In summer, the weather is hot and humid, and it is the rainy season, the climate is humid, and everything is very easy to be damaged by mildew. People firmly believe that on the day of "June 6", clothes will not be moth-eaten, and books and books will not be beetle. In the Ming Dynasty, there was a practice of "Huan Hui Shi Vessel, Mu Hair, Bath Hound", according to legend, this day is the birthday of the sun, the sun is particularly strong, everything that has been sunburned on this day, the insect will not bite. The palace of the Ming Dynasty was also in the sun on this day. As a result, the government also dried official uniforms, scholars dried books, and monks dried scriptures on this day.
Text: Venerable Buddha Hui
The origin of the Sutra Festival
Every year on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, it is the traditional Buddhist scripture day, also known as the "Sutra Festival" and "Sutra Turning Festival". Legend has it that Master Xuanzang took the scriptures from the west and accidentally fell into the water, and Xuanzang exposed the scriptures to the stone in order to ensure that the scriptures were brought back in good condition.
The Buddhist scriptures treasured by the temple are stored in the "Tibetan scripture building" for many years, which are prone to moldy beetles, and the monks and nuns of the temple will gather believers on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month every year to take out the collected scriptures and turn them over to prevent the scriptures from being damp and bitten by insects and rats.
The story of Buddhism
Speaking of the scriptures, there is such a legend in Buddhism:
There used to be a big temple, the temple enshrined a Qianlong Tripitaka, every year on the sixth day of the sixth month of June, the Tibetan scriptures will be invited out to dry.
One year, on the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth month, at noon, a cow from the neighboring house of the temple suddenly ran to the temple's drying place and smelled the "Myoho-renge-kyo" that was drying with his nose. When the monks of the monastery saw this, they hurriedly called the owner of the cow. The owner of the cow was worried that the cow would damage the scriptures, so he hurriedly pulled the cow home. But the old cow struggled and refused to go, and still had to smell the scriptures, but he was taken away. Not long after he returned, the old cow suddenly died without illness.
After the death of the cow, with the karma of the past, it was reincarnated as a human. This child was born very intelligent. At the age of twenty, he won the top prize and was named the master of Daotai by the emperor.
One day, the Taoist passed by the temple where he had heard the scriptures in his previous life, and when he heard the sound of chanting coming from inside, he walked in out of curiosity. Entering the monastery, he suddenly felt that the environment inside was very familiar and familiar. But when I think about it, I have never been here in my life. When he saw the monks reciting the Lotus Sutra, he subconsciously followed it, but he couldn't recite it halfway through.
He felt more and more strange, and thought to himself: Why do you recite sutras even if you have never read any Buddhist scriptures in this life? And why did the first part of the recitation go smoothly, but then it didn't follow? What's up? So, he found the old monk in the temple and asked the old monk to explain and solve his doubts.
The old monk smiled and said, "The principle of cause and effect mentioned in Buddhism is not at all unpleasant. I know a little bit about your problem, but I'm afraid you won't like to say it, so it's inconvenient to say it.
After hearing this, Lord Daotai insisted on asking the old monk to tell the reason, and said that he would never be angry. In this way, the old monk told him about his previous life as an ox and relying on the merits of hearing half a volume of Buddhist scriptures, etc., and reincarnated as a human in this life, and explained: "What you will recite now is the scriptures you heard in your previous life; What you can't recite is the part you didn't smell in your previous life. Subsequently, the old monk told him: "Life is rare, and Buddhism smells bad." You should use your rare human life to support the Dharma and repay the Buddha's kindness!
After listening to the words of the old monk, Lord Daotai suddenly came to his senses and thanked him.
Although the legend is mysterious, it is true that the Buddhist scriptures can increase wisdom. After the Buddha attained Nirvana, the Dharma he preached was "collected in the scriptures" many times and recorded in writing to form our current scriptures, which are the Buddha's teachings and teachings, which can purify our minds and guide us to realize the truth and reality of life in the universe. By practicing it, one can make one's mind feel at ease, and even reach the state of liberation, see one's nature, and become enlightened and become a Buddha.
The meaning of the sun
Master Yinguang said:
"The scriptures are the teachers of the Buddhas of the three worlds, and if they come to the Dharma body relics, they should also be regarded as true Buddhas, and they should not be seen as paper and ink. When the image of the scriptures, it should be like a loyal minister to serve the holy lord, and a filial son to read the will. If this is the case, then there will be no karma and no dissipation, and there will be no blessing and wisdom and it will not be enough. ”
"Yu often said that if you want to benefit from the Dharma, you must seek respect. If there is a point of respect, a point of sin will be eliminated, and a point of blessing will be increased; If you are very respectful, you will eliminate 10 points of sinful karma and increase 10 points of blessing and wisdom. If there is no respect and there is blasphemy, the karma of sin will increase, and the blessing will decrease. ”
The great masters of the past generations have all been extremely respectful of the scriptures and regard the scriptures as more important than their own lives. Using the Dharma as a mirror, and taking the actions of the Buddha and the great masters as a mirror, we should understand that all the scriptures are used to help us attain wisdom, liberation, and even nirvana. On today's festival on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, we must treat it with a respectful heart in order to receive special merits and fruits.