Journey to the West: Beginning with the Apprenticeship of Bodhi Patriarch

Chapter 201: Fighting Buddha's intention is not to fight

The story goes that when Wukong arrived in front of the master's quiet room, he saw the real thing behind him.

Zhen Jian saw that the door of the quiet room was half open and half closed. He smiled and said, "Brother, you go ahead. Master is waiting for you inside. I will not go in with you."

Wukong said, "Brother, I will go find my master first, and then visit you later."

Zhen Jian waved his hand and said, "Brother, you go now, go now."

Wukong just walked forward to the master's quiet room. He walked lightly for fear of disturbing the master. He walked to the front of the room and looked inside, but saw the master sitting on the cushion with a smile on his face, as if waiting.

The monkey poked his head in.

When the master saw this, he shouted, "You monkey, since you are here, why don't you come in? What are you doing at the door?"

The monkey was frightened when he heard this, and walked in, bowed deeply, performed a great ceremony, and kowtowed, saying, "I am your disciple, Sun Wukong. I have returned home from my training and have come to see you, Master!"

The master laughed and said, "You monkey, since you have come to pay your respects to me, why are you so tiptoeing? You are a thief."

The monkey said, "I am afraid of disturbing Master, so I am very gentle. Master, please stop saying such things. I will never do such things again."

The master said, "Come and sit down."

The monkey sat down as he was told and said, "Thank you, Master."

His etiquette was thorough and he did not behave disrespectfully.

The master smiled and said, "Now that I see you like this, I know that you have really achieved success in your practice. I am very happy. You, monkey, have finally achieved something."

The monkey said, "In the past, I did not know the deep intentions of Master and Big Brother, and I did not listen to their advice. I practiced cultivation but not cultivated my mind, which caused me many troubles. After I woke up, I received a lot of help from Master and Big Brother, and only then did I achieve what I have today."

The Grand Master shook his head and said, "Your senior brother once said that the Tao is always there. If you are muddle-headed and never understand, even if your senior brother and I have all the skills, we cannot teach you to understand. You must enlighten your mind before you can succeed."

When the monkey heard this, he suddenly remembered Zhu Bajie and said, "Brother, what you said about 'the Tao is always there' is indeed true. Master, when I was traveling west, I had a brother named Zhu Bajie. He was originally Marshal Tianpeng, but he committed a crime and was demoted by the sect. He traveled westward in a daze. I helped him many times in an attempt to help him practice, but it was all in vain."

The master said, "It is useless without self-reflection. I don't know what name you will get after you succeed, Wukong."

The monkey replied: "Master, I was given the name 'Fighting and Victory Buddha'."

The master nodded and smiled, "Yes, do you know what the four characters Fighting Buddha mean?"

When the monkey heard this, he wanted to say something but stopped himself. He didn't answer and just said he didn't know.

The master asked, "You have something to say, why don't you say it?"

The monkey replied, "Master, I originally said that the Fighting Buddha is a Buddha who is good at fighting, so he will win in a fight, but this is definitely not the case, so I will not say it again. Be careful in what you say and do."

The master smiled and said, "I knew you would answer like this."

The monkey bowed and said, "But please teach me, Master."

The master stroked the monkey's forehead and said with a smile: "Monkey, remember this well. This name of yours is not to teach you to fight the enemy and defeat them, but to teach you to defeat yourself."

The monkey asked, "Master, what does Shengji say?"

The master said: "To conquer oneself is to fight with one's own heart, so that there is no more 'I want, I think, I hate, I fear'. This is to conquer all selfish preferences, no longer indulge in wishful thinking, no longer have opposition, and enjoy eternal peace. This is the way to become the Fighting and Victory Buddha."

The monkey scratched his head and said, "I just said something wrong, I said something wrong! How could I not have expected that my Buddha name would have such a meaning? I misunderstood and thought it was some kind of ability or supernatural power, but I didn't expect it to mean to surpass myself."

The master said, "You now understand everything."

The monkey thanked the master again and again.

The master asked, "Have you visited Guangxin?"

The monkey shook his head and said, "I haven't visited the eldest brother yet, but I know that the eldest brother is not in the mansion. I plan to visit him later."

The master nodded and said, "You should go and visit Guangxin. He will be of great help to you."

The monkey said, "I dare not forget the kindness of my elder brother, but I don't know where he is now."

The master waved his hand and said that the monkey was in "Fenshui, Jizhou, Nanzhanbuzhou". Then he let the monkey leave and did not keep him any longer, only telling him to practice well.

The monkey did not dare to disobey and was about to leave the quiet room.

The master suddenly called Wukong and said, "Monkey, you have achieved success in your practice and have been given the title of Buddha. However, you must listen to Guangxin's words while practicing in the palace. In the future, the palace will be used by Guangxin. If you stay here, you will help Guangxin."

The monkey bowed and said, "Master, if you are the master of the house, I will obey you without hesitation and will help you wholeheartedly."

Only after the master did this did he let the monkey go.

……

But the monkey walked out of the master's quiet room and out of the Yaotai, where he saw Zhen was waiting.

When the monkey saw this, he stepped forward and said, "Second Brother, why are you waiting here?"

Zhen Jian said, "I was waiting for you, Junior Brother, to discuss Buddhism with you. Now you are also the Fighting and Victory Buddha. If I discuss Buddhism with you, it will be of great use to me." Wukong shook his head and said, "It will be later. Second Senior Brother, I have to go out and visit my eldest senior brother to tell him about my success. He has a great favor to me and I must not delay."

