In 2009, a group of music-making monks in Tiantai Temple in Hubei attracted the attention of tourists. Among them, a young female monk with a pretty appearance was playing Western musical instruments. Everyone took out their mobile phones to take photos and posted the photos onli

In 2009, a group of music-making monks in Tiantai Temple in Hubei attracted the attention of tourists.

Among them, a pretty young female monk was playing a Western musical instrument. Everyone took out their mobile phones to take photos and posted the photos online.

For a moment, she was extraordinary and popular all over the Internet and was praised by netizens as the "most beautiful nun" in China.

As her popularity became popular, people gradually learned that her name was Shi Zheng Xiaotong, who was originally a top student in a prestigious school in 985. In 2008, when she was 19 years old, she resolutely gave up her high education and went to Tiantai Temple to cut her hair into a nun, eat vegetarian food and chant Buddha's name.

Now, 14 years have passed, and she is still devoted to her cultivation and is unwilling to return to secular life. What exactly happened to her?

1,

1989, Shi Zhengxiaotong was born in an ordinary rural family in Henan, and his mother is a Buddhist enthusiast.

Shi Zhengxiaotong has been well-behaved and sensible since she was a child. Under the influence of her mother, she developed a strong interest in Buddhism and often followed her mother to worship and learn Buddhist knowledge.

In terms of study, Shi Zhengxiaotong has never let his parents worry and his grades have always been among the best.

When she was in high school, she lived up to expectations and was admitted to a key school, and her academic performance became even more tense. Listening to Zen music and chanting scriptures has become the only way for Shi Zhengxiao to relieve anxiety. At this moment, she will completely relax and adjust her state.

Hard work pays off. In 2008, Shi Zhengxiaotong was admitted to a 985 key university - Shandong University with excellent results.

Shi Zhengxiaotong's success is not only the pride of his parents, but also a role model for the children in the village to learn from.

After entering university, no matter how rich the extracurricular life is, it seems that it has nothing to do with Shi Zhengxiao.

She likes to be alone and likes to study Buddhism quietly. No matter how others talk about her, she still does what she wants.

In the eyes of outsiders, Shi Zhengxiaotong's "maverickness" seems a bit strange. Gradually, everyone began to alienate her and rarely interact with her.

was isolated and became more taciturn.

2 and

The first summer vacation of the university, my father suggested that the family go out to relax. Shi Zhengxiao became interested and immediately proposed to go to Tiantai Temple in Hong'an, Hubei.

My father was a little surprised after hearing this. Don’t girls like to go to playgrounds and aquariums? But my daughter chose to go to a quiet temple.

Although he didn't understand it very much, he still respected his daughter's ideas. After simply packing up their luggage, the family of three embarked on a journey to Hubei with great enthusiasm.

When Shi Zhengxiaotong stepped on the ancient stairs, touched the ancient walls, looked at the ancient buildings, and looked up at the golden Buddha statue. Everything here made her feel extremely sacred.

The impetuous mood outside has just become as calm as water. Here, Shi Zhengxiaotong seemed to have found a true spiritual belonging and was reluctant to leave for a long time.

It was about to return, so Shi Zhengxiaotong persuaded his father, hoping to stay in Tiantai Temple for a few more days, so his father naturally did not object.

In the following days, Shi Zhengxiaotong was like a monk in a temple, meditating, chanting scriptures, eating vegetarian food... This kind of life made her obsessed.

But good times are always short, and it is the day when school is about to start, and Shi Zhengxiaotong has to leave the temple and return to school.

However, Shi Zheng Xiaotong, who returned to the campus and continued his heavy academic performance, did not arouse any interest at all. Instead, he was obsessed with the peaceful days in the temple, hoping to have the opportunity to go back there.

Until one day, Shi Zhengxiaotong woke up from his sleep and made a decision to change the trajectory of his life.

3,

In the dream, Shi Zhengxiao transformed into a little boy beside the Buddha, with an egg in his hand.

woke up from her dream, and everything turned into a bubble, but Shi Zheng Xiaotong could not let go. She always believed that it was the Buddha's guidance to her, and boldly showed her determination to become a monk to her parents.

At first, the father did not support his daughter's decision. The academic master who was finally trained had to give up a bright future and chose to become a monk. Whenever he thought of this, his father could not accept it at all.

But fortunately, the mother who worships Buddha all year round understands her daughter very much and even encourages her: "No one will force you if you follow your heart."

Seeing that her daughter had made up her mind and his wife persuaded her hard, the father could only compromise.

Just like that, Shi Zhengxiaotong came to Tiantai Temple again.

This time, she will cut off three thousand worries and always accompany the ancient Buddha in the green lamp. At the sacrificial ceremony, Shi Zheng Xiaotong had no waves in his eyes, but his father couldn't help but shed tears.

