My timeless tavern

Chapter 562 Jigong's Ambition

Wang Duoyu had his hands behind his back with a reserved smile on his face.

He nodded at Su Shi, then turned to Ji Gong and asked, "Does what I said make sense?"

He had been in the pub for several minutes.

Several people were chatting animatedly and did not notice him, but he heard their conversation clearly.

He had of course heard of the name Jigong.

But after meeting Sun Wukong, Erlang Shen, Nezha, and even Yuanshi Tianzun, he looked at Jigong as if he were a mortal.

As a modern man, he instinctively wanted to show off in front of him, and racked his brains to come up with these two sentences.

But looking at his expressions at this moment, the expressions of several people were very strange.

Ji Gong was just stunned for a moment, then waved his hand and smiled, "No, no, Master Huineng is already a Buddha. If I could see through it, I wouldn't be wandering around in the world."

Wang Duoyu blinked blankly and asked, "What Master Huineng?"

Su Shi coughed dryly and said, "The two sentences you mentioned are poems by Master Huineng during the Tang Dynasty."

Wang Duoyu suddenly realized and looked at Jigong and said, "You have heard of it."

Ji Gong held the wine glass and nodded, saying, "We have met a few times."

"He also became a Buddha?" Wang Duoyu was surprised. "Could he be the same as Tathagata Buddha?"

"There is only one Buddha, but there are many Buddhas in the West," Ji Gong explained to him, "A great saint who has self-awareness, awareness of others, and perfect awareness and practice, who truly knows and sees the nature of all dharmas and achieves perfect enlightenment, is a Buddha."

Seeing Wang Duoyu's puzzled expression, he added: "If you see through illusions, everyone can become a Buddha."

Uncle Jiu looked at Wang Duoyu's bewildered expression and said, "Buddhism is originally Taoism. Both seek to transcend the level of life. The difference is that Buddhism cultivates the mind, while Taoism cultivates the spirit."

Ji Gong wanted to refute, but when he thought about the connection between Buddhism and Taoism, he finally did not deny it.

The fact that Taishang Laojun transformed a barbarian into a Buddha was no secret to him, the former Arhat who subdued the dragon.

He also knew that many of the powerful Bodhisattvas and Buddhas in Buddhism were originally Taoists.

As time goes by, there are essential differences between Buddhism and Taoism in their practice concepts.

Seeing that Jigong did not speak, Su Shi also said to Wang Duoyu: "Buddhism focuses on the liberation of the soul. Master Huineng's thoughts are to warn ordinary people to keep a normal mind and not be happy with things or sad with themselves..."

“It sounds simple, but there are only a few people who can truly see through the truth and do it,” he said. “This is the Buddhist fate of Master Huineng.”

He then pointed at Jigong and said, "Jigong has compassion for the world and the people. He cares about the suffering of the people."

Wang Duoyu didn't understand most of what he said, but he understood Su Shi's final meaning.

He immediately stood in awe and said to Ji Gong, "I am sorry for being so presumptuous."

Jigong waved his palm-leaf fan, shook his head and smiled, "No, it's because I'm dull and have a mixed mind, so I can't leave this complicated world."

"If caring about the people of the world is considered a complicated thought, then it would be better if there were more dull people in the world." Su Shi raised his glass and said, "Let's drink this glass of wine to Ji Gong."

Wang Duoyu is not good at other things, but he is very good at drinking.

Without waiting for Su Shi to finish his words, he filled his own glass with wine and drank it all in one gulp.

"Good wine!" he praised.

"This is just a little peach blossom wine, not very good. I'm sorry to make you laugh." Su Shi said reservedly.

He is proficient in poetry, calligraphy and painting, and has a good knowledge of food. He also has some research on winemaking.

He brewed these wines himself, and some of the petals came from the Queen Mother's Peach Garden, which he specially commissioned Chenxiang to get for him.

Ji Gong really tasted it, smacked his lips and said: "This wine is not ordinary, the fragrance of peach blossoms is mixed with spiritual energy..."

Uncle Jiu smiled and said, "Ji Gong has a good eye!"

He told the origin of the peach blossom wine.

When Su Shi brewed these wines some time ago, he tasted them once and knew their origins.

Hearing that the winemaking materials actually came from the Peach Garden, Ji Gong was surprised and asked, "Would the Queen Mother be willing to give it away?"

He had some friends in heaven, and they knew that the Queen Mother regarded the Peach Garden as her life, so how could she allow people to pick peach petals to make wine at will?

"How dare she not give it to him!" Wang Duoyu boasted, "Even though Chenxiang is Erlang Shen's nephew, he can beat the Jade Emperor to pieces with his bare hands..."

Listening to Wang Duoyu's words, Jigong showed some suspicion in his eyes.

