Sanle left Shangyang City and walked to an ancient temple in the mountains. This place seemed to have been abandoned for a long time and was deserted. Only half of the Buddha statue in the temple was left.
Only the ancient Bodhi tree in the courtyard is still full of vitality and has luxuriant branches.
Sanle slowly walked towards the bodhi tree, his eyes becoming particularly deep.
As he got closer, the surrounding scene began to change dramatically. The ruined ancient temple began to become resplendent. Zen-like chanting and the tapping of wooden fish could be heard all around.
A small hand held Sanle's sleeve.
He turned around and saw Xuanzang, his direct disciple.
"Master, don't go..."
Xuanzang begged, his eyes filled with tears.
Sanle seemed to be moved by his unbearable heart. He stretched out his hand, wiped away Xuanzang's tears with a loving smile, and said softly: "One day, you will understand me as a teacher."
As he spoke, he exerted force with his palms. Kacha picked off Xuanzang's bloody head with a sound, threw it aside, then continued to walk forward with a kind look on his face and a smile.
"Amitabha, please come back, donor."
A figure stood in front of San Le. It was an old monk with a long beard, but his eyes were very young, as if full of infinite vitality and vitality.
The feeling of Zen permeates the air, and the cicadas chirp endlessly.
"Bodhidharma..."
Sanle looked at his former best friend, smiled, and said, "Have you ever forgotten the Mahayana?"
Bodhidharma said calmly: "The Mahayana is a lie. If I, Buddha Tathagata, had the Mahayana, how could I not save all sentient beings? Is it because I don't care about myself and uphold the Dharma?"
His question was very tricky. Mahayana Buddhism is the way for all living beings to become Buddhas. If Sakyamuni really had the Mahayana Sutra, why didn't he use it to save all living beings and free them from the suffering of the world?
Could it be that the Buddha who cut off his flesh to feed the eagles was reluctant to part with a true book?
Sanle still smiled and said: "If you have Mahayana in your heart, you will have Mahayana sooner or later. If there is a Buddha, just ask for it. If there is no Buddha, just write a book yourself. Why should you moan and complain like a little daughter?"
After a pause, Sanle shook his head and sighed: "You are not Bodhidharma after all, so you cannot understand his ambition."
After saying that, he blew lightly, turned into countless steel knives, and chopped Bodhidharma into meat paste.
All of this was very real. Sanle stepped on it, blood splashed everywhere, and the flesh was tight.
If it were anyone else, I'm afraid they would doubt themselves, but Sanle was calm and strode forward, and he was about to arrive at the bodhi tree.
"Amitabha!"
The sound of the Buddha's name is like a bell, shaking the sky.
In an instant, auspicious clouds descended from the sky and golden lotuses swelled from the ground. The stone statue of Tathagata in the main hall in the center of the ancient temple seemed to come to life, showing a six-foot-long golden body. One finger pointed to the sky and the other pointed to the earth, looking at the three joys.
Facing the Buddha, any Buddhist monk would subconsciously feel a sense of awe, but it was an accident for San Le. He even lost interest in talking and waved his sleeves lightly.
The next moment, the shabby and greasy sleeve robe turned into a huge golden-winged divine bird, like Garuda, one of the eight heavenly dragons in the Buddhist scriptures. It fed on the dragon and swallowed the Buddha in one bite.
San Le laughed and said: "In the past, the Buddha built a six-foot-long golden body in the snowy mountains. He was swallowed by Peacock King Ming, and then he broke out. If you are really the Buddha, why don't you also jump out of the belly of this big roc?"
However, what is fake is fake after all. The Buddha looked bluffing, but in the end he could not leave Sanle's sleeves.
Sanle finally walked under the bodhi tree.
He bit his finger and used the blood of the ancient Buddha to draw the demon-conquering mark on the tree.
Zhila!
Thick green smoke rose from the ancient Bodhi tree, and shrill screams could be faintly heard from all around, making people shudder.
Then the green and vibrant Bodhi tree quickly withered, its branches and leaves trembled crazily, and its bark burst open, revealing an evil face that was very similar to Moro.
"Three Rings, how did you find this place?"
Moro's voice was filled with surprise that could not be concealed.
Sanle said calmly: "After following you for so long, there will always be something gained."
After a pause, he said: "Every time you show up, you must be accompanied by Bodhi. At that time, I thought of the Buddhist scriptures that when the Buddha became enlightened, the devil Bo Xun tried to stop him many times, but in the end he failed and was defeated by the Buddha. Suppressed in the Abi Hell."
"It's just that the world doesn't know that the Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. Although she was not deceived by Bo Xun, a demon seed was planted in that Bodhi tree, giving birth to a demon heart."
