Mysterious That Son: Legend of the Buddha of Elephant Mountain

Reward of 1,000 quan of money

According to writer Son Nam, Nam Thiep was born in 1831 in Tra Tan village, old My Tho province, now Dong Thap . His real name was Ngo Loi, he was the leader of the uprising against the French by Le Van Ong and Vo Van Kha in Cai Lay, Thuoc Nhieu and Tan Hiep in 1878. People called him Nam Thiep because before the day of his initiation, he left the mortal world for 7 days and nights and then woke up. Later, when he came to Tuong mountain (That Son), he also often went into a trance, but for a shorter time. Each time he went into a trance, when he woke up, he had a secret method to teach his followers.

The practice rituals of Tu An Hieu Nghia have some differences from Buu Son Ky Huong in the time of Buddha Master Tay An or Quan Co Tran Van Thanh. Like Buu Son Ky Huong, Tu An Hieu Nghia focuses on developing in the form of lay people so that many people can join. The way of preaching is still using the easy-to-remember six-eight verse form: " Please do not rely on wealth to bully the poor/Rely on your nobility to bully the lonely/God-given fate, oh people/The rich are respected, the poor are despised "...

In the Four Graces of Filial Piety, such as the grace of ancestors and parents, the grace of the country, the grace of the Three Jewels and the grace of fellow human beings, the Master especially encouraged the grace of ancestors and the grace of the king and the land. The followers of the Four Graces of Filial Piety are popularly called the Good Religion. In 1877, when cholera broke out, the followers of the Four Graces distributed charms to cure the people like Buu Son Ky Huong. On February 16, 1878, Mr. Nam Thiep met with the leaders of the movement in the provinces of the South in Hoa Khanh village (My Tho). To deceive the authorities, he called it a fast, with more than 200 people attending.

Thất Sơn huyền bí: Huyền thoại Đức Bổn Sư núi Tượng- Ảnh 1. — Elephant Mountain

In the meeting on April 30, 1878, he appointed Vo Van Kha as the main general, Le Van Ong as the deputy general, recruited the insurgents, and prepared for the uprising. According to Son Nam (in The Character of the South ), at that time, the French colonialists sensed it and sent an additional officer, 10 French soldiers and 30 soldiers to Cai Lay station. On May 2, 1878, a second insurgent army appeared near My Tho market. These two armies were disbanded while Le Van Ong and Vo Van Kha were arrested by Governor Tran Ba Loc.

On May 29, 1878, the Director of Internal Affairs in Saigon ordered the provincial governors of Cochinchina to hunt for Mr. Nam Thiep. Accordingly, the government allocated funds to the provinces to hire spies, and at the same time offered a reward of 1,000 quan to anyone who captured Nam Thiep. This document described him as tall, thin, and with three long beards. At this time, the provincial governors were free to arrest people without conditions.

Five Concubines with Invisibility Magic

In the report dated October 13, 1879, the Governor of My Tho province said that Mr. Nam Thiep had just appeared in Phu Kiet and returned to Tuong mountain. He often traveled by boat with 3 rowers and 2 bodyguards. Meanwhile, two notorious Vietnamese traitors who had made achievements in suppressing Thu Khoa Huan, Thien Ho Duong, Nguyen Trung Truc, Governor Loc and Governor Phuong, spent people and money but had no results.

Thất Sơn huyền bí: Huyền thoại Đức Bổn Sư núi Tượng- Ảnh 2. — Tam Bao Pagoda Gate

One time, Governor Loc personally led soldiers to Tuong mountain to arrest Duc Bon Su. At that time, he was sitting and chanting sutras at Tam Buu pagoda. The followers came to report the news but he remained calm as if nothing had happened. When the sky was light, people saw an old man with white hair and beard, holding a whittled spear, coming out of the pagoda straight to the door. The guards shouted at him. The old man quietly went north and then straight up the mountain. They searched the whole pagoda but could not find him, so they went up the mountain and into the caves but could not find him. Later, the followers knew that the old man was Duc Bon Su.

White tiger makes incense

The story goes that in the year the Master led his followers to open up the forest and establish An Dinh village, when they reached the south of Tuong mountain, they suddenly encountered a pile of tall bones. Everyone was terrified when they saw it. The Master then ordered his followers to dig a hole to bury the pile of bones, and at the same time cleared the ground to build a small temple called Ma Chau temple.

One day, an old man came to Elephant Mountain to ask to stay overnight at a local's house, saying that he was waiting for someone to go to the market and ask them to buy pork for him. The old man came and did the same thing for many nights in a row. The homeowner became suspicious so he deliberately watched. Late at night, when the old man was fast asleep, he suddenly revealed his true form as a white tiger. The homeowner was so frightened that he stayed up all night chanting mantras. As soon as it was dawn, he ran to Tam Buu Pagoda. As soon as he met him, the Master smiled and asked: "You probably couldn't sleep last night?" The homeowner trembled and replied that a white tiger had come to his house to stay for three consecutive nights. The Master said: "So you didn't see the pile of bones at Ma Chau Temple? That white tiger is the king of the jungle here. It has taken refuge in Buddha so it has to go buy meat for its own kind to eat so as not to violate the precept of killing."

Thất Sơn huyền bí: Huyền thoại Đức Bổn Sư núi Tượng- Ảnh 3. — Tam Bao Pagoda

In 1877, after completing the construction of Phi Lai communal house, the Master ordered a small temple to be built in front of the communal house yard to worship the White Tiger Mountain Lord. Every year, when worshiping Ky Yen, the Master wrote a decree appointing a white tiger as the chief of the incense burner and placed it under the incense burner along with the offerings. After the Ky Yen worship night, people saw many tiger footprints around the temple, and the decree and offerings also disappeared. Following the old custom, the Ba Chuc village officials later only appointed the position of chief of the incense burner, while the position of chief of the incense burner was still kept for the chief of the incense tiger. (to be continued)