What is a dream?
Back then, Zhuangzi turned into a butterfly and didn't know it. The spring flowers and autumn moon were gone, and when he woke up, he didn't know whether he was a butterfly or Zhuangzi.
What is fate?
Sacrificing one's life to go to the country's disaster, seeing death as a sudden return home. Life is the path you have to go on no matter what.
What kind of world do we live in, what role do we play, and what kind of things do we do? But what is all this for?
The story begins in a past that is far, far away from us. That day, everyone began to wake up before dawn, people with a rich night life began to fall asleep, and those who had a late night watch had already gone home. The waiter started to open the door. The sesame seed seller next door has already begun to greet customers. The noise in Yihongyuan next door has just subsided. The scholar who is getting up with a chamber pot is languid, and the horse racing gang is starting to load the goods. Everything is almost the same as usual, the only thing is that today's sky seems a little brighter than before. The waiter raised his head and looked. It seemed that the sun would not rise for another half an hour. The waiter didn't even think about it.
On the mountain not far outside the town, three people, one monk and one Confucian, were sitting in a circle. The monks and Taoists each held the black and white chess pieces, staring at the chessboard with frowning brows. But the Confucian scholar took his time and looked at the chessboard for a while, and then looked at the sky for a while. Finally, he smiled and said to the monk: "The master's chess skills are superb and admirable. Since the time of Danzhu, there have been very few people who can play right."
But the monk shook his head and said: "Sir, you are ridiculous. I am a novice at Go. It's just that the monk has more free time and just uses it to kill time. The two chess skills are even better than the poor monk. In this sixth game, the poor monk The monk is afraid that he will not be able to win."
The Taoist priest held the black piece in his hand: "The great monk is not honest. There have been five changes in these more than one hundred moves. The ghosts and gods are unpredictable. If it weren't for the old Taoist, I still have some skills, I would have lost yesterday. Monk, it seems that you are serious Do you really want to win?”
After hearing this, the monk smiled and said: "I came here to ask for advice just to confirm each other. Whether it is preaching, fighting, or even this small chess game, it just proves my own shortcomings. I have benefited a lot from asking for advice these days."
When the Taoist priest heard this, he slowly put down the chess piece in his hand, then raised his head and said to the monk with a solemn face: "Old monk, isn't it bad to have a free heaven in the West? Why do you have to come to the East?"
The monk sat upright and said: "It is our duty to educate the world. How come we come from the West and the East?"
Seeing that the monk was still the same, the Taoist priest shook his head and said nothing to him. He turned to ask the Confucian scholar, "Fu Ru, how long have we been competing?"
The Confucian scholar silently calculated in his mind: "It's been more than three months."
After hearing this, the Taoist priest didn't know what he was thinking. He muttered something silently, then sighed and continued to speak to the monk.
"Old monk, when you were talking about Tao a month ago, you said that there are six reincarnations and that cause and effect will lead to retribution. Then let me ask you, are there more good people or more evil people in this world?"
"Good people are like crucian carps crossing the river, and evil people are like phoenixes."
"Okay, then are there more animals or people in this world?"
"Of course there are many beasts. I don't know what Master Dao means by asking this?"
"Well, the great monk said there are more animals? But you said that in the six paths of reincarnation, cause and effect are rewarded. Since there are many good people and few evil people, why are there many animals and few people in the world?"
After hearing this, the monk closed his eyes and thought carefully about what the Taoist had just said. Seeing that the monk did not answer, the Taoist turned around and asked the Confucian scholar: "Furu, what do you think?"
The Confucian scholar laughed loudly: "You are so strange and powerful, but I am asking the wrong person. The great monk should answer."
At this time, the monk opened his eyes and said: "I heard that in ancient times, the heaven and earth were in chaos. Pangu was angry and opened up the sky and the earth. When the clear air rose, it was called the sky, and when the turbid air fell, it was called the earth. Only all living things in the world, including birds and animals, could live. Between heaven and earth. Is the sky bigger, the earth bigger, or the world bigger?"
He continued before the Taoist said anything: "Heaven and earth are naturally bigger than this world. Heaven and earth are divided into pure and turbid. Humans and animals are just a drop in the ocean between heaven and earth. If someone is a great treacherous and evil person, he needs to go through the hell realm and the hungry ghost realm." , Shura path, animal path, all kinds of reincarnation, Taoist priest, you are obsessed with it."
