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Chapter 33 The Truth About Shaolin Temple
Songshan Mountain is located in Chongyang County, Henan County, and is divided into Shaoshi Mountain and Taishi Mountain.Now is the season of heavy snow, and the weather is very cold.

On Shaoshi Mountain, there are only a few or two monks in coir raincoats walking on the snow, leaving a long line of footprints on the steps of the mountain path.

Five peaks stand tall and stone steles are like forests.

The abbot of Shaolin Temple, Pu Sheng, is over 40 years old. Because of his calm nature and good organization, he has a high prestige in the temple. Whether he is a monk who has practiced for many years or a new monk in the temple, he is very convinced.Abbot Pu Sheng, who was always peaceful and orderly at the moment, had a wrinkled face, as if he was worried.

At this moment in the abbot's abode, several monks dressed in brown were sitting cross-legged as if arguing about something.

A very young monk in his thirties looked at the abbot Pusheng and said, "Brother, right now there are refugees all over the world doing robbery. I heard that there has been a commotion in Yuanzhou, and a group of thousands of refugees have gathered. Thief, the local government has nothing to do with it."

"This group of thieves are going around robbing wealthy households. I think one day they will come to Mount Shaoshi. Brother Abbot, I think our temple should take precautions."

"Your brother is too worried," a 50-year-old white-browed monk clasped his hands together and said, "All living beings are equal. I think those thieves are just people who are really hungry. If they come Temple, we should provide relief, so how can we talk about driving them away."

"Senior brother, you don't know something," the young monk shook his head, thinking that this senior monk has been practicing Zen all day long and doesn't know anything about it.How did he know that these thousands of thieves, if they come to the mountain gate, they can be sent away with a few stones and a few buckets of rice.

The young monk looked at the abbot and said: "Brother, since the first emperor gave us a hundred hectares of land, this monastery has this food field to supply, so the three hundred monks can concentrate on Buddhist affairs without having to work hard. But this hundred Although the hectares of fertile land are good, they are also envied by thieves. They think that my Shaolin Temple has a lot of food, and they may come to snatch it at that time."

"Brother, you said to give, but how can this little food be enough? The monks in the whole temple are still counting on it to last until next autumn. If they start their hands at that time, it will be a disaster."

Abbot Pu Sheng nodded when he heard the words. What his junior brother said was right. Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty believed in Buddhism, so he gave Shaolin Temple a hundred hectares of fertile land.Therefore, Shaolin monks no longer have to go out and beg for food like other monks, begging for leftovers.The monks don't even have to work in the fields themselves, but hire tenant farmers to cultivate the land, and the whole monastery lives quite well.But now it has become the envy of refugees.

The old monk on the side still said to himself: "Junior brother, it's really ridiculous. How could exiles harass this quiet place of Buddhism? Besides, even if they come, our temple is protected by Buddhism, so how can we be afraid of these exiles."

This old monk didn't know much about affairs, and he still seemed to take it for granted, Pu Sheng couldn't bear to listen to it, so he asked immediately: "Junior brother, what can you do?"

At that moment, the young monk said: "Brother Abbot, the world is not peaceful at the moment, I think the government will not be able to count on it for a while, in my opinion, let the monks in our temple practice some sticks, in case some bandits come to the mountain gate Here we are, so that we can protect and uphold the Dharma!"

"Brother, what you said is wrong." The old monk on the side quickly objected, saying: "In a quiet place of Buddhism, how can we talk about fighting and killing, if this is not a delay in practice."

The young monk smiled wryly, but fortunately the abbot Pu Sheng was a sensible person, and said: "Brother, your life is gone, so how can you talk about practicing Buddhism."

"This is impossible, absolutely impossible." The old monk still objected.

Pu Sheng thought for a while, this senior brother was very qualified, and he couldn't object for a while, so he thought of a compromise and said: "It's better than this, if the senior brother is worried about practicing the stick and delaying the practice, it's better to let the senior brothers When practicing, reciting Buddhist scriptures, so... so it can be called the unity of Zen and martial arts!"

While these monks were discussing how to deal with the refugees outside, a novice came to the door of the monastery, put his palms together and said: "Uncle Abbot, there is a young man outside who said he came from Taiyuan County to find Jueyuan. Uncle!"

"Taiyuan County!" Abbot Pusheng recalled and asked, "Has Jueyuan returned to the temple?"

That old monk said: "Brother Abbot forgot, it's almost snowing, Jueyuan should go back to the temple to sit in the sun."

Pu Sheng smiled and said: "Thank you brother for reminding me, I almost forgot, since this young man came from a long way, there must be something important to see Jue Yuan, let him meet, but don't delay too long, so as not to disturb The Buddhist gate is quiet."

"Yes, Uncle Abbot." At that moment, the little novice retreated.

The abbot Pusheng stroked his monk's robe, took up the topic, and said: "In my opinion, apart from the monks, the tenants at the foot of the mountain can also be called together. You must know that if the bandits come and destroy the fields, they will If you don’t have land to cultivate, you will also suffer with us.”

The two monks nodded in agreement with this opinion.

