"Even if you are a Bodhisattva who saves people from suffering, you still have to live first."
Li Xiuyuan looked at the golden sunlight falling from the sky and frowned slightly.
He said calmly: "If you still insist on stubbornly resisting yourself, I'm afraid that before you get to Tianzhu, you will have turned into a handful of bones of Gao Changguo."
Sanzang silently looked at the steaming food on the table less than three feet away from him, and shook his head with difficulty.
He murmured: "Since Sanzang has been supported by King Gaochang, we must let him understand what the fearless spirit of Buddhism is. Compared with the Buddha feeding tigers with his own body, this is nothing."
After saying this, Sanzang closed his eyes silently.
The young monk saw his elder brother looking at the sky and talking, silent. In his opinion, his elder brother should be talking to Senior Brother Sanzang at this time.
The old monk once said that there is no distance between questions. It turns out that my brother has already reached such a height.
Just like when he was playing on the snow-capped mountains that day, the master at the foot of the mountain could also call him back to the temple for dinner.
With his brother here, he doesn't need to fight for his senior brother's hunger strike.
"Are you smart or an idiot?"
Li Xiuyuan frowned slightly, looked at the sky and cursed: "That's just a legend, and you believe it? I'll find a tiger to come over another day, but you can feed it to me."
"Donor, you are slandering Buddha..."
Sanzang sat down in front of the Buddha with his hands clasped together and his brows furrowed tightly.
He couldn't stop murmuring: "The World-Honored One preaches the Dharma to save countless sentient beings, and countless billions of Bodhisattvas, making them enter the wisdom of the Buddha..."
Look up at the sky.
Li Xiuyuan quietly looked at the layers of dark clouds that were cut open by his sword energy, and remained silent for a long time.
He murmured to himself: "The Buddha said that you must have the courage to face death and save all living beings with fearless compassion. The premise is that you are still alive and you can burn the fire of Nirvana and be reborn."
"Ask yourself, with your current cultivation level, can you ignite the fire of Nirvana?"
After saying this, Li Xiuyuan froze. He stood under the eaves and looked at the ray of winter sun in the sky without making any movement.
Sanzang, who was sitting in front of the Buddha, was startled when he heard the words.
Then two lines of clear tears fell down his face. I don't know whether it was for his dead mother or for the King of Gaochang who left him alone because of his thoughts.
Or because of his current situation, as Wu Mu said, his cultivation level is too low and he cannot even burn a fire of Nirvana.
How can we talk about living toward death?
At this time, Li Xiuyuan had no idea why, but Sanzang's hunger strike made him feel such emotion.
He will cut out a sword energy that opens the sky, and he will say something like this.
But the little monk behind him felt like a wake-up call after hearing his brother's words, as if he heard the words of the Buddha, which made his cultivation level that had just broken through the realm become ready to take action again.
Once again, I stood on the edge of a broken situation.
Li Xiuyuan, who looked up at the sky, had no idea of the little monk's state at this time. He just wanted to scold Sanzang awake from his dream.
You can speak slowly about what makes sense, and there is no need to go on a hunger strike to preach with your own body.
The young monk fell silent and sat quietly on the floor in front of the door. He looked at his eyes, nose and heart, and felt at ease.
A proud smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
He didn't expect that when his brother was angry, he explained some truth to Senior Brother Sanzang, which actually made him understand some truths, and he suddenly understood the truth.
Seeing that he was getting closer to his master's cultivation.
Li Xiuyuan, who was able to save others and save himself, also didn't know that he had not yet reached the state of Nirvana, but he polished his Nirvana body time and time again until it was like a diamond on a Buddhist altar.
One day, we will reach the state where all phenomena are without leakage as mentioned by the Buddha.
However, Sanzang, who fell down in front of the Buddha, still couldn't convince himself. He didn't pick up the chopsticks until the vegetarian meal in front of him became as cold as ice.
