Yulian's Advancement

Yulian remained silent for quite a long time this time. Wang Ping did not keep track of exactly how long had passed; he merely wore out several Buddhist scriptures in his hands from reading them over and over.

Many novels from his previous life treated Buddhist and Daoist classics as cultivation techniques. That was actually a grave misunderstanding. Whether Buddhist, Daoist, or Confucian teachings from his previous life, they were merely doctrines and ideas. Transcending one's thoughts could not grant cultivation, though it could bring a joy ordinary people could never comprehend.

Understanding the true essence of these doctrines could help cultivators see themselves clearly and attain great freedom, but it could not free them from the Physical Body of this lifetime.

Buddhism in this world was much the same. Though it possessed many schools, they all broadly expounded certain fundamental laws of the universe. That was right—both Daoist and Buddhist teachings used people or events to explain the universe's fundamental laws.

Take the "karma" often mentioned by Buddhists. Every school had its own arguments, yet they all acknowledged karma's existence. Karma could be viewed as a person's actions throughout a lifetime. More broadly, every phenomenon in the universe could be called karma. Buddhism in his previous life referred to all universal phenomena involving sentient beings as karma—or, in other words, other-mind.

Perhaps because this world possessed true great cultivators, they directly marked every movement and stillness of the universe as karma, as other-mind.

The universe's laws, the universe's movements, even the universe's thoughts—all were manifestations of other-mind. Once other-mind arose, no matter how distant the future, it would produce the result of other-mind: karma's retribution, commonly called cause and effect.

The above were views acknowledged by all Buddhist doctrines. Extending beyond them led into countless different schools, making explanation