Chapter Thirty-Three: Comparable to Gods and Buddhas
2208 Words
Inside the former site of Jingyan Temple, comparable to the divine temples of gods and Buddhas.
There are two buildings, one new and one old, to the north and south.
In the spacious courtyard in the middle, a huge incense burner sits on a stone pedestal.
Potted flowers surround it, exuding a serene fragrance.
The four large characters "Jinglian Jing She" (Pure Lotus Abode) are cast on the incense burner.
Not far away are the monks' quarters, the resting place for the nuns of the abbey.
The two nuns Xu Xiaoli had seen earlier cautiously entered the room.
There were three beds inside.
From the innermost bed came steady breathing; someone was sleeping.
If it were ordinary nuns, they would have turned on the light.
Unfortunately, the one sleeping there was a female layperson who had come from out of town to attend tomorrow's Dharma assembly.
Out of politeness, the two nuns did not turn on the light.
Using the moonlight from outside, they reached the window and began to undress, preparing to sleep.
However, unexpectedly, even though they moved very quietly, the female layperson suddenly woke up.
"Ah!"
The female layperson sat up abruptly, letting out a cry of surprise, as if awakened from a nightmare.
The slightly plump woman quickly turned on the light and asked with concern, "Laywoman Mei, are you alright?"
Laywoman Mei, her hair disheveled, had beads of sweat on her forehead.
She pointed towards the main hall with some fear, "I...I dreamt that...a divine being forced his way into the Buddha hall."
A divine being?
Forcibly breaking into the Buddha hall?
As female practitioners, the two women naturally believed in gods and Buddhas. Hearing Laywoman Mei's words, they immediately inquired,
"What happened?"
"Laywoman Mei, tell me in detail."
Laywoman Mei's eyes were full of fear, and she swallowed hard, still shaken, as she said, "Just now I dreamt that a young man broke into the temple, and then an Asura blocked his way. This young man summoned many, many five-clawed golden dragons, and finally defeated the Asura. Then he walked towards the Buddha hall."
The slightly plump woman: "..."
The other slender woman: "..."
They did believe in gods and Buddhas,
but Laywoman Mei's story was too fantastical.
What golden dragon and Asura battle? Was she filming a science fiction movie in her dream?
The two women comforted Ms. Mei,
explaining that she was under a lot of mental stress and had nightmares.
Ms. Mei also thought it was a dream,
but it felt incredibly real, and she suddenly couldn't fall asleep.
She then told the two women and got dressed to go for a walk.
At first, nothing seemed amiss.
However, when she reached the door, she discovered that an Asura statue had cracked open.
Ms. Mei's pupils contracted, and she was shocked. Was everything she dreamed real?
If so, who was that young divine being? He was
so powerful!
Fang Yi strolled through the divine realm.
With a thought, he arrived at the foot of the mountain.
Then he was startled.
There stood an Asura, exactly like the one he had fought, only shrunk to the height of an average adult male.
Fang Yi almost ran away in fright.
After all, the Asura's power had been terrifying.
Even when he was at his peak and summoned a golden dragon, he couldn't destroy it.
Let alone now, with his health low.
Yet, this Asura seemed dead, silent and still.
Fang Yi curiously reached out to touch it.
In an instant, Asura vanished.
"So it was just an illusion."
He couldn't help but recall the golden boy and jade maiden beside the Yellow Immortal of the Red Pine Temple in the village, only that one didn't disappear upon being touched.
Fang Yi was about to enter the Buddhist kingdom
when he was surprised to see several strangely shaped statues standing on the ground at the foot of the mountain.
Closest to Asura was a golden-winged Garuda with a protruding wish-fulfilling jewel on its head, somewhat resembling Garuda, one of the Eight Heavenly Dragons in Buddhism.
Further away was an adult male with a single horn on his head, somewhat resembling Kinnara, the god of song, also one of the Eight Heavenly Dragons.
Beside Kinnara was Mahoraga, a giant serpent god with a human body and a snake's head.
