The Strange Tales of Tokyo Monk

How can I describe the scene before me? A creature wearing white mourning clothes and a white triangular scarf on its head, with its hands slightly bent in front of its body like the front paws of a cat standing upright, and its body floating up.

This is a standard Japanese female ghost.

Behind her, two big men were chasing her closely.

The ghost is running away and people are chasing it.

Just catch up and hehehe.

This is probably the situation.

"No, please stop chasing me. I, I really am a female ghost!"

The female ghost was floating around in panic in front, her eyes occasionally glancing back, her tone full of helplessness.

"No matter if you are a female ghost or not, we brothers are already thirty years old and have never touched a woman. It is worth it to catch a female ghost."

"Wuwuwu... don't come over here..."

The female ghost seemed to be wiping away tears that didn't exist. She looked just like an ordinary girl being rapisted, weak and helpless.

"This is definitely a new ghost that has just been born."

Pinggong Qianye quickened his pace, passed through the trees, came behind the two men, and tapped their backs with the Zen stick in his hand.

boom.

The two men closed their eyes and fell forward, falling into a deep sleep.

"Stop running."

Pinggong Qianye threw the Dharma bowl in his hand, which hovered above the female ghost's head. Golden Buddha light enveloped her, trapping her like a prison, making her unable to move at all.

"They are obsessed with you, that's why they keep chasing you."

Pinggong Qianye came to the female ghost and looked at her carefully. "This should be your first day as a ghost, right?"

"..."

Inside the golden Buddha light cover, the shivering female ghost has now huddled into a ball and is shrinking little by little.

Pinggong Qianye had no choice but to put away the Dharma bowl to avoid directly converting her to heaven.

"Master, you are right. This is indeed my first day as a ghost..."

The female ghost paused for a long time before showing a sad expression to Pinggong Qianye.

"Why are you running here in such a hurry in the middle of the night? These two men must have been led here by you, right?" Pinggong Qianye asked.

The female ghost was stunned for a moment, and then talked about her experience.

She was accidentally caught in the tracks while waiting for a train the evening before yesterday and died.

She gained intelligence tonight and became a female ghost. The place where she died was near the ruins of Heijokyo, but when she woke up, she was inside the ruins of Heijokyo.

There are many female ghosts like her, and there is an extremely powerful ghost leading them through the Heijō Palace.

If their clothes were slightly changed, they would look like the maids who lived in Heijo Palace and served the emperor long ago.

Apart from her, most other female ghosts are confused and have no self-awareness.

While the leading ghost was not paying attention, she sneaked out of Heijō Palace.

Avoid Saidaiji Temple and Todaiji Temple, carefully sneak out of the Heijokyo ruins, and then escape to the mountains.

On the way, she happened to meet these two men who were returning from drinking, and as soon as they saw her, they chased after her, which led to the scene just now.

"Has any great demon king appeared at the Heijokyo ruins?"

"Probably." The female ghost answered uncertainly.

"Then your death should not be an accident." Pinggong Qianye thought.

"Ah? Was I murdered? How come I don't know it?"

The expression on the ghost girl's face became even more dull.

"This female ghost is so stupid. If there really is a great ghost king in the Heijokyo ruins, can she really escape with her intelligence?"

The Moon Doll is seriously skeptical of the ghost girl's wisdom.

The female ghost immediately waved her hands and tried to defend herself: "I'm just not good at being a ghost. When I was a human, my IQ was very high. I even graduated from college."

"..."

The Moon Doll did not answer or refute, probably because it felt that there was no point in bullying a new ghost with low intelligence.

"Take me to the ruins of Heijokyo, and I will help you to be reborn."

"But didn't you say there was a big ghost king there?" The female ghost showed obvious fear on her face.

Pinggong Qianye smiled and said, "I have some Buddhist teachings I would like to discuss with it."

Chapter 119: Toshodaiji Temple, "One Hundred Lanterns"

The Heijokyo Ruins are Japan's first World Cultural Heritage Site and are the remains of an old royal castle from the Nara period.

Under the baptism of time, only the outermost low city wall may still remain in its original appearance, while other buildings have long been destroyed and disappeared in the long river of history.

The current building is a later replica and restoration, with the new building standing on the old site.

The construction style of the entire Heijokyo was influenced by the Tang Dynasty's Chang'an City and Luoyang City of the same period. The Suzaku Gate is the main gate, and the other buildings are symmetrical along the axis on both sides of the Suzaku Avenue.

It is divided into Zuojing, Youjing, East Market and West Market, and there are a large number of Buddhist temples preserved inside.

For example, the famous Todaiji Temple and Saidaiji Temple, as well as the Tang Dynasty Shodaiji Temple where Jianzhen traveled to the east.

In the center is the Heijō Palace, which also has a Taiji Hall.

Today, there is a railway, the Kintetsu Nara Line, passing through the area between Suzaku Gate and Taigiden.

The night is gloomy and dark, it is the darkest moment before the day.

Da da da.

It was the sound of monks walking through the streets.

They hold a lotus lamp in their left hand and a string of Buddhist beads in their right hand.

They jogged along while chanting Buddhist scriptures in unison.

When the lotus lanterns in their hands formed a swastika seal due to their formation, the monks stopped running and sat cross-legged on the ground.

They placed the lotus lamps in their hands on the open space in front of them, held the Buddhist beads in both hands, and continued to chant Buddhist scriptures.

The center of the swastika seal is the Taijiden, the royal palace of the Heijokyo ruins.

Golden lines that were difficult for ordinary people to see began to spread in all directions with the lotus lamp as the center, as if forming a golden cover that enveloped the Tai Chi Palace.

The chanted Buddhist scriptures turned into light golden mantras, like flying flowers rising into the sky, covering the nearby sky.

