Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
There was no cause and effect. Wang Lin’s Cause and Effect World produced such a scene in front of everyone.
This was the result developed from the concept contained within the Cause and Effect World, and it was not just a projection using Wang Lin’s mana.
The Virtuous Zen Master’s attention was fixed on the Cause and Effect World.
Right now, if they fought, the Virtuous Zen Master would not be the match for Wang Lin. But his understanding of the way of karma was very deep, such that it was impossible for Wang Lin to try any tricks in front of him.
Furthermore, Wang Lin did not have the need to trick him. He had no need to humiliate the foundation of Buddhism either.
The Virtuous Zen Master looked at Wang Lin, “What’s going on? How did you do this?”
Wang Lin did not speak and only turned to Shi Tianhao, “Let him tell you. This is developed from the combination of my understanding of the way of karma and his discovery as he studied the mantras of our sect.”
Shi Tianhao replied, “Simply put, this is a resonance between one’s mind and reality. The emotions of one and the scenario in reality intersects at a particular instant, causing a coincidence between one’s internal world and the external world.”
The Virtuous Zen Master’s brows raised. Shi Tianhao looked at him and said slowly, “The world developed from one’s feelings and the reality of the world outside coincided at the same time.”
“This coincidence cannot be explained by karma easily. Because of the alignment of the internal and external world, thus such a coincidence appeared?” Shi Tianhao shook his head, “That becomes karma happens because of karma. In reality, the alignment of the internal and external world exists simultaneously with the weird occurrences. There’s a cause and there’s an effect. There’s no cause and there’s no effect. And it’s certainly not because there’s no cause, thus there’s no effect.”
Wang Lin retracted the Cause and Effect World and said, “If one were to say karma is part of one’s lives, then I will classify my reasoning as blasphemy.”
“But the person committing blasphemy is not overthrowing the original idea. He is rebelling against the concept of the original idea, meaning that the concept of the original idea cannot explain things.”
He looked at the Virtuous Zen Master, “I have only attained a little understanding of this concept thus far. I still need more time to analyze it.”
The Virtuous Zen Master seemed to have grown older in an instant, but the Buddhist lights around him became brighter and brighter. They were extremely pure, as if the Forever-Bright Tathagata Mantra had revealed its brilliance.
“Not because there’s no cause thus there’s no effect…not because there’s no cause thus there’s not effect…without a cause, where will the effect come from…” The Virtuous Zen Master mumbled and lifted his head up to look at Wang Lin, “This move of yours…”
Wang Lin understood what he meant and nodded his head steadily, “That’s right, the foundation of this move of mine may contain grave errors too. Thus, the concept within may be erroneous, but…”
After pausing for a moment, Wang Lin said, “But, no matter how hard I try, when the Cause and Effect World carries out the blasphemy, I am unable to exhibit the Three Life Stones.”
The Buddhist lights around the Virtuous Zen Master jerked suddenly. Wang Lin did not explicitly explain things, but he understood.
The two different reasonings were independent and were not entirely polar opposites of each other.
If Wang Lin could understand both reasonings clearly and develop a combined reasoning from these two reasonings, then he could unleash both the Three Lifetime Stones and Cause and Effect World. He could then continue to develop even more higher level moves.
But before this, both reasonings would find it difficult to co-exist together.
However, precisely because of this reason, there’s some form of verification that something else that clashes with the way of karma that existed.
The fact that karma existed in everyone’s life was not exactly the same as the way of karma, but doubts about the former did affect the latter.
Karma was the truth in Buddhism and was the highest level concept that existed. It could explain the ideas of the past, present and future, but now, its reliability was questioned.
Before today, while Buddhism never once ruled the Greater World and the Essentials of the Great Void Tao of the Great Void Sect was recognized as the collection of mantras that was the closest to the great Dao, Buddhist cultivators continued to believe that everything in the world could be attributed to karma.
The Essentials of the Great Void Tao, Saintly Celestial Sword Qi of the Mount Shu Sword Sect, Great Heavenly Mantra of the Heaven’s Gate, Ancient Satanic Mantra of the Ancient Satanic Sect…and even the moves of the demon clan could be explained with karma and the way of karma.
But because people’s cultivations were not sufficient, they could not see the entire truth. Even the Buddha was stuck in karma and his powers were beneath karma. He could not transcend it.
And if there was one day that the way of karma could be understood completely, all suffering would be gone and nirvana would be achieved.
This was the common zen mind that the Buddhist cultivators shared. But at this point, the Virtuous Zen Master was starting to develop doubts.
The Buddhist lights around his body became brighter and brighter, but they became more and more unstable too.
If the people in front of him were not Xiao Yan, Wang Lin and the others, the Buddhist lights that the Virtuous Zen Master revealed were enough to cleanse and engulf many cultivators below the Immortal Soul Stage.
“When the Great Thunderclap Temple was destroyed, I was still able to stabilize myself and get rid of my inner demons. But now, my inner demons have been summoned…” After a while, the Virtuous Zen Master shook his head while laughing bitterly, “I have sinned. I have sinned!”
Xiao Yan, Zhu Yi, Wang Lin and Shi Tianhao turned serious.
