Donghuang Ziji

Chapter 914: Immortals, Gods and Buddhas

"Okay, these things are not the core. Now the monkey is going to join Fangcun Mountain. Do you want to go out and take a look?"

The Emperor of Heaven stretched out his hand and ripples appeared in the void, reflecting the scene of Patriarch Bodhi preaching.

The ancestor seemed to have sensed something and looked towards the void where the Emperor of Heaven was, and met Chu Tai's gaze who was looking in the same direction.

"Why are you spying on me for no reason?"

The Grandmaster stretched out his hand, trying to disrupt the connection, but it was of no use.

After a moment's pause, the ancestor realized that it was not Chu Tai who did it. He frowned slightly, and after a careful perception, he said with an unhappy face: "If you have something to do, just call me directly. Why bother helping this guy spy on me?"

"You are so boring, what do you mean by me spying on you?"

Chu Tai was also quite displeased. He looked at the projection of Bodhi Patriarch in the void and said, "Can't it be that your destiny is coming, and Your Majesty asked me if I want to interfere? So let me see the current situation?"

As he spoke, Chu Tai waved his hand and projected a monkey outside the Slanting Moon and Three Stars Cave, curled up at the entrance of the cave, waiting to be called.

"How long do you plan to make him wait? He's already in your dojo, and you still can't see the true nature of this little guy?"

Facing Chu Tai's question, the ancestor said unhappily: "Isn't this done for outsiders like you to see?"

"If everyone can be honest with others, why should I be so hypocritical?"

After saying this, the master waved his whisk, and the people who were listening to the lecture began to react, as if they were completely unaware of the previous communication between Chu Tai and the master.

Chu Tai narrowed his eyes slightly, looked at the Emperor beside him, and asked: "If this person's cultivation and realm were placed in the Dongji Chenguang Great Heaven where I am, would it be considered as the first or second rank?"

"Can't you see his level of cultivation?"

The Emperor of Heaven asked back, and Chu Tai shook his head and said, "Originally I thought I could see clearly, but after knowing the many worlds of the Three Pure Ones, I have some doubts. After all, he seems to regard you as the Majesty of his own world."

"In this regard, he doesn't seem to be at the first level, but many of his methods don't seem to be at the second level to me."

"What do you think is the difference between the first rank and the second rank?"

Hearing this, Chu Tai couldn't help but recall his past exchanges with Taoist Kunlun Shou.

At that time, Taoist Shou explained to Chu Tai the methods of practicing the four meridians of Kunlun, Hunyuan, Yuli and Taiyi.

The top three grades of Kunlun are Dongshen, Dongxuan and Dongzhen. The third grade Dongshen is able to fully understand the subtleties of the gods, the second grade Dongxuan is able to fully understand the mysteries of heaven and earth, and the first grade Dongzhen is able to combine the essence of the fruits of the gods and the wonders of all things in heaven and earth to create his own first grade of truth.

The top three levels of Hunyuan are Lianxu, Hedao, and Guizhen. The third level is Lianxu, where the body and spirit are united, returning to the void and comprehending the great Dao. The second level is Hedao, where one imprints one's own Dao fruit into the heaven and earth and receives the blessing of heaven and earth. The first level is Guizhen, where one reintegrates one's own Dao fruit into oneself, achieves a balance between heaven and man, blends the changes of heaven and man, and masters one's own true Dao.

The top three grades of the Jade Calendar are Tuojie, Dongxu and Tianzhen. The third grade Tuojie is to invade and occupy the essence of the divine way, and therefore will be retaliated by heaven and earth, so it is called Tuojie. The second grade Dongxu is to see through the influence of the divine way on oneself and realize the true way of oneself. Only in this way can one be promoted to the first grade and become Tianzhen.

These three roads are all roads that have been heavily influenced by Shintoism.

Among them, Kunlun is the way to penetrate the gods, Hunyuan is the way to reconstruct the gods, and Yuli is the way to destroy the gods.

In comparison, the system constructed by Taiyi Zhenjun, the immortal Zhenjun who was promoted after these three veins, has the top three grades, namely, celestial immortal, supreme saint, and Zhenjun, and the demand for the divine way is much lower.

The third-grade celestial immortal has already determined the foundation of his immortal path, and then the supreme saint essentially uses his own immortal path fruit to contain the exquisiteness of the divine path, thus unifying the immortal with the divine.

This point is actually in line with some of the concepts of the first-grade Dao Fruit [Immortality] in Yun Zhongjun's system, that is, one's own position in heaven and earth.

Kunlun, Hunyuan and Yuli chose to become immortals and gods respectively because of the collapse of Shinto, while Taiyi chose to be an immortal above gods when the impact of the collapse of Shinto subsided. He no longer integrated the Shinto achievements into his own Taoist achievements, or used the Shinto achievements as an important aid to perfect his own Taoist achievements.

