For a Prosperous World

Chapter 479 One Cause and One Effect

The two kept walking westward, gradually approaching the border.

In the evening, I happened to pass by a dilapidated temple. Although it was dilapidated and there was no one in the temple, it was always better to have a place to settle down for the night than to sleep in the open.

I walked into the temple with my luggage on my back. I don’t know how long no one has been in this temple. There is a layer of dust on the ground, and there are some spider webs on the beams. There are no spiders in the webs. It may be a long time. No living things came, not even the spiders could survive.

There is still a stone Buddha on the platform in the center of the ruined temple, with a broken hand and several cracks on it.

Xuanzang walked into the temple and saw the stone Buddha on the platform bowing in salute.Gu Nan did not salute, Xuanzang gave her a dharma name, but she is not considered a Buddhist disciple.

He picked up a broom that hadn't been used for an unknown period of time by the door, and briefly swept the dust on the ground, then took out two pieces of cloth from his luggage and spread them on the ground.

After the ceremony, Xuanzang took out the wooden fish and sat in front of the ruined temple to chant sutras.

And Gu Nan leaned against the door, looking at the path outside the door and the weeds on both sides of the path.

"Boom, boom, boom." The hollow sound of the wooden fish beating echoed in the temple, accompanied by the sound of chanting scriptures in a low voice.

"It will take about four or five days to leave the customs." Gu Nan looked back at Xuanzang and said.

"I won't send you off when I'm outside the pass."

"Boom..." The hand knocking on the wooden fish stopped, making the wooden fish's voice also stop.

Xuanzang opened his eyes and looked at Gu Nan.

After a while, he lightly put down the wooden stick in his hand, clasped his hands together, and bowed down slowly.

"This way, thank you benefactor."

"It's nothing." Gu Nan smiled and waved his hand: "It's just on the way."

Xuanzang stopped talking and just continued to chant the scriptures, or what he wanted to say was in the scriptures he could read.

Later on, it started to rain again, probably because of the season, as it always rains non-stop during this period.

In the rain, the weeds on both sides of this wilderness path became more green, and the color of the grass seemed to be blurred, which was quite beautiful.

Raindrops dripped down the tile eaves of the ruined temple, and fell to the ground with a ticking sound.

Xuanzang didn't know when he stopped, and he didn't meditate in meditation, but watched the rain in a trance.

This should be regarded as a rare time when he did not practice Buddhism, the Zen stick beside him was rattled by the breeze, Xuanzang turned his head and said to Gu Nan.

"Speaking of it, benefactor, I don't know what the benefactor's name is, so I don't know if I can tell you."

It's just a name, there's nothing to say.

Gu Nan was about to tell Xuanzang his name, but suddenly he became playful and said with a smile.

"You stretch out your hand, and I will write my name on your hand. If you guess it, I will tell you."

Xuanzang was stunned for a moment, and stretched out his hand in front of Gu Nan.

He felt his hand being held, and then a finger touched his palm.

His fingertips were a little cold, and he slid across his palm lightly, writing two words stroke by stroke.

After finishing writing, Gu Nan raised his head and asked with a smile, "Did you guess it?"

Xuanzang stared at her blankly for a while, then lowered his head slightly, stopped looking at her, and said with a faint smile.

"Little monk, take note. Gu benefactor."

Gu Nan didn't see Xuanzang's strangeness, she guessed it once she saw him, shrugged her shoulders, and let go of his hand boringly.

Leaning casually by the door, resting his hands on the back of his head, looking at the rain outside the door, he sighed.

"It's unlucky to live in the wilderness, and it rains at night on the road."

And Xuanzang sat quietly, for a while, turned his head to look at the Buddha statue in the temple, closed his eyes, and said a few words lightly.

"Good, good."

This is good, it is the words of the Buddhist confession, and I don't know why he is making the confession at this time.

······
The journey in four or five days is not long. Using Gu Nan's footsteps, if it is slower, it can be reached in half a day.

It is desolate outside the pass, and sometimes there is not a single human being for several miles.On the road, Xuanzang stood in front of Gu Nan in cassock.

Gu Nan pointed at a place with Wuge and said: "I used to come to the outside of the pass, and when I walked there, I could meet a few villages on the way, so it was convenient for alms."

Xuanzang looked back at the direction Gu Nan was pointing at, and turned around.

"That's it, thank you benefactor Gu."

Gu Nan put down her hands: "You don't have to thank me, let's just say goodbye and just be careful on our way."

This monk was a bit dumbfounded, but he was a good monk, he shouldn't have met with disaster in this kind of place.

She turned around to leave.

Xuanzang stopped her.

"Benefactor, I have one more thing to do."

"Huh?" Gu Nan turned around suspiciously: "What's the matter?"

I saw Xuanzang walking slowly in front of her, holding on to the sleeve of the monk's robe, raised a hand, and tapped lightly on her forehead.

Gu Nan took a step back: "Monk, what are you doing knocking on me?"

Xuanzang smiled, and said with a slight sigh: "A reward is a reward, so the karma between me and the benefactor is over."

When the karma is over, the entanglement between the two is over.

"You Buddhists always have some strange rules."

Gu Nan went to think about Xuanzang's meaning, touched his forehead, waved goodbye, and walked towards the distance on the path.

But when she walked a long way, Xuanzang's voice suddenly came from behind her.

"Almsgiver, I am going to the Western Paradise. If the little monk can ask the Buddha's heart, I will ask me why the Buddha killed the evil for the benefactor. I will go to the bewilderment of the benefactor."

Gu Nan smiled and replied from a distance.

"Then I'll wait for you to tell me."

Just like this, it is another cause and effect.

The people gradually walked away, and there were no more people at the ends of the road. Xuanzang stood on the road, carrying his luggage.

He sighed, put his hands together, and said softly.

"Good."

After speaking, go west.

From now on, he is going to ask about the Buddha's heart, ask about the Buddha's will, ask about the seven emotions and six desires, ask about karma and retribution, and ask about a word of Buddha in his heart.

Tang Monk Xuanzang went to the West to learn Buddhist scriptures. Later, there was a gossip, saying that he was not alone on the journey, but that there were three people who walked with him one after another. Those three people were named Wukong, Wuneng, and Wujing.This story was written into a novel by later generations and spread widely.

When Gu Nan knew that Wukong was a monkey, he remembered the story of Journey to the West, and regretted accepting this title, but maybe this is cause and effect.

Long after the two parted, Tang Seng came back to learn the scriptures and preach Buddhism.

The incense in the temple is endless, but pilgrims are not allowed to enter the back mountain, because it is the place where the master meditates.

One day, a pilgrim wearing a bamboo hat walked into the back mountain alone.

There is a thin smoke in the back mountain, except for the sound of chanting sutras and the reverberation of bells in the distance, there is no other sound.

There is a temple in the mountain, and an old monk stands in the temple. He stands in front of a Buddha statue, reciting Buddhist scriptures in a low voice.

Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.

"Monk, let me ask you a question. The Buddha said put down the butcher's knife, so what's the point of killing?"

The sound of chanting stopped, the old monk opened his closed eyes and turned his head.

He saw a man wearing a bamboo hat and a black rapier hanging from his waist.

After staying for a long time, the old monk laughed, shook his head and said.

"Xuanzang, I still don't understand."

It's like he still doesn't understand why his Buddha heart moved when she wrote her name on his palm.

There are always things in the world that the Buddha cannot explain, in that one cause and one effect.

　Uh, I forgot yesterday, I only remembered after seeing the comments, although it is late, but I still wish everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)