I attained immortality in the real world.

Chapter 72 A Smile with a Flower

The Ullambana Festival, the Dharma-teaching platform.

The monks who preached the Dharma were all eloquent and eloquent, citing scriptures and classics, and their teachings revolved around the five natures and nine consciousnesses.

The path is through meditation and Zen practice.

We respect the Buddha-nature that is naturally inherent and complete. By practicing the precepts, we can suppress the negative aspects of human nature and discover our own Buddha-nature to reach the other shore.

Jin Chi, the Dharma-lecturing monk from Jinshan Temple, was the third to take the stage after Kongming Temple and Daci Temple.

Climbing up the ten-meter-high preaching platform, standing on the platform and looking down, his voice resounded like a great bell: "The Five Natures: Sravaka, Pratyekabuddha, Bodhisattva, Indeterminate, and Non-nature."

"The wonder of hearing it firsthand lies in..."

After Jinchi finished explaining the Buddha's five natures and nine consciousnesses, he began to expound on Buddha-nature, continuing, "To see Buddha-nature, one must practice precepts, the first of which are to abstain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and drinking alcohol. Killing causes others to…"

Below the preaching platform.

The nobleman, dressed in fine clothes, listened intently.

Sometimes he was puzzled, frowning in thought; sometimes he nodded, suddenly realizing.

Even pseudo-laws have a set of reasonable theories that can complete a logical loop.

Without spiritual practice, it would be difficult for people of ancient times to see through this deception.

Those who are qualified to be scammed are all educated people from wealthy families. Ordinary people have no right to be scammed; they are just here to join in the fun and try to get a share of the good fortune, whether they have it or not.

Chen Jing was also listening to the sermon from the audience. Even though he knew it was a false teaching, he still listened with great interest.

"Jinchi Temple reveals Buddha-nature through precepts, and its doctrines are much more complete than those of Jinshan Temple."

Chen Jing was a frequent visitor to the scripture hall of Jinshan Temple and was also a master of preaching.

Unlike other Yogacara monks, he did not have the slightest contempt for false teachings.

A false method that can defeat a true method must have its merits.

Approaching the analysis of pseudo-Dharma with a learning attitude not only allows for a full understanding of pseudo-Dharma, but also provides some insights into cultivation.

False Dharma: The method of cultivating Buddha-nature.

To claim that one's spiritual realm is real while one's cultivation methods are false is a dead end.

The human body is a vast treasure trove; by continuously tapping into its potential, one can acquire superpowers and evolve to transcendence.

The teachings on Buddha-nature and this statement share a similar essence.

Unlocking potential requires the existence of potential; humans are not sealed immortals.

Our ancestors were never wealthy, or perhaps this is the most prosperous time in human history.

Competition between species is so brutal that it allows no mercy. Where would there be readily available treasures buried waiting to be unearthed?
However, the statement that the human body is a treasure trove is not entirely wrong.

The key, however, is not the treasure itself, but the key to unlocking the treasure vault.

In the pursuit of immortality, the treasures unearthed are not existing treasures, but rather, through cultivation methods and limit-breaking techniques, the ability to strengthen a weak human trait.

Alternatively, one could find abilities that are barely noticeable and overlooked by humans, and then repeat the above steps to make weak traits powerful.

Spiritual practice is more like farming. You find suitable seeds, plant them in the soil, dig, water, fertilize, and weed. Digging is just a minor part of it.

The blind pursuit of potential by pseudo-laws is as absurd as frantically digging in fertile soil, hoping to strike it rich overnight by finding oil.

The physical body, the spirit, and even sexuality are all subject to the same limits. No matter how much one explores without breaking those limits, one is ultimately just a mortal.

"........."

However, false laws have advantages that true laws do not possess.

First, the method is simple and easy to understand. Any educated, normal person can understand it and know how to practice it. Second, it is easy to implement. Whether it is killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, or drinking alcohol, as long as one has a certain degree of self-control, one can easily achieve the goal.

