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What is the relationship between Buddhism and Laba Festival? Legend of Buddhist Laba Festival

Laba Festival is the last traditional Chinese festival before the Spring Festival. After Laba Festival, the Spring Festival will come. Although the Laba Festival is not as important as the Spring Festival, it is also a festival spread from ancient China. Most people's understanding of the Laba Festival may be limited to eating Laba porridge on the Laba Festival. In fact, Laba Festival is also closely related to Buddhism, and there are legends of Buddhism and Laba Festival among the people. Let's talk about the origin of Buddhism and Laba Festival. Let's have a look.

Buddhist Laba Festival

Since Buddhism was introduced into China in the decade of Yongping, emperor of the Han and Ming Dynasties, it has gradually been organically combined with China's inherent culture and beliefs, and has become a Chinese Buddhism. Therefore, Laba Festival is also established on the basis of traditional folk customs. It is said that the eighth day of December is the day when the Buddha became a Taoist under the bodhi tree. Before the Buddha became a Taoist priest, he had been practicing asceticism for six years and was in great shape. Later, asceticism was not the cause of liberation, so he gave up asceticism and came to the nerian Zen river. After bathing in the crud for many years, he accepted the chyle offered by the shepherd, recovered his physical strength, and continued to practice under the bodhi tree of bodhicaya. He thought in silence and finally realized the Dharma and achieved Buddhism and Taoism on the eighth day of December. Therefore, the grand Dharma meeting held to commemorate the Buddha's becoming a Taoist on this day is called the becoming a Taoist meeting, the becoming a Taoist festival, the Buddha becoming a Taoist day and the Laba meeting. Shuxiu Baizhang Qinggui Volume II, the Buddha became a Nirvana like article (Da Zheng 48, Part 1, Part 6): "on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, I respectfully met the Master Sakyamuni Buddha when he became a monk, led the monks and strictly prepared incense, flowers, lamps, candles, tea, fruits and delicacies to apply for support.".

In Japan's Zen forest, in order to commemorate the Buddha's completion of the Tao, they stopped all actions together at the beginning of the twelfth lunar month. In addition to going to the toilet and eating, they learned that they could not stand up and sleep horizontally. They began to stand up at dawn on the eighth day of the ninth lunar month, recited the great mercy mantra in front of the Buddha statue, and even ended the Dharma meeting. This method is called Laba heart to heart or Laba heart to heart. Therefore, Laba is not only an important day for the Buddha, but also a day that affects the thinking of the world. Because from this day on, the spread of the Buddha's Dharma in the world, and the world can get rid of suffering and happiness and become holy through the Dharma realized by the Buddha.

Legend of Buddhist Laba porridge

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Chinese people have the custom of eating Laba porridge. It is said that Laba porridge came from India. Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, was the son of King Jingfan of kapilawek (now Nepal) in northern ancient India. He saw that all living beings were suffering from birth, old age, illness and death. He was dissatisfied with the theocratic rule of Brahman at that time, abandoned the throne and became a monk. After six years of asceticism, he realized the Tao and became a Buddha under the bodhi tree on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. During these six years of asceticism, he ate only one hemp and one meter a day. Future generations do not forget his suffering. They eat porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month every year as a souvenir. " Laba has become the 'Buddha's road anniversary'.

Laba is a grand Buddhist festival. Before liberation, Buddhist temples in various places held bathing Buddha meetings, chanted scriptures, and imitated the legend of shepherds offering chyle before Sakyamuni became a Taoist priest. They cooked porridge with fragrant Valley and fruit for the Buddha, which is called "Laba porridge". Laba porridge was given to disciples and good men and women. Later, it became common among the people. It is said that before the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, monks held bowls and prayed along the street to cook the collected rice, chestnut, jujube, nuts and other materials into Laba porridge and distribute it to the poor. It is said that after eating, you can get the blessing of the Buddha, so the poor call it 'Buddha porridge'. Lu You of the Southern Song Dynasty said: "at present, the Buddha porridge is more fed, and the festival in Jiangcun is new." It is said that there is a "food storehouse" for storing leftovers in Tianning Temple, a famous temple in Hangzhou. Usually, the monks dry the leftovers every day and accumulate the surplus food for a year. They cook it into Laba porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month and give it to the believers. It is called "Fu Shou porridge" and "Fu Fu porridge", which means that they can increase happiness and longevity after eating. It can be seen that the monks cherished the virtue of food at that time.

