The aura of compassion

According to the book Travelogue of the Esoteric Dharma Realm.

In the Secret Dharma Region, malevolent ghosts were a "category." Above malevolent ghosts were the more powerful "wild gods," and above "wild gods" were the other unsubdued "Great Excellences" and "Great Terrors." Those were the truly insoluble existences.

They were natural disasters that even eminent monks could not withstand.

Most malevolent ghosts were transformed from humans, but some had unknown origins. Those of unknown origins were extremely difficult to subdue. Even eminent monks, for various reasons, might become malevolent ghosts after death and bring calamity to an area.

More often, however, if something went wrong with an eminent monk's cultivation, he would become a wild god. As for those vaguely described, so-called "unsubdued Great Excellences and Great Terrors," the eminent monk spoke in riddles, leaving readers unable to puzzle them out. Of course, another possibility was that even the eminent monk who wrote this book knew nothing about them.

In the Secret Dharma Region, all snow mountains and lakes were the abodes of deities.

Every mountain, river, and lake was both a deity's dwelling and the deity itself, requiring worship and offerings. And more importantly-Lu Feng frowned. He did not know whether it was an illusion, but as he divided his attention among several things, he felt that the Kapala rosary in his hand seemed to have acquired thoughts of its own. Like a turning wheel, it began to turn by itself. The sounds of mantra chanting around him grew stranger and more obscure, like curses uttered by evil ghosts. Blood-colored curse markings seemed to appear on his body, spreading across it.

Amid the sounds around him, evil ghosts were born from the voices behind him. They wandered around him, spewing utterly foul, wicked words to lure him. The radiance around him also turned into countless terrifying masses of bloody filth and corruption, sweeping toward him as though to blanket his body.

Lu Feng involuntarily stood up, seemingly about to follow these malevolent ghosts toward the Buddha statue ahead!

Yet Lu Feng was certain that there were absolutely no malevolent ghosts around him.

Moreover, the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra was genuine orthodox Dharma. Under normal circumstances, such a situation could never arise. But just as he thought this, a malevolent ghost seemed to press against his back. Then the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra no longer seemed to be under his control as he chanted it.

Lu Feng felt that something was taking control of his mouth. The Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra gradually went wildly off-key, lured toward another extreme, turning from great compassion into great savagery and great cruelty. His voice became an incomprehensible summons, calling something to come this way through the still night.

And his summons did indeed have an effect.

Something seemed to have appeared outside and was making its way over.

Without having received an empowerment or a Lama's blessing, Lu Feng had practiced the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra, which required no visualization, only for this startling situation to arise suddenly. He immediately withdrew all his thoughts and held his breath. That sensation vanished in an instant.

He regained control of his body, and everything around him disappeared.

Instead, a genuine "Compassionate Resonance" slowly emanated from him, like a blazing golden Great Sun gently dispelling the surrounding darkness. An extraordinary aura of excellence, something only Mantra Holders possessed, also began to emerge from him.

"What was going on?"

For a moment, Lu Feng was bewildered, unsure what had happened.

He glanced at the Kapala rosary in his hand. At some point, it had changed again, becoming like golden beads. Yet held in his hand, it still carried a comforting warmth like that of a human body. Holding it, Lu Feng even felt as though he were clasping an eminent monk's hand.

Lu Feng chanted the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra again and felt that he really could call upon a measure of that Compassionate Resonance.

Although it fell far short of the power of the esoteric mantra when Master Zhuogedunzhu had permitted him to use the White Vajra Dharma Protector Mantra in the Gaqila Tusi's fortified residence, this was power Lu Feng could release through his own chanting. It was entirely different from that other power.

At this level, he could already be addressed as a "Lama."

He could go to the Discipline Hall, seek out a Lama there to administer his precepts, register his Dharma name, put on red robes, and formally become a member of the monastery.

Moreover, those who chanted esoteric mantras.

Naturally possessed something more excellent than others.

Even when they were not chanting, a faint aura would linger on them.

Giving others a sense of pressure.

Previously, Lu Feng had only heard that in debates between Sutra Student Monks, defeat was merely defeat. Beyond losing, there was no particular danger.

But in debate ceremonies involving fifth-stage "Kalyāṇamitras" and above, "accidents" would occur. The losers would sever their heads, burn themselves, take their own lives, or turn into outer gods or malevolent ghosts on the spot, to be subdued and made into the monastery's protector deities.

Supposedly, this was the result of esoteric mantras radiating their power outward.

I've never received an empowerment, never had a Lama resolve my doubts, nor entered a mandala to receive a transmission. Why would this happen?

Could it be this Kapala rosary?

Lu Feng could not understand it.

He could not figure it out.

But after experiencing this strange event.

He stopped chanting and instead thought about his future.

After passing the scripture debate examination, he would receive an "empowerment" within a mandala enshrined in this monastery, choose a Lama, and receive a transmission.

Yet few of the monastery's "Lamas" had good tempers. Although Master Zhiyun was like that, he was still one of the more "gentle" and "kindly" benevolent elders among the monastery's Lamas.

From that, one could imagine how the other Lamas treated their disciples and attendant monks.

Recalling once more what Master Zhuogedunzhu had told him, Lu Feng's mind was exceptionally clear at this moment.

Master Zhuogedunzhu had praised him for possessing Buddha-nature. Thus, he could risk trying the King Mingzhu Dharma Protector Mantra, one of the monastery's two Dharma lineages. This mantra was reputed to be beyond even sixth-stage monks who had mastered the "immovable mind." But he was different. Master Zhuogedunzhu had said he was a born Buddha’s Son, endowed with Buddha-nature. Did that not mean he could attempt the dangerous King Mingzhu Dharma Protector Mantra?

This "mantra" possessed supreme, tremendous power. Even in the eyes of a Lama with Master Zhuogedunzhu's breadth of experience, it was a mantra of considerable power. Lu Feng touched the Human-Skin Ancient Scroll against his chest. His so-called Buddha-nature was actually an ability granted by this Human-Skin Ancient Scroll he carried.

He had not forgotten that, back at the Gaqila Fortified Village, every time a great crisis descended, he had been able to remain rational thanks to this ancient scroll. In other words, as long as he carried it, he could risk attempting the most excellent protector mantra in the entire monastery, the King Mingzhu Dharma Protector Mantra.

The greatest danger of the King Mingzhu Dharma Protector Mantra lay in its ability to destroy a practitioner's "immovable mind," turning them into a "malevolent ghost" or a "wild god."

As long as he could protect his fundamental mind under the ancient scroll's blessing.

He would not have to worry about becoming a malevolent ghost or a wild god, and could learn this mantra!

And he knew very well that those in the Endless White Pagoda Temple who practiced this esoteric mantra.

Were few and far between.

But because this Dharma Protector Mantra was an important part of the monastery's Dharma lineage, there was a shaman in the monastery who could invite this "King Mingzhu" to descend into the mortal world!

And, if he remembered correctly.

King Mingzhu had a mandala in this monastery.

The shaman lived within it.

For some unknown reason, however, he very rarely saw King Mingzhu's shaman.

But this transmission certainly existed.

Why not make a risky move?

After the debate.

Try learning the King Mingzhu Dharma Protector Mantra?