There are many stories about Master Cao circulating in the streets of Huashan.
Especially when she was nearly ninety years old, she kept wandering among the peaks of Huashan Mountain and climbed the steep Huashan Mountain faster than young people. Many tourists here want to see her, but they often can't find her. How did she do it?
1946 One morning in March, at the head of Changshikou village in Weibei, Shaanxi Province, two people carrying luggage were moving forward quickly. It seems that these two people are like mother and son who are going away.
The mother is about fifty-four or fifty-five, and the son looks less than twenty. He is tall and thin. Although dressed simply, it gives people a fresh and generous impression. As long as you look carefully, when this white-faced young man is stared at, his small face will reveal a kind of feminine shyness.
Although it is already March, the wind in the early spring in Weibei Plateau still cuts people's skin like a knife, which makes people still frozen. Mother and son walked on all day.
Seeing that it is getting dark, mother and son are limping. Needless to say, they are not only very tired, but also have many blood bubbles on their feet. But even so, the two did not stop moving forward and still insisted on moving forward.
On this day, the mother and son were hungry, so they took out the steamed bread and chewed it. When they were thirsty, they grabbed a handful of raw water to drink by the river. After walking all day, they were really tired, so they found a straw pile in a family yard and rested on the side.
I don't want this family to have a bad dog. When they heard the movements of the two men, they barked at them.
Hearing the dog barking, the master ordered an "oil reed" to look at it. He saw a passing mother and son resting under their own wheat straw crib. He felt sorry for them, so he let them go home and let them spend the night in their woodshed tonight. He also brought a goatskin to his young son to cover them with a quilt at night.
Mother and son were grateful. After the master left, they covered half their bodies with sheepskin and lay on the haystack in the woodshed, staring at the stars in the sky and whispering to each other.
The mother touched her son's foot and asked, "Daughter, your foot must be very painful after walking all day?" Put your feet in your mother's arms, and mother will rub them for you! "
At this time, "son" also took off the white towel on his head, revealing a head of hair-she turned out to be a beautiful girl!
When the girl heard her mother say this, she replied cheerfully, "Mom, I'm not tired! After dad died, you were bullied by those uncles and raised me. I saw so much suffering. Go to Huashan to be a Taoist this time, and you can leave our bullies and live a good life! I can eat anything for this! "
After listening to her daughter's words, the mother couldn't help touching her daughter's head, remembering that after her husband died, she, a widow with her daughter, was bullied in the clan.
If I really can't stay in this secular world, how can I have the idea of being a Taoist? Only her daughter is young. Can she get used to this monastic life, which is far away from the world and accompanied by blue light and yellow rolls?
At noon the next day, the mother and daughter finally reached the foot of Huashan Mountain. When they first arrived in Huashan, they were strangers and didn't have a corner to live in. They had to live in a dilapidated wild temple in the mountains, and later moved to the long-abandoned Purple Air Station on the top of Huashan Mountain.
The environment here is extremely poor, but Cao Qunying, a daughter dressed in men's clothing, takes good care of her mother. First of all, she must be satisfied with vegetarianism. She has never neglected her mother. Their experience has attracted the attention of Taoist Meijiarui, who is practicing in Huashan.
Master Meijiarui has been practicing for many years, but it is the first time that both mother and son have become monks at the same time. Asked about their experiences, I realized that the young man turned out to be a daughter, but the country was at war at that time, and he dressed up as a man for convenience.
Mei Daochang appreciated the thoughtfulness of the mother and daughter, sympathized with their experiences, and respected their determination to move in the right direction, so he shut them in.
After Mei Daochang accepted the girl, she changed her name from "Cao Qunying" to "Xiang Zhen", and from then on "Xiang Zhen" became the 22nd generation disciple of Huashan Taoism. Xiang Zhen's mother was introduced by Mei Daochang and practiced in the Taoist temple of Quanzhen Longmen in Huashan. Her teacher named her "Koryo". She is the 27th generation descendant of Longmen.
Since then, the mother and daughter have taken root in Huashan Mountain, and Xiang Zhen followed Taoist Mei Jiarui to practice in Ziqitai Taoist Temple and began her journey of seeking Tao.
From then on, Xiang Zhen recited Taoist classics such as Tao Te Ching and Nanhua Ching every morning and evening, with blue light and yellow axis, morning bell and dusk drum, studied and understood, determined and strengthened his belief in morality and truth.
While practicing monasticism, Xiang Zhen also studied medicine with Mei Daochang. In order to improve her medical technology, treat more patients and relieve their pain, she took the initiative to close her door in Taibai Mountain for two years and concentrate on her practice. In the past two years, she lived in the buddhist nun on the mountain, covered with dry weeds, eating weeds and buds, drinking the snow in the stream, and her will remained firm.
After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), Huashan established a service agency, and Cao was assigned to work in Huashan service agency, responsible for receiving pilgrims and tourists.
Although the service is very busy, she still insists on reciting her lessons every day, worshipping day and night, and never slackens. From festivals and celebrations to altar ceremonies, she can follow the ancient system and stick to it, whether it is a kind of etiquette or a discipline.
Gradually, her popularity spread among believers and Taoists in all directions. Every Huashan Temple Fair and the birthday of the gods, good men and women facing the mountains gather in the Taoist temple, and pilgrims and tourists in the Taoist temple are also in an endless stream.
1984 In April, Huashan Taoist Association was established, and Cao was elected as the vice president. As soon as she took office, she met the accident that Huashan Xianguguan was buried by a landslide caused by heavy rain.
