Chapter 2111 Flower dispute (nineteen)

In Japanese legends, there is a monster called Kogomeka. The protagonist of the story wakes up at night during the Obon festival, and the yard becomes a dream world he has never seen before. This old lantern will give people An illusion of going back to ancient times, so it's no surprise that it turns into a monster on a no-man's night.

There is also a kind of monster called Qingxinglan. This kind of lantern is made of cyan paper. People will play a game of "Hundred Ghosts" around it. Each participant will tell a ghost story, about 100 people. After about a story, there will be a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl in white. This girl used to be a player, but she died for some unknown reason, and then she became a monster named "Qing Xing Deng".

   In fact, in India, the birthplace of Buddhism, the Obon festival is not so popular anymore, at least Nick did not encounter related celebrations when he traveled in India.

   It is very important for people in the southeastern coastal areas to pay homage to Mazu. The celebrations started a few days before Mazu's birthday, and the already prosperous Guangzhou was decorated with more flowers and lanterns. Some people watching the lively crowd sat on the roof, lying next to each other in front of the window, or even directly on the wall. The second floor of each house was usually a woman's boudoir, and the girls rushed to the window, holding hands. Shaking a fan inside, showing off his outstanding demeanor

   Through the headgear, you can see which one is the older one who is married and which one is the girl to be married. Married women usually wear a phoenix headdress. The phoenix is ​​a mythical bird in Chinese legend. The phoenix-shaped headdress makes the head of the mythical bird face down, even down to the forehead, and spreads its wings to the temples. The unmarried women let the hair on the temples hang down against their cheeks. Although the strands of blue silk made them a little shy, they were not embarrassed by their behavior.

As for the men, they were submerged in the crowd, without any distinctive features. From a distance, it seemed that everyone was stacked on top of each other, with their bald heads next to each other. They blocked the aisle with a slight movement, so the yamen officers Just use a short whip to drive them back into place.

   What made Nick puzzled was why there were two ragged people behind the luxurious Buddha ceremony, each carrying a pole on their shoulders, with a square box at each end containing many small parasols. Is this a symbol, or is it all a commodity?

There will be monuments in the squares of Europe, and the public places in China often have gate-shaped memorial buildings, which are called "arches". These buildings are not triumphal arches to commemorate victory, but are specially set up for a certain celebrity or special person. , in recognition of his merit or character.

  The archway is built of wood or stone and has three or five doors, the number of which is mainly determined by the location where it is built.

  There is a wooden archway near Guangzhou Customs. The bright vermilion and sky blue paint make it look quite elegant. Various decorations are hung up in various shops, which are really beautiful.

This commercial street is where Thirteen Lines and Foreign Guilds are located. Locals call it "The Bund". It was built along the north bank of the Pearl River and runs east-west. In the early Qing Dynasty, it used to be the Pearl River Road, and later because of the Pearl River. The siltation along the coast intensified, the river beach developed, and the land was gradually formed, and it became a big market.

Nick bought a sterling silver plate here, with a very delicate pattern on it. It was made by the Moors in the style of a silversmith. Nick planned to go to the place where the lacquerware was sold just now to buy a beautiful box, so that it could be used as a gift for the Admiral. gift, ask him to protect himself for the rest of his journey.

But near the archway, he met Harrock from the East India Company. Harrock invited Nick to a nearby club. It was located by the riverside and could not only overlook the scenery on the river, but also the mosque propaganda in the distance. The ritual tower, except that the boats on the river are Chinese-style, looks as if it has come to Istanbul.

   "What are you thinking about?" Harrock asked Nick, and it seemed he hadn't given up on letting Nick draw a map of the coast.

  Harrow's price is very attractive, if other European friends encountered such an opportunity, they might do so.

   But just as Nick hesitated, he got involved in a rather bizarre and even dangerous attack that left him brooding.

"For us, we don't have to take the morals of the Qing government seriously," Harrock said after handing Nick a glass of whisky. With a harbour in our hands, even an island, our trade prospects will be fully protected and the momentum of growth will be unstoppable."

  Harrow's argument seems to be full of truth and appeal, but in fact it is a sophistry to glorify trade policy. In this era, what moral interests are strong enough to resist commercial interests?

   In recent centuries, no trade has expanded so rapidly except the opium trade, which has been monopolized by India.

  The Qing government was already very concerned about the growing epidemic of opium, and it banned the importation and stopped imposing tariffs, even though it was originally imported as a drug.

With the official trade channels blocked, smuggling activities are increasingly rampant. The two governments should work together and make great efforts to destroy this trading system. However, more and more capital is invested in this system. The countermeasures will inevitably affect the interests of the people who make huge profits from it.

  Nick can't agree with Harrock's claim of "not taking other people's morals seriously", and while it's a pity that the journey for the sake of drawing is fun, he turns down Harrock's request.

   Bonaparte hummed.

   "What?" she asked angrily.

   "Nothing," he said with a deliberate smile.

  Georgianna glared at him.

   Now there are two very red rouge on her face, he applied too much, not only did not play a cosmetic effect, but looked like he was drunk.

   She didn't wipe it off because it was ugly. How should I put it, if someone laughed at her, then the mocker would never know why Bonaparte was angry, because it wasn't her who was "skilled".

   She started reading Nick Polo's travelogue again.

