According to data, this year, the number of orders for tickets to temple-related scenic spots has increased by 3 times year-on-year, of which the post-90s and post-00s account for nearly 50%; The word "temple" has skyrocketed more than 300 times in searches on social platforms.
When young people become more and more fond of visiting temples, what are they asking for?
After failing the postgraduate entrance examination for three consecutive years, 27-year-old Li Hui applied for a job as a volunteer at the temple. Although there is no KPI in the temple, he is very busy and tired, and he feels that this place is not as "Buddha nature" as he imagined-
World War III Postgraduate Entrance Examination
The September sun pierced through the curtains and left a piercing slit of light on the pillow. I rolled over to avoid the sun and continued to scroll through my phone.
Outside the room, my mother slammed the door: "It's noon, lie down and be a fairy? I can't get into graduate school, I don't look for a job, I don't eat, I only know how to play with my mobile phone every day, what did I create to give birth to such a thing as you!"
The loud sound pierced my eardrums, and I covered the quilt and hid for a clean up.
That's right, I failed in three battles to graduate school.
In the year of the college entrance examination, I did not perform well, I wanted to study finance, but I was transferred to the Chinese department of a 211 university. When I graduated at the age of 24, I decided to go to graduate school, aiming to major in finance at a double-first-class university, but my English was one point worse, but I could transfer to other schools to study Chinese, but I really didn't want to be transferred anymore, so I fought again.
I was fully prepared for the second graduate school entrance examination, and after checking the results, I started to gnaw on the book, I don't know if it was because I was too serious and too tight, which backfired, and it was worse than the first time. After this failure, I was entangled and confused for a long time, 25 years old, no house, no car, no deposit, a 1.8-meter-old man mixed like this, I felt ashamed of myself.
But I have been paying for two years, and I am not willing to be empty, and when I was preparing for the third postgraduate examination, I specially signed up for a training class. I thought that the accumulation of the past two years and the guidance of professional teachers would definitely stabilize this time, but in the face of the epidemic, the postgraduate entrance examination time was delayed again and again.
When the results of the third postgraduate examination came out, it was even a few points less than the second time, and I had to admit that I failed.
My classmates are about to graduate from graduate school, and I haven't been admitted yet, and my lumbar spine and cervical spine have problems because of brushing questions, and I have to pretend to be indifferent, hiding my inner obsession of "treating the graduate school entrance examination as my life".
The three failures smoothed out my pride and self-esteem, and I avoided acquaintances on the way.
During this time, I was not without work. At the beginning, as a graduate of 211 College, I was quite optimistic, after all, the Department of Chinese is highly universal, and many positions can be done as a reporter, secretary, copywriter, and administration.
My last job was as a clerk for a company in Shanghai. The salary is 4,800 yuan, but it costs 1,500 yuan to rent a house, and after removing the basic expenses, there are not a few children left every month.
In this way, the boss also asked me to do the work of editing and planning together. He said that this is an opportunity for newcomers to exercise, and he has assigned me a raise.
I think, after all, we are young, and it is not impossible to let those old fritters in the workplace see my strength.
I commute for 3 hours every day, drink coffee in the morning to refresh myself, soak wolfberries in the afternoon for health, and return to the shared youth apartment at 10 o'clock in the evening.
After 5 months, I couldn't stand the intensity of overtime, so I euphemistically proposed the idea of raising wages to my boss. My boss looked at me for a while and told me that due to the shrinking business, the company just needed to optimize some of its employees. Anyway, tell me to go to the personnel department to go through the formalities.
The word "optimization" sounds like a good word, and when I stupidly went to the HR department, I realized that the so-called optimization is layoffs - it turns out that any position can be adapted, which also means that you can be replaced at any time.
I began to regret that I didn't have a clear plan for my major when I was in college.
In the past, those classmates, who were admitted to graduate school, public examinations, and teachers, went ashore one after another, and those who had a way out at home also relied on their relationships to find a way out.
