Li Xiuyuan was stunned for a moment, then asked: "Is there any difference?"
Before Ksitigarbha asked this question, he didn't think about whether he wanted to release the life or kill it. He just imagined himself as the fish in the net.
After a lot of effort, he got the life of the thread because of the businessman's great wish to release his life, but he was about to lose his life due to the greed of the world.
Ksitigarbha was silent for a moment, looked at him and said: "There are still some differences. At least the businessman who released the animals changed his original intention because of the greed of the world."
Li Xiuyuan frowned and replied: "I think of myself as the fish after being released."
Different from Ksitigarbha's thoughts, Li Xiuyuan just wanted to find a glimmer of hope from that desperate situation.
Ksitigarbha said kindly: "The businessman's original intention was to use his fearless power to save all sentient beings, but because of the greed of the world, he finally changed his mind and only saved himself."
Li Xiuyuan's heart moved slightly and asked: "Did you do anything wrong by crossing yourself? I can't change the world, but I can at least change myself first. I don't think that businessman did anything wrong."
Ksitigarbha did not answer his question directly. He looked through the hall with a compassionate expression and looked somewhere in the void, sighing faintly.
It was as if he had returned to a certain moment on a certain day before he entered Taoism.
He murmured to himself: "Because time has passed, I have almost forgotten some things, but there is one thing I will never forget."
"What's the matter?" Li Xiuyuan asked. In his opinion, it must be a big event that the Bodhisattva can never forget.
"When I was not Ksitigarbha, my mother liked to eat fish roe. I clearly remember that the moment my mother swallowed the fish roe, a bloody aura shot straight into the sky..."
"From that time on, I neither killed any living creatures nor ate a fish roe, because I knew that my mother would fall into the evil realms after her death, so I spent all my wealth and only asked the Buddhas to give my mother a chance of life..."
Ksitigarbha had his first harvest, looked at Li Xiuyuan and said, "Even after I entered the abyss of eternity, I made a great wish to save all sentient beings in hell... You also know the story behind this..."
Listening to Ksitigarbha's words slowly, the expression on Li Xiuyuan's face did not change at all, but he just sighed slightly in his heart.
I thought that your original intention of saving all sentient beings was for your mother. How different is it from the businessman who vowed to free lives?
Ksitigarbha looked at Li Xiuyuan's troubled appearance and said quietly: "I can't give you any more instructions. Since you have practiced the formless golden body of Buddhism, you can enlighten yourself."
When Li Xiuyuan heard this, he couldn't help curling his lips and said: "Bodhisattva, you are as unreasonable as my master. If you want to save all sentient beings, I am also a sentient being, okay?"
Li Xiu Zhenyuan knew that Ksitigarbha had good intentions, and hoped that he could achieve self-enlightenment and break through again.
But then he thought about the fish that Xiaohu said were released by merchants, and thought that the fish on the left side had just been released, but in the blink of an eye, they were caught and eaten by others on the right side.
I originally wanted to get some enlightenment from the Bodhisattva's mouth, but I didn't expect that this guy wanted to realize it on his own.
This is really outrageous, just like an old Taoist priest.
Ksitigarbha looked at the unconvinced Li Xiuyuan and said with a smile: "From this moment on, you are also Ksitigarbha, and you will be here to save the sentient beings in the abyss."
Li Xiuyuan looked down and saw that his hands were gradually changing, and even the clothes on his body became the same as the Bodhisattva in front of him. He immediately shouted: "I haven't promised you yet, Bodhisattva."
Ksitigarbha looked at him and sighed and said, "Since you have practiced Buddhism's formless golden body, one day you will have to face new practices."
"what is that?"
When Li Xiuyuan heard that he had to face a new practice, he couldn't help but ask: "When I cultivate the formless golden body to the end, will I become a Buddha?"
Perhaps it was because of the unfinished cause and effect of Wu Hua on Mount Xumi that Li Xiuyuan developed a sense of competitiveness, so he looked forward to pushing his Buddhist cultivation to a higher level.
