Great Sui Guoshi

Generally speaking, it is forgotten. In fact, in the Central Plains, if there are no temples and no beliefs, after generations, in addition to our ancestor gods passed down by word of mouth, the gods in the temples will gradually decline.

"I hope that one day, I can reach the west and talk to you."

Lu Liangsheng smiled and nodded towards the statue. The light on it flickered twice, and then there was no more movement. Then, he found a piece of silk to wrap it up and put it on the bottom shelf of the bookshelf. The medium through which the gods have spoken is also a witness of my journey to the west.

Well, it can be considered a specialty.

After tidying up the bookshelves, Lu Liangsheng whistled and called the old donkey. After putting them away, he called four scholars and walked out of the forest. The barren grassland continues eastward, and gradually, there are dirt roads. Outside the mountains and forests, there are more dry fields on both sides of the road. There are still many farmers in the countryside with their children busy. , with dark skin and speaking incomprehensible words, I thought I had returned to the Miaojiang area in the southwest of Kyushu.

Walking through the country road, not far away, there is a barren village located at the foot of the mountain, with smoke rising slowly.

Moo~~

A stout bull swung its tail and dragged its family to eat grass by the side of the road. The passing farmers saluted respectfully with their hands clasped together, while most of the people working in the fields were pulling the plow to turn the soil, which made people Lu Liangsheng was puzzled.

"It's strange here to pull the plow by yourself instead of using the ox."

The toad, who had been sitting on the bookshelf for a long time, squatted on the old donkey's head and glanced sideways: "Huh, it may be fattened. Wait for the meat to be eaten. Working the cow for a long time will make the meat too old and difficult to chew."

Speaking of food, Taoist Ha smacked his lips, stared at the cows over there, and swallowed his saliva.

"Liangsheng, it seems that I haven't eaten beef for a long time as a teacher. Why don't you go to this country and see if there is any beef in the city? Buy some to eat on the road, preferably the kind that has been marinated. It tastes good, and you can cook it casually. Putting secret ingredients specially made for the teacher, just thinking about it is a bit greedy."

The long tongue couldn't help sticking out and licking it, and the little mermaid who was sitting on the donkey's back followed suit, saying, 'Jee? ! 'Laughing and applauding, she has Lu Liangsheng's tricks on her body, and outsiders see her as just a beautiful girl sitting on the back of a donkey.

In front, Lu Liangsheng turned around and responded with a smile.

"Okay, master wants to eat, later see if there is a county nearby."

The sun is setting in the west, and the rays of the sun are shining across the distant mountains. There are many villages on the road among the red forests and mountains, but there are no cities. Yuanyuan, sometimes one, sometimes a few towers form a forest, almost every pagoda has traces of worship under it.

"It seems that the Buddhist affairs here are more prosperous than in the Central Plains."

The sky darkened, and Lu Liangsheng and others who had walked all the way did not find the city. After passing a dense forest ahead, there were faintly lit buildings and lights. When they approached, it was a Buddhist temple with red walls and black tiles. The wooden fish sounded.

"Master, it looks like you won't be able to eat any beef tonight."

The four scholars who followed along the way were already exhausted, and hurried to squeeze through, and pushed open the door of the temple. The dim oil lamp was placed on the tribute table, and the light of the fire swayed a few times with the breeze blown by the door.

On the altar table, a little white mouse crawled up the table with its tail dragging its tail to taste the sesame oil. When it heard the movement of the door, it squeaked, jumped down quickly, and slipped under the table.

Among the shaking oil lamps, in front of the clay statue of Buddha, an old monk with his back to the temple gate, knelt on the futon, knocked on the wooden fish, and softly recited scriptures.

6 Chapter Eighty

Night Breeze squeezed into the Buddhist hall, and the four scholars who stumbled and pushed the door opened their mouths, swallowing the words they wanted to shout, watching the monk with his back knocking on the wooden fish in the flickering lights, and hurried back to the door, looking at each other .

"An old monk..."

"There is no response to such a big opening of the door, which is weird."

"Could it be..."

"It's a ghost, there is a national teacher here, what are you afraid of?!"

Lu Liangsheng came in with an old donkey, the four of them chattered and shoved, and quickly made way for them. The scholar who came in raised his hand to keep them from talking, looked at the monk's robe carefully for a moment, then smiled and shook off his wide sleeves. The old monk cupped his hands.

"Lu Liangsheng, the Eastern Sui Dynasty, saw this eminent monk. Passing here, it was getting late, so he had to ask for a place to stay in your monastery. Please help me."

The robes of the old monk are a little different from those of the foreign monks seen on the way. The collar is tight, unlike this monk’s robe which is biased towards the right shoulder and reveals his arms. It is more like the Central Plains Buddhism, with simple and solemn clothes.

