Chapter 9 New Ideas

  The Guiyun Temple is located on the edge of Yanghe County Town.

  Guiyuan Temple is not only famous in Yanghe and Changtan City, but also throughout Lianjiang Province. It has a history of several hundred years. During the war of resistance against Japan, due to the large-scale migration of people, Guiyuan Temple reached its peak. Every time there was a temple fair, it was crowded with people, and those who came to burn incense had to wear old clothes that they didn't plan to wear again, otherwise their new clothes would be damaged by the smoke from other people's incense.

  The reason why Guiyun Temple is so famous is that it has a magical place, where the Buddha statue in the main hall can emit a mysterious Buddhist light. However, Lu Zhengdong had not really seen this spectacle before, as it was destroyed during the period of smashing the Four Olds, and later in the 1990s, a big fire burned down the original buildings of Guiyun Temple, and the Buddha light was lost forever.

  Lu Zhengdong didn't believe it, Guiyunt Temple was very famous and he had never been there before.

  Hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once, the Guiyuan Temple in front of me is far from what I heard.

  All the way up, he didn't meet anyone else, and even at the mountain gate, he didn't see any vendors selling things. The entire temple building looked a bit dilapidated and disordered, revealing its age, but from the magnificent architecture, one could vaguely see a shadow of its former prosperity.

  Entering the grand hall, incense wafts through the air, yet there are no tourists in sight. The bells and chimes inside the temple resound in unison, chanting is at its peak, but not a single monk comes to greet us.

  Lu Zhengdong stood to one side, sizing up the great hall. Suddenly, a dazzling five-colored light burst forth from between the eyebrows of the Buddha statue in the center of the hall, shining down on him.

  This situation also made Lu Zhengdong a bit dazed. His luck was really too good, and he actually caught up with the Buddha opening his heavenly eye?!

  But Lu Zhengdong soon came up with a negative answer. He had heard that the Golden Belt Temple had such a strange light, which was as famous as the mysterious and wonderful light of Qixia Temple in the south, but it seemed to have been destroyed in the mid-1990s.

  Lu Zhengdong raised his head and carefully looked at the space between the eyebrows of the Buddha statue, and finally made a discovery. The light was not emitted by the Buddha statue itself, but there should be a hole on the wall of the main hall, and the light was projected onto the space between the eyebrows of the Buddha statue through the hole. In the middle of the eyebrows of the Buddha statue, something that could reflect light should be installed, which would project sunlight to where he stood under the sun's illumination.

  Lu Zhengdong couldn't help but admire the cleverness of this design, which is extremely difficult to achieve because the sun is moving and it's not easy to accurately shine the light on that point between the eyebrows of the Buddha statue, especially hundreds of years ago. It must have taken a lot of careful thought to create something like this.

  Lu Zhengdong has been thinking about how to open the light products these days. This five-colored light suddenly gave him some new ideas: Now, even if there is an opening of light now, it's just asking some monks to do a ceremony. If we use this way to open the light and ask someone to record the whole process, attach one copy to each product, wouldn't it be a unique piece? Wouldn't the shockwave be huge? Such scarce things, people who believe in them will go crazy for them...

  "Amitabha Buddha, the patron has a good Buddhist affinity..."

  An old monk with a white beard floated over, his pace neither hurried nor slow, with a somewhat otherworldly air about him.

  Lu Zhengdong smiled secretly in his heart: Good Buddhist affinity?

  This is just a monk's trick to create an air of mystery.

  Lu Zhengdong thought for a moment, then clasped his hands together and bowed slightly towards the old monk, smiling:

  "With a good intention in mind, there must be good deeds; with good intentions and good deeds, heaven will surely bless them. It seems that this saying still makes some sense..."

  The old monk's eyes lit up and he smiled slightly, saying:

  "Amitabha Buddha, the donor's words indeed have a hint of Zen flavor, truly a person with affinity..."

  Lu Zhengdong also smiled and said:

  "Master is overpraising me, I just travel more and have some insights..."

  The old monk twirled his whiskers and smiled slightly, saying:

  "If you have time, would you like to sit down for a moment next door?"

  Lu Zhengdong smiled and nodded, he was also thinking of opening his mind and wanted to find an opportunity to learn more about Buddhism.

  After sitting down, Lu Zhengdong smiled and asked:

  "Haven't asked for the master's Dharma name yet..."

  "This humble monk Song Chan is merely the abbot of this temple and does not deserve to be called a great master..."

  Lu Zhengdong smiled and looked around at the furnishings in the room, saying:

  "Master Fangzhang, Guanyin Temple is also a famous temple, and it has such a rare sight. This is not only the best of Buddhism but also a unique flower in the history of architecture. Why don't you repair it carefully?"

  Song Chan did not evade:

  "In the summer, torrential rains caused damage, and the temple's roof leaked, so the temple reluctantly carried out repairs. The Buddha's light reappeared, but this had exhausted the temple's finances, and to make a thorough renovation, long-term planning was still needed..."

  The old monk's expression was still somewhat troubled by this matter.

  Lu Zhengdong had little contact with monks, and in his imagination, Buddhist figures like Fangzhang would definitely have a few mysterious words and deeds, but after getting in touch, it was not as he imagined.

  Lu Zhengdong thought for a moment and felt relieved. After all, monks are also human beings. Although Buddhist monks advocate for the emptiness of the four elements, when it comes to promoting Buddhism and repairing temples, they cannot be empty-handed.

  Lu Zhengdong smiled secretly in his heart. Lacking money made some things easier to handle. Lu Zhengdong hesitated for a moment before asking:

  "How much would it cost if we just did some simple repairs?"

  "At least tens of millions..."

  Lu Zhengdong nodded. At present, the common people are not very wealthy, and the incense money for Buddhist charity is limited. Guanyin Temple is a national key temple, but it is only a municipal-level cultural relic protection unit. The financial situation is difficult to make ends meet, and it is almost impossible to allocate funds from the finance department. Ten million yuan is not a small amount for Guanyin Temple, no wonder the abbot is worried.

  Guīyún Temple is in urgent need of money, which makes it even more promising. However, the key lies with this Buddha's Light Lu Zhengdong who thought for a moment and asked:

  "Is there any regularity in the Buddha's light of your temple?"

  Song Zhen sank into thought, seemingly having some difficulty.

  Lu Zhengdong smiled to himself. The more mysterious something was, the more attractive it became. Song Zhen would definitely not want to reveal it to outsiders, so he smiled and explained:

  "I didn't mean anything else, since we have such a good relationship with Guiyuan Temple, I couldn't just sit back and do nothing. If these buildings aren't repaired soon, they might be ruined. It just so happens that I'm about to go on a trip to the south, where there are many wealthy believers who are very devout in Buddhism. If they can see such a situation, maybe they can solve the abbot's problem."

  "Following the usual pattern, it will appear for a few days in mid-October and November, with October being the best time, but that depends on whether there is fate."

  Lu Zhengdong nodded and thought that there was still a great hope for the opening of the light, so Lu Zhengdong discussed his idea with Song Chan.

  Song Chan thought of raising funds for repairs, probably with a burning anxiety, and naturally couldn't get what he sought, so he hastily agreed.

  Lu Zhengdong then inquired in detail about the history of Guiyuan Temple, and made an appointment to meet again when he returned from the south before taking his leave.