Chapter Forty-Eight: The Epiphany of the Praying Mantis

With a snap, the small body of the feather insect exploded, scattered into seventeen or eighteen Mars, and each spark turned into a feather insect, and so on split in a circle, one ten, ten hundred, one hundred, countless feather insects vibrated their wings, flying up and down around Guan Wen, and their tails dragged a vague trajectory of bright blue.

Guan Wen held his breath and tried his best to expand his horizons, taking into account the trajectories drawn by all the feather insects. In his view, each trajectory is a thought-provoking text, embodying the painstaking practice of Tibetan Buddhist sages. Every time he reads an article, his spiritual fortress will open a skylight to welcome the rain of wisdom falling from the sky.

Slowly, he felt his body lighten, and it seemed that he had also turned into a feathered insect, dancing, and merging into the insect array.

"Humans and demons cannot coexist in the same world, and since Pangu opened the world, it has long been clearly divided into the three worlds of heaven, man, and ghost. Between the three, the heavenly realm and the human realm are separated by floating clouds, and the human realm and the ghost world are separated by thick earth, and the boundaries are clear and cannot be crossed. In the past, after the wise man of the human world experienced the practice of Sanjiazi, Yu broke through the barriers between the human world and the heavenly world, and delusionally wanted to become a member of the heavenly world, and named this method of cross-border birth 'somersault cloud', and even arrogantly called himself 'Monkey King'. Eventually, the wise man was suppressed under the Five Elements Mountain for 500 years as a punishment......" a completely unfamiliar voice recounted leisurely.

"Some people plant towering trees for people to climb, so as to build a smooth path between the two worlds. Far from becoming immortals, this move immediately caused the human world to be filled with diseases and pests, shortened lifespans, reduced food production, and was no longer able to support those towering trees...... another voice said.

"All kinds of unrealistic practices prove that crossing borders and borders is contrary to the laws of the natural world. Human beings who cross the line are punished by heaven, and demons who cross the line are of course also going against the sky. Practitioners of my generation must understand this truth and establish the determination of man to defeat demons. Cultivators are the banner of human society, and if the banner does not fall, there is hope for mankind......" another voice said.

"We must pass on this determination, this is the spark of human reproduction. If the flame is not extinguished, the evolution of mankind will continue forever......"

"Demons can only run rampant for a while, and they can't rage forever. For the wise, the body can be destroyed, but the soul is indestructible, and by transmitting the wisdom of all of us into the minds of those who come after him, he will become incomparably powerful and become a giant of wisdom against the demon world......"

"Thangka is the oldest way of cultural inheritance of the Tibetan people, and all the history and wisdom are all in the thangka. The ancient Han people's knotted rope records, choreographed notes, or written records are not as rich in connotation as thangkas. As a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, only by deeply studying the essence of the thangka can one attain the white ascension of the god jing......"

More voices competed to express their opinions, and Guan Wen pricked up his ears to listen while reading intently, so that he didn't even have time to breathe.

In the midst of all the voices, a slow, sluggish old voice suddenly appeared, suppressing all the noisy sounds: "The skeleton thangka represents the highest state of the unity of man and Buddha, selflessness and non-yu, and the practitioner can only enter the threshold of practicing the skeleton thangka when he reaches the state of self-transparency, no selfishness, pure thoughts, and empty thoughts." If you can't do the former, once you reluctantly cultivate, you will definitely fall into the wrong path of death that goes mad and becomes arrogant. Throughout the ages, there have been too many examples of failures that show that people must have self-knowledge and not act recklessly, which will only harm others and themselves. ”

All the voices disappeared, only the old voice echoed as deep as Huang Zhong Dalu, stirring in Guan Wen's mind for a long time.

He couldn't help but ask himself, "Have I reached the realm of selflessness and carelessness?"

There is no doubt that Baoling has entered his inner world, and the fire of love between men and women has been planted, which cannot be thrown away no matter what. This is the most primitive hope of human beings, once germinated, cut constantly, and the reason is messy, until death.

"If you can't give up your hopes, you can't afford to take on the heavy responsibility of exterminating demons." The old voice shouted.

Guan Wen has no way to refute it, because this is the truth. If he had been enlightened by Master Tree before he met Baoling, he would have been really enthusiastic and careless at that time.

"However, I think he is the best candidate, and the only one, because my life has come to an end, and if I can't find a successor, the fire of demon removal will be extinguished." Tree Master said.

"That's a senseless sacrifice, meaningless. If I were you, I would rather the fire be extinguished than be entrusted to no one. The old voice replied.

"No, I want to try one last time, his Enlightenment is taller than anyone else, and his mind is wider than anyone else, I've already decided." Tree Master said.

