Donghuang Ziji

Chapter 199 Mount Putuo

"The first battle took place nearly eight hundred years ago, but the cause of the incident was probably more than two thousand years ago, so if you ask ordinary people, they may not know."

Taoist Mu Jing looked at Chu Tai and explained to him in detail the origin and end of the conflict between the two factions.

"We all know that the founder of the Wutai Mountain lineage was a cultivator who switched from the Demonic Path to the Mysterious Path. It is said that when he was still in the Demonic Path, he once met the previous head of the Emei Sect and was defeated by him with the Thunder and Fire Swords. Later, the founder of the Wutai Mountain lineage switched to the Mysterious Path and planned to occupy the Wutai Mountain, with the five peaks of Wutai as the core, to gather the essence of the five elements from the five directions and create his own Hunyuan Yiqi Daochang."

"I know this. It seems that there were seven Buddhist monks who were equivalent to the fourth-grade celestial beings in the immortal way who personally went out to fight with the Five-Tai Patriarch more than a dozen times. In the end, it was only resolved under the strong intervention of the Central Plains Dynasty. Does this have anything to do with Mount Emei?"

Taoist Zhengyang's question was also what Chu Tai was curious about. Taoist Mu Jing smiled and said, "Of course it is related. But I can't explain the connections behind this matter. I'll let another Taoist friend explain it."

As he spoke, Chu Tai looked into the void and said with a smile, "So that's how it is. Fellow Daoist Jingguang is here too."

As he spoke, Sanskrit sounds emerged, and the Goddess of Pure Light came over on a golden lotus. After greeting everyone, she heard what had been discussed earlier, thought for a moment, and then began to explain it to everyone.

"Back then, Buddhism was spread in China, and ten temples were established, passing down 84,000 methods to enlighten sentient beings. However, in the end, only five temples were completely preserved. They are Jiuhua Mountain, which is dedicated to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, Putuo Mountain, which is dedicated to Guanyin Bodhisattva, Emei Mountain, which is dedicated to Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, Fanjing Mountain, which is dedicated to Maitreya Bodhisattva, and Wutai Mountain, which is dedicated to Manjusri Bodhisattva."

"In the early years, the five major Buddhist temples were closely connected. Among the seven eminent monks who fought against the Wutai Patriarch, five were local masters of Mount Wutai, and two were Buddhist predecessors who came from Mount Emei to support them."

The Goddess of Pure Light is proficient in vocal music. Even if she does not specifically display her magical powers, but just wants to speak, it can make people have many strange visions, as if they are seeing the heyday of Buddhism in the past.

The most regrettable thing is that the vision of the Sanskrit sounds was very short-lived, and it was inevitably declining as he described.

"It is also because these two predecessors were forced to ascend to heaven by the Wutai Patriarch during the battle that the Buddhist tradition on Mount Emei has declined a lot, and it also laid the cause and effect for the first battle later. As for the Buddhist tradition of Mount Wutai, it was even more broken and almost cut off. The remaining traces were also absorbed by the Mount Wutai lineage, which is almost a heterodox dharma."

When the Goddess of Pure Light said this, she sighed, looked toward the west, and whispered, "Today, the Fanjing Mountain lineage has gradually fallen into heterodoxy, claiming to be the Blue Lotus Purifying the World, the White Lotus Saving the World, and the Red Lotus Burning the World. They have cultivated a lot of magic from Buddhism, and are becoming more and more decadent. In recent years, the Shaoshi Mountain Zen Sect and the Tiantai Sect have shown signs of thriving."

What the Goddess of Pure Light said was actually biased, but no one cared much about it. Chu Tai listened carefully to her talk about the changes in Buddhism and gained a more detailed understanding of the situation in the Central Plains.

Taoist Cang Xuan was a little curious: "Putuo Mountain? Isn't that in the South China Sea?"

Upon hearing this, the Pure Light Goddess smiled and said, "The South China Sea Putuo you are talking about must be the sacred place of the Buddha Avalokitesvara in the past. The current Central Plains Buddhist holy place Putuo Mountain should actually be called East Putuo. In addition, there are South Putuo, North Putuo and West Putuo."

