From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

"Don't make wild guesses, let me ask you first."

Seeing two old men playing chess by a willow tree not far away, Bajie walked over and asked, "Old men, I was originally a disciple of the pilgrim five hundred years ago, named Zhu Bajie. I was appointed as the Cleansing Altar Messenger by the Buddha of Mount Ling. This time, I came down the mountain and revisited this place, but I did not see the wealthy man Kou who offered alms to the monks. Why is that?"

Upon hearing this, an old man vehemently disbelieved Pigsy's words, thinking him to be a boastful fake monk. He waved his hand and said, "Go! Go! Go! We have no money!"

The other old man was more patient. He looked Bajie up and down and shook his head, saying, "I heard from my uncle who died long ago that this place was indeed once home to a family surnamed Kou. The family members were Buddhists, but they were only Buddhists. They only offered alms to monks and did not do good deeds for others."

"What do you mean by not being kind to others?"

Bajing also came up and, upon hearing this, couldn't help but feel curious.

"Their family were well-known local gentry who made their living by selling ancestral land. During years of famine, they seized land from many other families."

Without hesitation, the old man recounted the story he had heard: "They believe in Buddhism, probably because they are uneasy and want the Buddha's protection."

One year, during a famine, their family tried to seize other people's land, but that year everyone was starving, so they all became desperate and broke into the Kou family compound, killing the entire family, regardless of gender or age, thus wiping out the Kou surname in Diling County.

Afterwards, the king of India personally came to quell the war and redistributed the land to the people of my county.

From that time onward, no household in our Ling County was allowed to privately buy or sell land. Anyone who violated this rule would be executed. Only then has peace been maintained to this day.

Upon hearing this...

Pigsy was terrified.

The eight pure beings were terrified.

Only Jiang Liu, who strolled over last, remained calm, as if he already knew. He said to the two old men, "Thank you for telling us, but we have come from afar and are a little thirsty. We would like to ask you for a bowl of water."

"If you want some water, that's fine."

The two old men pondered for a moment, then got up to pour water for the three of them...

Chapter 1560 My Body is Free and at Ease in the Path of Dao

I drank the water and felt refreshed.

Bajie finally calmed down and sighed, "That Master Kou was a good man back then, but I never imagined that after five hundred years, he would be childless and without descendants."

Ba Jing also sighed, "Indeed, back then, the eldest brother helped Kou Hong return to life. Kou Hong died once, but he still hung up the sign that no monks would stop him and continued to offer alms to monks. He was a good person."

Who would have thought that even though his descendants were also monks, the Buddha of Mount Ling did not protect them?

"They've been wasting all those years of offerings!"

The two old men were horrified to hear the two monks say such things. They snatched the teacups from their hands and cursed, "How dare you monks curse Buddha? And you tricked us into drinking your water? You must be fake monks!"

"You two are blind and cannot recognize the true Buddha."

Bajie muttered something, but didn't bother arguing with the two old men who were only mortals. He simply bid farewell to Jiang Liu and Ba Jing and continued westward, muttering to himself, "When I've accomplished my mission, I'll go back to Gao Village and teach the world to do good!"

"Oh? You want to teach people to be good? Do you even know what good is?"

Jiang Liu suddenly asked.

"Uh···"

Pigsy was taken aback by the question. He scratched his bald head, pondered for a moment, and then laughed, "Brother Monkey, are you testing me? Does that mean I think subduing demons and monsters is good?"

"Good and evil are determined by humans. How can you say that subduing demons and monsters is good? In the eyes of those monsters, eating people is perfectly natural and in accordance with the natural cycle. If we obstruct them and even kill them, then we are not good," Jiang Liu said with a smile.

Instantly.

Pigsy was at a loss.

Ba Jing frowned deeply.

If Jiang Liu says so, then all their efforts in subduing demons and monsters along the way have been anything but good.

Do not!

Absolutely impossible!

How could the eldest brother overturn everything he had done before?

"Do you think Kou Hong was good or bad?"

Seeing their furrowed brows, Jiang Liu used Kou Hong as an example—the experiences of this Kou Yuanwai in the prehistoric world were not too different from those of Kou Hong in "Journey to the West".

"Nature is good."

Without hesitation, Pigsy said, "He offered alms to monks and fed me well back then, how could he be a bad person?"

Ba Jing recalled what the two old men had said earlier and said hesitantly, "It should be something unkind."

"What kind of unwholesome method is it?"

Bajie frowned, then saw Jiang Liu nod slightly, clearly agreeing with Bajing, and he couldn't understand it.

"Bajie, do you still remember how that old man described the Kou family's extinction?" Jiang Liu didn't answer, but asked Bajie instead.

"Although Old Pig's memory isn't as good as Senior Brother's, the old man's words are still ringing in his ears. How could he forget so quickly? It's just that the Kou family's descendants are good-for-nothings, renting out land and seizing it during famine years..."

He only said half of what he meant.

Pigsy was stunned.

He suddenly discovered that the actions of the Kou family's descendants seemed dishonorable, as most of their land was not cultivated but seized by force.

This is unjust!

How can it be called good?

The entire family was wiped out by the disaster victims; it seems to be a cycle of cause and effect, and retribution is inevitable.

"Have you figured it out?"

Jiang Liu chuckled and then brought up Kou Hong from five hundred years ago, "Do you know why Kou Hong offered alms to monks?"