The Taoist priest shook his head when he heard this: "Monk, you said that I am in bliss. But I remember you said that the phase comes from the heart, and the world is in your heart. A single thought can create hell and bliss. Then monk, you said that I am in bliss now. Or hell?”
The monk recited the Buddha's name: "Amitabha, if the mind is in bliss, the body will eventually be in bliss. If the mind is in hell, even if the body is in bliss now, it will eventually fall into hell."
Seeing the two of them starting to argue again, the Confucian scholar said helplessly: "You two, the discussion is over. Our sixth game is about chess. This 158th move has been a day and a night. I think the three tribulations The chain is inevitable, how about a draw between the two?"
The Taoist priest was free and easy. When he heard this, he grabbed the fly whisk in his hand and laughed loudly: "What the rotten scholar said is right. Old monk, it has become a series of tribulations. There is no winner in this game."
The monk frowned and looked at it for a long time, then slowly put down the chess piece in his hand: "It is indeed a series of tribulations. But..." After saying that, the monk stood up and took the tin staff next to him, and then continued: "The chess game has not yet been divided. Win or lose, I hope the poor monk can give me some advice for a while."
The Taoist priest didn't seem surprised after hearing this: "When the old monk asked me to teach him, should I ask the poor Taoist to teach me or the rotten scholar?"
The monk chanted: "Amitabha, of course I want you two to teach me about the formation." After saying this, the monk struck the tin stick in his hand on the ground. The tin stick stood firmly on the rock. Then he took off his cassock and raised it to the sky. Throwing it, the cassock opened up and then grew bigger and bigger, covering the sky in the blink of an eye.
The Taoist priests and Confucian scholars looked up and saw that the originally black night sky had been completely covered by their cassocks, and all they could see was red.
"Buddha said: First, the cassock is used to cover the body, freeing oneself from shame and being ashamed; secondly, it is free from cold and heat, mosquitoes, and evil beasts; thirdly, it shows the appearance of an ascetic, and those who see it are happy and free from evil thoughts; fourthly, it has the appearance of the treasure banner of human and heaven, which can give birth to Brahma. Blessings; when wearing the five robes, the thought of the pagoda arises and eliminates all sins; the six stains are bad colors, cut off the five desires and thoughts, and no greed arises; the seven cassocks are the pure clothes of the Buddha, forever eliminating worries and making fertile land; the eight eliminate The ten good deeds arise from sin; the nine are like fertile fields, which can increase the path to Bodhi; the ten are like armor, which cannot be harmed by the poisonous arrows of trouble. The poor monk uses the cassock on his body to make a formation. This formation is called Sumeru!"
After hearing the word Xumi, the Confucian scholar's eyes narrowed slightly, and then he said to the Taoist priest: "Does the Taoist know what Xumi is?"
The Taoist priest laughed: "The old monk said that Mount Sumeru is the center of heaven and earth and the foundation of the universe. It is said that this mountain goes down to 80,000 leagues underground and is also 80,000 leagues above the ground. Could it be that the old monk wants to imitate your Tathagata?" , see if I can get out of this Xumi formation?"
The monk nodded: "It's embarrassing. Sumeru's situation covers the heaven and the earth, but the Buddha said that it covers the heaven and the earth, but it is not complete. You two can't think of any way to solve it."
After hearing this, the Confucian scholar snorted coldly, flew into the sky, pierced his cassock and fled away. After a while, it disappeared into the night sky. After reading this, the Taoist priest looked at the monk with some doubts: "Old monk? Is your formation just a piece of paper? Doesn't this rotten scholar look like he has no use for it?"
The monk smiled slightly: "Master Tao, wait a moment. Look, the Confucian scholar is back again?"
Just as he was talking, a white dot appeared in the night sky, and then turned into a Confucian scholar in a white gown. When the Confucian scholar saw the monks and Taoists, their expressions were obviously very surprised. Just as he was about to fall to the ground, the Confucian scholar suddenly spun twice in mid-air, and then landed firmly on the ground.
"Paint the sky as the earth? Old monk, you have reversed the directions in all directions, right? The Sumeru Formation is really a good trick!"
After hearing this, the monk's face showed neither sadness nor joy, and he continued to say to the Taoist priest: "Does the Taoist master want to break the formation?"
The Taoist priest heard what the Confucian scholar said and saw the monk insisting on breaking the formation by himself. He smiled and said: "If I guess correctly, the only flaw in this Xumi Formation is you as the eye of the formation? As long as the two of us can defeat you. , this formation will be broken, but if Shimen knows that we will kill you, then what we have done in the past three months will be in vain. Monk, do you really want to get involved?"
