Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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On the day of the Ghost Festival, a small platform was set up in the front yard of Baoyang Temple. During the day, sutras and blessings were chanted here to celebrate the birthday of the local official.
At six o’clock in the afternoon, the believers who were going to attend the Zhongyuan Dharma Conference stayed and the Dharma Conference was about to begin.
On the altar were the portrait of Taiyi Tianzun and the tablet of Sazu, with five fragrant lanterns and fruits as offerings. Zhang Daoting sat on the stage and exchanged a look with Xie Lingya, not so nervous anymore, “Fu Ming and Tongzhuan, Hui Guang Jiuquan… …The sea of evil will cease, and the Dharma will be heard again in the human world!”
Below were about forty believers who had signed up and a small group of people who simply came to participate in the fun. Among them, some of them were participating in this kind of Dharma gathering for the first time, and they all looked very excited and curious.
Xie Lingya could see familiar faces among these people, such as He Zun, Uncle He, Chen Mo, Cheng Jie and his wife, Mrs. Sun and others.
Not long after the ceremony started, Shi Changxuan also came out with some food. His Dharma lineage was different so he would not participate in the ceremony, thus he took some food and went out to feed the wandering ghosts on the street.
Xie Lingya said hesitantly: “If you want to feed, do you want to take the subway to the suburbs?”
Shi Changxuan didn’t react for a moment, “Huh?”
Xie Lingya: “They are very strict here, you may be punished for throwing food, they won’t care about your reason when imposing fines.”
Shi Changxuan: “…”
Xie Lingya thought for a moment, “How about this, you go to the back door, it’s not on the street, and it’s next to the vegetable market, so there won’t be anyone to arrest you.”
“…” Shi Changxuan obviously had never experienced this kind of secretly giving food to lonely ghosts, so he went to put food at the back door without saying anything.
Then at Xie Lingya’s invitation, Shi Changxuan watched the Dharma ceremony with him.
There were almost five steps in this Dharma Assembly. The first was to worship at the table. The Taoist priest who presided over the Dharma Assembly must worship Taiyi Tianzun and Sazu. The second was to invite saints from all walks of life, as well as the deceased souls of the current believers, to come together and enjoy the fasting feast.
When Zhang Daoting began to pray for the souls of his family to come from the underworld, He Zun became a little uneasy.
His luck had been low for a while, so when he got to this point, he felt strange for no reason, and couldn’t help but ask in a low voice: “Uncle, do you feel anything…”
Uncle He looked at him with horror, “You, you feel, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t tell clearly, it just seems like there’s something extra.” He Zun murmured.
They, the believers, all paid for the prayers for their ancestors. Someone nearby heard this and looked at them with surprised expressions.
Originally, the first part of the ceremony was a bit boring, and with the busy traffic outside, it was different from the usual places. It was noisy and difficult to calm down.
But what He Zun said made everyone around him feel cold.
Then they discovered that not only He Zun, but also two less enthusiastic believers also whispered that they felt weird, as if they could sense something even though there was nothing around them.
Fortunately, there were dozens of people at the scene, most of them believers, so there was no commotion, and it became quieter after a while.
The unusual sensations from those believers made everyone stop thinking too much about the environment. They stared at the Master for a moment, concentrating on it, hoping that they would also sense something, but also fearing that it would happen, which was quite entangling.
Some of them had also participated in Zhongyuan Dharma gatherings in other places, but they had never encountered this kind of situation.
The third step was to break the prison and invite the lonely souls from all over the world to come to the Dharma gathering. The lonely ghosts and wild ghosts who died in a foreign land, died in childbirth, drowned in a river, were bitten by wild beasts or had other causes of death could come to the gathering. Then the fourth step was to invite these lonely ghosts who had no one to worship them to eat the Dharma food provided today together with the dead souls of the family.
People like Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan could also keenly feel that the scene had become much colder.
Over there, He Zun was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he was on the verge of seeing a ghost at any time, so he didn’t dare to open his eyes.
