Wang Fu and Zhang Xiang
During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Wuxi natives Wang Fu and Zhang Xiang were very courageous people who were never afraid of ghosts and were very famous in the local area. . One evening in summer, Wang Fu and Zhang Xiang were drinking together by the river until they were intoxicated. Wang Fu said: "In the tombs on the other side of the river, a dead man was buried yesterday. Do you dare to swim across the river to get the dead body out of the coffin?" Zhang Xiang said without any sign of weakness: "It's still a little bright now. Wait. After a while, I dare to get it out in the dark." Wang Fu said: "If this is the case, I am willing to give you a vat of wax wine. I will go back and get the wine to wait for you here." After that, he left. It's open. After a while, the sun went down and it became dark. Zhang Xiang swam across the river in one breath and came to the tombs, only to see that the coffin lid had been removed. Just when he was puzzled by this, two big hands suddenly stretched out from the coffin and hugged his neck tightly. Zhang Xiang was a little nervous for a moment, but he still asked privately: "Please come out for a while. When I win the bet, I will bury you properly tomorrow." As soon as he finished speaking, the hands hugged his neck tighter. Zhang Xiang had no choice but to shout. After some time, the shouting gradually became weaker. The people living by the river heard the shouting and ran over in groups holding torches. When the firelight shone, they recognized that it was Wang Fu who was holding Zhang Xiang's neck. It turned out that Wang Fu pretended to go home to get wine, but swam across the river from somewhere else, threw the body out of the coffin, and lay in the coffin, just waiting to scare Zhang Xiang when he came. At that time, when the plague was prevalent, Wang Fu and Zhang Xiang were safe and sound, all because of their courage.
Deng Xiaoping
Visiting the "Shigu King"
The Shigu King Temple is located at the entrance of the mountain pit halfway up Xingning Shenguang Mountain leading to Wuhua. The scenery here is beautiful, with mountains on both sides, green pines and trees, and lush forests. A small stream flows along the mountain, around the peak, and out of the pit. On the left side of the pit entrance is the temple, and on the right side is the four-story "Wangxing Pavilion". In the middle stands a towering ancient banyan tree with intertwined roots, covering the sky above the pit entrance like a giant open umbrella. The shade of trees and the gentle mountain breeze make this place a cool world. I remember that in the early 1960s, the author was studying at Xingning Overseas Chinese Middle School. I often ran here during lunch breaks in the summer, and the picture was of the word "cool". There is a pavilion at the foot of the banyan tree, with many merit plaques hanging in the sky around it. There are stone tables and benches inside, and people often sit there to enjoy the cool air.
The current Shigu Dawang Temple, with raised corners and cornices, is a two-story antique temple built next to the mountain. The temple was built not long after the reform and opening up. But it can no longer accommodate the growing number of tourists and believers. A new, more grandiose temple is being built nearby.
Shigu Dawang Temple is a rare Taoist temple nearby. Taoism is one of the three major religions in my country and a pillar of traditional Chinese culture. It was born slightly later than Buddhism. It is the product of the conflict between Chinese people and foreign cultures. The originator of Taoism is Zhang Daoling of the Han Dynasty. He respects Laozi as the founder and takes Laozi's "Tao Te Ching" as the classic. The central idea is "Tao".
Buddha has "three Buddhas" and Taoism has "three gods", both of which are their respective supreme representatives. If a person who doesn't understand Buddhism visits a temple and sees the "Three Buddhas" in the Main Hall, he belongs to Buddhism. If you see the "Three Heavenly Lords" in the Sanqing Hall, they belong to the Taoist sect. Historically, the Buddhist and Taoist families had deep grievances. Later, neither could destroy the other, and they lived in harmony.
Taoism advocates harmony with nature and advocates indifference and tranquility, which is very consistent with today's advocacy of building a conservation-oriented and harmonious society. Taoism advocates governance by doing nothing in politics, which coincides with the current governance philosophy of small government and big market. Therefore, Taoism has great wisdom and is worthy of people's exploration.
The legendary King Shi Gu is not an elf who jumped out of the cracks in the rocks, but two brothers named Shi and Gu during the Northern Song Dynasty. They led the people to resist the enemy and insults and became heroes and righteous men. After his death, the people felt that he was patriotic and loved his people, so they set up altars to worship him in places where he fought, including Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Hunan and other places. There are inscriptions recording his deeds.
The old Shigu Dawang Temple was just a small temple one meter square with a huge rock behind it. Usually there are few pilgrims, the only exception is the Double Ninth Festival. Every year on this day, many people come from all directions carrying large and small bags of incense candles and firecrackers to offer incense. Around the temple, there were crowds of people walking shoulder to shoulder. The sound of firecrackers and the smoke filled the air. Incense and candles are burned everywhere, even the tops of ancient banyan trees are not spared. After the festival, everything was devastated.
