Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Shi Changxuan went to Baoyang to have a look. Of course he was not thinking about the rent issue.
Xie Lingya knew that he could make a lot of money if he performed rituals, but the location of Baoyang Temple was indeed good and it was a Taoist temple. He would not be reported by his neighbors if he did something here.
Shi Changxuan didn’t look like someone who was particularly materialistic. He didn’t feel sorry at all for the remuneration he received last time and transferred it to Xie Lingya. And even if Xie Lingya said that; he couldn’t really not give him even a penny.
Finally, Shi Changxuan really agreed to move to Baoyang Temple, and Xie Lingya couldn’t stop smiling at that time.
Someone had entered Baoyang Temple, were they still far away from becoming a disciple??
Xie Lingya was kind enough to accompany Shi Changxuan to Taihe Temple to help bring his luggage. Shi Changxuan’s room was next to Xie Lingya’s.
“My uncle used to live in my room, so it’s a little bigger. But because I have feelings for my uncle, I’m not willing to give up this room.” Xie Lingya said with emotion.
He could live here as long as he wanted now. He had wanted to give this room to his uncle’s apprentice in the future – although he had already taken a liking to Shi Changxuan in his heart, he didn’t mean Shi Changxuan specifically. After all, Shi Changxuan was a Taoist priest who lived nomadically and had already graduated. There was a high probability that he would not live in one place in the future.
A trace of confusion flashed in Shi Changxuan’s eyes, “…No need.”
“Haha,” Xie Lingya didn’t look at him at all. He couldn’t understand it anyway. He was thinking that now he could instill a good image of his uncle into Shi Changxuan’s mind, so he took the opportunity to say, “I often came to live with my uncle when I was a child. He sometimes practiced martial arts here, such as swordsmanship, boxing and kicking, etc., and to scare me, he would pick me up and throw me high, even higher than the roof. Then catch me again and release me with all his strength.”
After hearing this, Shi Changxuan seemed to have imagined it, and then said: “You must not have been scared.”
“Ah, yes. I am not afraid of heights, instead I was even happier. Yes.” Xie Lingya thought that this point was a little wrong, and said, “My uncle often solved things like evil spirits for free. When I was a child, I loved to watch him receiving people who came to ask for help secretly. He seemed to know everything, if someone said anything about something, he would immediately analyze the ins and outs, and after a while, he would even know how to solve it. I think that was very handsome, and I even secretly played with his magic weapon.”
Shi Changxuan: “… …You are very talented.”
“My uncle said the same, hahaha,” Xie Lingya said, “My dad was busy at that time, and he went to a parent-teacher meeting for me. When people saw him wearing a Taoist robe, they all looked at him weirdly. But he gave our math teacher a look and told our teacher that she would suffer a small disaster at the end of the month. Our teacher listened to him and avoided it, saying that my uncle was very accurate, it led to me getting a free small stove.”
Shi Changxuan said softly. “So you studied finance because of this?”
“It had nothing to do with it. I took Mathematics but I wasn’t much better, mainly because I didn’t like to study. Later, when I was in high school, I started working hard because my dad remarried.” As Xie Lingya was talking, he realized that the topic seemed wrong, so he quickly stopped talking.
Shi Changxuan stopped talking when he saw this. He took the time to look at him twice and stopped talking.
Xie Lingya didn’t notice anything and went about his own business.
….
Because the Hungry Ghost Festival was approaching, Baoyang Temple also had to perform rituals. He found red paper and wrote a notice to inform believers of the time of the ritual. If they attended, the believers would need to give some merit money, no matter how much.
The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month was commonly known as the Ghost Festival, in Buddhism it was called the Bon Festival, and in Taoism it was called the Ghost Festival. There were also Sanyuan Festival and Xiayuan Festival, one on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, which was the Lantern Festival, and the other on the fifteenth day of October.
Sanyuan was another name for the Three Officials: Tianguan, Diguan and Shuiguan[1]. The Sanyuan Festival was the birthday of the three great emperors respectively. The Heaven Official gave blessings, the Earth Official forgave sins, and the Water Official relieved misfortune. Therefore, the Zhongyuan Earth Official Festival was the time to forgive sins.
On this day, the local officials opened the underworld to examine the souls of the dead. In addition to celebrating the birthday of local officials, Taoist temples would also hold Dharma meetings to reduce the sins of believers’ ancestors and at the same time provide relief to the lonely souls in the ten directions.
The great Taoist temples had the method of the great Taoist temples, and the small Taoist temples had the method of the small Taoist temples.
The Great Dao Temple, such as Taihe Temple, was holding a Zhongyuan Dharma assembly, with more than a dozen masters practicing, hundreds of believers participating, a high platform, and band accompaniment.
As for a small Taoist temple like Baoyang Temple, which had only one Taoist priest, it was relatively shabbier and the scene would definitely be smaller. But the things on the scene must be complete, such as fragrant flowers and fruits, food, lanterns, offerings, soul-calling flags, etc.
Because the merit money was given casually by believers, Xie Lingya was a little unsure at first. Fortunately, at the last count, almost forty believers signed up to participate, hoping to pray for the blessings of their deceased relatives. Each person donated at least one hundred, not to mention those who paid more, which was enough.
The believers provided the information, and Xie Lingya made the spiritual tablet in advance based on this. There was also his uncle among them. Xie Lingya held out hope that since the door to hell was wide open, what if he could see his uncle again?
