Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 118 Routine
Zhiyuan was not in a hurry, and naturally recited a Buddhist saying.

"I have heard such words many times. Those who want to use my heart to save people for their own benefit are creating negative karma."

Xie Yuyan looked at Zhiyuan: "Does the abbot think that if you do nothing, you won't have any karmic burdens?"

"In the entire Daming Prefecture, there are only a few temples, but this Baode Temple is completely empty. Others may not know the reason, but I can glean some of it."

Zhiyuan's expression became even more solemn, but he did not stop Xie Yuyan from continuing.

Xie Yuyan said, “The Great Liang has laws that allow privately owned wasteland to be mortgaged to temples, and temples are exempt from land taxes. As a result, temples have acquired a large amount of ‘wasteland’ and hired people to cultivate it.”

“Those ‘waste fields’ are even more fertile than top-quality fields, and it is unknown how they were ‘abandoned’.”

“The temples gained land, which enriched the temples and also the people who mortgaged the land to the temples.”

“It is common for temples to own thousands of acres of land in a prefecture, and some even have tens of thousands of monks to support them, thus occupying tens of thousands of acres of fertile land. As a result, the entire prefecture and county, apart from regular taxes, use all of their income to support temples.”

Xie Yuyan said, "The abbot doesn't want this money."

Zhiyuan chanted the Buddha's name again.

Wang Yan seemed to be watching Zhiyuan being trapped by Xie Yuyan little by little, but he had no desire to help the poor Zhiyuan. He just wanted to watch the show from the sidelines.

"How many years has the abbot persisted like this?" Xie Yuyan looked around. "It looks like the temple hasn't been repaired for at least five or six years."

"How many people does the abbot think he has saved? How much good karma has he accumulated?"

This time, Xie Yuyan didn't give Zhiyuan a chance to respond, as if he didn't even want to hear him chanting Buddhist mantras anymore.

"It's just self-deception."

"If everyone were like the abbot, afraid of incurring karmic consequences, it would be better for everyone to stay at home chanting scriptures and do nothing. Doctors wouldn't need to prescribe medicine to save lives, and generals wouldn't need to go to the battlefield to avoid getting their hands stained with blood. If everyone chanted scriptures and everyone became a Buddha, then the world would be at peace."

"Everyone is like fish on a chopping block; who will stand against the falling blades?"

"Should we wait for karmic retribution, or convince ourselves that all things arise from causes and conditions and are empty of inherent existence?"

The last few words made Wang Yan's gaze deepen.

"Since you haven't figured out or understood many things, why bother clinging to your unverifiable proverbs and doctrines?"

Zhiyuan asked, "Does the benefactor not believe in Buddhism?"

"I don't believe it, and I don't want to believe it," Xie Yuyan said.

Zhiyuan asked, "Then why have you come to the temple, benefactor?"

Xie Yuyan said, "Because you are a Buddhist monk."

Zhiyuan was taken aback.

"There is something that can benefit the people," Xie Yuyan said. "Should I give it to a profit-driven merchant or a compassionate monk?"

Zhiyuan wanted to say something, but he opened his mouth and then closed it again. He turned to look at Wang Yan beside him, feeling that no matter what he did, it was wrong.

Finally, Zhiyuan said, "Why should you entrust this to someone else, female benefactor? If you have the heart to benefit the people, you only need to do it yourself."

Xie Yuyan asked, "What kind of person do you think I am, Great Monk? A good person or a bad person?"

Zhiyuan said, "Amitabha."

Xie Yuyan chuckled and said, "A monk should uphold the truth and not speak falsehoods or deceive."

Zhiyuan then said, "You are not a kind person."

“That’s it,” Xie Yuyan said, his eyes clear. “I will keep this in my hands. In time, I will use it to achieve my own goals and amass wealth overnight. I won’t care if anyone dies because of it.”

Just then, Madam Yu and Madam Zhang arrived. Xie Yuyan nodded to Madam Yu, who then quickly handed over the box she was carrying.

