The Mysterious Burning and Killing

Chapter 3

- Mystery Tribe

Section 5, Outrage from Gods and Men

The ancient city was the capital of the Golden Bull Kingdom, located at the crossroads of its most important trade routes, and had always been the most prosperous city in the country. The Jade Buddha Temple within the city was also the most magnificent temple in the entire kingdom, housing a jade Buddha statue. This jade Buddha emitted a bright luster, and legend had it that being illuminated by this radiance would ensure a year free from misfortune and disaster. Therefore, the Jade Buddha Temple attracted countless devout men and women from all over the country to worship there every year.

The abbot of the Jade Buddha Temple also serves as the national advisor of the Golden Bull Kingdom. Throughout history, the national advisors have all been wise and virtuous, assisting one king after another in governing the country diligently and making the Golden Bull Kingdom prosperous and peaceful.

Fifty years ago, Abbot Xuanqing of the Jade Buddha Temple was giving a sermon when he encountered two homeless orphans on the street on his way back. Seeing the two orphans wandering the streets in such a pitiful state, he felt compassion for them. Moreover, seeing that they were both intelligent and clever, he couldn't help but like them and decided to take them in. So he brought the two orphans back to the Jade Buddha Temple.

The two children lost both parents at a young age and were bullied on the streets. Naturally, they were overjoyed to suddenly be loved by someone, so they both agreed to stay at the Jade Buddha Temple, shave their heads and become monks, and take Master Xuanqing as their master. The older one was given the Dharma name Huiren, and the younger one was given the Dharma name Huizhi.

The abbot kept the two young monks by his side, personally teaching them Buddhist teachings, how to read and write, and how to cultivate their character.

Through spring, summer, autumn, and winter, flowers bloomed and faded, and many years passed. The two young monks grew into adults, their personalities gradually emerging. Huiren was honest and peaceful by nature, enjoying solitude, loving nature, and living a tranquil and serene life, free from worldly strife. Huizhi, on the other hand, was quick-witted and competitive, always eager to argue with others, never giving up until a winner was decided. The old abbot, seeing their high level of understanding and their diligent learning, was very pleased and passed on his strategies for governing the country to them, hoping they would inherit his mantle and become the new abbots of the Jade Buddha Temple and the national teachers of the Golden Bull Kingdom.

Many years passed, and Huiren and Huizhi became the most accomplished monks at the Jade Buddha Temple. The old abbot worked tirelessly for the country day and night, and finally fell ill. He was nearing the end of his life, and Huiren and Huizhi served him by his side.

Before his death, the old abbot called the two men to his bedside and told them that there was a great secret hidden in the jade Buddha of the Jade Buddha Temple. After his death, whoever succeeded him as abbot must make good use of this secret to benefit all people. Otherwise, they would be condemned by both gods and men and would not have a good end.

Huizhi hurriedly asked what the secret was, but the old abbot simply shook his head and said that he would naturally understand once he became the abbot of the Jade Buddha Temple. He also warned them that the jade Buddha statues in the Jade Buddha Temple could only be used to benefit all living beings, and never to satisfy their own greed. Both of them agreed with tears in their eyes.

After saying these words, the old abbot passed away. The next day, after the old abbot's body was cremated, all the monks gathered in the lecture hall of the Jade Buddha Temple to begin the selection of a new abbot of the Jade Buddha Temple and the national teacher of the Golden Bull Kingdom.

The selection examination lasted for three days and three nights. Thanks to their years of diligent study, Huiren and Huizhi lived up to expectations, overcoming all obstacles to enter the finals. Abbots, abbots, and eminent monks from all over the country gathered at the Jade Buddha Temple to witness the election of the new abbot. However, after repeated sermons and debates, the two remained evenly matched, with Huiren's kindness and Huizhi's quick wit winning the hearts of everyone.

Just as everyone was unsure of what to do, a ragged ascetic suddenly stepped out from the crowd, and before that, almost no one had noticed him.

He covered his head and face with a robe, limped to the center of the hall, and asked the two candidates a question:

What is Buddha?

He then limped back to the crowd.

For a moment, Hui Ren and Hui Zhi seemed stumped by the question and both fell into deep thought.

What is Buddha?

The time for thought passed quickly, and Huiren was the first to answer. He sat cross-legged on the futon for a long time, and finally held up one finger to tell everyone:

"This is Buddha."

Everyone suddenly understood and praised Huiren's wisdom. It turned out that in his view, Buddha was the only one.

Next it was Huizhi's turn. He sat on a futon and held up one finger to everyone.

