The Little Officials of the Song Dynasty

The eighth day of April is the Buddha Bathing Festival, which is the birthday of Buddha Sakyamuni. It is said that when the Buddha was born, a dragon spit out perfume to bathe him, so this day is called the Bathing Buddha Festival, also known as the Buddha’s Birthday. The most important holiday.

On this day, many people in Bianliang will bathe and change their clothes, and go to the temple to worship the Buddha and offer incense.Moreover, due to the secular evolution of the Buddha Bathing Festival, many people go shopping not only to pray for blessings and seek children, but also to go shopping.

As for temples, in addition to bathing Buddha statues with fragrant soup, they will also decoct fragrant medicinal syrup and give them to pilgrims to form a good relationship.This sugar water has a name called Bathing Buddha Water.

Such a grand event was rarely seen after the Southern Song Dynasty.

On this day, Zheng Ping woke up Yun Yanhui and Shuangyi early, and she had already changed into men's clothes so that she could walk.Carried Xiaobao to Hu Sanniang next door, and then led the two children to Xiuxiang.

Because of the Buddha Bathing Festival, there are many people on the street today, but there are few people in Xiu Lane. They all went to Daxiangguo Temple, and they also went there to set up a stall to sell embroidery pieces.

Zheng Ping took the delivery and took the money, chatted with the people in the embroidery shop, and then went to Xiangguo Temple.

The Daxiangguo Temple in this era covers an area of ​​more than 500 mu, with carved beams and painted buildings, resplendent and resplendent. Because of this prosperous day, it is even more colorful everywhere. The yellow-green glazed tiles are shining, the pavilions are facing each other, and the ancient trees are towering.

People at that time may still be used to seeing it, but as a modern person, seeing such an authentic and gorgeous ancient building complex, Yunyan returned a somewhat different shock.

At this time, there were already a sea of ​​people, and Zheng Ping was not in a hurry, so she went in with her two children and bought some snacks, holding them in her hand, and walked slowly.

By this time, the ritual of bathing Buddha in the temple was halfway through.

Zheng Ping didn't intend to take the children to go inside, so she took them to watch from afar.

Yun Yan stretched her neck back and saw many monks worshiping around a Buddha statue, which was placed in a large golden basin with one finger pointing to the sky and the other pointing to the ground.

Because everyone watched with bated breath, from such a distance, they could still faintly hear the loud voice of a monk singing praises.

"...Looking around seven steps in all directions, pointing to the sky and the earth, respecting the hero, spitting out water from the Nine Dragons to bathe in kindness, and all the dharmas are authentic..."

Then all the monks sang together in a Sanskrit tune: "I make the Tathagata irrigate, and the pure wisdom and solemn merits are gathered. The polluted living beings will be freed from dirt, and they will also realize the pure dharma body of the Tathagata."

The monks bathed the Buddha with perfume, sprinkled petals in it, bowed, and then gave a long praise to the Buddha.

The believers all listened attentively, but Yun Yanhui and Shuang Yi gradually became bored, and dragged Zheng Ping to ask to go to another place to see.

Zheng Ping seemed to be very interested in this, she looked a little dazed, and only after recovering did she lead them to another place.

……

The Daxiangguo Temple is bustling with people selling goods all over the place.

Yunyan walked back and watched, treating herself as a tourist.The Daxiangguo Temple is really too big, no wonder it can hold such a big temple fair, and it is divided into categories.

For example, all kinds of animals are sold on Dasanmen, from birds and beasts, ranging from cats and dogs to tigers and leopards.Some of them had been tamed, and they were led by the stall owner to perform, which attracted bursts of applause.

The things sold in front of Zisheng Gate are brushes, ink, calligraphy, paintings, etc., and the people who visit this area are generally scholars.

There are many other kinds of jewelry, clothes, food and food.

There is another place, full of singing, acrobatics, storytelling, etc. Yun Yanhui also saw a puppet show, where woodcarved villains were manipulated into performing moves such as kicking a ball and dancing.

Ming Yunyanhui and Shuangyi opened their eyes fiercely, dazzled.

There are many things that Yun Yanhui doesn't even know. Fortunately, he is a child now, so even if he asks, he won't be suspected.

Zheng Ping specially prepared a part of the money today, promising that each person could pick three things.Shuang Yi is sensible, and Yun Yanhui is an adult mind, so they both choose cheap things that they like.

Shuang Yi bought toys, while Yun Yanhui picked out food, and it was shelf-stable.

After strolling around for a while, Zheng Ping took them to the main hall again, "The Buddha bathing is over, some monks should start distributing the water for bathing Buddha, mother will take you to get some."

