Chapter 136 Zen and Pure Land

Wei Yuan looked at Yuanjue and had to admit that, for a moment, he had seriously considered going with this monk to 'pull a heist' and get his hands on the Pure Land School's *Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra*. However, when he considered the next step, he discovered a huge problem.

Right now, it seemed, they couldn't pull it off.

If the two of them went, they wouldn't be pulling a heist; they'd be getting heisted.

Yuanjue quickly realized this as well, scratching his bald head and sighing, his face full of regret as he said, "It's just not easy. Generally, enemies of Buddhism won't have the *Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra* on hand. But if you really want to find someone who practices this dharma and has made a name for themselves, it's a bit difficult. The Pure Land of Buddhism is wide open. It's fine for me, a monk, but Curator Wei, you might end up only knowing how to chant scriptures and worship Buddha."

Yuanjue smacked his lips, somewhat regretfully.

Wei Yuan thanked him, saying, "It's alright. Knowing this method, my trip hasn't been in vain."

Yuanjue smiled and said, "That's the best."

He pointed at the dishes on the table, saying, "Come on, Curator Wei, eat! It's my treat today. Order whatever you want."

"Don't be shy."

...

After a hearty meal.

The monk rubbed his belly, scanned the QR code to pay, and the young man at the barbecue stall politely said, "Not enough."

Yuanjue twitched, looking at his account balance, turned to look at Wei Yuan, put his hands together, and said with a smile, "Sorry to bother you, Curator Wei. I'm a little short. I ate too much."

Wei Yuan chuckled, took out his phone to pay, but the monk raised his hand and pressed it down on the phone, saying, "No, no, Curator Wei, it's just ten yuan. Do you have cash?" Wei Yuan took out ten yuan and saw the monk give the money to the owner and then settle the remaining bill.

Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Back at the table, Yuanjue was about to finish the last bit of fruit beer, smacked his lips with satisfaction, and took out something from his pocket, handing it to Wei Yuan, saying, "I said it was my treat, but you still ended up paying. This little thing is useless to me, so just accept it."

Wei Yuan casually took it, sensed something was off, and his expression changed slightly.

He spread his fingers, and in his palm were two smooth, round objects radiating a gentle Buddhist aura: *sarira*.

Looking at Yuanjue, he said, "This is too precious..."

Yuanjue put his hands together, smiling slightly, "Amitabha, Amitabha."

"They're just two broken stones. What's so precious about them? It's useless for me to keep them; I even find them tiring to carry around. If they can still save people, that's great merit. Being able to help sentient beings in life, and still being able to save people after death, that's simply the best thing."

"The only value of this thing is that. If *sarira* are placed in a box and enshrined, they're just rotting stones. Otherwise, according to my master, they should be thrown into a mountain gully to accompany the wildflowers. After the flowers bloom, there's no elegance, just an overwhelming fragrance that's very comfortable."

"More comfortable than the incense in temples."

Wei Yuan clenched his fingers, put away the two *sarira*, thought for a moment, casually unfolded the receipt, placed it on the table, and drew a talisman on it with his fingers, then handed the talisman to Yuanjue, saying, "In that case, I'll use this to exchange with you."

He smiled and said, "I'm not a monk, and I'm not as open-minded as you are. I still prefer to exchange one thing for another."

Yuanjue was surprised, looked at the talisman drawn with a receipt and plain water, using this to exchange for two *sarira*. He smiled, pointed at Wei Yuan, and said freely, "These mere *sarira* are no different from this receipt, just insignificant dust in the world. Ordinary people are obsessed with them, but they're just attachments. Why bother focusing on them? Curator Wei, you deeply understand Buddhist nature..."

Wei Yuan looked at the disappearing strokes on the strange talisman, put the hand drawing the talisman behind his back so that the overflowing light would not be seen, and said with a gentle smile, "I didn't say that."

The monk only thought that he valued the *sarira* as much as the receipt, that there was nothing to be obsessed about, and immediately put away the receipt, smiling, "Since it was drawn by Curator Wei, I will definitely keep it safe and never let it leave my side."

Only then did Wei Yuan see that this monk was wearing a monk's robe and carrying a fertilizer bag as luggage.

He finally asked, "If the person and the story I told are just made up by me, and there's really no such person or thing, you gave me the *sarira* so easily. Won't you regret it or worry?"

The monk stood with one hand raised in front of his chest, and said with a free and easy smile, "Then, in any case, this humble monk has already saved that person."

He laughed a few times, turned around and left freely, then casually pushed out an old Golden Phoenix bicycle, creaking and creaking as he rode away, humming a tune. Wei Yuan stared at him as he went away, sighed in his heart, gathered his thoughts, and thought about what to do next.

It would be very difficult to get the Pure Land School's dharma.

Because the disciples of this school actually practice by reciting the Buddha's name, especially Amitabha's name, and one of the auxiliary practices is called praising and making offerings. The monks only need to single-mindedly recite the name of Amitabha Buddha, never forgetting it, in the hope of being reborn in the Pure Land.

They are probably the kind that Zen Buddhism despises the most.

This lineage has never joined the Special Operations Group, and has not let its disciples travel around the human world to slay demons and eliminate evil.

Because they believe that this is called miscellaneous practice.

The core of the Pure Land dharma is 'abandoning miscellaneous practices and returning to the correct practice'. What is the correct practice?

Of course, it is to wholeheartedly recite Amitabha Buddha, thinking about going to the Western Paradise, the Immaculate Pure Land, in the next life.

It is also because this group of homebodies refuses to come down the mountain that Yuanjue regrets not being able to break in and take it away.