Laba porridge was cooked with red beans and glutinous rice in ancient times. Later, the materials gradually increased. People in the Southern Song Dynasty carefully wrote the old stories of Wulin, which said: 'making porridge with walnuts, pine nuts, milk mushrooms, persimmon mushrooms and persimmon chestnuts is called & lsquo; Laba porridge & rsquo. So far, people in the vast areas of Jiangnan, northeast and Northwest China still retain the custom of eating Laba porridge, which is rare in Guangdong. The materials used are different. Glutinous rice, red beans, dates, chestnuts, peanuts, ginkgo, lotus seeds, lilies, etc. are often boiled into sweet porridge. Some are cooked with longan, longan meat and preserves. Eating a bowl of steaming Laba porridge in winter is not only delicious and nutritious, but also can increase happiness and longevity.

What is the relationship between Laba porridge and Buddhist disciples

At that time, a man named Gautama & middot; Siddhartha's prince decided to give up the crown prince's glory and wealth and become a practitioner in pursuit of liberation. With his high learning ability and understanding, he learned the truth and knowledge in a very short time.

Then he spent more than six years in various extreme ascetic ways to experience and verify the truth he had learned. In the past six years, he has been persistent, often fasted, strongly controlled his body and senses, and even stopped breathing through his mouth and nose and controlled his ears.

As a result of the six years of the persisting in these actions, he has only been wandering on edge of the death and failed to achieve his original intention as a practitioner. Gautama, who was extremely weak, found that such severe asceticism did not help him to surpass ordinary people. Is there any other way to enlightenment? When he thought like this, his extremely weak body seemed to have greatly hindered his possibility of re finding his way.

Under such circumstances, he first needs to recuperate his body weakened by asceticism. So he decided to give up fasting and eat some food. Just then, a shepherdess found the extremely haggard and thin practitioner. She gave Gautama a bowl of porridge, a bowl of porridge cooked with coarse grains and a small amount of sheep's milk. Later generations called this bowl of porridge chyle.

When Gautama accepted chyle for recuperation and recovery, he began to explore a new way of liberation under the bodhi tree. Soon, when the enlightenment star appeared in the early morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the practitioner fully realized that there was a Buddha in heaven and earth. His name is Gautama & middot; Siddhartha's practitioners become true saints and are called Sakyamuni Buddha.

The bowl of chyle offered by the shepherdess is actually the real prototype of Laba porridge cooked by Buddha disciples. Therefore, the spirit and strength of this small bowl of Laba porridge is immeasurable. We can at least sum up the three meanings represented by this bowl of Laba porridge from the story of Sakyamuni Buddha.

1. Marks a turning point

After six years of asceticism, Gautama needed to reorient his efforts. In this case, the bowl of chyle confession he accepted is a turning point: a turning point between evil and right, a turning point between persistence and innovation, and a turning point between confusion and enlightenment.

2. Mark a new beginning

The Buddha's consciousness shows a new way of thinking and practice, which can truly be transcendent, can prove true wisdom, and can achieve true liberation. This bowl of chyle supply represents a new beginning of all this.

When we have been depressed for a long time and don't know the way out for a long time, even if we can't get good results in the study and practice of Buddhism, no one needs the blessing of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, which opens us a new idea, a new realm of practice, a new opportunity and a new challenge & hellip& hellip; All this may be realized from a bowl of Laba porridge.

3. It marks abandoning evil and following the good

When Gautama accepted chyle confession, he opened a turning point towards true liberation. He was trying to create a new system of practice. The Buddha's behavior of accepting chyle confession shows that incorrect practice methods should be abandoned and new ways of liberation should be sought.

Therefore, when later Buddhist disciples follow the example of Buddhism and receive Laba porridge every year, they should look back on themselves: whether they have enough to abandon evil and follow good, eliminate false and preserve truth in life, work, study, cultivation and so on&# 8203;&# 8203;&# 8203;&# 8203;&# 8203;