From then on, the chaos in the world has nothing to do with her.

"Has she encountered any problem?"

"985 top students chose to become monks? Is she crazy?"

There are constant doubts from outsiders, and relatives and friends come to ask, but the couple never cares about the eyes of people, but just replied casually: "It's good that the child likes it."

And on the other side, he has fulfilled his wish, what kind of life is he living?

4,

She lives in a simple room, sleeps on a wooden bed, wears coarse cloth monk's clothes, eats simple food every day, gets up early to recite scriptures, and studies Buddhism.

In addition, carrying water, chopping wood, and cleaning are also Shi Zhengxiaotong's daily work. She never complains about hardship and fatigue, but enjoys it.

In your spare time, Shi Zhengxiaotong will come to the top of the mountain alone, allowing the breeze to caress his cheeks and take away the disorganized thoughts.

In order to ensure the clean up of the rest of the world, the temple also has strict management of electronic products: it is necessary to apply for using a computer or surf the Internet; it is not allowed to own a mobile phone, and only a few deacons and monks will be equipped by the temple due to work needs.

Practice is unimaginable.

But Shi Zheng Xiaotong found a new fun in it: Zen music.

The so-called Zen music is a way of practicing the piano, sound, and body to correspond to the mind, to meditate and practice qigong.

Shi Zhengxiaotong was already 20 years old when he was studying Zen. Due to the harsh conditions at that time, there was no musical instrument teacher on the mountain, Shi Zhengxiaotong had to go down the mountain to study in Wuhan. It took six or seven hours just to go back and forth.

There are also many monks who choose to leave because they do not understand this way of practice and cannot endure hardship, but Shi Zhengxiaotong persisted.

In order to improve her piano skills, she studies hard every day and never takes it lightly.

Just like that, day after day practice allowed Shi Zhengxiaotong to successfully join the Guangxuan Art Troupe and take on the role of hosting and starring.

This also leads to the scene at the beginning of the article. During a temple activity, Shi Zhengxiaotong was focusing on playing musical instruments. She quickly attracted everyone's attention and became popular. She was called China's "most beautiful nun".

Many people even came to Tiantai Temple to see Shi Zhengxiaotong's appearance.

As the saying goes, people have many troubles.

Shi Zhengxiaotong's popularity also confirms this sentence.

5 and

Many tourists feel that their hearts have been baptized after watching her performance, but many people also think that Shi Zheng Xiaotong is just using this method to attract attention.

The controversy has pushed Shi Zhengxiao to the forefront of public opinion and has been hotly discussed.

"Monks and nuns on the same stage, shouldn't real monks avoid being too shy?"

"The world is so crazy now, even monks have forgotten their identity."

...

and other remarks are countless.

In this regard, Shi Zhengxiaotong explained: "As monks, the rules and precepts are the foundation of our life. Men and women only have a brief exchange, and more than three people must be present."

"As for Zen music, there is no boundary between national and religious boundaries at all. We hope that through music, such as music, which is easily accepted by the secular world, more people can feel the baptism of Zen music."

Shi Zhengxiaotong doesn't seem to care about the outside world's praise and criticism of himself.

She just wants to immerse herself in the world of Buddhism, abandon the impetuousness in the world, and practice Zen and enlighten the Tao.

Now, 14 thoughts have passed since Shi Zhengxiao became a monk. She still devoted herself to Buddha and had no intention of returning to secular life.

Always, her heart is as calm as water, and her heart is pure and unwavering. Compared with the noisy world, she yearns for a peaceful and peaceful Buddhist place more.

In fact, there are many examples of scholars like Shi Zhengxiaotong becoming monks.

Do you still remember that in 2010, the Peking University talented man Liu Zhiyu ?

Liu Zhiyu

He has been very intelligent since childhood and is an enviable academic master. After successfully entering Peking University, he resolutely gave up the full scholarship of Mits Institute of Technology and came to Longquan Temple in Beijing to ordain it as a monk.

2 years, Liu Zhiyu has never lost his heart to fly. He wants to reach the state of selflessness and does not care about any interests. So not long ago, he returned to secular life. This time, he became a psychology training tutor with a monthly salary of 20,000 yuan.

Like 12 years ago, everyone scolded him indiscriminately.

When he became a monk, people accused him of letting down the country's cultivation and wasting educational resources.

When people returned to secular life, people accused him of betraying Buddhism and bewitching the greed of profit.

In this noisy world, everyone has a different understanding of life, and everyone has the right to choose the life they want.

There is no similar life experience, and it may not be possible to empathize with , but all life is reasonable, there is no need to understand each other, just respect each other.

Be yourself and respect others is a state of mind and a virtue. Text/Sijie