Chang'an, Caotang Temple.
Since the Later Qin sent troops to attack Houliang two years ago, the Buddhist master Kumarajiva, who was brought from Kucha to Guzang City by Lu Guang, the former Qin general, also came to Chang'an City, the capital of the Later Qin. Yao Xing, who had always admired Kumarajiva's name, specially built this thatched cottage in the center of a thousand acres of bamboo forest, and built a thatched cottage temple around it to house this Buddhist master. In the past few years, Kumarajiva has been chanting sutras and worshiping the Buddha here. He has eight hundred disciples and three thousand ascetics. They are doing the work of translating Buddhist classics from Sanskrit to Chinese every day. The master himself lives here day and night. In the thatched cottage, the ancient Buddha of Qingdeng poured his great wisdom and hard work into these classics, just to realize his great wish of the Buddha to be reincarnated and to save the world.
The lights in the thatched cottage were still swaying gently. A skinny old monk, about sixty years old, but his delicate appearance could still be seen. His eyes were slightly closed, and the Buddhist beads in his hand were gently twisting. There were words in his mouth, but he was reciting the Lotus Sutra. Even though it was late at night, this living Buddha still worshiped the Buddha tirelessly.
The door creaked softly, and a layman in monk's robes walked in gently. Kumarajiva opened his eyes and turned to look at the person. He was about forty years old. The beautiful woman who still has charm, with her hair down, is obviously a female lay practitioner who practices Buddhism with her hair. Her skin is millet color, just like her hair color, deep eyes, and high bridge of nose. If she were twenty years younger, At the age of 18, I still don’t know how to confuse the common people and charm all the heroes in the world.
This female lay practitioner is none other than Master Kumarajiva's cousin, Aye Jiemodhi. Kumarajiva is from the Kucha Kingdom in the Western Regions. His father is the prime minister Kumarajiva, and his mother is from Kucha. Wang Mei's grandmother. After her mother gave birth to Kumarajiva, she was tired of the court struggles and intrigues, so she became enlightened and became a nun. Because Kumarajiva was extremely intelligent since he was a child, many eminent monks judged him to be the reincarnation of the Buddha. So he took the young Kumarajiva to worship Buddha everywhere. From then on, there was one less nobleman in the world, but there was one more eminent monk who was handed down from generation to generation. There is even a venerable Arhat who made this prophecy: If Kumarajiva does not break the precepts before he is thirty-six years old, he will definitely ascend to become a Buddha and save all sentient beings. Otherwise, he will at best be a Buddhist master in this world.
This prophecy accompanied Kumarajiva for the first half of his life. He had been persevering in observing the precepts and preaching and saving people in the capital of Qiuci. It was not until the age of thirty-five that Lu Guang came!
Since the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Western Regions had three unique connections, and after the chaos in the Central Plains at the end of the Han Dynasty, the Western Regions had not seen Han infantry and cavalry for more than two hundred years. But this time, although the troops from the Central Plains came, they were no longer the Han warriors. The former Qin general, Lu Guang, a Di man, led the Qin State's tiger and wolf divisions that swept across the world. They were determined in a battle at the foot of Qiuci City. Tianshan, with 70,000 people, defeated the 700,000 allied forces of the Western Regions, attacked and destroyed the Kingdom of Kucha, and captured and killed the King of Kucha.
And Kumarajiva became the biggest trophy of the Qin army, because Fu Jian, the king of heaven, who was known for his benevolence, righteousness and respect for the virtuous, had given a death order before Lu Guang went out to fight, and he must welcome Master Kumarajiva to the east. Tu Hong Buddha, this was also the last request before the death of Shi Dao'an, a great master of Eastern Tu Buddhism whom Fu Jian deeply respected, a generation of famous monks.
But in the end, Fu Jian entrusted Lu Guang to someone else. No one knew that Lu Guang, who seemed submissive and calm under him, was like a tiger and a wolf. After breaking away from Fu Jian's supervision and restraint, he became a complete villain in the Western Regions. After the warlords in the troubled times conquered Qiuci, they not only killed the king, but also plundered their troops. If it were not for the last bit of respect for Fu Jian, I am afraid that even Master Kumarajiva would have been killed by him. In this way, he also came up with a vicious plan, that is, when the master was thirty-six years old, he would try every means to break his precepts and interrupt his path to becoming a Buddha!
Whether it was the torture of hunger, the temptation of wine and meat, whether he was riding a galloping horse or a ferocious bull, whether he was trapped in a water prison or burned in fire, Kumarajiva withstood these tests. Until the last day, he was pushed into his cell, a stunning girl who was completely naked and only wrapped in a thin blanket.
This woman was the Ayejemoti standing in front of him, his uncle, the last daughter of the King of Kucha. Lu Guang declared angrily that if he did not become husband and wife with his cousin tonight, then All the people who survived in the city will be slaughtered in front of the master. The last one to be killed is this peerless beauty. He wants this living Buddha to watch the people being slaughtered, all because of himself. Reluctant to break the precepts, with such inner torture, he became a Buddha and ascended.
Finally, the desire to become a Buddha gave way to his own conscience. That night, there was no way to have both the Dharma and the Dharma in the world. To live up to the Tathagata and live up to you, the prophecy of the birth of the Golden Buddha was broken. There was only one eminent monk left in the world who recited sutras and preached the Buddha. Kumarajiva, and his cousin who led the practice from then on, accompanied him as a female lay Buddhist, and took care of the master's daily life.
Ayejamodhi sighed softly: "Ash (Kumaroshi is also called Shi), your Majesty has a decree to set up a caotang temple tomorrow. I'm afraid it's for the Jin envoy. You It’s better to rest early today.”
Kumarajiva slowly opened his eyes, without even looking at Ayajimadhi, and murmured: "The wind is rising."
Aye Jiemoti's beautiful eyebrows frowned slightly, turned around, walked to the door, and suddenly sighed quietly: "Ash, after all these years, am I not worthy of your taking a look?"
The beads in Kumarajiva's hand paused slightly for a moment, then turned as normal again. He closed his eyes and continued chanting, as if he was still the only one in the room.
The door closed softly, and a sigh came from the watery night outside, expressing all the lamentations in a woman's heart, while a cold and hoarse voice came from a corner of the house: "She is still so beautiful. .”
The beads in Kumarajiva's hand finally stopped. He opened his eyes and looked at the figure sitting in front of him, his whole body covered in a cloak. Behind a pair of bronze masks, his eyes flashed. A hint of anger: "I never want to see the donor again in this life!"
The cloaked man smiled slightly, and the white hair on his forehead flickered slightly: "Master, you have violated the precept of anger."
Kumarajiva closed his eyes and kept repeating: "Amitabha, sin, sin!"
In this way, he repeated it hundreds of times before opening his eyes, looking at the cloaked guest still sitting opposite him, and sneered: "I have prayed to the Buddha countless times over the years to push you into the eighteenth level. Hell, you will never be reincarnated for eternity, but seeing you living like this in this world, I think this is better."
