Chapter 142
A silly tiger is indeed a silly tiger, even getting swayed to become a monk while gathering information!
Xiaobai’s foolishness was an eye-opener for Jiang Chen.
At this moment, he wanted to ask Xiaobai.
You’re a female tiger, so what kind of monk could you possibly become? Even if you really wanted to become a monk, shouldn’t you be looking for a nunnery or something?
This is just ridiculous. Jiang Chen didn’t want to get involved.
After all, it wasn’t his beast pet, and whether it became a monk or not had nothing to do with him.
But he had no choice but to care.
The reason was simple.
Now that Lin Feng had been captured and taken to the Six Prisons, he had to cause trouble and get into the Six Prisons as well.
Since he was exempt from chanting scriptures and praying due to his ‘Holy Monk’ status, he couldn’t follow Lin Feng’s footsteps in not praying, so he had to find another way.And with Xiaobai wanting to become a monk, he could go ‘persuade’ her, and incidentally destroy a temple and kill a preaching monk.
That made perfect sense. Having made up his mind, Jiang Chen took Liu Wen and Liu Wu with him to ‘persuade’ Xiaobai.
……
Elsewhere, in a certain temple.
Xiaobai curled up, not striking the wooden fish but still reciting scriptures in human language along with the other monks.
Glancing at it, the preaching monk at the front smiled with satisfaction.
Although he was smiling, his eyes were somewhat sinister, and his smile was extremely evil.
This preaching monk’s Buddhist name was Hui De.
In the Buddhist Sect, names are given according to seniority, and since the Taoist Master and the Guidance Hall Elder were of the same generation, they were both named “Hui.”
Hui De’s secular name was Lu Qi, originally the head elder of the Jiuyan Sect’s main peak.
Lu Qi was evil by nature and did not get along with Li Fadu.
After being targeted repeatedly, he defected from the sect and sought refuge in the Buddha Temple.
He knew that defecting was a grave sin.
So, when seeking refuge, he joined the Buddha Temple in the manner of ‘laying down the butcher’s knife’.
The rules of the Buddha Temple.
As long as one is willing to join the Buddhist Sect, whether they have killed evil people or are demonized demons, all are welcome.
Therefore, the Buddha Temple did not investigate Lu Qi’s background in detail.
Seeing his cultivation was not bad and his yearning for the Buddhist teachings was strong, they shaved his head, gave him a robe, and appointed him as a reserve preaching monk.
Normally, this reserve status would last for several years.
But in recent days, with Mu Kui driving several preaching monks insane and Lin Feng severely injuring several others while fleeing, Lu Qi was promoted from reserve to official preaching monk of the temple.
The achievements of a preaching monk are closely related to the people they convert.
Lu Qi immediately recognized that Xiaobai possessed ancient bloodlines.
If he could convert it, it would add a guardian beast to the Buddha Temple, which would be a great merit.
When that time came, even if the Jiuyan Sect came looking for trouble, the Buddha Temple would surely protect him!
After smiling with satisfaction, Lu Qi closed his eyes again and continued reciting the scriptures.
The scriptures moved the golden body of the Buddha behind him, making it shine brightly.
The monks bathed in the Buddha’s light, feeling their souls redeemed, and their chanting became even more heartfelt.
Several hours later, the monks left, and Lu Qi asked Xiaobai to stay.
“High Monk.”
Xiaobai approached and sat down, clasping her paws together.
“Donor, you have only listened to the scriptures for a few days, yet you can already remember them well. You truly have a root of wisdom and great intelligence!” Lu Qi praised.
“Really?”
Xiaobai was pleased, but then her ears drooped, and she said, “But everyone say I’m foolish…”
“Donor, do not belittle yourself.”
Lu Qi smiled gently and earnestly said, “In front of Buddha, everyone is equal. Although donor is a demon beast, in terms of understanding of the Buddhist teachings, you are definitely far superior to ordinary people.”
Xiaobai nodded, confidence returning to its tiger eyes.
“Is there anything in the recent scriptures that you do not understand? I will explain them to you with all my heart,” Lu Qi added.
Upon hearing this, Xiaobai fell silent for a moment.
After some hesitation, it hesitantly asked, “What is Buddha’s view on the Heavenly Dao?”
“The Buddhist Sect does not discuss the Heavenly Dao or fate, only of karma.”
Lu Qi replied with a composed expression, then explaining it in detail, “The Buddha said: ‘The cause is sown, so is the fruit reaped. All is created by the mind. Fate is made by oneself, appearance arises from the mind, and all things in the world are merely manifestations.'”
“What does that mean?” Xiaobai didn’t understand.
“It means that planting a cause will yield an effect. The cause of a past life brings the fruit of this life,” Lu Qi explained further.
