Are there any modern temples in China? Those in the mountains, all real monks, should be gone.

Empty Valley and Orchid: A Journey of Hermit in Contemporary China: A Man of Practice in the Deep Mountains —— Zhong Nanshan's Experience

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(Editor's Note: The following are photos of some practitioners in Zhong Nanshan, reproduced from Xiyuan Forum. Their indifferent spirit is admirable, but readers are advised not to go to the hut of local practitioners in Zhong Nanshan to avoid disturbing their meditation. The beauty of adults is great. . )

The Lonely Orchid in the Empty Valley is a "secret journey" about China written by American sinologist Bill Porter. He personally visited the modern hermits in China who lived in Zhong Nanshan and other places in 1980s and 1990s, which led to the history of the emergence and development of China's recluse culture and its tradition, and compared it with the current situation he was interviewing, expressing his high admiration and yearning for the traditional culture in China and writing his hope for the future development of China. Although it is a secret journey, the style of this book is not dignified.

Even when Bill describes the destroyed old tree, he should let readers see the buds on the old stump. The language of this book is as beautiful as line drawing, full of vitality and appeal, and American humor is revealed between the lines, which often makes readers smile. So to be precise, this is a "journey of hope" about the revival of China's traditional culture. The scenery in dozens of illustrations in this book is extremely beautiful and breathtaking, some of which were taken by Stephen R. Johnson, a famous American photographer, at the risk of his life.

The author introduces Bill Porter, a contemporary American writer, translator and famous sinologist. He translated a large number of ancient Buddhist books in China into English, which caused great repercussions in Europe and America. He has translated and published English works such as Hanshan Poetry, Fifteen Mountains Poetry and Dharma Zen under the pseudonym of "Korean pine". Since 1972, he has lived in Taiwan Province Province and Hongkong, frequently traveled in Chinese mainland, and wrote a lot of books and travel notes introducing local and cultural relics in China. This book is the most famous translation, which once set off an upsurge of learning China's traditional culture in European and American countries. Editor's recommendation Throughout the history of China, people have always been willing to spend their lives in the mountains: eating less, wearing rags, sleeping in huts, and reclaiming land in the mountains. There are not many words left, only a few poems and one or two immortals.

People in China have always revered hermits, and no one has ever explained or asked for an explanation. Hermits only exist: outside the city walls, in the mountains and after the snow, there are wisps of lonely kitchen smoke. Since there is no written record, there have been hermits in China. They are out of touch with the times, but not with the seasons; They gave up the plains and came to the misty mountains; They have a long history and are unknown; They gave birth to the root of spiritual life and are the most respected people in the oldest society in the world.

Directory Author Foreword Translator Foreword Chapter 1 Hermit's Paradise Chapter 2 Moon Fairy Chapter 3 World-famous Turbid Times Chapter 4 Visiting Road Chapter 5 Crane's Noisy Chapter 6 Ascension Chapter 7 YunZhongJun Chapter 8 Zhuque Mountain Chapter 9 Crossing the Ecstasy Bridge Chapter 10 Twilight House Chapter 11 Visiting Wang Wei's Misfortune Chapter 12 Postscript of Avenue Translation

Before reading The Orchid in the Empty Valley, Zhong Nanshan seemed to me to be just a fictional scene in a martial arts movie.

Of course, I know this is still a reality. But what is the difference between this existence and non-existence? Too many places have been transformed beyond recognition by too many people and too many tacky things that can be heard far away. A friend of mine described the places of interest he had been to like this: when he came to those places, the snake seemed to disappear, leaving only a pile of shed snakeskin.

-until the American sinologist Bill Porter's "The Empty Valley and the Orchid" was opened.

This bearded American who once became a monk in Taiwan Province Province for two years brought me into another world with his eyes and steps.

Four months later, I went to Zhong Nanshan and visited some practitioners living in the mountains. Among them are two people interviewed by Bill Porter in the book, one of whom is over eighty years old. They are all impressed by this special foreigner.

I have no intention to describe my trip to South China, because the search for a short week is superficial and most of them don't want to be known.

On the way, I once met a detached monk who lived alone in the mountains for eight years. When I wanted to take a picture of her, she smiled and said to me, "Oh, take a picture. When did we stop falling in love?" Makes me speechless.

Today, I saw those photos from a year ago in the computer and thought of these deep mountain practitioners who are far away from the impetuous world. Just saying that I yearn for it is really not enough to express my feelings.

Post some of them and share them with fellow practitioners in the forum.

From Mao Peng, in the northeast of Bichuni.

When I went, she was building a heatable adobe sleeping platform in the house, which was a necessary guarantee for spending a long winter in Zhong Nanshan.

We stood at the door and talked for a long time.

This bhikshuni lived in the mountains for only one year, and her thatch was left by the former mountain people.

She thinks it is enough to have such a roof to shelter from the wind and rain.

Some mountain people only build themselves in caves, which is also a secluded cave.

When I saw this Chai Fei in name only, I remembered the layers of iron gates that can be seen everywhere in the city.

A child who came back from abroad saw so many iron gates and exclaimed that this was the monster's home. Because all the monsters in fairy tales live in houses with iron gates.

When do we not need to be so prepared?

Mountain people's stoves and heatable adobe sleeping platform.

There lives a Lama here. When I visited him, he was in a three-month silence.

From the outside, this thatched roof built by caves is covered with paintings.

This is its front. There is nothing in the room except a narrow heatable adobe sleeping platform.

The year before I went, a mother and son came here to play the seven buddhas. In the winter of MINUS 20 degrees, dry hair is their bedding.

The little red among evergreen trees is also the thatch of the closed-door people. This thatched cottage is already made of bricks.

