introduction:
If the last wish in your heart before the death of a loved one is as long as you can, will you be satisfied?
I believe most people will say, will be ah!
Thus, there is such a legendary story.
For ordinary people, the wish of dying is the last obsession, but this person's obsession is very special, that is, to enshrine his own flesh.
Offerings to the flesh are mostly Buddhist acts, and from this divergence, it can be seen that he should be a Buddhist.
This person is the old Han lin Guanrong of Jiangxi who passed away on February 12, 2000
At the moment of death, he called his son Lin Shangshui to his side and told him that after his death, he must arrange to "sit in the tank".
(Sitting cylinder)
What is a "sitting cylinder"?
This is a long-established funerary custom that dates back to the Yangshao culture period of about 5,000-7,000 years ago.
There are many "urn coffins" unearthed in that period, most of which are composed of two urns buckled up inside, and both urns have small holes in the bottom to serve as entrances and exits for the soul.
From this point of view, the "tank burial" culture was actually popular in the Yellow River Basin long before Buddhism was introduced to China.
After the introduction of Buddhism, "sitting tank" as a collection of Buddhist nouns, implying the combination of "sitting" and "cylinder burial".
If we interpret this word in terms of Buddhist definitions, we can see that this is a way of burial for practitioners, with taoist monks.
If the virtue is not enough, it will not be used!
So does Lin Guanrong have this virtue?
(Bodhisattva in the Flesh)
One: The devout Buddhist Lin Guanrong.
In October 1925, Mr. Lin Guanrong was born in Shangrao, Jiangxi Province, to an ordinary peasant family.
Like countless Chinese peasant uncles, they spend all day fighting with the farmland and raising a family with all their strength.
If there is anything different, it may be the small mountain village where Lin Guanrong lives, backed by the Spirit Mountain.
Lingshan is famous for its Buddha, and there are many temples on the mountain, such as Shicheng Temple, Baiyun Temple, Tianxin Temple, and many other temples, which are quite influential in the Buddhist community.
(Shangrao Lingshan)
With this layer of cause and effect, the residents around Lingshan have also been influenced by Buddhism, and many of them are devout Buddhists.
Among them, there is Lin Guanrong, who often goes to the Lingshan Temple to meditate and practice in his spare time.
But when the farmers were idle, he would go to the temple to do volunteer work, and even use his Weibo income to make offerings to the temple.
The influence of this constant teachings caused his son to be influenced by his old father and become a Buddhist.
As for his son's name, it is also interesting.
The good is like water, everyone has heard, which means "the kindest person has the virtue of water." ”
Hence his son's Zen name , " Lin Shang Shui " .
In the following days, Lin Guanrong was still committed to buddhist practice, and in the late 1960s, he suddenly developed a sense of disgust for meat and meat, and he could not see it, and when he saw it, he was disgusted and began to live a vegetarian life.
In this regard, the Lin family has two sets of stoves and tableware, one for the vegetarian father and one for the family.
In order to facilitate his vegetarian diet and not affect his family, Lin Guanrong later ate, and even brought rice and vegetables directly up the mountain to eat with the monks in the temple.
All day long up and down the mountain, let Lin Guanrong notice a problem!
The two-kilometer rugged mountain road is very difficult to walk, especially in the rainy season, and it is even more muddy, making it impossible for many elderly believers to go up the mountain to worship the Buddha.
When there is a problem to be solved, the simple peasant thinking, let him decide, build a road out, so that everyone can easily go up the mountain.
In ancient times, there were Yugong who moved mountains, and now there are GuanRong to build roads.
Without the money to recruit people, he did it alone.
Without stone or material, he chiseled nearby granite.
The granite he chiseled down, he laid on the mountain road piece by piece, and in a few years, Lin Guanrong alone actually built a stone staircase with more than 2,000 steps up the mountain.
(Practice)
Two: the obsession with "tank burial".
The feat of building roads alone made him famous among surrounding Buddhists and temples.
Everyone was chanting, this is a good person, a devout Buddhist, passing on, Lin Guanrong has become a great benevolent person in everyone's heart.
Countless villagers who had been favored by him to build roads, as well as elderly people, gave him a thumbs up, and the senior monks in the temple communicated with him more and more.
With the increase of exchanges, Lin Guanrong's understanding of Buddhism has also deepened, and he has learned about the "tank burial" in Buddhist funerals.
Lin Guanrong, who was getting older and older, began to tell his son when he was in his sixties, after I died, don't make a burial, don't make cremation, I hope to sit in the jar.
Listening to the old man's words, at first his son Lin Shangshui did not think much of it.