Ksitigarbha looked at him and shook his head, and said softly: "At that time, you will have to face more difficult training... Perhaps from that time on, you can start to understand Buddhism."
"What is that?" Li Xiuyuan continued to ask.
Ksitigarbha smiled faintly and replied: "Do you want to practice Buddhism's nirvana body?"
"Nirvana body?"
Li Xiuyuan was shocked. If this was the case, wouldn't there be a fire of Nirvana?
Thinking of this, I couldn't help but continue to ask: "Will I have a fire of Nirvana, like the fire of the dragon?"
Because among the ten sacred fires he saw in the collections of Xuanwu Continent, there was no Buddhist nirvana fire, only the phoenix's nirvana fire.
"I have seen somewhere the ten sacred fires required for refining weapons, and among them there is no Nirvana fire without Buddhism."
Li Xiuyuan asked seriously: "I really want to know the reason behind this."
Ksitigarbha couldn't help but sigh after hearing this, and after thinking for a while he replied: "You are a bit stupid to ask this question. The Buddha said that all appearances are false, and even the fire of Nirvana is the same."
"You actually want to use Buddhism's supreme Nirvana fire to smelt the weapons in your hands. What an idiot's idea, stupid."
Thinking that something was wrong, Ksitigarbha then scolded: "Is it possible that your master??????????????? didn't tell you this truth?"
Li Xiuyuan spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "My master is not very reliable. He always waits for me to cross a certain threshold before he talks to me some truth."
In his opinion, the old Taoist priest didn't even want to tell him about the Three Thousand Worlds, so how could he possibly talk about the secrets of Buddhism?
After thinking about it, I can only blame the old monk for this.
I just irresponsibly told myself that the formless golden body depends on enlightenment, and did not mention anything else, not to mention that there would be a Buddhist nirvana body waiting for me in the future.
Seeing Ksitigarbha's disdainful look, Li Xiuyuan couldn't help but ask: "So Bodhisattva, what is the use of such Nirvana fire? Is it possible that it is used to scare people?"
In his opinion, the fire of the Phoenix Nirvana burned a large area, and it was still the kind that would never stop dying, let alone that he had used it to forge swords.
Jizo smiled lightly: "When you reach that state, you can use it to burn yourself."
…
The hall was quiet, and the sandalwood burning in front of an unknown Bodhisattva spread quietly toward the two of them, making Li Xiuyuan suddenly sober.
Jizo reached out and grabbed into the air, as if he wanted to catch something.
Seeing that Li Xiuyuan still looked dull, he couldn't help but said angrily: "I've been sitting here for so long, why are you bringing wine like a piece of wood?"
Only then did Li Xiuyuan understand why the Bodhisattva had been reluctant to talk to him. It turned out that he had forgotten to bring out the wine.
So he took out a jar of wine and patted it away. He looked at Ksitigarbha and said with a smile: "My jar of wine has experienced six hundred years of accumulation in the Imperial City of Qin. It is said to be worthy of a Bodhisattva preaching to me."
"I think your thoughts are wrong. When you see the Tenth Palace King of Hell, you know how to coax him with wine, but when you see me, you are like a piece of wood. Are you being discriminating?"
Ji Zang picked up the wine glass in front of him and took a sip. He laughed and said, "Such a taste is really nostalgic. No wonder even Po Meng from the Forgotten River likes you."
Li Xiuyuan had no intention of gossiping with him. At the moment, he only had one thought in his mind: how could the fish that had left the merchant's hands escape from the fishing net in front of him.
Ji Zang looked at Li Xiuyuan in front of him, sighed and said, "If it were anyone else, I would definitely grab him and make wine for me for ten years, whether you believe it or not."
When Li Xiuyuan heard this, he said quietly: "Bodhisattva, you are overthinking. Even my master cannot let me brew wine for him for ten years. I want to practice."
After thinking for a moment that something was wrong, he turned around and looked at Ksitigarbha and said, "It's not impossible. How about, Bodhisattva, you practice for me and I make wine for you?" As long as you have the strength, you can do it.