Those Buddhists and Taoists, as well as the onlookers, burst into laughter, mocking Huizhi for repeating others' ideas at this crucial moment, thinking that the position of abbot was rightfully Huiren's.

Just then, Huizhi pulled a small knife from his pocket, and with a "snap," chopped off the finger. Then, he addressed the crowd:

"This is the true Buddha."

The crowd was puzzled and asked Huizhi to explain.

Huizhi extended his injured index finger and slowly asked, "What is this?"

"Index finger," the crowd said.

Huizhi then smiled and replied, “This was originally my index finger, but now it’s gone. People still call the place where the index finger used to be the index finger, just like the Buddha.”

Seeing that everyone seemed to have understood, he continued, "This is the Buddha. The Buddha is without origin, the spirit is infinite and formless."

Everyone was enlightened by his words and immediately announced that Huizhi would take over the position of abbot.

Just as everyone was overjoyed by Huizhi's answer, Huiren had a slight doubt in his heart: Could it be that formlessness is Buddha? If it is formless, how can it bestow great compassion and blessings upon the world?

However, people did not understand such doubts. They simply thought he was jealous and dissatisfied with his fellow disciple's victory, and did not take it seriously.

But Hui Ren was the kind of person who wouldn't give up until he got to the bottom of things. Since the one who tied the knot had to untie it, Hui Ren resolved to find the bald, lame ascetic monk who had raised the question, and to discuss with him the true meaning of Buddhism.

Hui Ren then left the Jade Buddha Temple and the ancient city to travel the world.

Twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye...

"Twenty years have passed. Have you found that ascetic monk yet?" Clary asked impatiently after Huiren finished speaking.

“No…” Hui Ren took the bowl of water that Li Shang handed him and drank it all in one gulp.

Then he began to recount the story of those twenty years:

For twenty years, Huiren traveled all over the country but could not find this ascetic monk, nor could he understand the meaning of Buddha. So he began to wonder if there was something he had overlooked from the very beginning.

He faced the wall every day, deep in thought, hoping that Buddha could light a lamp for him in the darkness. Day after day, month after month, two whole years passed before Huiren finally remembered a question that had been ignored all along.

The reason why the abbot imparted all his knowledge to Huiren and Huizhi without reservation was that he hoped they could support each other, make up for each other's weaknesses with their own strengths, and work together to benefit all living beings.

However, Huiren spent his most precious twenty years studying the question of what Buddha is. Even if he traveled all over the world and figured out the mystery, what benefit would it bring to the common people?

Hui Ren thought with regret, "I thought I was so wise all my life, but I've actually been so foolish. I'm truly ashamed of my late teacher's guidance." Having realized this, Hui Ren immediately returned, spending more than half a year before finally getting back to the ancient city. But when Hui Ren returned, he found everything was different.

The first problem is drought.

Although Huiren already knew about the drought, he had no idea that the ancient city was suffering to this extent; the people were truly living in misery…

When the abbot was alive, he taught them how to dig irrigation canals, so Huiren believed that his junior brother would also pass on these methods to the people and guide them in fighting the drought. So, Huiren went to the ancient city palace with great hope, intending to meet his junior brother Huizhi and invite him to join forces to overcome the difficulties and restore the glory of the ancient city using the methods of their late master.

But what happened next made Huiren feel that something was increasingly wrong.

Huiren discovered that people's attitudes were very different from when he left twenty years ago.

People used to be optimistic, open-minded, simple, and kind, with no evil thoughts in their hearts. But now? Perhaps it's because of the drought, but people seem to have suddenly lost hope, doing nothing but praying to gods and Buddhas. What's even more unacceptable is that the Jade Buddha Temple is taking advantage of this national crisis to make a fortune.

Huiren arrived at the Jade Buddha Temple and found one of Huizhi's disciples, questioning them about why they had failed their master's expectations. The monk then took a brick and began grinding it on the ground.

+: The Corpse King, the Feudal King

- Mystery Tribe

Section 6, How can grinding a brick make a mirror?

Huiren asked him, "What are you doing?"

The monk replied, "To make a mirror."

Hui Ren was puzzled and asked again, "How can grinding a brick make a mirror?"

The monk looked at Huiren and smiled coldly: "Grinding a brick cannot make a mirror, and sitting in meditation cannot make one a Buddha."

"How can the Jade Buddha Temple be carried forward with Buddhism if it is handed over to such a person! How will my junior brother teach his disciples!" Huiren wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and was speechless for a long time.

The people listening to the story were all deeply moved and quietly watched Huiren.

After a while, Huiren snapped out of his painful memories and continued the story.

