Journey to the West: I have Nine Golden Crows Inside Me
Chapter 693 - 556 Amitabha Buddha

Chapter 693: 556 Amitabha Buddha

The Buddhist faith is vast and there are countless Buddhas residing in it. So, who among those numerous Buddhas is considered the most revered?

Some might say it is the Supreme Buddha of all Buddhas, the Tathagata Buddha. However, that is not the case. The most respected Buddha in Buddhism is one who only exists in legends, Amitabha Buddha.

This is the master of the Pure Land, who once made a grand vow, establishing the Western Pure Land, broadly redeeming countless sentient beings, and accomplishing boundless merit.

This Buddhist patriarch has contemplated through five eons and accomplished forty-eight superior vows.

Afterward, he continued to accumulate merits and, ten eons ago, he fulfilled his vows and became Amitabha Buddha, reaping the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, located millions of miles west of this Buddha country.

This Buddha can guide sentient beings to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, hence known as Jieyin Buddha.

Though referred to as Jieyin Buddha, Amitabha Buddha is neither Jieyin Saint nor Zhunti Saint.

In fact, within Buddhism, there is no Amitabha Buddha at all. He is completely fictional, only existing in Buddhist sutras and legends.

This is the true false Buddha.

The reason for this goes back to the origin of Buddhism. Although Buddhism originated in the West and holds the Western Saints as its leaders, it was not established by them, but by Tathagata Buddha.

To establish a firm foothold in the West, Tathagata Buddha created a fictional Amitabha Buddha. To be more precise, Tathagata Buddha created Amitabha Buddha based on the deeds of the Western Saints.

Upon careful examination, one will discover that Amitabha Buddha, as recorded in Buddhist sutras, is actually the Western Saints. For example, the forty-eight great vows were made by them. The Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss was also established by them.

Tathagata Buddha attributed all the deeds of the Western Saints to a single entity, and this entity is Amitabha Buddha.

How did the Western teachings integrate so easily into Buddhism? It is because the founders of both the Buddhist teachings and Western teachings are the Western Saints.

With the merging of the two teachings, the fate of Buddhism skyrocketed. Needless to say, the Western Saints were more than pleased. Meanwhile, Tathagata Buddha also gained boundless fate, and ascended to the realm of Quasi-Saint in one fell swoop.

In this whole affair, while the Western Saints and Tathagata Buddha reaped benefits, probably the only one to face a loss was indeed Taishang Laojun.

Originally intending to use Buddhism to devour Western teachings, he didn’t anticipate Duobao’s sudden betrayal, which led him to sacrifice his wife and troops, ending in a large deficit.

Duobao, the Taoist monk, was brought to the West by Taishang Laojun, and the establishment of Buddhism was also carried out under Duobao’s guidance in response to his instructions.

Taishang Laojun anticipated everything, except Duobao’s hatred towards him. Duobao would rather devote himself to the West than fulfill him with merit.

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Though Amitabha Buddha indeed doesn’t exist, he holds a lofty position as the nominal founder of Buddhism, and is worshipped by countless devotees, enjoying the offerings of the entire Buddhist community.

All Buddhist titles are bestowed upon Amitabha Buddha, which shows how high his position is.

In terms of willpower, this nonexistent Amitabha Buddha of Buddhism is the greatest, far surpassing Tathagata Buddha.

Jiang Chen’s audacious idea was to use these sentient beings’ will to manifest the illusive Amitabha Buddha.

Amitabha Buddha, who holds the most faith in Buddhism, will inevitably be of the Quasi-Saint realm at the very least upon his birth, and not necessarily inferior to the reborn Tathagata Buddha.

After all, Amitabha Buddha represents the strongest foundation of Buddhism. If he wasn’t strong, wouldn’t that shame the title of the prehistoric largest religion of Buddhism?

"Amitabha Buddha!"

