Longevity and Immortal Cultivation: Starting from Controlling Your Own Essence

In the Mani Temple.

Zhang Yao and Zhenhui bid farewell to Abbot Tongyuan, crossed the Daxiong Hall, and headed for the Dajue Hall.

As the two of them got deeper, the surrounding became more and more silent, and even the mighty bell that shook for hundreds of miles seemed to be there.

After a while:

Under the guidance of Monk Zhenhui, Zhang Yao finally saw the Dajue Hall, which is known as the number one among the Twelve Halls.

"Master Qingxu."

Monk Zhenhui clasped his hands together, bowed his head and said:

"Master is in the hall, so I won't bother you, so I will step back."

"Okay, Master Lao."

Zhang Yao nodded slightly, and politely returned a salute.

After Zhenhui left, he withdrew his gaze, looked up at the magnificent palace in front of him, then smiled and stepped forward.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The ground of Dajue Hall is quaint gray, giving people a sense of vastness and solitude. The steady and powerful steps fall down, step by step like hammering a heavy drum.

When Zhang Yao entered the main hall, he saw the huge jade disc at first glance, saw the mountains, rivers, land and land above it, and saw the entanglement of black air and golden light, and his mind was shocked.

He immediately realized that the Great Enlightenment Hall he was in was the absolute core and center of the system of meritorious deeds.

And under the jade bi:

A thin old monk sat alone in front of the huge jade disc, leaving only a shadow of his back.

"Master Tongxing."

Zhang Yao stopped in the hall and took the initiative to salute:

"I am poor and pure, I am invited to visit."

His voice echoed in the empty Dajue Hall:

The old monk in front of the mani jade finally stood up slowly and turned around, revealing a very ordinary face, white and beardless, with only two long white eyebrows.

"The poor monk Tongxing has met Qingxu Layman."

Accelerator Arhat returned a salute, then gestured:

"Layman, please."

Zhang Yao nodded slightly, came to another futon in front of Yubi, and sat opposite to Tongxing Arhat.

The two looked at each other:

Zhang Yao saw the bottomless pool, and Tong Xing saw the whirlpool in the vast ocean.

"Seeing is better than hearing a hundred times."

Zhang Yao took the initiative to withdraw his gaze, bowed his head slightly to show respect, and said:

"Today I can see Tongxing Arhat, and I will know the prestige of 'Tongxing in all directions, unimpeded in the Central Plains', which is worthy of the name."

"Wu Yong in the past, don't mention it."

Accelerating Arhat smiled slightly, and said:

"I'm already a dead bone in a tomb, a yellow flower of yesterday, but Qingxu Layman is still young, brave and diligent, and his future achievements will definitely be higher than mine."

"The master praised me."

Zhang Yao responded humbly.

After the two exchanged a few words of politeness, Accelerating Arhat suddenly said:

"What do you think of the good deeds system in the Mani Kingdom?"

"Um?"

Zhang Yao was stunned for a moment, thoughts surging in his mind.

He was a little confused about what the old monk was thinking, so he answered sternly:

"Of course it's excellent."

"Under the system of good deeds, all living beings can enjoy a peaceful and prosperous age, and monks can obtain merit, which is more in line with the Buddhist way of leaving the world and entering the world, which can be called perfect."

If there is no discovery in the magic lair, his evaluation cannot be wrong.

On the bright side, the system of good deeds is indeed perfect, and it is more convenient for Buddhist monks to do good deeds and accumulate merits, which will help their own enlightenment and mental growth, and lay the foundation for the prosperity of the Mani Temple.

Without the existence of the system of good deeds, Mani Kingdom would not have been able to produce so many golden arhats, which have flourished until today.

However, combining the discovery in the magic lair and Zhang Yao's subsequent secret investigation, the existence of the meritorious deeds system is very problematic.

It's just that Zhang Yao still doesn't know the old monk's true intentions, so naturally he won't reveal his secret.

"Why don't you just speak out?"

Accelerating Arhat was really dissatisfied with this answer, shook his head and said:

"Everything in the world, where there is light, there is darkness, and where there is light, there is shadow."

"The layman only mentions the bright side and keeps silent on the dark side, but this is not open enough."

"Um?!"

Zhang Yao was startled suddenly, and immediately realized what his words meant.

When his thoughts flickered rapidly, he noticed the imitation jade wall at the side from the corner of his eyes, and there was a 'click' in his heart, and he vaguely guessed something.

But he chose to pretend to be stupid on the surface, frowning and said:

"What does the master mean by these words? How can I know the dark side of the system of good deeds?"

Accelerating Arhat smiled slightly, and said:

"Didn't the layman see the 'black prison' under the magic lair of Changle Mountain with his own eyes?"

As soon as these words came out, the Great Jue Hall immediately became silent.

"..."

Zhang Yao was silent for a while, his eyes became indifferent, and his tone was slightly cold:

"Pindao was arrogant and negligent for a while, and he was lucky, so he ended up being taken advantage of by others, and he has nothing to say."

"But if the master thinks that he can blackmail the poor Taoist with this trick, then he is very wrong!"

At the time of the accident, when he sat quietly in Changle Palace, he already had the thought of dying and breaking the net, and making a mess.

He thought the matter was over, but he didn't expect that the monitoring methods of Mani Temple were much more terrifying than he imagined, and he could even detect clearly the evil lair where the turbidity was rampant.

Today's Dongchuang incident happened, which meant that his wealth and life fell into the thought of this old monk Tongxing. While he secretly regretted it, the only thing left was to hold on to his thoughts and fight to the death.