So when Lu Liangsheng opened his mouth, he spoke directly in Chinese, but when the words came out, the old monk with his back on the other side just knocked on the wooden fish, moved his lips quickly, and chanted Buddhist scriptures.

Boom Boom~~ Boom Boom Boom~~~

"Miao Zhan always holds on to respect the first Shurangama King Shi Xixiu..... If a living being has not become a Buddha, he will not take the Ni Huan here.

Nobita, great strength, great mercy...

Namo Shakyamuni Buddha, Namo Buddha, the head of Surangama, Namo Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, Namo Vajra Treasure Bodhisattva..."

The chanting of the scriptures stopped at the last syllable for a while, and the old monk who was kneeling on the futon facing the clay statue slowly opened his eyes, put down the mallet, folded his hands together and bowed to the Buddha, and then straightened up.

"The five benefactors have been waiting for a long time."

As he spoke, he got up on his knees, and when he turned around, Lu Liangsheng saw clearly that the old monk had no beard on his face. Although he was thin, his eyes were piercing. He immediately smiled and cupped his hands again.

"I'll wait a while. I'm just happy to meet someone from the Central Plains in another land. I don't know what to call the master?"

"The name of the poor monk, Faxian."

The old monk laughed, invited the scholar in front of him, and the four people over there, walked to the side of the Buddhist hall and sat down at the small reception table, brought the kettle over, and poured a few glasses of water.

"The Buddhist temple here was built by the local villagers. It's a bit small, but since the five benefactors want to stay overnight, don't dislike it."

squeak~~

There was a mouse cry from under the tribute table, and the four scholars with broken bowls looked under the table carefully, and saw the mouse sticking out its nose and swaying outside, and crawled up the table legs. Thinking of staying here overnight, fearing that mice would crawl over him late at night, they all shivered.

"Oh, by the way, the five benefactors haven't eaten yet, and the poor monk still has some cold leftovers on the stove. They are all light food, so let's warm them up."

Monk Faxian seemed to be practicing in this temple alone, and he had to do everything himself. Just as he was about to get up, the four scholars over there stared at the rats wagging their tails and climbing up the altar, and felt as if there were densely packed rats on their backs. The ants were crawling, so he hurriedly got up first, pushed the old monk back and sat down.

"This...Master, we should do things like hot meals by ourselves. Master, sit down and talk to my national teacher."

Before the old monk could reply, the four of them pushed each other and ran to the back hall. Here, Fa Xian watched them disappear behind the Buddhist curtain, turned his head with a smile, and said to Lu Liangsheng who was opposite, "It turns out that the benefactor is still the national teacher. I just don’t know why Tianzhu Kingdom appeared?”

"Because of some things, I strayed into the western world, and now I am preparing to return to China." Lu Liangsheng, who had just arrived, naturally would not calmly tell some things to a monk who had just met once. After finishing this sentence, he looked at the old monk opposite I can't help being a little curious.

"Master Faxian, why do you live alone in the temple in Tianzhu?"

"Hehe..." The old monk vertically laughed, "The Lord Buddha once said that Buddhism will flourish in the Central Plains. Three thousand Buddhist monks will travel eastward, and white horses will carry sutras to make the Buddha's decree. It is a pity that the place where Buddhism revitalized is now gone. Start to change the gates, cut off the Buddhist gates inside, and poor monks come to the west, not to seek scriptures, but to promote the prosperity of Buddha in my middle land, and to overcome the misery here."

Lu Liangsheng nodded, "So that's it. I don't know which temple in the Central Plains the master used to practice? The Fazi generation I see next knows a master Fajing from Wanfo Temple, and later there is a little novice monk from Fahai."

There were a few mouse sounds of 'Zhi Zhi', and a golden-haired white mouse climbed up the oil lamp to lick the lamp oil in the lotus dish. The old monk picked up the water bottle and poured clean water for the scholar.

"Hehe, it's just a different temple from the same Zen. The poor monk originally practiced in the Zhongsheng Temple, but later left the temple and traveled all the way west to practice Zen and enlightenment. After more than ten years, he came here."

"Master, you have great perseverance." Lu Liangsheng couldn't help complimenting, his eyes were attracted by the sound of the mouse, and the old monk over there looked sideways, and said with a smile: "donor don't care, this mouse is also a living thing, if it has the chance to drink today Obtaining the Tao through lamp oil is good fortune, and it can be regarded as my Buddha crossing ten thousand lives."

There seemed to be some emotion in Lu Liangsheng's eyes that flashed away, his face was still smiling, and his tone was gentle: "What the master said is very true, but this mouse only wants to eat and eat, and it doesn't know that there is a Buddha. What is in front of it is nothing but It’s just something that can satisfy one’s hunger, so what’s the point of fate?”

"That's why it's Du." The old monk smiled and stared straight at the young man opposite him.

