The Golden Elixir Road

Chapter 161 The Tao is Ordinary and So Profound

“Besides, it doesn’t mean that only one person can attain enlightenment in one lifetime. As long as you are strong enough, you can also attain enlightenment if there are others who have attained enlightenment.” Wang Zizai said.

"How strong does one have to be to be able to attain enlightenment when someone else has already done so?" another person asked.

Everyone knows that even Gai Jiuyou, who is on the stage now, failed to successfully achieve enlightenment after the death of Qing Emperor.

The existence of Gai Jiuyou has long been no secret, and people from each family have naturally checked their own historical records.

"Unparalleled combat power, capable of defeating the greatest emperor of the time!"

Everyone was stunned. They had never heard of such a strong man in ancient and modern times. The emperor was synonymous with invincibility. Who could defeat a true enlightened person before he attained enlightenment? Even the Wu Shi Emperor could not do it.

Wang Zizai did not mention the path to becoming a war immortal. That is a pit. Even Emperor Shi Hao of the Desolate World could not make it, so how could others succeed?

"What's the story about the road to becoming an immortal in this life?" someone asked.

"Cultivation is one's own business. Who can become an immortal just by embarking on a certain path?" Wang Zizai explained.

"That road just leads to another world. Because the rules of heaven and earth are different, the life span of practitioners is longer, but there is still a time when life ends."

"If you pin your hopes on this, you've already gone astray. This is even more contrary to the concept of the Secret Realm Method of using the body as a seed, and it's even more impossible to become an immortal."

When these words were spoken, Qilin Ancient Emperor and Baishu Emperor were stunned.

"Then how did you become an immortal? According to what you said, it would take hundreds of thousands of years, or even nearly a million years to become an immortal. But you became an immortal in less than half a mortal's lifetime." Someone else asked.

As soon as this question was asked, everyone's heart was instantly shocked. Several supreme beings also listened carefully, afraid of missing any of Wang Zi's next words.

"That's because my practice is different from everyone else's." Wang Zizai said, "Practicing cultivation is also called practicing Taoism. You are all practicing Taoism, but what is Taoism?"

When this question was asked, everyone began to think about it. They had been practicing Taoism all along, but had never considered this issue.

"Does it mean that if one has tremendous fighting power and is second only to one person and superior to millions of people, then he has attained enlightenment?" Wang Zizai continued to ask.

"The Great Emperor and the Ancient Emperor can completely destroy the universe if they want to. Does that mean they have achieved enlightenment?"

"My fellow Taoists, have you attained enlightenment?" Wang Zizai asked the powerful emperors behind him.

Several people shook their heads, and Emperor Baishu even said, "If we have truly attained the Tao, how can we not become immortals? Why would we come to listen to Taoist friends preach?"

“The emperor can even destroy the universe, yet he still doesn’t count as having attained enlightenment. It seems that the level of strength cannot be used as a criterion for attaining enlightenment, at least it is not the only criterion.” Wang Zizai said.

In this world, low-level cultivators can destroy mountains upon mountains with just a casual fight, and the battles between emperors and ancient kings can even shatter star fields. No one knows how they have been able to survive from ancient times to the present. It is simply a miracle.

"Does immortality count as attaining enlightenment?" Wang Zizai asked again.

Everyone nodded. Everyone was seeking immortality. If immortality is not considered as attaining the Tao, then what is? "If this is the standard for attaining the Tao, then I have attained the Tao, but my own strength is far from that of the Great Emperor."

“If I really don’t use the magic weapon to fight, the Forbidden Zone Supreme will probably blow me to death in one breath.” Wang Zizai joked.

Everyone was stunned. This was inconsistent with everyone's idea of ​​a person who had attained the Tao. Shouldn't a person who had attained the Tao be invincible in the world?

"I have indeed not yet attained the Tao, and am still searching on the path of cultivation." Wang Zizai explained, "It's just that from the very beginning of my cultivation, I have sought to be one with the Tao, and to pursue that every word and action of mine is in accordance with the Tao. That's why I was able to obtain the fruit of immortality before you all."

"I just want to tell you that whether it is overwhelming combat power or immortality, they are just natural gains in the process of cultivation, not the goal. If you take these as your goal, it is like looking for fish in a tree, and it is even more difficult to get anything."

"If you want to practice Taoism, you must understand what the great Tao is." Wang Zizai really began to preach.

"The Great Dao is the origin of heaven and earth. Everything is created from it. All things in the universe are in the Dao. It is actually nameless. It is just a pretense. It cannot be expressed in words. Once it is said, it is wrong. This is why the Great Dao is difficult to understand."

"The essence of Tao is eternal and unchanging, but it also changes with time and things, like water, which has no fixed shape. Tao gave birth to one, which is the original state, without beginning and end; one gave birth to two, which are yin and yang, and all things carry yin and embrace yang; two gave birth to three, which determine the three talents of heaven, earth and man, and three gave birth to all things, which gave birth to thousands of laws, and the laws pulled and acted, and all things came into being."

"Those who practice Taoism understand the laws of all things and gradually return to their origins in order to become one with Tao."

Some cultivators began to get confused, but the eyes of several great emperors and ancient kings behind Wang Zizai lit up. These contents were simply the general outline of cultivation. The Tao was consistent, and no matter what method was practiced, this could be the foundation.

The many monks were not stupid. If they didn't understand, they would just memorize it. The monks all had good memory, and they knew that these principles that they couldn't understand must be profound things.

"However, enlightenment comes from one's own heart. The heart is attracted by external things, greedy for desires, trapped by fame, profit, beauty, etc., and takes the false as the true. How can there be a moment of peace? How can one realize the root of all things, understand the reality of the great way, and unite with it with the body?"

"Even the Great Emperor is only wandering around at the level of laws and has never entered the Dao. Even though he is powerful, how can he achieve immortality?"

Wang Zizai finally talked about the role of cultivating the mind and character. The key points of the mind and character he mentioned are to be peaceful and non-competitive, and to be kind to others.

As for the mentality of killing ancestors if ancestors come and killing Buddhas if Buddhas come, and taking Tao as one of the principles, which can easily lead people astray, it is enough to talk about it to the disciples. If those geniuses who aspire to become emperors hear about it, they will probably become even more crazy and rush onto the wrong path one after another.

"To realize the great Dao, one must first start with one's mind and character. The method of cultivating one's mind and character is extremely simple. The classics of the world have already stated this clearly. However, many cultivators, who think they are superior to others, disdain this and only pursue things like the Emperor's Scripture."

"There is a saying in The Analects: I examine myself three times a day. This is a direct statement about the cultivation of the mind and nature, which many people think is a joke. To cultivate the mind and nature, one should set the standard of one's own mind. The Analects hits the nail on the head: Do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you. Everyone can think about it quietly. There is no secret to the cultivation of the great way, but you pretend to be profound."

The cultivation of the mind and nature he talked about started directly from Confucianism. Although this method is not as good as the Taoist and Buddhist methods that directly target the human heart that he taught his disciples, it is also a widely spread method that can guide people to be good and will not lead to a counterattack on the Immortal Mountain in the future due to the widespread spread of the great way. His intentions are good.

Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism actually have the same goal in different ways, which is to preach the Tao. The only difference is that Lao Tzu preaches the Tao to people with superior nature.

The superior man, when he hears the Tao, diligently practices it; the average man, when he hears the Tao, is uncertain about it and sometimes does not; the inferior man, when he hears the Tao, laughs loudly at it. If he did not laugh at it, it would not be the Tao!

Confucius preached to people of average nature and told them directly what to do. As for people of inferior nature, that is within the scope where the law should apply.

(End of this chapter)