Chapter 174 Of Beings and Buddha (2/2)
Hongzhen replied, ”Although my master knew the answer he still needed the Venerable to clear his doubts.”
Baoyue the Venerable sighed, ”Since he made a verse, I will answer him with another verse. Please listen carefully.”
Considering Baoyue's age, things got a little more solemn. The Buddhist chants echoed throughout the hall and entered the crowd's ears, ”Brace yourself to see the truth, the unexpected truth. In the dream, rubies are debris; but in consciousness, those are in fact pearls. There is no difference in ignorance and wisdom; once mastered, everything is the same. The next generation, pen their own books. There is no difference between your body and Buddha, so why should we look further?”
The verse was a shock not to the Daoist cultivators but to the Bhikkhu monks and nuns of Xi Huang.
It was because Baoyue the Venerable has further explained Huike's word. Huike believed that all beings have the same innate. If they could give up fantasies and return to what is true, they would have achieved the realm where beings and saints are equal. Therefore, there was no difference between a being and Buddha; and therefore it was not right for monks to promote the old Buddhist studies that enslaved the poor and viewed highly of the nobles.
Huike's studies were not originally by him but had roots of Buddhism. It was also known as the Buddha Mind Sect by non-Buddhist, and there were also people who called it 'Zen'.
The Buddha Mind Sect was secretly spread in the Zhou Dynasty and eventually gained influence.
The condensation of the Buddha Mind Sect today could not match the original eight schools of Buddhism- Tattvasiddhi, Kushashu, Risshu, Madhyamaka, Tiantai, Yogacara, Huayan, and Shingon.
However, it was more directed to the human mind and very few immortal Zhenren recognized it for its vigorous vitality.
Now that Baoyue the Venerable went for the opposite approach, this showed that times had changed in the Buddhist sect.
Most of the monks who came for the debate were at a loss.
Huike had yet to show up but had achieved his purpose.
The reason why the debate generated such huge buzz was that they wanted to establish the image of Buddha's mind in a magnificent scene.
It was also an omen to a revolution in the Buddhist sect and the world of cultivation.
Huanzhen was pissed. Firstly, he did not manage to humiliate Shen Lian and secondly, people would be paying attention to the internal strife between Buddhist sects and that would be disadvantageous to the influence of the Guangqing Celestial Sect.
On top of that, the debate between Baoyue and Huike has garnered the attention of several Daoists. All sentient beings have Buddhism doctrine in them and it did not conflict with Daoism's Powang. Many scattered Daoists and even pure Dao sects would be more than happy to interact with Buddhist sects and use them to open many other doors.
The Ming Wang Temple had not been doing anything big in the past thousands of years and who knew that they would achieve something so big this time around.
Plus besides the four main Daoist sects, other cultivators would not look too much into the differences between Buddhism and Daoism, as long as they could achieve immortality.
As long as it benefits their Dao, it did not matter if they had to go bald. To them, it was just like changing skin.
At this very moment, a demonic wind swept through the square and a whirl of demonic clouds covered the moon.
Baoyue the Venerable looked up to the sky as his face sunk. He raised his hands and used the golden Buddhist ray with the intentions of suppressing the demonic clouds.
Laughters could be heard coming from the demonic cloud, ”Scramble away if you don't want to die.”
The sudden spiritual pressure in the sky has caused the ripples in the void.
Several cultivators felt the spiritual pressure and knew that a demon of immortal Zhenren level was here. It was not unusual for normal beings to suffer from the battles between celestials.
In the blink of an eye, instruments in the square dispersed in four directions.