The reason is that he felt that his father was on a whim.
Who ever thought, this old father, has always been remembered in his heart, not only did not put down, but more and more determined.
Subsequently, after another seven or eight years, Lin Guanrong, whose life had arrived, was admitted to the hospital on February 12, 2000, because of cerebral thrombosis.
Seventy years of life is rare, that year Lin Daddy was 75 years old, death is not a pity for him, unfortunately can not be "buried".
During the more than 20 days of hospitalization, he did not say a word, and his illness did not improve.
Seeing his father like this, the anxious son couldn't help but wonder, what happened to the father?
Just when he was puzzled, his father called him to his side and said to him very seriously, Baby, I am going to be ready to sit in the tank.
Seated cylinder, seated cylinder? Listening to his father's words, Lin Shangshui finally understood the firmness of his father's wish.
He later recalled: At that time, I felt that my father, who had not spoken for more than 20 days, had spoken again, which was very incredible, and thought that maybe this was the time to leave a will, and I could only do it according to the will.
After saying this, Lin Shangshui, the son of filial piety, understood that his father's last wish was really like this!
In order to let his father die without regrets, Lin Shangshui quickly contacted the pottery jar.
In order to allow Lin Guanrong to be buried safely, Lin Shangshui took a lot of effort and searched for a long time before finding two clay pots in the local area.
A large clay pot is used to hold the body of the old father, a small pot is used to cover the ceiling, and the combination of two clay pots is the necessary prop for the ancient "cylinder burial".
Looking at the pottery jar that his son had prepared with all his heart, Mr. Lin Guanrong smiled reassuringly!
After laughing, it's the parting moment!
On March 12, 2000, Lin Guanrong, a 75-year-old Buddhist, passed away.
(How filial piety is interpreted)
Three: There is a lot of resistance and do not forget the father's wish.
The old father went, and the filial piety Lin Shangshui immediately prepared to carry out a "tank burial" for the old father to complete the old father's last wish.
Who would have thought that before this "tank burial" began, many villagers began to oppose it.
In the eyes of the villagers, "tank burial" violates traditional etiquette, people pay attention to burial after death, not to mention that cremation is also in the implementation and promotion, making "cylinder burial" is not in line with traditional etiquette, there is also a violation of the implementation of cremation, after death also toss, it is really nothing to find.
Not only the villagers objected, but even many monks in the temple also put forward different opinions.
Seeing that everyone's attitude was so public, Lin Shangshui was still unmoved, and under pressure to arrange a "tank burial" for his father.
He first invited craftsmen, and according to ancient customs, placed the old man's birthday clothes and a small wooden stool in the bottom of the large clay pot.
Then began to wash the body of the father, after carefully wiping the body of the father, and then smeared with lime several times.
After cleaning up, he respectfully put his father's body into the jar and let him sit safely on a small wooden stool, with his hands on his knees and sitting.
After settling the father, he found a basket of good charcoal from his relatives, as well as lime powder wrapped in yellow paper, and put them into the large clay pot and filled it.
After all this is done, the small clay pot is then buckled upside down on the large clay pot, and the interface of the two ceramic pots is sealed with a paste made of tung oil and lime to ensure a complete seal inside the ceramic pot.
In this regard, all the preparations for the "tank burial" were completed.
Then Lin Shangshui put his father's body together with two large clay pots in a small house in his own house and began to wait.
As for how long to wait, according to The Old Master Lin Guanrong, a thousand days of sealing after death is when the buddha in the flesh appears, and at that time, after opening the clay pot, after the body sculpture is modified, it will be enshrined in the home.
("Tank Burial")
Four: Wait a thousand days to rebuild the golden body.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, more than three years have passed.
After a thousand days, Lin Shangshui was ready to open a tank for his father.
The villagers who had heard the news earlier gathered at the Lin family one by one, hoping to witness this scene.
Before opening the cylinder, Lin Shangshui actually had no bottom in his heart.
Is there a problem with the method that my father said? Is there a problem with doing it yourself?
With a nervous mood, Lin Shangshui slowly opened the clay pot.
As the sealed mud gradually peeled off, the small jar with the buckle slowly opened, and Lin Guanrong's remains were revealed.
At the sight of the old father inside, Lin Shangshui was overjoyed.
Lin Guanrong, who was sitting in the pottery jar, was completely dry except for the moisture on his hips, and compared to when he entered the clay pot, there was no change except that the color of the body turned slightly black.
Countless villagers were also happy for Lin Guanrong's grandfather, chanting the apparition of the Buddha.
Lin Shangshui, who had put his heart at ease, began the next step while being happy.
This is to find someone to reshape the golden body of the old man.
