From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

"This is delicious!"

Bajie shook his head and said, "Have you ever eaten dragon liver and phoenix marrow? Only in heaven can you find such things! And this Steadfast Beast Dragon is different from ordinary true dragons, with a dragon's head and a fish's body. It must be even more delicious. How can we not try it?"

After saying that, he took the lead in dragging the fish ashore, found some dry grass to start a fire, cut a bamboo pole to stick the fish in, and soon the fish began to emit a fragrant aroma.

Jiang Liu manipulated the cassock and led the others ashore. Smelling the aroma of meat and seeing that Bajie had already started eating, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "Bajie, you've attained the Great Dao, yet you're still greedy. I don't know what to say to you."

"Brother Monkey, you don't know how delicious this fish-dragon meat is. It has no bones and is exceptionally fresh. Why don't you try some?" Pigsy said, handing Jiang Liu a piece of fish meat as he ate.

Jiang Liu, however, was not polite either—

Although cultivators do not crave food and drink, they are still human beings walking in the world. They are not like the ghosts and gods in "Journey to the West" who only need incense offerings. Eating some food is no big deal for them, let alone this dragon meat.

You should taste it yourself.

Afterwards, Hu Yuan, Hu Jue, Liang Luzhen, Pingping, and the Ba Jing, who were also of the dragon race, all sat cross-legged on the ground and began to eat the flesh of the stable beast dragon.

Seeing that Ba Jing was also eating, Pingping became curious: "I heard this Wen Shoulong say that you are his cousin, why aren't you being polite?"

"Firstly, I was used to seeing big fish eating small fish when I was in the Western Sea; secondly, I wasn't very familiar with him; and thirdly, he had the appearance of a dragon's head and a fish's body, which is different from a real dragon."

Ba Jing ate the fish with relish, saying, "Furthermore, I followed my senior brother in cultivation, refining my Qi with my body and cultivating my appearance with my mind, thus regaining my human form. This is my true form."

Since we are already human, what's wrong with eating "dragons"?

As for the previous transformation into a jade dragon—

That is not a technique of transformation.

Instead, Bajing also received instruction from Jiang Liu and obtained the Heart Sutra, understanding the path of the manifest body, reward body, and Dharma body, and cultivating the Dharma body of heaven and earth... Although he had not even cultivated a sixteen-foot body, because he was born of a dragon, he could temporarily use his original true dragon body as the reward body during cultivation.

"I see."

Pingping suddenly realized.

After finishing the Steadfast Beast Dragon, she looked at the wide Blackwater River and became worried again: "Brother Yuanjue, this river is so wide, how are we going to cross it? Why don't we just fly across?"

"But it cannot fly."

Jiang Liu shook his head.

Why can't it fly?

She already knew that their journey westward was not only for cultivation but also for subduing demons. But now that the demons in the river had been eliminated, why couldn't they fly across?

“Since we are here to cultivate, we should be grounded and practical. How can we fly over there? That would be a waste of our cultivation experience,” Jiang Liu said with a smile. “We have to walk over.”

"Brother Monkey, you're putting people in a difficult position."

Gazing at the waves of the Blackwater River, Pigsy sighed, "The Steadfast Beast Dragon is dead, and the River God's Water Talisman has also dissipated. How can we separate this river now?"

Why not swim across?

But the Hu brothers, Hu Yuan and Hu Jue, are large cats and haven't yet attained true human form; if they fall into the water, they'll drown.

Although the tiger brothers didn't like what he said, they had to admit that what Pigsy said was true. If they tried to swim across, they would probably really drown in the Blackwater River!

Liang Luzhen put down his luggage, picked up an axe, and made a suggestion: "I see there are trees around here, why don't we cut them down to build a raft and go there by boat?"

Seeing that he was about to cut down the tree, Jiang Liu laughed and said, "There's no need to swim or chop wood. I'll just teach you all to cultivate the Samadhi Fire and feel the surging waves in this Blackwater River. Then you'll be able to use magic to part the river, allowing us to step across and reach the other side, heading towards the Kingdom of Chechi..."

Extinguishing Taoism and Respecting Monks

Chapter 1483 The Narrow Road Between Ridges is Difficult to Travel

What is Samadhi Fire?

Discussing Journey to the West, let's talk about cultivation.

From Tang Sanzang's perspective—

Before the Four Sages tested the mind of Zen, the purpose of cultivation was to gather the Five Elements.

Unfortunately, Tang Sanzang failed the test. In the trial of the Four Sages testing his Zen mind, in order to get a meal and a place to stay for the night, he thought of leaving his disciple behind to become someone else's son-in-law, which meant abandoning the cultivation of the Five Elements.

Therefore, from the perspective of spiritual practice, the ordeal at Wuzhuang Temple can be seen as a "supplementary lesson" for Tang Sanzang to accumulate the five elements.

pity.

Even after eating the ginseng fruit, Tang Sanzang still failed to pass the test. After temporarily removing the influence of the "Three Corpses" at White Tiger Ridge, he directly put down the "Mind Monkey".

It wasn't until Baoxiang Kingdom regained its Mind Monkey that it truly reached the passing grade for the Five Elements gathering stage, which meant it officially embarked on the path of cultivation.

That is, by practicing the Samadhi Fire, one can perceive the four seasons and six energies, control the timing of internal refining, and refine the golden elixir of body and mind.

The ordeal at Pingdingshan was a method of cultivation taught by Laozi (the Supreme Lord Lao).

The banana leaf fan can fan fire, which is a metaphor for controlling the temperature of the fire.

The jade bottle can hold water, symbolizing a cool and refreshing state of mind.

The golden rope around the waist signifies that one should not reveal the truth.