After Li Xiuyuan weighed it up, he found that brewing wine for ten years was much easier than practicing hard for ten years. It was much easier to meditate on Buddhist scriptures for ten years.
At least you don’t have to burn your brain, right?
Ji Zang looked at him and sighed, and replied without thinking: "You have a beautiful idea."
After quietly drinking two glasses of wine, Ksitigarbha said with a gentle expression: "Buddhism needs you to read and understand it by yourself. I can only enlighten you about the trouble you encounter at a certain intersection, but I cannot understand it for you."
After speaking, he waved his arms and the scene in front of them changed again.
Li Xiuyuan looked around and found that he was under a rocky mountain. Behind him was an invisible black river, which was even more terrifying than the place where he died in the Demon Realm.
The sky is gray and there is not a trace of sunlight falling, and it is impossible to tell whether it is early spring or cold winter here.
Thousands of stones like human heads rolled down the mountain, which looked extremely terrifying. For a moment, Li Xiuyuan felt cold sweat dripping down his back.
Looking at everything in front of him, Ksitigarbha said quietly: "Since you want to realize the Tao and cultivate the formless golden body, you should first practice Buddhism here for ten years."
Li Xiuyuan looked at the terrifying scene in front of him and murmured: "But here is an abyss. In the abyss, how can the younger generation practice Buddhism?"
When Ksitigarbha heard this, he immediately scolded: "Is it possible that you can't practice Buddhism in hell?"
Li Xiuyuan laughed: "Bodhisattva must give me a principle of practice, right?"
In his opinion, he could practice Buddhism even if he returned to the Xilin Temple under the snow-capped mountains of the Imperial City, so why should he be trapped in the abyss of this barren mountain and harsh water, without seeing a ray of sunshine all day long?
Ksitigarbha shook his head, pointed to the stones on the ground and said, "There are eighty thousand stones here, if not one hundred thousand. There is a resentful soul living in every stone. How do you think about how to transform them?"
Li Xiuyuan laughed and said: "How can the fate that Buddhism talks about be transformed by simply touching every stone?"
Looking at the smile on Ji Zang's face, Li Xiuyuan felt more and more that something was wrong.
He blurted out and asked, "Is it possible that the Bodhisattva thinks there is something wrong between me and the world's people, so he can transform them into one?"
Ksitigarbha ignored his unreasonableness and silently recited a passage facing the mountain.
It wasn't until a quarter of an hour passed that he said: "Of course there is no convenient method like that. You have to practice hard here for ten years. These ten years will be harder than standing on the Wangchuan Bridge and cooking soup for a hundred years."
Li Xiuyuan didn't take it seriously. It should be noted that he was not so relaxed on Wangchuan.
When I get up in the morning, I have to go to the back mountain to pick elixirs. When I come back, I have to go to the bridge to make soup. At night, I have to give soup to the people who are crossing the bridge...
Not to mention that he still has his own practice and brews some spiritual wine from time to time in the spring.
Although the situation in front of us looks gloomy and terrifying, after all, it is just under an abyss. Could it be more troublesome than the Hundred Years of Wangchuan?
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but smile: "In my opinion, the real trouble is above the River of Forgetfulness. I only have one day's rest this month."
Jizo followed his gaze, looking at the endless rocks at the foot of the mountain, and murmured: "You seem to have forgotten one thing. Sometimes, you must not believe your eyes."
Before Ksitigarbha finished speaking, Li Xiuyuan shook his head.
He said in a condensed voice: "I know that Bodhisattva you want me to see the world with my heart. I have practiced this many years ago."
Ksitigarbha said: "So, start your practice. Remember, from now on you are Ksitigarbha."
When Li Xiuyuan heard this, he couldn't help but frown and asked, "How should I cultivate it?"
Ksitigarbha looked into his eyes and said quietly: "Carve every stone and every resentful soul in your hand into the Buddha in your heart."
…
