One

  Do you still remember that to the northwest of the Nunnery, just a stones throw away, stood the Wu Shan Temple.

  They are both morning bells and evening drums, but one is declining and the other is prospering. One is quiet and the other is moving, one is cold and the other is hot, the contrast is striking. When the nunnery was abandoned, all the scenery went to Wu Shan Temple. Until the nunnery became a primary school, everything changed again. The declining, quiet, and cold one is Wu Shan Temple; the prospering, dynamic, and hot one is the school.

  The greater contrast is in every households every morning.

  Grandma went out, to the temple to recite scriptures. Six or seven old ladies from the neighborhood waited in the village and walked together, all with bound feet, walking with a twist and turn. Unlike doing chores at home every day, when going to the temple, they changed into a clean black cotton jacket, which was much larger than their body size, so it looked a bit comical twisting on the road. A hundred paces out of the village, they got onto the narrow stone slab road, and old ladies from other villages also gathered together. The stone slab road still had last nights dew and grew moss, and the old ladies twisted even more carefully, even more exaggeratedly, and even more uniformly. From a distance, it was clearly a long line of black-shirted bats dancing, the name of the dance is called "Daily Worship".

  When grandma left, she combed her little grandsons hair. The little grandson had already put on his backpack, but he didnt go with his grandmother. He went east and walked along a wide dirt road to school. The way to school was like reciting scriptures, and there were companions joining halfway. When the children gathered, they jumped and laughed, playing and making noise all the way to school. Under the gate of the school, which looked like a memorial arch, among the flowers that were half tender yellow and half light purple, Teacher He stood with a smile today. She was checking each childs clothes, telling them to button up their buttons and pull down their pants legs. Some children liked to walk barefoot, hanging their shoes around their necks with a rope. Teacher He asked them to take off their shoes, put them on again, and then enter the classroom.

  The school bell rang, and coincidentally, the bell at Wu Shan Temple also started ringing. Teacher He looked up to the west and saw that the black-robed bats were still dancing on the stone road in front of the temple.

  The mysterious and unclear origins of the female teachers gave them a clear common stance, which is that they dislike tradition, dislike old-fashioned things, including temples and black shirted bat dance.

  Although she didnt like it, Ms. He still looked at it for a long time as usual. She took out a handkerchief folded into a very small size from her pocket and quickly wiped the corner of her eyes, as if recalling something.

  Two

  The bell in the temple rang again, and the crisp sound of the wooden fish came over. Next was the Wu Shan Temples Sheng Chan monk leading the chanting of scriptures, with the old ladies following along. Although the words couldnt be made out clearly, the tone could envelop the surrounding fields steadily.

  Mr. He was already teaching in class, the course content was compiled by several female teachers together, and todays lesson name is "Common Sense", which is about the Earth. Upon hearing the chanting voice, Mr. He frowned and walked down from the podium to the west window of the classroom, stretched out his hand and closed that newly installed glass window. The chanting voice was also shut outside.

  The clearest chanting sounds started in the evening, when it was all male voices, without any old ladies voices following. According to the temples terminology, this is what the monks were doing "doing lessons". It turned out that they also used a "lesson" character, sticking with school.

  At that time, the female teachers in the school were also doing something related to "class", which was preparing lessons. In the dark fields, there were only two lights, the candlelight of Wushan Temple and the kerosene lamp of the school. Other houses couldnt afford candles and kerosene, so they went dark as soon as night fell.

  The villagers like to watch the two lights from their own wooden windows. Because this place is blocked by mountains and water, it has belonged to bandits since ancient times as soon as night falls. The bandits are divided into two factions, with Chen Jinmu and Wang Yangyang as their leaders. Chen Jinmu is relatively rich, so his followers carry black iron lanterns when they come out at night; Wang Yangyang has less money but more people, so his followers carry red paper lanterns made of bamboo strips when they come out at night. In the past, as long as villagers saw these two kinds of lanterns from a distance, they would quickly close their doors and hold their breath to listen quietly through the window gaps.

  After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Jinmu and Wang Yangyang both had their followers spread the word that they were willing to participate in the resistance against Japan and would no longer harass the people. As a result, these two types of lanterns also became fewer at night.

  Long before these two lanterns frequently appeared, they also dared to bypass the temple lights. The bandits were a little afraid of Buddha and did not dare to get close. So, for many years, in rural areas at night, there were only bandit lanterns and Buddhist lanterns. One evil one good, one wild one literate, advancing and retreating, waxing and waning. Finally, the bandit lanterns gradually dimmed, the Buddhist lanterns hung alone, fortunately, school lights joined in.

  The villagers got up in the middle of the night and looked out the window. Even with sleepy eyes, they couldnt help but smile.

