I knew a lot of friends seemed to understand a little, yet also seemed not to understand anything at all.
Let me explain it again, simply and bluntly.
It meant that if you believed in Buddha, it would help you stay away from suffering. The more you believed Buddha could bless you, that you could do this and that, the more you could accomplish those things.
But what Buddha actually spoke of were qualities that already existed within you. It was not that tangible, divine thing in your mind that could bless and protect you.
Some people merely used this method to help free you from suffering. But if you wanted true liberation, you had to truly understand what Buddha really meant, study the Buddhist Dharma, and awaken to the Buddhist Dharma, rather than merely believe in the Buddha imagined in your own heart.
Then you would truly be liberated, and there would be no more troubles.
Actually, sometimes I thought people really were difficult things to save—harder to save than animals, even.
Small animals had simple minds. As long as you guided them, they would do it.
But human thought was far too complicated, especially in this day and age.
The Dharma-ending Age, spirit Qi exhausted—those two phrases truly struck straight at the human heart.
I had no choice but to admire those eminent monks and great virtuous masters who could persist in doing this for an entire lifetime.
Some people did not even know what thought and consciousness were, much less the term subconscious.
Some could not even distinguish the Conscious Spirit from the Primordial Spirit, so there was no way to explain it to them.
But if you told her,
Your background was rather impressive. (Flattery)
Once you stepped out, you would be badass as hell. (Boasting)
Once you set up the altar, you would not need to study—you would comprehend it without a teacher. (Convenience)
Once you set up the altar, everything would be fine, and a hundred things would go smoothly. (Painting a big pie)
Once you set up the altar, you could read matters, and reading matters could make money. (Greed)
You awakened through self-realization, so there was no need to find a teacher. Once you set up the altar, just comprehend it yourself. (Passing the buck)
There were not enough mountains, so go walk a few more mountains and visit a few temples. (Forcibly making up the numbers)
Hahaha,
That was how people got held in the palm of their hands—believing easily, then living according to that pattern.
Even now, I occasionally still said a few words by chance to wake people up: things like Awakening, Correctness, Purity; taking refuge in the Three Treasures of one's Innate Nature; awaken without delusion, be correct without deviation, be pure without defilement. Then I would explain what those three points meant.
Still, I thought I was happiest when I was writing books.
Because I did not need to explain things so tediously, nor did I need to exhaust myself offering free advice that people would not appreciate.
Besides, I had always known that human nature possessed this innate evil, yet I still kept speaking a few words with a kind heart.
I knew this was not actually good, because our understanding differed, and very few people could comprehend what I said.
It was like a college student explaining a problem to an elementary school student. The child did not even know what you were talking about, so how could he understand it?
The people of the world had not even learned the most basic things. How could they know what you were talking about?
This was this poor monk's fault, the fault of my attachment. I was neither a monk nor a Daoist, so why the hell was I preaching the Dharma?
Master had said that cultivation was about cultivating oneself. I was already free of worries, so why did I have to concern myself with them?
They had headaches, they suffered, they were deceived—what did that have to do with me? Was it because I had cast off attachment? Because I was selfless?
Stop spouting that crap. Seriously, if I silently went around saving people like this, that would count as attachment too.
Even if it was supposedly according to fate, it still counted.
I should care less about the joys and sorrows of others. Or should I become an evil man instead? Play the tricks of evil even more skillfully than those people did.
Or just not fucking do it. Since I had cultivated Non-discrimination, where could good and bad, kindness and evil, even come from?
Should I use this same routine on them? Should I start deceiving human hearts with skillful means, making them happy for a while?
Forget it, screw that routine! I should just work hard at cultivating myself.
Otherwise, every stirring thought and every passing idea of mine would be stored away, and when accounts were settled in the end, I would still be the one paying the bill.
When Laozi left, I would ascend. I would not come back to this fucking place.
Everything about the human world was fine, except for this thing called the human heart. It was pretty fucking rotten.
When the time came, I would just secretly indulge a little selfishness, make arrangements for my family, and make arrangements for those who believed in me. That would be enough.
I would only save those who believed in me. As for everyone else, they could do whatever the fuck they wanted. Anyway, I could freely control my thoughts and turn any circumstance at will. No Karma could touch me—not even a leaf could cling to my body. A badass figure like Laozi, damn it!
I suddenly remembered a sentence born from the ignorance in my heart back in middle school: "A good person gets bullied, a good horse gets ridden. If you do not want others to bully you, then go bully others."
That sentence had directly changed my personality back then. Now, was I still going to keep rampaging through the cultivation world under this curse, one I did not know which lifetime had brought with me?
Fight the cultivators of the world and determine heroes through battle?
I thought they would definitely say something like, cultivators should not contend for strength or be so eager to fight.
Whenever I wanted to find a true opponent who could trade techniques with me, I had to fucking go looking in dreams.
Because the greatest skill these people had was hoodwinking those who understood nothing. Anyone even slightly capable had hidden away to cultivate alone.
They also disdained wasting words on these bastards.
And whether it was face-to-face battles or long-distance battles, I had never truly encountered a master.
When I used to read The Return of the Condor Heroes, when Yang Guo took the several swords left by Senior Dugu Qiubai, I thought the words written beside those swords were purely there to show off.
Now I knew the loneliness of being invincible.
For over thirty years I roamed the rivers and lakes, slaughtered every foe, defeated every hero; beneath heaven, no rival remained. With no other choice, I retired into a deep valley, taking wine as my friend. Alas, in all my life, I sought a worthy opponent and could not find one. Truly, such loneliness was unbearable. —Sword Demon Dugu Qiubai
That was exactly how I felt now.
Everyone claimed to be so powerful, their techniques so profound, yet most were nothing but clay chickens and porcelain dogs, heads stuck on poles for sale.
They could not even accomplish something as simple as praying for rain.
I could sit at home right now, point to whichever region I wanted to rain, and that region would rain.
This was too damn difficult. I was only a newborn calf, so why the hell was there not even one person who could spar with me?
It was not that I was competitive. It was just that the real masters hid too deeply, while everyone out in the open was garbage.
Either fucking salesmen or fucking scammers—what kind of nonsense was this?
As a cultivator, alas and woe. Sigh...
From ancient times to the present, those capable of founding their own sects had all experienced countless great battles before their names shook the world.
I forged swords from thought and created a school of my own.
In the real-world cultivation realm, who but me could be the Sect Master of the Wuji Sword Sect?
The sword was ready, its edge sharpened, yet there was not a single fucking opponent. All I could do was boast like Old Wang selling melons.
Teacher Ma founded the Hunyuan Taiji Sect and had even competed several times. Though he lost, he still lost with honor.
Yet I, a cultivator, could not find a suitable opponent anywhere in the human world. They were all merely at Foundation Establishment, great completion of Qi Refining, or Core Formation.
Only a few who had achieved Shattering Core to Form Nascent Soul belonged to the Dharma cultivator lineage.
I did not dare challenge the present-day Sage, because the Sage and I were on the same side. First, I admired his great virtue from the bottom of my heart; second, I sincerely regarded him as a senior and had always followed his teachings.
Could it be that I could only use Primordial Spirit detachment to go fight in other worlds?
I really did love fighting cultivators...
Before you continue