The Taiyi lineage is based on the immortal way which includes the divine way. The existence of the divine way only affects the subsequent speed of practice, but has little impact on the final achievement of the Taoist fruit.

Therefore, the last grade of the Taiyi lineage is called Zhenjun, which can be understood as the monarch who evolves the true way of himself.

Recalling this, Chu Tai looked at the Emperor of Heaven and said, "Why not concentrate your own true path?"

"Then what is the true way? Is Shinto the true way? Is Buddhism the true way? Or is immortality the true way?"

"If all three are true ways, then what is the difference between them? Why is there a difference between immortals, gods, and Buddhas?"

The Emperor's question made Chu Tai fall into deep thought.

Without giving Chu Tai much time to think, the Emperor of Heaven gave his answer.

"In the past, during my practice, I once heard a saying."

“He regards us as subjects, and everything outside the subject as objects.”

"The so-called Shinto is a process in which the subject merges into the object."

A divine light emerged from the fingertips of the Emperor of Heaven, and the power of will rose within it.

"Therefore, at the beginning of Shinto practice, one needs to offer incense and vows, and Shinto practitioners need to borrow power from the gods. But whether it is the ghosts and gods gradually gathering divine power, or mortals practicing the path of gods, in essence, they are all gaining more power by getting closer to divine power. In this process, they are also allowing themselves as the subject to constantly get closer to the object."

"Therefore, when mortals practice Shinto, they will eventually become part of the gods; when gods practice Shinto, they will gradually merge with the heaven and earth, and eventually the gods will become the embodiment of a certain concept, or directly become the corresponding concept." Hearing this, Chu Tai thought of a possibility and asked, "What if mortals surpass the gods themselves by practicing Shinto?"

"That depends on whether the mortal simply believes in the gods and practices Shinto, or recognizes the path of the gods and practices Shinto in a dialectical way."

"If it is the former, the mortals who are believers will eventually merge into the gods, reach the state of being with the gods, and at the same time influence the gods' thoughts. At that time, it is difficult to say whether the god is the original god or the product of the combination with mortals later."

"And if it is the latter, the gods may be torn apart by the mortals, or even have their throne usurped by them."

"So, in Shintoism, believing in gods for the sake of power, or simply believing in gods for the sake of faith, is the lowest level of practice. This principle also applies to the immortal and Buddha system."

After saying this, the Emperor of Heaven stretched out his hand and lightly tapped the void, and a ray of Buddha's light emerged.

"In that guy's theory, the essence of immortals and Buddhas is the result of the mutual influence and interference between the subject and the object."

"In that guy's theory, the relationship between the host and the guest is clearly separated. In Shintoism, there is a clear distinction between humans and gods, and between gods and heaven and earth. The practice of Shintoism is to pursue unity under this separation."

"But immortals and Buddhas are different. In the immortal and Buddha system, there is no clear boundary between subject and object. Heaven and man are one. Although there are conflicts, they are not completely separated."

"This can be seen from many of the cultivation methods of immortals and Buddhas. Whether it is the immortal way or the Buddhist way, neither denies the relationship between the human body and nature (the Great Way), but the subsequent directions are different. But in general, they recognize that the separation between man and nature (the Great Way) is caused by the contamination of impurities after birth. Therefore, the process of cultivation is actually to reduce the influence of the acquired environment and restore the connection between me and the heaven, earth, nature, and the Great Way."

"But in this process, the existence of the subject self will not be deliberately erased, and the original personal characteristics and social relationships will be retained. This process is also what we call eliminating the false and retaining the true, and seeing the heart and nature."

“That is why everyone’s final return to the state of unity between man and nature is different, and different from the initial unity between man and nature.”

Hearing this, Chu Tai nodded repeatedly. The Emperor of Heaven's theory was equally useful in the path of the Four True Lords of Dongji Chenguang Datian.

Whether it is Kunlun's insight into the mysteries of Shinto, Hunyuan's reconstruction of the Shinto system, Yuli's breaking of Shinto to construct itself, or Taiyi's tolerance of the changes in Shinto, it is actually a process in which the subject exerts influence on the object, and then the object also influences the subject.

Even one of the operating logics of Chu Tai's Taiyi Avenue is this kind of change between host and guest.

When Taiyi Dao is taken as the subject, the heaven, earth and all living beings that perceive Taiyi Dao are objects.

But to the heaven, earth and those living beings, Taiyi Dao is the object. While Taiyi Dao affects them, they are also affecting Taiyi Dao.

This is a relationship of mutual penetration and mutual influence, and the two are not integrated into each other.