Further still were Gandharvas with an eight-pointed crown, a reddish-flesh body as large as a bull king, and Yaksha kings with jeweled crowns, bare upper bodies, holding vajras, and wrathful expressions.
"Hmm? The Eight Heavenly Dragons?"
Fang Yi was taken aback.
He saw six classes here, but where were the other two?
He looked towards the distant lake
and indeed found a gigantic Naga with a human head and a snake's body floating in the air.
This was one of the eight classes of celestial dragons.
He couldn't see where the celestial beings were.
Fang Yi didn't think much of it.
With a thought, he arrived at the celestial Buddhist kingdom.
The next moment, a shocking scene unfolded.
This enormous, boundless Buddhist kingdom was filled with floating Brahma, Indra, the Four Heavenly Kings, and other celestial beings!
The eight classes of celestial dragons had gathered!
Fang Yi was greatly surprised.
If he wasn't mistaken, these eight classes of celestial dragons were all guardian deities within the divine realm.
Perhaps because they had lost their incense offerings, the other guardian deities lacked the divine power to activate them.
So only Asura had fought him earlier?
"Whose divine realm is this, that it requires the protection of eight classes of celestial dragons?"
He sensed that the owner of this divine realm was no ordinary person.
The Buddhist kingdom was filled with pagodas and temples.
Fang Yi ignored them
and went straight to the central hall.
In the center of the hall, a red plaque read "Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss."
Hiss!
The Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss?
Isn't that the abode of Amitabha Buddha?
Fang Yi was somewhat confused.
According to the myths and legends he knew,
Amitabha Buddha had no sacred site in the human world.
How could this divine realm be the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss?
He couldn't figure it out.
He stopped pondering it
and walked into the main hall. On
the pillars of the Buddha hall was a couplet: "
To all sentient beings in this Saha world, who contemplate the profound and wondrous Dharma, may we all enter the ocean of Vairocana's nature."
"Cultivating the supreme cause of reciting the Buddha's name, all sentient beings, regardless of their capacity, can cross to the other shore of Ultimate Bliss. "
Above the couplet are three plaques.
The central plaque reads "Universal Salvation of All Sentient Beings."
The two plaques on the left and right read "Dignified with Myriad Virtues" and "The Non-Dual Dharma Gate," respectively. Inside
the main hall, there is nothing else but a shrine enshrining three Buddhas. In
front of the shrine, a brocade canopy is embroidered with the four large characters "Buddha's
Light Shines Everywhere." Under the glow of the long canopy and the light of the crystal lamps ,
Fang Yi finally saw clearly who these three smiling, serene Buddha statues were!
They were actually the Three Western Saints!
What are the Three Western Saints?
The Three Western Saints are also known as the Amitabha Triad.
In the center is Amitabha Buddha, with Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva standing to the left and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva to the right.
Having figured out whose realm this was, Fang Yi was even more puzzled.
"The Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta's sacred site is on Langshan Mountain, and the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara's sacred site is on Putuo Mountain in the Zhoushan Islands. Amitabha Buddha has no sacred site on earth, so why are the Three Western Saints here?"
He then recalled the contents of the Buddhist scriptures.
Although Amitabha Buddha has no sacred site on earth, the Buddha has forty-eight forms.
What he saw before him was the form of "the Buddha standing in the air."
The seventh contemplation of the *Contemplation Sutra* states: Amitabha Buddha stands in the air, with Avalokiteshvara and Mahasthamaprapta standing on his left and right, their light so intense that it cannot be fully seen. For those who recite the Buddha's name, Amitabha Buddha always resides on their heads.
According to this, then this is neither the sacred site of Amitabha Buddha, nor the sacred site of Avalokiteshvara and Mahasthamaprapta.
It is merely the divine realm of Amitabha Buddha's form.
No wonder the Eight Heavenly Dragons are guarding it.
It is the divine realm of Amitabha Buddha.
Fang Yi seemed to understand something.