"If I don't go to hell, who will?"
"Good sentence, if I don't go to hell, who will? Stop! Stop! Stop!" The Taoist said three words in a row, not trying to persuade the monk.
"The way of heaven is full at fifty, and one is missing from forty-nine. In compliance with the way of heaven, four-nine is the general trend that cannot be changed, and the lack of one is also a glimmer of hope. Furu, let me, the veteran, take charge of this formation."
The Taoist priest waved the dust in his hand, looked at the boundless cassocks in the sky, and said with a smile: "What would the master do if he knew that his disciple was so useless? Old monk, the Sumeru formation is not weak. Let me hold it up and see. Whether it can be broken, this formation is called Twenty-Eight Sus. Look carefully, Pindao is about to break the formation."
After saying this, the Taoist priest bowed three times to the heaven and earth, and the dust in his hand started to rise without any wind. Then a white light flew away from the Buddha dust, followed by the second, third, and countless white lights rising into the sky like flying stars. After piercing his cassock, he escaped into the night sky.
After escaping into the night sky for a long time, there was no change in the surroundings. The monks and Confucian scholars looked at the Taoist priest with some doubts. The Taoist priest sat cross-legged and laughed loudly: "I'm a poor Taoist, go ahead!" As soon as the words fell, the Taoist priest raised his eyebrows. The beard hair fell out one by one, and the whole person suddenly looked unkempt.
"Five declines of heaven and man?! Not good!" Seeing this, the monk hurriedly flew to the Taoist priest, but saw that the old Taoist priest had given up his life!
The Confucian scholar stood still and did not move. Seeing that the old Taoist priest actually used this method to break the situation, Qi Qiran said: "Settled the world's affairs and won a reputation after death. There are not many people in the world that I can truly admire, and Taoist Master is one of them."
The monk seemed not to have expected that the Taoist priest would be so resolute and would rather die than admit defeat. The monk stared at the old Taoist priest's body for a long time without saying a word.
At this time, a meteor flashed across the sky, and the Confucian scholar said: "There is a gap between heaven and earth in life, just suddenly. Master Tao is really free and easy. Old monk, Master Tao has entered reincarnation. Do you think he is now in the world?" Bliss, or deep hell. But it doesn't matter, no matter where he is? The Sumeru formation can no longer trap him. The formation has been broken, do you have anything to say?"
The monk clasped his hands together and sighed: "Amitabha, the Taoist Master has won this round. But the three of us have set a rule. If I can win two people, I can spread the Dharma in the East. The Taoist Master has won this round, and Mr. Ruo will also If we can break the situation, the old monk will go west from now on and never come to the east again."
After hearing this, the Confucian scholar couldn't help shouting angrily: "Old monk, are you going to change your mind?"
"When will the old monk change his mind? When the formation started, I said, please two of us break this game together. Master Tao has broken the game, sir, please do the same. In Xumi's game, the sky will accept the earth, and Master Tao will enter reincarnation. To break the situation, sir, should you change the way to break it?"
The Confucian scholar glared angrily, but when he saw that the old monk refused to give in, the Confucian scholar changed his expression and laughed.
"Hahahaha... Old monk, you are right! But, did you understand what Master Tao just said?"
"What words?"
"The way of heaven is full at fifty, but one is missing from the forty-nine. The general trend of the forty-nine is irreversible, and the lack of one is also a glimmer of hope. I originally thought that the Taoist gave himself a glimmer of hope, but now that I think about it, he didn't leave it to himself at all. Old monk, you Do you know what the twenty-eight constellations are?”
"Twenty-eight constellations? Zhoutianxingdou!"
"That's right, just take a look!" After saying that, the Confucian pointed a rainbow finger and pierced his cassock. Outside the cassock, countless meteors streaked across the sky.
"Do you remember that Master Tao just asked me how many months we have been fighting? When he learned that it was three months, he said secretly, the world is unkind, and trouble will arise! Hahahaha..." The monk didn't care to listen to the Confucian scholar at this time. Something, he pulled out the tin stick from the ground, and then ran away. The Confucian scholar paid no attention to him and continued laughing.
"Old monk, the battle is not over yet. Come with me to find the Taoist master! Hahahaha..."
At this moment, the red clouds coming from the northeast covered the entire earth in just a few breaths. People in the small town in the distance looked up at the sky in panic.
Fire falls from heaven to earth! The meteorite swarm rushed towards the mountain with the power of destroying the heaven and the earth...