Zhen Jian asked, "Brother, do you know where our elder brother is now?"

Wukong said, "I didn't know, but my master once told me that my eldest brother is now in Jizhou, South Continent, by the Fen River."

Zhen Jian said: "In this case, Junior Brother, please go and pay a visit to Senior Brother as soon as possible. When you come back, it won't be too late to discuss the Dharma with me."

Wukong responded with a single word, and without further ado went outside the palace. After he left the palace, he rode on his somersault cloud and headed for Jambu Continent in the south.

……

The story is about the southern continent, the area of ​​Jizhou and Fen River.

Jiang Yuan rode a white deer, with the Bull Demon King as his guardian, holding a mixed iron stick to lead the way, and Zuo Liang followed behind, and finally they entered the Fenshui area.

As soon as we entered the Fen River, we saw heavy rain and howling winds.

A group of people wore straw raincoats and walked forward in the rain.

The Bull Demon King walked a few steps and saw that the muddy road ahead was difficult to walk on. He said, "Master, why is it raining so heavily here? It's hard for us to walk on it."

Jiang Yuan said, "You have magical powers, so how can it be difficult to do it? Zuo Liang hasn't even told me yet."

The Bull Demon King said, "Master, look at Zuo Liang, his face is pale, but he is holding on. He has always been like this, following with all his heart, unable to move no matter how much pain he is in. But now the rain is so fierce, I am afraid he can't hold on."

Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, "Don't worry, as long as Zuo Liang's mind is not moved, he will be able to hold on. It's not the rain that can make him waver, but this rain is not ordinary."

The Bull Demon King said, "My Lord, this rain is coming hard, just like a summer rain, but now is the beginning of winter, and the summer rain comes from winter, which is the wrong time of year."

Jiang Yuan looked up and took a closer look, and said, "It's not that the weather here is wrong, but there is a demon causing trouble, which has just caused this heavy rain and turned the summer rain into winter."

Upon hearing this, the Bull Demon King asked, "Master, we are entering the Fen River area today. Is it because of that evil dragon that we got soaked in the rain?"

Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "It's probably him, it's probably him."

The Bull Demon King said, "Teach me how to subdue him."

Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, "Know yourself and know your enemy, then you can conquer him. We are new here, so we can't do that."

The Bull Demon King said again: "Master, if you want to know about the evil dragon, why don't I send the local god up to ask him? The local god is the ghost in the ground. If you want to know everything, the local god will definitely answer our questions."

Along the way, if there was free time, Jiang Yuan would tell Niu Mowang some Taoist scriptures and what he heard. Now they were traveling from Qingsong River into the Fenshui area in the west of Jizhou. Jiang Yuan also taught Niu Mowang a skill, which was the ability to 'drive away spirits'.

The Bull Demon King has been practicing this for a long time, and now he has mastered it and can use this magical power of 'binding spirits'.

Jiang Yuan heard this and said, "Let's go find a place to live and then send the landowner to ask."

Upon receiving the order, Bull Demon King swung his iron stick to clear a path forward.

The group walked forward, and after a while they saw a deserted temple in front of them. The Bull Demon King then led the way into the temple.

When they entered the deserted temple, the Bull Demon King lit a fire and taught Zuo Liang to warm himself by the fire and dry his clothes. He then burned incense to pay respects to heaven and earth. After that, the Bull King sat down beside the fire.

The Bull King said, "Master, this temple looks like the Dragon King Temple, how come it is abandoned? In the world of Yama, the Dragon King Temple has always been very popular, how come this temple is so strange that it has been abandoned for a long time."

Zuo Liang said tremblingly: "Master Niu, this is not unusual. Not to mention the Dragon King Temple, even the Guanyin Temple is deserted. Master Niu is just surprised by this."

Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, "Let's call the local god here to ask him."

The Bull King said, "Please wait a moment, my lord. I will use my magic to summon the land god."

Say it.

The Bull Demon King made hand gestures, chanted the mantra, and used his ability to 'bind gods' in order to seize the land.

However, no matter how the Bull Demon King chanted the mantra, the land god never came, which made the Bull King doubtful and wondered if it was because he did not possess such magical power.

Jiang Yuan shook his head, knowing that the Bull Demon King had used this method, but the land had not responded, or perhaps the land could not come. He said, "This place is unusual. The land must have known your magical powers and cannot come here, or there is no land here."

The Bull Demon King asked, "How can there be no land? Could it be that the demons here are as vicious as the demons in Lion Camel Mountain, and they have eaten up all the land?"

Jiang Yuan pondered for a long time and was about to say something.

He hadn't spoken yet when he suddenly felt something in his heart. He looked outside the temple and in a moment, he understood everything. He smiled and said, "Ox King, go a hundred miles west. Wukong is coming here. Go and meet him."

Upon hearing this, the Bull Demon King was overjoyed and said, "Brother, why are you here? Are you here to seek reinforcements or to complete your mission? Last time, we helped in Lion Camel Mountain, which is not far from the Holy Mountain. Now that you are here, it must be because you have accomplished your mission."

Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Just as you said, Wukong has now achieved success and should be crowned as a Buddha."

The Bull Demon King said happily: "I will go and take it and congratulate you. My brother has finally succeeded. As his elder brother, I should congratulate him! Congratulations!"

After getting Jiang Yuan's consent, Bull Demon King swung his iron stick, rode on a cloud, and headed west.

(End of this chapter)