“We are born from the gestation of heaven and earth, we exist in the embrace of heaven and earth, and we are independent of heaven and earth.”

After Chu Tai sighed, he became a little confused, "But what is the difference between immortals and Buddhas?"

"What you said can be said to be one of the core theories of the immortal way. We influence each other with the heaven and earth, but we are also independent of each other. But Buddhism is different in the later period. Although they recognize the relationship between humans and the heaven and earth, most of them believe that whether it is the physical body or the heaven and earth, they are just a combination of the four elements, not real, and need to comprehend emptiness and return to emptiness."

"To put it simply, they acknowledge the independence of the subject, but do not acknowledge that everything outside the subject can be an object. Only the Buddha nature in the void is the object they need to integrate and influence each other. Therefore, Buddhism and Taoism can ultimately return to the Buddha nature, while the fruits of the immortal cultivators in the later stages are all kinds of strange, and many are no different from the gods."

Hearing this, Chu Tai thought for a moment.

Suddenly, he understood what the Emperor of Heaven meant, but he was still a little confused. He looked at Patriarch Bodhi and whispered, "So Patriarch Bodhi is the Buddha? He has a unique true nature, and all the Patriarch Bodhis in the world are objects that interact with him?"

The Emperor of Heaven did not answer this question, but asked Chu Tai to explore it himself, and pointed out that the changes in destiny today were also a great opportunity for Chu Tai to further explore the other Dao Fruit systems.

"On your Donghuang Bell, there are many Dao Fruit systems that can reach the first level. Among them, the eight that you used to create the illusory world complement each other and have a great auxiliary effect on you. If you can make them more perfect and find their own first-level foundation, even if they are just in the initial stage like the [Immortal] of Yunzhongjun's system, it can greatly improve your progress in refining the Donghuang Bell."

"This time period is the backbone of the Three Pure Ones, and the principles are clearly revealed. The various practices of this monkey after he became my disciple can provide you with references for perfecting several of the Dao Fruit systems. Of course, if you think one is not enough, you can also send an incarnation to the Heavenly Palace. There is a treasure mirror hidden there that can be used to observe the practice process of monkeys on other timelines, and reflect each other for reference."

When he said this, the future Monkey King had already entered the cave, became a disciple of Patriarch Bodhi, and was named Sun Wukong.

Chu Tai thought for a moment, looked at the Donghuang Bell, snapped his fingers, and with a point of spiritual light falling, it was compatible with the second-grade Taoist fruit [Mugong] of the Dongjun system, and then circled around the second-grade Taoist fruit [Pardon Qinghua (Emperor Fengdu)] of the Dasiming system and the second-grade Taoist fruit [Resurrection (Shaosiming)] of the Shaosiming system, and turned into an illusory figure and appeared on the spot.

After bowing slightly to Chu Tai, the figure left the infinite spiritual torrent where Chu Tai and the Emperor were, and returned to the Emperor of Heaven during the Journey to the West period.

The figure was still very illusory when he walked out of Lingyun, but after entering the world of Journey to the West, it instantly solidified, with thousands of rays of light flowing around him, thousands of auspicious auras surging, and blue lotuses blooming. In the dark, there were also strands of power emanating from Chu Tai's place, and strands of power gathering in the heaven and earth.

The Emperor of Heaven beside Chu Tai smiled slightly and whispered, "You have learned well, but you can actually add a little more of Yunzhongjun's [Immortal] power to determine its position in the world so that you can better leverage it."

As he spoke, the Emperor pointed with his hand, and the Emperor during the Journey to the West period also raised his hand and tapped lightly. Two rays of divine light intertwined and merged into the illusory figure with the [Mugong] Dao Fruit as the core, instantly giving it a clearer connection with the heaven and earth. Many concepts such as saving people, rescuing, transcending, vitality, creation, Jiamu, Yi Mu, spring, etc. converged and made it solid.

There were more wisps of incense and vows from the Heavenly Court descending and blessing Chu Tai. Gradually, many divine lights surged in the Heavenly Court. Many gods of the East, Wood, and Life all felt that there was an emperor above them.

All the gods and immortals started to congratulate: "Praise to Taiyi Riyao Emperor and Taiyi Qingtong Zhenjun, the supreme saints who save people from suffering and disasters."

The figure separated from Chu Tai was completely formed, but its existence was not integrated into the world. Instead, it relied on the Donghuang Bell and Chu Tai's true self to maintain itself and its foundation.

He had some understanding of the status of Patriarch Bodhi and the Emperor of Heaven during the Journey to the West period.

Looking at the Heavenly Emperor beside him, Chu Tai asked, "So, the relationship between that Heavenly Emperor and you is the same?"

"He is different from Bodhi. As for the relationship between him and me, you will naturally understand it after this period of time is over."

(End of this chapter)