Legend of the Great Sage

th me.
Hide your demon qi first!”

The Unraging monk grabbed Li Qingshan’s shoulder and arrived at the top of the mountain with a single step, right in front of the grand hall.

The Dauntless monk sat before the buddha in a lotus position and said without even looking back, “You’ve emerged.”

His voice echoed through the spacious, deep hall.
Together with the curling hint of incense, it gave off a sense of solemnity of its own.

“The abbot has been waiting for me?” Li Qingshan was surprised.

“That’s correct.”

“For what?”

“Because you have a buddha nature.”

“Pft!” Li Qingshan burst out laughing, earning him a glare from the Unraging monk.
Only then did he stifle his laughter.
“Cough, cough.
My apologies.
I couldn’t help myself.
What did you say I have?”

“A buddha nature.”

“Since when?” Li Qingshan found this to be rather funny.
Just recently, the Dauntless monk had been tempted to suppress him as a Demon King, so why did he suddenly say he possessed a buddha nature now?

“The buddha dwells in the heart at all times.”

“Damned disciple, why don’t you keep laughing?”

The moment Li Qingshan’s lips began to curl upwards, the Unraging monk scolded him, and the smile vanished again.
He raised his hands.
“Alright, alright, alright.
I’ll stop laughing.
But how can you tell, abbot? I’ve said this a long time ago that I have never cultivated good karma in my life, with a special liking towards conflict and sins…”

Before he could even finish what he was saying, the Dauntless monk interrupted him.
“There’s a strong buddha nature behind those words!”

“If I recall correctly, the only reason why I was imprisoned in the Demon Suppression hall back then was because of these words.”

Li Qingshan shook his head.
These words did indeed come from the mouth of a great monk.
The dharma name of the monk was Zhishen.
As for whether it contained any buddha nature, he had absolutely no idea at all.
He just found it extremely hearty to say.

TL: Zhishen is referring to Lu Zhishen from the book Water Margin.
The saying originates from the first two lines of Lu Zhishen’s ode when he dies, which you can read more about here.

“You entered the Demon Suppression hall, but you ended up cultivating the Demon Suppression Statuary.
You practise demonic arts, yet you haven’t fallen into the demonic path, so you obviously have a buddha within you.
It was me who was mistaken back then.
Instead, it’s junior brother Unraging who was wise and insightful enough to accept you as his disciple.”

The Unraging monk chuckled, feeling quite proud of himself.

“Now that you mention it, it suddenly seems quite reasonable.
Though, don’t tell me you want me to become a monk again!” Li Qingshan said cautiously.

“The breadth of buddhism is vast, and people are free to come and go.
We won’t force you to do anything.
If you want to be a secular disciple, then you can be a secular disciple!”

“That’s not what you said originally.”

Originally, in order to prevent him from influencing Xiao An’s cultivation, the Dauntless monk had been quite determined for him to take on some precepts.

“That was a temporary measure back then.
This is the buddhist dharma now.”

“Alright then.
You called me here just to tell me this?”

“You may be a secular disciple, but you’re also a disciple of the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga.
You possess a buddha nature, but if you don’t receive any further guidance, it’ll be corrupted by demonic thoughts, and you’ll become a true Demon King in the end, so I’ve prepared a dharma ceremony for you.”

“Stop right there.
I get a headache as soon as I hear about scriptures.” Li Qingshan wanted to leave the moment he heard those two words.
He was stopped by the Unraging monk.
“Don’t worry.
You don’t need to understand the scriptures, and it can develop your root of wisdom.
The Dharma Ceremony of Meditative Chan isn’t one that anyone can enjoy.”

“The Dharma Ceremony of Meditative Chan!”

Li Qingshan could vaguely recall that Xiao An had once mentioned that she had also experienced a Dharma Ceremony of Meditative Chan during the time she cultivated in the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga.
Apparently only the most outstanding disciples of the monastery could experience it.
It had brought tremendous benefit to her cultivation of the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty and the effect was akin to the Fruit of Wisdom, except schools of chan had their own realms and enlightenments.

So this monk realised he can’t overwhelm me and wants to rope me in now.
Though, I obviously won’t turn down something free like this.
He clasped his hands, “Then thank you for your generosity, abbot.”

 ps： 这两天换了新镜片，感觉很不舒服，左眼清晰右眼模糊，对着电脑一会儿就感觉眼睛很累，今天又去找上门换了一副合适的，顿时感觉好多了，自信又回到我身边，码字也有动力了。^_^