There is no way out, there is no backing, I have quit my last job for half a year, I know that I have to earn money to make a living, but in the past few years, I have been slapped enough by reality, tired and painful, and I really can't find where my future is.
One day in September 2023, I just shrunk into the quilt and swiped my phone. A short video pops up on the screen: a monk wearing a bright red hat rings a bell one by one.
The video only has a few hundred likes, but the back of the monk ringing the bell has a sense of tranquility. I looked at the homepage of the account, and it turned out that "Red Hat" was the abbot of a temple, and his account should be operated by a special person, posting a lot of temple scenery, activities, and videos of the festival scene.
One of the videos attracted me: the temple recruits free volunteers all year round, short-term workers have free meals, and long-term workers provide accommodation, unlimited number of people, unlimited time, and come and go freely.
My heart moved, and I left a message under this video: Can Chinese majors go?
I was just curious, I didn't really want to go, I went to watch the video after replying, and it didn't take long for a reply to pop up: Volunteers are not limited to majors and education, welcome to sign up.
I muttered, "But I can't do anything," but my heart was beating a little fast. I seem to feel a "power" in my body: maybe the otherworldly lifestyle in the temple can clear my mind and find my own way?
While this momentum was still there, I found the phone number of the temple's volunteer department and dialed it twice, but no one answered.
Five minutes later, the other party called, and a gentle male voice asked me, "Hello, what's the matter?"
I asked him what he needed to sign up for volunteering, and he said, "First come to the volunteer registration office to sign, then interview, and if you pass, the person in charge will send you a vest." By the way, try to come early, we've been short of people lately. ”
I got up from the bed on my hands and feet, opened the door and shouted to my mother, "I've got a job, I'm going to get an interview right away." ”
When I was packing, my mother was still nagging over and over again. "Thankfully, I've finally found a job, and I'm going to do it this time. ”
"Don't look at the masters, don't suffer a little when you're young. As the old saying goes, only when you suffer hardship can you become a master......"
These car reels, my family talked about them over and over again, and I had already heard calluses. The moment I rushed out of the house, I thought my heart would be relaxed, but I didn't, probably because I knew very well that I didn't go to the temple to work, but to escape from reality.
Enter the temple
It takes half an hour to travel from the hometown of Changshou to the city, and then take dozens of minutes by light rail to the temple.
It was already 8 p.m. when I arrived, and the main entrance to the temple was closed. I explained my intention to the staff at the main entrance, and then a monk in gray monk's robe walked out, folded his hands and said to me, "Amitabha, senior brother has returned." ”
I thought to myself, "What kind of brother is here?" It wasn't until he beckoned me in that I realized he was talking about me. In this temple, when you meet a volunteer, you call it a senior brother, not your real name, and when you meet a monk, you say "Amitabha" without asking about privacy.
As I followed him through the door, my mind flashed back to the scene from a few years ago, and he was right, I was indeed "back." ”
(Monks and volunteers chanting scriptures in front of the temple)
I came to this temple 3 years ago. It was the first time I failed the graduate school entrance examination, and my parents dragged me to the temple to pray for blessings.
At that time, I refused to worship, I was superstitious, and my mother said that the Bodhisattva here is very spiritual, and the tips of my fingers touched the big golden Buddha in the open air with gold leaf, and I could ask for peace.
After 3 years, peace is true, the days of work are less than 200 days, except for the preparation of the exam, there is only lying flat, can it not be safe?
Stepping into this temple again, this time I don't ask for peace, I just want to ask the Buddha to give me a way out and tell me what my "natural mission" is.
The monk led me through the door and left, and I slumped into the treasure hall and followed the map to find a hut with a plaque reading "Volunteer Reporting Office".
There are many rules in Buddhism, so I stayed in the hut for half an hour before listening to the precautions of the volunteers, and then I was assigned to a squatter house.
When I opened the door, I saw that it was a boy's eight-person room, with 7 bunk beds all put things, and the remaining one had not yet made sheets and quilt covers, which was my bed. In the room sat a tall, lanky man with shoulder-length hair, fiddling with a small pendant.
