Article/Liu Yanxun, Observer Survey Group of Sina Column
Shifa is introducing Xuanzang Temple to Yang Weize. (Picture source: website of Nanjing Buddhist Association) On the Southern Weekend published last week, my article "The Abbot's Official Friend Circle" was discussed and forwarded by many people on the Internet, and nearly wiped the screen. Some friends think that this is a wonderful way to show the other side of corruption and officials in a place. Some friends are very curious about how I found this monk.
Frankly speaking, it is both accidental and inevitable to do this report with Shi Fa as the main character.
When Ji Jianye was inaugurated in 2013, he was introduced by a local good friend and was able to know Shi Faxing.
In the three restaurants and guest rooms where Shi used to receive guests, his group photos with leaders at all levels, including local officials and central leaders, were hung on the walls around him.
When I first met the monk with a round face, I felt that he could talk with us while looking through the magazines brought by his friends. The magazines were colorful and the fax was casually flipped back and forth. At that time, I could not help thinking that the wine and meat went through the intestines, and the Buddha kept it in mind. A little disrespectful, silently chanting, Amitabha.
Ji Jianye's report and Shi Fax gave me a lot of effective information and advice at that time. He was really familiar with the local officialdom. Unfortunately, my magazine failed to send that report at that time. As an aside, he also gave me a "promotion" when we met. It was long, shiny, and looked very valuable, but actually it was just an ordinary thing. When he handed me the shoes and explained how to pull them out smoothly, he told the story of how he had also sent Ji Jianye a "promotion". The day after Ji Jianye received the "promotion", he was double disciplined. The guard then teased him. Master, you gave him a good gift. The "promotion" of Ji was so great that he mentioned Beijing. I thought it was interesting when I heard it. Later, I talked with him again and led him to talk about it again. Then I wrote it in the latest article.
Because of the interview, I went to Mount Jiuhua four times in the following year and interviewed him in the Xuanzang Temple. For example, when Feng Yajun and Yang Weize fell off their horses, and a report outlining the past of Wang Wulong, the former secretary of the Nanjing Municipal Party Committee, who fell off their horses. For various reasons, the report about Feng Yajun was the only one that was published successfully.
Several contacts and long talks have made me know more about the monk, and I have time to corroborate his official details from different ways. His story is reliable.
I also saw his followers' devotion to him. Once, a believer came from a long distance and knelt before me, kowtowing to the ground. In the eyes of the believers, Shi Fa was a truly Taoist monk, thanks to his mastery of Buddhism and good oral expression.
But all the interviews, although once unpublished, are cumulative and meaningful. When I decided to write a special report with him as the main character, we could have a long chat, which could be more leisurely and rhythmic. Before this interview, I had been in Nanjing Cat for a week, and I was going to write an observation paper about the changes of Nanjing in the past year. For some reasons you know, when provincial and ministerial officials like Yang Weize were down, the Southern Weekend could not report at the first time, but had to "save the country with curves".
After staying for a week, when I was about to leave, the editor called me late at night to ask, do you know the fax mage? I said I know too well. I've known each other for a long time. The editor said that's great. You can talk to him tomorrow. He is writing about Yang Weize's past in his circle of friends these days. I asked again, how to do it? The editor said, "Write a character script, and just talk.".
To be honest, I feel no pressure and excited when I receive such a task. I know that Shi Fa has too many stories, but I haven't taken the initiative to report the topic because I feel that the reports from outsiders are still sensitive. Maybe I have too high self assumption.
So, in the next few days, I went to Jiuhua Mountain four times to have a long talk with Shi Fax.
At 9:30 a.m. on November 21, in the room with the word "Zhengding" hanging in the Xuanzang Temple of Jiuhua Mountain in Nanjing, which is the place where Shi, the abbot of the temple, received visitors by fax. He gave my first interview, which lasted about an hour and a half. At 3:00 p.m., a second interview was held, which lasted about one hour. The interview had to be suspended because I was busy working as a mage for the dead relatives of a local justice bureau director.
At 9 a.m. on the 22nd, the scheduled third interview was completed at about 3 p.m., about one and a half hours, because Shi had to rush to hold a department meeting.
On the 23rd, Shi faxed to Quanjiao County, Anhui Province, to attend a meeting of four local teams for the construction of temple tourism development.
At 9 a.m. on the 24th, the reporter from Southern Weekend entered the mountain gate of Jiuhua Mountain again and had the fourth long talk with Shi Fax, which lasted about 2.5 hours.