"I still feel that if you cross it, it may not feel at ease. On the contrary, it is not bad to keep its original appearance. It comes out to look for food when it is hungry, licks the dew when it is thirsty, and sleeps soundly in the cave when it is sleepy. , it doesn't understand, doesn't want something?"

"It seems that the donor is also a person of great wisdom."

"Don't dare, Taoism has a saying, return to the basics and return to the truth, everything is the best, just like ordinary people in the world, living life, old age, sickness and death, joys and sorrows, that is called the world, the cycle of life and death, when you are free, go to the temple to worship the gods and Bodhisattvas, ask for help The heart is at ease, and suddenly one day, the god who worshiped suddenly came back to life, and when he stepped down from the altar, that person would only be terrified like this mouse, unable to control himself."

squeak~~

The golden-haired white mouse suddenly neighed in terror, licked the lamp oil, a patch of white hair on its forehead was burnt black, jumped off the lamppost in horror, ran back under the table along the legs of the table, and got into the gap under the altar.

One old and one young just watched quietly. Afterwards, the four people who went to the back hall came back with hot meals. Soon, after dinner, the old monk took them to the temple wing to settle down. Let Lu Liangsheng and others have a good rest, then Jishou left.

As soon as the old monk left, Taoist Toad jumped out from the bookshelf, stood on the rough table, rubbed his plain chin, "Liangsheng, this old bald donkey is a bit weird."

"It must be weird, I haven't figured out the depth of his cultivation until now."

Lu Liangsheng shook off the quilt, and there was a musty smell. Presumably no one had used it on weekdays, and it had been pressed under the box for too long, so he put down the quilt, frowned slightly, and followed Master's gaze to look at the closed door.

"...The road was unimpeded. When we got here, we met a monk from the Central Plains. It was a coincidence. The conversation in the Buddhist hall just now seemed to be a warning... It's hard to say, but it was a warning. "

Ok? !

Hearing the disciple's words, Taoist Toad turned around suddenly with his fins on his back, and met Lu Liangsheng's gaze, "This is a place of Buddhism. Could this old monk be a Buddhist Bodhisattva or Arhat?"

At this moment, a golden vellus hair in the scholar's sleeve suddenly protruded to the edge one by one, and raised one end, and the sound of the monkey gnashing its teeth was heard.

"Lu Liangsheng, get out of here quickly!"

Chapter 681 Buddha

saint? !

Sun Wukong's words came from his sleeve, and Lu Liangsheng was quite pleasantly surprised. He fell to the western border, and because of the long distance, he couldn't contact him through magic power. Now he can hear the other party's voice, which means that he is not far from the land of the Great Sui Dynasty.

"Great Sage, is that monk the Buddha of Western Ultimate Bliss?"

Qu... This is the hoarse moan squeezed out of the monkey's throat, and the golden hair swayed a few times as if to vent its emotions, "He is the one who lied to my old man. He is now only the lower realm of Dharma, hurry up Get out of here, don't follow his way."

Lu Liangsheng pursed his lips, and exchanged glances with Taoist Toad. The latter quickly jumped off the small table, ran to the bookshelf, closed the small door, carried the gourd across his back, and looked at the apprentice outside through the gap.

"Liangsheng, if you're going to run into trouble later, come out as a teacher and stand up for a while, and you'll leave as soon as you see the situation!"

"Ah."

Over there, Lu Liangsheng walked to the window lattice and glanced at the Buddhist hall at the far end of the courtyard. The lights were still on, and he stretched out his fingertips out of the window to feel the flowing air.

Didn't set up an enchantment to trap us?

Turning around, blowing out the oil lamp on the table, casting a magic spell to levitate the bookshelf, pulling it behind him, quietly out of the door, to the hut next to the house, the old donkey propped up from the straw, leaning on the side Seeing the approaching figure, the sleeping mermaid wanted to cry out happily, but was stopped by the scholar who came over and shook his head.

The floating bookshelf fell to the donkey's back by itself. Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey out, patted its head, and lowered his voice.

"Old donkey, go and wake up those four scholars, go outside and walk east along the road, and you, too."

As he spoke, he threw the merman onto the donkey's back, turned around and went to the Buddhist hall over there, heard the sound of chanting sutras inside, pushed open the door and walked in with a creak.

The dim light flickered, and the moth flapped its wings and flew around the fire, knocking off the burning wick, being caught by the finger stretched out from the side, letting it go to the other side, and letting go of the fingertip, so that the moth flew out of the temple. Door.

The old monk withdrew his hand, stopped chanting scriptures, turned his head to look at the scholar standing by the curtain, and stood up with a smile on his face.

"Benefactor Lu, why don't you rest earlier after a long journey?"