It was almost dusk, and the crack in the sky cut by Li Xiuyuan had already slowly closed.
The sky is still hazy, and snowflakes are still sprinkled all over this world.
Withdrawing his gaze towards the sky, Li Xiuyuan turned around and looked at the young monk with a sincere smile.
He glared and wanted to scold him, but subconsciously asked: "Are you stupid? Or are you thinking about something and becoming an idiot?"
The young monk smiled and said seriously: "Just when my brother was calling senior Sanzang an idiot, Wuliang broke through another realm."
Li Xiuyuan laughed, touched his head and said with a smile: "It's windy and snowy, let's cook a hot pot tonight to celebrate you."
"Senior brother is still hungry," the young monk said.
"He is an idiot. There is something in front of him, but he just carries it to his death." Li Xiuyuan sighed.
"Then he's hungry too."
"It's okay. If it doesn't work in three days, I will go to the palace and bring him back."
The palace is deep inside a main hall.
King Gaochang sat in front of his desk, listening to the howling wind and snow outside the palace, looking at the steam on the stove in front of him, the expression on his face changed again and again.
I don't know how long I was silent before I looked at the queen in front of me and said, "I heard that the hall where I used to pray has collapsed."
The queen sitting nearby, dressed in gorgeous brocade clothes, sighed: "Master is on a hunger strike in front of the Buddha. Your Majesty, please don't anger God and bring disaster."
King Gaochang raised his eyebrows slightly and replied: "Queen, I am devoted to the Buddha, and I dare not neglect the Master. It is he who refuses to eat."
The queen sighed again and said: "The ministers and maids are very scared, afraid that God will punish us."
King Gaochang took a sip of the milk tea in front of him and bowed his head in silence for a long time.
The two of them sat quietly like this until the bottom of the cup was empty, then they sighed heavily.
"Then just wait for two more days. If the mage still refuses to eat, I will agree to his request."
Even King Gaochang felt helpless. Although he was very devoted to the Buddha, he could not leave the Master of the Tang Dynasty to learn Buddhist scriptures.
When the queen heard this, she immediately clasped her hands and said, "Your Majesty is wise, God should understand your difficulties and will definitely not punish the people of Gaochang Kingdom."
On a snowy day, the poor little monk had his first hot pot meal in his life.
Li Xiuyuan also rarely had a dreamless night and did not disturb Ksitigarbha's tranquility.
Everyone in the imperial city was speculating why the main hall in the imperial palace collapsed.
King Gaochang spoke out, saying that the main hall had fallen due to heavy wind and snow and had been in disrepair for many years.
…
On the penultimate day, Li Xiuyuan took the young monk shopping.
I bought him New Year’s food and fireworks, and bought him boots and a leather jacket, which made the little monk feel like celebrating the New Year for the first time.
The two stepped on the thick snow on the street, and the little monk laughed all the way.
He looked at Li Xiuyuan and asked, "Brother, where are you going to set off fireworks during the Chinese New Year?"
"It's in the backyard of the inn. Could it be that we go to the palace to join your senior brother? The palace is much more lively than us."
Li Xiuyuan thought about it, looked at the young monk and said, "How about I send you to accompany Sanzang?"
The young monk shook his head: "I want to practice swordsmanship with my brother and eat hot pot."
"Then stay at the inn. I'm bored alone. Sanzang is accompanied by the emperor."
Li Xiuyuan sighed quietly.
"Wu Liang is already wearing a coat, but my brother is wearing a long gown. Isn't it cold?"
The young monk tightened his leather jacket and suddenly asked, "Senior brother, will it be cold?"
Li Xiuyuan was stunned when he heard this, and then couldn't help laughing.
Said: "I bought him a cotton-padded jacket to see if he would come out of the palace to see me before the New Year."
…
On the penultimate day, the young monk stood in the yard practicing his sword.
After persisting for an hour, he entered the living room, picked up a cup of spiritual tea and drank it.
