Spring Gazing Mountain Ying, stones warm and moss thriving.
Hanging Temple and Subduing Dragon Temple stood amid the mountains, surrounded by what seemed like a natural emerald-green barrier.
During Grain Rain, tender shoots burst forth across the mountains. Bamboo sprouts pushed aside the black earth and grew from cracks in the rocks, their opened husks brimming with clear dew.
Two or three swallows and sparrows sliced through the sky with their wingtips, landing upon Buddha's hands and even people's bodies. Fearlessly raising their wings, they used their beaks to preen the feathers dampened by the morning dew as they darted through the woods.
"Victorious Fighting... Victorious Fighting..."
Soft clouds brought auspicious signs, spilling boundless golden light.
Di Xian rolled his prayer beads and gazed at the Ninth Golden Wheel in the Buddha's palm, utterly ignoring the sparrows on his shoulder. His lips moved as he repeated the words again and again.
Behind him, several elder monks were clearly a notch inferior in Buddhist cultivation. Their pupils widened, their breathing quickened, and their faces were filled with shock they could not conceal.
This...
How could it be? "Victorious Fighting?"
"This is Victorious Fighting?"
"Why is it Victorious Fighting?"
The Thirty-Five Buddhas eternally abided in all worlds throughout the Ten Directions.
The Vinaya Determination Sutra stated that those who had committed the five uninterrupted karmas should repent with utmost sincerity before the Thirty-Five Buddhas.
Victorious Fighting Buddha vanquished afflictions and comprehended the Dao. His body was blue, both hands held armor before his chest, and the merit of chanting his Buddha-name could eradicate sins committed in past lives through arrogance...
That world-born golden monkey was Victorious Fighting Buddha.
What had they revered and worshipped in their daily scripture chanting? Non-Abiding Nirvana invited Buddhas within; it had arisen from the aspirations of all