I stole divine power in Daxia

Chapter 691 The Second Senior Brother's Responsibility
What exactly did we acquire?
For the first time, the second disciple had doubts about his journey to the West.

For him, the pilgrimage to the West had always been a meritorious act to reap benefits.

With the Heavenly Venerable above him and the monkey supporting him from the front, he traveled leisurely, taking bribes and demanding favors, yet he was doing good deeds and virtuous acts.

This kind of thing perfectly aligns with people's most basic and simple thoughts.

The vast majority of people do not actually want to do evil.

The essence of doing evil is to make one's life better.

If you can do good deeds while also being able to relax and enjoy the benefits, then that's the best job in the world.

So everyone in the world curses Pigsy, but the vast majority of ordinary people want to be Pigsy.

But when he actually saw this Buddhist paradise, the second brother suddenly realized what was happening.

If we consider his petty greed and petty theft during the journey to the West, it would be considered committing minor evils in the name of good.

Therefore, the twenty-four Buddhas in Miaoshan City are committing great evils in the name of good.

His small evils will eventually lead to great evils.

Startled, the second senior brother realized that the situation around him was not real.

He looked at Maitreya Buddha, who was sitting high in the sky preaching the Dharma, and with a quick glance, he said respectfully, "Since you, Lord Taixu, have already descended, why bother teasing this humble monk any longer?"

At this moment, it certainly couldn't be Maitreya Buddha who enlightened him. Considering the current illusory scene, the second brother could easily deduce that it was he who had taken "Journey to the West," which is why the Master of Illusion made his move.

"hehe."

With a laugh that seemed to have no meaning, the monk who had turned to hand the soil to his second senior brother changed his appearance, transforming into a storyteller with a slightly thinner face.

The second senior brother looked at the storyteller and asked directly, "What are your instructions, sir?"

The Master of Illusion shook his head.

The second senior brother looked slightly confused. In his opinion, since the Lord of Illusion had already taken action, it was just like those gods and Buddhas who directly issued tasks so that he could complete them and finish the last step of the journey to the West.

Seeing his second senior brother's confusion, the Master of Illusion pointed out, "Don't you understand yet? The question has never been what I should do, but what you, and those you represent who study Buddhism, should do."

The Lord of Illusion looked around at the scene of the Blissful World. He waved his sleeves gracefully and said, "There are three poisons in the human world: greed, anger, and ignorance. Among them, anger and ignorance are both caused by wanting to do things too much, but greed is caused by not wanting to do things at all."

The second senior brother smiled sheepishly.

He understood the meaning of the Lord of Illusion: the actual symbol of greed and poison in this world is that people do not recognize their responsibilities and do not take responsibility for themselves, instead of indulging in the desires of food and drink, and fine clothes and fine garments.

If one only wants to reach paradise by chanting scriptures and eating dirt, then one is just like these walking corpses of monks before one's eyes; this is the greatest greed in the human world.

Bliss is not something that can be obtained by chanting scriptures and eating dirt!

The second senior brother thought about it seriously for a moment, but the more he thought about it, the more difficult it seemed.

Because this greed has seeped into the very marrow of Buddhism, and the greatest greed is none other than that of Maitreya, the future Buddha who is now the leader of the Twenty-Four Heavenly Kings.

He declared that he would build a Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, and the "Maitreya Salvation Mantra" has spread throughout the country.

The reason why the Maitreya Salvation Mantra was meaningful in the past was because of the drought and insufficient food production, and the blockade of Western Buddhism, so it was done out of necessity.

However, the world has now been reunited and resources are abundant, so the Maitreya Salvation Mantra has actually lost its value.

But the core teachings of a Buddha cannot simply lose their value just because they are no longer valuable.

It should be understood that Maitreya's Pure Land is built upon the "Maitreya Salvation Mantra"! Maitreya's great vows and Dharma are also built upon this. If the "Maitreya Salvation Mantra" is forcibly banned, then Maitreya's fate will be far more tragic than being reincarnated and having to start over.

This is the drawback of the Buddhist practice of making grand vows.

It seems that the vast majority of Bodhisattvas and Buddhas obtained immense power from their future selves through the method of making great vows, and then systematically realized their great vows.

But in reality, their path was already blocked, and many times even when they knew they were on the wrong track, they could only keep going in silence.

This in itself is a manifestation of greed, anger, and ignorance.

My second senior brother remembers how Buddhism now promotes the "Maitreya Salvation Mantra".

That is, this mantra can reduce people's desire for material things. By reducing desires, it can naturally eliminate disputes in the world.

Especially now that the world is far from a truly utopian society, many people at the bottom of society still face the risk of not having enough to eat. Therefore, reciting the Maitreya Salvation Mantra for a day or two as an emergency food source has become a trend.

What the lower classes didn't know was that powerful families were aware of the dangers of the Maitreya Salvation Mantra and strictly forbade their direct descendants from reciting it.

Because eating soil once or twice is fine, but if you make it a dependency, and you eat soil for more than a month and a half, your own flesh and blood will undergo an irreversible transformation.

The second senior brother had never thought about this problem before, but now that he does, he's having a huge headache.

This isn't about curing one's greed; it's about sending one to Miaoshan City to fight Maitreya Buddha to the death!
He felt a sense of absurdity for a moment.

"This task should have been given to that monkey! Why make a lazybones like me do this kind of work? Heavenly Venerable..."

He didn't finish his sentence.

The Lord of Illusion laughed and replied, "Does He think He has been bewitched by me, which is why He entrusted this task to you?"

The second senior brother did not answer.

The Master of Illusion continued, "By the way, I need to remind you of two things."

The second senior brother immediately perked up his ears, "Go ahead and speak."

"The first thing is that a new covenant of the gods was signed more than 20 years ago. The Celestial Venerable cannot take action in this world. Moreover, the southward spread of Buddhism was His decree, so He is subject to stronger constraints and cannot directly attack Maitreya, who is now a quasi-sage."

"Maitreya is already a near-sage?"

The second senior brother said in surprise, "Western Buddhism has not publicized this matter, but judging from the expression of the Master of Illusion, he would not lie to me about this matter. But thinking about it, it makes sense."

Maitreya has not made a move in the past twenty years, and the Buddha of Equality is still in the cycle of reincarnation. The fortune of Buddhism is concentrated on Him. If He had deceived the heavens, He might have already completed the stage of harming the Tao.

If Buddhism truly spreads south, with the propagation of the "Maitreya Salvation Mantra," Maitreya Buddha may indeed ascend to sainthood the moment the pilgrimage is successful.

Whether people in the world will have attained ultimate bliss by then is unknown, but Maitreya Buddha has indeed attained ultimate bliss.

"The second thing is that during the last battle in ancient times, I, the Blood Sea Sovereign, merged with the Buddha and wanted to fight against the Buddha. Afterwards, the Buddha pulled me and the Blood Sea Sovereign into a dream."

The second senior brother nodded slightly; he had heard about this matter.

"The Blood Sea Sovereign will most likely know what I've done, and if the Blood Sea Sovereign knows, then Maitreya Buddha will also know."

Upon hearing this, the second senior brother's expression froze.

With a mocking smile, the Master of Illusion said, "So when you wake up from this dream, Maitreya's killing move will probably come."

"By the way, just a friendly reminder, your master is the other half of the Blood Sea Lord."

(End of this chapter)