He slowly took out Lin Guanrong's body, then smeared the body with a heavy plaster seal, molded the old man's body into a real plaster statue, and then dressed the real figure.
After doing all this, Lin Shangshui, who was still uneasy, carved a small one-sized possessed statue with camphor wood.
Then, the two statues were placed in the living room on the second floor of their house by Lin Shangshui, and the clay pot was placed in another room.
The old man's last wish was fulfilled, and Xiaozi Lin Shangshui breathed a sigh of relief.
But gossip and controversy persist.
(Controversy)
Five: The forest of fearless worldly vision.
The Lin family reshaped the golden body of the old master and made the flesh of the Buddha, which was passed on to ten hundred and a hundred, and everyone around him knew it.
After the villagers of the ten miles and eight townships knew.
Some clapped their hands and applauded, saying that the Lin family was filial piety.
Some oppose it, saying that it is contrary to tradition and extravagant and wasteful.
Also, although the "tank burial" originated from the Yangshao culture period, has a long history, and after the subsequent spread of Buddhism, it has added a lot of legendary colors, but this burial method, must be entered is no one to try, and the few attempters are mostly Taoist monks.
Many people say that this is a matter of destroying feng shui, which is not good for the descendants of the Lin family, and it is better to let the old man fall into the ground for safety.
(Local Feelings)
The criticism and accusations of the crowd, Lin Shangshui listened to the pain in his ears and in his heart.
The old man's last wish is "tank burial", if I don't arrange it well, what filial piety will I talk about?
And this "tank burial" is time-consuming and labor-intensive, the cost is not small, more than 20,000 went out, but also by the villagers to blame, the aggrieved Lin Shangshui only wanted to cry.
Seeing that the villagers were more and more unwelcome to the Lin family, Lin Shangshui could only explain and clarify over and over again, and also specifically looked for someone to tell the big guys about the origin and history of this "tank burial".
Under the tireless explanation and the good deeds of Lin Guanrong before his death, although the gossip subsided, the Lin family, which once had many friends, became a doorwife.
Even the villagers who passed by avoided the Lin family's door.
This made Lin Shangshui very depressed, but he still did not forget to filial piety to his father, insisted on offering statues, and regularly incensed the old father.
This insistence is nearly twenty years.
In order to allow the believers to go up the mountain safely, Lin Guanrong exchanged several years of hard work for two thousand steps and built a stone road.
In order to let his father die safely, Lin Shangshui exchanged three years of happiness for a statue of a Buddha in the flesh and built an offering hall.
The affectionate transmission of this father and son is to do good deeds for good intentions and do good things for filial piety.
From this point of view, Lin Shangshui does not lose the meaning of shangshan ruoshui in the name.
(The meaning of shangshan as water)
Epilogue: The Scientific Explanation of the Buddha in the Flesh.
The Buddha in the flesh, in the eyes of religious believers, is undoubtedly a mysterious thing.
But it is not something that cannot be explained scientifically.
In a later interview, Lin Shangshui recalled that on the third day of his father's death, when the cylinder sitting ceremony was held, he found that his father's body was soft. Generally speaking, people will be stiff after death, but fathers are the opposite, and they are easily carried into the cylinder. Moreover, the climate in Shanxi is hot, and the body of the old father has not undergone complex embalming treatment, and can remain incorruptible for many years at room temperature.
This passage tells us that in Lin Shangshui's cognition, it is the creation of his father's long-term cultivation of Buddhism that allows him to remain incorruptible.
Later, the reporter asked the experts, even if it is a scientific answer, it turns out that after the death of the person, there will indeed be a period of stiffness, but generally it is about 24 hours, after 48 hours, the body will become soft.
This side explains the rationality of the body's softening, and as for the incorruptible flesh, it is related to Lin Shangshui's obedience to Lin Guanrong's instructions and antiseptic treatment.
The source of the decay of the remains is dampness and microorganisms, lin Shangshui in the arrangement of the father to sit in the tank, put lime and charcoal in the cylinder, which are able to absorb water, sterilization to prevent microorganisms, do not let the body rot materials, even sealed tung oil and lime, also have such an effect, even the closure of the clay pot, is much better than the coffin, all this is the key to the realization of the flesh Buddha.
From this point of view, Lin Guanrong, a Buddhist who has not entered the Buddhist door, must have studied for a long time for his own posthumous affairs.
The good man Lin Guanrong and the filial piety Lin Shangshui used this different way to interpret the deep affection of father and son.
To this day, this affection continues, and the old father is still in the family offering.
Finally, let's have an interaction!
As an outsider, what do you think about their choices?