"Moluo, your image of black clothes and black hair comes from the Kinnara Bodhisattva who was once bewitched by you, and the ancient tree accompanying it is the Bodhisattva where the Buddha attained enlightenment."
After hearing this, Moro's expression remained calm, but his eyes became deeper, as if he was meeting San Le for the first time.
"I see, you recalled some memories of Maitreya?"
Sanle nodded and said, "I remember something."
"Then you should know that you can't kill me."
This is the reason why Mara remains calm. His existence is extremely special. He was transformed by the evil thoughts of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Arhats in the Six Desire Heavens. He wanders in the vast world, is immortal and transcends the six paths.
He does not have a concrete entity, which undoubtedly limits his interference with the real world, but it also gives him the ability to be immortal.
This Bodhi tree is just his temporary residence.
"Yes, I really can't kill you. Even if Maitreya Buddha is resurrected, the most I can do is seal you, but..."
Sanle smiled and said, "I also know that you have been looking for a perfect body."
"Kinnara Bodhisattva's physical body has been destroyed. This bodhi tree has dried up and is old. As for Li Yuan, although he has the aura of an emperor, he is just a mortal body. You will definitely look down on him."
After a pause, Sanle pointed at himself and said with a smile, "Look, how am I doing?"
"Although it's a little fatter, it's durable."
"The body of Maitreya Buddha can always meet your requirements."
Moro stared deeply at Sanle, and he suddenly realized that Sanjie, who had respected him so much and obeyed his orders, was completely different.
He even couldn't see through the other party's intentions.
"Don't lie to me, Moro. You didn't want to teach me the truth when you introduced me to Christianity, but you were attracted by the body of Maitreya Buddha. Unfortunately, my body and soul have already become one, so you can't succeed, so you can only give up."
"Later, the reason why you ambush Bodhidharma in Luoshui was not because you were afraid that he would seek Mahayana Buddhism, but because you were interested in his physical body. The luck of the ancestor of Zen should be enough for you."
"It's a pity that you underestimated Bodhidharma after all. You both lost. Bodhidharma saw your intention, so he was seriously injured and would rather let a poisonous snake bite him to death and let it take over his body than let you succeed!"
There was a trace of emotion in San Le's eyes, as if he was seeing the old friend who sat and talked with him in the wind and snow more than two hundred years ago.
His eyes are always full of hope and vitality, as if he firmly believes that one day, everyone in the world will be able to escape the sea of suffering.
In the story Sanle told Li Daoxuan, he said that Bodhidharma was seriously injured and accidentally bitten to death by a poisonous snake. In fact, this was not the case. Bodhidharma was willing to sacrifice himself to feed the tiger and not let Moro's conspiracy succeed.
Just in order not to reveal the secret and affect the overall situation, he concealed part of the truth.
San Le knew his best friend Bodhidharma deeply. He knew that Bodhidharma's final behavior, in addition to destroying Mo Luo's conspiracy, also had another purpose, which was to save the little snake.
This is also the reason why Sanle never killed Maha to avenge his best friend.
It is a pity that the old monk who used a reed to cross the river in Luoshui failed in the last attempt of his life.
Moro said calmly: "Yes, what you said is absolutely correct, but..."
He asked curiously: "Sanjie, are you really willing to give up Maitreya's body?"
This is the body of Maitreya, one of the three Buddhas. With this body, you can live forever and have boundless power. It will be a matter of course to become a Buddha and become an ancestor in the future. It can be called a great blessing.
Sanle smiled and said, "Of course it's true."
There was a trace of doubt in Moro's eyes.
"Do you know why I changed the name of Sanjie to Sanle?"
Before Moro could answer, Sanjie continued: "When I was traveling around the world, I met an old beggar who was covered in pus. He only had a piece of biscuit in his hand, but he still tore half of it to the stray dogs and drank it by the roadside. The dirty water was very happy, and laughed three times after seeing me."
"I asked him how he could still be so happy when he was so depressed."
"He replied, the old beggar has three things that make him happiest in his life. The first is that he can sleep until he wakes up naturally. The second is that everything tastes delicious when he is hungry. As for the third happiness, there are fewer and fewer beggars like me. ”
After a pause, Sanle said: "At that moment, I seemed to see the Buddha."
After saying that, he clasped his palms together, let go of all mental alertness, and revealed his spiritual platform, which was pure and clear, and the Buddha's light was bright.
This is equivalent to tying one's hands and actively removing the protection of the soul from the body.
Moro was stunned for a moment, then showed a sneer and said: "For those human beings who are as lowly as ants, you are willing to give up your body, you are really stupid."