Although the bathing Buddha water given by the monks is sugar water, it is mixed with the fragrant soup that the monks used to bathe the Buddha before, so it is really worthy of the name. It is said that drinking it can eliminate disasters and solve difficulties.

Zheng Ping led them to the gate of the temple by another road, and indeed there were rows of monks distributing bathing water.

Yun Yan looked around, but she wasn't really interested, there was a long queue to get some unhygienic sugar water, why bother...

However, Zheng Ping was still very interested, leading them to the back of the team.

But after walking a few steps, an old monk stopped them: "Donor wait a moment."

There were so many people that Zheng Ping didn't realize at first whether it was calling her or Shuang Yi said, "Mother, that master is calling you."

Zheng Ping just turned around, met the old monk's eyes, and walked over hesitantly, "What does the mage have to say?"

The old monk who had been looking at them for a long time pointed to Yun Yanhui who was led by her, "Almsgiver, today is the Buddha's birthday, and we are distributing the water for bathing Buddha to bond with each other, but in the eyes of the poor monk, your son is an early Affinity with Buddha."

It's like a magic stick posture that I know everything.

Zheng Ping was startled, "This, this..."

Yun Yan looked back at the old monk, and within a second, she looked away as if nothing had happened, and shouted with a smile: "Auntie wants to drink sugar water."

The old monk was stunned for a moment, and said a little depressed: "Almsgiver, although this is not your son, but he is really very Buddha-nature."

Zheng Ping: "..."

Now Zheng Ping also understood that the monk was probably lying to her just now.So he said helplessly: "Master, this is indeed my son. He didn't call him Auntie, but said that my daughter Yiyi wants to drink sugar water."

This is embarrassing...

Annoyance flashed across the old monk's face, and he said that the pair looked like mother and child!

Both the old monk and Zheng Ping thought it was a misunderstanding caused by a homonym. In order to ease the embarrassment, he gave Zheng Ping some sugar water, watched them drink, and then said: "The poor monk's name is clear."

Zheng Ping exclaimed, "Master, is Zen Master Liao Ran?"

Clearly nodded.

There are monks from the Daxiangguo Temple next to it, and no one can say that the registration number is wrong, so it must be right.

Zheng Ping's attitude changed all of a sudden. Before, she wanted to leave quickly, but when she knew that the other party was Zen Master Liao Ran, she immediately became enthusiastic, as if the monk's lies just now were a hallucination...

Yun Yan wondered back in her heart, why, is she still a famous monk?

It's strange to say that the monks of Daxiangguo Temple should not deceive people like quacks, right? If you want to make money, with such a good location and background, what can you do to not make money?There are too many monks doing business in this temple, especially this one is a bit famous, so why would he lie to other women and children?

It wasn't until later that Yun Yanhui found out that he really felt that Yun Yanhui had a predestined relationship with Buddhism. The old monk had studied physiognomy, watched his behavior, measured his temperament, and thought about his eyes, all of which were very close to his heart, so "Love at first sight", moved the heart.

At this moment, from the conversation between Zheng Ping and Ming Ran, Yun Yanhui only knew that this old monk was famous because of his excellent medical skills.Daxiangguo Temple often helps the poor and the poor, and even more often treats the common people voluntarily, so it is famous far and wide.

Because of this, Yun Yanhui's sense of him became better, although he still didn't understand why he lied to others, and he agreed not to lie when he became a monk... Well, forget it, this is a monk who also runs a brothel age.

Besides, who doesn't have a headache, especially in the case of such poor medical conditions in ancient times, it is very important to make friends with doctors.

Seeing that Zheng Ping and Qingran were chatting more and more speculatively, Liaoran had simply put down the work of distributing Buddha water and asked to feel the pulse of their family of three.

If it weren't for the clear and innocent eyes, Yun Yan would have thought that the old man had taken a fancy to his mother!

——When Qiaoran felt his pulse and hinted that Yunyanhui was really suitable to be a monk, Yunyanhui understood that the old monk had his eyes on someone, but not his mother, but him.

Fortunately, Zheng Ping also had a gentle attitude but firmly refused to let Yun Yan go back to become a monk. Belief in Buddhism and respect are one thing, but letting her son become a monk is another.

But because she understood, she also said that in the future, Yunyan could come back often to receive education, and it is okay to believe in Buddhism without leaving home.

Although Liao Ran was regretful, he didn't fool around and didn't force it. He even gave them a few packs of traditional Chinese medicine, saying it could prevent epidemics, in exchange for Zheng Ping's various thanks.

This guy sells Amway and gives away medicines, Yun Yanhui couldn't believe it no matter how surprised he was, knowing that he really wanted him to join the monk's team.

This really made Yunyan dumbfounded, he couldn't even see that he seemed suitable to be a monk, could it be that he accidentally made a gesture of pointing to the sky and the ground before?