The box was opened, and inside was a piece of lotus root charcoal.

Xie Yuyan handed it to Zhiyuan to look at: "Does the venerable monk recognize this?"

Zhiyuan nodded: "The thing that's recently become popular down the mountain is called lotus root charcoal."

Xie Yuyan said, "I made this lotus root charcoal. My original intention in making lotus root charcoal was because my husband's family was poor and they didn't have enough firewood and charcoal to get through the winter. So a pound of lotus root charcoal only costs three coins."

Zhiyuan put his hands together and said, "Amitabha, well done, well done."

“But this is only temporary,” Xie Yuyan said with a slightly distant look in his eyes. “Perhaps in the future, when I have money, I will no longer be able to understand the suffering of ordinary people. Instead, I will think that merchants have a hard time and should make more profits. At that time, no one in Daliang will be able to compete with me in the business of lotus root charcoal. I will raise the price of one catty of lotus root charcoal to thirty coins. As long as it is cheaper than charcoal, people will come to buy it.”

"This..." Zhiyuan's face showed a hint of anxiety.

Xie Yuyan held the box and said, "Even if I don't do it this way, once merchants figure out how to make lotus root charcoal, some people will inevitably become greedy and buy up large amounts of coal mines to inflate the price of lotus root charcoal."

Zhiyuan shook his head and said, "If it really is so, there is nothing this humble monk can do."

“No,” Xie Yuyan said, “as long as the abbot is not afraid of taking on karmic consequences, he can find a way to stop it.”

Zhiyuan didn't understand.

Xie Yuyan looked at Zhiyuan and said, "I can teach the senior monk, but I have one condition."

Wang Yan looked at Xie Yuyan with a calm expression, like a clear bronze mirror reflecting her own image, allowing the person in front of him to see her clearly.

When you can see through a person, you won't be on guard against them.

She always looks like this when she lies.

Wang Yan quietly observed her deception, which allowed him to see her more clearly.

Zhiyuan asked as expected, "What are your requirements?"

Xie Yuyan said, "If the abbot thinks what I said makes sense and has no more doubts about my methods, then he should do as I say."

It sounds like everything is under Zhiyuan's control.

Zhiyuan nodded; he didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

Xie Yuyan looked at Wang Yan: "Please, Lord Wang, be my witness."

Wang Yan said calmly, "The great monk has made up his mind, and there is no going back."

Zhiyuan frowned slightly. Why did he feel that this place had become even dirtier? Someone had bad intentions... no, it was two people with bad intentions.

Xie Yuyan didn't give Zhiyuan a chance to back out. She raised the wooden box in her hand again: "In my hands, it's called lotus root charcoal."

Zhiyuan nodded.

Xie Yuyan handed the box to Zhiyuan.

Monk Zhiyuan hesitated for a moment, then reached out and took it. It was a small piece of lotus root charcoal, not as heavy as a thousand pounds, and he could hold it with both hands.

Xie Yuyan pointed and said, "Now it's called Buddha Charcoal."

Zhiyuan was taken aback at first, then his eyes widened.

The holes on the charcoal are like the ordination scars on a monk's head.

Lotus root charcoal, Buddhist charcoal.

Buddha Charcoal...

How could someone come up with such a method?

Xie Yuyan said, “If the abbot is unwilling to take it over, I will look for other abbots. As long as he can take over Baode Temple and become its abbot, I will rename the lotus root charcoal and tell everyone that the method of making lotus root charcoal was taught to me by the abbot of Baode Temple. Selling one pound of lotus root charcoal for three coins was also the abbot’s idea.”

“From then on, Baode Temple became famous and took in many monks and acquired more temple land.”

"What do you think, senior monk?"

The monk Zhiyuan's hands trembled. At that moment, the lotus root charcoal in his hands really felt like a thousand pounds, and he could hardly bear it.

No one could resist such temptation.

With this merit, one can instantly become a highly accomplished monk, and no one will dare to stop him from doing whatever he wants.

(End of this chapter)