Cyber Ghosts

Chapter 183 Yunzhongzi, Keen Words & Vimalaki
“Eh?” The Bodhisattva turned around and looked at Liu Shuai who came up, followed by Zhou Yuan. He could not help asking, “Who is this?”

Xiao Hong immediately explained, “Oh, Bodhisattva is a Buddhist, so you may not know about Taoism. This is Yunzhong…”

“Wait, I’ll introduce myself!” Liu Shuai was not polite to Xiao Hong. He patted his chest while running, and shouted in gasping, “I’m the descendant of Yunzhongzi. When you were still in Exposition, you met my master for several times. Do you remember him, Manjusri Bodhisattva? No, I should call you Manjusri Guangfa Primus!”

“Oh, no, this became troublesome,” Xiao Hong said to Hao Ning in a low voice, frowning. “How could I forget this cause and effect?”

With that Xiao Hong quickly stepped back and made the room for Liu Shuai. Liu Shuai was panting after running, and he bent down and took a deep breath. Then he straightened up, put his hands on his waist and asked, “Do you remember?”

D**n, Liu Shuai was going to make a scene. Hao Ning forced a smile. He knew that in Creation of the Gods, the Manjusri Guangfa Primus was originally a man of Exposition. Yunzhongzi also helped a lot in the war of Creation of the Gods. But after the Creation of the Gods, the Manjusri Guangfa Primus suffered through the Nine Curved Yellow River Array, and his power was greatly damaged. No one knew why but he converted to Buddhism and became Manjusri Bodhisattva. As a considerate and warmhearted person, Yunzhongzi couldn’t stand that, so probably Liu Shuai also got this spleen from him.

Hao Ning was just confused. It was not so big a deal. Today it would be just like a job-hopping matter. So many years had it been. As a programmer, Liu Shuai was thinking about job-hopping and raising his salary every day, so why couldn’t he let the Bodhisattva switch the place to stay? Programmers were allowed to set fire, but Bodhisattvas was not allowed even to light a lamp – to poke his nose into others’ business.

Although Hao Ning thought so in his heart, after all, these things had deep causes and effects. Hao Ning, in line with the fine tradition that no research, no comment, also planned to step back with Xiao Hong to see what a scene Liu Shuai was about to make.

Who knew that when Hao Ning hadn’t gone so far yet, Liu Shuai grabbed him and pulled him back? He held his hand tightly and shouted at Hao Ning, “Don’t go, be our judge!”

“Sh*t, you…you are crazy?” Hao Ning was startled, and Liu Shuai really dared to talk about it and force him to judge this kind of historic grievances. No matter what he said, it would be wrong. If Hao Ning said that Liu Shuai was right, this Manjusri Bodhisattva would use Hui sword to take a poke at him. If he said that the Bodhisattva was right, he would not be able to raise his head in front of Liu Shuai in the future. With that, Hao Ning frowned and messed around, “Why do you let me judge? Do you think that I’m the Jade Emperor?”

Hao Ning was about to shake off Liu Shuai’s arm when he saw Liu Shuai blinking at him and felt Liu Shuai holding his hand tightly, which seemed to have other meanings. Hao Ning felt a little strange in his heart, but he stopped and turned to Liu Shuai and said, “How to judge?”

“It’s very simple,” Liu Shuai was talking both to Hao Ning and to the Manjusri, “the Manjusri hasn’t explained to us for thousands of years. Today, he has to say something about it.”

Looking at Liu Shuai’s careless look, Hao Ning was dumbfounded. He turned his head and looked at Xiao Hong again. Now, the Great Saint Infant King, who was in a rush just now, was now lowering his head to count the ants on the ground. The problem was that there were no ants on the ground.

“Amitabha,” Manjusri Bodhisattva laughed brightly, “Five hundred years is one spring, and another five hundred years is one autumn. With two thousand years passed, spring, summer, autumn, and winter are all gone. My good nephew, why do you insist on it?”

“Er? Since you called me your good nephew,” Liu Shuai got a chance, so he decided not to show any mercy to the Bodhisattva, “my master used to tell me to ask three questions for him if I meet Manjusri Bodhisattva, and if the Bodhisattva answers, he will let it go.”

“Please.” Bodhisattva declined to comment but said politely.

“What is the cloud in the sky and the water in the bottle?” Liu Shuai asked with a strange smile.

