Nālandā was sanskrit. It meant “almsgiving without intermission”, which meant “giving the buddhist dharma across all life, never to stop”.
It was also known as “the place where the lotuses bloomed”. The lotus signified wisdom and the buddhist nature in buddhist scriptures. Whenever mortals reached this place, they would attain great enlightenment, freeing them from their sources of suffering.
Because the buddha had once held sermons here before, it had another renowned name—Great Thunderclap temple. When the buddha gave sermons, it boomed like thunderclaps.
It was the most grand, most solemn, most glorious, and most sacred temple in all of Sukhāvatī, perhaps even the entire universe.
To the monks of the Pure Land sect, that was the case too, so they bestowed it with all the praises in the world, yet it was still not enough.
When the Upraised Light abbot mentioned this, he smiled unknowingly. Going to the Great Thunderclap temple in Sukhāvatī to see the buddha was the dream of every single monk in the world.
However, “Eggborn” began having second thoughts. As his memories gradually recovered, the name “Great Thunderclap temple” sounded familiar for some reason. He felt like it was not some good place.
By now, they had already crossed the city, currently facing a raging river. The currents were violent as great waves surged. When they gazed out, they were actually unable to see the other side. Even he found the situation to be extremely dangerous.
“Erm, abbot, I think I don’t want to go anymore.”
His memories and powers would completely recover in a few days’ time anyway. By then, he could look ahead and plan his next step. However, no matter where he went, there was no reason for him to strut around in front of the buddha.
The Upraised Light abbot smiled. “Oh, you’re afraid?”
“I’m kidding. What am I afraid of? Since you’re going to the Great Thunderclap temple and have a request, you’re welcome to ask the buddha. With his boundless powers, he can probably resolve it with just a twitch of his little finger. Why trouble me with it? By the way, trying to goad me doesn’t work.”
“No, even the buddha cannot help me with this. Only you can. Of course, if you really don’t want to go, I can’t force you to.” The Upraised Light abbot let out a great sigh. “If I had known earlier, why had I gone to all those lengths last night, breaking so many precepts? I’m truly unforgivable!”
“Eggborn” rolled his eyes. “Alright, alright. I’ll pay a visit with you then!”
In order to fool him into helping, this monk sure was able to say anything, like “Even the buddha cannot help me with this. Only you can.” Who the hell would believe that?
He had always placed great emphasis on being a man of his word and a man who returned favours. Even if tremendous danger lay ahead of him, he would try anyway. Speaking of which, since he had been conferred the role of a “sangharama guardian”, there was nothing wrong with paying a visit to the great leader.
With a leap, he rose into the air, but there was a plop and he fell into the water.
The Upraised Light abbot only just managed to extend his hand. “Hold on!”
“Eggborn” had only just arrived above the river when he felt empty beneath him, with absolutely nothing to support him. And falling into the river was not even the worst part. No matter how he struggled, he continued to sink towards the bottom.
Suddenly, his eyes flickered with deep-blue light, and only then did he stop sinking. He swam back to shore in a hurry and coughed up several mouths of water. He felt like his entire mouth was filled with sand.
“Pah! Pah! Pah! What the fuck is this river?”
“The River of Flowing Sand. What flows in it are the fifteen hundred kilometres of weakwater. Even gods and immortals cannot fly over it, forced to cross the river like everyone else. It’s said that ‘Four hundred kilometres of flowing sand wide, fifteen hundred kilometres of weakwater deep. Not even a goosefeather floats, even reed flowers are destined to sink.’ Just the fact that you managed to swim back up here is a miracle.”
TL: The River of Flowing Sand is from Journey to the West, where Sha Wujing (the third disciple) once lived. The origins of weakwater in Chinese mythology comes from rivers of shallow but fast-flowing water, which could not be crossed in boats, only in rafts, so they thought the water was “too weak” to hold the boats.
“Eggborn” then cursed viciously under his breath, “The buddha sure has a lot of rules!” When he thought about it, it did make sense. Even regular cultivation sects forbade people from flying around without good reason, but he still felt discontent about this.
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The Upraised Light abbot raised his eyebrows and rebuked, “Kid, you better stop with those curses under your breath, or I won’t show you mercy!”
“The only thing under my breath is sand. What’s it got to do with the buddha!” He shielded his eyes from the sun and gazed for quite a while. “We better find a ferry crossing then!”
“There aren’t any ferry crossings anymore.” The Upraised Light abbot shook his head helplessly.
“Then what do we do?”
“Don’t worry, I’ve prepared beforehand.” The Upraised Light Abbot took out a slightly-transparent turtle shell and tossed it into the weakwater. It immediately became the size of a small boat, and it did not sink. He boarded it first before turning around and saying, “Get on!”
“What is this?”
“Eggborn” stroked the turtle shell gently. Apart from the natural patterns on there, there were many profound and crude symbols as well. It gave off a familiar aura.
“The shell of a spirit turtle. It does not sink in water. It took me quite a lot of difficulty to find this piece.”
“I see!”
