Journey to the West: The roadblock!

Chapter 139 The Battle of Wits in Chechi Kingdom (Part 9)
Meanwhile, the monks lost the lawsuit.

The monks believed they were in the right, but the official's twisted logic and fallacies left them unable to defend themselves, and they ultimately lost the lawsuit.

With no other option, they had to return to the temple.

Inside Zhiyuan Temple, craftsmen were working enthusiastically, repairing the roof tiles of the Buddha hall, mending the wooden structures of doors and windows, repairing the walls of the courtyards, leveling the blue brick and stone paths, and repainting the Buddha statues with gold paint.

The new abbot, seeing this scene, felt a pang of regret.

They had initially thought that with such a large temple estate and numerous IOUs, the money needed for temple repairs would be insignificant, but now…

The new abbot summoned the head monk and subtly inquired whether some of the silver could be returned.

The head of the abbot said that the bricks, stones and timber had already been purchased, but the deposit was still insufficient. Much of the purchase was made by the head of the abbot and others themselves, effectively shutting down any further talk from the new abbot.

Disaster!Disaster!Disaster!
Not only did they fail to recover the temple property, they also incurred a debt of over nine thousand taels of silver.

Buddha! What should I do?

By chance, the new abbot saw that among the craftsmen working there were the same craftsmen he had driven away the first time.

It turned out that the large-scale renovation of the entire temple was too much for a single group of craftsmen to handle, so the craftsmen in the city all came together to do the work.

In other words, it's called not eating alone.

The new abbot felt he had been framed.

With his money running out, and the monks in the temple needing money for food and drink, the new abbot had no choice but to kneel before the Buddha statue every day, chanting scriptures and praying for the Buddha's protection.

A monk named Alu suggested, "Abbot, this can't go on. Let's send our fellow monks out to perform some religious ceremonies and offer prayers to earn some money."

Logically, as monks of Zhiyuan Temple, they should be hired by nearby families in need, which would save face and make it easier to negotiate prices. But now, no one is hiring them, so they have to go out and find work themselves.

The new abbot reluctantly agreed.

So the monks of Zhiyuan Temple went out of the temple to inquire which family had encountered evil spirits, which family had someone die, and which family had suffered a disaster.

After learning the relevant information, they took the initiative to go and chant scriptures and perform rituals.

However, when they arrived at the destination, the locals were unwilling to hire monks, but only wanted to hire Taoist priests.

If your home is haunted by evil spirits, find a Taoist priest to exorcise them.

If someone in the family has passed away, a Taoist priest can be hired to perform a ritual to help them ascend to the afterlife.

If a family encounters misfortune, they should seek out a Taoist priest to perform rituals to ward off evil spirits and pray for blessings.

Let alone performing religious rites, people wouldn't even give alms to the monks. Only when they encountered very elderly people would they be given a few scraps of food out of a sense of goodwill.

In this Chechi Kingdom, the monk had clearly reached a dead end.

Everyone was extremely distressed.

A few days later.

On this day, hundreds of monks returned to the temple, but still found nothing.

No one hired monks to perform rituals, and the alms-begging yielded only a small amount of leftover food. Only a few lucky ones managed to get a few copper coins, and that was because they had been badly beaten while collecting debts earlier, their faces bruised and swollen, their clothes tattered, and they had been mistaken for beggars while squatting by the roadside.

But just then, Alu returned, carrying a package.

The monks crowded around, opened it, and found ten steaming, oily flatbreads and a packet of silver coins, weighing about two taels.

The monks exclaimed with delight, "Alu, where did you get this?"

Alu said, "The Li family in the west of the city is overjoyed to have a son who is one month old today. I offered him water and prayed for his well-being... uh, I chanted sutras for him, and that's why I received these gifts." The monks said, "That's not right! When we go to people's homes to chant sutras, they always kick us out. They don't want monks, they only want Taoists. How come you're giving us cakes and silver as gifts?"

Alu's eyes darted around as he said, "Well, maybe it's because I chanted the sutras well! Let's not talk about this anymore, eat the cakes! Eat the cakes! I already ate at Master Li's house, these are specially brought for the abbot and you all."

Upon hearing this, the monks, without suspecting anything, all rushed to eat the flatbread.

As the temple's silver reserves dwindled, the meals became bland and watery. The flatbread, made from the finest grains and oil, was eagerly sought after by the monks.

In the following days, the monks of Zhiyuan Temple went out to beg for alms but couldn't even get enough to eat, and the food in the temple became less and less. Everyone had to endure hunger. Only Alu was able to get money every few days, more or less, sometimes a few taels of silver, sometimes a hundred or so coins, which he could then use to support the temple.

The monks weren't fools; over time, they naturally became suspicious.

How come he can get money just because he chants scriptures well?
When Alu was in the temple, he was only a teenager. How many scriptures could he recite? After doing hard labor for more than 20 years, how good could his recitation of scriptures be?

On this day, Alu performed a religious ceremony for a family and received two hundred coins. After handing them over to the abbot, he returned to his monks' quarters to rest.

Alu had a junior brother who lived with him. When Alu returned, his mouth still greasy, he said enviously, "Senior brother, how do you always manage to find work?"

Alu said, "Because I recite the scriptures well."

The junior brother didn't say anything.

After everyone had gone to sleep, the junior brother quietly spoke to Alu:
"Senior brother, I also want to learn how to chant scriptures."

Alu's eyes gleamed as he said, "What's so interesting about chanting scriptures?"

The junior brother said, "Senior brother, I've been eating wild vegetables and rotten rice for the past few days. I'm so hungry that my stomach is practically sticking to my back. I've never suffered like this even when I was doing hard labor. I can't take it anymore. Please teach me!"

Alu thought for a moment and said, "I can teach you, but you mustn't tell anyone."

The junior brother hurriedly said, "Senior brother, I promise I won't tell!"

The next day, Alu brought his junior brother to the Sanqing Temple.

The junior brother asked, "Senior brother, what is this?"

Alu said, “That day I went begging for alms, but I had bad luck. I walked through thirty streets and didn’t get a single thing to eat. I don’t know how I ended up here. I was so hungry I was dizzy, and I thought to myself that even when I was a slave, I never ended up like this, so I went in, thinking that it would be good to have a decent meal. And then…”

The two entered the Taoist temple.

The two bald heads stood out conspicuously in the Taoist temple.

The junior disciple was still a little nervous, but Alu was already very familiar with the process. He found someone to explain the reason, led the junior disciple to pay homage to the Three Pure Ones, receive the Taoist robe, and recite Taoist scriptures.

There was a senior Taoist priest in the temple who taught the young Taoist priests the Taoist scriptures, and the two of them followed behind him to learn.

Slowly, a few days passed.

The monks of Zhiyuan Temple discovered that their junior brother, Alu, was also able to acquire wealth, just like Alu.

Soon, the third and the fourth came to Alu to learn "Buddhist scriptures".

One person teaches ten, ten teach a hundred. At first, Alu only taught monks of his own generation under the age of forty. But later, monks of higher seniority than Alu, over forty years old, also came to him. As more people came to him, Alu changed to teaching monks under the age of fifty.

As for monks over fifty years old, Alu dared not teach them.

First, the number is small; second, the seniority is too high.

These people are too stubborn and have great faith in Buddha; they are difficult to teach.

Even so, as the number of people involved grew, the truth eventually came out.

(End of this chapter)