CH 44

In the Five Buddhas Hall, Li Huowang once again met Xin Hui, but this time he was not alone. Four old monks sat behind him in a row.

“Alms Giver Xuan Yang, let’s get straight to the point. We need to perform a Buddhist Mass to help Dan Yang Tzu release souls from purgatory,” Xin Hui said.

“Okay, abbot, let’s begin,” Li Huowang said immediately.

“Please calm down, Alms Giver Xuan Yang. Dan Yang Tzu’s karma is intertwined with you. Before we can perform this ritual, you need to calm your mind,” Xin Hui explained.

“Calm my mind?” Li Huowang was confused.

“Amitabha, Alms Giver, your mind is not calm. Your heart is sick.”

Before the abbot could finish his words, Li Huowang quickly and sternly refuted, “I’m not sick!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Li Huowang was startled by his own volume.

As he looked at the five old monks who were staring at him with meaning, Li Huowang took a deep breath and clenched his trembling fist. “Abbot, what can I do to calm my mind?” he asked.

A yellow-covered scripture was handed to Li Huowang. “Take this ‘Emptiness of Five Skandhas Sutra’ back with you and recite it three times a day – morning, noon, and evening.”

Li Huowang took the scripture book and opened it, but found that it contained only cryptic Buddhist scriptures that he could not understand.

“So all I have to do is recite it? There’s no cultivation method or special diet required?” 

Xin Hui shaking his head,then Li Huowang picked up the scripture and was about to leave, but he suddenly turned around and looked at the old monks sitting in meditation on their cushions.

“Abbot Xin Hui, does Zhengde Temple have any cultivation methods?” Li Huowang asked.

“Of course we do. As long as you’re willing to become a monk and join our temple, you can freely browse the scriptures in the scripture library,” Xin Hui replied.

Li Huowang turned to leave, knowing that Xin Hui was clearly rejecting him.

“Alms Giver Xuan Yang, why don’t you stay at our temple for a while? It’s troublesome for us and yourself if you keep running around like this.” 

This time Li Huowang did not refuse the suggestion. Since he had decided to trust Zhengde Temple, there was no need for him to be so cautious.

An independent room was made available for him, and Li Huowang spent his days quietly reading his scripture book.

At first, he was a bit nervous, but he soon realized that nobody in the temple paid any attention to him. Even when he went to the bustling main hall to watch the monks performing divination rituals, nobody bothered him. He gradually let go of his worries and felt more at ease.

Late at night, with only a dim oil lamp for company, Li Huowang held the scripture book in his hands and recited, “My life has come to an end, my journey to Nirvana has begun… What I have done is already done, there will be no after-effects. When I proclaim this Dharma, the five skandhas are like weeds, and one attains liberation from all afflictions. Believe in it, receive it, and practice it…”

At first, Li Huowang didn’t feel any different when he started reciting the ‘Emptiness of Five Skandhas Sutra’. However, as time passed, he found that his sleep quality was improving day by day. That’s when he realized that the scripture book was actually effective.

After reciting the scripture book calmly, Li Huowang slowly closed the book and blew out the oil lamp to prepare for sleep. His mind began to plan what he needed to do next.

“After cleaning up Dan Yang Tzu, I need to find The Black Ganoderma. If I can stabilize my illness, then I can live stably in this world,

“But The Black Ganoderma looks quite fierce. If I really catch it, how can I restrain it and cut off its flesh to eat every month?

“Also, there’s strength. I must have enough strength to defend myself, but that’s also difficult to achieve.”

Just as Li Huowang was thinking about this, he suddenly saw a shadow pass by outside the door. His body instantly tensed up.

“Someone is watching me?” Li Huowang walked slowly towards the door and opened the latch.

He pulled the door open slightly and saw that the small courtyard outside was empty, illuminated only by moonlight. Li Huowang cautiously protruded his head out and noticed a yellow-robe monk disappearing into a dark corridor in the distance.

“What exactly is this temple up to?” After a moment of thought, Li Huowang slowed his pace and followed that monk.

After walking a few steps, Li Huowang saw the bald monk in front of him under the moonlight. He couldn’t see the monk’s face from behind, but he could tell that the monk was not highly ranked in Zhengde Temple because he didn’t have any scars on his head.

Thus, the two walked quietly inside the peaceful temple, one in front and the other following from far behind.

As they were walking, the monk suddenly disappeared into a slightly open door to the side.

Li Huowang was about to follow him, but he hesitated and instead went to the other side of the hall. He picked up some saliva with his hand and punctured the paper window.

Compared to the Five Buddhas Hall where the abbot stayed, this hall was not large at all, it was even very small. A small statue of Bodhisattva was placed inside, which was smaller than a person. Only two candles were lit on the altar, making the whole hall very dim.

At that moment, there was a woman kneeling in front of the Bodhisattva statue, not the monk who had just entered.

“A woman? How could there be a woman in the temple at this time of night?”

Without waiting for him to figure out the answer, the woman began to pray softly.

“Oh,great compassionate Bodhisattva, please grant me a son. If I can’t give birth to a son, my husband will sell me.”

As she spoke these words, a shirtless monk walked quietly behind her from the back of the Bodhisattva statue. He held a red cloth and gently covered the woman’s eyes.

The woman’s body trembled violently, and then she stopped resisting and began to breathe heavily. As her breathing grew heavier, eight bald monks emerged from the darkness and slowly surrounded her with their hands clasped.

“What?! Help people to have children?! Like this?!” Li Huowang was stunned by what he saw inside the hall. This scene overturned everything he had previously thought about Zhengde Temple.

Suddenly, he sensed something and turned around abruptly. He saw a monk named Jian Dun standing like a statue under the bright moonlight in the courtyard.

“I’ve been discovered!”

Jian Dun didn’t say anything to Li Huowang, he just waved his hand lightly and turned away. After seeing the chaos in the hall, Li Huowang followed Jian Dun leave.

But instead of taking him somewhere else, Jian Dun led Li Huowang back to his residence. He then lit a oil lamp and sat down on a stool.

“I know what you’re thinking. Maybe you think the monks at Zhengde Temple have impure thoughts, but do you really think those pilgrims are all fools?” Jian Dun said.

Li Huowang stood at the door, waiting for Jian Dun to continued.

“If someone wants a son, we give them a son. As Buddhist monks, we are compassionate and do good deeds,” Jian Dun continued.

Upon hearing this, Li Huowang frowned.

“Zhengde Temple has never claimed that our Bodhisattvas are very effective in helping people have children. This is all spontaneous propaganda from the pilgrims, we didn’t say anything and they didn’t ask.”