In the middle school Chinese textbook, there is a text called "Lights on a Winter Night.". The author is the Englishman Maurice Gibson. He wrote that he was once trying to go from a desolate town called Oakes in western Canada to a farm fifteen kilometers away to treat a child with a fever, but he did not know the road. As a result, each of the households along the way turned on the electric lights, and in the dark night, the lights formed a long chain of directions, which made him find the affected family smoothly. On return, the author writes: "Every time my car passes by, the lights then go out, and the lights in front of me are still shining, waiting for me..." The article is short but touching. On that night, the light was so important, like a lighthouse on the shore, leading the direction of the ship, like a beacon on the runway, indicating the path of landing.
The author did not describe the light specifically, but I thought that on that cold and windy winter night, when I saw the halo, my heart must have been very warm. Because the chain of light in the dark night is actually composed of love hearts, and it is the light of love that emanates.
Light brings light, fire brings warmth. Light brings hope to mankind.
Greek mythology says that the human world was able to obtain fire only because of Prometheus's love for mankind. For at that time, we weak human beings had not yet used the power of fire. Prometheus used the heavenly fire to ignite the first pile of leaves in the human jungle. The light of the fire pierced the long night and enlightened the wisdom of mankind. There has been a huge change between humans who use fire and those who don't. This angered the god Zeus, who locked Prometheus to the cliffs of the Caucasus Mountains and sent a vulture to peck at his liver every day.
The great Prometheus, who alone endured the suffering of the whole of mankind, left the light to the mortal world.
We know that without fire, human beings would not have the way of life they have today, nor would they have created such a splendid civilization. According to Han Feizi more than two thousand years ago, in the era when Ru Mao drank blood, "the people ate fruit clams, fishy and foul-smelled and hurt the stomach, and the people were sick." There are saints who do, drill and burn fire to make fishy, and the people say it, so that the king of the world, the trumpet of the flint. "The saint that Han Fei said did not fly from outside the sky, but came from the people, came from the ordinary, and was the ancestors who lived on the land of China. He made a tinder, which is only a "invention" in real life - drilling wood for fire. Prometheus took the "heavenly fire", saying that he took a branch of woody fennel and flew to the sun car to ignite it. No matter how it is obtained, human beings are always inseparable from fire. Fire not only brings warmth to people, but also brings light to the world, and more importantly, it has changed the way human beings live. The "cooked processing" of food by fire has completely changed the eating habits of human beings, and the glittering light of fire enables people to recognize things hidden in the darkness. Its lighting effect is even more important. Grilling food, transforming the "belly and stomach", and illuminating the heavens and the earth, opening the eyes, inspiring the mind. We can even say that from the fire to the oil lamp, the candle, and then to the electric lamp, this itself is a small microcosm of the history of the development of human intelligence.
When it comes to lights, readers can't help but think of the scene of the green lantern scrolls, although people say "habitual to the lights, Confucian sour state", but the joy of the readers is always free from this. The light illuminates the handwriting on the book, and that is the key to enlightenment, the holy fire that lights up the mind. Throughout the ages, those who have studied and asked questions have started from reading again and again and embarked on a road of searching up and down.
In China, in ancient times, there were too many stories of hard reading under the lamp, and there were too many to list, such as Kuang Heng's "chiseling the wall to steal light", such as Che Yin sac firefly, such as Sun Kang Yingxue... In the "Kaiyuan Tianbao Testament", there is also a record of "blowing fire to illuminate the book", which is intriguing to read. The story says that "Su Hao was less than his father's will, often mixed with his servants, and was tireless in learning." Whenever he wanted to read and suffered from no candles, he often swirled fire in the stable stove to illuminate the book and recite it, and his hard learning was so that he would reach the phase. Su Wei used the embers in the furnace to read, but instead practiced a good memory, that is, never forget. The New Book of Tang and the Biography of Su Wei say that he "reads a thousand words at a glance and recites them repeatedly." Su Yue's later literary fame was quite prosperous, and he was once on a par with Zhang Shuo, and was known as "Yan Xu's great hand". Su Hao's official documents were particularly well written, and even the emperor loved them, asking him to copy the official documents he had written in duplicate so that he could be repeatedly appreciated. Li Deyu later commented: "In recent times, the edicts are only self-written articles outside the narrative. From this, I think that in the beginning, it was the faint light of the fire in the stable that ignited a brilliant aura.
