Baidangshan Temple, also known as Mountain Temple. On a hillside at the southern end of Baidang Mountain, sitting in the shade, looking at things from north to south, facing the Yangtze River, feng shui is good. Although it is not very big, it is a great momentum to appear there.
The temple is divided into two parts, one is to live in front of people and the other is to worship Buddha statues. There is a patio in the middle, and the aisles on both sides of the patio are connected before and after. When you enter the gate, you can look up and see the Buddha statue enshrined in the backward middle. This is the real Buddha's light, and it is unimpeded. This is the scene of that year.
Xiaoshan Temple, also a very old Zen temple, is said to have been built during the reign of Kangxi, with a history of more than 340 years. Because of its famous efficacy, incense used to be very popular. Once upon a time, boatmen sailing on the Yangtze River and heading for the wharf passed by here, and all of them had to go ashore to worship incense. Of course, the surrounding families, pilgrims seeking money, children, and incense are also constant all the year round.
This is a very special temple. If we want to talk about it, we can't get around the fact that there are monks and nuns practicing in a temple. The so-called pure land only exists in people's imagination.
As far as I can remember, there was only one monk in the temple after liberation. His common surname is Zhang, and he was born as Maitreya. People in the small street call him "monk Zhang". There is also a nun with hair practice, whose common surname is Zhou, who is thin and peaceful. Everyone in the small street calls her "Aunt Wednesday", and some call her "Third Aunt of Little Temple". They adopted a pair of children, lived in the temple as a family and ate in the same pot.
The adopted son's name is Zhang Bangru, and he is a nephew of Zhang Monk's family. A horse, we call it "pony" when we are old. Lively and cheerful personality, reading late, only one year higher than me.
According to the old man, this monk is from Lujiang County. He became a monk when he was a child and worked as a little novice monk in Shuifu Temple in Xiajie, the former site. Once before liberation, Japanese planes dropped bombs, and Shuifu Temple collapsed and there was no place to live. Others were sent to Xiaoshan Temple when they were young. Zhou Sangu is an old Tongcheng native, and her accent hasn't changed much since she was old. She was a "broken capitalism" in the early days of the Cultural Revolution. She was driven out of a rundown nun in Old Tongcheng, and then rushed to the mountain temple by a "revolutionary teenager".
At that time, the revolutionary teenagers did good things, but they persisted in the end. It is said that now is a new society, and monks and nuns should be eradicated. Monks and nuns are the remnants of "self-cultivation", and socialism does not raise "parasites" And drew two roads for monk Zhang and aunt Zhou. These two roads were the only two roads that monks and nuns in the countryside could take at that time: either to marry in the temple as ordered, or to leave home and return to the secular world completely. In this way, the two of them adopted a pair of children and apparently organized a family in the temple.
Although the small temple can shelter from the wind and rain, the "family of four" is alive and well and cherished. On Wednesday, Gu was peaceful and cautious. Because she practices with her hair, people who don't know are no different from ordinary people. Because a man of practice can't live at home without daily necessities, the monk "doesn't ask about family affairs". Usually, he goes shopping on Wednesdays. So people on the street are familiar with her, and the interpersonal relationship is natural.
Under the planned economy system at that time, when Gu went to the streets every Wednesday, if she wanted to buy some tight materials supplied by ticket, as long as she asked, people from "shops and supply and marketing cooperatives" would secretly sell her some. This may be the heart of the world. Get rid of it. Superstition belongs to superstition. Between life and superstition, there are always people who secretly plant bodhi and keep the Buddha's heart.
In the 1950s and 1960s, people were living in poverty, and there was no incense in this mountain temple. However, they also have to eat, eat three meals a day and adopt a pair of children. So, on Wednesday, Gu began to reclaim land around the hill temple to increase some chewing. That monk is not idle either. He has the skill of weaving homespun. At that time, many farmers planted cotton, spinning and weaving, so monk Zhang had no distractions. He has been knitting homespun for others all year. It's not bad to earn a little money to support the family, and it can also let Zhang Bangru, the adopted son, finish high school and go to the lower level.
The fate of Xiaoshan Temple was ill-fated, and there was no incense at all during the Cultural Revolution. When the "feudal superstition" was broken, it was even worse and suffered a greater disaster.
The countryside celebrates the "July and a half" of the lunar calendar, and there is a folk custom of making new year cakes and inviting old bodhisattvas. Thank the old bodhisattva for blessing one side with abundant grain and prosperous livestock. Although everyone was used to it at that time and no longer invited the old bodhisattva, on the night before July, the revolutionary teenagers picked up the "breaking the capitalism" and said that they would carry it out to the end. Then he came to Xiaoshan Temple and dragged all the bodhisattvas, big and small, enshrined in the temple to the gate of Baidangyonglai Irrigation and Drainage Station with a scooter, and put them on a large diesel tank lying on the side of the road.