Zhu Yi said, “Zen Master, I’m sorry. We didn’t have the intention to offend you or anything to do with Buddhism.”
“It’s just that whatever that is going to come will come. To attain freedom, it’s only through understanding the path of Dao that we are walking on. Otherwise, the path will only get narrower and narrower, and the sufferings that we will receive will only become greater and greater.”
The Virtuous Zen Master calmed himself down and asked them, “Have all of you reported your findings to Master Lin? What did he say?”
The four of them looked at one another and Xiao Yan replied, “Very long ago, I reported this to Master. That happened when I developed a little doubt and conception about this matter. But now, I have a deeper understanding of it, although it’s still very preliminary. I haven’t reported this to Master yet though.”
The Virtuous Zen Master looked at Xiao Yan, “What did Master Lin say then?”
“He did not comment, and only asked us to explore further.” After Xiao Yan spoke finish, the Virtuous Zen Master did not seem to relax and the bitter smile on his face turned even more bitter, “Don’t tell me Master Lin has already known about this?”
The four of them were silent and the Virtuous Zen Master shook his head repeatedly, “Don’t worry, my zen mind won’t be crushed. Although I find it difficult to accept what all of you are saying, I still feel guilty.”
He smiled slightly, “During then Anti-Celestial Sect War, I saw the Cause and Effect World from afar. Although it was unclear, I had a premonition then. But I didn’t expect that it actually came true today.”
He sighed, “Because of what happened then, I was already prepared. As I just heard all of you, I can still control myself. Otherwise, it’ll be even worse. I may even run amok and my zen mind may even be crushed.”
The Virtuous Zen Master walked out of the Tripitaka Block in a shaky state. It was such a rare sight to see a Buddhist cultivator in the Golden Form Second Level acting like this
Although his zen mind was not crushed, he was still in a disastrous state. The Amitabha Spell Body subtly appeared, but it was filled with crack marks. It was like a ceramic piece that was heavily struck and was about to crack into many pieces.
Xiao Yan followed him, but he did not speak. He was only being an escort.
Whether the Virtuous Zen Master could overcome this barrier, it depended on him. If he could, he might even become stronger than ever. If he couldn’t, his Amitabha Spell Body could be crushed and falling back to the Golden Form First Level would even be a blessing.
In terms of cultivation, the way of karma was not an erroneous concept. On the contrary, it was a concept that was very deep.
But to a Buddhist cultivator, what just happened was undoubtedly a huge blow to him. The deeper one was in his cultivation of Buddhism, the more difficult it was for him to overcome this barrier.
They would develop doubts about themselves, which would carry on into doubts about the way of karma. From a slight doubt, it would slowly develop into a major doubt.
The shaking of one’s beliefs could only be handled by a cultivator himself. From the start, he had to remove all doubts from his zen mind. After stabilizing his state of mind and facing the initial barrier again, he would be in a better position to overcome it.
But if he couldn’t, he had to start over again.
If something wrong happened in this process, it would be disastrous, signifying years of cultivation going down the drain.
The more skilled one was, the worst the result of a crushed Dao heart.
The Mantra of the Great Oblivion was an exception. A cultivator with a crushed Dao heart could normally cultivate other mantras, but those who cultivated the Mantra of the Great Oblivion had no such choice to make.
“Comrade Xiao, please return. I am fine. I wish to descend the mountain and take a walk.” The Virtuous Zen Master gestured and Xiao Yan replied while shaking his head, “Let me follow you, Zen Master.”
The Virtuous Zen Master grinned, “There’s no need to do so. You don’t have to worry about me. I will not leave the Mount Kunlun region. The furthest I will go is only Shazhou County.”
Since he was determined, Xiao Yan could only let him do what he wanted. After bidding Xiao Yan goodbye, the Virtuous Zen Master came to Shazhou County. He watched as the people walked on the streets.
After a long while, he sighed and sat above a small mountain in the Mount Kunlun region. He looked at everything in front of him quietly.
His normally peaceful and wise look was now filled with confusion.
Although the Virtuous Zen Master looked like an old man, his pupils flashed with light and glowed brightly. He did not seem old at all, but now his eyes looked just like a frail old man.
“Way of karma…blasphemy…nothing to do with karma…then what concept does the Heavens and Earth follow? Does everything originate from the same source? If Dao isn’t based on karma, what is it based on then?” The Virtuous Zen Master’s body flashed with Buddhist lights, which jerked tremendously.
The Buddhist lights gathered to form a huge Buddhist spell body. It was entirely golden and flashed with red light. This spell body sat on a lotus flower and full Moon. There were eight peacocks lifting it up. On the right hand of this spell body, it held a lotus. On its left hand, there was a bell. This was the appearance of the Amitabha Spell Body.
Right now, the body of the Buddha flashed with light, which shone brightly in the world.
But at this point, this spell body that the Virtuous Zen Master revealed kept on distorting. It was also filled with cracks on its body, as if they were spider webs.
Void space broke open and an old monk appeared. As he saw the Virtuous Zen Master, he was shocked, “Senior Virtuous Zen, what is going on with you?!”