  On the windowsill bamboo table, there is an old ladys chanting bag that she needs to recite; next to it is a childs schoolbag.

  Three

  The monk in the temple and the female teacher at school had never had a chance to meet each other.

  One time, on the muddy road west of the school, two young monks who were about to return to the temple saw a small sheep being tripped by a stone and almost fell into the river. They were compassionate and wanted to "cherish life", so they immediately lifted their robes and went forward, pulling up the rope around the sheeps neck and tying it to a small tree by the side of the road. At this time, two rows of newly planted trees stood on both sides of the muddy road, stretching far into the distance.

  Several boys playing nearby gathered around, and the two little monks smiled and nodded at them before continuing on their way. Just then, our teacher He rushed out of the school gate, panting heavily, her chest heaving as she ran to the small tree. She quickly bent down to untie the rope tied to the tree and said to the boys: "The sheep is going to break the sapling, hurry up and return it to its owner!"

  At this point, the two monks who had only walked a few steps were stunned. Their "cherish life and protect life" mainly referred to humans and animals, but they didnt care much about plants. They ate vegetarian for the sake of cherishing life, not eating animals, only eating plants. They understood that little sheep needed protection, but they didnt understand that little trees also needed protection. At this moment, their hearts were a bit confused, yet they felt that the female teacher was right. Adding to the confusion, they hadnt expected the female teacher to be such a beauty, so after glancing at her once, they didnt dare look directly at her again, only listening intently with their ears perked up, their eyes fixed on the children.

  Ms. He didnt look at the monk, and when she did, she wanted to greet him, but didnt know what to say. She was unfamiliar with temples and monks, so she could only explain to the children in a soft tone: "This tree has just been planted and is still tender. By the time you graduate, this tree will have grown up, and this road will have become a shaded path. At that time, it will be the hottest summer day, and you can take a cool walk to the county town to take the middle school entrance exam."

  It turns out that the teachers "cherish life and protect life" has a broader scope, including trees, tree-lined paths, childrens growth, and even taking exams in middle school.

  One by one, the children felt a bit proud, thinking that their teachers standards were higher than those of the monks, and the schools level was higher than that of the temple. In the morning, watching their grandmother go to the temple to recite scriptures, they walked to school with even quicker steps.

  The teacher still did as usual, and whenever he heard the chanting from the temple, he would close the classroom windows.

  However, an article written by a classmate changed the teachers view of the temple.

  The composition of elementary school is very simple, the teacher gives a topic, and the students write a few sentences.

  This time, the teacher assigned a topic called "A Strange Thing". If todays children were to write about it, they would probably all be similar, but for children from remote mountain villages decades ago, it was different. One student wrote that when he was four years old, he was kidnapped by a bandit, and the villagers chased after him. The bandit took him into a temple fair, but after coming out of the temple fair, the bandit became a different person and sent him back home. He thought back on it and felt that this thing was very strange.

  The teacher thought this composition was interesting and specially organized a class discussion.

  The teacher asked: "Is this man really a bandit?"

  The student said: "Yes. Mom said he is under Chen Jinmu."

  The teacher asked: "He didnt take you away as a joke, did he?"

  "The student said: No. All the adults in my family, as well as the neighbors next door, went to chase after him. He carried me and ran desperately, but when he couldnt run anymore, we hid in a temple fair."

  The teacher asked: "Is there a lot of people at the temple fair?"

  "The students said: Its crowded, people are packed in like sardines."

  The teacher asked: "Did that bandit see someone he knew? Was there anyone talking to him?"

  The student said: "No, he just squeezed through the crowd and walked very slowly, even slower than a monk reciting scriptures."

  The teacher asked: "Is the monk always reciting sutras?"

  The student said: "Monks recite, all the incense guests are reciting, recitation becomes singing, and the combined sound is very loud, just like the tide of Linhu Lake during the typhoon season."

  The teacher asked: "Such a loud noise, didnt it scare you?"

  The student said: "No, I listened and listened until I fell asleep. When I woke up, I saw that he had squeezed to the temple gate, staring at a Buddha statue in a daze. Then, he sent me back home."

  The teacher thought for a moment and said: "I seem to understand a bit. This bandit must have entered the temple for the first time."

  "Why did he suddenly change?"

  The teacher smiled and said, "The old him was washed away by the tide of Shanglin Lake."

  The teacher asked the student to take her to a temple in a few days.

  The teacher also entered the temple for the first time and looked very slowly. After coming out, he told the students that they can go there many times.

  Four

  That day, Mr. He taught the students a song. After school, the students arrived at the temple and wanted to play a not-so-small joke, using their singing voices to compete with the monks who were reciting sutras.

