Journey to the West: Man in heaven, working nine to five

#1682 - Chu Hao: Amitabha, thank you for letting me

The Shadow Demon's words shocked the entire audience, and everyone present was deeply impressed by the profound Buddhist teachings contained within.

The Shadow Demon's verse was an extremely sharp rebuttal, especially a perfect refutation of the Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha's superior attitude just now.

What the Shadow Demon said was, 'Bodhi originally has no tree': Bodhi is enlightenment, so what tree could there be?

If there were a tree, then Bodhi would become a thing, and there would be attachment. Bodhi originally has nothing. You say you are the Buddha Dharma, you have already attained enlightenment, but what does enlightenment look like? Is it cyan? Yellow? Red? White? Please describe its appearance. See, it is formless and without appearance.

The Shadow Demon also said, 'The bright mirror is also not a stand,' which fundamentally negates the Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha's Buddhist teachings:

You say the heart is like a bright mirror stand, but in fact, there is no stand at all. If there is a stand, then there is attachment. The so-called 'one should not dwell on anything but give rise to the heart,' so why would there need to be a stand?

"Originally there is nothing at all": Originally there is nothing, no appearance, no picture, or form, so there is nothing at all.

Since there is no Bodhi tree, and no so-called bright mirror, then why do you, Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha, call yourself Bodhi and a bright mirror?

The Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha was rendered speechless and even somewhat embarrassed by the Shadow Demon's verse. However, he was afraid of having his Buddhist attainments refuted by a demon, so he gritted his teeth and cursed:

"You filthy demon! What do you know about Buddhist teachings! Stop talking nonsense here! If Bodhi is not a tree, how can there be supreme enlightenment? If the bright mirror is not a stand, how can there be the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss in the heart?!"

The Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha was indeed being somewhat sophistical. He was placing the Buddhist teachings before everyone, arguing that because there is supreme enlightenment, the Bodhi tree exists; because everyone has the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss in their hearts and yearns for the Buddhist teachings, they can maintain a bright mirror, thus proving the existence of the bright mirror.

Although this sounds reasonable, upon careful consideration, it still feels wrong.

The Shadow Demon chuckled lightly, like an old monk, put his palms together, lowered his eyes, did not respond directly, but gently recited a sentence,

"Lantern Lighting Buddha, you are attached to appearances."

The Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha instantly widened his eyes, breathing heavily, with a hint of anger in his expression,

"You, I said, you filthy demon, stop destroying the Buddha and slandering the Dharma here! Your every statement about Buddhist teachings is an insult to my Western Paradise and a defilement of the Dharma!"

At this moment, the Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha's appearance was extremely strange, lacking the noble character and kindness of the past Buddha, and instead displaying a stubborn insistence on maintaining his Buddhist attainments and an unwarranted rebuke of the demon's superiority.

Even Guanyin Bodhisattva and谛听 (Dìtīng, a mythical creature) could sense a hint of something amiss, but because the Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha's status was supreme, no one dared to remind him.

However, the Shadow Demon was not afraid of the Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha's ferocious questioning. He chuckled lightly,

"Lantern Lighting Buddha, what you just said, calling it Bodhi and a bright mirror, is because your heart is burdened and your dreams are inverted. It's still that same sentence: you are attached to appearances.

The heart is inherently neither created nor destroyed. When encountering circumstances, it seems to exist, but when the circumstances disappear, it is gone. The reason why the heart has burdens and dust is only because the heart dwells on the superficial appearances of all things in the world.

All sentient beings possess the wisdom and virtuous appearance of the Tathagata, but they cannot attain it due to delusional thoughts and attachments, obsessed with Bodhi and the bright mirror, obsessed with the Buddhist Dharma they hold, obsessed with the land of Mount Lingshan,

This is, attachment to appearances!"

Listening to the Shadow Demon's words, the Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha felt his heart's blood surge even more.

The Shadow Demon's words pointed directly at the demon deep within his own heart!

He was saying that he was obsessed with proving Bodhi, proving enlightenment, but he had never considered that enlightenment is without vexation and without anger, without hatred and without strife. By striving to prove Bodhi, he had already lost Bodhi;

And he proclaimed that his heart was a bright mirror, and also said that the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss exists, so the Pure Land is the bright mirror in his heart. The Shadow Demon pointed directly to the core, that he was merely greedily and arrogantly announcing that the Pure Land was the bright mirror in his heart, but he did not know that the bright mirror is without mind and without dust.

Since it is without mind and without dust, then how can there be any Pure Land to speak of?

Even more devastating was, 'Once entering the true path, it is called attaining the Dao; although it is called attaining the Dao, in reality, there is nothing attained!'

This sentence directly used Daoist principles to destroy Buddhist teachings.

It directly said that although the Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha considers his Buddhist Dharma to be supreme, in reality, true attainment of the Dao is actually having nothing to gain.

The Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha was unable to refute it, because it was in line with Buddhist teachings.

The so-called Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form, form is emptiness, emptiness is form, sensation, perception, volition, and consciousness are also like this. Shariputra, is the emptiness of all dharmas, neither arising nor ceasing, neither defiled nor pure, neither increasing nor decreasing.

He was attached to appearances and obsessed with proving and announcing his Bodhi and bright mirror, but he was struck by the Shadow Demon's words, hitting all his inner demons.

The more the Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha listened, the angrier he became, the more he thought, the more anxious he became, and the more anxious he became, the more his heart was consumed by anger. The more his heart was consumed by anger, the more he wanted to refute, but he was horrified to discover that he,

was deluded!

The Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha wanted to speak, but just as he opened his mouth, blood surged into his heart, and he directly spat out a mouthful of golden blood!

"Pfft!"

"Lantern Lighting Buddha!"

"Buddha!"

Guanyin Bodhisattva and谛听 (Dìtīng) quickly went up to support the Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha. Their hearts were in a mess. Why was a Shadow Demon's Buddhist teachings so profound that even the Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha was debated to the point of vomiting blood!

The Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha's face was pale, his expression was unsightly, and standing in the air, he seemed like a candle in the wind. The illness in his heart had already surged to his mind.

He should have been the one ascending to the supreme throne, the past supreme Buddha. In the past, the Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha prophesied that Sakyamuni Buddha would become a Buddha in the future, and it was the Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha who brought the Tathagata Buddha into Western Paradise!

Now, in the Journey to the West, he has repeatedly failed, and in the midst of the many disturbances in Western Paradise, he has gradually developed inner demons.

He began to fear, to be apprehensive, to be afraid of the great changes in the Journey to the West era, and to find that everything was out of control.

In other words, the Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha was afraid of facing the future.

When the past Buddha fears the future, it means that this future has become his inner demon.

The Lantern Lighting Ancient Buddha personally came to capture Gu Yang and the Shadow Demon, essentially driven by this fear of the future.

He also wanted to quickly cut through the mess with a sharp knife, using all means to push everything back on track and restore things to the way they were.

However, today, in his debate with the Shadow Demon, he was told that he was attached to appearances, that his heart was burdened, and that the bright mirror was stained with dust!

The Shadow Demon smiled slightly, put his palms together,

"Amitabha, I accept your concession."