"If I can bring him to life, I can rest easy in the future. Even if all of those such as Tathagata Buddha were to revive, I would not fear. With Amitabha Buddha’s strength, even if I couldn’t beat them, I would be able to hold down Spiritual Mountain."

Secretly glancing at the willpower possessed by Amitabha Buddha in the sky above Spiritual Mountain, the inner conflict within Jiang Chen escalated.

There is just too much willpower, seemingly endless. The deity born from this willpower would be incredibly strong. It’s no wonder that the Buddha created in the image of the Saint is so powerful, it is beyond comprehension.

Although Amitabha is fictional, his original form indeed exists, and that is the Western Saints.

Therefore, in a way, Amitabha Buddha is the incarnation of the Western Saints, and that boundless willpower should belong to them as well.

Thus, Jiang Chen was fearful. If he meddled with Amitabha Buddha’s willpower, would it invoke the discontentment of the Western Saints, angering them and causing them to destroy Amitabha Buddha?

Fearing the Saints, Jiang Chen dared not make a move. But letting this opportunity slide also disappointed him. Because from another perspective, Amitabha Buddha and the Western Saints could be said to have no connection.

The Western Saints never acknowledged that Amitabha Buddha was their incarnation. The news about Amitabha Buddha being the incarnation of the Western Saints stemmed from everyone’s speculation.

With the abilities of the two Saints, they could easily take the place of Amitabha Buddha by splitting a single incarnation. However, they have never done so, allowing the position of Amitabha Buddha to remain vacant.

Doesn’t that indicate that the Western Saints honestly didn’t care who Amitabha Buddha was?

The more Jiang Chen thought, the more he felt this was likely to be true.

After all, judging by the recent actions of the Western Saints, they really did not care about Buddhism or who was the main figure of Buddhism.

What they cared about was whether Buddhism could prosper and whether it could help them complete the forty-eight grand vows they made in the past.

Back then, in their quest of becoming Saints, the Western Saints made forty-eight grand vows, borrowing a large amount of merit from Heavenly Dao. Now, countless years later, this loan has become their biggest burden.

In order to fulfill the grand vows, Zhunti Saint sacrificed his dignity and spread guidance to all souls. The rebel against Mystic Sect and the renaming of Western religion to Buddhism occurred because he saw the hope of Western religion’s prosperity.

If they remained under Mystic Sect, Western religion could only serve as its vassal and would never thrive. Hence, without hesitation, the Western Saints left Mystic Sect.

"From the actions of the Western Saints in recent years, it’s evident that as long as it helps to complete their grand vows, they won’t interfere regardless of how Buddhism changes."

"In the event, even if I conjure Amitabha Buddha, there shouldn’t be any issue. After all, compared to Tathagata Buddha and others, the Buddhas born of willpower are naturally more inclined to consider the sentient beings."

"Sentient beings are their foundation. If they do not love sentient beings, they lose their source of power. Only by being subject to sentient beings will they not forsake sentient beings."

"The gods, compared to the Buddhas, are better equipped to help the Western Saints create the Pure Land in their minds."

"The gods have no permanent heart, for sentient beings are their heart!"

After careful consideration, Jiang Chen finally made a decision. He decided to take a gamble and attempt to manifest Amitabha Buddha.

He felt that there was a high probability that this move would not incense the Western Saints because the core of Western teachings has been changed before.

Didn’t the core change when Western religion became Buddhism? All he was doing was replicating what Tathagata Buddha had done in the past.

Why is it that what Tathagata Buddha could do, he, Jiang Chen, could not?

If Western religion can be renamed Buddhism, then by the same token, Buddhism can be renamed Divine Religion. However, this all hinges upon aiding the Western Saints in fulfilling their grand vows.

If he fails to do so, the Western Saints would most certainly intervene and not sit idly as he messes around.

On the contrary, everything would be fine.

In fact, even if there were problems, it wouldn’t really matter. Given the current state of Buddhism, even if the Western Saints disagreed with Jiang Chen’s plan, they would only warn him to keep in line, not kill him directly.