Anecdotes and anecdotes from palm-lamp night reading abound in history books, and the following two are quite investigative. First, there is a "Biography of Lü Sili" in the "History of the North", which says that Lü Sili "greeted Wei Xiaowugong, Fengwen Yangzi, plus champion general, and worshiped Huangmen Waiter." After Emperor Wen of Wei ascended the throne, he was "made a marquis" and was favored for a while. But he was in a high position of authority, "although he was also a military state, he could not release the volume." Take care of government affairs during the day, read books at night, make the head of the sky hold the candle, and the candle embers have several liters at night. "Reading a book for one night, there are litres of "candle embers" alone, whether this is an exaggeration, or whether the quality of those candles is too poor, we do not know. However, it is said that he is diligent and studies hard, but he is always not bad. The other is a record in Ban Gu's "Book of Han and Criminal Law Chronicle", saying that Qin Shi Huang, who burned books and pit Confucianism, was very diligent on weekdays: "Bowing to literature and ink, breaking prison during the day, rationalizing books at night, deciding things on his own, one of the hanging stones of the sun." Serve the pious note: "Hanging, weighing also." Stone, one hundred and twenty pounds also. Shi Huang Province read the documents, and the day took one hundred and twenty pounds as the journey. "I am afraid that it was only a matter of his time, and it was never heard of in later generations. However, every night under the lamp to read enough one hundred and twenty pounds of Jane, even if it is a sweat Jane Mu, I am afraid it is not easy.
The case is always inevitable, let alone hard reading at night? Just imagine, the night is deeper, all kinds of silence, or the cold window wind and cold, or the frost and rain, others have long entered the warm quilt, into the gentle township, and these scholars, but still alone with the lone lamp, is really endless loneliness and coldness. Probably because of this, someone has virtualized a situation of "red sleeves adding incense to the night reading", adding a little color to the bitter reading life: a touch of fat red, two tubes of green sleeves, a little fragrance, a little gentleness. But I have always been dismissive of this - if you really get a beautiful woman to accompany you, one will serve tea and soup, one will add incense and cut candles, and most of those readers do not have the concentration of Liu Xiahui to sit in the garden, and dong Zhongshu's concentration of not peeping into the garden for three years, only afraid of making the heart ape, where can I still read books? Of course, this is just a digression. In fact, the night is silent, the dust is far away, a lamp, a letter of ancient scrolls, immersed in the ink in the clouds, dedicated to the experience of the holy philosophical thoughts, like such a quiet, is not it the joy of life? Those who enjoy this are not tired, so why should they be bitter?
At this point, I suddenly thought: Most readers like to read at night, and night reading, no matter what, can not be separated from the lamp. But few people describe this eye-raising appliance. In the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Ming had a poem entitled "Lamp", a total of eight sentences, which only felt that the meaning of the text was plain, and there were few moving words, but it was still written in the book: "There is no happy event to spend a long newspaper, for there is a dusk to turn bright ... Except for the scrolls of the book, do not receive a little affection for the silver." The Song Dynasty king has a poem titled "Lantern Flower": "Creation cannot be managed, and it will open when it is about to open." Wash the day and rainy night, spring color full of silver table. Whether the lamp he wrote was used for indoor lighting or for desk reading is difficult to speculate. Although the sentence of this poem is plain, the intention is obviously better than that of Yuan Ming. Mr. Han Changli has a poem dedicated to the lamp: "The long eight feet are empty and long, and the short two feet are light... The night book is embellished with language, and the eyes are dizzy and snow-white. At this time, before bringing up the case, read the book until you know where you can sleep? Once rich and noble, he was still arrogant, and the long bar was high and illuminated. Sighing that the world is nothing else, the corner of the wall looks at the short abandonment. "The rich use the long bar, and the poor make the short one." The author is self-deprecating and intriguing. Therefore, Su Zizhan said: "Lest Han Gong be sad about the world, Bai Tou also told the "Short Lantern Bowl". And the sentence that mentioned Zhao Shixiu, "There is about half a night, idle knocking on chess pieces and falling lights", is very fresh, very leisurely, and very interesting. These are all about indoor lights and candles, and the great wild fire has another taste. "The sun and the moon rise, and the fire never stops", the light of the sun and the moon is the light of the sky, and although the fire is small, it is a human trace. The hurried walkers on the journey, walking on the night road, the most anticipated thing to see is probably the lights. However, although the lamp can relieve people's sense of loneliness, it is also very easy to arouse people's worries about travel. So the Tang Dynasty Zhang Ji had "Jiang Feng Fishing Fire to Sleep", and Zhang Jiuling was even more nostalgic for the moon, tossing and turning, so that "extinguishing the candle and pitying the light" ("Looking at the Moon Huaiyuan"), some meanings can not be stopped. All in all, think twice under the lights. In the eyes of these poets, whether it is a fishing fire in the wild or an indoor lamp, although the shapes are different, they always make people think of each other, which is no different from ancient and modern times.