While frowning, he asked: "This is already the second day as my brother said. I don't know if my senior brother has eaten anything?"
"No, I think he wants to starve himself to death."
Sitting in the room holding a copy of the Tao Te Ching, Li Xiuyuan wanted to prove to the Bodhisattva that from this moment on, he would practice Taoism.
Regardless of whether the Bodhisattva saw it or not, in short, he has tried to understand every word of it.
The young monk raised his head and looked at him in confusion, and asked, "Why? Senior brother, are you really not hungry?"
Li Xiuyuan shook his head and said: "For a stubborn guy like Sanzang, if he eats the cakes placed in front of him before Gaochang Wang Songkou, it will be equivalent to admitting defeat."
The young monk sighed and said, "If you lose, you lose. It won't be like in the desert where there is no water and people will die."
Li Xiuyuan couldn't help but feel a little angry when he looked at the sentence on the scroll, "The Tao is Tao, but it is very Tao...".
He frowned and replied: "So he is an idiot. He has experienced life and death in the desert, but he still doesn't know how to treat himself better."
The young monk smiled and said, "Brother, if your senior brother hears what you said, he will definitely ignore you."
…
On the third to last day, the young monk sat obediently opposite Li Xiuyuan, holding a pen in his hand and copying the Tao Te Ching that Li Xiuyuan had given him.
After copying for an hour, I felt my arms were so sore that I stopped.
Looking at Li Xiuyuan in front of him, his brows frowned more and more, and he sat there without saying a word.
Guessing that he was in a bad mood at this time, and thinking about the scripture he had copied, he couldn't help but feel a little confused.
So he asked: "Brother, Wuliang is a Buddhist practitioner just like my senior brother. Why do you want to copy this Taoist scripture?"
At this moment, Li Xiuyuan had no intention of explaining the reason to him.
He had no choice but to say: "Just read it as if it were a Buddhist scripture. You will naturally understand some of the truths when you grow up."
The young monk smiled and said: "It seems that my brother is thinking about his senior brother in the palace. Today is the third day. I don't know if he is stupid enough not to know that he is hungry..."
"Wait until dark, and if that doesn't work, I'll bring him back."
Li Xiuyuan quietly looked at Feixue outside the hall, a cold look gradually appeared on his face, which made the young monk couldn't help but tremble.
I thought that only my elder brother could solve my senior brother's troubles.
"What about that?" The little monk put down the cup in his hand and asked seriously: "Should we leave now or wait until spring?"
Li Xiuyuan pondered for a while and then shook his head: "Since we are not in a hurry, we naturally wait for spring to bloom before we leave."
The young monk breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's New Year's Eve in a few days, so we can set off fireworks."
Li Xiuyuan couldn't help but sigh when he heard it, thinking about the time when Xiao Hei, Qing Qing and Yan Ran'er set off fireworks in the yard.
I'm afraid this is the only time in my life.
Once some things have passed, they can never go back. Even he can only secretly miss them.
He clapped his hands, looked at the little monk and said, "If you like, we will buy more tomorrow."
Without waiting for the young monk to reply, he released his spiritual consciousness and headed towards the palace in Gaochang City.
Sanzang was seen sitting in front of the Buddha, holding a cup of hot tea, with a plate of exquisite pastries on the table in front of him.
Listening to the conversation between King Gaochang and Sanzang, King Gaochang Qu Wentai finally gave up his persistence in keeping Sanzang here.
Moreover, several monks and disciples from the Imperial City Buddhist Temple will follow Sanzang to Tianzhu to retrieve the scriptures for Gao Changgao.
Seeing this, Li Xiuyuan couldn't help but sigh quietly.
Feeling that he was in a false alarm, he looked into the void outside the living room and said, "Bodhisattva, are you testing Tripitaka's devotion to the Buddha, or are you torturing my watery state of mind?"
…
