From a refugee to a martial artist

Chapter 149: Discussion on Hulu Mountain

The Unobstructed Assembly is a teaching that came from the Western Buddhist country. It is a grand fasting assembly for making good connections and treating everyone equally regardless of their status, whether they are monks or laymen, smart or stupid, or good or evil.

Based on this, today’s sermon by Master Ku Rong can also be said to be an unobstructed conference.

The focus of the Unobstructed Assembly is to preach the doctrine and spread the Dharma. The speaker naturally needs to accept questions and challenges from the crowd in order to quote scriptures and debate.

At this moment, another master came and pointed out that what Master Kurong said was wrong, which showed that he came to ruin things.

For a moment, all the audience on the top of the mountain looked around, whispering, looking for the person who had spoken.

Amidst everyone's anticipation, Meng Yuan and Ming Yue turned around and looked back the way they came.

I saw a young man and woman in Taoist robes walking down the path at the foot of the mountain. They both had flower crowns on their heads and whisks in their hands.

The young men and women climbed to the top of the mountain and then stood on both sides.

Then a man came up. He was about fifty years old, with black hair and beard, a pine wood hairpin, thin and elegant, and a wide-sleeved Taoist robe embroidered with auspicious clouds. He held a whisk in his left hand and a jade ruyi in his right hand.

He walked in all directions without raising any dust, and he really looked like an immortal.

The man glanced around at the people in front of him, then nodded slightly, "I bow to you."

The people on the top of the mountain responded one after another, some bowed, some kowtowed.

"It turns out to be Fellow Daoist Qimiaozi!" Master Kurong, who was on the high platform, stood up immediately.

"Daoyou Kurong's weird talk is really laughable!" Qimiaozi smiled slightly and continued to move forward.

Meng Yuan and Ming Yue were blocking other people's way, so they quickly separated.

"You two are handsome." Qimiaozi stopped and looked at them for a while, then asked, "Would you like to be my servant?"

Eh? I'm here to look for Qing Guangzi, not to look for a job.

"A filthy person does not deserve the favor of the Immortal Master." Meng Yuan refused.

"You are indeed dirty. You lost your virginity at such a young age. You are not fit for any important purpose!" Qimiaozi said.

"..." Meng Yuan didn't know how to refute for a moment.

"Master! Can I be a boy?" A white rat demon stepped forward, grinning with his big teeth, looking very respectful.

"Get lost!" Qimiaozi's face changed, and he said, "Only handsome men can serve as the boy under the Taoist master! Look at your ugly appearance! You still want to become an immortal when you are so ugly?"

The white rat demon covered his face and cried because he was scolded.

Qimiaozi waved his sleeves to drive away the white rat demon, and then stepped forward step by step. No one along the way dared to stop him.

When he arrived at the foot of the platform, Qimiaozi waved his whisk, moved his body, and actually flew up, and then landed on the platform.

"The course of heaven is constant. The way of heaven is to reduce the surplus and make up for the deficiency; the way of man is to reduce the deficiency and serve the surplus." Qimiaozi sat down cross-legged and said, "What Daoist friend Kurong said is absurd! The world has an orderly yin and yang. If everyone became a monk or a nun, and cut off all emotions and love, wouldn't there be no successors? Therefore, if everyone can become a Buddha, then no one can become a Buddha."

"All living beings suffer. Only by cultivating the mind and gaining enlightenment can one be liberated from the world." The Bodhisattva Kurong argued, "Having children and worldly love are also troubles, aren't they? If they can be eliminated, everyone can transcend the cycle of reincarnation and reach bliss. We, the disciples of the Buddhist sect, use our compassionate hearts to save all living beings, understand cause and effect, and eliminate troubles."

Seeing the monk and the Taoist debate begin, the audience also became interested and gathered under the high stage.

Meng Yuan was originally interested, but after listening for a while, he found that these monks and Taoists were just talking nonsense and big talk. You talked about the naturalness of Taoism, and he talked about the compassion of Buddhism, but they were all castles in the air, and it was not as interesting as his exchange of witticisms with Lu Kong.