I thought about "just here, take care of each other" and said to the man, "Hello, I'm a new volunteer, my name is Li Hui." ”
The man tilted his head and looked at me, "Just call me a little bit." With that, he turned back and continued to play with the pendant.
As soon as I heard it, I recognized him as the one who called me yesterday afternoon. Although the voice is gentle, there is an aura of "don't approach the living" all over the body.
Feeling my hot face against my cold ass, I began to be speechless: "How old are you?"
“29。 Xiao Xu said without raising his head.
"I'm also 29. What are your majors, and why are you volunteering here?"
Xiao Xu looked at me again and said coldly: "Your curiosity is too heavy, and you will add obstacles to confusion." ”
Originally, I wasn't very good at chatting, and Xiao Xu's words directly killed the day. I muttered to myself, "Do all the people in the temple talk like that?"
Before going to bed, I cleaned up the bed and helped me put the futon into the quilt cover. When shaking the quilt cover, the small pendant in his pocket accidentally fell out and I stepped on it.
I picked up the little pendant, and it was a peace charm. Xiao Xu very preciously blew and patted the peace charm, I was very upset, and said, "If this is dirty, I don't want it, I'll buy one and pay you for it." ”
Xiao Xu glared at me: "I brought it from my hometown." ”
I froze there in embarrassment.
Lying on the top bunk at night, I can still hear a long sigh through the snoring of 6 male volunteers. I realized that I might have stiffened with Xiao Xu, and I repeatedly reviewed in my heart which of my words was not right.
On the first night of the temple, I fell asleep in the troubles of the world.
mount guard
The volunteers in the temple all live in the Volunteer Home. Each person has their own volunteer uniform (which will be returned when they go). Everyone has a clear division of labor: the propaganda group is responsible for publicity and promotion, the guide group is responsible for the tour guide, the mobile group is flexibly deployed, the support group helps the mage, the medical team deals with minor injuries and illnesses, and the logistics group does manual work.
Volunteers can choose departments according to their own strengths, and each long-term volunteer has his own exclusive position, such as Xiao Xu Jin's propaganda team, which is responsible for making websites, publishing articles, and shooting small videos. I got tired of paperwork, so I joined the logistics team.
It's busier than I thought it would be, and every morning at 4 a.m. when it was still dark, the alarm clock went off. After I washed up and finished breakfast, I went to the front of the building to sweep the fallen leaves. Every Saturday morning at half past nine o'clock in the morning, the volunteers had to attend the class together, I received the paper and pen distributed at the door of the classroom, followed the brothers and sisters to listen to the Buddhist class for an hour and a half, and then went to the back kitchen to help carry the vegetables, serve the dishes, wipe the table, and take out the garbage.
When the whole person collapsed, it took a long time to recover, and then he began to carry vegetables and things again. The repetitive physical work left me with no time to think, no time to pay attention to my surroundings, and I only cared about my hands and feet moving quickly and gasping for air.
At the end of the day, I fell asleep, and the insomnia that I had suffered from anxiety about going to graduate school was cured.
There are a lot of monks here, but each monk has his own full-time job to be busy, and he rarely comes across it. The monk I met the most was the master who was in charge of the transport, because he was in and out of the monastery the most often.
It was a squinting young man, except for the abbot, the mages in the temple didn't seem to have shaved their hair, and they always had to keep a stubble. He didn't look much older than me and smiled like a playful sports student. As he passed by, he would sometimes ask me for a tribute fruit, and if I didn't have it, he would take a sugar orange from his pocket and give it to me: "Come, let's have a good relationship." ”
At noon, many tourists will come to the restaurant for fasting, 8 yuan per person, and the supply exceeds demand. I would sometimes go and help with the food for tourists, and I would wave a big spoon up and down hundreds of times, and my hand with chopsticks would tremble when I finished cooking.
