I met Gillian by chance.
Because of this fate, I had the opportunity to meet Gillian’s master, Master Hongjian, the abbot of Da’an Temple, during the Laba Festival.
It takes almost an hour to drive from the city to Daan Temple.
After getting out of the car, it started to rain lightly.
Master Hongjian stood at the door of the living room, smiled and clasped his hands, greeted a group of us, and welcomed us into the living room.
Master Hongjian is of medium build and has a hearty voice. After we were seated, we were enthusiastically allowed to taste the walnuts grown by ourselves in Zhongnan Mountain. While eating walnuts, Fang remembered that a few days before meeting Master Hongjian, Gillian invited us to taste persimmons. This kind of persimmons was different in appearance and texture from what we usually eat. At that time, Gillian said that this was the result of Master’s practice in Zhongnan Mountain. Produced by persimmon trees planted at that time. It turns out that we have already met Master.
While talking, I saw Gillian holding a bouquet of small yellow flowers and inserting them into the vase. I wonder what flowers they were? The flowers are strange and lovely, resembling flying golden butterflies and very dynamic. The master said with the spring breeze on his face: "Dancing orchid can grow on the mountain." It also has a name called "auspicious orchid". It is said that when Soong Meiling visited the White House, she fell in love with this flower at first sight. She found that the petals resembled the Chinese character "吉" (吉), which means good luck, so she named it "Auspicious Orchid".
At this time, the mage looked auspicious.
Pilgrims kept coming in, clasping their hands to the Master, admiring and respecting him and saying, "Good luck, Master!" During this period, a bhikshuni came from afar. When he came in, he kowtowed solemnly and said, "Good luck, Master!" The mage returned the favor with clasped hands. I've seen a mage. Everyone sat around the mage.
The mage sat cross-legged on the bench, looking natural and casual. Drink tea and chat.
During the conversation with the Master, I learned that the Master turned out to be a successful entrepreneur and his company was listed in the United States. Now he is realizing his long-awaited ambition to build a large-scale temple. I thought to myself, what kind of person is the Master? What can make people in middle age give up their comfortable life and convert to Buddhism? What could possibly lead him to donate RMB 1.5 billion to rebuild such a large-scale temple?
Listening to the Master’s speech, it was already noon before I knew it. The master said: "Today is Laba Festival, the temple has prepared Laba porridge.".
The Laba Festival is also called the "Buddha Enlightenment Festival", also known as the "Enlightenment Meeting". According to legend, the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, practiced in the mountains and sat in meditation for six years. He was so hungry that he was as thin as a stick and wanted to abandon this place. Bitterness happened to meet a shepherdess who gave him milk. After eating, he sat cross-legged under the bodhi tree and became enlightened and became a Buddha on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. After Buddhism was introduced to China in the 1st century AD, in order to commemorate the day when Sakyamuni became enlightened, all temples would chant sutras and cook porridge to worship the Buddha on this day, which is called Laba porridge.
On the day of Laba Festival, I was lucky enough to drink the sweet Laba porridge made by monks at Da’an Temple.
Finish the Laba porridge.
The master said: "I will take you to see the temple under construction."
He left the "hall and guest room". What is presented in front of you is a lot of wood piled on the open space for construction, which is majestic and spectacular. The Master said: "These logs are all shipped from West Africa. Each log costs more than one million. Only one-third of them are shipped here. Each log has a number. It also has the signatures of me and the supervisor, guaranteeing that each log has a serial number." A piece of wood has its uses and cannot be wasted. "The mage pointed to one of the big wooden piles in front of the wood and said, "This wooden pile has a history of 1,200 years! How many people can surround it?" There are actually three people. Stretch out your arms to surround them.
The master pointed to the unbuilt main hall in the distance and said: "The design of Da'an Temple was invited to participate in the 8th Florence Design Week and won the "Excellence Gold Award." ”
The overall design concept of Da’an Temple practices the painting theory and artistic conception expressed in Wang Wei’s “Landscape Jue”
, and combines it with the traditional Zen Jialan Qitang temple layout.
Among the paintings, ink painting is the best.
The nature of nature is the work of creation.
Or a picture within a short distance can describe a scene thousands of miles away.
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East, west, north and south, Wan'er is currently
Follow the master's footsteps and continue to move forward, bypassing the sloping dirt road and walking to a high place. The house has been repaired. This may be the layout of Jialan Qitang. On the mountain gate on the central axis. There are two piles of black and white powdery things piled up in front of the mountain gate. The master said that cement is not used to strengthen the wall, but they are used like cement, using all-natural brown sugar, coal ash, and glutinous rice. Made from a mixture of powder and straw.
The master went on to say that the temple is an imitation of Tang style architecture.
An obvious feature of imitating Tang-style buildings is that the whole body is wood-colored. Due to the adoption of the all-wood structure concept, the beams are all constructed using mortise and tenon joints. The wooden frame structure is the main structural method, and the nodes between each component are matched with mortise and tenon joints. No color was used at all, and it was painted with dark ocher, so that the whole body under the roof was the same color inside and out, and the walls were white. The two tones reflect purity, simplicity and rich temperament.
Continuing forward, there are many gray tiles and gray bricks piled on the roadside. Climb up the mountain road and arrive at the Mahavira Hall on the central axis of Jialan Qitang.
Entering the unfinished Mahavira Hall, the Master pointed to the floor tiles and said: "This floor tile weighs ninety-six kilograms. Since it is located in a deep mountain and in the south, it needs to be protected from moisture. The water absorption capacity is fifty or sixty kilograms. "The master is very particular about the material of every brick, beam and column in the temple, and even the wind chimes on the cornices, and he will never compromise.
