Chapter 208: Consciousness-Only School!
Time flies, and June 6th is here in the blink of an eye.
5:15 am – 1:55 pm.
The ice platform blows cool air to dispel the hot and stuffy air.
Liang Qu got up, dressed, opened the window, and the daylight poured into the house.
It is summer.
I still remember the last river god festival. He got up at the same time when it was just dawn.
In another month it will be the Great Heat, when the cicadas will emerge as adults and it will not be as quiet as it is now.
Liang Qu looked down at the yard.
"Oolong!"
The black dog in the yard squatted on the ground, tilted its head to stare at the white butterfly on the branch of the jujube tree, with its ears drooping naturally. When it heard its own name, it tiptoed and turned around.
"Wang!"
"come over!"
The black dog crouched down in front of Liang Qu, who was leaning out of the window, and raised his butt, jumping back and forth. It moved to the base of the wall little by little, and finally lay on the top of the wall, barking twice, and wagging its tail as if it was about to fly.
Liang Qu stretched out his hand and rubbed its head hard.
The little black dog in Heichi's family was thirty-four days old at most. He brought it home yesterday, named it Wulong, and raised it in his own yard.
It is not shy at all. In just one day, it walked around the entire three-courtyard compound and garden and was familiar with every corner. It is a qualified guard dog.
"Come on, I'll take you to breakfast."
Liang Qu opened the door and led Xiao Hei to the kitchen. As soon as he entered, he saw a long-lost figure eating heartily. Aunt Zhang beside him handed over several baskets of steaming vegetarian buns.
"Grandmaster?"
The old monk put his hands together and continued with his work, eating one vegetarian bun at a time, quickly and neatly, as if he had been hungry for many days.
This is indeed the case. Since receiving the scripture, the old monk has not stepped out of his room for seven consecutive days!
Not to mention eating!
Of course, for Master Zhenxiang, not eating for seven days is nothing, he can just make up for the loss later.
"Aunt Zhang, please make some more vegetarian dumplings this morning. I'll give you an extra thirty cents at the end of the month."
"okay."
Aunt Zhang kept putting firewood in her hands, putting up new steamers, wiping her sweat, and looking tired but not annoyed.
Liang Qu quickly moved a stool and sat in front of the old monk.
"Master, what on earth is in that scripture that makes you so obsessed with it that you forget to eat and sleep?"
"Have you ever heard of the Dharma Characteristics School?"
Dharmalaksana school?
Liang Qu shook his head.
"Consciousness-only school?"
Liang Qu's eyes lit up: "I've heard of this."
After all, he had read quite a few Buddhist commentaries and knew the status of Master Huiyuan in Buddhism as a whole, including the Yogacara school he founded.
The deeds of Master Huiyuan are very simple to describe. They are highly similar to those of a great monk in Liangqu's previous life, and the names of the Dharma lineage he left behind are exactly the same.
That man’s name is Xuanzang!
Master Huiyuan also has another nickname, called Venerable Chandan.
It’s a pity that the two seemingly unrelated people had the same experience in the first half of their lives, and their second half of their lives were also almost the same. The Consciousness-Only School was only passed down for three generations before its inheritance was cut off.
Not only is this true of the Yogacara school, but the Huayan school is also similar.
These sects with lofty dharma principles almost all could not escape the fate of being destroyed after a few generations.
There is no other reason, it's just too difficult.
It is said that the Consciousness-Only School was passed down from Maitreya Bodhisattva, and the first patriarch of Huayan was the incarnation of Manjushri.
The beginning is the peak.
It was still okay for the second generation of disciples to follow the master and be taught personally by the master, but the third generation of disciples began to feel like they were reading a divine book.
In the long course of time that followed, due to various wars, fires, and man-made disasters, even the complete volume was gone, leaving only fragments.
"That scripture is..."
"The complete "Conclusion of the Abhidharmakosha"!"
"Handwritten?"
"A transcript."
Liang Qu was slightly disappointed.
Dashun martial arts is divine, and many things are not the same just because the content is the same.
When one reaches the tiger hunting realm, one can kill people with his will, and reaching the realm of perfection is even more mysterious.
If it was written by a great monk himself, he would certainly leave behind his beliefs, which would help future generations gain insights.
It is not handwritten, and is itself known for its difficulty.
I'm afraid even someone like the old monk would find it difficult to understand. No wonder he locked himself in the room for seven whole days.
Is this scripture really useful?
There are only scriptures but no martial arts or techniques, and at most it fills in some gaps in the history of Buddhism.