Upon returning to the Jade Buddha Temple, Huiren discovered something even stranger. The Jade Buddha was no longer in its original location within the Jade Buddha Hall. Where the Jade Buddha had once stood, a massive stone Buddha now occupied the space. Devout worshippers would hand over their hard-earned incense money to the monks, who would then give them glowing talismans, claiming they were imbued with the Jade Buddha's light. However, after a while, the glow would fade, and people would have to buy new ones. Huiren couldn't understand how the Jade Buddha's luster could make the talismans shine, and how the glow could fade.

All of this left Huiren completely baffled, but he couldn't bring himself to ask the monks in the temple. So he could only observe carefully on his own, and the result...

"Do you think it happened?" Huiren asked, looking at the seven people.

"Haha, it's simple. The talisman must have fluorescent powder on it." Clary, who was born a wizard, laughed dismissively. "I learned this kind of trick when I was five years old. You call yourself a high-ranking monk? You don't even understand such a simple principle."

"Yes, yes. I am truly ashamed that I failed to see through it for such a long time."

"Master, please continue. Don't pay any attention to her." Li Kan saw that Hui Ren looked embarrassed and quickly came to his rescue.

"Hey! What do you mean?" Clary pouted unhappily when she saw Richard talking to her, turned her head away and pretended to be very angry, but when she saw that Richard really ignored her, she had no choice but to sit back down and continue listening to the old monk tell stories.

"The fluorescent powder on the talisman shocked me. Why would anyone use such a method? Is there some unspeakable secret in the Jade Buddha Temple? I didn't sleep for several nights trying to find out the truth. Suddenly, a question arose in my mind: Is the Jade Buddha gone? If not, what took it to where?"

"According to the monks, the Jade Buddha was moved to the inner hall of the Jade Buddha Temple ten years ago to prevent the vulgarity of mortals from polluting its sacred body. But what is the Jade Buddha's current condition? I asked all the monks in the temple, from the abbots and senior monks to the monks who fetch water and chop wood, and not a single one of them knew the location of the inner hall, nor had anyone seen the Jade Buddha again! Even the monks who sell talismans said that Huizhi personally gave them the talismans, and that none of them were qualified to see the Jade Buddha."

"So, in the past ten years, only Huizhi has seen the Jade Buddha?" Clary couldn't help but ask again.

"Logically speaking, that should be the case. The more I think about it, the more suspicious it seems. As we all know, the severe drought started ten years ago, and the jade Buddha was also moved ten years ago. Could it be just a coincidence that these two events are happening?"

“Master, the jade Buddha is gone! This is a huge problem!” Li Chang said nervously.

"I also know the seriousness of the problem, because the Jade Buddha is so precious that even a villain with ulterior motives wouldn't destroy it. So I judge that the Jade Buddha must have been hidden somewhere. I grew up in the Jade Buddha Temple and know its layout like the back of my hand. The so-called inner hall was burned down fifteen years ago, but because it was originally built in a very secretive way, few people know its exact location. When I searched for the inner hall according to my memory, I found that there was only an empty space left. So the place where the Jade Buddha was moved ten years ago could not possibly be the inner hall. Huizhi told a huge lie."

"I continued my secret investigation in the temple and discovered that all the monks and workers who participated in the moving of the jade Buddha had mysteriously disappeared afterward! It is said that others who, like me, had doubts about the existence of the jade Buddha in the inner hall also disappeared. This greatly increased my suspicions. There must be some unspeakable secret involved, so I made up my mind to find out the truth of the matter."

"Since ten years have passed since this incident, the investigation has been quite complicated. So, under the guise of soliciting alms, I secretly visited the families of the workers who participated in the move. They all knew nothing about it. They only knew that their family members went to participate in the move and never returned. When they complained to the authorities, they were told that the workers had stolen from the Jade Buddha Temple and disappeared without a trace. Instead, the authorities gave all the complainants a slap on the wrist and sent them back."

"Just when it seemed the trail had gone cold, the heavens rewarded those who persevered, and at that moment, the whole situation took an unexpected turn."

"That day, I was returning from begging for alms when I saw a tall, fat man selling vegetables by the roadside. The vegetables looked very fresh, so I went up to ask him about them. The man was a little slow-witted, but he was very straightforward and honest, completely different from other people. We got along very well. It turned out that he was a villager from a remote village far outside the ancient city. Although it was arid there, there was always a spring flowing from the ground to provide irrigation and drinking water for the people."