The old voice laughed helplessly: "You decided...... You've decided? It's you who make the decision, but it's everyone who bears the failure, so why can't you wait any longer?"

The Tree Master smiled hoarsely and bitterly, "I'll wait...... I curled up in the shell of the feather insect for two hundred years, and if it were not for the vitality of the ancient tree, the shell would have weathered to ashes. That's all I can do, I can't do more......"

The old voice sighed: "He really can't do it, because a beloved woman has appeared in his mind, and half of all his jing power is given to that woman, and it is impossible to concentrate all his jing power on the matter of 'eliminating demons'." The decision you make will only kill him......"

Master Tree suddenly let out an earth-shattering roar, which shook Guan Wen's ears and buzzed: "Heaven and earth, sea of clouds, mountains and rivers, plants and trees, gods and Buddhas in the sky, this is my last fight-"

With a whistling sound, the hollow of the tree spun rapidly, like a spinning top violently twitched by a whip. Guan Wen stood still, and many strange images passed by in front of him at high speed. He kept his eyes wide open, trying his best to capture those images, and all the organs in his body that could sense the outside world were working with all their might, not only with his eyes, but also with his nose smelling, his fingers touching, the tip of his tongue savoring, and his ears listening......

He saw the majestic and high-spirited kings on the thrones, the beautiful princesses riding the golden saddle yaks, the ancient shamans with their hair scattered, the sweaty craftsmen, and the Tibetan temples rising from the ground......

He also saw the devils who rode the black clouds roaring to and fro, the black water that tumbled and swelled, the yaksha that ravaged and devoured humans, and the giant monsters that destroyed temples and dwellings with their gestures......

He also saw that the sky was clear, the four seas were peaceful, and the Tibetan people were singing and dancing, toasting and worshipping the king and princess. In the final image, huge pitch-black yin clouds are sweeping over the distant horizon, like a cháo, irresistible.

"Before the great crisis begins, we must act, we must attack with all our might, cut off the path of the Rakshasa Witch's resurrection, and nip the great crisis in the bud...... That is the voice of the Tree Master, and it is also the voice of all the wise souls who do not see it in the dark, but only hear it.

The image rotates faster and faster, forming countless halos of colorful light. Guan Wen was dizzy, gritting his teeth and barely supporting it.

Steeply, a whirling sensation of vertigo hit him, and he fell unsteady on his feet and fell to his knees.

Then the sounds were gone, and the flying feathered insects were gone.

Guan Wen closed his eyes, reviewed everything he had seen and heard, and collected it in his mind. Like a spaceship infused with new power, he felt that his whole body was filled with inexplicable power, and he had never seen the history of Tibet more clearly than he did now.

"Senior, are you still there?" He called tentatively, but no one answered.

Caidan Dajie walked into the tree hole, turned on the flashlight, and shone it to the side of the tree hole.

"Master, what are you looking for?" Guan Wen asked.

Before Dajie answered, the light pillar of the flashlight stopped, firmly covering a small piece of tree trunk covered with narrow holes like a beehive, about the size of two palms. He slowly peeled off the bark of the tree next to him with a knife, revealing a shriveled feather insect. Because of its age, the limbs of the feather insect have been in a state of severe weathering, showing a terrible grayish white, only one front paw is hooked into the crack of the tree, and the rest of the finger claws are broken and broken. It is conceivable that if there is no bark to protect from the wind and rain, the feather insects are afraid that they will have weathered into powder long ago.

"This is the habitat of the Tree Master, no matter how revered his status is in life, after the body is extinguished, the soul is nothing more than a sand in the Ganges, and the empty shell of a small insect can hold it." Caidan Dajie's expression was solemn, and there was no trace of a smile. True practitioners respect each other, not to mention that Master Shu is a senior who is several generations higher than him, and he should humbly perform the discipleship ceremony.

In fact, there was only an empty shell left of the feather worm, and the fat in its body had been eliminated, like a small ruined temple.

Guan Wen couldn't help but sigh, among the Buddhism, there is a saying that "the higher the wisdom, the more humble the posture", the soul of the tree master could not escape because of the news of the demon exorcism, so he hid himself in the most humble place, waiting for someone to come and meet. This kind of almost desperate dedication is the most worthy of respect for future generations.

Death and rainbow transformation are very easy, just a process of opening and closing your eyes, but the process of "staying behind" for 200 years is an unbearable suffering. What's even more terrifying is that this kind of "left-behind" has no clear end and destination, and it may have an ending, or it may come to the end of life, still have nothing, and die with all kinds of regrets. Who can survive the long night without indomitable dedication?