Inside the golden Buddha light cover, a gloomy and eerie aura lingered in the Tai Chi Hall for a long time, and there were even faint signs that the Buddha light cover was about to burst outward.

"Evil creature! Why didn't you enter reincarnation earlier? Instead, you stayed in this world and killed people!"

A huge golden bronze bell dropped from the sky, gathering the surrounding light golden spells. The mouth of the bell expanded and enveloped the entire Tai Chi Hall.

All the unusual movements disappeared and everything returned to normal.

In the sky, the night was gradually driven away by the day, and a scorching sun slowly rose from the other side of the mountain, casting golden light.

"Amitabha."

At the first light of dawn, all the monks surrounding the Taiji Hall chanted the Buddha's name in unison, took the almost extinguished lotus lanterns, and began to leave the Taiji Hall in an orderly manner.

The huge golden bronze bell shrank in size at this moment and turned into a small bronze bell the size of a palm, hanging in front of the main hall door of the Taiji Hall.

As the sun shines, it sways gently and the sound of clear bells can be heard.

"It's over."

On a high ground outside the Suzaku Gate, the Moon Doll sitting on Pinggong Qianye's right shoulder murmured reluctantly.

The sun came out and it was time for her to leave.

"You should go back and rest."

"Well, see you tonight."

After saying this, the Moon Doll fell forward. Pinggong Qianye held it in his right hand and put it back into the bag.

"It's time for you to leave too."

Pinggong Qianye glanced at the shivering female ghost hiding in his own shadow.

"Don't you need me to lead the way?"

“No need. There are so many monks handling the affairs here. They must know more than you do. Besides, it is not a good thing for ghosts to stay in the world of the living for a long time.”

"Then can I be born into a good family in my next life?"

The female ghost looked up at Pinggong Qianye, with hope and pleading in her eyes.

"Before the afterlife, who can be sure what is good and what is bad?"

The female ghost wanted to say something else, but Pinggong Qianye's Dharma bowl shook gently, sucking the female ghost into the bowl, and chanted the "Nirvana Mantra" to help her to be reborn.

If Buddhist practitioners could decide whether the deceased would be reborn into a good or bad life in the next life, then the worst people would be the practitioners themselves.

The so-called salvation for the deceased is just to prevent any accidents from happening during the journey of reincarnation.

"Let's go to Toshodaiji Temple first."

Heimiya Chiye walked towards the ruins of Heijokyo in front of him.

This time when she came to Nara, the first place Chiye Heimiya wanted to go was Toshodaiji Temple, and then famous temples such as Todaiji Temple.

Because Toshodaiji Temple was a temple built under the leadership of the famous monk Master Jianzhen, it has a strong Tang Dynasty architectural style.

In the past, King Nagaya of Japan admired Buddhism and ordered people to make 1000 robes, which were sent to the eminent monks of the Tang Dynasty along with the Tang envoys, hoping that they could spread Buddhism to Japan.

It is said that each cassock has a sentence like this: "Mountains and rivers are different, but the wind and moon are the same. We are all children of Buddha, and we have formed a bond together."

When Master Jianzhen of Daming Temple in Yangzhou saw these words, he was moved by Prince Nagaya's devotion to Buddhism, which led to his six trips to Japan to spread Buddhism over the next 12 years.

After Master Jianzhen's sixth voyage to Japan, he began to lead the construction of the Toshodaiji Temple.

The red banner "Tōshōdaiji Temple" on the temple gate was written by the then Japanese Empress Koken in the style of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi.

Pinggong Qianye looked up and followed the tourists and believers around him into the gate of Toshodaiji Temple.

The first thing that catches your eye is the Golden Hall of Toshodaiji Temple, where a statue of Vairocana, the main Buddha, is enshrined. On both sides are standing statues of Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara Buddha and Medicine Buddha.

In front of the three large Buddha statues, there are two small statues of Brahma and Indra, as well as wooden statues of the Four Heavenly Kings.

Next to the Golden Hall is the Drum Tower. Legend has it that the relics brought by Master Jianzhen from Japan are enshrined in this Drum Tower.

It's a pity that people are not allowed to go up to the Drum Tower for a visit.

After strolling around Toshodaiji Temple for a while, Heimiya Chiye soon attracted the attention of the monks in the temple. Two young monks came to chat with Heimiya Chiye, and after chatting for a while, they invited Heimiya Chiye to move to the monks' rooms at the back for a detailed discussion.

The monks of Toshodaiji Temple were also very interested in Heimiya Chiya, a young monk who came here on foot from Tokyo to practice.

When he arrived at the monks' quarters, Pinggong Qianye keenly noticed that many monks were sleeping in the monks' quarters. They must have been seriously exhausted by what happened last night and needed to make up for the sleep during the day.

What kind of terrifying ghost is suppressed in that Tai Chi Temple?

The person who was responsible for meeting Heimiya Chiye in the monk's room was a monk named Ono, who was about 40 years old and very talkative.

After a few words of conversation, Pinggong Qianye asked the doubts in his heart.

"When I passed by the ruins of Heijokyo last night, I noticed a Buddha's light rising into the sky from the direction of the Taiji Hall. But what big event happened?"

"This……"

Ono Shojin was hesitant. "The matter of Taiji Hall involves a long-standing secret between our temple and Todaiji and Saidaiji. It is difficult to tell the truth."

"Buddhists in the world are all one family, so why should the abbot conceal this? Perhaps I can provide you with some help."

Pinggong Qianye spoke sincerely. When it comes to exterminating evil spirits, his ability is far beyond his age.

The monk looked embarrassed, not knowing how to answer. Then he seemed to have thought of something and said with a wry smile: "If you are the Master Liansheng on the forum, that would be great."

"Which forum?" Pinggong Qianye blinked.