Chapter 537: Chapter 537 – Dream or Reality?
“Halt! What are you people doing!” An officer wearing a relatively better uniform berated as he walked forward and used a language that Wei Xiao Bei had never heard before.
Naturally, even though he had never heard it before, Wei Xiao Bei could somehow understand it.
“We are wandering Buddhist monks that have come here to beg for food.”
Shakyamuni walked forward and spoke.
“Buddhist monks? Beg for food?”
The officer swept a glance at the monks in contempt. Luckily, he still let them come in. Perhaps in his eyes, the so-called monks with their simple clothing were not a threat.
After entering the city, all the monks immediately spread out and held a bowl as they each chose their own road to beg for some food.
Even Shakyamuni was doing the same.
As for Wei Xiao Bei, he could not even control his current body as he wished.
But having said that, in Wei Xiao Bei’s mind, Shakyamuni was indeed different.
In the era of Shakyamuni, there was no doubt that the monks were looked down upon, but as the master of more than a thousand monks, he could undoubtedly just send someone and wait for food alone. He did not need to personally come at all and receive supercilious looks.
Just Wei Xiao Bei’s current body knocking on people’s doors and begging for food had received the supercilious looks of many people. It got to the point where he could no longer endure it.
This was not a problem of willpower but adaptability.
However, what surprised Wei Xiao Bei was that the bowl in his hand was only as big as his palm. Every household could probably give alms and fill up half the bowl, but after begging for food in ten households, they had actually not filled up the bowl.
Could it be that this is a space-type treasure?
Thinking about it, every single monk had one bowl. This meant that there were thousands of space-type treasures there, causing him to become dazzled.
After begging 13 households, Wei Xiao Bei saw a monk enduring the curses of a household owner.
If it was Wei Xiao Bei who had been cursed by others, he would have already beaten up the other person.
Even he could see that the monk’s hand was emitting golden light, but it immediately died down as he allowed the owner to curse at him until his mouth was dry and he closed the door.
Wei Xiao Bei’s current body moved towards the monk and greeted, “Greetings brother Upali.
“Oh, so it’s brother Sariputta.”
“How much did you receive?” Wei Xiao Bei’s body asked again.
“Already 10 households,” Upali responded.
“I have already begged 13 households. This should be enough. Let us return back to the master.”
As Wei Xiao Bei’s body spoke, Upali nodded his head and agreed.
The two monks moved side by side. At this time, Wei Xiao Bei was looking at his memories with difficulty.
Just when the two monks were talking, Wei Xiao Bei suddenly thought about their names as if he had an impression of them.
This could not be helped. In this dream world, Wei Xiao Bei’s skills and abilities had all been blocked. Even if he wanted to search through his memories, he could only do so at the speed of a normal person.
Luckily, although the ability was blocked, the attributes were still there.
When the two monks found Shakyamuni, Shakyamuni called out for everyone to leave. After leaving the city, Wei Xiao Bei finally remembered.
The two names were two of Shakyamuni’s ten principal disciples!
Nobody knows how many disciples Shakyamuni had, but the later generations acknowledge the ten strongest. Each was different as they were experts in their own domains.
For example, the one named Upali was a master of Vinaya. While Wei Xiao Bei’s current body, Shariputra was a master of wisdom!
There was also the master of supernatural powers, Maudgalyayana, the master of preaching, Pūrṇa, the master of Metta, Subhuti, and many others.
At this time, Wei Xiao Bei came to an understanding. Perhaps, the Diamond Sutra was one that Shariputra had compiled.
Naturally, Wei Xiao Bei did not dare to ascertain this, and it was only a guess.
After all, compiling everything about the master was something that could not be done by only one person.
After returning to the desolate lands, the monks that had stayed behind came up to help and placed all the food in one cauldron. Then, they started a fire and placed water inside until the pot filled up. Afterward, Shakyamuni assigned Mahākāśyapa to distribute the food.
According to custom, the Exalted one should eat first. Thus, the first bowl of food was delivered to Shakyamuni.
Seniors should also eat first. The second bowl was thus given to an old monk whose hair was all white and face full of wrinkles.
Afterward, Mahākāśyapa continued pouring food into every monk’s bowl. He, himself had taken the last bowl.
Seeing this, Wei Xiao Bei could not help but nod his head. There was no doubt that this kind of food division system had completely prevented the one managing food division from gaining advantages.
If the person managing the food division had gotten there first, it would definitely be unfair. If that happened, the last person would receive the least amount of food.
Although the system was not perfectly fair, at the very least, it was relatively fair.
Anyway, Wei Xiao Bei did not have any good feelings toward the food in his bowl.
Begging, begging, just these two words alone were enough to tell you what kind of food was given.
Although the Tianzhu continent was in the tropical zone and food was abundant, not everyone had ample food and clothing.
