I opened the book at Liu Lang's suggestion, and the characters in it were all written with a brush, from right to left and from top to bottom. On the first page, my birth date is recorded, and the so-called eight characters are actually the sexagenary branches of the year, month, day, and hour.

Then the above detailed description of many key things I have done since I was a child, it is simply detailed, such as what alms are asked for food, and the back is written with a red pen "a meal", for example, what is scolded and eaten meat is written with a black pen behind the "one calendar".

I frowned and asked Liu Lang: "This is recorded in detail enough, what does that meal mean?" ”

"This book is a book of merit for you and the camp, and it is a record of the merits you have practiced." Liu Lang explained: "This book is actually a part of your life and death book, the one with immortal fate is the merit book, and the ordinary people without immortal fate are called the merit book." The text above is not written by us, but is naturally generated. When you finish doing something, the Heavenly Dao will naturally determine whether you have accumulated merit or damaged yin virtue. ”

Liu Lang paused for a moment and found that I was listening carefully, so he continued: "The so-called merit, merit is that you have helped the poor and done good deeds that have changed the lives of others, this is merit. And if you are in the heart of saving people, you will not open your mouth to ask for something in return, this is virtue. In the merit book, the red pen is written as an increase, the black pen is written as a decrease, a calendar and a meal are counting units, and ten calendars are a meal. The merit book makes up your practice in one lifetime, and at the end of your yang life, you will determine your cause and effect in your next life based on this. ”

Liu Lang said to me with a smile: "The accumulation of merit by ordinary people depends on reincarnation in the next life, and the accumulation of virtue is more than the loss of virtue, so when they cross the gold and silver bridge during reincarnation, they will be rich and noble in the next life." After the death of a disciple, the disciple of the horse will go to the temple, so how much merit you accumulate determines when you can leave the Three Realms and get the right result, and also determines whether you can become the king of the stele at that time, and how much Taoism you do. ”

After listening to Liu Lang's explanation, I finally understood why my grandfather, who was only a hundred years old, could be the leader of the sect, while Zhou Tong had been dead for hundreds of years, but he could only be a probe. Because my grandfather was a martyr at the beginning, everything he did was for the feelings of the family and the country, and Zhou Tong was a tomb robber at the beginning, digging up the grave is an act that damages yin morality no matter what, no wonder I have to suffer below.

I roughly flipped through my merit book again, and found that it was densely packed with black, and there were very few red ones, so I asked Liu Lang with a bitter face: "Eating meat and scolding people on this is all a detrimental act of yin and morality, is it possible that I will not be able to become a vegetarian in the future?" ”

"That's not it, the only people in the immortal family who can keep the precepts are those who are high-minded, and you are not a monk, is it possible not to eat meat. As long as you don't eat roe or the like, and eat three clean meats, that is, you don't see killing, don't smell killing, and don't kill for the sake of killing, it's good. In addition to Han Buddhism, Buddhism in other places is not vegetarian, and alms are kindness, and what is given is eaten. The five meat abstinences they talk about are onions, garlic, leeks and so on, because eating those things has filthy breath in the mouth and it is difficult to pass through the gods, and any mantra and mantra will not work. ”

Liu Lang smiled and patiently explained to me: "The most important thing is to guard the heart, the merit lies in the heart, and the heart is evil to do good deeds in order to repay, and it is in vain." Otherwise, if a rich person casually donates some points into the temple, isn't there no karma for any bad thing? ”

I nodded, and said in my heart that it was the same truth, isn't there such an old saying, called filial piety comes first, in the heart is not in the line, in the poor family has no filial son. All evil and fornication are the head, and there is no one in the heart of the world. That is to say, filial piety depends on your heart, not how much you give, otherwise there will be no filial sons in a poor family. And whether you are lewd or not depends on whether you can control yourself, everyone will have inner turmoil on specific occasions, as long as you keep your principles, you are a good person.

Liu Lang said that the words suddenly changed, and he said to me seriously: "The World Venerable said that the sentient beings of the Five Turbidity Worlds are all sinful karma. That is to say, everyone should think about it when doing good deeds, and doing bad deeds is unconscious. Therefore, there is such a saying in the underworld, which is called that there are no good people in front of the mirror. You are a cultivator now, so you have to think twice before you act in the future, and don't stop your ostomy karma without covering your mouth, let alone being manipulated by money. ”

I didn't pay attention to it before, but now after reading the dense black letters in the merit book, I understand that it seems that I have to regulate myself well, otherwise when will I be able to pay off these karmic debts. I understand what Liu Lang said, it's not easy to learn well, and it's a bad one. It is no wonder that the previous monks had to stay away from the world and practice closed-mouth meditation, and they were afraid of the ostomy industry if they did not speak for decades.

