There was a temple in the northwest of Linhuang in the Tang Dynasty, and there was a monk named Zhitong in the temple, who often recited the Lotus Sutra to settle down. Every time he meditated, he had to find a place of silence that was rarely visited. A few years later, one night someone suddenly shouted around the monastery: "Zhi Tong! He shouted until dawn and stopped. This was the case for three whole days, the voice came into the room, Zhi Tong was impatient with the noise, and finally responded: "What are you calling me?" Come in. ”
As soon as the words stopped, a monster more than six feet long entered the house, dressed in black, with a blue face, bulging eyes and a large mouth, but when he saw Zhitong, he clasped his hands together to show respect.
Zhi Tong stared at it for a long, long time before he said, "Are you cold?" Just roast the fire here. ”
So the monster sat down, and Zhi Tong also read the sutra and stopped paying attention to it.
On the fifth day, the monster was so stunned by the fire that it unconsciously closed its eyes, opened its mouth, and leaned against the fire to snore.
Zhi Tong saw this scene and immediately scooped some charcoal with an incense ash spoon and stuffed it into the monster's mouth.
The monster screamed and ran away screaming, reaching the threshold as if it had stumbled and stumbled.
The temple was built against a mountainous terrain, and Zhitong waited until dawn to check where the monster had fallen, only to see that a piece of bark was left there.
He went up the mountain to look for traces of the monster, walked a few miles, and finally found a large green tree, but the tip of the tree was already bald, and the root under the tree seemed to be missing.
Zhi Tong took the piece of bark and pasted it on, and sure enough, it was a tight seam, and this tree was the monster that visited last night.
At the half-waist of the trunk, there was a foot cut out by a woodcutter to climb the tree, about six inches deep, probably the mouth of a monster, and the incense ash inside was still glowing slightly. Zhi Tong set fire to the tree, and the monster disappeared ever since.
This mythical story, I translated from the Tang Dynasty Duan Chengshi's "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks". The big green tree monster in the story does not seem to have done anything evil, but it has encountered the end of being destroyed by fire, which seems to be regrettable. In addition to regret, let's talk about the temples of the Tang Dynasty.
In the Tang Dynasty, temples were built in the mountains and in the cities.
The temples in the deep mountains and old forests are naturally deserted, but they often assume the function of inns, becoming the guest houses of many long-distance travelers staying at night. This was a custom at that time, not only ordinary people, but also high-ranking officials and nobles who traveled abroad, and often had to stay in temples. It can be said that these temples scattered throughout the mountains and forests were the "fast hotels" of that era.
Compared with the temples in the deep mountains and old forests, the temples built in the city play more functions: they are multi-functional entertainment centers for the people to visit, enjoy the flowers, watch painting exhibitions, and watch plays, and sometimes some poor people can also go to the temple to receive low-security relief.
Want to know more about the literature and history of the Tang Dynasty? It is recommended to read a set of historical popular science picture books "Go! Our Xi'an"~
I am @ Wenshi Interesting, Zhejiang University Chinese undergraduate, ancient literature master's degree from the contracted novel author, welcome to pay attention to me ~ [Yaya]
