Under one person: I, Zhang Zhiwei, the arrogant Zhang

All kinds of rituals were in place until the third quarter of Mao hour, when the ceremony for conferring the urn officially began. The three masters entered the urn altar formation with solemn expressions.

The Ceremony of Ceremony is the largest Taoist event besides the Luotian Dajiao and other major fasting events. It brings together the Three Mountains and some other Zhengzong branches. Naturally, such a large scale cannot be completed in a day or two.

In modern times, it is usually held for three days, while in ancient times it was held for seven days. The ceremony includes fasting, offering sacrifices, worshiping, etc., which could have been held separately. After being included in the ceremony of giving and receiving, they formed a huge ritual group. Now in the Republic of China, the ancient method of giving the urn is used.

At this moment, the Celestial Master Zhang Jingqing ascended the largest main altar as the supervisor, the recommender Zhang Shoucheng ascended the imperial altar on the left, and the deliverer Zhang Yi ascended the altar of salvation on the right.

After the three masters entered the altar, the remaining fifteen deacons filed in and took their respective seats.

After entering the altar, the three masters all shook the copper hand stove with their right hands, pinched the middle section of the middle finger with the thumb of their left hand, and kneaded it into a knot to form the "Yu Qing Jue". This represents the highest deity of Taoism, Yuanshi Tianzun, stepping on the steps of Yu at the same time and muttering words in his mouth, which can be vaguely heard as "hurry is like a law".

During the practice, the sun shone down and directly hit the tall jade beads on the main altar. In an instant, the golden light from the jade beads was so bright that it could be seen ten miles away.

Zhang Yi, the host of the ceremony, stopped and stood still, but his right hand was still shaking the hand stove, and his left hand was still holding the "Yu Qing Jue". He announced loudly:

"The time has come, serve the incense, serve the lamp, and know the chime!"

After hearing the words, a group of deacons were ordered to direct the Taoists of each department to light incense candles, light oil lamps and play music to welcome the immortals according to the pre-rehearsed procedures.

During this step, both Zhang Huaiyi and Tian Jinzhong had things to arrange, but Zhang Zhiwei had no chores to do because he had to participate in the ritual ceremony. He just waited for his turn to add the ritual basket and receive the dharma responsibilities.

After the ritual is completed, in an instant, the incense and candles are burning together, the lights are burning together, and the sheng and Xiao are playing together!

The translator Zhang Yi was extremely serious and stood on the altar of salvation with a solemn expression.

He moved his left thumb frequently and began to pinch the formula. He first pinched the three lines on the index finger with his thumb, then moved to the middle finger and pinched the three lines on the middle finger. Then he turned to the ring finger and pinched the three lines on the ring finger. After pinching the three lines on the three fingers, he pinched again and again. Pinch the twelve palaces with the second, third, and fourth fingers. This is the "Patrol Technique" in Taoist techniques.

While Zhang Yi was doing the sealing technique, Zhang Jingqing, as the supervisor, was standing on the main altar, looking around, supervising each sub-altern, so as not to make any mistakes and disturb the rules of the ceremony.

After sealing the "Patrol Secret", Zhang Yi waved his hand and the bells sounded loudly. At the same time, four Taoist priests, Zhang Huaiyi and Tian Jinzhong, carried the statue of the ancestor Zhang Daoling in Qingdao, Lianshi, Sheke and Zhilu. Under the protection of the four deacons and guided by the Zhengyi deacon, they came to the main altar.

Supervisor Zhang Jingqing took the statue of the Ancestral Master with his washed and burned hands, and under the watchful eyes of all the deacons, respectfully placed it on the main altar.

There is a saying for this step, which is called welcoming the saint.

After welcoming the saint, Zhang Jingqing put her hands into the basin next to her to wash her hands, burned incense, and then moved her hands together to squeeze the "Tianshi Jue" to invite the ancestor Tianshi to come.

Immediately afterwards, the statue of the Ancestral Master began to shake slightly, and the statue began to glow.

