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Chapter 94 – The ordinary mortal in the mortal world is me
Chu Qing-Yan came back to her senses under his calm gaze and immediately became somewhat fidgety. “Great Master, although I hold Buddhism in high regards, I don’t have intentions to take refuge in religious life. Also, don’t you think that talking about this to a 10 year old child is somewhat excessive?”
Who would be interested in becoming his disciple? Maybe this god stick would bring her up to become a little god stick, showing her off everywhere to swindle everyone.
Moreover, to accompany the sound of the wooden fish for the rest of her life was not the kind of life she wanted.
“Although the rain from the sky is heavy, it’s hard to dampen the neverending amount of grass. The door of Buddhism is vast, and will not accept people who are not fated. Age is not a hindrance, female benefactor has the intellect, not entering Buddhism would be such a pity.” Xu Xian guided patiently and systematically.
Chu Qing-Yan rolled her eyes towards the sky. According to him, since everyone has intellect, then everyone should enter Buddhism. In that case, surveying the whole world, then all the streets would be full of monks. Chu Qing-Yan really wanted to ridicule this, but seeing his attitude was resolute, as if he really wanted to pull her into entering Buddhism, she really wanted to flip the table. However, in the end she was able to hold it down. She recalled the reverence that everyone had towards him from earlier and didn’t want to incur the wrath of the public. Since he wanted her to enter Buddhism, then she would reason with him about it.
“Great Master, what are the benefits of becoming a monk?” Chu Qing-Yan raised a difficult question.
“It’s not because of good benefits that people enter Buddhism, rather because all living things are empty, greedy, wrathful, ignorant and have hatred. The eight distresses (1) of life are intertwined with the world, it would be better to enter Buddhism to cleanse and cultivate one’s physical, mental and spiritual well being.” Xu Xian said with a serious face.
“Not so!” Chu Qing-Yan raise a finger and shook her hand.
“Oh? Female Benefactor has other views?” Xu Xian looked at her seriously.
“All living things are empty? That is your pessimistic way of thinking. In your eyes, all living things in heaven and earth only last for an instant, things will remain the same but people will change. The people are things, just like flowers that bloom, then wilt. The flowers blooming and then wilting are merely a round trip from the starting point to the end point, there’s no change at all. The only thing that changed was the form of the flower, whether it bloomed or wilted.” Although Chu Qing-Yan was smiling, the traces of her smile did not reach the depth of her eyes. She saw that Xu Xian somewhat disagreed and she narrowed her eyes before continuing.
“But in the eyes of us common people, everything that happened in our lives are worth it. The people we’ve come across and matters that we’ve experienced would leave behind memories in our minds. Everytime we recall it, it would always be very meaningful.”
“This poor monk feels that Female Benefactor has misinterpreted my meaning.” Xu Xian smilingly said.
“Please advise, Great Master” Chu Qing-Yan cupped her hands and said.
“Because there is no direction it gives birth to anxiety in their hearts! All living things will eternally sink into a sea of bitterness, inciting their heart to be knotted with bad karma and committing all kinds of evil deeds, sinking into a sea of sin.”
Saying up to here, Xu Xian determinedly looked at her, his eyes filled with understanding and mercy, half-closing them as he continued to speak.
“Leaving home to follow Buddha and meditating and praying in peace, without greed and desires, calm and at ease. The so called ‘rejecting the world for monastic life’ really isn’t pessimistic, rather it’s even more positive and hopeful. It’s not disillusioned, rather, it sees beyond the facade. It really isn’t just doing nothing, rather it does it promptly. It’s also not about not seeking anything, but rather being satisfied with what one has.”
“Amitabha.”
Chu Qing-Yan couldn’t help but concede. The young monk in front of her sat there serenely and peacefully. He only needed to use those pair of eyes that carried great wisdom and knowledge to look calmly towards somebody and it had the strength to make them feel an indescribable calm. Tranquility yielded transcendence, if she was anybody else, she would definitely be convinced by him. Just him sitting was a example of grounds that people were unable to refute.
A pity he wanted to pull her into the office to become a Buddhist’s disciple.
She could just wave her hands and go, but his face was full of certainty which provoked her anger. If she didn’t debate with him, she feared that she wouldn’t ever be able to swallow this down.
“Great Master, your achievement in Buddhist studies is very high, in Buddhist doctrines Qing-Yan can’t win against you. But Qing-Yan yearns for the world of mortals to enjoy the present, rather than rejecting the world for a monastic life or trying to thoroughly understand the world of mortals. I live in the world of mortals, and I like the world of mortals. I like it, at times there’s joy, at times there’s uninhibitedness. I feel that life being hard to predict is exactly what makes it amazing and fascinating. If I were to really enter Buddhism, be far away from kin, away from close friends, all alone seeking Buddhism; when cold, no one would ask about my well being. When sick, no one would be considerate to take care of me. When old and all alone, wouldn’t it all be in vain to have come into this world?”