Although it was tiring, life without KPIs was more comfortable than I imagined, when I was fine, I could look down at the ants, look up at the blue sky, or tease the cats and learn the birds in the trees.
Everything seems to have slowed down, here, no one will point their noses and call my plan rubbish, my heart is no longer flustered, there is a peace that has never been seen before.
A few weeks of monastic life have taught me that we volunteers are "temporary workers", although they are low-level and low-powered, but they are also an indispensable part of supporting the operation of the whole temple, so there are many rules:
You must not stilt your legs; you must stop when you see the master, fold your hands and say, "Master, Amitabha"; you must abide by the basic precepts of the temple, such as not asking about the master's private affairs, obeying the arrangement of the senior brother, and not gossiping about right and wrong......
The Master is an "employee of the system" who deals with all kinds of people every day, and comes into contact with many people who have no place to talk about their suffering. In order for this temple to survive, they had to travel between the believers and the temple.
Usually after being busy in the morning and basically nothing in the afternoon, I take off my yellow coat and wander around the temple.
There are two towering fortune trees in the temple, I feel that I especially need to worship these two trees, and I wonder why the fortune tree is planted in the temple?
I asked the Master, and he said that these two trees are actually "Luan Trees", also known as "Money Trees", and many locals will go to the temple to ask for wealth, and it is very suitable to plant two fortune trees.
In the past, I always thought that people who believe in Buddhism should not have six pure roots? The Master told me that the temple is the birthplace of Tsangbala, the god of wealth in Tibetan Buddhism, and these two trees are also the "old gods of wealth".
The most tiring are the brothers in the guide department, who have to receive a large number of tourists every day. Some sweet-mouthed brothers, when they see the eyes of tourists, they will put their hands together and smile, if there are tourists who are attracted to the past, they will enthusiastically explain what the role of the Buddha beads, ornaments, and small Buddha statues on the stall is, and seek wealth or peace, especially suitable for the elderly and children at home to bring back......
Throughout the afternoon, the tourists gathered around the stalls have not been broken, and the QR codes hanging on the chests of the senior brothers are about to be slurred.
I'm watching from the sidelines, and the brothers are actually following the sales set, such as "The child has the college entrance examination, then you have to bring this card back to him, and bless the child with high scores in the exam, and the dark horse is bursting......"
I sighed for a while, it turned out that the work of volunteers also has a threshold, and the guide department is an excellent salesperson. But it's not a good job, and they have to listen to tourists most of the time:
"My daughter is 37 years old, she is not married and has no children, and when she dies in the future, no one will take care of the aftermath, what should I do?"
The senior brother said, "When people die, dust returns to dust, what do you care about?"
Another pilgrim asked, "My daughter is 27 years old and she hasn't been married yet, but what should I do?"
The senior brother seemed to have heard a lot of this question, and said helplessly: "27 is in a hurry, what should you do with the 37 in front of you?"
There is a pilgrim I know very well, a "noblewoman": early marriage and early childbearing, her son is in high school, her husband is in business, very rich, she has no need to worry about the future at all, in the eyes of people like me with an uncertain future, this is simply a fairy start.
I was curious about why she came here so often, so I took a chance to talk and learned that she was praying for the blessing of her son at first, and also for the good fortune and safety of her husband, who suffers from fatty liver and high blood pressure. After coming more often, she began to use the temple as a temporary refuge: her son's rebellion was so angry that her liver hurt, and her husband was calling for her. She couldn't find the meaning of existence at home, so she gradually put her mind on worshipping the Buddha and donated a large amount of money to the temple.
Except for donating money, everything else resonates with me. My dad also has the same disease, which may be a common disease of middle-aged men, and my mother is often angry with me, especially in the three years when I was admitted to graduate school, frustration made me anxious, and my temper was sent to the closest people, and if I couldn't say two words at the dinner table, I would slam the door and go into the study.
I followed the example of the mage and comforted this "noble lady" a few words, and I felt a little uncomfortable.