Most people who have lived in the mountains for a long time live in similar tile houses. It is even more difficult for Nepalese who live in the mountains and practice. They also need relatively strong walls and doors to ensure safety.

This is the most beautiful Mao Peng I have ever seen in Zhong Nanshan.

In fact, in Bill Porter's book, what he saw is also described in this way.

The beauty of Xishan who lived here became a monk in the 1970s and has lived here ever since.

Her owner, Hui Yuan, lived here for more than 30 years until his death.

She told me that when Master was here, there were only two small huts surrounded by flowers, just like pure land.

The tile house was gradually built in recent years, and the adobe of the wall was brought back by her trip to Xishan' ao in the distance.

In the curtain, this thatched hall is extremely neat.

Only two Zhongni people live here, but they ring the bell to go to the temple on time every day, day after day.

Master Lingta Hui Yuan, who has lived in the mountains for more than 30 years, is extremely diligent and recites seven copies of Hokkekyo every day. He is a famous "Fahua Walker" in Zhong Nanshan. Her disciple said that it takes a lot of time to recite one. A master can not only recite, but also know to the extreme. In addition, she also strictly abides by the precepts and keeps chanting Buddha.

More than ten years ago, she predicted the time, and before she died, she earnestly instructed her disciples to practice, saying that she would sit still until midnight.

The disciples were unprepared and searched everywhere temporarily for wood needed for cremation. In the days of preparing for the funeral, Master Hui Yuan always sits up and is lifelike.

After the Spark, disciples found many relics, but as Master Hui Yuan commanded before he died: No matter what is burned, you are not allowed to take pictures, just put them together.

Now installed in this tower. Next to Master Hui Yuan's Lingta is his classmate Master Yin Hui's Lingta.

They left the northeast together at that time. Master Yin Hui advocated going to Yunjushan to get close to the old monk Xu Yun, while Master Hui Yuan planned to go to Nanshan. After months of discussion, opinions reached an impasse.

One day, Master Hui Yuan dreamed that a boy had taken them to Central South, and all kinds of auspicious signs appeared.

They lived in a building and never left.

When I was about to leave Master Hui Yuan's practice place, I found this half-ground spatula on the kitchen wall.

They told me that it was brought to Zhong Nanshan by Master Hui Yuan from the northeast.

This spatula, which accompanied her in the mountains for decades, is one of the few relics left by the master.

A Nigerian teacher planted these apple trees when he came to Zhong Nanshan. Today, it is fruitful.

When I said goodbye, the taciturn teacher picked me three apples from the tree: this is prudence, determination and wisdom.

On the way, I fed two of them to another yogi who lived in the mountains, and I ate the rest myself.

Sitting alone on the mountain road, the sweet apples and the clear mountain wind made me cry. Schisandra chinensis, which is abundant in the mountains, is the fruit and medicine of the people in the mountains.

Of course, it can also be bought for people who buy medicinal materials in the mountains. People who live in the mountains must support themselves.

I asked a monk who had lived in the mountains for more than ten years: Do you usually have food? He said: Yes.

I asked him again: Can you eat enough? He said: Not necessarily.

I asked again: What if I don't have enough to eat?

He laughed: not enough to eat, just eat less.

A place where nuns practice.

After the rainstorm, a master came to the room to repair the leaking roof.

He lived in the mountains for more than ten years, and many dead mountain people got his enthusiastic help.

Later, his sister also moved into another teacher's cabin. Their thatched roofs are 20 minutes apart.

People who live in the mountains must have a strong ability to live independently. When I entered the mountain, I met this master in the photo. I didn't get lost because of his guidance

A few days later, I saw him again in the mountains.

The pile of monk shoes in the photo is the clothes he brought down the mountain that day, which was donated by other temples.

He is distributing them to poor mountain residents one by one.

A closed house on the edge of the cliff. The best place in Mount Zhongnan is the house built with this stone.

It is said that a monk in Taiwan Province Province built several stone houses here. I wonder if this is the yard in the photo.

The bedding was hanging on the courtyard wall, but because there was no leader, I called several times and no one came out to answer the door.

Generally speaking, practitioners here do not receive outsiders. This locked door from the outside reads: resolutely refuse to visit, please be merciful and forgive me.

I put down my hand ready to knock at the door and folded my hands deeply outside the door.

This quiet room is located in the valley of Ye Jing Temple, with a unique glass sliding door.

On the upper right of the lintel, the wasp has made a fan-shaped nest.

Two lamas from Tibet also spent three years and three months in the valley of Ye Jing Temple.

They left months before I went.

Before leaving, they wrote beautiful Tibetan spells on a few houses in the valley.

In this retreat, there lived a monk.

The master who took me shouted for three minutes before going out with a rosary in his hand.

He heard that I was from Suzhou and often went to Xiyuan, so he asked: What happened to the old man? I told him that the old man (the late abbot of Xiyuan, Master An Shang) had been dead for many years.

After asking such a question, he asked me to rest outside the door and came in with a rosary in my hand.

There are many fruits hanging on the persimmon tree outside the house, but they are not mature yet.

Old photos of the late Master Hui Yuan.

I don't know if I can publish close-ups of others, for fear of disturbing them. )

The photos of Master Hui Yuan on the eve of becoming a monk.

At the age of 16, the mage entered the temple to meditate and officially lost his hair at the age of 19.

The master has been caring for the elderly and sick monks in Ruyi for many years, and his grief is touching.

From Baidu Space: Master Xuan Hua of Nanwu's Great Mercy and Compassion.

Worship Master Xuanhua 10000 Worship-Eliminate all troubles and open the eyes of wisdom.

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