Towards Chu Qing-Yan’s disrespect and provocation, Xu Xian only raised a brow slightly. “Female Benefactor, entering Buddhism doesn’t mean one has to follow a solitary path. Seeking the path of Buddhism, one’s heart won’t necessarily feel lonely, rather Buddhist disciples become friends, mutually assisting each other. You don’t need to worry, if you enter Buddhism, and worship this poor monk as your teacher, this poor monk will definitely help you.”
He had just finished when Xu Xian saw her pair of eyes craftily looking at him. Xu Xian’s heart faintly had a thread of unease as he heard her speak.
“Great Master, didn’t you say the six bases for tranquility shouldn’t have the seven emotional states and the six desires? Don’t need to have emotions, yet taking pity on Qing-Yan, don’t you think it already contradicts the Buddhist doctrines?” Chu Qing-Yan’s pair of eyes rolled quick wittedly, smilingly returning his argument.
Xu Xian couldn’t help but feel this was somewhat funny. This kind of speaking in a roundabout way, setting up a trap for him to enter, although she was young, she was undeniably intelligent.
She originally wanted to wait to see him eat a defeat, but she didn’t expect that his eyes would contain a smile. Seeing through everything, she then knew that he had already seen through her intentions, and the smile on Chu Qing-Yan’s face stiffened. Immediately, she recovered and narrowed her eyes again. And under this situation where everyone thought she had fallen short, she waved her hand and called the store’s waiter over.
“Esteemed customer, is there anything else you still need?“ The store waiter enthusiastically smiled and asked.
Xu Xian also didn’t understand why after Chu Qing-Yan had said something good, she came up with this move, so he quietly waited for her to speak.
He only saw Chu Qing-Yan reveal a crafty smile which quickly disappeared as she turned to the store waiter and said in a clear bright voice. “Waiter, do you have pork breast and beef jerky here?
“Have, have, have, not only do we have these, we also have crispy fried chicken wings, marinated duck head, stir fried duck gizzard…” The store waiter immediately spit them out very familiarly.
“Good, good, good, then I want one of each of everything that you just said.” Chu Qing-Yan waved her hand, in a magnanimous and heroic manner.
The shop’s waiter immediately happily accepted the order and left.
After she finished ordering, Chu Qing-Yan lifted her head and fortunately met with Xu Xian’s frowning expression, and she couldn’t help but feel a lot better.
Very quickly, the food one by one was arranged on the table.
“What is the meaning of this, Female Benefactor?” Xu Xian looked at the table full of dishes before looking towards her.
“If one enters the doors of Buddhism, can Qing-Yan fulfill her desire for food? This kind of dishes, only people in the vulgar mortal world will be able to obtain and enjoy. Does Great Master want to have a taste?” She held the chicken wing up, trying to entice him.
Xu Xian only closed his eyes, and chanted. “Amitabha, I ask Buddha for mercy!”
Chu Qing-Yan chuckled with hehehe sounds and took a big bite before continuing.
“Great Master, the thing I want to say is people only live once. When one is happy, then one must celebrate it, not holding an empty gold bottle of wine towards the moon! To enjoy the present, when one is happy, then loudly laugh. When one is grieved, one should sob loudly. Unwilling to live a life in vain of mediocrity and indifference. Perhaps you are right, to understand thoroughly the world of mortals without possessing the six bases of tranquility, without sadness or joy, without love or hate. Not bound by the pursuit of fame and fortune, not being plagued by greediness, ignorance, wrath or regret, to live one’s life in isolation with a wide heart.
“But, that is not the life that Qing-Yan yearns for. What Qing-Yan wants is a carefree life. If I fall down, then I’ll just climb back up. I would never lose the desire to live, and will never lose hope for love and go into despair, because love is joyous and hurt gives you self-pity. I don’t need Buddha to save me, I can save myself.”
Xu Xian opened his eyes wide and watched her setting down the teacup. Although her lips were full of oil, her pair of eyes glistened brightly.
He suddenly didn’t know what to say to convince her.
And just at this time, Earth Spirit, who left at an unknown time returned at this moment and said to Chu Qing-Yan. “His Highness is already at the door waiting for little miss to go back together.”
1) eight distresses: birth, age, sickness, death, parting with what we love, meeting with what we hate, unattained aims, and all the ills of the five skandhas (Buddhism). If someone understands this better, feel free to comment and enlighten me.
Thank you! ❤️❤️❤️
And just when she’s basically won her argument against herself entering Buddhism as a nun, here comes the hero, to save the beauty from the greedy monk?
She is only 10 but speaks of drinking wine.
I was only two to three when my grandfather gave me hard liquor to taste. There is no age limit in China to drink alcohol.