"It's just a long journey, and it's getting closer to the Great Sui Dynasty, so I don't dare to sleep peacefully." Lu Liangsheng also laughed, walked to the small table for guests over there, and sat down with his robe lifted, "Master Fa Xian Sincerely worshiping the Buddha day and night, how can we know where the Buddha is?"

Ha ha......

The old monk smiled and bowed to the clay sculpture of Buddha in front of him. He came and sat next to Lu Liangsheng, looking into the scholar's eyes, "All living beings follow their fate, everything has a law, and everything has a spirit. Where is it not a Buddha? Why bother?" Do you care who is the Buddha?"

"No no... I think..."

Lu Liangsheng stared into his eyes, shook his head, dipped his fingertips in the clear water in the bowl, lightly wrote a word of Buddha on the table, drew a line, and pointed to the old monk opposite.

Continuing from the sentence just now: "I feel that the master is the Buddha."

The lamp was flickering, reflecting Fa Xian's face on and off, cloudy and sunny, the old monk stared straight at the scholar with his Dharma seal upright, kept smiling, and remained silent.

Knowing that the words had been clarified, Lu Liangsheng got up and put his hands behind his back and turned to face the Buddha statue. His eyes drifted to the courtyard behind the Buddhist hall, estimating the movements there, and turned his face to look at the old monk sitting in the dark over there... ...If you can procrastinate, procrastinate. Don't hit the smiling person with your hand. Anyway, if you treat him politely, the other party will not be able to do it directly.

After a while, he suddenly laughed out loud.

"Since the master is a Buddha, he is willing to live in a dilapidated temple. I think he has something to talk to me about."

The tense atmosphere was suddenly relaxed, and the monk Faxian over there was stunned for a moment, but he seemed to have seen through the thoughts in the scholar's heart, and nodded vertically: "I talked about rats with the benefactor Lu before, because I have the heart to persuade the benefactor, But the benefactor's eloquence is particularly powerful, and the poor monk is convinced, but there is one thing that is unclear, so I ask the national teacher to clarify."

Lu Liangsheng turned around and stretched out his hand towards him.

"Master, but it's okay to say."

Fa Xian nodded, got up and walked slowly to the front, and also looked at the clay sculpture on the altar: "The five elements in the world are interdependent and restrain each other. The dynasty has already belonged to the line. The Han Dynasty replaced the Qin Dynasty, and then the Jin Dynasty replaced the Han. Only then will the heart of eternal peace be established, the world will never change, and things will also change, and people will have no way forward, and I don't know if it is a good thing or a bad thing?"

"If the master said that, it would be one-sided."

When it comes to eloquence, Lu Liangsheng is not ambiguous. If he really wants to quote the scriptures, he can pull the other party to talk non-stop for days and nights, "The heart of eternal peace is not for making progress, but for thinking. Thousands of souls are suffering from displacement, and the master doesn’t know that these sufferings will continue after he started business? Decades, hundreds of years, dynasties change, people suffer, how can we get ahead? We can only rely on incense The temple came to pray for the gods and Buddhas to bless the family, and the heart was flustered, and these things that shouldn’t have happened, didn’t they start after the gods were conferred? The emperor fell, and the rights were taken away by Haotian. Since then, there have been many temples and incense in every state in the world. Master thinks this is what it should be?"

Lu Liangsheng spoke louder and louder, turned around and flicked his robe sleeves, his words were sonorous and forceful, and the shaking window frames and doors of the Buddhist hall hummed.

"The peace of all ages is originally in the world. The Three Emperors and Five Emperors reclaimed wasteland, dug up mountains, and treated floods, so that the world is today. It is right to be sacrificed by our descendants. Don’t you think it’s a bit dirty to use the five elements in the human world to overcome the repeated chaos, give favors, and enjoy incense? Don’t you think it’s a bit unworthy of the word god and Buddha?”

A monk and a scholar confronted each other like that. In the flickering fire, Lu Liangsheng suppressed the anger in his heart, raised his hand and arched it heavily: "My words are a bit heavy... I will apologize to the master. Go back to your room and rest, you have to go on your way tomorrow.”

Walking out of the door, there was no word from the old monk behind him. He stepped out of the eaves, took two steps, turned around, and hurried towards the direction of the road. The four scholars from the old school stumbled around the old donkey.

Lu Liangsheng frowned, glanced at the Buddhist hall over there, and hurried to meet him.

"Why haven't you left yet?"

"Walking away...but turning back again." Wang Feng wiped the sweat from his forehead and pointed to the side door of the courtyard over there. standing by the side of the road..."

Zhang Ti nodded agreeingly: "Yes, National Teacher, we have walked back and forth quite a few times, otherwise we would have run far away."

"Liangsheng, this is the Sumeru Realm."

Taoist Toad's words sounded from the bookshelf, and the lights in the Buddhist hall suddenly went out.

"Amitabha--"