What is the difference between grass Fengyan and Fengyan? Quick ways to tell them apart
Grass Fengyan is in fact wild jujube pit, and it is actually a close relative of Fengyan, both being plants of the jujube family. Fengyan generally refers to Fengyan Bodhi, which is a perennial woody plant, the fruit called bo-di-ci in Tibetan.
Introduction to Fengyan
1. Place of origin
Nepalese Fengyan and domestically produced Fengyan differ greatly in skin color, density and polishing effect, and their prices are not even comparable. Moreover, genuine Nepalese Fengyan grows at an altitude of over 1,000 m in the northern mountainous areas.
2. Origin
Fengyan Bodhi is one of the most outstanding kinds of bodhi seeds, because it has one or two deep lines that look like squinting eyes, hence the elegant name Fengyan. In Buddhist painting, carving and embroidery, the phoenix (the feng is the male bird, the huang is the female bird) is used as a motif, symbolizing auspiciousness. Nepalese Fengyan Bodhi has natural phoenix eyes. Under the bodhi tree, the Buddha attained enlightenment and began his life of enduring countless hardships to deliver all sentient beings. Saving one person is better than building a seven-story pagoda. Bodhi: a transliteration from Sanskrit, meaning awakened wisdom, etc., referring to the awakening to the true meaning of Buddhism; this is the narrow interpretation. Understood broadly, any wisdom that can cut off worldly afflictions and achieve nirvana may be called bodhi. Fengyan Bodhi has a simple and exquisite yellowish-brown color, and each seed bears a beautiful and elegant eye. It turns every affliction into the clear breath of wisdom and brings deeper contemplation and awakening.
3. Plant characteristics
Fengyan Bodhi seed is the fruit called bo-di-ci in Tibetan, and does not refer to the fruit of the bodhi tree. It is produced near the snow mountains. Its tree is a perennial woody plant, commonly used as prayer beads for reciting Buddha's name, hence the name Fengyan Bodhi seed. Its texture is hard and unchanging over time, and the more it is used the more lustrous it becomes; new beads are pale yellow, and after long use the color changes from light to dark, becoming a mix of red and black, with very high quality. There are more than thirty varieties of Buddhist bead materials named after Fengyan Bodhi seed. Among them, some are named by place of origin and some by texture.