Chapter 90: Temple of Mercy
After listening to his description, I sighed: "It's really pitiful."
"So," He Qingyou said, "I have been brooding over this for years. I often have nightmares about my son. I see him struggling in the water, his body soaked and rotten, stretching out his hands and calling for help from his father... When I wake up, my face is full of tears."
After dinner, I called Chen Meiyu. I didn’t tell her the specific matter, but just said that I had taken on a very difficult job and wondered if she could help.
I thought Chen Meiyu would refuse outright, but she thought about it carefully and said, "I can help you, but I have something to do here. Do you think it's urgent? I can't leave for a while."
I looked at He Qingyou beside me and asked how long it would take.
"Today or tomorrow." Chen Meiyu paused: "I'm exorcising the devil."
I joked and asked if I could go over and take a look to broaden my horizons.
In fact, this is a very unreasonable request. The reason I said this is that I hope to take He Qingyou to see it so that he will be convinced.
Chen Meiyu said: "Sure, you can come to the Mercy Temple and go directly to find Elder Keats. I am in his meditation room."
After hanging up the phone, I told He Qingyou that I was going to find a master who was performing an exorcism. Would you like to go and take a look?
He Qingyou became interested, "Yes, of course will." He looked me up and down, "Mr. Lin, let's go to the mall first. I'll ask my assistant to help you choose a set of clothes, and then we'll go together."
He arranged the rest of the things. We first went to one of the largest shopping malls in Jiangbei City. The entire second floor was filled with world-renowned brands. He Qingyou had several assistants, one of whom was an image designer. The girl was very serious and took me to try on clothes. She tried on each one of them. Each piece of clothing cost more than a thousand yuan. I was quite reserved at first, but then I thought, He Qingyou has a lot of money, so it would be a waste if I didn't squeeze him. If I miss this opportunity, I'll miss it.
After changing clothes, I also needed to buy a pair of pants, and finally picked out a pair of shoes. Wow, I looked several years younger after putting them on. Professionalism is something special.
The girl was still not satisfied and insisted on taking me to a beauty salon to get my hair done. I quickly waved my hand and said forget it, I didn't have that much time.
When we got into He Qingyou's car, he looked me up and down and laughed: " Mr. Lin is indeed a handsome man."
I was so happy that I looked at myself in the rearview mirror and thought: “As expected, clothes match people, saddles match horses, and bells match dogs.”
He Qingyou took out a bottle of cologne from the drawer and sprayed it on me: "Come on, come on, try this one."
“No, no.” I was about to refuse, but it was too late. The whole car was filled with that smell, which made me unable to open my eyes. “I never wear perfume.”
He Qingyou smiled and said, "Mr. Lin, you have to learn how to dress yourself up in the future. This is not pretentious. We men also have to pay attention to image etiquette when we are in social occasions."
He stepped on the accelerator and the car sped away, heading straight for the Mercy Temple.
Cibei Temple is located in the suburbs of the city. It is a famous temple in the city and is definitely ranked among the top three in terms of size.
I'm not that interested in places like this and have never been there. I often see posts on WeChat Moments from my colleagues showing them visiting the Compassion Temple or attending religious ceremonies, which make them seem very high up.
The Cibei Temple is surrounded by a mountain forest park. After entering the park, you have to drive for more than ten minutes along the winding mountain road to reach the temple. After parking the car, you still have to climb hundreds of steps. When we arrived at the temple entrance, I was fine, but He Qingyou was already sweating profusely.
There are many willow trees growing at the entrance of the temple. When the breeze blows, the branches sway and the sound of cicadas can be heard. We did not go in for a while, but stood here in a trance, and our souls really wandered away for a moment.
After entering the temple, we met a monk and explained our purpose. The monk led us to the office where there was a deacon monk. The deacon monk made another phone call and asked us about it. After a while, he said to us, "Please follow me, donors."
Going out from the back door of the office, I arrived at the restricted area of the temple. There was a sign at the door saying "No entry for tourists".
Walking here, my biggest feeling is that there is an ancient temple hidden in the deep mountains. The places that tourists can go are not the core areas of the temples, and the really interesting places are hidden in them.
After passing through several moon gates and going up a flight of stairs, a deep and secluded Zen temple appeared in front of us. There was a very strange sign with two words on it: "Mohe".
The deacon monk led us to the entrance of the courtyard and then left. Even he could not enter this place. He Qingyou and I looked at each other and felt a little panic. Even Lao He, such a big boss, felt a little uneasy.
A young monk came out of the courtyard, came in front of us and put his hands together, "You two donors, are you looking for Ms. Chen Meiyu? Please come in."