Floating mania
I stayed in the temple for more than a week, and on the tenth day, I noticed that the shampoo on the windowsill was missing. I rummaged through the cabinets and couldn't find it, thinking that it was a senior brother who took it, but I was too embarrassed to ask, so I bought a new bottle.
After another two days, I found that the bookmark in the "Diamond Sutra" was missing, which I bought when I was traveling in the Forbidden City, and it cost dozens of yuan a piece.
After that, I found that the facial cleanser placed at the head of the bed had been moved, the towel on the back of the chair had been used, and the power bank on the quilt had been taken away......
My first reaction was Xiao Xu, because he stared at the computer and mobile phone all day long, did not take the initiative to communicate with us, asked him nothing, always stared at the little pendant that I stepped on dirty, and said to himself "catastrophe", "fate", "chance" or something.
Ever since I stepped on his peace charm, he hasn't looked at me in the eye, and he doesn't like to answer his questions. I suspect he's hated me ever since.
Originally, I was in a relaxed mood in the temple for a while, but when I thought that I lived under the same roof with Xiao Xu, and the relationship was cold and resigned, my mind became restless, and I kept thinking about what I had lost recently.
During that time, I was always cranky when I was sweeping the floor. A master stared at me for a while, then came up to me and said, "Go copy the sutra for a while, go make a rubbing, go sit and ......meditate for a while."
I don't know if it's a practitioner with his own "fiery eyes", able to see through the gloom on a person's face, I was said to be moved, went to the Tuojing Hall to do a while of rubbing, and after coming out, I saw the cat in the temple, I squatted down and touched its head, the palm of my hand was warm, as if it was cured.
On the way back to the Dharma Tower, I met several more masters, and one of them gave me some tribute fruits. A true practitioner will have an aura that makes you feel compassionate and kind, as if you are being accepted unconditionally by him, and they call this "blessing power."
Watching the mage go between believers and activities, I sometimes feel distressed, and this distress seems to make me positive as well.
I took the initiative to apply for more jobs from the person in charge of the Volunteer House. Senior brother learned that I was from the Chinese department and asked me to help Xiao Xu write online promotional copy.
I don't really like Xiao Xu, but in order to work smoothly, I can only act as if the "loss of things" did not happen, after all, there is no evidence in my hand.
Later, Xiao Xu came to me for copywriting. Maybe I wanted to prove something, I put all my strength into writing, Xiao Xu said that I didn't expect my inspiration to be so active, and then came to me frequently, but still with a straight face.
Xiao Xu has almost strict requirements for words, sometimes a copy has to be changed eight or nine times, although I am learning Chinese, but I can't withstand his torture, and even think that he is dissatisfied with me and deliberately find fault.
Once, when I was resting under a big tree, Xiao Xu came to me with a stack of paper, and there was a small white clip on the paper, which was the copy I gave him in the morning.
"What are you writing here? The senior brother in the same dormitory stole your things, is there such a negative propaganda as you?" Xiao Xu directly threw the copywriter next to me.
I stood up and confronted him: "Why can't you write it? ”
Xiao Xu pointed to the paper on the ground and asked me, "Then explain it again, what does it mean in the manuscript that the senior brother who stole things carried a peace charm with him?"
"Do you still need me to pierce the window paper?" I was angry at the thought that this copy had been changed 9 times, and simply deliberately insinuated him.
Xiao Xu was so angry with me that he covered his heart and shook his whole person, so frightened that I hurriedly called someone.
After that, I figured out: the reason why Xiao Xu has a cold face is not because he has an opinion about me, but because he has coronary heart disease and has angina from time to time.
I regret that I was too sensitive and fell into internal friction, and I still wrote those words for Xiao Xu. After Xiao Xu's body recovered, I kept avoiding him, but there were always times when I bumped into him.
Xiao Xu stopped me with the copy I entrusted to him: "What are you running? This draft has passed, I want to discuss the video production with you." ”
Xiao Xu didn't care about what happened last time. Because of the work exchange, I also got to know him better, and the relationship gradually improved.