"The four major Putuo Mountains in the east, west, south and north were originally located in the four corners of the Central Plains. Unfortunately, the Western Putuo lineage took the wrong path in the early years and closely integrated with the Western Regions' Tantric Buddhism. The entire temple merged with the Western Regions' Buddhist land, and the inheritance was cut off in the Central Plains. The inheritance of the Southern Putuo and Northern Putuo Mountains was not smooth either. Now they only have some reputation in their respective regions. As for the inheritance of Buddhism, it has been a long time since we heard of any great monks and virtuous people being born."

After the Pure Light Goddess finished speaking, she looked in the direction of the Zhushan Sect's dojo and whispered, "As far as I know, a few years ago, there were even rumors that the Zhushan Sect wanted to occupy the Beiputuo Dojo. In my early years, I once studied in Beiputuo Mountain for a period of time."

After hearing these words, Taoist Mu Jing and the others' expressions when they looked at the Goddess of Pure Light suddenly became much more normal.

The people who were originally curious about why this Buddhist female cultivator wanted to get involved in this matter also found a suitable reason. She came to seek revenge for the place where she used to learn Buddhism. Some people with jumping ideas even thought that the Pure Light Goddess's dress was somewhat similar to that of Guanyin Bodhisattva. With this idea, they felt that the Pure Light Goddess should come.

Only Chu Tai noticed something was wrong, and then he heard the Goddess of Pure Light ask a question seemingly unintentionally.

"When I descended from the clouds earlier, I felt that there seemed to be a ray of Buddha's light flowing in the air. The Buddha's sound was vast and admirable. I wonder which brother has cultivated such a magical power? I wonder if he is here?"

Hearing this, everyone involuntarily turned their eyes to Chu Tai.

The Goddess of Pure Light immediately understood who she was looking for, and invited Chu Tai to go out for a chat.

Chu Tai, who had been prepared for this, naturally would not refuse. Seeing this, Taoist Mu Jing continued to explain to others the causes and consequences of the battle between Mount Wutai and Mount Emei, while Chu Tai and the other person walked out of the gathering place and strolled forward along a path.

On the way, the Pure Light Goddess smiled, seemingly unaware of the problem with the Buddha light left by the Lotus Mother Dharma Image, and said casually: "I didn't know before that Daoist Taining not only has a far superior Taoism than ordinary people, but is also so proficient in Buddhism. I have observed the Buddha light you left behind, the brilliance is clear, the Sanskrit meaning is condensed, and except for a little bit of paranoia, it is much better than mine."

Chu Tai heard this and chuckled, "Just a little bit paranoid? Not too obsessed? To the point that Buddhism is close to the devil's way?"

The Goddess of Pure Light looked back at Chu Tai and shook her head, saying, "I don't know why you have such thoughts, but I must tell you that the Buddha's light you evolved has compassion inside and universal light outside, and it is not some evil method of foreign ways."

"If I have to give a definition, it should be considered a side branch of Buddhism. Although it is a side branch, it does not lose the true meaning of Buddhism. As long as you let go of your prejudices, you can return to the right path."

As she spoke, the Goddess of Pure Light stared at Chu Tai again and clasped her hands together.

"Namo Guanyin Bodhisattva!"

As soon as the words fell, Buddha's light surged, and the shadow of a Bodhisattva holding a willow bottle emerged.

Chu Tai looked back and sighed, "It's hard! There is no Guanyin Bodhisattva!"

The Buddha's light also surged, and the image of the Lotus Mother with a thousand hands and eyes, stepping on a lotus, emerged and looked into the eyes of the virtual image of Guanyin.

The Buddha's light surged, the thousand hands waved, and the shadow of Guanyin instantly dissipated into thousands of streams of light. Part of it dissipated into the void, and part of it was captured by the thousand hands and became part of the Lotus Mother's Dharma image.

The face of the Pure Light Goddess turned pale. She stared at the Lotus Mother's image and whispered, "What kind of Buddhist teaching is this?"

(End of this chapter)