Chapter 253 — The Monk's Heart Awakens
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Nor should you — stop being the Demon Cult's Hierarch. Repent your evil and follow good before it is too late; would that not be best? The Buddha's law says: the sea of suffering is boundless, but turn your head and there is the shore. .
. " Shen Mu shook his head and said gravely: "You are a true monk. Sometimes a true monk has no place among the false monks of a temple. When the temple cannot hold you, you must go out into the world and seek your own Suchness, your own Great Awakening. Read fewer sutras. Of those who compile sutras, few are Tathagatas; if they cannot become Buddhas themselves, how can they point the way for you to become one? Destroy the Buddha in your heart. Destroy the Great Thunderclap Temple in your heart.
Then you are your own Buddha, the whole world is your Great Thunderclap Temple, and all living beings are your companions on the Way, your elder brothers. " He extended one finger and touched it to the hollow of Chenghuai's chest, smiling: "Here, in this place, dwells a true Buddha.
" Then he touched another finger to the center of Chenghuai's brow: "And here, in this place, dwells a false Buddha. Do not let faith become your demon, your fetter, your veil of delusion. What you should do is look up to heaven and down to earth, and keep your conscience blameless.
" "Set a scale in your heart and let it be your principle; weigh good and evil, right and wrong, the true and the crooked, Buddha and demon. Go out and walk more. Watch what people do, not what the sutras say. To sit in a temple thinking of good and evil, thinking of becoming a Buddha — that way you never will.
" Chenghuai's mind rang like a struck bell; he fell into thought.
Shen Mu turned and walked toward Old Master Huo, saluted the white-browed monk Jingming and the others, and said: "Forgive me, masters. I have disturbed your quiet.
" The monk Jingming and the rest returned the salute. "The Demon Cult's Hierarch is too courteous," they said. "Their cultivation is insufficient, and the Hierarch's demonic nature is too heavy; he is skilled at bewitching men's hearts and his hand is cruel beyond measure — a born old devil.
" Shen Mu shook his head. "My cultivation of mind is shallow. When others try to kill me, I can only hit back. The masters' cultivation of mind is deep — when others try to kill you, do you hit back?
" With that, with a ringing note, he drew the Chubao Sword, his gaze far from friendly.
The eyes of the white-browed monk Jingming and the others fell upon the glittering blade, and one by one they slowly shook their heads. Shen Mu slid the sword back and let out a breath, then smiled: "I had thought you masters of the Way could face death without fear, and honor or shame without fear. It turns out you are as I am — common men with too much of the demon in you. I take my leave.
Grandpa Huo, blind grandpa — what sort of place is the Heart Zen Hall? " Old Master Huo led them outward. "The Heart Zen Hall is where the Great Thunderclap Temple tempers the heart.
The practice there is unlike this place. For monks, the heart is cultivated first; in the Heart Zen Hall there are many monks who practice the silent-mouth meditation and never cultivate the tongue. " The blind elder let out a breath and smiled: "Silent-mouth is good. It saves you from telling them how monks really behave, and having them answer with Buddhist law; you tell them the temple rules need reform, and they answer with Buddhist law; you reason with them, and they answer with Buddhist law; you speak Buddhist law with them, and they start swinging fists. The unity of knowledge and action alone — that, these Buddhists cannot manage. " Old Master Huo hesitated, stopped, and said: "Then perhaps we will not go to the Heart Zen Hall after all.
" Shen Mu was startled and blurted: "The monks in the Heart Zen Hall are like that too?
" Old Master Huo shook his head.