I just felt that I had something to ask him, but when I finally remembered, I wondered, "My master told me before, when my Taoism and merits have accumulated to a certain point, I can use the rod of good and evil to make the wicked good, and I listen to the meaning of your words, and the merits are all karmic retribution in the next life, so what does that have to do with me in this life?" ”

"First of all, you have already entered the misunderstanding, the more yin virtue is lost, and the more merit is followed, it is called karma." Liu Lang sat sideways on a rosewood chair with his hands down, and the old god said: "Taoism has nothing to do with merit, don't those who cultivate evil laws also practice Taoism?" Those giant demons that have plagued the world in the past, ordinary cultivators can't clean it up. The so-called karma is also your fruit position, the bodhisattva fruit position is divided into eighty-eight grades, starting from you do good deeds and accumulate virtue and do not create bad karma, even if you touch the threshold, as for the final realization of Bodhi, I don't know which life it is, but all living beings have such a come to hide, in the future life of the end of Bodhi. ”

"Merit is not entirely manifested in the afterlife, your path depends on how much power you have, but you are not a god who has no fruit, and the effect of the mantra mantra you recite depends on merit. If you do too many bad things, it will be useless for you to recite anything, and the gods and Buddhas will not take care of you. ”

I finally understood that like those who do whatever it takes to seek the Tao, they can only rely on evil laws and resentments in the end, but that kind of Taoism is not lasting, so they can only continue to harm others, which forms a kind of dead circle, and what awaits them after their death is boundless karma. Therefore, the key to cultivation is to accumulate merits.

While thinking about it, I continued to flip back, and it happened to turn to the record that I broke through for Li Yating and accepted Xiaohei and Liu Guofu into the camp. This page is written in great detail, and in the end, Liu Guofu was reincarnated in the snow, and then Xiao Hei followed the Tang camp to go out. After reading them all, I found that this page recorded a lot of merits about Liu Guofu and Xiaohei, and about Li Yating, I even lost dozens of yin virtues.

I looked back and found that there was no record of merit for what happened to me in the tomb later. Not only that, this time when he returned to the countryside, he recorded a lot of merits in subduing the pheasant essence, but there was still no merit record in taking in Huang Rongyi's seven brothers. It is said that I led the seven of them on the path of cultivation and put an end to a grudge, which is not a great merit.

"Found a problem?" Liu Lang frowned when he saw me, and asked me with a smile.

I nodded and replied, "Yes, I didn't get merit for many times after I left the horse. The trip to the ancient tomb is equivalent to nine deaths, which is equivalent to working in vain, is it because I received 500,000 yuan? In addition, I broke the test for Li Yating to save people's lives, why did I lose so much yin virtue? ”

"No, the 500,000 is not what you want." Liu Lang looked at me with a smile: "We have our own position on the trip to the ancient tomb, and Chen Jiugong's birth is not good or bad for this world, so we can't make merit now." If you think about it, why do the rest of the things have no merit? ”

I thought about it for a long time and didn't come up with a reason, so I looked at Liu Lang puzzled.

Liu Lang was silent for a long time, and finally said to me: "You saved Li Yating, and then what?" How did you deal with that ghost fetus? Fortunately, Hu Botao only refined its yin qi at that time, and personally sent it back to the underworld. Otherwise, you'll already be in trouble. In your opinion, ghosts should not stay in the world, but there is a cause and effect between their mother and child, and abortion is a great sin and she created karma first. You stepped in sideways, and the ghost fetus could only suffer from the flames in the underworld in order not to be invaded by resentment. In other words, this matter is not over, and when she is ready to have a child, you can guide the ghost fetus to reincarnate in her womb, and maybe the merit can be made up. ”

After listening to Liu Lang, I was sweating, I listened to the story of Huang Pizi and felt that my grandfather helped the Park family to see the problem from his point of view. Because it was Park Byungwook's family who killed first, I didn't expect that I would also enter this misunderstanding, and instinctively felt that talents were a vulnerable group, and goblins and ghosts were all evil, at least they were confused and evil.

It doesn't seem that doing good is doing good as I think, and sometimes I may be kind enough to work in vain, and in the end I will end up with karma.

Liu Lang saw that I was silent, and asked me again: "There is no merit for receiving those seven ghost yellow skins, what do you say about it?" ”

I followed the train of thought he had just given me, and blurted out, "It's not over yet?" Park San won't give up, that is, I just took them away, but I didn't solve the grievances between them, and in the end, I still have to make a fuss? ”

"That's pretty much it." Liu Lang nodded.

I found that I was in a cold sweat at this time, and my voice couldn't help but be a little louder, so I asked him: "But I have gained a lot of merit by destroying the pheasant essence, which means that it is right to do so, because Pu San and the pheasant essence have harmed countless people." Am I going to leave it alone? Let them continue like this? ”

"I didn't say you did anything wrong, it's all fate, even if you don't bring them back, you've already offended people except for pheasant essence. This in itself was meant to be, starting with your grandfather's generation. ”

Liu Lang suddenly looked at me as he spoke, and said with a smile: "The seven of them are much more sensible than you, I am embarrassed that they are actually helping them, there are still many people under our own house who can't go to the hall, I let the seven of them come up, and they have to make an appearance to give others an explanation." Shall I give them a hundred lashes? Huang Rongyi can see this, you still have a short experience."