Just above the feather worm, another piece of bark that had not been peeled off, a blue-gray praying mantis maintained a posture of wielding a large knife in its left forearm. The praying mantis and the feather insect gather one foot together, and looking at this situation, the mantis only needs to pounce down, and it can accurately hit the back of the feather insect, cut it into two, and eat it. It's a pity that the praying mantis has also been weathered, and its body, which may have been turquoise, has turned into a dilapidated blue-gray, and only the left forearm is intact, and the other arm, the finger claws on the abdomen, and the wings on the back all have different weathering folds.

"This praying mantis insect has been in the shape for many years - it seems to have been like this since I entered the temple. In the long history, I don't know why the praying mantis didn't cut off the knife, but kept waiting, so that even he gradually weathered. Whoever waits will inevitably lose, and this truth is exactly the same in the world of people, in the world of Buddhas, and in the world of insects. I only know that this is a mysterious hidden layout, but how to interpret and decipher it?" Caidan Dajie held the knife in his hand and gradually fell into endless contemplation.

Praying mantis and insects are undeniable predators, and if that slash is slashed, the soul of the Tree Master will be deprived of its place and will disappear. An ordinary scene in the eyes of humans is a matter of life and death for the Tree Master who is crouching in the shell of the worm.

"In my opinion, that knife is going to be cut down after all, because as the weathering process of the praying mantis intensifies, other fingers and claws can't hook the tree and it will fall, and the big knife will definitely be cut on the back of the feather insect. At that time, Master Shu's soul will no longer exist, and like many predecessors in the history of Tibetan Buddhism, he did his best to uphold the Dharma, comprehend the Dharma, and study the Dharma until the last moment of his life. Caidan Dajie fell into extreme pain and regret.

In fact, you only need to reach out and pinch it lightly, you can take away the praying mantis or crush its big knife to rescue the feather insect, but in that way, it will change the natural structure of life and death, chance, encounter, and pecking, and become a sinner who artificially disturbs history. As history changes, the Tibetan style of today's RI must also follow the world's great movements. Only a truly wise person can comprehend this and understand the complex and changeable stakes involved. Because of this, they become forward-looking, hesitant, and unable to make a final decision between making a move or not making a move.

Guan Wenming confessed this, so he could understand Caidan Dajie's pain. If it is replaced by yourself, it is also difficult to ride a tiger, and it is a dilemma.

The eastern sky is getting white, the night fog will dissipate, and Tashilhunpo Monastery is about to usher in a new day in the blink of an eye.

"What we can do is to uphold the legacy of Master Shu, eliminate the great crisis, and solve the urgent needs of Tibet—" Guan Wen woke up from his contemplation.

"Guan Wen, what did you get last night?" Caidan Dajie asked.

Guan Wen pondered for a few minutes before slowly replying, "Master Tree's soul taught me that it is imperative to get rid of demons, and if the Rakshasa Witch is allowed to resurrect, the whole world will be devastated. The method of exterminating demons is in the artistic practice of the skeleton thangka. However, he didn't say anything more, because there were so many voices coming in that I could barely hear him. Some people objected, thinking that I could not afford to take on the task of exterminating demons, because I had already worried about my heart and could not devote myself wholeheartedly to the battle to exterminate demons. Until all the voices die down, I can't get an exact answer—"

Caidan Dajie was stunned: "Is this so?"

Guan Wen smiled bitterly: "That's right, maybe I should have come here earlier to visit Master Shu, in that case, I wouldn't meet Baoling, my heart was closed, and I was single-minded." However, at this point, it is useless to say anything. ”

Caidan Dajie's expression became extremely depressed, which made Guan Wen very uneasy in his heart. Some facts already existed, and he couldn't get the treasure bell out of his mind, let alone treat this qiē as if it hadn't happened, and he could deceive himself and others.

Caidan Dajie exited the tree hole, stretched, and exhaled a long breath towards the east.

Tashilhunpo Monastery has woken up, and the sound of diligent monks reciting scriptures and reciting morning lectures can be heard everywhere, mixed with the cheerful chirping of birds. This is an uneventful day in the temple's 365 days of the year, but for Guan Wen, it is like a rebirth, and the knowledge base in his mind has been updated drastically.

Guan Wen just wanted to withdraw, but suddenly found that the weathered praying mantis had undergone slight changes, its body was shrinking backwards, and the big knife in his left arm was slowly raised upward. He looked closely, and the gray wings of the praying mantis also opened little by little, and the claws of his feet were forced, sinking deep into the bark.

"It'...... Resurrected?" Guan Wen rubbed his eyes in surprise and stared at the praying mantis.

At this moment, the body of the feather insect also trembled, and slowly moved forward half a step.

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