“Eggborn” came to an understanding. He possessed the perfect bloodline of the spirit turtle, which was why he could swim back ashore. With another leap, his eyes turned deep-blue, and he stood firmly on the surface of the water. He laughed. “What’s so difficult about this?” He raced off on the surface of the water.
The Upraised Light abbot gazed at his figure. “If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have looked for this turtle shell. Just getting the kid to carry me on his back would have been enough. Yeah, perhaps he was destined for this.”
Crossing the four hundred kilometres of flowing sand and fifteen hundred kilometres of weakwater, they made it to the other side. Gazing out, mist permeated the horizon as a continuous chain. A series of snow mountains sat on the mist, and the tallest one was shaped like a lotus.
Under the glow of the setting sun, a red sun hovered on top of the “lotus”, dyeing the mist and snow mountains a golden-red, which refracted into a myriad of colours, a dazzling phenomenon of nature.
The “lotus” became even more gorgeous as a result. As the light shifted, it seemed to be constantly blooming.
“Eggborn” could not help but stop as well. “So this is…”
“The spiritual mountain!”
The Upraised Light abbot was solemn. He took off his kasaya and monk robes, lowering himself onto the ground and prostrating towards the spiritual mountain.
“Stop posing around! Get going!”
However, the Upraised Light abbot stood up, took one step, two step, three steps, and prostrated again.
“You…” He suddenly understood. The Upraised Light abbot wanted to prostrate with every three steps until he reached the mountain. “Hey, this isn’t necessary, right? If you do this, when are we going to get there?”
However, the Upraised Light abbot said nothing more, bowing repeatedly and constantly advancing. He ignored everything in the surroundings, such that his eyes were only fixed on the blooming lotus, the glorious snow mountain.
“Eggborn” grimaced and shook his head. “You’re absolutely mad!”
They immediately slowed down as a result. They could only approach the spiritual mountain step by step now.
In the beginning, he had nothing better to do, so he mocked the Upraised Light abbot a little. He received no reply at all, so he simply stopped. Fortunately, the surroundings were filled with strange and exotic flowers and plants. The scenery was wonderful, so he did not find it boring.
Gradually, it instead led to a strange sensation of respect. This kind of perseverance was still extraordinary after all. And, it was actually immune to his great mocking technique, so it really was something else!
The Upraised Light abbot did not seem like some stubborn, blind zealot. The buddha who was worthy of his worship like this probably really did possess great might and great benevolence!
However, he would never bow, not just because he refused to lower his head. To him, if the buddha’s powers really did possess endless might, then he would not have the great benevolence to bring salvation to all. If he really did possess the great benevolence to bring salvation to all, then his powers would not possess endless might.
Otherwise, this world would have turned into a paradise a long time ago. A deranged woman like Qian Rongzhi would have never been born either.
Perhaps someone like him would not exist either.
However, they still moved at a speed faster than his expectations. As they got closer and closer to the spiritual mountain, the Upraised Light abbot became more and more hurried, more and more anxious.
Appearances arose from the heart. His young, handsome appearance also became stubbly and weathered. His expression also became lost and uneasy as if he was repenting for his sins, yet it was also like he was struggling arduously.
Sometimes, “Eggborn” had a feeling that the monk would tell him in the next moment, “Let’s go back!”
However, he did not end up saying it. He just continued to walk, continued to bow.
Finally, they arrived at the spiritual mountain.
The magnificent halls and towers, the blooming lotuses, were right before their eyes. At the end of the steps was a pair of majestic doors, yet they were firmly shut.
The Upraised Light abbot finally stood up, climbing up the stairs.
“Eggborn” did not dare to fall behind, following along closely. He also felt like respecting the holy land. However, the surroundings were silent.There were no bells and drums, nor any chanting. There was no one to be seen. Upon further thought, regular monks probably did not come here, and the bodhisattvas and arhats probably had no need to spend all day chanting either.
They arrived before the doors, yet they showed no signs of entering. “Eggborn” went up and knocked it for a good while. “Open up! Open up! Where has the entrance guard gone?”
“You don’t need to knock anymore! Look up!”
The Upraised Light abbot finally spoke. After steeling himself, his gaze became even firmer.
“Eggborn” followed the door crack and looked up. All he saw was a notice stuck in the centre of the doors with six glistening sanskrit words on there.
“Eggborn” clapped his hands together and shrugged. “It’s over. It’s all your fault for walking too slowly. The buddha is out for business.”
The Upraised Light abbot had no idea how to respond. “Do you recognise those words?”
“Of course.” He spread his fingers and began counting. “I- have- business- I’m- not- home. Look, six words!”
The Upraised Light abbot just smiled. “I didn’t expect you to be so good at maths, but who leaves a notice on the door crack?” However, much of his solemn and grim mood had been diluted by his jokes.
“Eggborn” was unhappy. “What do you think it says then?”
“It’s obviously a seal, with the six syllables of the mantra ‘O? ma?i padme hū?’.”
“What a joke. Who has the courage to seal up the door to the buddha’s home? Hold on, don’t tell me…”
“That’s right. That’s personally written by the buddha. Alright, you go and rip that notice off!”
