Unmoving, Steady as a Mountain

A Mandala was a three-dimensional mandala, and a mandala was the completeness of the circle, true knowledge, awakening, the wisdom of all Buddhas, a Zen circle in which all phenomena stood arrayed, interconnected and gathered within. It was an important part of cultivation in the Secret Dharma Region.

It usually appeared in the form of a Thangka.

Or in the form of a mural.

But among the temples of the Secret Dharma Region, many temples were themselves extraordinary "mandalas," built in the form of mandalas, just like the many Mandalas hidden deep in the rear mountains of the Endless White Pagoda Temple. Those Mandalas were three-dimensional mandalas.

The final empowerment and the teachings of the yidam lama all took place within a Mandala.

Except during empowerments and Great Offerings, Mandalas were closed to outsiders, with large numbers of Duoduo Monksoldiers patrolling and stationed around them, allowing no one to approach.

For those were the sacred grounds of all Buddhas and bodhisattvas in the Secret Dharma Region, containing images depicting their enlightenment, as well as the primordial Secret Mantras and root incantations concealed within those images. Every Mandala had its own specifications. Even if someone had cracked Lu Feng's skull open, he would never have imagined that this place was an abandoned Mandala.

There were simply too few identifiable features.

The great radiant fire directly ignited the fire offering here. On the ground, a complex "Seed Syllable" gradually emerged within the great radiant flames. Amid those flames, the Great Sun Tathagata in the mural suddenly changed color, and within that brilliant golden radiance, the mural began to sway.

It began to "emerge" from the wall, turning into patterns of resonance that drifted above him.

Like water plants in the sea.

Lu Feng sensed something and looked up. He saw countless Hungry Ghosts emerge from the void and cling to the Great Sun Tathagata in the mural, opening their mouths and beginning to devour him. At the same time, countless uncanny auras appeared around Lu Feng.

Ghost Resonance-currents of indescribable aura that inspired fear and revulsion-appeared all around him, interweaving before transforming into actual Malevolent Ghosts.

It was as though he had become the Great Sun Tathagata in the mural, right there.

Countless Hungry Ghosts appeared beside him, bit into his throat, and tore it open!

Those Hungry Ghosts seemed never to feel full. The stench of corpses relentlessly assaulted Lu Feng's nostrils, and fingers even dug his eyes out of their sockets and swallowed them.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. After that blink, Lu Feng was dead.

Countless Malevolent Ghosts clung to him, eating every inch of his flesh clean.

And that was not all.

What the Hungry Ghosts ate was not just his physical body.

There were also his ears, nose, mouth, tongue, body, and mind.

Those Hungry Ghosts swallowed everything, ate everything. Even human consciousness was swallowed into their bellies. After death, even the soul felt as though it were being devoured alive and flayed raw. From beginning to end, Lu Feng felt himself being eaten whole, the pain impossible to suppress, his wails like funeral music.

The thought I'm being eaten alive arose in his mind every instant.

And Lu Feng easily erased it each time.

Great Terror assaulted his mind countless times.

Each time, it was like the tide crashing against a dam.

Within Lotus Flower City.

Yet there was not a trace of fear in Lu Feng's heart.

The Ancient Scroll had remained beside him all along, and he had always retained one last shred of calm. He knew that if, at this moment, he truly felt even a hair-fine trace of fear, his mind would be overwhelmed by Great Terror, and he would become a Malevolent Ghost!

"Om!"

It was not the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra.

Lu Feng recited only a single-syllable mantra.

He aroused the Great Compassionate Mind, and compassionate resonance emerged from the void.

Only the Compassionate Mind remained in his heart. Beneath his Navel Chakra, within a little unfurled Single Lotus Petal, countless Hungry Ghosts gnawed away, yet could not consume that petal completely.

Until this utterance of the Secret Mantra rang out.

Lu Feng suddenly understood.

He knew everything clearly.

He knew this was a "fire offering."

And so Lu Feng offered himself to these Hungry Ghosts, his entire being becoming an "Offering."

A "Great Offering."

Only after Lu Feng let go of all his consciousness, all of himself, did those Hungry Ghosts swiftly devour him, consuming him entirely.

Nothing remained.

Like ants climbing a tower of honey: while the ants swarmed over it, a human shape remained.

But once all the ants dispersed, nothing was left there.

Devoured by ten thousand ghosts, he remained unmoving.

The Sixth Stage of the Gradual Path: the Immovable Mind.

But was there truly nothing left?

After the Great Offering.

Came an "awakening."

The Great Sun Tathagata in the mural opened his eyes. Suddenly, all the Hungry Ghosts around him vanished, and he simply sat upright in the void.

Lu Feng also opened his eyes. The Malevolent Ghosts formed from the six eminent monks prostrated themselves beside him, kneeling as though bowing before their lama yidam.

This was Subjugation!

With Great Compassion Resonance, he subdued the six Malevolent Ghosts linked to him by karma-the Kapala rosary was in his hands, so these six "Dharma Protectors" ought to be subdued by him.

One could perhaps subdue them through great force, subduing Malevolent Ghosts of the Outer Dao, or one could subdue them like this, through "Buddhist teachings."

Even among Dharma Protectors.

There were differences.

An Outer God such as King Mingzhu could, once subdued, serve as a Dharma Protector Yidam for visualization. But the six Dharma Protectors Lu Feng had subdued, including Lu Feng himself, could not serve as objects of visualization.

The great radiant flames gradually disappeared. The earlier "devouring by Hungry Ghosts" could have been real or false.

If taken as real, it was real.

If treated as false, it was false.

By maintaining a peaceful, Immovable Mind, one could remain safe, attain the peaceful Immovable Contemplation, and sustain the Immovable Mind.

Possessing a Visualization Yidam and Mantra-Recitation Authority.

But if that were the case, then-not that Lu Feng was boasting-if every Kalyāṇamitra's trial to attain the Immovable Mind at the "Sixth Stage of the Gradual Path" were as "complicated" as his, there should not have been so many monks passing the Sixth Stage of the Gradual Path each year. Something must have gone wrong in his case. After all, someone who could recite mantras before receiving empowerment and attain his level might well be him alone.

The traces of the "fire offering" below were gradually disappearing, and before him, the mural was also gradually returning to normal-but it was absolutely not normal.

A Mandala appeared before him, not a three-dimensional Mandala, but one in the mural. He could not see the mural's yidam, but he could see the yidam's "Seed Syllable."

It was a single syllable.

"Om."

Footsteps sounded outside the Ancient Hall again. Lu Feng turned, initially thinking that some great monk had noticed the unusual disturbance and come running, but when he turned, he saw a black sheep outside the Ancient Hall, staring coldly at him.

It stared at Lu Feng, and Lu Feng stared back. After a long while, the black sheep slowly pushed the door open and used its two horns to "ram" a Thangka covered in yellow earth out of the ground. It placed it before Lu Feng, then glanced at him with its Vertical Eye, turned, and left.

Lu Feng remained motionless for a long time.

He took out his Ancient Scroll and glanced at it. Its contents remained unchanged, not a word added or removed. Lu Feng frowned and said, "I really never imagined that the Endless White Pagoda Temple alone would hold so many secrets."

He gazed at the Thangka.

Lu Feng closed his eyes and silently recited a Secret Mantra. Only after sensing no threat did he pick up the Thangka.

He gave it a shake.

He still saw no image of the yidam deity within it, but he saw incantations, mudras, and objects of visualization for cultivation. Yet there was simply no yidam for empowerment.

Because Lu Feng felt that this Transmission Dharma Lineage was broken within the Endless White Pagoda Temple!