  That days chanting was still led by Master Xing Chan, with the other monks following. The chanting was rich and smooth, elegant and calm.

  The students hid outside the incense table, and suddenly a female classmate, He Ying, led the singing with a clear and tender voice. The others were all boys, who deliberately used a steady tone to match it. This singing scared the monks.

  The students sang:

  Outside the Long Pavilion

  Ancient road side

  Fresh grass stretches as far as the eye can see.

  The evening wind blows through the willows, the sound of the flute is faint.

  The sunset is outside the mountain.

  ……

  The monks chanting stopped, and the temple was left with only the students singing voices.

  The students finished singing and heard a voice coming from beside the wooden fish: "Wait a minute!"

  As the sound rose up, it was Zen Master Hui-chung who stood up and asked: "What were you singing just now?"

  The children thought they were going to be scolded and nervously recited the lyrics of the song.

  "Come, come into my chamber," said the awakened Zen master.

  The Zen room is very clean, with rows of scripture boxes standing on the wall. The monk walks to the table, picks up his brush and unfolds the paper, letting the children recite again sentence by sentence as he writes along. After finishing writing, he murmurs to himself for a while, nods and says: "Well written, is it your teachers handwriting?"

  As he spoke, he opened a tin can on the table, took out some canned fruit, and distributed it among the children to eat.

  The next day at school, he told He Laoshi about it and the monk praised her for writing a good song.

  Mr. He burst out laughing and said, "How could I have written it? That was written by Li Shuangtong. Hes a famous musician."

  A few days later, the children came back to the temple. Monk Xing Chan knew the name of the song writer and wrote down the three characters with a brush: Li Shu Tong.

  After finishing, the monk Wuxian muttered a sentence: "This is indeed similar to Master Hongyi of Wuque Temple." He looked up and thought for a while before laughing again, "Master Hongyi is strict in his precepts, and upon hearing this kind of song and dance entertainment, he would turn around and leave immediately."

  "Master Hongyi? How do you write Hong Yi in two characters?" The children felt it was their responsibility to tell Teacher He every word the monk said.

  Mr. He listened to the childrens account and immediately stood up from his chair, saying: "Ah, Li Shu Tong is actually Master Hongyi! How did he end up at Wupai Temple?"

  Wukai Temple is not far from Wushan Temple, but its separated by several mountains. One mountain is just a "kai", and its not easy to get over. However, Wukai Temple has a high status in the Buddhist world, and Wushan Temple is just its subordinate unit. Monk Xingchan often goes there.

  Taking advantage of the summer vacation, Mr. He invited two other female teachers, accompanied by a village aunt and followed by two older students, to climb mountains and cross ridges to arrive at Wupai Temple, only wanting to pay respects to Master Hongyi. However, the master had already set out on his staff far away. The teachers asked the monks in Wupai Temple about various things regarding the master. The monks smiled a lot but said little.

  On the way back, the three teachers became more and more surprised, and their conversation became more and more lively.

  "Its really him! Our students sang his song to compete with the monks, who would have thought that he himself became a monk!"

  "So well-versed in modern culture and education, how could you turn back to Buddhism?"

  "Is this a step backward or forward?"

  "Its definitely an upgrade, its just that were still too superficial and cant comprehend it."

  ……

  Five

  At graduation time, the small trees by the roadside had indeed grown up, but they couldnt be called a shaded path yet.

  There were four students who had to go to the county town for a middle school examination, and they came to the elementary school to bid farewell to their teachers. They didnt tell the teachers that early this morning, several grandmothers had already taken them to the temple to worship Buddha, and the monks even chanted three scriptures for their journey.

  "After finishing middle school, we will definitely come back." The students promised their teacher.

  "Dont guarantee that." Teacher He stopped her, smiling and waving her hand, "Look at this village, this countryside, originally bandits were rampant, fortunately there was a batch of outsiders. The monks are outsiders, the nuns are outsiders, Master Hongyi is an outsider, we are also outsiders."

  "Shes here, but shell be leaving again." Another female teacher said with a pat on He Laoshis shoulder, causing He Laoshi to blush immediately. It was only later that it became known that He Laoshi already had someone special in her life, far away. At the time, in order not to let the other teacher see through her, she intentionally spoke loudly to the students, "Ive taught you Confucius words: a gentleman values virtue, a petty person values their land. Dont be too attached to your hometown. Only by coming and going can you truly live, and the place will also come alive."

  Just then, the bell of Wu Shan Temple tolled again and the monks chanting voices rose once more, melodious and sonorous, low and prolonged.

  He Lao Shifu listened and smiled, saying: "Alright, Buddha has spoken, lets set off."