Compromise is impossible, he would rather be broken than broken, he has a lot of capital to make a comeback.

But what he expected was:

"The layman misunderstood."

Accelerating Arhat stood up and bowed deeply, his mouth full of shame:

"Before, the layman and I had never met each other, and we had little friendship. Only today did we have the opportunity to meet for a short time."

"The poor monk had no choice but to start from this matter to test the layman's mind, but he never intended to threaten him. This kind of heart can be learned from the Tathagata!"

"oh?"

Zhang Yao raised his eyebrows, hearing the sincerity in his words, his expression softened a little, and he said:

"Since that's the case, please sit down and talk about it, master."

"Okay, thank you for your understanding, Master."

Passing Arhat clasped his palms together and saluted before sitting down again.

As soon as he sat down, Zhang Yao asked directly:

"The matter of Changle Mountain was caused by my selfishness and my mind getting dizzy for a while. I accidentally offended the taboo of Mani Temple. I am willing to accept the punishment."

"I don't know how the Mani Temple will deal with my fault?"

If the matter of the earth soul crystallization cannot be exposed, he can only take the blame on himself, and take a look at what kind of medicine is sold in the old monk's gourd.

But something unexpected happened again:

"The layman was wrong."

Passing Arhat slowly said:

"Mani Temple doesn't know about you, only I know."

"At that time, your actions were indeed a little reckless, and almost touched the early warning mechanism of the Great Jue Temple, but I stopped it."

Speaking of this, he paused for a moment, as if afraid of Zhang Yao's scruples, he opened his mouth and pointed to the jade bi:

"Lays don't have to worry. We are under the jade shell of Mani, in the central place where the endless turbidity and the wishes of all living beings meet. No one can spy on our communication. Even the Daoist Nascent Soul and the Great Arhat are no exception. .”

"So, in the following exchanges, lay Buddhists can speak freely without any taboos."

Hearing this, Zhang Yao took a deep look at him and didn't speak for a while.

He never expected:

This person who is known as the first person of Buddhism and supernatural powers in the Mani Temple for five hundred years, and the future great arhat, is not in the same heart with the senior management of the Mani Temple.

So what is his purpose? And why did he hide the matter of the Changle Mountain Devil's Den for himself? Because you are useful?

Many thoughts fluctuated in Zhang Yao's mind. After a while, he opened his mouth and said:

"What exactly does the master want to say?"

Accelerating Arhat did not answer directly, but changed the subject and said:

"Do you know that this person can be 'domesticated'?"

"Domestication?"

Zhang Yao narrowed his eyes and said calmly:

"Master, you mean..."

"I mean very simple."

Accelerating Arhat said unhurriedly:

"Just as people raise pigs and sheep, they select the ones that are fat and easy to feed. After dozens or even hundreds of generations, the breeds of pigs and sheep are quite different from their ancestors."

"It's the same with pigs and sheep, and it's the same with people. They must follow this law, and they are no nobler than livestock, vegetables, fruits, and rice."

"However, the ordinary people in the Mani Kingdom obviously violated this rule. Could it be that laymen can't see it? Don't you think it's strange?"

Hearing this, Zhang Yao also understood what Tongxing Luohan meant.

Human beings can be domesticated, and the rules, etiquette, systems, and even culture, customs, and habits passed down from generation to generation will change and constrain people.

According to this theory to deduce:

The system of good deeds has been practiced in Mani for thousands of years, so there shouldn't be any 'wicked people' long ago.

Just ask, if a boy grows up in a world without women at all, he will never be able to truly understand the whole picture of the concept of "female".

It is also a highly efficient domestication process to guide people to abandon evil and follow good, punish evil and promote good, and more importantly, it changes the entire environment.

In the Kingdom of Mani, the wicked will be punished and hunted down by Buddhist monks, and they will have to pay a huge price, and the loss is not worth the loss; while the good deeds and good deeds will be praised and rewarded, and gain tangible benefits and reputation benefits.

If this continues, in just a few generations, the concept of 'wicked person' will quickly disappear from the borders of the country, or even cease to appear.

If the children and grandchildren of every family are educated to be good, and all the people they come into contact with are also doing their best to help the poor and be kind, how can there still be "evil people"?

You may make mistakes unintentionally, or you may have malice in your heart, but subjective and spontaneous evil deeds, such as theft, robbery, murder and arson, etc., should not exist in this environment, and cannot continue.

But everything in the Mani Kingdom today is obviously not like this. Good deeds dominate, but evil deeds have not disappeared. The battle between good and evil is an eternal theme.

"...I understand what the master means."

Zhang Yao spoke slowly, with a low tone:

"If there is no problem with the meritorious deeds system, Mani Temple should have become a real Buddhist kingdom on earth and a pure land of bliss as early as thousands of years ago."

"But it doesn't, and it is still trapped in the cycle of good and evil. Obviously, the system of good deeds is fundamentally problematic, and it is not for the promotion of good deeds at all..."

"The layman really knows everything!"

A sincere smile appeared on the face of Accelerating Arhat.

"A little bit? I only blame myself for being stupid."

Zhang Yao laughed at himself and said:

"I also wandered in the mortal world for many years back then. I never thought that I would be so high above and fly around for so long that I would have forgotten what it looks like in the world."

"If it wasn't for Master's vigilance, I wouldn't even have noticed that there is anything wrong with the mortal world of Mani Kingdom..."