Author: Fan Shuncheng (silly sheep).
I originally didn't believe in God, and I have been educated by the Communist Party and *** ideology since I was a child, especially after *** breaking the four olds and establishing the four new, whether it is Confucius's Confucianism or Lao Tzu's Taoism. Whether it's Muhammad in Islam or the Virgin Mary of Jesus in the West. Whether it is Shakyamuni Nyorai Buddha, or all kinds of ancient Chinese gods, they were all knocked to the ground by the Red Guards, and then stepped on one foot, so that they "will never turn over". The slogan at that time was: "Down with all the ghosts, snakes, and gods!".”
My mother believed in God, and in that environment, she only secretly burned incense to God. Since she was uneducated, she did not know which sect or sect the deity she worshipped. When asked her, she said that she respected: "God, God's grandmother, the stove king, the land lord, and so on." "It must be the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother in Taoism.
Originally, every time my mother secretly burned incense to God, I always quarreled with her and persuaded him not to burn incense to worship God anymore. Who knew that one time I probably had a severe wind chill. Covered with two or three quilts, he was still shivering with chills and shivering. That night, my mother, convinced that I had been troubled by some god, hung up the idol, set up the incense table, lit the candles, made the incense soup, and knelt down in front of the idol. While kowtowing, I whispered the names of the gods, asking them to bless me with my health as soon as possible.
After kowtowing, my mother brought a bowl with half a bowl of water. Put the bowl of water on the table, hold a chopstick vertically with two fingers, and keep erecting the chopstick in the water bowl, then release the finger and try to make the chopstick stand up without any leaning. I watched from the sidelines and thought, "It's impossible for chopsticks to stand firm on their own." The mother kept repeating her movements, and at the same time, muttered to herself. He kept whispering the names of those relatives who were no longer alive: "Mother!".Daddy!Uncle!Aunt ......, If you have anything to do, give me your dreams, I will definitely fulfill your wishes, I will definitely send you money to burn incense, please don't make trouble with my children. In this way, the mother repeated her actions over and over again, twice, ten times, eight times, dozens or even hundreds of times, and repeatedly called out the names of those who had passed away.
Finally, a miracle happened, and the chopsticks stood firmly on the water bowl alone without any leaning. I was almost dumbfounded.
At this time, if my mother happened to call out the name of a relative who was no longer alive, her old man thought that this relative was making trouble for me. I hurriedly put the fragrant soup that had already been made into a bowl, took a spoon, scooped the fragrant soup with a spoon, and splashed it everywhere from the inside to the outside, from the outside to the courtyard. Splashing fragrant soup over and over again, he continued to whisper the name of the deceased relative: "*You go!."Tomorrow I will send you money (send paper money to the grave)" until the small half pot of fragrant soup has been spilled.
At first, I didn't believe that my mother could erect that helpless chopstick in a clear water bowl, but when the chopsticks were really erected, I began to half-believe that there were really ghosts and gods in this world. What's even more strange is that the next day my condition miraculously improved and I was able to go to school normally.
The next day, the mother will definitely return the wish she has made. She bought gold and silver ingots such as paper money and tin foil, and went to the graves of those relatives to burn them.
Sometimes my sister or brother is sick, and my mother does the same. After many of these things, our whole family has come to believe in God a little. It's just not as religious as my mother. I just stopped muttering.
It is said that the mother often burns incense and kowtows to these gods, and her own body should be healthier. In fact, it is the opposite, there are more than a dozen people in our family, and her old man's health is the worst. Therefore, I am still skeptical about whether there are gods and ghosts.
To make matters worse, my mother got stomach cancer around 1980. After surgery at the cancer hospital**, his condition still did not improve greatly. You can only eat some liquid foods. During this time, our family tried everything. My sister kowtowed to her mother's illness, burned incense and worshiped God. My brother often went to Huangputun to ask an old Chinese medicine doctor to prescribe medicine for his mother's illness. The old Chinese medicine doctor was a demigod and half-doctor, with eyes. The medicines he prescribes are very strange, all of them are leaves such as old locust leaves and old elm leaves. Whatever it is, go to the doctor in a hurry. Later, the family invited a miracle doctor, who is said to be very capable and specializes in treating all kinds of intractable diseases.
When the old doctor came to the house, he first found a huge paulownia tree in the patio of the north and east houses of my house. The patio is more than a meter wide, and the diameter of the large paulownia tree accounts for more than half. My parents lived in the two rooms at the east end of the north house, and the huge paulownia tree outside the door not only affected our access, but also blocked most of the doors. The old doctor said, "Look at this tree in your house, it is in the throat." The old doctor looked the tree up and down, left and right for a long time, and he concluded that there were demons living on it. "There are demons in this place. Can your family avoid esophageal diseases?Hurry up and get this big paulownia tree out!"We felt that what the old doctor said seemed to be reasonable, and we acted resolutely, and the old paulownia tree was out the next day.
Before leaving, the old doctor prescribed a lot of medicines to his mother, some were used to burn incense, some were used by his mother to take them, and he also used the magic technique of pricking needles, and the pain of pricking needles made his mother's tears come down. In short, the old doctor also spent a lot of effort.
My sister prayed to God and worshiped Buddha, and her kowtow was about to bleed. The big paulownia tree at home has also come out, and the demons on the tree should have nowhere to hide. The mother of the demigod and half-doctor in Huangputun has also eaten all kinds of leaves many times. The excruciating pain of needle was also used. Finally, my mother passed away.
Since then, I no longer believe in half-believers, and I no longer believe that there are ghosts and gods in this world.
As for the mother, she can make the chopsticks stand up without leaning back. I think it should be a balance issue. In short, I firmly believe that it is not the gods who are doing it!
Country Memory Series 74 "Where is God?".Ends.
Fan Shuncheng on the evening of January 5, 2024.