Zhang Zhiwei looked at this scene with burning eyes, and what he was thinking was, although this step called for the Ancestral Heavenly Master to come, has the Ancestral Heavenly Master really arrived?

There were golden flames dancing in his eyes, and he wanted to see the secret, but found that the statue of the Patriarch Tianshi emitted a golden light as fierce as fire, which made his eyes hurt.

From this statue, he felt a vast and profound will. This will seemed to be right in front of him, but it seemed to be thousands of miles away.

This is an extremely contradictory feeling, just like looking directly at a raging fire from a distance. Although you will not be burned, you can still feel the light, heat and shock in it.

After blinking hard a few times, Zhang Zhiwei no longer used the Wan Po Divine Eye.

The statue of the Ancestral Master has been enshrined for nearly two thousand years. It contains a huge amount of faith, and it is impossible to see what is going on inside.

As for the vast and far-reaching will, Zhang Zhiwei couldn't say whether it was the true spirit of the Ancestral Master, or a passive response similar to the order of practice.

He felt that there was a high probability that he would respond passively. After all, the conference for enthronement was held every year. It would be very troublesome if he had to respond every year.

However, considering that in the next step of receiving the Dharma position, the Dharma lineage god would have to give an assessment in person, so he did not have a final conclusion. The specific details would only be known after personal experience.

After inviting the ancestral heavenly master to take his seat, it was time to burn incense, offer sacrifices, consecrate lights, and point images...the complicated procedures were busy and not chaotic.

This set of procedures is called Ansheng.

After the ceremony was completed, Zhang Jingqing once again raised the hand stove with her right hand and shook it toward the altar.

Zhang Yi, who was on the altar of salvation, received the instruction and raised his right hand to shake the stove to show that he understood.

After shaking the stove, Zhang Yi took back the stove and handed it to the deacon who was responsible for the confession. Immediately, the waiter handed him clean water and asked him to wash his hands.

After washing his hands, Zhang Yi looked solemn. He raised one hand in front of his chest and formed a "fighting formula". He held a blessing in his other hand and began to sing loudly.

The content of the chanted blessing is: "Respect the heaven and the earth, the spirit is pure and too empty. The sage is high and true, and all the mentors. Now there are disciples, who are entrusted with the imperial edict. They are pious and respectful, and are protected by spiritual light..."

After singing the congratulations, Zhang Yi raised his hand stove again and shook it towards the Altar of Suffering.

The altar of rescuing suffering means transforming lay people into Taoism and rescuing ordinary people from suffering. At this point, the preparatory rituals for the enshrinement conference are finally completed.

Next, Lu Sheng appears, the Taoist priest who will teach Lu this time.

At the call of the confession deacon, a group of young Taoist priests wearing blue coats came to the altar of salvation with solemn faces.

When Zhang Yi saw that Lu Sheng had arrived in front of the altar, he pinched the "Shangqing Jue" in his hand and started the next ritual process.

Those who are new to Taoism must first learn to worship. This process is called "passing the kowtow pass" and is divided into four steps: observing the head, making rituals, obeying the rituals, and performing rituals in the heart.

This process is completed by the confession deacon and the conferring disciples.

After the worship, Zhang Yi recited loudly: "Look up at the sky, the ancestral heavenly master is beside you, heaven, earth and man are one, and the disciples are showing their magical power."

The confession deacon led Lu Sheng to repeat what Zhang Yi had recited word for word.

Seeing this, Zhang Yi smiled slightly, nodded in approval, and then sang loudly:

"Heaven Lingling, Earth Lingling, please come to the altar with the Ancestral Master, and quickly mobilize your psychic soldiers and generals to help me access my ears, my spirit, and the gods. My ears, my heart, and my future will be opened." , access to the past, access to the present, access to the heart, access to the ears. I came to be quiet, and the mind was open. I came to enlighten the spirit, and enlighten the spirit. I followed the order of the ancestor Tianshi, and ordered me to perform magical powers..."

Zhang Yi spoke very fast, shaking his head as he read.

