A Monk Chants Mantras

He had easily dealt with an attendant monk.

Master Zhiyun looked at Lu Feng kindly and said, "Zhasa, you really have rendered a great service this time. What relationship do you have with this great monk?"

He pointed at the embossed paper, his gaze fixed on Lu Feng. If Lu Feng showed even the slightest unnaturalness or hesitation, he would immediately cast secret mantras on him to make him speak the truth.

What relationship did Zhasa have with this great monk?

This was extremely important to him.

It would even affect their future attitude toward Zhasa. After all, an attendant to a great monk from a great Lineage had to be treated cautiously, no matter how one looked at it. This was precisely the significance of Master Zhuogedunzhu allowing Lu Feng to use his name.

In the Secret Dharma Region.

Once you reached the top.

Your name was itself a kind of power.

Lu Feng also understood what Master Zhiyun meant.

But Lu Feng remained very calm.

He calmly repeated, "Master Zhuogedunzhu told me that he was a descendant of the divine eagle and divine dragon. The great emperor of the Central Plains had invested his ancestors with titles and granted them the authority of seal-bearing Zhasaks.

"His ancestors had also received investiture from the Temple of the Origin of All Dharmas. They possessed estates, land, slaves, and the authority to issue ordination certificates and Zha Fu on behalf of the great emperor of the Central Plains.

"I may conduct all affairs in Master Zhuogedunzhu's name. I need only provide him with the necessary assistance when he requires it."

Everything Lu Feng said was true.

He looked straight into Master Zhiyun's eyes just like that.

And calmly finished saying these words.

Master Zhiyun detected no lies, and his manner toward Lu Feng grew even kinder and more benevolent.

"Blessed by the Buddha, you truly are a fortunate child."

The hand he had intended to use to cast a mantra opened into a palm and stroked Lu Feng's forehead. "If you hadn't always wanted to qualify as a Kalyāṇamitra, I would have liked to take you as an attendant monk. You've come a long way. You must be hungry?"

Master Zhiyun had more than one attendant monk.

Soon, an attendant monk brought tsampa, butter tea, and large chunks of beef for Lu Feng to eat.

Master Zhiyun himself left.

Lu Feng began eating extremely quickly. The attendant monk standing beside him watched him with terror in his eyes.

He wanted to escape.

But he could not.

Not everyone had the right to choose their own path. Attendant monks like them could only do whatever their Lama told them to do.

Even though he knew that the previous attendant monk had been demoted to a horse-tending monk for offending the Lama here.

When the Lama told him to come, he still had no choice but to come.

Only he and Lu Feng were here.

Lu Feng drank a bowl of butter tea, then suddenly asked, "Senior brother, why are you so frightened?"

The attendant monk faltered, not daring to speak.

Lu Feng suddenly felt somewhat full.

Was it the fox mourning the rabbit's death?

Perhaps it was not that he was full.

He tossed the beef onto the plate and set down the saddlebag beside him.

He washed his hands and feet.

And began reciting a sutra.

He recited the Diamond Sutra.

This was for Gaqila Tusi's family, to thank them for their alms.

The other mantra, a prayer for blessings, was recited for Master Zhuogedunzhu, to thank him for his help.

Amid this sutra recitation, the attendant monk gradually calmed down as well.

He tried hard to drive the previous attendant monk's fate from his mind-there was no other reason than a secret teaching that had always circulated within the monastery.

Namely, serving as a Lama's horse-tending monk was no easy task.

Every Lama's mount was a Malevolent Ghost he had subdued!

In other words, horse-tending monks were actually monks who reared subdued Malevolent Ghosts. If anything went even slightly wrong with a Malevolent Ghost, the horse-tending monk would lose his life and descend to the Yellow Springs.

What a pity. That attendant monk had felt he had always been utterly loyal, only to meet such an end.

Lu Feng sighed, but now was not the time for sighing.

Halfway through his sutra recitation.

Master Zhiyun returned.

Master Zhiyun looked at Lu Feng, ignoring the attendant monk beside him, and suddenly said, "Zhasa, I remember you haven't yet passed a scriptural debate and earned the degree of Kalyāṇamitra?

"But I've heard that although you're a pechawa.

"You're deeply learned and very likely to earn the degree of Kalyāṇamitra?

"All you lack is an opportunity?"

His gaze fell on the saddlebag lying on the floor.

Lu Feng said, "Yes. Master Zhuogedunzhu said the same, so he specifically packed these offerings for me to help me pass this scriptural debate."

Hearing that Master Zhuogedunzhu had given them to him, whether it was true or false, Master Zhiyun collected himself.

"I see."

Master Zhiyun said.

He drew several sheets of paper from beneath the Buddha statue some distance away and handed them to Lu Feng. "Read these and commit everything to memory!"

He tapped a finger against them.

The gesture seemed laden with meaning.

But just as he was about to leave, he hesitated.

Then he took a string of prayer beads from his person.

This string of prayer beads was very small.

There were only six beads.

They were round and lustrous as jade.

They did not look like jade or stone.

They looked more like human bone.

Bone from between the brows.

Characters were carved into all these bones. Master Zhiyun said, "From what I see of your understanding now, you are also a monk versed in the sutras and monastic discipline. Thus, I specially bestow this upon you and permit you to chant mantras, becoming a Mantra Holder."

"This is a Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra rosary. You may use these beads to empower the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra.

"This mantra contains the boundless blessings and compassion of all Buddhas and encompasses the essence of the eighty-four thousand Dharma gates. It requires neither offerings and alms nor empowerment through initiation. It can help awaken your wisdom and prolong your life, shield you from the harm of evil demons and heterodox paths, and grant you unsurpassed great wisdom and a mind of unsurpassed liberation."

Lu Feng knew everything Master Zhiyun was saying. The Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra was one of the few secret mantras that could be recited without a Lama's initiation and empowerment, and it was extremely widespread. Yet despite its wide circulation and lack of any barrier to entry, few attained mastery. Why was that?

Naturally, it was because practicing this mantra required great perseverance and great wisdom before one could perfect enlightenment as one's nature and recognize true suchness. Many monks empowered this mantra for ten, twenty, or fifty years, then felt it was useless and developed indolence, resentment, and anger. Naturally, it became useless.

Lu Feng had not expected Master Zhiyun to give him this object now. Even less had he expected that sheet of paper.

Master Zhiyun sternly ordered the attendant monk out of this Buddha hall, allowing only Lu Feng to remain inside.

After saying all this, he gestured for Lu Feng to stay here without moving, and even thoughtfully lit an oil lamp for him.

Night was approaching.

A rich scent of offering incense filled the entire room.

The small windows were all shut, and behind him stood a statue of an unknown Buddha.

The earthen-red curtains, steeped in offering incense day after day, carried a strange smell.

Lu Feng glanced over and saw various dried offerings in front of the offering table.

Lu Feng did not think about what those offerings were.

He simply sat amid them and studied.

Holding the prayer beads between his fingers, he sensed the lingering resonance of consciousness upon them and knew this rosary was a priceless treasure. This was a Kapala rosary made from an eminent monk's brow bones, bearing that eminent monk's "consciousness."

A Kapala rosary like this.

Would take at least a dozen years to make. Without favorable circumstances, one might not gather enough for a full string even in several decades.

Because this object was "alive."