At the end of the conversation, I suddenly felt excited and felt that the script had become a success. This monk is careful and can say that he has the ability to see from the inside. For example, after Ji Jianye was captured, Miao Helin was transferred to Nanjing as mayor, and he was also the leader of the deepening reform team. At that time, Yang Weize, as the secretary, was also the leader. The arrangement of two chief leaders was very rare. At that time, Shi said that Yang Weize would have trouble.
Shi Fa has indeed provided us with a rare perspective. Many officials have intersected with him, which makes him a cut into the hidden side of Nanjing and even larger officialdom. When I was interviewing and writing, I always remembered that there was a similar monk in Wang Yuewen's novel, but the character in the novel was more magical.
The whole conversation finally sorted out nearly 70000 words of effective dialogue. After being revised in the middle of the night, it finally left a page in the newspaper. Because some parties are still in office, the names of the officials involved have been largely anonymous, but you must know who the person mentioned in some details is.
In fact, there are many details that have not been reported. The most impressive one is Cheng Weigao, who came from Hebei to find a fax. At that time, Li Zhen had an accident. Cheng Weigao thought about it and told the fax a secret inside story. It involves the senior management, so he can't come here one by one. Another detail is that Gao Yan, the missing secretary of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee, also came to the temple to burn incense in the fax. At that time, he took 36 gold paper ingots and 36 silver paper ingots and burned them one by one, but he was only silent and did not speak. Looking at the fax, he also felt a kind of inexplicable loneliness.
The manuscript was posted on the Internet early Thursday morning, and instantly became a screen scraping trend. To be honest, it was more popular than I expected.
I forwarded a copy to Shi's fax via WeChat. After reading it, he replied: "WeChat spread early in the morning! Many people called me to ask about Tianjin, Shanghai, Canada... It spread too fast, some scolded me, some appreciated me."
I asked him, what do you think, Shifu? He said that everything depends on fate. The most important decision-makers see that it is good for the government.
He is not the first monk I interviewed. Before that, there were also Master Yancan and Master Longquan Temple. But compared with him, Shi Fa impressed me more deeply.
Comments forwarded by Shi Fax on his blog. (explaining the screenshot of the fax blog) He forwarded my report to his blog, and wrote a few words in French: "Read the content with wisdom, read the text without wisdom. Read the meditation with wisdom, and curse the mother after reading without wisdom."
In addition, he said: "Feng Yajun is a friend. He doesn't become a friend just because he is caught. He is his fault. As a monk, I can do whatever I want. Regardless of him, friends are a human-oriented problem."
He also said: "Before Yang Weize and Ji Jianye were arrested, if there were media reports that they were my friends and that individual leaders would not dare to punish me, ask me for trouble, and commit some disciplinary violations! Now that I am their friend, this other leader will definitely have fun at home, because they want to draw a line instead. The human weakness of this opportunism will be obvious. "
Self explaining the circle of friends of the fax apprentice After reading the report, one of his disciples said: "The Southern Weekend interviewed the fax mage to tell the story of the Buddhist complex of senior officials. People really need help, but if you help them, they may be attacked. Help anyway. Giving the best thing you have to the world may never be enough. Give the best thing anyway. ”This message is in both Chinese and English.
Several comments in the media circle are also very interesting. One comment is: "This so-called outsider, who is successful in learning, thick in learning, has many hidden rules of officialdom. With a little shallow Buddhist chicken soup, it is no wonder that he can play well with officials."
Another comment came from Zhang Wei, who commented on my article in the We Media "World Phase": "This is an interview with a temple abbot who was honored as a guest of honor by several officials in Nanjing. It is absurd enough. My bigger question is: why do many people abandon reason to pray for God and worship Buddha... Many people begin to believe in fate under the premise of the failure of reason. The real emotional charm of fate also lies in the failure of reason... And where reason stops, people can greedily enjoy the amazement of fate. "
In the interview, Shi Faxing told me several times that officials are also human beings, and Party members also have spiritual sustenance problems. This is not contradictory. There is no need for confrontation. We should look at anyone objectively from the perspective of human nature. In his own words, he deals with officials basically to promote the development of Buddhism. Of course, officials come to him in a different mood, which is in line with Zhang Wei's comments.
Shi Fax's WeChat signature is: "In the world of Buddha, there is blue sky that you have not seen." After the report was sent, after a day of fermentation, at night, I asked Shi Fax on WeChat. Did the report cause you trouble?
After a long time, he returned: "Do you think?" I said, no expectations. He added that his friend said that officials would not dare to come to me again. I asked, do you mind this? He paused for a long time and said that he didn't mind if it was a good official or would come. For me, all people who come to the temple are pilgrims and believers... ordinary people.
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