Chapter 50: Consecration of the Buddha Statue

The bald man was wearing a complete set of gray cloth clothes. Zhang Yang seemed to have seen this style of dressing somewhere before.

When the other person came closer, Zhang Yang could see clearly that it was not just a bald man.

There are scars on the top of the head.

No wonder the clothes looked so familiar, it turns out he is a monk.

Zhang Yang has heard that those who have ordination scars on their heads nowadays are all old monks who received ordination when they were young.

Because as early as forty years ago, this practice was abolished because of concerns that leaving scars on one's forehead would affect physical health.

"Zhang Yang, let me introduce you."

Grandpa Lu first pointed at the old monk:
"This is Master Tingxian, a high-ranking monk that Miss Tian invited from Mount Putai."

"You should know Mount Putai, it's a Buddhist holy place..."

Grandpa Lu was introducing the old monk's origins, but Zhang Yang was only concerned about one question:
You call her Miss Tian?

Zhang Yang and the white-haired old lady looked at each other, and she immediately put her hands together and greeted him.

As expected, this grandmother’s surname is Tian.

Grandpa Lu’s way of addressing her was a bit too polite. Was he deliberately trying to avoid suspicion, or was there really no relationship between them?
Zhang Yang was gossiping a lot in his mind.

"Xiaotian, can you tell Zhang Yang about your request?"

"Well, hello, Master Zhang."

Grandma Tian had a kind smile on her face.

"Grandma, you are too polite. If you have anything to say, just...hiss!"

Zhang Yang was greeting people when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.

Shen Yiyi didn't know what was wrong with her. She twisted Zhang Yang's arm like she was tuning a radio, twisting the flesh on his arm a full 90 degrees.

She was expressing her dissatisfaction.

"Yiyi, stop making trouble!"

Grandpa Lu said in a serious tone.

He looked very serious, but the smile on his face could no longer be hidden.

Xiao Shen snorted, obviously a little upset.

Now it is obvious:

Grandpa is interested in Grandma Tian, ​​but Xiao Shen doesn't seem to like her very much.

Zhang Yang was enjoying eating the melon nearby.

He continued to communicate with Grandma Tian:
"If you have any needs, just tell me. I'm having a grand opening sale here, with 50% off on antique replicas."

"Thank you so much, Master Zhang. This is what happened..."

Grandma Tian took out a stack of photos from the small bag at her side and handed them to Zhang Yang.

The photos are full of Buddha statues.

Most of the statues are made of metal, such as gilded copper, bronze, inlaid gold and silver...

Zhang Yang didn't know much about religious relics, he was just there for fun, but when he saw a jade carving, he couldn't help himself.

This gesture of pointing at his own head inexplicably reminded Zhang Yang of an emoticon package:

[As long as you become a waste, no one can use you.JPG]

Shen Yiyi also saw the photo of the Jade Guanyin statue and asked curiously:
"Brother, what dynasty is this jade Buddha statue from?"

"I do not know."

Zhang Yang turned the photo over and showed it to the monk and Grandma Tian in front of him.

After looking at the photo, the latter also turned to the old monk next to him.

"Amitabha."

"This statue of Guanyin dates back to the Northern Wei Dynasty and is one of the oldest Buddha statues in our temple," Master Tingxian explained.

"Oh, it's from the Northern Wei Dynasty."

Shen Yiyi nodded in sudden realization.

After listening to this, Zhang Yang frowned slightly.

Is this from the Northern Wei Dynasty?
The Northern Wei Dynasty has been around for at least 1500 years. How could this white jade statue be preserved so well?
It is definitely not unearthed, because there is no soil stain;

It can only be passed down from generation to generation for a full 1,500 years.

Kind of awesome.

Seeing that Zhang Yang was silent, Grandma Tian asked tentatively:
"Master Zhang, have you finished reading it?"

"I've read it, but what do you want to do with these photos?" Zhang Yang asked in confusion. "I want you to make a few replicas of the Buddha statues in the photos."

"It's not a few, it's one of them." Master Tingxian corrected, "There are still a few more, you want me to die."

"Okay, just one."

"Master Zhang, can you imitate it?" Grandma Tian asked expectantly.

Grandpa Lu also chimed in:
"Zhang Yang, can you see if you can do it? I feel that with your ability, it should be no problem."

"It's not difficult to make a copy."

Zhang Yang nodded, thought about it and said:

"But I'm a little curious, why can it only be one?"

He patted the photo in his hand and said with a smile:
"If they are all imitations, I can give you a 50% discount."

“No.” Grandma Tian waved her hands quickly. “The Buddha statues need to be consecrated by Master Xian himself. If there are too many, even a monk with such profound cultivation as him cannot bear it.”

"Amitabha, thank you Mr. Tian for your understanding."

Master Tingxian admitted this.

He told Zhang Yang and the others present that the consecration process would require preparing different instruments and reciting corresponding scriptures for each Buddha statue, and it would take about three days in total.

Even for a great monk like him, it was very exhausting.

If Grandma Tian wasn't sincere, he wouldn't be willing to help!
Including these photos, Master Tingxian secretly took them for Grandma Tian because she had been offering sacrifices to the Buddha for many years.

Every Buddha statue in the photo is an ancient Buddha enshrined in the temple.

Bathed in incense for thousands of years.

Now Zhang Yang has made an identical copy, and after it has been blessed by Master Tingxian, he can share a bit of the power of the incense.

Although it is not as strong as the incense in the temple, it is enough to bless Grandma Tian and her family.

Listening to Master Xian’s very mysterious words, Zhang Yang felt like the door to a new world had been opened for him.

The power of incense sounds powerful.

Since the thing is so important, Zhang Yang's attitude becomes serious.

He handed the photos to Grandma Tian and asked her to choose one she liked.

Zhang Yang told the other party very confidently:
"I can imitate any Buddha statue, and I guarantee it will look exactly the same."

"Can they really be exactly the same?" Master Tingxian stood up and questioned.

"Of course, if it's not exactly the same, it's free."

"Okay, okay, I hope you can do what you say."

The old monk said with a smile, an elusive smile on his face.

Zhang Yang found this expression a bit strange.

But if you think about it carefully, the old monk might be afraid that the Buddha statue is too fake and he won’t be able to attract incense.

Grandma Tian finally chose a bronze statue of seated Manjushri Bodhisattva.

The carving is very detailed and beautiful.

Just by looking at the photos, you can feel the compassion of the Bodhisattva.

Out of respect for Grandpa Lu, Zhang Yang only accepted a deposit of two thousand yuan from Grandma Tian.

We agreed to pick up the goods half a month later.

In fact, it could have been even faster, but Zhang Yang always felt that the old monk was not very confident in his skills and was always secretly pointing fingers at him, so he simply exaggerated the time.

This time the old monk finally stopped talking.

He had a smile on his face until he walked out of the yard.

However, what Zhang Yang didn't know was that as soon as the old monk and Grandma Tian walked out of the yard, the smile on his face disappeared instantly.

As he walked, he asked:
"Is the guy named Zhang capable? Is he sure?"

"Don't let me get caught."

"It should be possible." Grandma Tian said a little uncertainly.

Hearing that she was feeling a little guilty, the old monk suddenly stopped and glared at her with a frown.

"Listen, I made it very clear when I took your money."

"You must provide an identical Buddha statue, and I will help you replace the real one in the temple."

"If you can't provide it, then our agreement will be void and I won't refund your money. Do you understand?"

(End of this chapter)