Finally, there is no danger; one only needs to sit in meditation and there is no risk of mental mutation leading to madness.

The method is simple, easy to practice, and without any risk, yet it can lead to becoming a Buddha with great supernatural powers.

Wow... that's an incredible return on investment.

Even the most audacious scammer wouldn't dare offer such an exaggerated return.

At most, they'll pretend to be Qin Shi Huang, give out an elixir of immortality, or act like Yama, the King of Hell, and simply have their names removed from the Book of Life and Death.

It can be said that, apart from being fake, pseudo-law is all advantages!
"........."

"As a successor of the Yogacara lineage, he was able to remain calm and composed upon hearing about the false teachings of Buddhahood. No wonder he was able to become the head of Jinshan Temple."

A voice rang in Chen Jing's ears, and when he turned around, he saw the senior monk from Daci Temple following behind Xuanming.

As a successor of the Yogacara lineage, his disdain for false teachings is evident in his words.

The look in his eyes as he looked at Chen Jing carried a mixture of anger at his lack of ambition and pity for the foolish man.

Yesterday, I privately approached Faji to ask for an explanation, but he was vague and did not explain why the disciples of the Jialan lineage were in charge of this trip.

With the Yogacara lineage in charge, Jinchi, the lecture platform, continued to promote false teachings. The blame naturally fell on the person in charge, prompting Faheng to speak out and question them.

Chen Jing showed no sign of being caught red-handed. After a pause, he replied, "My heart is not a stone that can be turned. There is no false law in my heart. What harm is there in listening to false law?"

"If there is no wavering, why abandon the true scriptures and study the false ones?"

“False laws have the desire to devour true laws, but true laws do not have the capacity to tolerate false laws. Why can’t we find the answer in false laws? Tolerance is the key to greatness, and perhaps the path to prosperity lies within it.”

“Do you remember the four precepts: slandering the Bodhisattva’s teachings and believing in similar teachings?”

"Even if one does not uphold the Four Precepts, no one will follow them. If giving up one precept can bring prosperity to the sect and restore light from darkness, why not do it?"

"Sophistry! How could Faji transmit the true Dharma of Yogacara to you? Did you agree to determine the main lineage of Yogacara by the outcome of the debate at this Ullambana Festival? What kind of heretical words did you use to bewitch Faji? This humble monk would rather break the precept against lying than give you the transmission!"

After a brief and unpleasant conversation, Chen Jing watched Fa Heng leave indignantly, still calmly muttering to himself, "If you want the Yogacara School to prosper, you will give me its inheritance. If you want to steal the true scriptures of the Yogacara School, you will also give me its inheritance."

The conversation is over.

Jin Chi safely descended from the preaching platform.

No one will question his preaching; Jinchi has decades of experience preaching, so there won't be any problems.

The only thing to worry about is that Jinchi is old and frail and might fall off the preaching platform.

"........."

The second day of the Ullambana Festival: The Dharma talk ended at dusk.

As the evening glow filled the sky, a middle-aged, well-off monk walked up to the Dharma platform with a scroll in his hand: "Fellow disciples, please look. The content of this painting is the topic of debate for tomorrow's Dharma assembly."

After saying that, the scroll slowly opened, clearly displaying itself to the audience below.

In the painting, the Buddha is depicted holding a flower in his hand, with two fingers pinching a petal of the Ullambana flower offered by a monk.

The Arhats and Bodhisattvas around them were puzzled, but only one monk smiled.

"Tomorrow's debate topic is... 'A smile while picking a flower'?"

Below the Dharma platform, many monks who were debating the Dharma changed color, indicating that the difficulty of this year's debate had increased several times over.

The Buddha held up a flower, and Kasyapa smiled, thus transmitting the Dharma of mind-to-mind transmission, a method beyond written words, to his chief disciple Kasyapa.

This is the source of Zen wisdom; how could an ordinary person possibly discern it?
(End of this chapter)