Chapter 197 - Conferring Words! (1/2)

Zhang Ye finished speaking.

There was silence immediately!

What was a Bodhi tree? The Bodhi Tree was a large and very old Sacred Fig tree. The tree grows to a height of 15-25m and it’s trunk has a diameter of about 30-50 cm. It has a large and wide-spreading crown, with a bark that is light grey in colour. The simple, long-stalked leaves are heart-shaped and long tipped. The flowers are tiny and are found inside the small fleshy figs, which ripen to greenish-yellow, then purple. There are three kinds of flowers: male, female and sterile… Of course, those were just filler words… This was an official description of the plant.

Cough Cough. Right, time to be serious.

By origin, there is no Bodhi tree? Although the Bodhi tree existed in the world, the Bodhi tree referred to by Buddhists was not a plant. It was a symbol and memory. The Bodhi also represented the great wisdom of Buddhism. What tree was there? What mirror was there? Just as Zhang Ye had described the debate between the 2 monks, the constant reflection of oneself in the mirror, was just a will, a thought, so how was there a mirror?

There was no Bodhi tree!

Nor was there a mirror!

Originally, there is not a single thing, so where does dust alight?

Everyone including the abbot and the monks all searched for an answer within themselves. They used the gatha from Zhang Ye to question themselves — Where does the dust alight? That’s right! Where does dust alight!

The abbot was convinced as he held his palms together, “Amitabha.”

Following that, the ten or so monks behind him also held their palms together, “Amitabha.”

The film crew’s jaw had dropped when they heard the gatha by Zhang Ye. They did not understand Buddhism nor had they learned anything about Zen. Just as they had heard the talk about Zen between the abbot and Zhang Ye earlier, they were only listening for the sake of listening. They knew that Zhang Ye was very good at it, but they did not understand its meanings. But this gatha was different. Not only the monks, even those who were just laymen on Buddhist teachings had heard and understood it clearly. At the beginning, they felt that the abbot’s gatha was already very good, but when Zhang Ye’s ‘By origin, there is no Bodhi tree’ was said, everyone was stunned to the heavens. In that moment, they saw the gulf between the abbot’s gatha and Zhang Ye’s gatha!

Everything does not stand up well with comparisons!

When the 2 gathas were compared, if we say that Teacher Zhang Ye was a reverend monk, then the abbot could be thought of as someone who had just entered the monastery or had even not yet become a monk!

“Haha! Nice!”

“Teacher Zhang Ye, you are so cool!”

“What a good there is no Bodhi tree! What a nor is there a mirror!”

“That’s right! There’s nothing at all! How can there be dust? Teacher Zhang’s gatha is peerless! Instead, it was the bunch of monks who were enlightened!”

“That gatha was too awesome!”

“Why do I feel like I’m witnessing a scene for the ages? ‘Little Qingshan’s Zen Exchange’?”

“In a few centuries, when the future generations mention this gatha by Teacher Zhang, will we also be included in that story?”

“Definitely, ha, we have been touched by the greatness of this and it will be spoken of for a thousand years!”

“Did you record it?”

“It’s recorded.”

“I recorded too, Teacher Zhang was too awesome!”

“Debating about Zen with a monk and winning!”

What was face smacking?

This was face smacking!

What was pretending to be awesome?

This was pretending to be awesome!

Yao Jiancai finally smiled. He felt that Zhang Ye was more and more pleasing to the eye now. Old Yao thought that if he had this level of acting awesome like Zhang Ye, what would become of him? The women would be throwing themselves at him!

Quite a few people in the film crew knew of Teacher Zhang Ye’s literary skills. Even though a majority of the crew did not know Zhang Ye before this, they had now found out about his capabilities from the others who knew of him from before. But what just happened made them understand that they had still underestimated his literary upbringing. Initially, they had urged Zhang Ye to have a literary duel with the abbot because they felt that Zhang Ye would not lose since this was his rice bowl. But since the duel was about Zen and gatha, which belonged to a different school of literature — Gatha was a philosophical study compared to poetry — they had not expected him to win so overwhelmingly! The abbot and the monks were all stunned in silence! They had been dumbfounded by the lecture of Teacher Zhang Ye!

Especially the last bit about the Bodhi Tree!

Gatha was just a form of language used by monks. It wasn’t like a couplet where a 2nd verse would exist!

But who would have thought that Zhang Ye could treat it like a couplet and match the 2nd verse to the gatha! Every word was profound! It had refuted the abbot’s gatha fully! And it had refuted it so well that no one could say anything! This gatha could not even be commented on, it was that high of a level! Even people who could not understand could see it clearly!

The abbot looked deeply at Zhang Ye before regaining a peaceful look. He closed his eyes and muttered something before slowly opening his eyes again, “This old monk has been meditating for over 30 years. I’ve been dedicating myself to Buddha all these years and just a few days ago, I was enlightened and wrote that gatha. I thought that I had stepped closer to Buddha and that my spiritual practice had gone to another level.” As he said this, he smiled bitterly, “Never did I expect that by meeting you, I would realize that I have not even stepped into the doorway of Zen, what a pity, what a pity.”

“Master.”

“Abbot!”

A few young monks were still worried.

The abbot waved his hands and said to Zhang Ye, “This Almsgiver might be a secular man, but he has great wisdom. He has wisdom that is even greater than us monks. Today, I have been beaten convincingly. If you have the heart to become a pract.i.tioner of Buddhism in future, your Dharma will definitely be higher than mine by a few hundred times.”

Hearing this, Zhang Ye immediately waved his hands, “Please don’t say that, I’m leading a good life, I’m not so silly. I will continue to be my secular self, being secular is better.”