Mengshan old monk, a 103-year-old senior monk, Buddhist monk, a generation of senior monks, 87 years of monks, devoted his life to preaching the teachings and propagating the Dharma, building monasteries and monks, there are many disciples under the seat, the footprints of the Dharma are all over most of China, but he embarked on the road to monasticism, but it is because of several dreams, he once said that his dreams are very enlightening, every time at a critical moment, there will always be dreams to give him inspiration and direction, today we come together to share the 2 dreams of the old monk mengsan on the road to monasticism.
The first dream: the old monk's hometown in the northeast Shenyang, in 1928, he came to the northeast to study in the wutang, to 1931, the 918 incident broke out, the three northeastern provinces were in danger, the wutang was merged into the Whampoa Military Academy, and continued to teach in Nanjing, there were many classmates transferred to Nanjing, the old monk was entangled between going and staying, he couldn't make up his mind for a while, just a few nights, he had a dream, dreaming that he fell into the sea, floating and sinking, his life was hanging in the balance, just at this time, a white-bearded old man drove by He rescued him and sent him ashore, and pointed to a palace-like building not far from the shore and said: See? That's where you'll be for the rest of your life.
After waking up from the dream, the old monk inquired to the people around him, asked if there were any large palace-like buildings around, and people told him that there was a temple not far from here, called Tushi Temple, the scale of the building was grand, like a palace, listening to this, the old monk was more interested and decided to go to find out.
In the Lecture Hall, the old monk was a cavalryman, and because of his relatives, he also got a petty officer, so that day he wore a military uniform and rode a high-headed horse to the Tushi Temple. Master XiuLin of the temple came out to greet him, thinking that he had arrived at a high official. The old monk said, Recently I had a dream, and the old man in the dream asked me to come here to become a monk, saying that this is my destination, and asked the master to accept me as an apprentice. When Master XiuLin saw that he was dressed like an officer, it looked like a monk, so he told him that this temple was a private temple, and only accepted permanent residence, not apprentices, so you should go back.
On the way back, the old monk also realized that it should be his own dress that was broken. A few days later, he came to the temple in plain clothes and rode a small donkey, and again asked the master to accept him as an apprentice, and when Master Xiulin recognized him, he felt that he was sincerely a monk, so he told him: Since the benefactor is bent on becoming a monk, then let's take you to the Yaowang Temple in Beijing to become a monk, where our little temple is, where the disciples are accepted. After coming to the Yaowang Temple, the old monk successfully became a monk here, and within a few days of his ordination, he just caught up with the Beijing Nianhua Temple to pass on the ordination, and was ordained there again.
The second dream: One night after his renunciation, the old monk had another dream, in the dream an old monk asked him to go to the Jiuhua Mountain, after waking up, the old monk told the temple usher in the dream, so the usher took him to a room, the room was full of portraits of the ancestor masters, that is, the ancestor masters who had practiced in this temple, and then let him identify one by one, to see which one was similar to the character in the dream, the old monk lay in front of the portrait, one by one, carefully watched, when he walked to the portrait of the master of the whole Rong, The old monk's eyes suddenly lit up: This old mage seemed. At this time, the initiator told him: This is the old master of Panrong, he is the embodiment of Jizo Bodhisattva, and it seems that he is related to you, so you should go to Jiuhua Mountain.
Beijing is thousands of miles away from Jiuhua Mountain, at that time the main means of transportation was the train, but to take the train to buy a ticket, ah, the old monk after the monk, strictly follow the precepts, to hold the silver money ring, so there is no penny in hand, how to buy a ticket ah? Just as he was pacing near the train station, an officer appeared in front of him and fixed his eyes on it, it turned out to be a brigade commander of the 87th Division, who had a relationship in the Lecture Hall that year, and his army was preparing to return to Nanjing, so the old monk took a ride and came to Nanjing first, and when they were separated, the brigade commander gave him thirty oceans as a coil on the road to the next stop.
After coming to Jiuhua Mountain, the dream at that time really came true, just in time for the 60-year Jizo Bodhisattva flesh opening ceremony, very holy, very solemn, because the flesh of the Jizo Bodhisattva, every year the nails and hair are still growing, every 60 years to open the tower to cut once, according to the old monk's personal account: Jizo Bodhisattva's flesh tower, every time demolished and rebuilt, is the country's famous tycoons donated money to build, that time, it was the Shanghai tycoons Jin Rong, Du Yuesheng, Wang Xiaolai jointly to build the tower, and worship the Jizo Bodhisattva. The bodhisattva left his physical body in order to bond with sentient beings and enhance the monastic confidence of the monks, and at this sight, the old monk's heart was deeply rooted in bodhichitta.