The old monk felt like he had found a treasure. To him...
The old monk smiled and said, "The donor is obsessed." "What do you mean, Master?"
"What I said is the Conclusion of the Treatise on the Completeness of Consciousness Only, not the Treatise on the Completeness of Consciousness Only!"
"Well, what's the difference?"
"It is said that the meaning of the Treatise on the Establishment of Consciousness Only was taught by Maitreya himself. It is profound and difficult to understand. It contains ten different annotations. The only person in the world who can truly comprehend it is Master Huiyuan.
According to legend, Master Huiyuan's disciples once advised him to combine the ten annotations and create his own, but Master Huiyuan insisted on leaving the ten annotations to make it easier for future generations to feel the original appearance.
It is extremely difficult for ordinary people to learn one family.
To be one of the ten families, one must be extremely gifted.
Now it seems that Master Huiyuan may have realized the decline of his population in his later years, and in order to ensure the continuity of his Dharma lineage, he wrote "The Conclusion of the Abhidharma-samuccaya" so that people in the world can understand and learn it.
It’s a pity that for some unknown reason, it has never been circulated in the world, and now it has seen the light of day again.”
The old monk looked delighted.
He really never thought that he would have such an opportunity, and then looked at Liang Qu.
This kid really has great luck and great opportunity!
Liang Qu was stunned.
After all this talk, it turns out that Master Huiyuan just summarized it again to make the Consciousness-Only Theory easier to understand and study, right?
He asked expectantly, "Are there any techniques or martial arts in there?"
"I am still a humble monk, so I dare not say for sure, but maybe there is."
A tradition that has been lost because it was too difficult. Even though it was summarized by Venerable Chandan, seven days is obviously not enough to fully understand it. It is only enough to get a superficial understanding. No, it can't even be called a superficial understanding.
Not to mention a few days, a few months, even a few years is possible!
OK OK.
It's always good to have hope.
The reason why the Consciousness-Only School was discontinued was that some people spent their entire lives studying it without being able to understand it, and then when their life span came to an end, they died.
Venerable Chandan even said personally that one must read through the scriptures thoroughly before one can get started.
Liang Qu was a novice in Buddhism. He had a general understanding of Buddhist history and vocabulary, but had never read a complete Buddhist scripture.
Unless you enter Buddhism and devote yourself to research, you can probably live to the age of sixty. It is totally not worth it. It all depends on whether the old monk can help you.
Grandmaster Zhenxiang must be a great master in Buddhism!
Run, my external brain!
After breakfast, the old monk went into the room again and studied the scriptures.
Liang Qu himself practiced the Monkey Boxing and the Fu Bo technique.
At three quarters past seven, the villagers came and dragged away the three beasts.
"Fat" and "cute" are easy to say, not too heavy.
It was obvious that ordinary people could not move the red beast, so Liang Qu lent a hand and carried it to the pier together.
"Thank you, Sir Liang."
Several villagers thanked him repeatedly and turned to arrange the details of the ceremony.
Liang Qu looked around.
The altar faces the lake and stands majestically. Compared to last year, it still has thirteen steps.
It’s just that the span between each layer has doubled, so that the entire altar is twice as high, making it even more magnificent.
There are even carvings on the horizontal boards on both sides, all of which are wave patterns.
On both sides of the altar, there are several big drums. Outside the drums are various seats for the convenience of wealthy families to come and rest.
"Brother Shui!"
Chen Jiechang, Li Libo and Lin Songbao came running over, holding three different sharp knives in their hands.
The cold light is fierce, they are all precious swords.
Liang Qu temporarily borrowed the tools from Senior Brother Lu, and he had to return them later.
Li Libo saw the red beast lying flat on the side, still blinking and trembling all over.
The three of them drew lots, and he just happened to draw the job of killing the red beast.
"I'm so nervous, are we really going to kill that big guy?"
Chen Jiechang glanced at him sideways.
"Are you afraid?"
"Afraid? What's there to be afraid of?" Li Libo straightened his chest.
He was guilty, so he might kill the red beast, which would be a unique sight!
"Then why are you trembling?"
"Excited, excited, you know?"
"The sacrifice will begin at 15:30. If you have the time, why don't you think about where to start the operation?"
……
A quarter past noon.
Huge crowds of people gathered at the pier, until it was overcrowded.
Liang Qu, who had put on his ritual robes, asked in surprise: "Yixing Town... there are so many people?"
Chen Zhaoan explained in a low voice: "Many of them are from other villages. Some villages can't hold the river god festival, so they come to our place!"
(End of this chapter)