On the other hand, at the initial stages of the development of Buddhism, not everyone knew about Buddhist monks, thus no one had a good impression of the monks begging for food. Even if they had successfully begged for food, the food that they obtained was leftover food. Moreover, the food had all been boiled together in a pot. Although it was definitely not poisonous, the smell that came out from the pot…. If he could, Wei Xiao Bei wanted to cover his nose.
Furthermore, due to the limitations of the era, the majority of the food consisted mostly of half-cooked maize. Try to imagine the millet mixed into the taste of the pot.
Rough and hard! Difficult to swallow!
This was what Wei Xiao Bei felt.
However, he simply could not stop this feeling.
Wei Xiao Bei’s eyes swept the place as he looked at the monks. Some of them frowned and had a hard time swallowing, some frowned and forced themselves to swallow, some had a happy expression as they ate and swallowed, and some had plain expressions, quietly eating their food as if they were at a banquet.
Shakyamuni was the latter.
Luckily, Wei Xiao Bei remembered that the exalted one was born a prince. Although princes during this era were similar to tribe chiefs, he was still a prince. Being able to eat leftovers as if it was high-quality food whilst displaying no expression was something Wei Xiao Bei could not do.
Every monk finished eating their food. After everyone took a bath, the exalted one took a seat on the ground.
An old monk stood up, bared his right shoulder, put his knee on the ground, and folded his palms respectfully, said to Shakyamuni, “World-honored one, it is rare to find someone like you. You always support and show special confidence in the Bodhisattvas. World-Honored One, if sons and daughters of good families want to give rise to the highest, most fulfilled, awakened mind, what should they rely on and what should they do to master their thinking?”
Shakyamuni did not change his expression and spoke with the old monk, “This is how the Bodhisattva Mahasattva master are thinking: However many species of living beings there are—whether born from eggs, from the womb, from moisture, or spontaneously; whether they have form, or do not have form; whether they have perceptions or do not have perceptions; or whether it can be said of them that they have perceptions or that they do not have perceptions, we must lead all these beings to nirvana so that they can be liberated. Yet when these innumerable, immeasurable, infinite number of beings have become liberated, we do not, in truth, think that a single being has been liberated.”
Hearing the conversation between Shakyamuni and the old monk, Wei Xiao Bei immediately realized who the old monk was. He was one of the ten disciples under Shakyamuni, the Master of Emptiness, Subhuti.
The two sides continued to answer each other, causing Wei Xiao Bei to feel drowsy.
Since Wei Xiao Bei has just touched on Buddhist texts, this kind of deep conversation was difficult to understand at first.
Naturally, if Wei Xiao Bei’s abilities were not blocked, it would be a lot easier.
However, he was just a normal person in the body of Shariputra. The most he could understand were the questions that Subhuti was asking; how believers should make a vow, how they can become Buddhas, and what they should do to separate from worldly things.
As for the Buddha’s answers, Wei Xiao Bei did not understand them at all. He could translate them literally, but he could not understand the deeper meanings at all.
Wei Xiao Bei thought that if a senior monk had been in his place, he would’ve been able to understand, given sufficient knowledge.
The conversation continued for a long time.
In the end, the sleepy Wei Xiao Bei heard Shakyammon’s voice getting louder, but it was not harsh at all.
“Whatever you see, hear, smell, taste, feel and think in a dream is like a vision in a bubble, as momentary as dew or lightning.”
Following the voice, with Subhuti as the head, all the monks stood up and bowed their heads. They began to chant sutras and Shakyamuni’s body began to shine, illuminating the place with golden light. In the blink of an eye, everything turned golden as countless female devas appeared floating in the air, singing, and dancing. Countless divine flowers descended from the skies as the sound of singing resounded from the skies.
Wei Xiao Bei saw the golden light spread to the endless distance, echoing the words of the Buddha. Everything was illuminated by the golden light. Those who heard this Buddhist teaching all stood up and let out joyous cries as if they had gained some sort of benefit.
The golden light even spread to the unknown distant battlefield, where people killed each other, facial expressions were ugly and blood flowed. They all suddenly became happy as they dropped their weapons and looked at the golden light.
As for Wei Xiao Bei, he felt as if his body was bathed in warm hot springs. His heart became extremely tranquil as if he had returned to his mother’s womb.
In the end, Wei Xiao Bei could not last any longer and fell asleep.
….
“Benefactor Wei! Benefactor Wei!”
When he felt someone shaking his body, Wei Xiao Bei slowly woke up with a dazed expression. He looked at the person in front of him as if he did not recognize him but felt familiar.
After a while, Wei Xiao Bei came to and asked, “Shi Yan Ming?”
Shi Yan Ming let out a bitter expression, “You finally recognize this poor monk. What happened to you? You suddenly fell asleep while standing?”
“Ah, I was just too sleepy.”
Wei Xiao Bei tried to deal with Shi Yan Ming as he came back to his body. Then he let out a relaxed sigh.