However, Xie Lingya was very courageous, and because he wanted to see his uncle, he drew the Spiritual Official Divine Eye between his eyebrows and used his third eye to look at it – it was difficult to describe the scene in front of him!
The small courtyard was crowded with ghosts, and most of them were wild ghosts that had been wandering around for a long time. They looked very miserable, with different signs of death. Some were dragging their intestines, some were covered in water, and some were holding ghost babies… …They all looked longingly at Zhang Daoting, who knew nothing about it and the food on the table.
Of course, there were also ancestors of believers here. They could be easily distinguished because they had a small stove just now and their mental outlook was much better than those lonely ghosts.
Zhang Daoting dipped willow branches in dew and sprinkled it on the crowd, turning one into ten and ten into a hundred. The ghosts were vying for the hard-won dew below to wipe away the dirt on their bodies. The ghosts in the back row couldn’t catch them, so they climbed up to catch the dew on the heads of people who couldn’t see them.
After wiping off the dirt on their bodies, the wild ghosts looked better than at first, and their clothes were tidied up. At this time, Zhang Daoting began to recite a mantra to transform the offerings of Dharma and food, and then made a “sprinkling” motion with willow branches.
In Xie Lingya’s eyes, he could see clearly that the ghosts obeyed the rules of the Dharma Assembly and did not dare to fight, but after getting the food, they stuffed it into their mouths. After all, ghosts without sacrifices rarely had anything to eat all year round. The entire front yard of Baoyang Temple was almost full of wolfish ghosts…
“…” Xie Lingya wiped off the cinnabar with trembling hands. Although he felt mentally prepared, he suddenly saw hundreds of ghosts eating with their hands. The scene was still a bit exciting.
Shi Changxuan glanced at Xie Lingya with a knowing look.
Xie Lingya smiled sarcastically but felt a little disappointed because he had written his uncle’s memorial tablet, but when he looked around, he could not see his uncle’s ghost.
Thinking on the bright side, his uncle had done so many meritorious deeds during his lifetime, so he wouldn’t need to wait others to overtake him. He might have been reincarnated early…
It was not big, it was said to save lonely souls from all over the world, but their ability was limited, so they just tried their best. There were many dead souls in the world, so he hoped that there would be more Taoist temples, and kind-hearted people around the world who would give alms to others.
As Zhang Daoting rang the bell, Xie Lingya, together with the believers, took paper money and other objects and threw them into the prepared brazier.
….
Finally, Zhang Daoting recited the “Nine True Precepts” to let these ghosts change their ways after eating and drinking, wash away their sins, and be saved.
“If you come, you will come, if you go, you will go. This is not a place to leave your soul… This night is good for inheriting merit and virtue, and once you come, you will be rewarded with good causes and conditions. Rely on the power of Tao as the best cause, and fulfill your aspirations to be reborn in heaven…”
As Zhang Daoting chanted, Xie Lingya quietly opened his eyes again, and saw the peaceful faces of the ghosts who had been redeemed, casting themselves into the sky.
In the eyes of everyone, along with this last chant, a strong wind blew from nowhere and rolled all the ashes such as the burned paper money, spiritual tablets, etc. into the sky. Pieces of paper dust danced in the dark night sky, like flying snow and butterflies. It seemed as if they fell in love with the human world for a while, then flew to the clouds.
Thinking of the strange behavior of the two believers before, and seeing the current scene that was so similar to that of a deceased relative who reluctantly left after enjoying the offerings, everyone’s heart was throbbing and their expressions were inexplicably moved, but they were no longer afraid.
When Zhang Daoting saw the strong wind blowing up the paper dust, he felt a sense of completion in his heart. Woo hoo, it was successful. His bad luck was really suppressed by the ancestor and the boss!
Only Xie Lingya felt a sense of loss in his heart…
Not only did he not see his uncle, but he also had no time to stop them to interview the specific feelings of being transcended. It seemed that the ghost investigation could not be completed. He wondered if there would be a chance in the future.
The author has something to say:
Our ancestor is also very capable of covering you.
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