Buddha

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Buddha (佛陀)
Type	Buddhist spiritual ideal, religious identity, and formally recognized fruit status 598 600 628.
Affiliation	Buddhist Sect; prominently associated with the Tianfan Buddhist Kingdom and Great Thunder Monastery 587 605.
Occupation/Role	Object of worship, recipient of believers’ Prayer Power, and—in figures such as Wutian Buddha—authority over Buddhist appointments and rewards 585 605.
Named Bearers	Wutian Buddha, Zai En Buddha, and Fahai Buddha, the Buddhist identity of Li Shuidao 605 628.
First Appearance	Referenced in the sutra title Zen Enlightenment Before the Buddha in the supplied passages 104.

Meaning and Status

• Spiritual ideal: Fahai defines Buddha through compassion and the salvation of sentient beings, contrasting it with Mo, which he associates with insatiable greed and disorder 600.
• Buddha-nature: Buddhist teachings describe all beings as possessing the potential for Buddhahood. Monks invoke this principle when arguing that demonic cultivators should be guided toward repentance rather than killed 598 600.
• Recognized status: Buddha is also an institutional fruit status. Fahai holds this status while serving as Glazed Mountain’s Tou Tuo 628.
• Not a single cultivation realm: Fahai is a Void Refining cultivator, whereas Zai En Buddha is at Body Integration. Both are called Buddhas 626 628 629.
• Restricted self-proclamation: Li Shuidao’s early declaration that he is Buddha is treated as a transgression against the Tianfan Buddhist Kingdom’s authority 585 587.

Succession and Authority

• Bodhisattva Jingci warns that replacing the Tianfan Buddhist Kingdom’s Buddha brings slaughter on an enormous scale, with casualties extending from Buddhas to mortals and numbering in the hundreds of millions 587.
• Wutian Buddha grants titles, distributes Prayer Power, appoints regional leaders, and summons Buddhas and Arhats to address threats to the sect 605 624 632.
• Buddha status carries public protection: Zai En stops short of killing Fahai because killing another Buddha would risk widespread outrage 627.

Power Progression

The documented example below follows Fahai’s Buddhist cultivation and religious status, rather than his separate Virtual Realm cultivation. Institutional promotions and realm breakthroughs are distinct 588 626.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
High-grade Golden Core	583	Li Shuidao reports forming a High-grade Golden Core through the Heart Sea Bright Lamp Art after teaching himself Buddhist techniques.
Self-proclaimed Buddha	585 586	Encourages residents to worship Fahai and gathers Incense and Fire Prayer Power; appears as the Buddha of the “Sea of Myriad Laws.”
Seated Arhat	587	Bodhisattva Jingci performs his tonsure and formally appoints him Seated Arhat of Glazed Mountain, with the Dharma name Fahai.
Nascent Soul	588	Advances from Golden Core in a little over ten years through Prayer Power. His golden Nascent Soul resembles a miniature Buddha.
Great Strength Arhat	591 592	Wins appointment after a contest on the Pudu Altar, defeating Arhat Jingchan through sustained Magical Power.
Scripture Transmission Arhat; Spirit Transmutation	601	Receives Prayer Power from over 100,000 assigned followers in addition to his Virtual Realm’s believers; sustained refinement brings his Nascent Soul to Spirit Transmutation.
Vajra Arhat → Vajra Wrathful Arhat	605	Wutian Buddha rewards his reported campaign achievements with promotion and 30,000 units of Prayer Power.
Fahai Tou Tuo; leadership of Glazed Mountain	624	Wutian appoints him to suppress the Blood Demon Cult and take charge of Glazed Mountain; reconstruction receives increased annual Prayer Power.
Void Refining; confirmed Buddha fruit status	626 628	Advances from Spirit Transmutation in less than eight years using ten million Prayer Power annually. As Glazed Mountain’s Tou Tuo, he also holds Buddha fruit status.

Prayer Power and Cultivation

Faith as a Cultivation Resource

Prayer Power originates in believers’ reverence, hopes, and devotion. Fahai’s Scripture of Universal Salvation manifests as a rotating scripture wheel that converts this power into cultivation, nourishing his Nascent Soul and tempering his treasures 588.

• Gathering methods: Building pagodas, spreading faith, and attracting worship are prescribed for the scripture’s Heavenly Volume 584.
• Institutional allocation: Buddhist positions provide access to assigned believers’ Prayer Power, making office and advancement closely connected 588 601.
• Independent supply: Fahai’s Virtual Realm supplies additional Prayer Power outside the sect’s allocation 588.
• Cultivation speed: Fahai’s Golden Core-to-Nascent Soul advancement takes a little over ten years, compared with the several hundred years described for Daoist cultivators 588.
• Accumulation still matters: Zai En has cultivated for ten thousand years but says he still lacks the Magical Power required for the Brahma Divine Palm 629.
• A channel for intervention: A high-ranking Buddha’s will can follow a Prayer Power channel and lock onto a subordinate cultivator 596.