Why?

"Kou Hong was Kou Ming's son. His family originally owned a thousand acres of land, but after inheriting the family business, Kou Hong couldn't afford to rent it out and didn't know how to farm. He was just lucky to marry Zhang Wang's daughter."

The girl's nickname was Chuanzhen'er (meaning "threading needle"), but she seemed to have a lucky fate for her husband.

Since entering Kou Hong's household, he had profited from farming and lending; he made money from buying and selling, amassing a fortune of 100,000. It wasn't until Kou Hong was forty years old that he repented and decided to offer alms to monks.

Jiang Liu recounted the story of how Kou Hong rose to power.

Bajie was extremely surprised.

Even if they didn't know what kind of fields Kou Hong cultivated or what kind of accounts he ran, just from the eldest brother's words "turn back to goodness," they knew that the old man Kou Hong's path to wealth must have been unjust and unkind!

In his old age, he developed a sense of awe for ghosts and spirits, and only then did he decide to offer alms to monks and pay homage to Buddha, hoping to make amends for his past mistakes.

“A true monk, like the monks in Zhenhai Chanlin Temple, grows his own food and cultivates Zen in his heart. He does not need others to provide him with food. What kind of good deed is it to provide food for monks? If Kou Hong were to provide food for the poor, build bridges and roads, establish businesses, and seek happiness for people, that would be a true good deed.”

Jiang Liu chuckled and said, "寇 means bandit; 洪 means great."

Kou Hong offered alms to ten thousand monks without hindrance, seemingly showing great magnanimity and hoping to gain the favor of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of Mount Ling. However, his inner desires were pitifully small; he only sought to live a life of peace of mind.

and so--

The Buddhas of Mount Ling only accept the incense offerings he makes, but do not protect him. Or rather, the so-called protection is nothing more than arranging for his persistent soul to record good deeds in a book after his death.

However, Kou Hong himself was not satisfied with being the head of the record book of good deeds; otherwise, he wouldn't have begged me to save him after I entered the underworld.

Instantly.

Ba Jingxin understood: "The souls that enter the underworld are mostly trapped by their obsessions. If Kou Hong is truly a benevolent person who feeds monks, recording the good deeds of others is also a good deed. He would surely be happy. Why would he think of returning to the world of the living?"

"Back then, 'I' had already seen through the true nature of things, helped him return to the world of the living, and asked Yama for twelve years of lifespan. This was to teach Kou Hong one thing: as long as one's heart is uneasy, whether one records his own good deeds of offering alms to monks in the human world or records the good deeds of others in the underworld, it's all the same."

But as long as you have peace of mind, even if your soul goes to the underworld and has to go through the eighteen levels of hell, you will have no fear.

But he couldn't do it. After returning to life, he showed no improvement, still only offering alms to monks, without taking any further practical action, trapped by his own hypocrisy.

Jiang Liu's eyes remained completely calm as he said this.

Because he has been cultivating himself for so long, what kind of people hasn't he seen?

People like Kou Hong, who used any means to amass wealth and then resorted to praying to gods and Buddhas when they were old and frail, are numerous throughout history; they are all thieves of virtue.

What is the thief of virtue?

He's a hypocrite.

He appears loyal yet incorruptible, blurring the lines between morality and using his own to exemplify the morality of others, causing the world to become increasingly turbulent. This is what we call a hypocrite!

And these people genuinely believe they are doing good deeds, not just putting on a show.

That is why the obsession is so deep.

Unfortunately—

Kou Hong died once, but he never understood. Twelve years later, he went to the underworld and became the chief judge. He was only freed when one of Jiang Liu's spirits, Cheng Tian Xiao Fa Hou De Guang Da Hou Tu Huang Di Qi, entered the underworld.

"So, Pigsy, you say you want to teach people to be good, but how do you teach them to be good?" Jiang Liu asked with a smile.

"I'm not teaching anymore! I'm not teaching anymore!"

Bajie cultivated the Golden Elixir and the Holy Embryo, and also gained the Eye of Wisdom. After being enlightened by Jiang Liu, he unconsciously opened it and realized that what Jiang Liu said was true. How could he dare to say anything about teaching people to be good?

How is good defined?

It varied from dynasty to dynasty.

But there is only one true goodness, which can only be cultivated through spiritual practice.

That is, to experience the world through the six senses of the human body, to feel joy and hatred, and to cultivate an immortal soul that can still appreciate the world's splendor even after experiencing the vicissitudes of life, and who dares to love and hate and live life to the fullest.

Jiang Liu was not denying the previous journey westward, but rather teaching Bajie and Bajing not to fall into the trap of "hypocrisy" without realizing it!

This is precisely:

Spiritual practice aims to cultivate emptiness, but it doesn't mean cultivating a completely empty mind. If one could cultivate a mind as hard as stone, why would one have developed supernatural abilities in the first place?

Eliminate the six thieves, understand the six senses, and you will know that form is emptiness. Do not let hypocrisy cloud your mind; my body is at ease in the path of enlightenment!

Chapter 1561 I am the World-Honored One who came to obtain the scriptures

Having abandoned his desire for a peaceful life, Pigsy felt light and full of vitality. His golden elixir became increasingly perfect, and he attained the holy fruit of enlightenment. He continued westward with the river.

Three days later.