“……” Ye Cang perspired. What?! I don’t even know what that phrase means but you know?! Looking at Alyssa, he put his palms together and nodded, “That’s right. That’s the true meaning. You’re sure a wise devotee…”
Alyssa quickly imitated his way of greeting, “I hope you, the master, could accept me as an apprentice. I’ll definitely relay the message to the world…”
“Are you sure you want to enter the gates of Buddhism with me… no regrets?” Ye Cang took out a utility knife and looked serious.
“You are trying to?” Alyssa stared at Ye Cang who signaled her to come down.
“To shave my head…” Ye Cang asked Alyssa to put her palms together and sat with her legs crossed.
Ye Cang lifted her hair but let it go as he saw the hesitance in Alyssa, “You’re still reluctant to let go of the three thousand problems of yours, huh? It’s alright then…”
“It’s me being naive. Master, please help me with my tonsure.” Alyssa realized her mistake and closed her eyes. Ye Cang had the urge to kill her and get a large amount of killing points. However, he did not as he knew he would be dead if he got caught for doing so. Without any choice, he cut off her hair. Fortunately, Alyssa knew nothing about tonsure and Ye Cang had only seen how it was done once in the temple in the city beside Lin Hai. I remember when I was young, grandma brought me there to do some prayers and draw divination sticks. The person who was supposed to explain the sticks kept on complaining that he would be punished if he were to tell the truth until grandma asked me to stuff 1000 federal coins to him. Those were my own savings!
Seeing her gold hair falling, Alyssa felt that she advanced a level. She knew it was just a ritual. Of throwing away all the burdens and problems? Physically? Well, it sure has its own meaning.
Knowing that she did not know the meaning of the ritual, Ye Cang explained (he did know about it). “You might not understand the meaning of this ritual. In Buddhism, the hair represents Kleshas and cutting your hair means removing them. At the very least, you tried to cut off your hair. It also means removing arrogance, worries and solely focusing on practising Sādhanā. As a lady, don’t you miss your hair? Usually, people would undergo jieba (etching dots on head) after this but this is harmful to the body and it isn’t the primary intention of Lord Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. It’s merely something the believers would do to show their sincerity so it’s actually not necessary anyway.”
“Master, please help me to do it after this ritual.”
“Alright. But you can only have one dot which signifies Pure Heart.”
“You might need to do it yourself for the future dots. You can etch it when you realize a new meaning in life.”
At the same time, the members of the Purple Flower Garden were losing the fight. Alyssa felt anxious when she knew the military was about to barge in. Ye Cang recalled the last time he witnessed a tonsure ritual back in the temple. The man’s wife stomped up the hill with a cooking knife. Even with the knife pointing at the monk, the monk did not shiver as he continued to carry out the religious ritual for the man. Similarly, Ye Cang smiled with her little girl voice, “The big four are void and the six roots of sensations must be clean…”
“Master, what does that mean?” Alyssa calmed herself down to seek knowledge onBuddhism as she was eager to know it all.
“In Buddhism, it says that what you have learned just now are all void and the six roots of sensations means eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind.” Ye Cang only knew this much.
“I understand, master…” Alyssa felt guilty as she felt her six roots were not pure enough.
“With the ritual undone, you can’t call me master.”
Just then, a large explosion was heard. The members of the Purple Flower Garden had retreated to where the two of them were and shouted at the president who was undergoing the ritual, “President!”
“Have you calmed your inner self down?” Ye Cang did not stop cutting with his knife.
“Yeap.”
“Go and protect them. I’ll continue to finish the last three cuts for you.”
“Got it, master.”
In a blink of an eye, an unexpected thunder roared through the atmosphere. The army dared not enter carelessly. Once the ritual was done, Ye Cang crushed some wood with telekinesis and lit them up with flames. After extinguishing it, he etched it on Alyssa’s head. She did not frown at all as if she was willing to accept the blessing of the pain. She opened her eyes and expressed her gratitude, “Master, thank you.”
Ye Cang floated himself up with crossed legs (like Zenyatta in Overwatch). “Go ahead and protect them. After that, you can follow me to go on a pilgrimage for buddhist scripture.”
“A pilgrimage trip?”
“I’ve reincarnated into this world but I’ve lost most of my memories, especially on Buddhist scripture… Maybe this is the training given by Buddha which requires me to undergo some challenges…”
“Oh, the Buddhist scriptures are?”
“Those are the literatures and understandings about Buddha written by the higher ranking monks when they passed away… I would copy the Diamond Sutra for you once we get hold of it…”
“I understand, master.” Alyssa imitated Ye Cang’s actions, accumulated energy and started to defend her people.
“No one should cause unnecessary massacres. However, as for the people who committed sins, they must be punished. Reveal your anger and give them a warning…” Originally, Ye Cang wanted to just ask her to quickly finish them off but he did not want to ruin his image of being a master.
After Alyssa had left, Ye Cang sat on the ground. Phew. It’s over. He then opened the hologram version of the Diamond Sutra from the virtual screen. I still need to give her some key points later. “It’s so troublesome. I’ll just copy the entire thing for her.”
Outside of the battlefield, there were already chatters about it among the audience.
“Wow, this Acting Emperor is really good at acting… Luckily, Buddhism doesn’t exist in that world… He literally painted an utopia for that lady by merely relying on religious theories…” Brother Zhao exclaimed.
“I’m more concerned about the pilgrimage… that fella is obviously bullshitting. I bet he wants to use the Buddhist scripture as an excuse to trick the lady to protect him like Tang Sanzang in the Journey to the West,” Brother Zhong smiled bitterly.
“Actually, Buddhism is really deep…” Zuo Yiyi said in a serious manner.
“How dare you mention how great Buddhism is in front of a person who practices Taoism? Young lady, are you trying to pick a fight here?! The great four he mentioned earlier, the explanation in Buddhism is not as clear as ours in Taoism. The Great Four in Tao Te Ching refers to Dao, heaven, earth and men. In the Cosmos, there are The Great Four: They are the greatest of all – and Man (the King) is one of the four. But in Buddhism, the great four refers to earth, heaven, fire and wind. Even though the definitions of the terms are broad, Buddhism has always been a foreign religion. The action of knocking the wooden bell was even copied from us… This is obviously a tor! If there’s something called copyright back then, I would definitely engage a lawyer to sue them!” Brother Zhong’s words made Zuo Yiyi feel awkward, “Well, my bad…”
The members of the Purple Flower Garden stared at the ‘reborn’ Alyssa. Even though she had no hair, she still looked calm and kind. Controlling the elemental powers, she defeated the army and asked her men to lock them up. Swiftly, she flew back to Ye Cang and was amazed by seeing Ye Cang using telekinesis to copy the scripture. “How should their minds abide and how should they be subdued…”
Alyssa could not stop herself from reading the scripture and was totally immersed in it. Yet, Ye Cang’s stoppage made Alyssa anxious, “Master, this should be only half of it right? Where’s the second half?”