"Miss Mingyue, what are their backgrounds?" Meng Yuan asked.

"I don't know." Mingyue replied calmly. "What realm is it?" Meng Yuan was a warrior, not very good at learning, and only knew how to fight.

"Both of them are of the sixth rank." Mingyue said.

That’s relatively easy to deal with. Meng Yuan has fought against a sixth-rank monk before, but he has never fought against a sixth-rank Taoist priest.

But now I have some experience and know what these Taoists are capable of.

Taoism has a long tradition, with various schools and a large number of people. Today, there are three major Taoist sects in Qing Kingdom, as well as countless small temples and schools. In fact, as long as there are mountains, there are Taoists.

However, most Taoists study Taoist classics to improve their health and character, but have not yet embarked on spiritual practice.

The practice of Taoism is not easy either. For example, the lower three levels of the warrior path are for opening the secret treasure; Buddhism is about cultivating the Buddha's mind and gaining the Dharma; Confucianism requires cultivating the great and righteous spirit in order to cultivate oneself; Taoism is about building the foundation of Taoism.

The ninth level is the method of feeling and consuming qi, which is the natural law of all things. When you obtain the natural qi of heaven and earth and then draw the qi into your body, you have entered the stage of cultivation.

When one has enough Qi, one reaches the eighth level of cultivating both the body and soul. Filling oneself with the Qi of heaven and earth, one usually adjusts the body and mind through meditation, breathing exercises, and studying Taoist classics, and then cultivates the essence and nature.

While cultivating one's nature, one also needs to strengthen one's body. Each school has slightly different methods for strengthening the body.

After reaching the eighth level, one will be able to practice some simple Taoist techniques.

There is also a saying in the Daoist path that there are three stages of ascension. When both the nature and life are cultivated and achieved, one can forge the foundation of the Dao, which is the seventh level of foundation-building.

At this point, one has been able to learn most of the magic techniques and can use them with ease.

Among Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the lower three grades are actually not that different from each other, but in terms of the number and strangeness of their fighting methods, Taoism is at the top, Buddhism is in the middle, and Confucianism comes later.

The lower three grades have been completed. After the Taoist path reaches the sixth grade, it is time to prepare for the fifth grade of Dan formation. This is the state of guarding oneness.

The body is the furnace and the heart is the elixir. Follow the laws of nature, keep your mind calm and focused, and discard distracting thoughts.

A sixth-rank Taoist priest can use all kinds of methods and all kinds of tools, and can already call himself a Taoist master.

However, this is also where the differences in Taoism arise. Just as there is a dispute between gradual and sudden enlightenment in Buddhism, there is also the theory of internal and external alchemy in Taoism.

The dispute between gradual and sudden enlightenment only becomes apparent at the fourth level in the Buddhist path, while in Taoism it starts at the fifth level.

Of course, whether it is the debate on gradual or sudden enlightenment, or the theory of internal and external alchemy, there were actually differences in the low-level realm, which gradually became apparent when reaching the middle-level realm.

This is actually very normal. Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism all have their own doctrines and propositions, so naturally there will be differences in the methods of cultivation.

It is also because of this that the practitioners of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism have their own strengths and weaknesses. Some are good at attacking, some focus on defense, and some specialize in methods to confuse and calm the mind.

Of course, there are some brilliant people who are good at everything, and there are also some people who are good at nothing.

The improvement of realm is like climbing to a higher floor, but how high you can jump depends on your personal fate.

At this moment, the argument between Master Kurong and Qimiaozi was getting louder and louder. Meng Yuan was afraid that he would be tricked silently, so he kept activating his Burning Heart Divine Ability, stroking his chin, and quietly waiting for them to start fighting.

"Miss Mingyue, if they start fighting, should we join in?" Meng Yuan asked.

"They are not your colleagues." Mingyue said.

Eh? You usually look aloof and cold, and you look unapproachable, but when you say something, it can be quite hurtful!
Meng Yuan didn't say anything either, he just stood closer to Mingyue.

(End of this chapter)