At that time, all Taoist temples in Huashan were not rich, so it was very difficult to repair Xiangu Temple. Although the association asked for help everywhere, it had little effect.
1986, she personally went to Beijing to tell the government about the difficulties encountered by Huashan Taoist Association. After learning about this situation, the government solved the funding of 200,000 yuan for Huashan Taoist Association.
Cao used the money to build Xiangu Temple, and the extra money connected some Taoist temples on the mountain without electricity, which greatly improved the living conditions of Huashan Taoist priests.
Baiyun Palace, located on the Baiyun Peak of Huashan Mountain, is a Taoist temple built by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty for his sister Princess Jin Xian. There are cliffs and rugged mountain roads in this area, and the buildings and statues in the field of vision are seriously damaged. While cleaning up, Cao is also planning to repair Baiyun Palace.
With the strong support of Huashan Taoist Association, the "Baiyun Palace" Taoist temple has been gradually restored through fundraising and donations, and now it has become a grand view of Huashan incense.
Cao Xiangzhen knows very well that if we want to carry forward Taoism, we must carry forward the spirit of "nourishing Taoism with medicine" and help the world and the people. Therefore, in middle age, she studied Chinese acupuncture with Li Tongdao, a famous Taoist doctor. After returning from her studies, she treated pilgrims in Huashan to help the world.
During the day, she went up the mountain to collect herbs and read Taoist classics at night. Because of her superb medical skills, she has cured countless patients in her life.
Cao has a secret recipe for treating panlong sore, which is very effective and well known. This has also aroused the interest of some businessmen. Once several businessmen came to Huashan to ask her for a prescription and promised to give her 500 thousand as long as they took out the secret recipe. But these people were rebuffed by Cao Xiangzhen here.
The businessman asked inexplicably, "your prescription is for treating diseases, and we buy it for treating diseases." It makes no difference. Why not sell it? " . Cao Xiang said righteously: "I don't need money to take these prescriptions to see a doctor, but you need to collect money to take these prescriptions to see someone else!" " "
In the 1980s, after Cao was elected as the president of Huashan Taoist Association, he still pursued the spirit of great love, patriotism and love of Taoism, and cared about his home country and all sentient beings.
In life, she has always adhered to the style of hard work and plain living, still maintained the habit of not leaving a grain of rice in the bowl when eating, and always maintained a quiet and lonely lifestyle.
She said that the Tao Te Ching requires monks to abstain from abstinence, and to be frugal. Material pleasures such as "five colors", "five sounds" and "five flavors" are enough to induce people's desires, and all kinds of extravagance and waste are mostly caused by people's pursuit of enjoyment and indulgence.
So "going to luxury Thailand" and living a poor and happy life is what a monk should do.
Cao has always been happy in poverty and indifferent to fame and fortune. As the honorary president of Huashan Taoist Association, she doesn't like to get in touch with people very much, but thinks that "flowers are blooming and fragrant, so why go to romantic affairs?" Concentrate on monasticism on Huashan Mountain all the year round.
There are many caves in Huashan Mountain, and Cao Xiangzhen often changes to another cave to practice every once in a while. Every time Cao chooses to practice in a cave, he takes little food and water into the cave. In her view, practice means suffering, as long as you bring enough food and water, you can survive. However, Cao, who is nearly 90 years old, is not only healthy, but even tougher than young people. She strode up the hill. Many tourists here want to see her, but it is often difficult to find her.
In order to fully show the profoundness and long history of Huashan Taoist culture at home and abroad, on August 20th, 20 12, Hong Kong Phoenix Satellite TV and its 15 people came to Huashan Scenic Area to prepare a feature film about Huashan Taoist culture.
Huashan Taoism has a long history and is well known. It ranks fourth among the top ten caves of Taoism and is a holy place of Taoism. In particular, the Taoist Quanzhen Huashan School, which originated from Huashan Mountain, has seen Chen Tuan, Hao Datong, He Yuanxi and other Taoist masters with great influence among the people.
This time, Phoenix TV chose Huashan and Yuquanyuan to shoot. During the filming, they accidentally photographed the precious image of Taoist Cao walking like an ape on the top of Huashan Mountain.
The director and cameraman of the film crew wanted to catch up with Cao for a close interview. Cao just smiled at them and disappeared into the depths of the white clouds.
Afterwards, Phoenix Satellite TV will hide the hero with "Huashan on the sword! A 90-year-old female Taoist practices in the valley behind closed doors. The opening title of "Immortals can fly over the eaves and walk over the walls" was broadcast in official website, which aroused the interest of many viewers, and the video broadcast volume exceeded one million in a few days.
One day in 20 14 10, Cao suddenly asked his disciples to send Cao Guanwen back to the Taoist temple. At that time, his disciples didn't care. I don't think Cao will be very ill in a few days.
When the leaders of Shaanxi Daoxie and huayin city visited, she opened her eyes and nodded slightly. 10 14 In the early morning, Cao died at the age of 92.
Cao entered Taoism for 70 years, from a small Kundao to a generation of famous teachers. She is patriotic, practicing medicine and treating diseases all her life, helping the poor and helping the poor, and dedicating her life to the cause of Taoism.
During her tenure as the president of Huashan Taoist Association, she organized the restoration of Xiangu Temple, renovated the uphill road, improved the living conditions of Taoist priests, and laid a solid foundation for the development of Huashan Taoism. Her achievements will not be forgotten by believers, and neither will Huashan.
Mountain: a bright light in the course of mental journey-in memory of Master Cao Xiangzhen
Gentle and sincere —— An interview with Cao, a famous contemporary Kundao master.