The next morning, on the day of "July 30", revolutionary teenagers stood on high stools, holding red tin broadcast tubes in their hands, shouting slogans in unison, and vigorously promoting the revolutionary significance and importance of "breaking superstition and emancipating the mind" to people who took to the streets in the morning. After a morning of chaos, I went to other revolutionary work.
A few days later, on Wednesday, Gu went out into the street and watched the bodhisattvas, big and small, being dragged by the Baidang Health Center at that time. It is said that they will be used as firewood for cooking ointment. "Amitabha, sin, sin", I dare not have any thoughts in my heart.
In this way, the mountain temple is really "empty" and has really become the place where "Zhang monk's family" lives. That Wednesday, Gu calmed down and continued to plant her little Shan Ye, while monk Zhang continued to knit his little homespun, as if nothing had happened to Xiangzi.
Only the old lady with little feet occasionally brings some agricultural and sideline products to visit the mountain gate. Still silently facing the empty shrine, I put down some offerings and lit a wick incense. After burning the incense for a while, the incense ashes soon fell off. No one can know what the old lady was thinking when she knelt there.
If you don't change your mind, who will help you? If I can turn back, why should I be merciful?
The mountain temple is as calm as ever, but it vaguely exudes the brilliance of Buddhism.
Later, Zhang Bangru, the adopted son, "sent the educated youth back to the city" and recruited workers in the local Baidang store. At that time, monk Zhang and aunt Zhou were still alive, and they were already in their twilight years. The adopted daughter has been married, and they are discussing that no matter how difficult the "family situation" is, the adopted son should be married at present. I took someone else's son first and raised him. Now that I am old, I can't delay the youth of other children.
So, I asked people to go around matchmaking, and the old Buddha blessed me, so I made a deal with a girl named Wang Xing in the ancient town of tanggou. A foothouse was built next to the mountain temple, allowing Zhang Bangru, the adopted son, to get married and live a small life. Later, after the reform and opening up, a religious policy was also implemented. As a local mountain temple, the local people have always had great feelings for it. Now people are allowed to burn incense and worship Buddha, and the mountain temple gradually has incense again.
On the other hand, that "Zhangbang is at home" has a Buddhist relationship with Xiaoshan Temple, which is formed by historical conditions. Of course, you still have to live on the small mountain temple. Later, Zhang Bangru was laid off when he was old, and he was bent on turning to Buddhism. Since he was a child, he has been exposed to the fact that it is not too difficult for him to do these Buddhist ceremonies, such as worshipping incense, ringing the bells and drums in the morning, chanting and meditating. Self-sufficiency, turning back to shore. He converted from a layman to Buddhism, and at this point, the teacher added another disciple, Guo Gui.
Time is up 1995, and Zhang Bangru, who is already a disciple of Stone, feels pity when he sees that Xiaoshan Temple is in disrepair for a long time. He made a great wish to rebuild the temple and then build a golden body. So they made friends, raised money everywhere, and completely climbed over the mountain temple. And invited the "Three Buddhas" and other Buddha statues to worship at Jiuhua Mountain. Another local layman (fisherman) of the former Central Brigade heard the news, which is the most rare. He donated a "Buddha" to Xiaoshan Temple alone, which made the pure land more solemn and ended the embarrassing situation that Xiaoshan Temple was "empty".
It is said that in the thirty-fourth year of the Republic of China (1945), a boatman from Bali Lake in Jiangxi Province sailed to the river surface of Phoenix Island here and made a wish that in case of storm, he could save the day. I was deeply impressed by the efficacy of this temple, and later invited more than 100 believers to donate money to repair it once. This is the second time to turn over the fruit rules. It is really the so-called possession, which only comes from the origin and the end point. When you think about something, you should give up your efforts and finish it now. That moment is called ownership. Once you miss it, you may never have it again.
We are all ordinary people, and the Buddhism is profound and profound, which is naturally difficult to understand. But we can worship Buddha, illuminate life with the wisdom of Buddha, and gain self-cultivation and understanding of life. So as to get the purification of one's own mind, so as to make an impetuous common heart slowly calm down in the noisy world of mortals.
Bodhi has no trees, and the mirror is not a stage. There was nothing, so there was no dust.
Buddhism was introduced into China, which had a far-reaching impact on China culture and formed an important part of China culture. As for the Xiaoshan Temple, it can stay until today. I think I also left a humanistic heritage and cultural self-confidence. Otherwise, how can we tell our descendants about civilization in the future?