After understanding this, Xiaobai sighed, “Then I must have done something terrible in my past life.”
In her view, she indeed must have done something terrible.
Otherwise, why would she be in danger of losing her life? And the person who wanted to eat her was the Son of Destiny?
“How can I break this cycle of karma?” Xiaobai asked again.
“Do you know the story of the Buddha cutting flesh to feed the eagle?” Lu Qi asked.
Xiaobai nodded.
In the past few days, it had read quite a few Buddhist scriptures and knew a little.
“The Buddha saw an eagle catching a pigeon and couldn’t bear it, so he intervened. But the Buddha couldn’t bear the pigeon losing its life, nor could he bear the eagle going hungry, so he cut his own flesh to feed the eagle,” Lu Qi said with his eyes slightly closed, looking like an enlightened monk.
Seeing Xiaobai nodding continuously, he continued, “This story signifies that all beings are equal before Buddha and also that the Buddha used this method to break his own cycle of karma!”
“I don’t understand,” Xiaobai shook its tiger head.
Lu Qi was not in a hurry and continued to explain patiently, “Karma cannot be avoided, only obscured. If the Buddha had stopped the eagle from eating the pigeon, he would owe the eagle a karmic debt! But by cutting flesh to feed the eagle, he broke this cycle of karma! This is not obscuring karma, meaning one should clearly understand where karma lies.”
“So, Buddha does not discuss the Heavenly Dao, only karma. Even the high and mighty Buddha cannot escape karma?” Xiaobai’s expression changed.
“Not necessarily,” Lu Qi shook his head.
“Whether the Buddha is affected by karma, I do not know, for the story of cutting flesh to feed the eagle happened before the Buddha attained enlightenment. But as the saying goes, ‘The cause is sown, so is the fruit reaped,’ we people of the Buddhist Sect should not obscure karma, but actively break it.”
Actively break it?
Xiaobai couldn’t believe it! How do we actively break it?
Does it mean that she should go to Lin Feng and get eaten?
And then, is it her own fault that she planted a bad cause in a past life, so she reaped bad fruit in this life?
In other words, she’s being told to go to its death without even knowing what she did wrong?
Is this Buddhism? Is this the Buddhist Sect?
She wanted to become a monk because it was praised for being ‘intelligent’, and when she heard Lu Qi say ‘one’s destiny is made by oneself’ while gathering information!
Only now does she understand that this is not defying the heavens, but rather complying with fate and hoping to change the destiny through good deeds leading to good outcomes!
If becoming a monk means having to taste the bitter fruits of one’s actions, then why should one defy the heavens?!
“Dare I ask the high monk, how can one defy the heavens?” Suppressing the anger in her heart, Xiaobai asked again.
Defy the heavens?
Lu Qi was also startled, “Why would you want to defy the heavens?”
“Because the heavens do not tolerate me! I’ll die if I do not defy the heavens!” Xiaobai was bristling with murderous intent.
“Benefactor, calm down! Calm down!”
The chilling murderous intent made Lu Qi panic as well, and he hastily said: “You want to defy the heavens? You should have said so earlier! To defy the heavens is… is…”
He trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.
How would he know how to defy the heavens?
Even the words he had just spoken were nothing more than a last-minute grasp at straws, his own interpretation of some Buddhist Sect scriptures.
Defying the heavens, he truly did not know how!
“You dare deceive me?!”
Xiaobai was furious!
She suddenly transformed, its huge tiger body bursting through the temple, with black thunder appearing in her mouth, looking ferocious and ready to devour someone!
“Evil beast! Do you know where you are?”
Seeing this, Lu Qi was trembling with fear, but still said: “This is the Buddha’s temple! I am one of the preaching monk of the Buddha’s temple, if I die, the Buddha lamp that belongs to me will be extinguished! Then, you will surely be caught by the law-enforcing monks of the Buddha’s temple!”
Hearing this, Xiaobai sobered up quite a bit but was still seething with residual anger!
Just then, Jiang Chen arrived with his group.
Looking at Xiaobai’s enlarged body and other monks fleeing in all directions within the broken temple, he rubbed his eyes.
“Stupid tiger, didn’t you want to become a monk? Why did you tear down their temple?” Jiang Chen exclaimed in disbelief.
Hearing this, Xiaobai immediately reverted to its original form and ran towards Jiang Chen.
As it ran, she also cried out: “Eldest Senior Brother, they deceived me! I don’t want to become a monk anymore!”
Not becoming a monk again? How could this be?
If Xiaobai didn’t become a monk, how could he take the opportunity to cause trouble?
“Why don’t you reconsider?” Jiang Chen replied.
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