Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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An ordinary Weibo post by an ordinary passerby attracted many people because of a picture. In the picture, dozens of Taoist priests wearing Taoist robes were semi-surrounding an old monk. This picture was really surprising at first glance.
“6666 What are you doing, Monk: what are you going to do to me…”
“It’s so funny, what a fight, a bunch of Taoist priests surrounded a monk.”
“It’s terrible! Blogger, don’t leave, live broadcast!”
“This picture is so beautiful that I can’t bear to look at it.”
“Please forgive the monk’s psychological shadow…”
“Taoist Master, please have mercy!”
….
Without the knowledge of the people present, the post with the picture became lively on Weibo. Later, it was even used as a meme by netizens who did not know the truth, with various texts.
Under the watch of passers-by who also didn’t know the truth, the monks and Taoist priests seemed to be in harmony.
Xie Lingya said: “It’s okay, just take it. Let’s go.”
The Taoist priests were getting ready to get on the bus. There was a sign in the front window of their bus with the name of the driver and the Taoist group of Qiyang.
The old monk looked at the word “Qiyang”, slapped his forehead, remembered it, and called out to Xie Lingya: “Is your surname Xie?”
Xie Lingya turned back, “Yeah, do I know you?”
The old monk smiled and smiled and said: “It’s fate, it’s fate, I actually met you.”
Xie Lingya: “?”
He was confused. He was somewhat familiar with the Taoist temples. But he had never entered a Buddhist temple, let alone knew the monk. He also had no impression of this person at all.
The other Taoist priests were about to get in the bus and wait, but they couldn’t help but look strange after hearing this, “Hey, what do you mean by fate? Who is destined with you? This is a member of our Taoist sect!”
The old monk smiled and looked at Shi Changxuan again and said: “Lands and rivers provide lotus flowers, you and I have a predestined relationship!”
As soon as he said the words “Lands and rivers provide lotus flowers”, others still didn’t understand why, but it suddenly dawned on Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan. Last year, Shi Changxuan set up a Feng Shui diagram for the Buddhist temple to be built in the resort of Tang Qitang, using the vitality of the landscape to support the Pure Land Buddhist temple above, also known as the Lotus Sect.
At that time, Tang Qi said that after the Buddhist temple was completed, eminent monks invited from other places would be in charge. Now it seemed that it was this old monk with an unattractive appearance in front of him who became a priest there?
“Are you the Zen master invited by Mr. Tang?”
The old monk nodded, “That’s right. After I saw the design of the Buddhist temple, I remembered you two.”
The old monk introduced himself, with the name of Lian Tan, in the east of the ancestral court of the Pure Land Sect. Lian Tan became a monk of Lotus Temple – of course, he went there after Tang Qi’s construction was completed.
He recognized Xie Lingya because he had added Tang Qi’s WeChat account, and Tang Qi had forwarded photos of Xie Lingya and the others that had been posted online.
After hearing the name, Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan looked at each other again. Coincidentally, the old monk’s Buddhist name also had the word “lotus” in it, so this seemed to be a match with him.
Although the disciples of Shizong could not engage in Feng Shui divination and pay attention to the location of Buddhist temples, they had spirits. However, after so many years of development in China, how could it be possible to completely get rid of local influence. Why the old monk remembered them was probably because he thought the Feng Shui diagram was interesting.
“That does have a connection. I didn’t expect to meet you here. Are you here to participate in the event?” Xie Lingya asked politely.
“I’m here on business.” Lian Tan said it simply, not intending to elaborate on the specific matter, but it didn’t matter, they had just met by chance.
Relying on this fate, they chatted for a few words, and Lian Tan thanked Xie Lingya again for returning his cell phone before saying goodbye.
——Seeing the monk and Taoist priests waving goodbye to each other in a friendly way, the passers-by who were watching showed a little disappointed expression. No quarrels or fights?
After Xie Lingya got on the bus, someone asked him how they met.
After Xie Lingya finished speaking, Zhang Daoting, who was sitting in the back, leaned on the back of his seat and said, “I thought the monk was going to recruit you to join his gang, but suddenly he said “we are destined” and scared me to death.”
“Hahaha, how is that possible? I have already opened a Taoist temple.” Xie Lingya thought they were too funny.
“The two schools of Buddhism and Taoism have learned from each other for thousands of years, and there are also those who abandoned Buddhism and became Taoists or abandoned Taoism and became Buddhists.” Shi Changxuan was surprised but said calmly, “One of the five ancestors of the Southern Sect of the Jindan Sect, Bai Yuchan was once invited by Shi Zong to join the Taoist religion because of his understanding of Buddhism, but he refused.”
– Look, don’t say you just opened a Taoist temple, even if you become a Taoist priest, people may come to pull yours.
