753 Dao Verification (1/2)
Old Man Mu hid himself in the corner, staying quiet without prodding into the situation. He was powerless, it was totally dark, but he could hear everything. He was well aware that the Dragon King was in a disadvantageous position.
”Old Man Mu.”
Unexpectedly, the Dragon King called out for him. Old Man Mu gave a fairly hesitant response, feeling deeply concerned.
Upon hearing the call, Lü Mian was just about to locate the Dragon King by tracing the source of the sound and launch an attack when he stopped – the Dragon King was sly, so he should be more cautious than usual. He had a strong advantage in this fight, so there was no need for him to take needless risks.
Deng Yuanlei became more and more anxious as he stood at the door, wishing that he could go inside and kill the Dragon King himself.
”Have you ever heard of the story that one must sacrifice their body to verify the Dao?” Gu Shenwei asked. This was a constant knot in his heart, and he would be in no mood to fight as long as it wasn't undone.
The reason why he was obsessed with this story was that it closely matched his method of practicing the Death Scripture.
There was a time when he and Lotus had been studying the Death Scripture together; however, their opinions on the right way of practicing it diverged widely when they reached the mid-to-late stage of their comprehension. Lotus focused on ”killing enemies,” while he focused on ”killing one's self.” Though the two paths led to the same destination, ruthlessly killing the target in a single move as the final goal, their mentality and moves were completely different.
”Killing one's self” sounded very similar to the idea of ”sacrificing one's body to verify the Dao.” Gu Shenwei had always deeply believed that his interpretation of the Death Scripture was the correct one, and this questionable and thin book seemed to have proven it.
Old Man Mu was numbed by the Dragon King's question, and he hesitated for quite a while before giving his answer. ”Of course I have. It's a deceptive story.”
”Deceptive?”
”Haha, all Buddhist stories are deceptive.”
”Why's that?”
”You know about the Convenient Method, right?”
Gu Shenwei nodded, but immediately realized that no one could see him. He quickly said, ”I do.”
Confusion exacerbated Deng Yuanlei's anxiety. Although this was a mausoleum full of treasures, he still felt depressed and wished that he would be able to leave as soon as possible. In his desperation, he called out, ”Sect Leader?”
”Humm,” Lü Mian replied in a morbid tone, seemingly also pondering over the Dragon King's question.
Deng Yuanlei didn't dare prod again.
Realizing that there was no imminent danger, Old Man Mu gathered some courage and gave out two coughs. ”Buddha says that mortals have different natures, so Buddhist knowledge shouldn't be imparted in a single fixed way – it's similar to the idea of teaching different students with different teaching methods, but in even more various approaches. There are many sects and schools, and sometimes they seem to have contradictory opinions. But as long as the method leads to the Buddhist Dao, it's a good method and the most suitable method for you – this is called Convenient Method, and is named due to its convenience for both the learner and the teacher.”
”How is this deceptive?” Unexpectedly, this time it was Lü Mian who asked.
”This is surely deceptive,” Old Man Mu replied in an indisputable tone. ”It's because the monks believe that since their original intentions are favorable, it's okay for them to be deceitful, and that's why they also say 'abandon the boat after disembarking,' which means that one should abandon the boat once he gets ashore. But in fact, the boat is not real and it doesn't exist. Buddha is concerned that people might hold grudges against him, so he foreshadows his own subtexts, which actually is saying 'look, I guided you to the most perfect situation, so forget my previous deception; you wouldn't have agreed to come if I didn't do that.'”
”You're indeed an evildoer,” Lü Mian sneered.
”Huh,” Old Man Mu snorted in derision. ”I'm an evildoer? I've read more Buddhist scriptures than that you have heard of. Nine elder monks debated with me consecutively and three of them ended up splitting blood until they died. You tell me – am I good?”
”They must have either been killed or scared to death by you,” Deng Yuanlei shouted stauntly, refusing to believe Old Man Mu's words as well.
Old Man Mu almost got carried away and walked out of the corner, but he restrained himself and instead replied, ”You two are not even monks. Young and stupid, you don't know shit! As universal as Buddhism is, there's no Convenient Method that suits you. So just behave yourselves and practice the Qingcheng swordsmanship as you wait to be reincarnated into beasts.”
”Sect Leader, let me kill him.” Deng Yuanlei grew resentful at the taunting words.
”You were provoked so easily. Are you really a disciple of Qingcheng Sect?” Lü Mian reprimanded, and then he lowered his voice. ”The Dragon King hasn't talked yet even though this is his dilemma. What's the hurry?”
Deng Yuanlei blushed slightly, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't subdue his anger. As he gripped his sword, he was so eager to make his move that he didn't even notice the trembling of his wounded left leg.
”The original intention was kind, yet the tactic is deceptive?” Gu Shenwei came to a conclusion.
”You're much smarter than those two, Dragon King.” Old Man Mu outwardly gave a compliment while actually thinking that he had explained it so clearly that anyone should have been able to understand it. ”And it's the same with 'sacrificing the body to verify the Dao.' As far as I'm concerned, it is indeed a lie. But a Buddhist monk will tell you that 'piety will always be rewarded,' and he will back it up with a lot of obscure reasons, like 'formless me, formless thou, formless mortals, formless elders' and 'all forms formless,' but they actually just want to confuse you to death.”
”All forms formless,” Gu Shenwei repeated, recalling that the palm technique he had learned from the monk, Lianqing, was called the ”Formless Prajna Palm.”
”Ha.” Old Man Mu misunderstood the meaning behind the Dragon King's words. ”You see? This is the trap of the Convenient Method – now you feel confused and want to seek an answer, right? Then you'll have to read Buddhist scriptures, consult a master, and kowtow to the Buddha, at which point you'll be in 'too deep.' There was a time when a bunch of monks told me that I had roots of wisdom, yet I ignored them thoroughly and instead chose to hold onto my freedom – though the scenery on the opposite side is good, I enjoy the present side better, Ha-ha.”
Lü Mian snorted. ”Are you done talking? You want to 'sacrifice the body to verify the Dao' and become a Buddha? Now is the time.”
”I'm done talking,” Gu Shenwei replied in a fairly hesitant voice. Old Man Mu had cleared up many of his questions – more than what Old Man Mu thought.
A string of footsteps echoed out from the corridor and Deng Yuanlei was startled, but then he realized that Han Fen was the only possible source of these footsteps.
Han Fen had indeed returned and with only one thing from the room of the Waning Moon Hall – a statue of the Master Commander about half a man's height tall. She acted like she had found the most precious treasure in the world, hugging it tightly as she ran and laughed.