This level is a bit difficult. Lu Sheng must recite it independently and cannot be led by the confession deacon. He must recite it word for word, and then he is qualified to teach the Three and Five Du Gong Sutra Lu.

The Taoist priests who come here to teach the scriptures have all worked hard, and they have basically memorized this passage, so there is no problem.

Zhang Zhiwei has also experienced this, but he has the ability to remember what he has heard. He only listened to it once and could recite it again and again, and he did so word by word.

After a group of young Taoist priests finished chanting the sutra, all the Taoist priests cheered in unison in the Urn Altar Square. At this point, it was basically considered that the conferring of the urn was completed.

Seeing this situation, the three masters each stood on their own altar. Knead the "Seal Opening Technique" with your left hand, and then pinch the "Temple Entering Technique" with your left hand to express your sincere surrender to the Ancestral Master!

Upon seeing this, the confession deacon immediately led a group of young Taoist priests to the main altar and stood in front of Zhang Jingqing.

Looking at the little Taoist priests with immature faces below, Zhang Jingqing asked: "You guys, why did you join Taoism?"

"Support justice..."

"Conquer demons and eliminate demons..."

"Studying medicine will not save the country..."

"You have to seek your true self..."

…

Everyone's answer is different, but everyone has a reason to become a Taoist priest.

Zhang Jingqing looked at everyone and said in a deep voice: "Nowadays, there are many people in the world who are seeking the truth, and there are only a few who start well and end well. You know, 'If you encounter something but don't work hard, you will eventually become a ghost.' If you are not determined to be consistent, I advise you to give up this idea as soon as possible. , it’s still too late to regret it now!”

At this point, no one regretted it. The young Taoist priests immediately bowed to the ground with their hands on their hands, and repeatedly confirmed that they wanted to be conferred and become Taoist priests.

Seeing this, Zhang Jingqing nodded and waved for everyone to get up.

Originally, at this point, the enshrinement conference should have entered the next stage, but this time, Zhang Jingqing looked at the sky and said one more thing. He asked everyone:

"What is 'tribulation'?"

A group of young Taoist priests were stunned for a moment, scratching their heads and wondering what to say.

Zhang Zhiwei also looked at his master unexpectedly, wondering why he said the word "tribulation" at the ceremony.

"Jie" is a word in the Buddhist scriptures and is the abbreviation of "Jie wave". It comes from the legend in Tianzhu. It is said that after a few years, the world will be destroyed once and start again. Such a cycle is called a "kalpa", which was later borrowed to refer to Natural disasters and man-made disasters are widely used.

Did Master predict what would happen in the next few decades? Zhang Zhiwei thought.

The teachings of the Zhengyi sect are different from those of the Quanzhen sect. Quanzhen advocates escaping from the world and practicing cultivation, while Zhengyi actively engages in the world. At this time, choosing to teach Zhengyi, isn't it just a matter of calamity?

At this time, a little Taoist priest stood up and replied:

"The success and failure of heaven and earth are called catastrophes."

Zhang Jingqing nodded and said: "The teaching instrument will destroy the body and become the spirit. Only after this calamity, the body will be tempered and the spirit will be sublimated. Can you withstand it?"

"You can stand it!"

All the little Taoist priests said in unison.

Those who teach the talisman are teaching the talisman of the talisman. Those who specialize in the high-level skills of the talisman are those who despise the physical body and pursue spiritual perfection, so they say this.

Since ancient times, Taoism has said that there are five arts, namely mountain, medicine, fortune, fortune telling, and divination.

This is the Taoist view. Strictly speaking, there is a difference between Taoism and Taoism. Taoism is a school of thought and Taoism is a religion. There can never be an equal sign between the two.

The so-called five arts of Taoism are the traditional definition of the Taoist school in the Qin and Han Dynasties when Taoism was not yet established. In fact, this definition has overlapping parts. The overlap refers to fortune, fortune telling, and divination, which all belong to Yi Xue, which is the art of magic. .