Xie Lingya had heard of Bai Yuchan’s name before. The Jindan sect did not refer to specific schools such as the Lingxiao sect and the Sazu sect, but was classified based on the subject that they majored in. For example, Shi Changxuan and his group mainly focused on Fulu Zhaijiao, and they were the Fulu sect, while the Jindan sect’s main focus was on alchemy.
Bai Yuchan was a Taoist priest from the Song Dynasty and was very famous, but Xie Lingya didn’t know his detailed deeds. He didn’t expect that this great guy would even invite Buddhist poachers.
“There is still such an operation, but don’t worry, I am not interested in Buddhism yet.” Xie Lingya thought, “In these days, there should be very few people who study both Buddhism and Taoism.”
….
Xie Lingya didn’t take the chance encounter with Lian Tan seriously. Neither of them even added each other on WeChat. After getting in the car, they rushed to the local palace to view the Jade Palace.
As the name suggested, the Jade Palace was dedicated to the Jade Emperor[1]. It was also a local scenic spot and most people had to buy a ticket to go up the mountain. But basically, the Taoist group did not need to buy tickets, as long as they had a Taoist certificate. So, only people like Xie Lingya needed to buy tickets.
There was also a cable car here, but it was for tourists. When they came to ask, they naturally had to walk up the mountain.
When they arrived at the Jade Palace, the abbot came out to greet them and invited everyone for tea.
——It’s not wrong to call it abbot. The words abbot and abbot come from Taoism and are the highest vocational titles in Taoist temples. Generally, the Quanzhen sect[2] calls the leader abbot, while the Zhengyi sect calls the leader temple master, or even director (because usually there was a temple management committee).
The abbot of the Jade Palace was named Fang Xushan. He looked middle-aged. He exchanged a few words with the leader of the Taoist group, Daozhang Zhou, who was also a member of the management committee of Taihe Temple who then introduced the members of the Taoist group one by one.
When introducing Xie Lingya, Taoist priest Zhou joked: “This is our wine-sacrifice Taoist priest.”
Fang Xushan immediately understood, “Is it Xiao Xie?”
“It’s me, it’s me.”
There were many types of Taoist priests, some were monks, that was, they lived in Taoist temples, and some stayed at home, such as fire-dwelling Taoist priests like Shi Changxuan. The wine-sacrifice Taoist priests were not familiar to everyone. There was a difference between a Taoist who was familiar with Taoist classics and understood the rituals of fasting and rituals, but was unwilling to teach them, and a layman.
“I follow your Baoyang Temple official account, and I read every issue.” Fang Xushan was quite enthusiastic about Xie Lingya, “The content in it is very good, and I also recommended it to the believers. I said this is very helpful for everyone to learn classics.”
Xie Lingya also said a few words modestly, saying that this was the achievement of the ancestors of Baoyang Temple, and they had always been willing to share it with their fellow practitioners.
“If you had come a few days earlier, you would have coincided with our Tourism and Culture Week, which had many activities.” Fang Xushan showed a meaningful smile, “Every year we hold several large-scale events like this with the support of the government and enterprises, attracting tens of thousands of tourists to visit.”
When Xie Lingya heard this, he immediately became excited and listened attentively to Fang Xushan.
“Xiao Xie, are you interested in interning at our Taoist temple? I heard that you are quite qualified in management.” Fang Xushan suddenly turned to ask Xie Lingya.
“…” It’s coming, it’s coming again, Xie Lingya said languidly, “I still prefer to stay in Baoyang Temple.”
The management qualifications were Taoist qualifications, but he said it more implicitly. That’s all.
“Hey, it’s still okay to come over and have a chat.” Fang Xushan said without hesitation.
Xie Lingya spent a lot of words to fool him, but fortunately he had expected such a situation.
After that, Fang Xushan took everyone to visit the temple again. When they walked to a palace courtyard, something was being done inside. Xie Lingya took a look and saw that there was a camera at the scene.
Fang Xushan added: “This is a cooperation project between us and a live broadcast platform to broadcast the religious process live for believers. Up to tens of thousands of people can watch online.” To people in the industry, he disclosed the contract income and live broadcast income and said more than he would to outsiders.
Xie Lingya always felt that Fang Xushan was looking at him while talking about being old, probably wondering whether this would be attractive to him.
Xie Lingya just felt envious, and what he was thinking was that the Jade Palace was really popular. There were tens of thousands of people watching the online live broadcast. When would Baoyang Temple reach this level?
“I’ll take you to the expansion site over there.” Fang Xushan led everyone outside. The Jade Palace had also been expanded, but its expansion scale was much larger than that of Baoyang Temple.
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[1] In the myths and folk religion of Chinese culture, the Jade Emperor or Yudi is one of the representations of the primordial god.
[2] There are two dominant denominations in Taoism: Quanzhen and Zhengyi.