The Seven Star Sword is used to refine demons, and the meaning of "Seven Stars" refers to the need to correspond with the movement of the stars in the celestial sphere during the cultivation process.

The red gourd is used to hold the elixir, symbolizing the completion of one's practice and the formation of the golden elixir.

After Tang Sanzang passed through the Kingdom of Wuji, his cultivation involved circulating Qi from the lower dantian and passing through the coccyx gate.

The next pass is Chechi Kingdom, also known as Jiaji Pass.

But what do the Kusongjian Huoyundong and Hengyang Yuheishuihe refer to?

These are the internal organs that run parallel to the spine and coccyx in the human body.

The former refers to the six internal organs.

The latter refers to the kidneys.

To cultivate a tangible golden elixir within the body, one must cultivate the Samadhi Fire, namely the Qi Sea Fire, Kidney Essence Fire, and Heart Spirit Fire. The final Heart Spirit Fire refers to the Flaming Mountain.

and so.

Is the Samadhi Fire technique praised in Journey to the West, rather than Jiang Liu's Samadhi Fire?

Do not!

The truth is quite the opposite!

otherwise.

Why did Red Boy go to the South China Sea?

How did the little alligator dragon return to the West Sea?

Leaving aside the past stories of these figures, just considering cultivation, using this kind of Samadhi technique to burn the cauldron, even if it is the cauldron inside the body that is being burned, is nothing more than the "movement" method of absorbing yin to replenish yang, massaging the navel to expel qi, using formulas to prepare, burning thatch to break the cauldron, which is just trying to catch the moon in the water and will ultimately come to nothing.

After all, how can we take a metaphor literally?

Therefore.

Tang Sanzang did not cultivate such magical fire, but rather the inner fire of cultivating body and mind, observing the four seasons, holding onto his will, and controlling the movement of qi. It is precisely because of this that this method is difficult to cultivate, requiring perseverance and wisdom. Moreover, compared with cultivating magical fire, which has quick results and strong power, cultivating the inner fire has low results, and in the early stages, no gains can be seen.

That is, neither martial prowess nor magical abilities have improved.

But if you persevere and succeed, you will be completely transformed.

If Tang Sanzang hadn't taken the journey to the West and had gone directly to Lingyun Ferry to cross the river, let alone undergo a complete transformation, his primordial spirit would definitely have sunk down along with his mortal body and been washed away by the river!

The same is true!

This primordial world was created by Jiang Liu's primordial spirit, and the form of heaven and earth truly reflects the principles of his cultivation.

Although the flaws in the Heavenly Dao have resulted in imperfections in the cultivation methods created by the immortals and Buddhas of this world who comprehend the Heavenly Dao, preventing them from achieving true immortality, the various blessed lands and unique landscapes of this primordial world do indeed correspond to the scenery within Jiang Liu's primordial spirit.

The Blackwater River can now correspond to his kidneys.

Therefore.

By cultivating the Samadhi Fire, sensing the four seasons and six energies, and controlling one's thoughts, one can connect with heaven and earth through the movement of internal energy, thus separating the Blackwater River. Furthermore, one can use the energy of heaven and earth to refine one's body and mind, thereby cultivating one's life force.

Upon hearing Jiang Liu say that he would use the principle of Samadhi Fire to separate the water, Pingping was surprised, but then suddenly realized: "That's it! Brother Yuanjue's Samadhi Fire is not real fire, but only uses Qi to represent fire. If one can communicate with heaven and earth, not to mention separating this water, it would not be difficult to summon wind and rain and manipulate the universe."

"But without our former support, how can we reach the heavens?"

The assistance that Hu Yuan and Hu Jue mentioned naturally refers to the "Golden Lord" that Jiang Liu had previously placed in their minds and bodies. Only by borrowing the power of the Golden Lord could they stir up a great wind that would shake the three realms in the past.

If relying solely on one's own abilities, given one's current level of cultivation, the wind one could blow would at most only reach a hundred miles or so.

"How can one seek spiritual cultivation from external deities? One must cultivate the spirit within oneself."

Jiang Liu's nine orifices resonated, and everyone else circulated their energy throughout their bodies, their acupoints resonating. Even the newly joined Pingping unconsciously circulated her energy throughout her body, internally refining her nine orifices.

In an instant.

Everyone was in communion with heaven and earth, as if they saw Pangu, who had become the embodiment of heaven and earth, and that everything from the smallest ant to the greatest immortals and Buddhas resided in his body.

Vast and boundless!

Vanished into dust and sand!

thereafter.

As everyone moved around the river, the Qi within their bodies stirred, and the Qi of heaven and earth spontaneously pulsed!

Why use talismans?

As soon as the energy of heaven and earth came, the river parted with a rushing sound, revealing a wide road.

"Let's go!"

Jiang Liu laughed heartily and stepped into the river. The others immediately followed, and together they crossed the river amidst the sound of waves that resembled rumbling thunder.

Everyone gained something from this journey. Jiang Liuxin became one with heaven and earth, Bajie's roots became more solid, Hu Yuan and Hu Jue's internal energy became more flexible, and Liang Luzhen, carrying his courage, walked more steadily.

And the fox spirit Pingping's Qi was becoming more and more stable. With the cultivation of her life force and the nurturing of the precious bow, her pointed ears gradually rounded out, her long tail behind her shortened slightly, and her human form became more and more perfect.

"Brother Yuanjue, you should have already attained a complete human form, right? How come you still have a monkey's head, hair on your body, and a tail behind your waist?"

When the topic of cultivating in human form came up, Pingping had some doubts, wondering why Jiang Liu still had such an ape-like appearance.

“I was born with this appearance, not transformed.”

Jiang Liu laughed and said, "To say I can take human form is possible. It's just that keeping this appearance will make things easier for me in the future."