Therefore, we reclassify the five Taoist arts and call them: the Yi Dao of the three ancient sages Fuxi, the Medical Dao of the Yellow Emperor, and the Alchemy Dao of Laozi.

In this way, the scope of Taoism is very broad, such as the Wuhou Sect, the Shuzi Sect, the Trinity Sect, the Qiuzhen Society... and many other sects of foreigners, all fall into this category.

Because the skills they learned all come from the five arts of Taoism, it can be said that in this land, except for a few sects, the origins of acquired strangers come from the Taoist school.

As for Taoism, it is the top student in the Taoist school, and its unique skill is the "mountain" skill among the five Taoist arts.

"Mountain" technique is also the most extensive and profound among the five techniques. It contains the five items of outer elixir, inner elixir, mysterious code, boxing technique and spell.

The outer elixir is alchemy, refining the essence of heaven and earth into elixirs, and then blending them into oneself.

The inner alchemy method is the inner alchemy skill, the golden light spell, and the dragon and tiger inner alchemy skills are all in this way. However, the general inner alchemy skill only cultivates "life", and only a very few inner alchemy skills cultivate both life and life.

Xuan Dian specializes in cultivating "nature", which is a method specifically developed based on the classics left by Zhuangzi and Laozi.

Needless to say, there is no need to talk about boxing skills. A true Taoist priest, no matter what aspect he majors in, will know some boxing and kicking skills. Therefore, even if many Taoist priests are not vegetarian, they will not be potbellied.

As for the talisman, it is the predecessor of the talisman. Zhang Daoling developed the talisman based on the talisman.

Seeing that all the Taoist priests agreed, Zhang Jingqing nodded with satisfaction, then closed her eyes and stood on the main altar, no longer talking, and confessed that the deacon saw this and brought Lu Sheng to Zhang Yi at the altar of salvation.

Perhaps seeing that the ceremony of conferring the urn went so smoothly, he and others were about to enter the gate of the alien world. The faces of all the urns began to show a little excitement. Zhang was dissatisfied, and he lowered his face and scolded:

"How can you be happy when the ceremony is in the middle of the process? You will not officially enter the Tao until you get the certificate!"

Conferring a urn to enter the Tao is a very strict matter. After the ceremony of imparting an urn, you still have to recite the "Tao Te Ching" and walk around the path for seven days and seven nights without stopping or resting in between. This level is called "grinding the mind" .

This is a process that many alien sects have to go through. Whether they are stupid or geniuses, those who become aliens through practice must have walked on a painful road that is unbearable for ordinary people, and every step on the road has been passed down until now many years later. Keep in mind.

If you don't grit your teeth and persevere when your muscles and bones are tortured, you will want to give up every second, tempering your mind's boring nature, and even making you miss the pain of your muscles and bones.

Only after experiencing these things and gaining great strength will you no longer be dreamy, frivolous, arrogant, and confused.

And the last level of this Qi teaching is a process of tempering one's mind. If the mind is not firm at this level, even many strangers who have acquired Qi will find it difficult to persevere.

Only after passing this level can one obtain a certificate of service and be officially promoted from a quasi-Taoist priest to a Taoist priest.

According to the "Zhengyi Fawen Celestial Master's Teachings and Precepts", the quasi-Taoist priests who were first given the ultimatum, after "sharpening their minds", were issued ultimatums by the translators to prove the dharma they had received and the divine realms recorded in their names, so as to gain access to the world of gods. gods.

This kind of ultimatum is referred to as the official ultimatum, which is also the dharma urn. After the urn-giving ceremony is completed, it needs to be divided into two halves, and one half must be burned. It means to reach the dharma lineage and inform the dharma lineage gods. This is a symbol of status. The other half is on the body. When activated, the two talismans are connected with each other, and the spell can be cast.

Soon, under the arrangement of the deacon, the students began to test their minds.

Immediately afterwards came the stage of conferring the urn and receiving the legal duties. Zhang Zhiwei got up and came to the team of conferring the urn, waiting for the deacon's arrangements.