The other thing was they had to receive education from the street workers. They were located in the urban area. So, they were told to pay attention to fire prevention when burning paper money. Xie Lingya had to nod his head repeatedly and write down the precautions. After all, Baoyang Temple was a patriotic religious organization under the leadership of the Party and could not do anything that harmed society.
And he also had to negotiate with the aunts and uncles who danced in the square next to Dawn Square through the street personnel, asking them not to dance here on the night of the Ghost Festival, otherwise it would be too outrageous if they sung sutras here and they played dance music there.
Of course, the most important thing was that Zhang Daoting, as the master of ceremonies this time, needed to practice it in advance, and he was particularly uneasy. Although he was familiar with the process, he was afraid that his cultivation was not enough.
Before coming to Baoyang Temple, Zhang Daoting had never presided over a religious ceremony independently. He was very nervous last time on the birthday of the ancestor. It was still okay to pay homage to the ancestor, but this time it was to save the souls of the dead.
Zhang Daoting had been unlucky for more than 20 years. He failed in almost everything he did, not to mention bringing trouble to those around him. During the time he came to Baoyang Temple, he felt a little uneasy. Seeing that Baoyang Temple did not collapse but became more and more popular, he felt a little relaxed.
But at this moment, his heart started to rise again, he was too afraid of failure.
But after all, Shi Changxuan was not a disciple of Baoyang Temple. No matter how hard Xie Lingya wanted it, it was impossible for him to ask him to help with the affairs now, so Zhang Daoting could only bear the heavy pressure.
Zhang Daoting: “Boss, I’m afraid that’s not possible! Otherwise, come on, wear a Taoist robe and pretend.”
“I’m not a priest, I don’t even have a layman’s certificate. What should I do if I’m exposed in the future?” Xie Lingya said, “It’s fine once or twice, but it can’t always be like this, I’m the boss, not the viewer, please wake up.”
Zhang Daoting said with a sad face, “Although you have encouraged me many times, but I…”
“You have to have confidence in yourself!” Xie Lingya said, “Let me tell you, you go and pray to the Patriarch for one night and let him bless you to complete the ritual smoothly. This is an important step in our new beginning in Baoyang Temple, the first important Dharma meeting!”
Zhang Daoting said tremblingly: “Can, can he do it??”
Xie Lingya said: “Are you questioning the ancestor’s ability?”
“No…” But since Xie Lingya said so, Zhang Daoting couldn’t help but mutter, “But isn’t the ancestor a great protector?”
If Xie Lingya hadn’t said that, he couldn’t even imagine that the Patriarch also seemed to be responsible for it. Indeed, judging from these days, the Patriarch had appeared more frequently in Baoyang Temple, which had benefited Zhang Daoting a lot. However, if the business was not in line, could he be protected?
“Have you forgotten something? In Zhongyuan’s ceremony to save the dead, our Taoist temple uses the “Sazu Iron Pot Refining and Giving Food”.” Xie Lingya reminded, “You can’t possibly not know who Sazu is, right?”
Zhang Daoting: “…”
Zhang Daoting had lived in several Taoist temples before. Although the master who brought him in was from a different sect, he had learned so much that he didn’t really react for a while.
Various schools of Taoism also had many different ways to perform the Hungry Ghost Festival, such as the “Lingbao Food Giving Ritual”, “Doulao Food Giving Ritual”, etc. One of the most widely used ones was called “Sazu Iron Pot Refining and Giving Food”.
The founder of this set of rituals, Sazu, whose real name was Sa Shoujian[2], was revered as the One Yuan Supreme Saweng Zhenjun. He also had a personal identity, that was, he was the master of the great Taoist protector Wang Lingguan…!
Xie Lingya whispered: “Do you think I just pushed you to perform rituals? Think about it, Grandmaster was a direct disciple of Sazu, he must have learned this set of rituals!”
Zhang Daoting: “…”
Damn it, does the boss mean the same as going through the back door? But, going to God??
Zhang Daoting raised his head and said in admiration: “…Boss, I am really convinced. Your inference is really flawless! If that doesn’t work, can we still ask the Patriarch to intercede with Sazu?”
Xie Lingya: “… You’re pretty good at drawing inferences from one instance.”
Zhang Daoting couldn’t laugh or cry. He felt that only people like Xie Lingya, who had a strong connection with the ancestor, could come up with this method. But when he thought about it carefully, it did make perfect sense.
They were holding the Zhongyuan Dharma Assembly, and they could ask the founder of Baoyang Temple and the disciple of Sazu to bless them for success, and there was nothing wrong with it!
Therefore, Zhang Daoting actually went to the Lingguan Hall and knelt for a long time, praying to his ancestor to bless him to perform well. After it was done, he felt more at ease.
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[1] In Sanguan, the Three Officials are: Tianguan, official of heaven who bestows happiness; Diguan, official of earth who grants remission of sins; and Shuiguan, official of water who averts misfortune.
[2] According to records, after Sa Shou Jian got his Enlightenment, one year while he was doing his regular inspection, he came to a mountainous area and noticed that some entities were hiding around the area. Immediately, he landed on one of the peak and summoned the entity out.
After summoning the entity out, then Sa Shoujian realized that this entity was actually a Fire Spirit in the Thunderial Department in the Heavenly Realm. So with his advises and support, the entity was being brought to Heaven and after going thru the records of this entity, Jade Emperor bestowed the entity as a Marshal in looking after the Heavenly Armies.
This entity was Known as Wang Lingguan. Due to Sa Shoujian being the one who gave him the advises, Sa Shoujian was known as the Master of Wang Lingguan.