One day, Xiao Xu and I were squatting in the corridor and chatting, and he told me: "When my father was 40 years old, he was basking in the sun on a recliner, and the person who lay down was gone, and the doctor said that it was sudden cardiac death caused by a heart attack. I am the same as my father, my heart is not good, my family used to do business in the Chaoshan area, every day big fish and meat, one day I suddenly had a terrible heart pain, out of breath, sent to the hospital to know that it was coronary heart disease.
"The doctor said that my disease must be treated as soon as possible, maintain a light diet, and have a regular schedule, otherwise it may be over one day. ”
Xiao Xu looked at me and suddenly asked, "I am only 29 years old, and my life has just begun, why is my heart like that of an old man?"
His question, I still don't know how to answer it.
Some people do their best just to live, but I am caught in the whirlpool of emotions for trivial things.
Difficult scriptures
In January 2024, I haven't been home for four months, and my parents have been urging me to go home for the New Year, but I can't bear to be in the temple, so I stayed to help the temple organize the Laba Festival.
I thought it would be desolate to spend Laba in the temple, but I didn't expect that hundreds of volunteers stayed, and all 8 boys in our dormitory were there, including Xiao Xu.
When it was time to boil the porridge, the abbot came, wearing a black hat and a mask, and used a spoon to turn the peanuts into the pot. Xiao Xu saw that it was inconvenient for him to wear a long skirt, so he took an apron and tied it to him, and the abbot handed the empty basin to Xiao Xu, and then slowly stirred the porridge in the pot with a spatula as long as a shovel.
In order to boil this bowl of Laba porridge, everyone started to get up at 4 o'clock to prepare, ensuring that the Laba Festival activities could last from 6 am to close in the afternoon. During this period, there were only two things that all the senior brothers and monks had to do: keep boiling porridge and distributing porridge.
The abbot was boiling porridge in the kitchen, and the priest and volunteers put the porridge into iron buckets and delivered them to the dining room one by one. In order to improve efficiency, everyone stood in a fixed position and passed the iron bucket like a drum and a flower. In order to meet the surging tourists, everyone was working hard to hand buckets and porridge, and in the cold winter weather, the sweat on everyone's face fell down in big pieces.
At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, when the door closed, everyone was finally able to sit down and take a good breath, and when it was almost dark, we were gathering to drink Laba porridge, but a young man came to the temple. He knew that there was a hidden path in the back mountain, and he could get to the lotus pond by crossing the bushes, so he felt from that road, and when he arrived at the restaurant, there were still a lot of dead leaves stuck to his head, as if he had fallen.
On a cold winter night, the young man spoke with a white breath coming out of his mouth: "My mother has terminal cancer, and I want to ask for a bowl of laba porridge to feed to my mother and bless her with good health." ”
Xiao Xu handed him a vegetable bag: "How do you go back?"
The young man stuffed a bun into his mouth and said, "Take the light rail." ”
Xiao Xu said: "Then when you get to the hospital, the porridge will already be cold, I'll drive you." ”
Xiao Xu took the initiative to arrange everything: he drove the young man to the hospital, and I covered two bags of hot buns in a down jacket to keep warm and brought them to the young man's mother.
On the way, the young people kept asking us, "How did you think of volunteering at the temple? Do your parents agree? Don't you keep your children? Don't your wives make trouble?"
After Xiao Xu and I briefly talked about his situation, the young man let out a long sigh. When he spoke again, his voice was filled with tears: "Every family has a scripture that is difficult to read, but my family's scripture is too difficult to read, too difficult to read......"
There is no sun in the hospital on Chinese New Year's Eve, here is the intensive care ward, and the temperature of disinfectant water under incandescent lamps is very strong. The young man strode towards a ward, and Xiao Xu and I looked at his awkward walking posture and realized that he was a polio patient, walking with a limp, no wonder he fell on the path in the temple.