After leaving the Main Hall, the Master pointed to the water at the foot of the mountain and said that this bay of water is formed by the natural gathering of nine rivers and ditches on the mountain. Looking far away from the Main Hall, you can see the clouds lingering, the mountain peaks looming, and the water flowing slowly below. Isn't it a natural ink painting in front of you? Da'an Temple responds to the mutual response of mountains, green trees, flowing water, and temples, with subtle warmth, harmony, and tranquility. With a mountain at its back and water on its side, the Feng Shui approach is natural. "The ancient temple hidden in the mountains", the temple and nature are integrated, which is the embodiment of the unity of nature and man.
The master stood in front of the Main Hall and pointed to the place below that had not yet been started. He said with infinite prospect: "There will be a place that can accommodate two thousand pilgrims for dining, there will be a monk's residence, and there will be a temple." (Toilet)..." The master turned his head and looked towards the top of the mountain and said, "Build a pagoda at the highest point there!" The master's blueprint for Da'an Temple was clear.
We who followed the Master said calmly that pilgrims who come to Da'an Temple to worship the Buddha do not need to pay for incense. The most important thing in worshiping the Buddha is sincerity. Moreover, there is no release pond. The released animals should be placed in the environment that they should adapt to, so that they can go naturally and return to nature. The master's mind should be to completely let go of oneself, and to be in harmony with nature.
The master said that it would take about three years to build a temple of this size, and the pagoda above is still in the groundbreaking stage. So we followed Master down the mountain. The sky is still drizzling. There is still no chill in the sky in the twelfth lunar month in the south.
The Master said that walking is also a kind of practice.
Take you to another place, which requires climbing the mountain again.
The mage did not look tired at all, nor was he panting, and his steps were strong. Gradually some people can't keep up. A few of us followed the Master closely and climbed a section of the mountain road. We heard the sound of water and walked forward quickly. We saw another unique scene. The large rocks washed by the mountains and rivers seemed to have a layer of snow on them. Everyone exclaimed. They jumped into the river valley one after another. There are various colors and naturally shaped stones in the water. With your imagination, you can pick up interesting and vivid stones. The mage said that there would be white crystal stones here, and everyone started looking for them. No matter what kind of stone you find, you have to ask the master if it is good. The master sat happily on a flat stone, with one knee upright and one knee flat. He said with a smile, "The one I picked up is destined to be with you. It's all good." . Since you like this stone, take it with you, otherwise if you go back to look for it, it will be gone. Everything that happens is due to fate.
It takes 500 looks back in the past life to get one pass in this life.
Buddha said: One flower is one world, one grass is one paradise, one leaf is one Tathagata, one sand is one bliss, one square is one pure land, one smile is one worldly connection, one thought is one tranquility. It's all a state of mind.
Look for stones along the river bed and throw stones along the way. There are always beautiful stones that appear, and then they are lost again. The Master smiled all the way while watching us pick things up.
Ashore, there is a path covered with green grass. The green grass is covered with fine raindrops, and the air is filled with the faint fragrance of grass.
Carrying the stone, he went down the mountain.
The Master said that you should walk often to get closer to nature.
Saying goodbye to the mage, the mage smiled and put his hands together, saying that his family would not shake hands.
Looking up, the Daan Temple under construction sits in the embrace of the mountain and is hidden among the lush trees. Da'an Temple was built in the late Tang Dynasty. After more than a thousand years of vicissitudes of history, Master Hongjian re-planned it on the original site and turned it into a large-scale temple. This ambition is unfolding in front of the world bit by bit like a scroll.
At this time, it was drizzling, and Da'an Temple looked ethereal and mysterious in the mist, elegant and solemn, and full of deep artistic conception. Under the mist and rain, Da'an Temple is peaceful.
When brick by brick is transported up the mountain
When the temple with its cornices and white wooden ocher walls is nestled in the green mountains and green waters, bathed in the blue sky
< p> When the sweet and clear wind chimes of "ding ding dong dong" come, which always awaken the world, benefit all living beings, and plant the seeds of Vajra,When the thousand-year-old evening drum and morning bell ring again
When the first ray of sunshine casts glow on the temple
When the monks of the temple open the mountain gate "squeaky", "sand, sand" sweeps the fallen leaves, "chirps" the birds chirp
When the monks in the temple are sitting on futons chanting sutras and chanting Sanskrit music
When thousands of pilgrims are pouring in incense
When incense smoke is lingering and rising in the sky above the temple< /p>
Master Hongjian and the monks put their hands together and welcomed the pilgrims with auspicious faces
When Da'an Temple regained its new appearance, simple and solemn in front of the world
…………
What kind of person is Master Hongjian?
What can make people in middle age give up their comfortable life and convert to Buddhism?
What could lead him to donate a huge sum of 1.5 billion to rebuild such a large-scale temple?
It is no longer very important.
As Mr. Jingjie said, "The clouds come out of Xiu without intention, and the birds know when they are tired of flying." Master Hongjian finally broke through the world of mortals in his middle age and chose to retreat to Buddhism.
No wonder Master Hong Yi has the sentiment that "the wind and flowers outside the door have their own springs, and the castles in the sky are in the paintings. Now we have a hazy couple, and we have to stop caring about the illusion and reality of life." It can be seen that his body and mind are already so at ease. After reading all the ups and downs of the world, he is more willing to find himself in Buddhism that is close to nature. Master Hongjian is probably the same!
? Written on January 15, 2019