PNB Chapter 392 The Cold and Pure Human Buddha Child VS The Adorable and Devoted Demon Cat Emperor [68]
Chapter 392 The Cold and Pure Human Buddha Child VS The Adorable and Devoted Demon Cat Emperor [68]
So when Shiga saw him return, he was stunned for a moment.
Even when he came back, he was afraid of disturbing himself, so he preferred to sleep on the uneven windowsill.
Shiga had seen Jiang Xiyu sleep on the windowsill before. Several times, Jiang Xiyu would almost fall off when he turned over. Shiga then brought him a futon and gestured for him to sleep on the table.
He suddenly remembered the months he had spent traveling around with his friend, sleeping in cold stupas and on grass. Now, Shiga just wanted him to sleep more comfortably.
After Jiang Xiyu fell asleep, the backlash suppressed within Shijia swept over him. He silently recited Buddhist scriptures, and although his body suffered pain, his soul was indeed at unprecedented peace.
He didn't feel any pain; on the contrary, some long-forgotten memories resurfaced in his mind.
In an instant, it seemed as if time had flowed by and the world had changed.
The supreme Buddhist realm, filled with the light of Buddha.
In the tranquil pond filled with blooming lotuses, a golden lotus emerged from the water. At that moment, the golden lotus bloomed and released an endless, cool fragrance, and the sky above the Buddhist realm was filled with radiant light and strange phenomena, even reflecting the image of a golden Buddha.
The Buddha once said, "There is a Buddha who will be born from a lotus."
The day he was born into heaven and earth was the day he became a Buddha.
The pure assembly of beings in the supreme Buddha realm, the Buddhas of the four directions, and the nine holy Bodhisattvas should all go to receive them.
Shiga was born in the Golden Lotus and became a Buddha, thus becoming the fifth Buddha in the Buddha realm. Unlike the other four Buddhas, he did not have any disciples. This was because he had never undergone cultivation and still had evil thoughts in his body. The first thing Shiga did after becoming a Buddha was to remove and seal away the evil thoughts.
He was devoted to Buddhism, and he learned about the vast number of sentient beings mostly from the mouths of other Buddhas. They taught their fellow disciple Shika what "sentient beings" meant. They said that all sentient beings suffer, and that being a Buddha means saving sentient beings from suffering.
Shiga stripped himself of the seven emotions and six desires, his heart was like crystal. Although he pitied the suffering of all beings, he had never truly experienced it.
So, when turmoil broke out among the three races of the human world, he was sent down to the mortal realm to protect humanity and cultivate his mind. But he stayed in the human world for too long, and suffering, good and evil, constantly assaulted him like a tide. In this purgatory of the human world, Shiga's initial pity eventually turned into near indifference towards the soul.
Because he uses the body of a Buddha to experience the human world, his heart is cold, he cannot feel human emotions, so he can never empathize with those sufferings and tears.
When Shiga first came to protect the human race, some mortals knelt before him, knowing his magical powers, and wanted him to save their loved ones. Shiga took pity on them and saved them. Later, such incidents occurred more and more frequently. The Buddha instructed him not to violate the order of reincarnation, and from then on, Shiga never intervened again.
Those people went from loving him to hating him overnight.
In fact, Shiga didn't feel much about it.
He was just beginning his cultivation in the mortal world and didn't understand human nature.
After that, he never personally entered the mortal world again; he regarded everything he did as his responsibility to the human race.
So, in the long years that followed, Shika walked alone and gradually became the Buddha he is today, without sorrow or joy, accepting life and death as they come.
He personally built the Compassion Temple and stayed there to cultivate himself. Enduring the endless loneliness of the long night, he sat in meditation before the Buddha and rang the bell under the moon. Standing there, he listened to each bell as he passed through a cycle of reincarnation, until he had listened for a hundred years.
No one spoke to him, and no one paid him any attention; a rusty Buddha statue stood there.
A hundred years passed in the human world, then a great natural disaster struck, causing countless deaths and injuries to the human race. They petitioned Shiga to come out of the mountains, and Shiga stepped in to resolve the natural disaster. After this ordeal, the human race began to worship him again, recast his golden statue, and offered him incense.
Some eminent monks who practiced Buddhism in the secular world made a vow before the Buddha when they passed away, wishing to see him one last time.
After Shiga appeared, seeing that his fate was not to be there, he took the old monk back to Cibei Temple.
The old monk possessed the six desires and seven emotions that Shika did not. Although the Buddha said that the four elements are empty, the difference between having them and not having them makes a complete difference in one's understanding of the principles of the world.
Shiga studied with him for a while, and then enlightened him. After the old monk had achieved perfect merit, he entered the supreme Buddhist realm. Gradually, Shiga would help those who were extremely virtuous and had a connection with the Buddha to convert them and lead them to the Compassion Temple for cultivation.
They should have returned to the Buddhist realm in perfect harmony, but unfortunately, evil thoughts escaped. Jinglian, the Arhat who guarded these evil thoughts, was also sent down to the mortal realm to cultivate after this incident. The day they subdue the evil thoughts will be the day they return to the Buddhist realm.
The first time he sensed the presence of evil in the human world was during his first meeting with Jiang Xiyu.
……
All the past memories dissipated like clouds, and he softly called out, "Master..."
Thus, this voice became a new cause and effect.
He supported Shiga, easing the burning pain in his heart.
Seeing that his body swayed slightly, Jiang Xiyu transformed back into his original form and tried to support him.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Shiga's arm was touched, he slowly opened his eyes.
When their eyes met, Shiga's face was clearly reflected in those golden pupils.
In a daze, it felt as if I were in the illusion of a pigeon demon.
In the red tents and wedding candles, he seemed to see himself reflected in the other person's eyes.
Shiga was stunned for a moment, his breathing becoming unsteady.
Jiang Xiyu frowned, looking at his condition with a flustered expression, her tone full of concern: "Master, are you alright?"
Shiga did not speak immediately, but simply stared into his eyes. After a long while, he told him expressionlessly, "I'm fine."
"How can you be alright? You're sweating so much, and your breathing is all jumbled." Jiang Xiyu didn't believe him. He reached out and touched the sweat on Shijia's forehead. The sweat dampened his fingertips. Jiang Xiyu thought for a moment and then said, "Is it because the merit within your body is starting to backfire? Let me help you..."
As he spoke, he made a gesture as if to sit cross-legged opposite Shiga to absorb merit for him.
The softness on his forehead faded, and a deep weariness seemed to well up between Shiga's brows and eyes.
He slowly lowered his eyes, his face as pale as snow.
Jiang Xiyu had never seen him so weak before. Coupled with the gloomy sky outside, he had a feeling that Shiga's backlash this time was extraordinary.
He pursed his lips, his eyes filled with worry, and deliberately lowered his voice to say to Shiga, "Master, if you feel unwell in any way, please be sure to tell me, okay?"
Shiga lowered his eyes and didn't look at him.
Jiang Xiyu then lowered her body and moved closer to him, entering his line of sight.
A bewitching face, like a blooming rose in the demon realm, and a pair of golden eyes that shone with determination, as if he valued his feelings more than anything else.
Shiga paused for a moment before nodding as if in response.
Seeing him nod, Jiang Xiyu reached out and used magic to wipe away the sweat from his body. Then she sat down opposite him again and began to absorb merit for him.
A pale golden light began to swirl around the two of them.
From beginning to end, Shiga never closed his eyes.
His dark eyes simply gazed calmly at Jiang Xiyu, his thoughts in turmoil, yet his expression unusually indifferent, as if he were not the one suffering the agony of being burned alive.