Status and Cultivation Are Separate

• Arhat Jiayan masters the Indestructible Golden Body without being formally conferred the title of Golden Body Arhat 590.
• Ku Xiao obtains the Tou Tuo position while still at Void Refining; access to Glazed Mountain’s Pudu Altar is expected to help him reach Body Integration within five hundred years 604.
• Fahai’s Buddhist Nascent Soul and Virtual Realm path advance separately, despite belonging to the same cultivator 626.

Abilities and Manifestations

Overturning Buddha Palm

A major Buddhist Spiritual Power reserved for Buddhas of at least the sixth tier, or Void Refining Realm. Its use requires sacrificing an immense amount of Prayer Power; equivalent cultivation alone does not make a Yaksha Vajra capable of wielding it 626 630.

• Manifestation: An enormous golden palm covered in flowing Sanskrit script, capable of covering the sky 626.
• Advanced forms: Develops into the Brahma Divine Palm; Wutian’s Wutian Divine Palm is an advancement of that technique 626.
• Limit: Higher forms demand extraordinary Magical Power accumulation 629.
• Power disparity: Zai En’s Body Integration cultivation gives him the advantage over Fahai during their palm exchange 629.

Buddha’s Light Illumination

Zai En uses this technique to investigate suspected demonic infiltration on Glazed Mountain 629.

• Purpose: Reveals Mo and Yao so that they cannot remain hidden 629.
• Manifestation: Vast golden light containing apparent figures of Buddhas sitting, standing, chanting, and preaching 629.
• Documented outcome: The inspection fails to expose Glazed Mountain’s concealed demonic affiliations 628 629.

Buddha Projections and Formations

Buddha imagery can be produced through techniques and treasures; its appearance does not by itself establish the user’s formal status 573 583 585.

• Buddha Pagoda Futu Formation: Produces golden Buddha figures whose layered chants impose increasing pressure on trapped enemies, including Spirit Transmutation cultivators 574.
• Immeasurable Dharma Sea: Surrounds the pagoda with a golden ocean that neutralizes attacks and repairs damage to the formation 574.
• Public displays: Fahai’s golden light and Buddhist chants convince skeptical townspeople that they are witnessing a Buddha’s descent 583.
• Nascent Soul imagery: Fahai’s golden Nascent Soul appears as a small Buddha wearing a kasaya and holding Bodhi Pearls 588.

Worship and Society

Temples and Reputation

• Cultivators who attain Arhat, Buddha, or Bodhisattva status are enshrined in temples with both statues and accounts of their deeds 628.
• Glazed Mountain houses a colossal statue of Fahai Buddha, depicted as young and handsome with a sharp, demon-slaying gaze 629.
• Public prestige matters: news of Fahai’s injury establishes a widespread belief that he is inferior to Zai En Buddha 628.
• Worship can promise hope beyond present suffering. Impoverished villagers regard Mingwu Tou Tuo as Buddha’s incarnation and pray for salvation in their next lives 630.

Governance and Corruption

Fahai initially uses taxes, officials, and registration to govern his followers. After corruption causes unrest, he abolishes taxes, reduces officials, and introduces Spirit Stones as currency. Later, he deploys the Snake-Scorpion Twin Demons against wealthy families accumulating land 586.

The ideal of compassion repeatedly conflicts with institutional conduct. Arhat Jiayan demands bribes for guidance, while villagers’ faith is exploited through grain extraction and offerings. Fahai’s own Buddhist identity also conceals his leadership of the Blood Demon Cult 588 625 630.

• Limits of mercy: The text explicitly argues that mercy toward corrupt officials necessarily leaves ordinary people suffering 588.
• Disputed methods: Buddhist cultivators disagree over whether demonic cults should be persuaded to reform or eradicated 595 598.
• Deceptive salvation: Fahai claims to deliver fallen warriors’ souls at Mount Shu, but actually sends them into his Virtual Realm’s Sword Mountain for sword refinement 633.

Notable Bearers

Bearer	Documented role
Wutian Buddha	Authority at Great Thunder Monastery who confers titles and Prayer Power, punishes Ku Xiao’s failure, and appoints Fahai to lead Glazed Mountain 605 623 624.
Zai En Buddha	Body Integration cultivator associated with Haijia Mountain; uses Buddha’s Light Illumination and the Overturning Buddha Palm 626 629.
Fahai Buddha / Li Shuidao	Begins by proclaiming himself Buddha to gather faith; later holds recognized Buddha fruit status as Glazed Mountain’s Tou Tuo 585 587 628.

Notable Quotes

“Buddha is compassion for all beings, saving all sentient beings; Mo is insatiable greed, disrupting the world.”
— Fahai 600

“Buddha is not elsewhere; I am Buddha.”
— Fahai 600

“You still should not have called yourself Buddha. Each time the Tianfan Buddhist Kingdom's Buddha is replaced, boundless slaughter follows.”
— Bodhisattva Jingci 587