"Or do you want to use your body as bait in an attempt to kill me?"
San Le looked far away in the direction of Chang'an and said: "The water-promoting ape has been defeated. It is trying to save you, and is even willing to temporarily sacrifice its body. This should be one of your goals."
Moro looked at Sanle's spiritual platform. The mellow Buddha's light was rippling inside, which was almost infinitely tempting to him.
It should be noted that even in his heyday, he never caused the Buddha to fall, let alone Maitreya, one of the three Buddhas.
"Whether you want to be a monkey or become a Buddha, you can choose for yourself."
After San Le said this, he lowered his eyebrows and lowered his head. He said no more and just quietly exposed his spiritual platform.
…
One month later, Chang'an City.
In a secluded Zen courtyard in Daxingshan Temple, Xuanzang suddenly woke up from his bed, sweating profusely.
He drank a bowl of water and looked out the window at the white fish in the night, knowing that dawn was coming soon.
"Strange, why do you always have nightmares these days?"
"Maybe it's because the weather has been too hot recently..."
Xuanzang shook his head, walked to the water tank, opened the lid and wanted to scoop another bowl of water, but he saw a slender water monkey soaking in the water tank, spitting bubbles. When he saw him His eyes lit up.
Xuanzang was startled, but he was not afraid. Instead, he smiled bitterly and said: "My aunt, why did you run here? Come out quickly. If your senior brothers see you, you will be in trouble!"
Not only Xuanzang lived in this Zen monastery, but also other disciples of Daxingshan Temple. People often came here to scoop out water.
The water monkey dived down with a grunt, shaking his head, unwilling to come out.
Xuanzang sighed softly and said: "The weather is getting hotter and hotter. It seems that I have to find a way to find a place with water for you, otherwise you will be discovered sooner or later."
This water monkey was accidentally saved by him. After the flood receded, the city of Chang'an was in a mess and many people suffered from cold. Xuanzang had learned some medical skills from his master, so he took the initiative to go to the mountains to collect medicine, and met this man. A water monkey.
It was dying at the time, and the wound was very deep, as if it had been pierced by something like a harpoon.
If it were anyone else, he would definitely not have saved the water monkey, and might even have given it a stabbing blow. However, Xuanzang was gifted with a sharp eye, and he saw that not only was there no resentment or filthiness on the water monkey, but there were even dots of golden light of merit. .
Apparently this water monkey is very unique and has done a lot of good things.
Xuanzang immediately picked the herbs, chewed them up and applied them to it. In order to heal its wounds more conveniently, he put it into a medicine basket and secretly took it into Chang'an City.
Now a month has passed, and the water monkey's injuries are getting better.
Xuanzang originally wanted to release it, but the water monkey was very understanding of human nature and told him in handwriting that he was originally a human being but had been transformed into a monster by a magic spell.
Xuanzang, who was kind-hearted by nature, patted his chest and said that his eldest brother was the current imperial master, a true Taoist, with boundless magical power. Wuzhiqi was killed by his eldest brother, and there must be a way to change him back.
However, Xuanzang visited the Xuandu courtyard many times and was told that Li Zhenren had not returned yet.
"Xiaotang, why doesn't my eldest brother come back? Where is he now?"
Xiaotang was named by Xuanzang because he likes to eat sweets.
The water monkey continued to bubble in the tank.
"I understand. You think my eldest brother is so powerful and you are worried that he will kill you as a monster, right?"
"Haha, don't worry. My eldest brother is gifted with divine eyes. He is the reincarnation of True Lord Erlang. He can tell with just one glance that you are not a demon!"
"And although my eldest brother hates evil, he doesn't yell at all monsters to kill them. As long as you don't do evil, he won't be prejudiced against you."
Xuanzang's words were full of admiration, and his eyes seemed to light up when he talked about his eldest brother.
While the water monkey was spitting bubbles, he looked quietly at Xuanzang, who was talking endlessly, and there seemed to be an inexplicable luster in his eyes.
The night outside the window gradually faded away.
Xuanzang stood in front of the water tank and kept talking. First he talked about his eldest brother, and later he talked about his father, complaining about all the unreliability of his master. He also liked to use fake stones to perform the act of crushing rocks on his chest to cheat money. Once he Deliberately replaced with real stone...
This little novice monk who traveled through mountains and rivers to Chang'an, without any relatives or friends around him, only accompanied by the ancient Buddha Qingdeng, sometimes felt a little melancholy and confusion.
But now, he has found a partner with whom he can chat, even though he spends most of his time diving and blowing bubbles.
"Xiaotang, can you stop spitting bubbles? You are a water monkey, not a goldfish!"
"Gululu..."