He knew Erlang Shen Yang Jian and had also heard of Chenxiang's name.

Let alone Chenxiang, even Yang Jian wouldn't dare to act rashly against the Jade Emperor, right?
However, thinking about the extraordinary features of the tavern, he realized that he might have overlooked something.

"Can you tell me in detail?" Ji Gong asked as he held up his wine glass and asked Su Shi to fill it up. "Chen Xiang is Er Lang Shen's nephew. How dare he hit Er Lang Shen's uncle?"

"Ji Gong, you don't know," Jiu Shu said with a smile, "The world where Chen Xiang is located has been divided out of the human world by Erlang Shen, who forced the Jade Emperor to do so..."

"Wait," Ji Gong interrupted, "Could it be that the Jade Emperor is afraid of Erlang Shen's threats?"

Several people laughed in tacit understanding.

"Why not?" Wang Duoyu laughed, "You didn't see what the Jade Emperor looked like when he was almost beaten..."

He gestured with his hands and talked incessantly, as if he had witnessed it.

Jigong was completely stunned.

If it were somewhere else, he would never believe it.

But there were many powerful people here. When he first arrived, he felt a lot of powerful aura fluctuations, which made him believe it.

"By the way, I still have a video here, but it's from the cowherd's place." Wang Duoyu was halfway through his speech when he suddenly remembered.

This video was secretly recorded by Li Xiaoyao.

At that time, Xiao Shihao, Sun Wukong, Yang Jian, Saitama and others went to the Heavenly Palace to seek justice for Niulang. They fought with the Three Pure Ones and Tathagata to a standstill, and even beat the Jade Emperor badly.

With the idea of ​​recording the battle scene for his own viewing and comprehension, Li Xiaoyao released several camera drones before taking action, recording the scenes from different angles.

After returning to the tavern, he selflessly contributed all those images after obtaining the consent of several parties involved, and Wang Duoyu also kept a copy.

He excitedly opened the video and showed it to Jigong.

Uncle Jiu was naturally familiar with this.

He also has video recordings stored in his smart bracelet, which he often takes out to watch in private.

This was the first time Su Shi saw it.

The scene begins with everyone challenging the Jade Emperor.

Looking at the misty sky, he felt very subtle.

When he saw that the battle was about to break out, everyone took action, and the Buddha and even the Three Pure Ones appeared one after another, Su Shi's expression became solemn.

He was so fascinated by the earth-shattering scenes that he couldn't help but clench his fists.

He suddenly felt a little lucky.

Fortunately, there are no gods in my world, otherwise if there really is someone who controls such great power, wouldn’t mortals be like ants?
When Su Shi thought that he might be able to obtain such power one day, a hint of anticipation appeared in his eyes.

He suddenly realized that his vision was still too short-sighted.

He originally wanted to cooperate with the "court" of the modern dimension to promote the "modernization" of his world.

Now he thinks he might be able to go a step further.

Mortals should also have the right to practice.

One day, that world might also usher in a flourishing era of cultivation. He couldn't help but glance at Luo Feng on the other side, thinking that he could talk more with him someday and visit them.

He had heard from many people that the world where Luo Feng lived was a place where both technology and cultivation were advanced, and it was a prosperous era for mortals.

Various thoughts came to Su Shi's mind.

Jigong's expression also changed repeatedly.

Buddhism does not emphasize strength, but rather the state of mind, at least for most practitioners.

But in the face of absolute strength, even the state of mind can be easily defeated!
Jigong had such thoughts at this time.

He had never thought that Tathagata Buddha would be beaten so badly.

The Three Pure Ones, who were as majestic as a mountain, could actually meet their opponents!
"These are all guests of the tavern." Uncle Jiu explained, "And that was in the past. If we let them pass now, I guess Tathagata and the others would have knelt down long ago."

Jigong turned his head to look at him.

Su Shi smiled and said, "Uncle Jiu is right. The Great Sage alone is enough to make them powerless to resist!"

Wang Duoyu's eyes lit up and he asked, "What happened to the Great Sage? I just heard a lot of people talking about him."

Uncle Jiu said with envy: "His strength has broken through and he has become the third wall breaker in the tavern."

The Wall Breaker's words are no secret in the tavern; they represent the limit of all guests, true transcendence.

Even though he had only been in the tavern for a short time, Su Shi was very familiar with this.

He explained it to Ji Gong, and finally said: "This is also the realm that Tathagata Buddha has been striving for."

Ji Gong was incredulous and asked, "How did they do that?"

"Of course it's the fine wine." Wang Duoyu said with a smile, "Look over there."

Ji Gong followed his gaze and was soon attracted by the wine list.

Like all guests who entered the tavern for the first time, his expression became lively, and there was even a hint of greed in his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it.