Hao Ning was stunned. Wasn’t this a sentence that the authors of online novels often used to show off their cultural quality? Hao Ning also searched this sentence, which came from ancient poetry. The whole sentence was “I know nothing else about Tao, but the clouds in the sky and the water in the bottle.” It meant that Tao was about returning to one’s original nature, which was just as usual as the clouds in the sky and the water in the bottle. Everything in the world was reasonable. The problem was that this sentence was not very hard to understand. How could Yunzhongzi not understand, and even need Liu Shuai to ask Manjusri Bodhisattva?

“Well, I know nothing else about Tao. The Tao is in the sky and the Tao is in the bottle.” Manjusri Bodhisattva smiled a little. Hao Ning was also roasting Liu Shuai’s low educational level in the mind. This was the Bodhisattva of wisdom. You asked such a low-class question. Didn’t you feel ashamed?

Who knew that Liu Shuai’s eyebrows moved slightly and didn’t say yes or no. He continued to ask, “What’s the explanation of Huike gets the marrow?”

“Huike gets marrow?” Hao Ning did not understand for a moment, but it was not good to ask Liu Shuai again, so he had to look at the Manjusri.

“Eh?” Manjusri Bodhisattva looked at Liu Shuai at this time. He looked down and did not speak anymore. It seemed that he was staying quietly and meditating.

“Well, Bodhisattva?” When Xiao Hong saw Liu Shuai’s arrogance in asking and that the Manjusri did not reply, he promptly reminded him, “The descendant of Yunzhongzi was asking you a question.”

“Bodhisattva has already answered!” The voice of Zhou Yuan came from their back. Everyone looked back and saw that Zhou Yuan was standing still. Under his feet seemed to have auspicious clouds. The cool breeze slowly dragged Zhou Yuan to float around. Though far less than that of the Manjusri, it was also full of style.

“You are such a dummy to compare with Bodhisattvas?” Hao Ning was amused in his heart, but he did not know why Zhou Yuan appeared at this time.

“Huike gets the marrow,” Zhou Yuan explained. “It was after Bodhidharma finished his lecture and asked the disciples what they got. Every disciple expressed his own view. Bodhidharma commented one by one. First, he said that one of his disciples’ answers got his fur, then what another disciple said got his flesh, and then he commented that the third disciple’s words got his bones. After that, this disciple called Huike did not say anything but stood there without saying a word. The other disciples did not understand and thought that Huike did not understand the meaning of his master, but Bodhidharma praised him highly, “Huike gets the marrow”. It would be needless to say if he got the marrow. When the Bodhisattva heard that Liu Shuai asked about Huike gets the marrow, he didn’t say a word, which answered Liu Shuai’s question with Huike’s behavior. It was so brilliant.”

“I see,” Xiao Hong made a bow to the Manjusri, “Bodhisattva is erudite!”

Hao Ning also understood that the Manjusri did not speak was to tell Liu Shuai by action the meaning of “Huike gets the marrow”. By saying nothing, he said everything.

Hao Ning realized it at that time that it turned out that these people were hitting the keen words! But he didn’t get to know this at all, so it was best for him to say nothing.

“Here comes the last question‒” Liu Shuai wiped the sweat on his forehead. Hao Ning probably guessed that it was Yunzhongzi who wanted Liu Shuai to make trouble for Manjusri Bodhisattva. But as a result, Manjusri Bodhisattva answered the first two questions very well. Liu Shuai did not win Manjusri with so much effort. Of course, he was disgraced.

“I heard the last question from Yunzhongzi,” Zhou Yuan said, pressing Liu Shuai’s shoulder and blinking his eyes. “Let me say it.”

Wasn’t Zhou Yuan learning Tao from Zhang Chi Hang? When did Zhang Quan tell him about this? Hao Ning and Xiao Hong looked at each other and looked at Zhou Yuan suspiciously. Hao Ning was even more puzzled in his heart. When Zhang Quan invited Zhou Yuan to study Taoism with him before, Zhou Yuan tried to turn it down!

But Zhou Yuan ignored them and asked a very long question, “Who is the most powerful person in Vimalakirti Sutra? Sariputra, Mahamoggallana, Kassapa, Subhuti, Punna, Mahqkaccqna, or Aniruddha?”

