Phi-Fic Chapter 290 Prayer
Chapter 290 Prayer
Chapter 290 Prayer
In front, Abbot Jingxu knelt down and bowed solemnly to the Buddha statue.
After standing up again, he instructed Su Tang and the others to kneel down and worship the Buddha.
"Okay, I'll let the novice monks take you to the dining room to settle down first. Vegetarian meals will be served in the temple tonight, and you can all go to the dining hall to eat." After saying this, Jingxu put his hands together and saluted to everyone, then withdrew first.
After leaving the main hall, Princess Thirteen walked to Su Tang again and whispered, "Finally, I came out. Actually, I get very nervous every time I come here. It seems that the Buddha's eyes are always staring at me."
"You didn't do anything bad, why are you so nervous?" Su Tang replied with a smile.
The Thirteenth Princess smiled and replied, "I don't know. Sometimes when I look at the Buddha, it feels like I'm looking at my father."
Su Tang raised her eyebrows and didn't respond to Princess Thirteen's words.
Soon they were taken by the novice monks outside the main hall to their respective temporary rooms.
Because the Fahua Temple holds a grand prayer ceremony every year, separate vegetarian rooms are prepared for the princes and princesses who often visit here.
Each dining room is at a certain distance from each other to protect everyone's privacy while allowing them to take care of each other and not be too far away from each other.
In the quiet courtyard, Chunmei and a few others were busy tidying up.
The room had obviously been cleaned once, but Chunmei and the others still had to clean it again so that they could find out if there was anything wrong inside or outside the room. After all, the person living here was a princess, so they couldn't be careless.
Su Tang stood under a big tree in the courtyard, listening to the faint sound of chanting coming from not far away.
"Master, the guards are already deployed outside."
Although the Royal Guards had the obligation to protect the princesses and princes on this trip, they were only sent down by the palace for routine tasks, and they were not as useful as the guards brought by the princesses and princes.
Otherwise, the post station would not have caught fire that night.
So now the Royal Guards are only on duty outside the periphery, and the masters live outside their own guards.
It was very quiet at Fahua Temple at night, and the Buddhist fragrance in the air had almost dissipated.
"Master, the room has been cleaned up. Xia Mei and I will live in the outer room. Call us if you need anything."
Chunmei and the others knew that Su Tang would go back to the space to wash up, so they didn't need to prepare hot water for Su Tang when they were outside. Of course, in order to hide their tracks, they would also boil hot water, but the hot water would be carried into her and Xiamei's room.
After a good night's sleep, when Su Tang woke up again, she could hear the sound of birds singing outside.
"Master, would you like to have the vegetarian breakfast in the temple or cook in the small kitchen over here?" Chunmei was in the outer room. When she heard Su Tang get up, she asked outside the door.
"You don't have to worry, I've already eaten." Su Tang slept in the space last night and had eaten in the space early this morning.
"Okay." Chunmei responded from outside.
Ever since Chunmei and the others learned about Su Tang's secret, they have been very grateful that they could follow such a powerful master.
Moreover, the master treats his people very well, for example, the few who serve him personally on weekdays are also very kind.
"Well, the environment here is nice. Let's go outside for a walk." Su Tang said, and called Chunmei and Xiamei to leave the room together.
"The Sixth Princess's room is on the west side, the Seventh Princess's room is in the small courtyard in front, the Thirteenth Princess's room is on the north side, and the Eleventh Prince's room is not here. It's in the courtyard near the main hall of the temple." Chunmei told Su Tang all the information she had found out.
Because the eleventh prince was a man, his room was closer to the temple and farther away from the other princesses including Su Tang.
"Yeah." Su Tang nodded in agreement.
"Princess Su's residence is not here either. Prince Su has a single-family house in another adjacent mountain forest."
Oh, this Prince Su is so rich. On the way to pray for blessings, Su Tang had already seen two private houses.
Perhaps knowing Su Tang's thoughts, Chunmei whispered in Su Tang's ear again, "Prince Su is the son of Concubine Liu, the most favored concubine of the late emperor. Because of his favor, the fiefdom granted by the late emperor is also the most prosperous land of fish and rice, and the mother's family of Prince Su is also a wealthy merchant from Jiangnan."
"What's Princess Su's last name?"
"Zhu, the Zhu family is in the silk business, and the palace purchases it every year."
Su Tang nodded after hearing this.
The area surrounding the Fahua Temple is full of tall trees that appear to be over a hundred years old.
The thick tree trunks blocked most of the light, but it was autumn now and the sunlight in the mountains was not very strong.
They walked along the path in the woods for a quarter of an hour before returning to the dining room.
Today, the monks in the temple will explain to Su Tang and others the process of praying for blessings this year, so Su Tang cannot wander around outside for too long.
When Su Tang brought Chunmei and the others to the side hall of the temple, Princess Thirteen and the others had already arrived.
"Big sister." Princess Thirteen and others greeted Su Tang.
Su Tang nodded slightly and was led by the monk to sit next to her.
Only then did Su Tang realize that Princess Su had not arrived yet.
However, Princess Su had participated in this prayer event before, and the process was roughly the same every year, so it didn't matter if she didn't come.
"Princess Su sent someone to tell you that she has a headache today and will not be coming for the time being." Sure enough, as soon as Su Tang sat down, the monk in the side hall said to everyone.
"Let's start." Su Tang nodded in response.
"Yes, the annual blessing ceremony at the Fahua Temple..." The monk sat cross-legged on the cushion and explained to Su Tang and the others.
Su Tang listened attentively, and Chunmei beside her would whisper something to her from time to time.
The explanation ended quickly. The blessing ceremony will begin tomorrow. It will last for three days. Tomorrow morning, they will all bathe and come to the main hall to burn incense and worship. The monks will chant sutras and pray for blessings...
The next day, Su Tang and the others began to pray according to the procedure.
In fact, Su Tang and his masters did not need to do much. Apart from the initial kowtow to the Buddha, burning incense and praying, they only had to sit on a cushion with their eyes closed and meditate throughout the whole process.
As for chanting scriptures, it is done by the monks in the temple.
However, Su Tang just made a wish in front of the Buddha for Qi Lingheng and all the Qi family soldiers, hoping that they could return victoriously without any casualties.
The first day's prayer activities were completed under the meditation of Su Tang and others. No one had lunch at noon, saying that it was to pray for the soldiers of Dayong, to keep their bodies and minds clean, otherwise the food they ate would turn into filth.
Fortunately, when we talked about these precautions yesterday, the monks had already informed us in advance, so Su Tang and the others came early in the morning after having eaten their fill.
But they couldn't eat, so they were allowed to drink some water all day. After all, if they really didn't eat or drink, these delicate people wouldn't be able to endure it.
"Amitabha, Princess, our abbot wants to ask you to go to his meditation room to ask you something." Just as Su Tang stood up with her legs hanging down and wanted to return to their residence, a little monk in the side hall came over and saluted Su Tang with his hands clasped together.
"Are you looking for me alone?" Su Tang glanced at the other princesses and princes. They were also rubbing their legs that had been crossed all day and wanted to get up.
But there were no monks from the temple around them.