His mother was covered in tubes, her thin neck was covered with green tendons, and the blue and red veins on her arms were like spiders' webs. The young man wiped his nose, which had become wet from running too fast, opened the enamel jar, and a stream of heat came out.
"Ahh His mother probably ran out of energy, so she took a sip with her mouth crooked, and her chin leaked as she chewed.
On the way back, Xiao Xu cried: "When I look at my mother like that, I am afraid, afraid that after I leave, how will my mother live? After I got this disease, my mother asked me to get married as soon as possible and have a child as soon as possible, but I really couldn't accept it." Why do you think I got such a disease?"
Xiao Xu wiped his tears, I didn't know what to say, so I could only hand him a tissue and pat him on the shoulder repeatedly.
Entry
That night, I couldn't fall asleep tossing and turning, and my mind always came to mind the scene in the hospital, a little tears, and the "noblewoman" pilgrim.
A few days later, Xiao Xu told me that he was ready to go back to his hometown, and before leaving, he went to apply for a "refuge permit". The senior brothers who took refuge in this temple have the word "empty" in their Dharma names, and Xiao Xu's Dharma name is called "Mingkong".
I asked Xiao Xu why he wanted to leave, and he replied to me: "My life may be very short, I came to the temple to escape death, but I never thought that it may be more difficult for my relatives to live alone than my death." ”
I was silent for a long time and sighed. Xiao Xu came to the temple to escape death, but what about me? What am I running away from?
The next day, I took the initiative to call my parents and said that I wanted to go home and join them for the New Year. When I left, I didn't take anything with me, but grabbed a handful of dirt under the fortune tree.
The longer I stayed in the temple, the more I felt that "all living beings are suffering, and the only way to cross is to cross by themselves". I eventually gave up taking refuge because "the Buddha doesn't want you to take refuge, the Buddha just wants you to be happy."
On the day I went home, my parents stood at the gate of the community, stretching their necks to look at every passing car, expecting me. My heart warmed and I gave them a hug when I got out of the car.
After the Chinese New Year, a volunteer sent me a private message telling me that there was a senior brother who lived in the same room at that time, and he was "invited" to leave because his hands and feet were not clean. Before leaving, he handed over my power bank.
I thought about it for a long time, but I couldn't remember which senior brother he was talking about. Come to think of it, I had been immersed in the delicate relationship with Xiao Xu at that time, and I really wronged him.
After the beginning of the year, I started to submit resumes everywhere. In March of this year, I was finally seen by an alumnus who opened a company and recruited me to do operations, 5,000 a month.
Although the salary is not high, and I have to work overtime at some times, I am a person who has been a "sweeper" in a monastery after all. The experience of dancing the broom, lifting the rice shovel, and carrying the bucket for more than four months in a row made me realize that I am still far from the "four empty", but I have not been abandoned by good karma, and in the future, I will do my best to live.
(A corner of the temple)
Two months later, I received a message in the volunteer group: Xiao Xu was hospitalized.
Xiao Xu had a heart attack when he was drying clothes on the balcony, and he was unconscious when he was found. The doctor said that he was sick this time, and the person did not leave, which was a great blessing and a great fate.
Xiao Xu attributed this good fortune to the protection of the temple, and a few days after waking up, the person was still infused, so he asked his mother to send a bunch of nuts to the temple.
A senior brother chatted with me privately: "Xiao Xu also sent you a gift, do you come to the temple to get it, or will I send you a courier?"
Over the weekend, I rushed to the temple and got a gift from Xiao Xu: it turned out to be the peace charm that I had stepped on.
I messaged Xiao Xu: "Why did you send this to me?"
Xiao Xu said: "My mother asked me for a new one, this old one is related to you, and the thief spirit will be given to you." ”
I said, "Oh, you're doing a lot of things, I'm so good." ”
Xiao Xu said: "But do good deeds, don't ask about the future, you just take it." ”
I walked out with a small peace charm, as if I felt something.
When I looked back, the big Buddha covered in gold leaf was looking at me compassionately. His gestures, looks, were at me with an "ok".