituals, etc., and ten water and land portraits are hung on both sides of the inner altar. The paintings are painted with treasure covers and lotuses below, and are connected with yellow paper in the middle.

The abbot stood in the center of the inner altar, wearing cassock, clasped his hands together, and began to practice.

The first is to take refuge in the Three Jewels, respectfully invite all Buddhas to come, and the place used for the mandala is guarded by all Buddhas and gods, so that idlers and others cannot defile it.

Then there are various rituals, such as sending out talismans and hanging banners, inviting you to the hall, offering an offering to the hall, offering a pardon, summoning you to leave the hall, accepting the nether world, etc. The preparations for all the rituals start from the first night and have to be busy until the seventh day. At the end of the day, after preaching, blessing, and making offerings to all the spirits participating in the Water and Land Dojo, leading them to the Land of Ultimate Bliss, or reincarnation, the Water and Land Puja will be considered a successful conclusion.

Although the emperor was busy with various affairs, he still visited the Huguo Temple in person.

For so many days, the emperor locked himself in the palace. At the beginning, he didn't even see his lovers. For this water and land ceremony, the emperor finally came out. Behind him was Mei Guifei's son, the emperor's son. The eldest son Guo Cong, Guo Cong was almost as tall as the emperor, standing beside the emperor, not talking much, a little serious.

Besides Guo Cong, there was another prince with a more face, Xiang Suining thought about it and then remembered that he had met him once in the palace, he seemed to be the fifth prince, named Guo Yi, who was slightly younger than the eldest prince Guo Cong some.

Compared with Guo Kai's sturdiness, this Guo Yi is very thin, but not weak. His eyes are bent. Although they look like crescent moons, they are more like the eyes of an eagle, with a sharp light. Xiang Suining has never seen anyone before. The eyes look like this.So even if you see him once, you can still remember him.

Guo Yi was also meticulous, standing behind the emperor's right side with his hands behind his back.

I didn't see Guo Cheng.

On such an occasion, the fifth prince is here, and he is the second child, so he should be there too.

Then I heard the eldest prince Guo Cong whisper: "Father, the second younger brother has some things that stumbled his feet, and he will be there soon after he thinks about it."

"This second child, what time is it, he can be late, is there anything important for him?"

"This one……"

The fifth prince, Guo Yi, calmly analyzed: "Or...Second brother thinks this puja is not an important matter."

The eldest prince glanced at the fifth prince, who smiled awkwardly, put his hands behind his back and stopped talking.

"Don't miss the hour, let's burn the incense now." The emperor took the three sticks of sandalwood from the abbot, and all the bodhisattvas in front of him bowed, muttering something silently, and then respectfully inserted the three sticks of sandalwood into the incense burner middle.

Guo Cong and Guo Yi followed the emperor's example, burned incense and retreated.

The Huguo Temple was supposed to be closed on this day. The royal family came here to burn incense, and all sentient beings avoided. For the emperor's personal safety, this was also necessary.

But this time is different, this time it is a water and land ceremony.

Only when there are many believers around can it be used.

The emperor led his own soldiers, imperial guards, and dozens of people from Shenji Battalion also followed, and with the protection of the princes, if there is any malicious intention, I am afraid that he will not be able to get close to the emperor.

People who come to offer incense on this day can also come in through the mountain gate, and it doesn't restrict everyone. It's just that the emperor offers incense, and everyone can only watch from a distance, and cannot get close.

(End of this chapter)