“Eh?” Zhou Yuan’s voice just came down, let alone the Manjusri, even Hao Ning, Xiao Hong, and Liu Shuai were all staring at Zhou Yuan in shock.

“What’s the hell with this question!” Xiao Hong closed his eyes and passed his mind to Hao Ning with the spirit, “How could there be such long keen words? How could Yunzhongzi ask such a weird question?”

“How can I know!” Hao Ning said in a low voice.

Liu Shuai was also giving Zhou Yuan a strange expression, gnashing the teeth, and said, “Zhang — Yunzhongzi seemed to have asked a different question!”

“That’s it!” Zhou Yuan made it definitely clear, “You were asleep at that time. I heard it very clearly!”

“Amitabha,” the Manjusri smiled slightly, “my good nephew originally came to entertain me the Bodhisattva. Never mind. People have directions, but the Buddhas don’t. All these people are powerful, but also not powerful. How could there be the most powerful one?”

“Ha-ha-ha, you finally let the cat out of the bag!” With a loud laugh, Zhou Yuan pulled Liu Shuai and ran away. He was shouting as he ran, “Xiao Hong, Hao Ning, this the Manjusri is a fake! Be careful!”

Saying it, they ran like tow mad dogs back to the Two Elements Dust Array, panting for breath. Zhe looked at these two. He could not help but tell Ye who just woke up, “It’s very important to exercise. Look at them, they just ran such a short time and started to pant.”

“D**n!” These people had long been familiar with each other. Zhou Yuan laughed and hit Zhe, “What nonsense! You should try to talk under his pressure, and that will freak you out!”

“My good nephew! Where does the word fake come from?” the Manjusri looked unchanged and asked with a smile.

“Right,” Liu Shuai also asked, “how did you know he is a fake?”

“Hem! Hello, hello, Liu Shuai, turn it up!” Zhou Yuan picked up the microphone and said aloud, “The “powerful” I said didn’t mean the literal meaning it refers, but the real meaning underneath it! But you insisted on the literal meaning of the word. How could you say that you are not a fake?”

“What,” Hao Ning couldn’t help laughing bitterly. This Zhou Yuan stayed with Avalokitesvara for a few days and he did learn something.

“I see,” said the Manjusri, with a slight smile. “If the word “powerful” doesn’t mean its literal meaning, you’ll be talking about the alaksana of the word. I break it with its atma-samjna. What’s wrong with this?”

“He made sense.” Liu Shuai also understood, and said secretly to Zhou Yuan, “The underneath meaning is about alaksana. Breaking alaksana with atma-samjna was one of the methods.”

He did not know that the volume of the microphone had just been turned up by him, and all his reminders were heard by Hao Ning and others.

Hao Ning helplessly touched his nose, “You two are really disgraceful…”

“Shut up. They all heard you…” The moment he said it, Zhou Yuan realized that there was something wrong, so he coughed and said, “but you didn’t know what I was really asking. That didn’t make any sense.” Speaking of this, Zhou Yuan said proudly, “Vimalakirti Sutra told a story that when Vimalaki was sick, Buddha asked his descendants to visit him. Buddha asked Sariputra, Mahamoggallana, Kassapa, Subhuti, Punna, Mahqkaccqna, and Aniruddha to visit Vimalaki, but they dared not to go, because each of them had been savagely reviled, and had no face to go.”

“I see,” Hao Ning understood. It turned out that Vimalaki was so fierce that Buddha’s descendants did not dare to visit him. But another thing came to Hao Ning that it took something to have a sharp tongue. If you usually offended people, when you fell ill in bed, no one would take care of you.

Zhou Yuan, of course, did not know that Hao Ning thought so much and continued to say, “At this point, the Buddha let Manjusri Bodhisattva go to take a visit, and what did Manjusri Bodhisattva say?”

“That’s my words. How can I not know?” the Manjusri laughed and cited a passage of scripture, “Buddha, Vimalaki is difficult to get along. He knows all, good the essence of Buddhism. He is eloquent and intelligent and knows all Bodhisattva laws. Buddhas and treasures are everywhere, and he conquers all the evil spirits and uses all kinds of art to descend to earth and worldly pleasures with his superb use of wisdom and arts. In spite of this, I am willing to follow the Buddha’s will and visit him.”

“Brother Hao Ning,” Xiao Hong suddenly asked in a low voice, “what is the Manjusri Bodhisattva talking about?”