The tree tops were half scorched to death, and the Shigu Dawang Temple was also smoked by fireworks and looked like it was plastered with ashes. I'm afraid even King Shigu couldn't bear to see this scene, shaking his head and sighing.
After the reform and opening up, believers rebuilt a large temple for King Shigu. A wide open space was opened next to it, and several tall iron incense burners were placed for believers to burn incense and light candles.
Today on the Double Ninth Festival, there are not only a small number of people going to temples to burn incense, but also a large number of people. But the mountain trails of yesteryear have turned into cement roads. Tourists can go up and down, and it is easy to evacuate, but there is no congestion. People's awareness of protecting the environment and caring for trees has increased. Ancient trees no longer suffer disaster.
Now that the new temple is about to be built, King Shigu is like a common person in the world, and his living conditions have been further improved. It not only satisfies the psychological needs of believers, but also reflects the admiration of future generations for the heroic spirits of the martyrs. As a frequent visitor, I hope that when the new temple is completed, it can fully demonstrate the unique Taoist culture. Use the idea of ??"Tao follows nature" to persuade the world, and cultivate tranquility and indifference for the impetuous and luxurious world, so that people can live relaxed and healthy lives. On August 22, 1904, in an ordinary three-sided courtyard in Xiexingpaifang Village, Guang'an County, Sichuan Province, a baby was born. He was Deng Xiaoping.
In 1910, 6-year-old Deng Xiaoping entered a private school. The main homework during Meng's childhood was reading "Three Character Classic", "Thousand Character Classic", etc. At that time, the teacher just read the text according to the text, taught it sentence by sentence, and then asked the students to memorize it by rote. However, the smart Deng Xiaoping loved to use his brain and dared to ask questions until he understood something, so he always understood the text when he memorized it. He not only memorizes it quickly but also remembers it firmly. For this reason, the teacher also likes him very much.
Under the careful training of his private school teacher, Deng Xiaoping learned to write with a brush. He is particularly interested in writing. After school every day, he never played around on the road. After returning home, he started to practice writing repeatedly after reading. After rigorous training in private school writing classes, Deng Xiaoping's calligraphy had a good foundation.
Deng Xiaoping, who loved reading and practicing calligraphy, was not a "bookworm". He was very lively and naughty. When he comes home from school every day, he always calls his elder sister and younger sister together and asks them to sit down, while he stands opposite them, imitating the way the teacher does in class, with one hand on his waist and the other holding a book. , shaking his head while reciting the poems he had just learned, making his family laugh and jokingly call him "Little Mr."
Not only that, the young Deng Xiaoping also showed extraordinary courage.
Near Deng Xiaoping’s home, there are two stone tablets 3 meters high and 1 meter wide, standing on the backs of two huge stone turtles. This was given by the imperial court during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty in recognition of the achievements of two senior officials from Guang'an, Deng Shimin and Zheng Renqing. The local people are in great awe of it, and no one dares to touch it or touch it, lest it cause disaster.
One day, Deng Xiaoping came here to play with a group of friends in the village. Looking at the huge stone turtle, he rolled his eyes and called to his friends: "Shall we climb on the back of the turtle and play?" Although the friends usually obeyed Deng Xiaoping, they were so frightened that they stepped back and said, "I don't dare. I heard from the adults that this monument is intangible. If you touch it, you will get sick." But Deng Xiaoping firmly did not believe in this evil. He said: "Is a turtle beaten by a stone so amazing? I don't believe it. You don't dare to climb. I will climb up?" Sure enough, Deng Xiaoping climbed up in front of the horrified eyes of his friends. He happily said to the dumbfounded friends standing below: "How fun? How fun?" Later, when the friends saw that Deng Xiaoping had not caused any illness, they also boldly climbed up to play.
This act of not believing in gods, ghosts, and breaking superstition can be regarded as a shocking move in Deng Xiaoping's childhood!
Cao Zhuxu's brothers were traveling from She County to Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. On the way, they passed by a friend's house and stayed in a bookstore (in his residence). In the middle of the night, something crawled in like a worm through the crack of the door. It was as thin as a piece of paper and gradually unfolded into an adult form. It was a woman. The man named Cao was not afraid at all. The woman suddenly spread her hair and stuck out her tongue, pretending to hang herself. The man surnamed Cao smiled and said: "It's still hair (spread out), just a little messy; it's still tongue (stretched out), just a little long, what's so scary?" Suddenly he took off the head and put it on the table. superior. The man surnamed Cao smiled again and said: "It's not worth being afraid if you have a head, let alone (you have) no head now?" This ghost's abilities were exhausted and he was gone in the blink of an eye. (Old text "Don't be afraid of ghosts"