Based on his experience with the small temple in the village, he reached out and touched the Amitabha Buddha statue.
The next moment, the Buddhist divine realm before him shattered, leaving only endless nothingness
and three strangely shaped "nets" filled with countless particles.
These "nets," like the "net" of the village statues, extended countless "tentacles" to touch the nothingness, as if connecting to the universe.
Most importantly, every particle on them shone brightly,
seemingly brimming with endless energy.
Seeing this, Fang Yi was overjoyed!
"All three Buddha statues possess supernatural powers?"
He had thought he would be satisfied with just one new supernatural power.
He never expected there to be three!
Fang Yi was so happy he almost fainted, eager to immerse his soul into one of the "nets" to see what kind of supernatural power it was.
To his astonishment, he couldn't immerse his soul in it!
That's not right!
He could enter the energy field of the village statues.
Fang Yi was completely baffled.
Suddenly, he remembered something.
He had been able to immerse himself in the energy field of the village statues because his golden core was embedded in it.
Did he need his golden core embedded in it?
Fang Yi hesitated.
His golden core energy was completely depleted after the fierce battle with Asura.
Who knew what might happen if he embedded himself into the energy field?
"Forget it, I'll use the statue model to scan the structure of these three energy fields first. I'll rebuild them later when I've recovered my power. Hmm, maybe I can come back here after my golden core energy recovers and try to achieve oneness with the energy fields of these three Buddha statues."
Fang Yi immersed his thoughts in the statue model, observing the particle composition of the energy fields of the three Buddha statues.
The energy fields of these three Buddha statues were extremely complex.
For example, the bio-energy field of Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva consisted of over 540 billion particles of three different types.
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva's was also around 500 billion.
Only Amitabha Buddha's energy field had an exceptionally large number of particles, reaching over 100 trillion.
Fortunately, these particles were all static.
He was able to scan and copy the structure of the three energy fields before exhausting the remaining energy in his bio-energy field.
"Phew, let's return my thoughts to my physical body first."
The fierce battle with Asura had severely "injured" Fang Yi's soul.
He needed the power of the Golden Core to nourish and repair himself.
However, now that the Golden Core's energy was depleted, he couldn't repair himself in time.
His thoughts receded back into his body like a receding tide.
Outside, in the car.
Xu Xiaoli had been staring intently at Fang Yi's face.
The fleeting glimpse she'd seen of Fang Yi fighting Asura had left a profound impression on her.
Naturally, she wanted to know the outcome of the battle, hence her constant focus on Fang Yi.
Just as she was lost in thought
, Fang Yi suddenly opened his eyes.
Xu Xiaoli was overjoyed and quickly asked in an eager tone, "Master, did you win?"
He was fine before returning to his physical body.
However, now that his soul had returned, Fang Yi felt a splitting headache.
He knew it was because his soul had been injured, causing this intense pain.
His body was also incredibly weak.
That was because the Golden Core had exhausted its energy and was constantly drawing it from his body.
Tired, so very tired.
And his body felt completely drained.
He had no strength left to speak, only managing a weak "hmm" as he tried to utter it.
Although his condition was extremely bad.
But Fang Yi's heart was burning with excitement.
He'd struck gold! He'd
actually obtained three supernatural powers!
It was just a pity he didn't yet know their specific effects.
He'd have to wait until he recovered and reconstructed the model to find out.
Fang Yi was extremely satisfied with tonight's gains.
However, the weakness in his body made him close his eyes again.
He closed his eyes,
but Xu Xiaoli, who had received a definitive answer, trembled slightly with excitement.
Awesome!
Fang Zhenren was truly awesome!
He could even easily defeat the overwhelming Asura!
At this moment, she finally understood the extent of Fang Yi's supernatural powers. He
was absolutely comparable to a god or Buddha.
Xu Xiaoli made a firm decision: even if she had to be a slave, she would cling to Fang Yi's coattails.
Perhaps she would have a chance to gain immortality by following such a divine being!
- Writer