Unsolved mysteries often need to be tried by discerning judges. There is an official Bao Zheng, who is loved by the common people. He is a figure in the Song Dynasty. After leaving the "Bund", Harrock went to the old street and performed in the old theater. The story is about him, the name is "Baowaizhizhikanhuilanji", which is similar to the reprint of the case of King Solomon's wisdom in the dispute recorded in the "Bible", but the protagonist of the story is replaced by a Chinese judge. A woman brought Bo to court for fighting over a child. When Bao Zheng was reviewing the case, he ordered someone to use lime to draw a column in the courtyard, put the child in it, and declared that whoever pulled the child out first would be the biological mother. After two rounds of pulling, the child's biological mother was defeated, and the other woman ignored it and pulled the child relentlessly. The wise Bao Zheng saw who the real mother was and made a fair judgment. .

There is also a short story "Xingle Tu", which is very popular with the public. This novel also tells a similar case-solving story. After an old man died, he planned to leave his inheritance to his concubine. In one painting, which was later cracked by a discerning judge, the painting contained the will of a deceased old man, according to which the brothers divided the estate equally.

   As in Europe, the story was adapted into a short play, and there were many cheers from the audience.

   If it wasn't for that note, Nick wouldn't believe that Guangzhou would be in chaos.

  Perhaps, he is like the protagonist in the ancient cage fire story. When he woke up, the yard turned into a dream world, and he accidentally walked into the yard from the house.

The Buddha also has a story about a dancer named Amoba Liyuan. She is not only young and beautiful, but also has excellent dancing posture. No matter how much money she has, she won't perform for them. At the age of sixteen, she experienced a painful love affair. She fell in love with the then young Prince Pinbharata, and she gave birth to a son Xu Bojia for him. But no one in the palace was willing to accept Amobari and her son, threatening that Xu Bojia was just an abandoned baby picked up by the prince from a vat on the side of the road. Because of these false accusations, Amobari's self-esteem was greatly damaged. Because the people in the palace were jealous of her, she endured humiliation. In the end she realized that her freedom was the only thing worth preserving, and she no longer lived in the palace, and vowed never to give up her freedom again.

The Buddha said gently to her: "Beautiful birth and cessation are just like any other phenomenon. Like fame and fortune, there is no difference. Only the peace, joy and freedom that comes from meditation is true happiness. , it is very important that you cherish every moment that is left of your life and not let yourself get caught up in unknowing or meaningless entertainment.”

  The Buddha told Amobari how she could rearrange her daily life—practice breathing, sitting in meditation, working mindfully, and observing the five precepts. She was delighted to receive these precious admonitions from the Buddha. Before leaving, she said: "I have a mango jungle outside the city, which is cool and quiet. I hope you and your monks will consider visiting there. It will be a great honor for me and my son. Lord Buddha, please Consider my invitation."

   Buddha smiled and accepted.

   After she left, a monk asked the Buddha, "Master, how should a monk deal with beauty? Will beauty, especially the beauty of women, hinder the practice?"

The Buddha replied with a smile, "Beauty and ugliness are just concepts created in our minds. They are inseparable from the five aggregates. In the eyes of an artist, a cloud, a leaf, a flower, a ray of light, or a golden afternoon are all All have different beauties, and the golden bamboo next to us is also beautiful, but perhaps there is no beauty that will tempt a man more easily than the beauty of a woman. When a liberated person sees beauty, he also sees the unbeautiful parts at the same time , this person understands all impermanence and emptiness, including all beauty and ugliness, so he will not be deceived by beauty, nor will he resist ugliness, the only beauty that will not fade away and cause distress is compassion and liberation The peace and joy of that kind of beauty is not affected by external factors and the environment, just practice diligently, and then you will also realize true beauty.”

   When the rainy season was over, the Buddha advised the monk who asked the question to leave. At this time, he had become a monk. He knew that people in the capital were surprised to see his current appearance, but at the same time he felt that it was a bit regretful to leave this bamboo forest.

Nick writes in his book that if the painter's job is to discover a cloud, a leaf, a flower, a ray of light, or a golden afternoon, the beauty created by the creator, then the Buddhist seeks the beauty that gets rid of it all. , Does this have anything to do with Mencius's statement that people tend to be good, but turn to evil because of external influences?

  Georgianna thinks, if Qing Xing Deng is a beautiful girl, even if she is a monster, will people still be afraid of her?

   Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, when he practices deep prajna-paramita, he sees that the five aggregates are empty, and saves all suffering.

  Sariputra, form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form, form is emptiness, emptiness is form, and the same is true of perception, thought, action and consciousness.

  Sariputra, this is the emptiness of all dharmas, neither arising nor dying, neither dirty nor pure, neither increasing nor decreasing.

  Therefore, there is no form in the sky, no feeling, thought, action, consciousness, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind, color, sound, smell, touch, Dharma, vision, and even the unconscious world. There is no ignorance, and there is no end of ignorance, even without old age and death, and no end of old age and death. Without suffering, there is no path to cessation, and without wisdom, there is no gain.

  Because there is no gain, Bodhisattva, relying on Prajna Paramita, has no hindrances in his mind, no hindrances, so there is no fear, he is far away from upside-down dreams, and finally Nirvana.

   All the Buddhas of the three worlds attained Anuttara-samyaksabodhi by relying on Prajna Paramita.

   Therefore, we know that Prajna Paramita is a great divine mantra, a great bright mantra, an unsurpassed mantra, and a peerless mantra, which can remove all suffering, and is true and not false.

  Therefore, when the Prajna Paramita mantra is said, the mantra is said: Gakti Gakti Paragata Parasang Gakti Bodhisattva Poha.

   The young monk asked the old monk, "Master, you have recited the mantra, why are these tigers still so cute at the foot of the mountain?"

  The old monk patted the little monk's bald head, "Still think it's cute? What kind of mountain is the six roots not clean, go up the mountain and continue to practice."

   Having said that, the old monk dragged the young monk by the back collar and took him back to the bamboo forest.

   (end of this chapter)