After a few minutes, Ji Gong looked away and sighed, "No wonder! No wonder!"

Uncle Jiu smiled and said, "Ji Gong is the first Buddhist to come to the tavern. How do you feel now?"

Ji Gong smiled bitterly: "I feel that I have a long way to go!"

Wang Duoyu said: "Drink a few more glasses of wine, and it won't be long before you can be on par with Tathagata Buddha."

Jigong shook his head and said nothing.

"If you are worried that you don't have time and space coins, you can just steal or rob. There are many treasures in the Heavenly Palace and Lingshan Mountain. You can exchange any of them for countless time and space coins." Wang Duoyu instigated.

He is no longer the newbie who just came to the tavern, and now he can occasionally chat with Sun Wukong and others.

Although he has never done this kind of thing, he knows a lot about it.

Jigong still shook his head.

Su Shi understood and said, "Ji Gong is thinking about how to use these fine wines to help the people of the world get rid of worldly desires, receive education, and benefit others without ego?"

Only then did Jigong nod.

He originally traveled around, punishing evil and promoting good, and guiding the people to be good.

However, he also understood that he could only help a few people with his own strength, and it would be extremely difficult to save the world.

If one becomes too deeply involved with the world, one might end up assimilated into it, and all the Arhat fruits in one's body would become nothingness.

Buddhism is divided into Mahayana and Hinayana.

The Hinayana Buddhism focuses on saving oneself and not others, while the Mahayana Buddhism emphasizes self-awareness, awareness of others, and the perfection of awareness and practice, and seeks to save all living beings.

But how difficult it is to save all living beings!
Even the Buddha cannot do this.

Ordinary Buddhas are more or less taking shortcuts, replacing the broad sense of saving sentient beings with the transmission of good thoughts to them.

Make a vow, carry out a vow, and fulfill a vow!

This is the ultimate path of Buddhist practice.

If you set a smaller goal when making a vow, you can certainly become a Buddha, but your achievements will be relatively limited.

If one could accomplish the aspiration made by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, that is, "I will not become a Buddha until hell is empty and I will not attain Bodhi until all sentient beings are saved," his strength would certainly be no weaker than that of Tathagata Buddha, but the chance of success is almost zero.

Jigong cared about the world, but he never dared to make a wish easily.

He felt guilty that the goal was too small.

The goal was too big for him to accomplish.

However, the appearance of those fine wines made him realize that his previous belief that his goals were too ambitious was too conservative.

Now, if he is asked to set the ambitious goal of ensuring that everyone has enough food and clothing, he feels like he is just escaping.

Uncle Jiu looked at Jigong's expression, thinking something in his mind.

He had some knowledge of Buddhism, but his understanding was limited.

Most of the time he was catching ghosts and eliminating demons. The monks he knew were also people of this kind, and his knowledge of other things was very limited.

Wang Duoyu knew nothing about this.

All he knew about Buddhism and Taoism was about fighting and killing, and he had never thought about deeper thoughts.

In his opinion, whether it is Buddhism or Taoism, the bigger the fist, the truth is.

Only Su Shi understood it.

He studied Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.

For an orthodox scholar like him, the principles of governing a country are all in the classics of these three religions.

Confucianism is certainly the main one, but it is also possible that the theories of Buddhism and Taoism are not unknown. The three are complementary to each other in China and have always influenced each other.

"If Jigong feels that the road ahead is too difficult, why not stop thinking too much and just do your current job well," Su Shi suggested. "As the saying goes, one force can break all laws. When you have a deeper understanding of Taoism, everything will be solved easily!"

Jigong understood Su Shi's hint.

What the other party said was nothing more than asking him to give up the path of Buddhism.

In fact, even if he just glanced at the wine lists, he understood that there were many tricks to transcend his current state.

The practice of Buddhism actually involves some tricks, but when it comes to the tavern, it becomes self-restraint.

"Thank you for your reminder, Mr. Dongpo," Ji Gong's expression became relaxed, waving his palm-leaf fan and said, "But how can I change my current path so easily? Moreover, there is such a great opportunity waiting for me here!"

"Let the world be at peace, the people have enough food and clothing, and everyone have the opportunity to transform into a dragon and fly away like that dragon. Only then will I be worthy of the opportunity to come here!" His expression was more serious than ever before.

After saying this, a faint Buddha's light flashed across Jigong's body.

"Drink, drink!" He held up the wine glass with a relaxed smile on his face.

"I respect the master!" Su Shi's tone was filled with undisguised cordiality.

He felt that the Jigong in front of him was the same type of person as himself, and that they would definitely have a lot to communicate about in the future.

Uncle Jiu had understood it by now, and said with admiration: "Ji Gong's reputation is well-deserved!"

Wang Duoyu was confused and shouted, "Come on, cheers!"

……

(End of this chapter)