However, if you really want to give Wu Yi a new path, you may not really have to take the Pure Land School's path. It is enough to confirm that Buddhism does have similar methods. Wei Yuan remembered that his remnant true spirit from the Qin Dynasty was taken away by Buddhist *sangha* and became the so-called Dharma protector.

Since they turned Wei Yuan's remnant true spirit into a Dharma protector,

Then Wei Yuan can naturally obtain similar dharmas from it.

Infiltrate the enemy and then fleece his own sheep.

In other words, he needs to take the jade dragon pendant to the place where the *sangha* arrived at the Huai River. The Black Ice Terrace guards broke the Overlord Spear there and threw the jade dragon pendant into the Huai River. The *sangha* arrived there, captured the true spirit of the jade dragon, and staged a self-directed and self-acted drama of the *sangha* subduing the old turtle of Guishan Mountain, cutting off the sacrifice that originally belonged to Wuzhiqi.

Taking the jade dragon pendant there has a high probability of recalling some of the things that happened at that time.

And then obtain the Buddhist dharma from it.

Wei Yuan's thoughts settled slightly, and he took another bottle of Small Wooden House, rode a shared bicycle, and slowly left in another direction.

...

On another road.

Yuanjue was slowly riding his bicycle.

When passing by a bakery, he took out a few small coins from his pocket and bought a nearly expired bread.

Then he rode his bicycle to the side of the road, looked up, stopped the bicycle, carried the rustic bag with the big words "Pesticide Fertilizer" written on it. In the passing luxury cars, there were neatly dressed young men and slender women carrying limited-edition designer bags, who were surprised.

"A monk?"

"After all, monks are pretty good at making money."

Yuanjue smiled and nodded in the face of the car owners' curious gazes, and walked inside.

There was a sign at the service window: Hope Project Office.

The person at the window was a young woman who had just graduated from college and was dressed simply and plainly. Yuanjue put his bag on the ground, squatted down, took out a stack of cash from it, and handed it over, then found some damaged books from his big bag and said with a smile, "This humble monk has found a lot of books, which can be repaired and patched up."

"Here are comic books and some science fiction books, which should still be usable."

He handed everything over, wiped his hands, and carefully wrote his name.

Then, carrying the empty bag, he rode his bicycle creaking and creaking through the bustling city, and finally stopped under a bridge. He frowned, because there was a luxury car parked there, and a man in monk's robes was standing there, "Nephew, long time no see."

Yuanjue said, "You haven't been recognized by my sect, don't try to be friendly."

The man with a wealthy appearance was slightly embarrassed, looked around at the bridge, at the straw mat, and the stray dogs around him, and said in a condescending tone, "Alright, but Yuanjue, you're really living a hard life here. I heard that you also work part-time?"

Yuanjue said lightly, "Naturally."

"Don't they give you wages?"

"The boss provides food and pays money. Every penny of this humble monk is spent wisely, with absolutely no waste."

"Where do you spend it?"

"The past, the present, and the future."

"Huh? What?"

"Spending it on the past is for me to read and write; spending it on the present is to associate with friends, be open and at ease... and the future."

"This is also cultivation."

Spending money is also cultivation?

If so, wouldn't the richest person have the highest cultivation?

The wealthy monk couldn't answer this seemingly profound question, and had to awkwardly say, "I see that you're not wealthy no matter what. How about this? Those two *sarira*, just one, and I'll give you a million. The price is negotiable. Those things are useful now, but after all, they haven't been cremated for many years, so the price..."

"Shut up!"

Yuanjue raised his eyebrows and shouted, "If it were you, even if you filled this bridge with money, I wouldn't give you the *sarira*. What's more, you are the one who is poor!"

"With a bright moon on my shoulder and a clear breeze in my sleeves, this humble monk is very rich."

The wealthy monk was about to speak again, but Yuanjue reached out and picked up a brick, saying, "Are you leaving or not?"

"If you don't leave, this humble monk will smash your dog's head!"

The stray dog whimpered, Yuanjue nodded embarrassedly, "Don't worry, not yours."

"Ah? You think I'm scolding you?"

"No... I would never have that thought."

Looking at the brick in Yuanjue's hand, the wealthy monk was about to persuade him again, but saw Yuanjue's arm muscles bulge, as if he was ready to throw the brick at a speed exceeding a missile, and had to leave in a panic. Yuanjue let go of his hand, and the brick had already turned into powder.

The monk was stunned, thinking of what his master's uncle looked like when he was a child.

At that time, there were clearly still many fellow practitioners.

But now, there are no monks by his side.

He smiled.

With just a straw mat, the monk sat cross-legged on the mat, his hands on his knees. Seeing the tails of the stray dogs about to turn into whirlwind cars, seeing the cat circling ingratiatingly, he grinned triumphantly, "You don't know, today's bread is very good, soft and fluffy, and heated up! Most importantly, I had just enough money left to buy it back."

He triumphantly took out the bread he bought, tore it off, and the stray dogs came up to lick it gently. After one finished a bite, it would push the others away to let them come up. The cat nestled in his arms, and a bird stood on his shoulder, gently pecking at his bald head, *de de de, de de de*, as if knocking on a wooden fish.

Yuanjue smiled as he looked at these creatures.

He sat on the broken straw mat, with sentient beings in front of him, but when he looked up, he could see the night and the stars through the gaps. The monk was lost in thought.

Being poor is not being poor, heaven and earth are all mine.

It is great freedom.

Wealth in this world is not wealth, but a lock of fame and fortune, where is freedom?

"Amitabha..."

ps: Today's first update... three thousand four hundred words. Thanks to Shi Huo Ji for the grand reward, thank you~