Although readers cannot read at night without anointing candles, they must not think that they have a special love for lights and only reading books. In fact, that shining light is more sacred in the hearts of the monks than the laymen.
Regardless of whether they are Chinese or foreign, no matter what kind of pope, monks, priests, and even divinators, without exception, they must use the light to create a solemn and mysterious atmosphere for the ceremonies they hold. I have seen in churches abroad that two very tall and thick candles are lit on the altar in front of the icon of Jesus, and some prayer candles with a height of inches are placed on the side compartments for the devotees to use. Church windows are high and narrow, filled with stained glass, and the light in the halls is often dim. The flickering candlelight casts the figure of Jesus on the cross on the dark wall, making the atmosphere of the church seem particularly solemn, and even gives people a sense of mystery. In Our country, in the Taoist fasting, there is a ritual called the lamp, and the Taoist priest who performs the ritual holds a brilliant "lamp", symbolizing the illumination of the heavens and the descent of hell. It is said that in the extant Daozang, there are as many as twenty kinds of lamps described alone. Buddhism is no exception, and it can even be said that there are no temples and no lights. No matter which treasure place we walk into, we can definitely see the Green Lantern Ancient Buddha. In the main hall, the cigarettes are quiet, the sound of wooden fish is ethereal, and the butter lamp on the table in front of the Buddha is always day and night. That lamp reflects the buddha's charity face, and the bodhisattva's wish to save sentient beings is like the rain of the aura, which purifies the world.
Lamps have always had a special significance for Buddhism. Therefore, even the name of the Buddha is often associated with lamp and light. For example, "Burning Lamp Buddha", also known as Ingot Light Rulai or Puguang Rulai, Light Rulai, said that the day of his first birth, all four directions were bright, surpassing the sun and moon fire beads. The Buddha was so, the Buddhist texts, and also liked to use the lamp sutra. The famous Buddhist text "Five Lanterns Society" says in its preface: "Since Jingde, there is the "Chuan Lantern Record" in the world, followed by the "Guang Lantern", "Lian Lantern", "Continuation Lamp", and "Pu Lantern". The lights are continuous, the factions are branched, and they are one and the same. He who knows the lamp, breaks through the darkness to make his way clear. The phrase "break through the darkness of ignorance to illuminate its way" is the most clear interpretation of the Buddhist family's grand aspiration of saving suffering and suffering and purifying sentient beings. As long as everyone has compassion in their hearts and a little more love, this world will become a beautiful world.
Of course, you can not believe in Buddhism or you can have no religious beliefs at all, but you cannot deny that all orthodox religions in the world initially used love as the starting point of their teachings. Religions that do not speak of love at all, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, cannot be passed down through the ages. It is precisely for this reason that in my mind, Buddhism has not been regarded as a mere belief. Religion in my eyes, more than that, is a human ambition for goodness, a tireless quest for the ultimate answer to life, and is it not consistent with our purpose of reading and seeking knowledge? And those Sutras, I think, are not just teachings for believers to recite, they are actually more like a proverb for the elderly to care for and persuade the elders to be good in their later lives. Isn't this in line with the beliefs of human fraternity and benevolence? These reflections are the enlightenment that the temples I have visited and the Buddha have given me. And this enlightenment may be illuminated by the holy flame of Jesus and the wisdom of the Buddha!
Thinking like this, I felt as if I had been immersed in the sound of the Dharma drum and wooden fish, and a soft woman's song sounded in my ears, and the name of the song was called "Heart Lamp":
Light a lamp of heart to illuminate the world,
Look at the pure earth of the world right in front of you.
A heart, a truth, a person, an acre of land,
The seeds of happiness come at a thought.
Close your eyes and fold your hands together,
I felt compassion spreading.
When tears wash away the face,
It is the manifestation of manna.
Close your eyes and close your hands together,
A wish for immeasurable goodness,
Bodhichitta never fades.
About the author: Li Hanjun
Li Hanjun, since childhood, likes to write, but reads more and writes less. And long, but a few years of knowledge, years of doctors, years of editing, with the waves, drifting and uncertain. Transferred to the civil servant, tailoring the wedding dress, Fang sat for a few years in the small jeep, and in the blink of an eye became a tian sheweng. So he buried his head in the pile of books again, and re-practiced the ink; boiled words and refined words, and talked about the soldiers on the paper, without him, sex books were born.