At this time, the 30-year-old monk said: "All tenants can be summoned, so we can also find some strong people who are good at martial arts from among the refugees, give them food, and let them come forward to train the tenants for us. Time to defend against thieves."

Upon hearing this, Abbot Pu Sheng laughed and said, "Yes, this is also a good way."

In the abbot's abode, several monks from Shaolin Temple were still discussing how to resist the approaching bandits.Li Chongjiu, who has traveled thousands of miles, is now in Shaolin Temple.

Heavy snow fell beside him, and snowflakes rushed towards his face. Li Chongjiu's coir raincoat and felt hat were covered with fine snow powder.

Under the snow-capped Wuru Peak, Li Chongjiu paced up. It is different from the grand Shaolin Temple in the imagination of later generations. In history, Shaolin Temple has been prosperous and abolished. Now it is just an ordinary temple at the foot of Shaoshi Mountain in Songshan Mountain. .

Coming to a rather simple monk's room, Li Chongjiu took off his felt hat and coir raincoat and hung it outside. The little novice said to Li Chongjiu together: "Layman, Uncle Jueyuan is in Karma, please stay here for a while."

Seeing that the little novice was quite clever and well-behaved, Li Chongjiu said with a smile, "Thank you little monk."

Hearing what Li Chongjiu said, the little novice panicked instead, waved his hands again and again, and said, "I'm not a little novice, how dare I take this honorary title. There is only Abbot in our temple who can take this title."

Listening to the little monk's explanation, Li Chongjiu remembered that it was different from the general title of later generations. At this time, monk was a kind of respectful title, and only monks with certain qualifications could be called.

For example, in Buddhism, monks under the age of 20 are called novice monks, and they can only be called monks after receiving the bhikkhu precepts.

Li Chongjiu had a big oolong, but this little novice looked at Li Chongjiu with a bit of vigilance and scrutiny, as if he felt that this person was wearing a high hat indiscriminately, did he have any malicious intentions in the temple, or Thieves come to steal.

Li Chongjiu had no choice but to sit cross-legged in the monk's room.Not long after, only the sound of convex and convex sounded.

Li Chongjiu looked around and saw an elderly, thin old Toutuo walking towards the door of the monk's room with a wooden stick in his hand.

Although this old man is very old, his eyes are not cloudy, and he looked at Li Chongjiu's eyes and said: "Are you here to find the poor monk?"

Li Chongjiu didn't dare to be negligent at the moment, stood up, clasped his hands together and said: "My Li Chongjiu, may I ask if it is Master Jueyuan?"

The old Toutuo chuckled, shook his head and said, "No, I'm not Master Jueyuan."

Li Chongjiu was stunned when he heard the words, and immediately looked at the little novice monk.

Just listen to the old Toutuo, walked into the monk's room, sat down cross-legged and said: "Jueyuan is just an ascetic Toutuo, how dare he be called a master, it's too much, too much."

After speaking, he stretched out his withered fingers, pointing to the ground to signal Li Chongjiu to sit down.

Li Chongjiu sat down with a smile on his face, thinking that he had finally made the right choice, but he didn't expect that the Master Xue, who had been reading, was actually a Toutuo.

Li Chong couldn't help but look at him secretly, this Jueyuan Toutuo was wearing a dung sweeper, his hands and feet were covered with dust.

Thutuo, also known as Forest Bhikkhu, is opposite to Settled Bhikkhu. The reason is that Thutuo spends most of the year traveling and practicing outside in addition to practicing with hair.

The monks in the settlement are monks in a broad sense. Many monks live in temples and practice together.During the four seasons of the year, Thutuo only returns to the Sangha to practice together when he lives in peace in the summer. In Zen, it is called Zuo La.

So Li Chongjiu came to find this Jueyuan Toutuo at the right time this time. If it was not winter, but in other seasons, Jueyuan would have to get up and leave the temple to do asceticism.This also explains why Miracle Physician Xue sent people to find Jueyuan several times, but they never met, because the time was wrong.It seems that everything has to be done by yourself.

Li Chongjiu speculated that according to age theory, this Toutuo should be 90 years old, but he didn't expect that although the other party looked old, but in fact, the other party's body movements seemed to be about 70 years old. It seems that the other party is really extraordinary place.

At that moment, Li Chongjiu said straight to the point: "Jueyuan Toutuo, I came from Taiyuan County and traveled thousands of miles to seek medical treatment from you."

"I haven't practiced medicine in the secular world for a long time. Who introduced me?"

"It's a miracle doctor surnamed Xue. He said that his father was your student."

"Well, among my disciples, there is indeed one whose surname is Xue."

"Who is the doctor?" Jueyuan Toutuo is 90 years old, but he is still seeing and hearing.

"Father." Li Chongjiu replied truthfully.

PS: Recorded in Liang Qichao's "Chinese New Wushu Cudgel Section".

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in chaos.Tens of thousands of thieves are approaching Shaolin Temple.The monks will leave.There was an old man with a short stick charging at the front of the bandits, and those who deserved it all turned away and did not dare to enter the temple.Instead, a hundred young and strong monks were selected to teach the stick method.Tang Taizong conquered Wang Shichong and broke it with sticks from monks.There were 13 people who described their first achievements.

(End of this chapter)