“You -” Hao Ning looked at Xiao Hong and said strangely, “why don’t you understand? I thought I was the only one who doesn’t understand these kinds of stuff.”

“Hahaha” Xiao Hong scratched his head embarrassingly and smiled. “When Brother Zhang talked about such things before, I could fall asleep every time.”

“You are such a study slacker!” Hao Ning laughed bitterly and said, “No wonder the Bodhisattva let you only be in charge of the money!”

“Yes!” Zhou Yuan did not know what these two were talking about. He continued, “It means: Buddha, this is very difficult to deal with Vimalaki, because he knows all the facts, and is good at speaking the essence of Buddhism. He is eloquent and intelligent and knows all Bodhisattva laws. And all the Buddhas and treasures are everywhere, so he can conquer all the evil spirits of the outside world and often use all kinds of art to descend to earth and worldly pleasures. His use of wisdom and arts in the world has reached the level of being superb. In spite of this, I am willing to follow the Buddha’s will and visit him.”

Although Zhou Yuan’s translation was also full of chatter, Hao Ning enjoyed it as soon as he heard it. This Manjusri Bodhisattva spoke too artistically. It seemed that the Manjusri used a lot of words to show that the Buddhist Dharma of Vimalaki was very high and it was not easy to talk to him. But the result was that Manjusri Bodhisattva agreed to visit Vimalakirti. This meant that the Manjusri Bodhisattva was more intelligent than Vimalaki. I was not afraid of you scolding me even if you were Vimalaki. Of course, I was more powerful than you. The more words he used to praise Vimalaki, the more he was actually praising Manjusri Bodhisattva. Noble people praised themselves in a subtle way.

Zhou Yuan finished his explanation and asked with a smile, “You said so much. I wanna ask you: If you only use one word to sum up your paragraph, which word will be used?”

“Well…” This Manjusri Bodhisattva was hesitant at that time. Hao Ning could not help but give Zhou Yuan a thumb in his heart. This boy was so fierce! Originally, that question was just a beginning. Obviously, in this story, Manjusri Bodhisattva was the most powerful one. But the Manjusri did not answer this question just now, so he lost in that round — But all this was not the key point, the key point was the trap in Zhou Yuan’s last question. Because it was what Manjusri Bodhisattva himself said, if Manjusri Bodhisattva himself can’t sum up this sentence, it would prove that the wisdom of the Manjusri was limited. At that time, he could joke that the great wisdom of the Manjusri Bodhisattva was not the greatest, and also let Yunzhongzi win the face!

“If in one word,” the Manjusri said tamely and obediently, “it would be “OK”.”

“OK?” Hao Ning heard this word and was somehow collapsed. It was so not the style of the Manjusri, right?

“OK?” Zhou Yuan laughed. “You look down upon the Manjusri Bodhisattva too much. The Manjusri Bodhisattva said so much, but in fact, it was just one word –” said Zhou Yuan stood up, patted the dust on his body, looked at the people laughing, and then said one word, “Sure!”

“D**n! Amazing! ” Hao Ning changed his approbation towards Zhou Yuan to admiration. Listening to this story, the Manjusri Bodhisattva talked so much about it. In fact, he first boasted about Vimalaki, the sharp tongue, and then said, “Then, I’ll go”. This low-key way of showing off wisdom, as well as self-confidence in his wisdom and his attitude just matched with the word “sure”! This word, together with Zhou Yuan’s dramatic look, was just so vivid.

“My good nephew, you did a great job,” said the Manjusri with a smile. “I lost. the Manjusri worshiped you.” He was about to leave after saying this.

“Wait!” Zhou Yuan yelled, “you lost, but the Manjusri didn’t. Speak! What are you? Personate the Manjusri? Don’t you fear the punishment of Bodhisattva?”

“Young friend,” the Manjusri was still smiling, “don’t speak carelessly. You’ve already committed aggression. You must know that “Lay down the butcher’s knife and become a Buddha”!”

“Lay down the butcher’s knife and become a Buddha!”

“Lay down the butcher’s knife and become a Buddha!”

“Lay down the butcher’s knife and become a Buddha!”

…

No one knew how many times the Manjusri repeated. Hao Ning felt a little dizzy and when he was just about to be converted to Buddhism and kneel on the ground, in the place between his eyebrow he suddenly felt a sharp pain, “No! He is evil!”