Trinity Traitor: From One Person to the Other

Chapter 282 Shaolin Abbot: Wait until you learn Buddhism before beating Jiekong. This way the beating will be worthwhile.

"Oh my god, why did this happen to me?"

Jie Kong's current mood is a combination of grievance, shock, fear and despair.

Originally, he wanted to pull He Songling to the mountain to save his life. Even if there were consequences, it would solve the problem temporarily and at least prevent Zhang Zhiwei from hitting him.

Who would have thought that Zhang Zhiwei would not beat him anymore, but He Songling instead.

This is a doubles game!

Jie Kong looked at the abbot helplessly, with a clear meaning in his eyes: "Master, save me!"

"Don't worry, I'm here." The abbot nodded, stood up, patted Jie Kong on the shoulder, and smiled at He Songling:
"Mr. He, wait a minute. You have come from afar, and you haven't seen Taoist Zhang for a long time. Why don't you have a vegetarian meal first and catch up with each other? We can get closer. In the afternoon, we can talk about Zen and Dharma and learn about each other's ways."

"Hey, the old abbot is right." He Songling agreed. He had been looking for Zhang Zhiwei for so long, so he should at least talk to him first. Besides, the Buddhist teachings of the Shaolin abbot were indeed worth learning. Since his debut, he had not yet mastered the methods of Buddhism.

"Oh, that's right!" The Shaolin abbot nodded approvingly, "Wait until you have some understanding of our Zen Buddhism and some realization, then discuss it with Taoist Master Zhang, and then seek Jie Kong's confirmation!"

"Yes, yes, the old abbot is right!" He Songling nodded, "Otherwise, Master Jiekong would block all my attacks with his Buddhist teachings. It would be a fight, and we would gain nothing. That would be bad."

"Come on, please!"

"Please, please!"

After some polite exchanges, the abbot told his disciples to take He Songling, Zhang Xuan, Zhang Zhiwei and Tian Jinzhong to the dining hall first to arrange for a vegetarian meal.

When he walked past Jie Kong, who was almost completely limp, he grabbed the corner of the abbot's robe and asked in a low voice: "Master! What are you doing? Didn't you say you were there?"

"Yes. If I were here, you wouldn't be here." The abbot nodded naturally.

"What else? What if they have eaten their fill and finished their studies and want to beat me up? Think about it, these two are both masters of the Xuanmen sect, young and strong, with outstanding combat records. How can a skinny old monk like me beat them?
The master has his work and the disciples have their work to do. You are here to do this. Go, a Buddhist, take life and death lightly. It is nothing but a stinking skin. You have practiced Buddhism for so many years, why can't you let it go? "

"Master, we Buddhists throw away our stinking bodies, not let them stink. Once they beat me to death, this Shaolin Temple will be full of flies. I wonder how you will face those pilgrims! Humph, just wait for your incense money to be reduced by half!"

Just look at the old man Jie Kong sitting on the ground and trying to scam you, you can tell that he is not a serious monk. He refuses to listen to any persuasion and directly threatens the abbot.

"Silly child, we Buddhists don't bury people in the ground. It will attract flies. I will burn you right after you die!"

Although Jie Kong was still a scoundrel when he got old, he was still too young compared to the Shaolin abbot. Then the abbot smiled and put his hands together and said:

"Don't worry, you cut off your flesh to feed the eagle and sacrificed your life to save the temple. My good disciple, with your Buddhist practice, you should be able to burn out at least ten or eight relics. I will open a shrine just for you and offer it to you. Isn't that considerate enough?"

It can be said that the old ones are the wisest, and the master is the master. In this era of master-apprentice and father-son relationships, when a stranger has to keep a trick up his sleeve when teaching a disciple, not everyone can surpass his master like He Songling did.

Even Zhang Zhiwei is now only barely on par with his master.

Jie Kong was no match for his master, the Shaolin abbot, and it was too late to run away, so he could only follow him with a gloomy face and go to eat first. Anyway, he had to eat first.

Shaolin Temple is worthy of being a thousand-year-old temple. It is very popular, rich and powerful, and the chef they hired is very good and can make a table of vegetarian dishes taste excellent.

Strictly speaking, this is a violation of Zen precepts.

The so-called not eating animal products does not mean just not eating meat.

Onions, ginger, garlic, aniseed, and other foods with strong and spicy flavors are called "hunks". The original purpose of abstaining from these foods was because the strong pungent smell would permeate the temple, making it look vulgar and not conducive to meditation. Only meat is called "fishy".

What Buddhism calls vegetarianism is real vegetarianism. It means cooking the food in clear water and adding a little salt. This is called real vegetarian food.

But there is no way. After a long period of time, everyone realized that this was just wishful thinking.

First, it is impossible for people to completely stop eating meat, especially meat. Otherwise, the monks who protect the Shaolin Temple would have to eat plain noodles and steamed buns every day, and practice external kung fu every day to strengthen their bodies, and they would have become adults long ago.

Therefore, later on, there was a rule that Shaolin monks were allowed to eat meat. This is how the saying "Killing is not killing people, killing is to protect life" came about. Later, the bald monks found that this saying was really useful and widely applied it in various scenarios.

Second, it is impossible to completely avoid meat. Who can eat meat without any taste? If you don't eat for a long time, your body will be starved and your life will be short.

Shaolin Temple is such a large business, ordinary high-ranking officials and nobles cannot compare to it. I am the abbot, and in terms of wealth and power, ordinary princes cannot compare to me. How can I only live to be thirty years old? The abbots of all generations would never be willing to accept this.

Another thing is that Shaolin Temple is a well-known ancient temple with a lot of worshippers. Zuo Ruotong has been relying on his own deception for 20 to 30 years to attract so many wealthy people to donate their money to Sanyi Sect, and he has been able to support more than a hundred people and become very wealthy.

The Shaolin Temple has a history of nearly 1,500 years, and has produced countless great monks. In this situation, so many big money holders come to the Shaolin Temple to burn incense and donate money, so they should at least give them a meal, right?

You can't let a big money sponsor of this level just eat plain noodles.

Then you have to work hard on this vegetarian meal.

Therefore, for over a thousand years, the chefs of Shaolin Temple have mastered the art of imitating food and meat. Their goal is to make the food look like meat and taste like meat, except that the raw materials are not meat, but the food tastes like meat no matter how you eat it.

As for the prohibition of adding strong spices, I ignored it intentionally or unintentionally. Anyway, I didn't kill any animals for food, so as long as the scene looked acceptable, it was fine.

As more food was provided to the dignitaries and pilgrims, the monks in the temple began to follow this standard themselves.

Therefore, this "vegetarian meal" was an eye-opener for people like He Songling, who traveled from the 21st century, became the world's richest man in this life, and who had traveled all over the country and even to the West.

"Well, old abbot, I'm not flattering you, but for the cooking skills of the temple chef, all the people in Gongdelin would have to come and become his disciples."

He Songling ate and drank his fill, wiped his chest and gave a thumbs up.

(End of this chapter)