Orlando asked, puzzled, "Master, Master, Buddhism teaches that all beings are equal, just like we wouldn't harm small animals. So why are there places called 'Outcast Villages'? Don't you respect them? Are they all bad people?"

Li Chang explained, "The term 'outcast' here does not mean the lowly people as you understand it; it is a term used in Buddhism."

Hui Ren nodded, looking at Li Shang with great appreciation, and said, “The so-called classification of Buddhas includes: Buddha, Bodhisattva, ghost, soul, three souls and seven spirits, all living beings, the great thousand worlds, the eighteen levels of Brahma heaven, the Western Paradise, and calamities, hell, the six realms of reincarnation, karma, rebirth, and the transmission of life… The ‘lowly people’ I’m talking about are those who have transcended the masses and surpassed the eighteen levels of Brahma heaven in the great thousand worlds. The Buddha once said: ‘Therefore, those who reach the Brahma heavens are all lowly people…’ This means that these people are called lowly people because they have not yet understood life and death and cannot attain perfect Buddhahood. Later generations, based on stories in Buddhism, called that village ‘Lowly People Village,’ but this does not mean that the villagers there are lowly people, much less inferior people…”

Clara watched as the old monk rambled on, going off on tangents, clearly a flaw stemming from his usual preaching and expounding on Buddhism. She quickly interrupted him: "What happened to that lowly man afterward? Have you made any new discoveries?"

“Oh,” Huiren realized he had gone off-topic, so he continued, “That day, when we chatted again, we were surprised to find that he had also signed up to move the jade Buddha, but he was fired halfway through because he was too fat, so he escaped the disaster.”

"That's strange. Shouldn't the stronger you be, the better, for such a heavy job as moving a jade Buddha?" Clary asked, puzzled.

"Yes, I was also completely baffled at the time. I felt there must be something fishy going on, but I couldn't figure it out. So after saying goodbye to that big man, I returned to the Jade Buddha Temple and pondered it deeply. But several months passed, and I still had no clue. Until one day, I was walking with a monk, discussing questions from the scriptures, when we unknowingly arrived at the back garden of the Jade Buddha Temple. There was an ancient pagoda there, a place where I often played as a child. But I found that the garden gate had been blocked by rubble."

"Unintentionally, I asked the monk why the garden gate was blocked. He told me that the ancient pagoda was in disrepair and was about to collapse, but the temple had no money to renovate it, so the abbot ordered the garden gate to be blocked to prevent any danger."

"These words wouldn't have seemed like a problem under normal circumstances, but at the time, I had a nagging thought: if they were worried about the pagoda collapsing and causing an accident, why not just knock it down? Why block the garden gate? Besides, this is a Buddhist country, where everyone respects and loves Buddha. How could we allow this pagoda to remain in such a dilapidated state? Thinking of this, childhood memories surfaced. Back then, Huizhi and I were young and inevitably mischievous. There was a fat monk at the monastery who always seemed to be targeting us. Whenever we were playing and missed our lessons, he would hit our hands with a ruler. Once, also because we were naughty, he chased us with a ruler..." We were running around the temple in disarray. Finally, we rushed into the ancient pagoda, with the fat monk following us. But the pagoda was so old that the stairs inside were incredibly narrow when it was built; most people could barely squeeze through, but the fat monk couldn't make it at all. So he had to stand there and confront us until the abbot intervened, and the situation was finally resolved. Now, thinking back, I'm horrified to realize that the vegetable vendor's build was almost identical to the fat monk's! Did they reject this big man because he couldn't get into the pagoda? Was the jade Buddha hidden inside this ancient pagoda?

"Thinking of this, I was greatly shocked and hurriedly asked the monk when the garden gate had been blocked. He replied that it was ten years ago. Ten years ago again! What a coincidence! At this point, I was completely convinced that the jade Buddha was on the ancient pagoda. In order to confirm my guess, I decided to sneak into the ancient pagoda that night to find out the truth."

+: The Corpse King, the Feudal King

- Mystery Tribe

Section 7, Searching for the Jade Buddha

"The gate to Keyuan Garden is already blocked. How could someone your age possibly climb over the wall to get in?"

Richard asked, puzzled.

“It doesn’t matter. I lived in the Jade Buddha Temple for many years when I was a child. At the south end of this courtyard wall, behind the rockery, there is a small hole. When I was a child, Huizhi and I often went through that hole to play in the garden. That night, I also went through that hole to enter the garden. Since no one has entered there for ten years, the garden is overgrown with weeds and is a desolate and dilapidated scene. Thinking about what the Jade Buddha Temple and the ancient city have suffered in the past ten years, I can’t help but feel heartbroken.”