When I saw this monk, my heart suddenly skipped a beat and I blurted out, "Yuantong?!"
This person turned out to be the Wang Yuantong whom we met in the bardo realm!
At the time, I thought this person was strange and mysterious. Li Daming and I speculated about his origins, but there was no conclusion. Later, we came to Huang Teng for internship and forgot about it. I didn't expect to see him here. This guy is a monk?!
Yuantong was startled and looked up at me, "Donor, have we met before?"
I was invisible in the bardo, so he had never seen me, but I had seen him. I hid my inner shock and laughed, "I've been to the Compassion Temple before and saw you doing your homework. I casually asked other monks and someone mentioned you."
Yuantong's eyes rolled around, obviously not believing me, but he had never seen me before, so there was nothing he could do. It was not convenient for him to ask more questions at this time, so he stepped out of the way and said, "Please come in, both of you."
We followed him into a long corridor leading upwards.
It's hard to imagine who built this corridor. It feels similar to a Jiangnan garden, with winding paths, carved beams and painted buildings. Every few meters on the wall there are paintings in ink and color, as well as calligraphy by ancient people.
There is one poem that is the most bizarre, called "Reading the Tao Te Ching", and the signature is actually Bai Juyi, with beautiful handwriting. I can only recognize two lines: "The house full of gold and jade is not my own, and my descendants are others'."
I stopped and asked, "Master Yuantong, isn't the Tao Te Ching a Taoist book? Why is it inscribed on the wall of your temple?"
Yuantong waved his hands quickly, "Donor, please don't call me elder, just call me by my Buddhist name 'Yuantong', or you can call me little monk. The question you are talking about is this: Elder Jici, the abbot of Cibei Temple, is extremely compassionate, wise and enlightened. When wisdom and enlightenment reach a certain level, they are in harmony with the 'Tao', which is the 'Tao' in the Tao Te Ching. 'Tao' is just a name, another way of saying wisdom, don't be bound by sectarian views."
"Oh, well said!" He Qingyou clapped beside him, "Great monk! Yuantong, you have the potential to become a great monk in the future."
Yuantong shook his head and waved his hands: "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it."
"What is there to be ashamed of?" A voice came from the corridor.
We looked up and saw an old monk standing at the exit of the uppermost corridor. He was plain-looking, with calm eyes. He was wearing a monk's robe in such a hot day, and there was no sweat on his head. Anyone could tell at a glance that he was a great man.
"Master." Yuantong said hurriedly.
He Qingyou and I quickly put our hands together and bowed to the old monk.
The old monk smiled and said, "Yuantong, the two donors just said that you have the potential to become a great monk. Why do you say you don't dare to accept it? Do you think that your practice will not reach this level in the future?"
Yuantong smiled playfully: "Master, I am just being modest."
"Are you being modest to yourself or to the two donors?" asked the old monk.
"This..." Yuantong was speechless for a moment.
The old monk said, "Please come up, my two distinguished guests. The lay Buddhist Mei Yu you are looking for is in the meditation room."
Yuantong and I climbed up the stairs step by step. With the old monk around, we didn't dare to say anything.
When we got to the top, the old monk took us through the hall. The Buddhist hall here is not large, and it enshrines a life-size statue of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. It turns out that this is Samantabhadra's dojo.
When I arrived at the backyard, it was very quiet. The yard was not big but very exquisite. I saw Chen Meiyu sitting on the steps on one side, her brows furrowed, staring at a person in the middle of the yard.
The person in the middle of the yard was a very beautiful girl with long flowing hair and looked extremely fragile. But the strange thing was that she was tied up with ropes all over her body and was kneeling on the ground, looking like a young wife who had suffered a grievance.
He Qingyou was unhappy at the time: "Why are you still tying people up?"
The old monk said, "Don't misunderstand, this woman is followed by an inhuman being."
"What does non-human mean?" He Qingyou asked.
The old monk said: "God has the virtue of loving life. It is not only humans who can have spiritual wisdom. All living things have the opportunity to open up spiritual wisdom. Then there will be non-human beings. When they have spiritual wisdom, they will attach themselves to humans to seek practice and awaken wisdom."
The old monk's words were so confusing that they made me dizzy. I simply explained: "It's a ghost."
"Wrong!" Yuantong said beside him, "Ghost is not the correct word. There is also spirit. The one possessing this woman now is a cat spirit."
He Qingyou and I both hissed inhaled cold air.
Chen Meiyu saw us and came over. "Lin Cong, you saw it too. My friend was possessed. The thing that possessed her was too fierce. I couldn't handle it alone, so I came to the Mercy Temple and asked Elder Keats for help."
The old monk nodded slightly.
It turns out that he is Monk Keats.
