My autobiography is definitely not a tragedy! -
Chapter 655 - 413 I’m Not Really Suited for Studying Buddhism
Chapter 655: Chapter 413 I’m Not Really Suited for Studying Buddhism
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The Intelligent Abbot smiled broadly and chanted the Buddha’s name again.
"Mr. Meng is still as charitable and generous as ever!"
"Master overpraises me, rather it’s the Great Hall that seems even more magnificent than when I last visited."
Meng Lang surveyed the bright yellow new meditation cushions and the increasingly gleaming Three Life Buddhas in front of him.
"Haha! Thanks to your blessing, our temple had a small renovation recently. Mr. Meng does good deeds without seeking recognition, giving without expecting anything in return, which truly carries boundless merit and represents the pinnacle of virtue!"
What Master Intelligent referred to, of course, was the previous "human trafficking gang case," where Meng Lang didn’t take a penny of the police reward but donated it all to Nanshan Temple.
Beside him, Lin Haitang listened with some confusion.
Do good deeds without seeking recognition? Give without expecting anything in return?
What did he do at this Nanshan Temple?
Seeing that the abbot accompanied him enthusiastically throughout, he seemed like a high-level VIP among the worshippers...
"I wonder why Mr. Meng has come today, is it to draw a lot? Or to fulfill a vow?"
As he spoke, he cast a jovial glance at Lin Haitang.
From a single bachelor before to a loving couple after... could it be that the marriage lot he drew last time had come true?
But... it seemed that what he sought last time was a lower lot?
"Cough! Although your temple’s lots are indeed quite spiritual, I’m not here to draw one today, but specially to find Master Intelligent."
"Find me?" Master Intelligent blinked.
"Yes!" Meng Lang nodded earnestly, staring intently at Master Intelligent in front of him, "I’ve heard of the Master’s advanced level in the Buddhist Law, and I have some doubts in my mind that I hope to have clarified by the Master."
"Hmm?" Master Intelligent was immediately taken aback.
"Heard from where? Mr. Meng, where did you hear of it? I am just a minor abbot of Nanshan Temple; I dare not claim to have deep knowledge in the Buddhist Law."
"Haha!" Meng Lang let out a smile that seemed to see through everything.
"Master is too modest. The renowned High Monk of Longquan Temple, the Scripture lecturer at Beijing’s Aquatic and Land Ceremony, how can you not claim to have deep knowledge in the Buddhist Law?"
Intelligent showed a face of astonishment.
Just as astonished was Lin Haitang beside him.
This Nanshan Temple, located off the beaten path and appearing unassuming, had no worshippers in sight for a long stretch, who would have thought the old monk abbot possessed such a prominent background?
Although hard to believe, she had absolute faith in Meng Lang’s intelligence capabilities.
"Where did Mr. Meng acquire this information?" Intelligent didn’t deny but was curious to ask.
"It was naturally attained through karma," Meng Lang replied with a chuckle.
"Karma?"
Intelligent was momentarily puzzled, then smiled and nodded, "Hmm! Indeed, I have karma with Mr. Meng!"
"If the Master is a high-ranking monk from Beijing, then why are you here?" Haitang asked curiously.
"Haha! Involvement in the secular world is too deep, it hinders spiritual practice, rather than the tranquility of this modest Nanshan Temple."
These days, famous temples crowded with worshippers hardly have monks untainted by the scent of money.
In such environments, monks are not there to practice but to stir up worldly desires.
Belief gradually becomes business, the number of monks truly practicing dwindles, while those engaged in business increase...
"Master’s indifference to fame and fortune is admirable!" Meng Lang laughed.
"Fame and fortune are but fleeting clouds that blind the eyes; better a moment of clear-mindedness, a state where all is naturally at ease!"
Intelligent pressed his hands together in prayer, smiling as serene as the breeze and the bright moon, devoid of the worldly cunning previously shown.
Meng Lang’s eyes lit up.
"I won’t hide it from the Master, I’m here specifically to seek the law of the unburdened self."
"Oh?" Intelligent looked surprised.
"What kind of freedom skill does Mr. Meng wish to learn?"
"Naturally, the great freedom of becoming a Buddha!"
Intelligent chuckled. "Then in Mr. Meng’s heart, what is a ’Buddha’?"
"Before and after, Buddha is only mentioned in terms of the mind; the mind is Buddha, Buddha is mind, outside the mind, there is no Buddha; outside Buddha, there is no mind."
Xue Huaiyi’s Scripture believes that only by clarifying the mind, being untainted by outside things, can one maintain constancy, and reduce the influence of the countless "selves" in the book on the "original self."
Then the original self’s true color, the remaining self’s color, would be the same.
Thus naturally, "I" have always been "me"!
"Eh? I didn’t expect Mr. Meng to have delved into the philosophy of consciousness-only school of Buddhism?
Then do you know what ’No Heart Outside Buddha’ is?"
The look of surprise on Intelligent’s face turned into one of delight.
"Hmm... Buddha is about discovering the original self; ’No Heart Outside Buddha’ means to guard one’s original mind, beside which there is no other Buddha.
I wanted to ask the Master, how does one practice ’No Heart Outside Buddha’?" Meng Lang asked.
"Besides this mind, there’s no other Buddha to be found; away from this mind, there’s no place to seek enlightenment or nirvana.
If one seeks Buddha, one must perceive the true nature.
Nature itself is Buddha, Buddha is the person at ease, the person without tasks, without actions.
If recognizing nature is to be Buddha, then not recognizing it is to be sentient beings..." Intelligent replied.
"I am still a sentient being, how can I perceive the true nature?"
"Because you are a sentient being, it’s your delusions and attachments that obscure your Buddha-nature. If you can extinguish these delusions and attachments, your Buddha-nature will naturally reveal itself.
All the evil karma I created in the past, originated from the endless greed, anger, and ignorance born of body, speech, and mind; all these I now sincerely repent..."
"Repenting allows one to achieve ’No Heart Outside Buddha’?"
"Of course not, humans have eight consciousnesses: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, the ’manas’, and the ’Alaya consciousness’.
The ’Heart Outside Buddha’ is the seventh consciousness, ’Manas’, always corresponding with ignorance, self-view, self-pride, self-love, and such Troubles.
Its nature is ’obscuring without marking,’ that is, it doesn’t lead to matured karmic results, but it can obscure the enlightened path and veil the mind’s nature!
This consciousness is the root of self-clinging. If one clings to delusion, it creates evil karma, otherwise, it eliminates Troubles and evil karma, thus called the tainted-pure consciousness.
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