socalfunplaces Page 377
Page 377
When Bu Huo brought up the past, Zen Master Ling Xuan's eyes glazed over, as if he were lost in memories. It took him a long time to come back to his senses and look at Bu Huo.
"Is there anything else?"
Seeing that his master had come back to his senses, Bu Huo lowered his head and said, "Master, there is already news about Bu Jie's whereabouts."
Zen Master Lingxuan asked, "What news?"
Bu Huo said, "According to the reply from the lay disciples who were sent out, it was discovered that Bu Jie, who had defected from the temple many years ago, had appeared in Shanxi and seemed to have some connection with the Hengshan Sect."
"Not abstaining..."
Upon hearing these two words, Zen Master Lingxuan was startled again and fell into his memories once more.
Bu Huo continued, "Master, should we send a monk to Shanxi to capture Bu Jie and bring him back?"
Master Lingxuan glanced at him and shook his head.
"No."
Confused was taken aback and asked, "Why?"
Zen Master Lingxuan smiled and asked in return, "Why arrest them?"
Bu Huo's expression was serious: "Bu Jie was originally a butcher. He wanted to join our Southern Shaolin Temple, but he killed countless people. Naturally, our temple could not accept him. Master was grateful for his determination to lay down his butcher's knife and made an exception to let him enter the monastery and teach him martial arts. However, he not only did not appreciate Master's great kindness, but also broke the rules of the temple countless times. He ran to the Sutra Pavilion several times to spy on the temple's martial arts. In the end, he could not get rid of his worldly desires and betrayed the temple. If we do not capture him and bring him back to be punished as a warning to others, how can we face Master and let other monks take this as a warning?"
Upon hearing these words from Bu Huo, Zen Master Ling Xuan's expression remained unchanged; he simply smiled.
“He has been staying in my temple for many years and still breaks the precepts, which shows that he has no affinity with the Buddha. Even if we bring him back, it will not help. Since he has no affinity with the Buddha, we should not force him. Let him go.”
Master Lingxuan spoke lightly, but only he himself knew his true feelings.
"Can……"
At this moment, Bu Huo still had some lingering resentment and wanted to say something, but Zen Master Ling Xuan was already exhausted and closed his eyes to begin meditating.
Seeing this, Bu Huo knew that Zen Master Lingxuan had made up his mind, and he put his hands together in a gesture of respect.
"The disciple retire."
Just as Bu Huo was about to step out of the room, Zen Master Lingxuan suddenly opened his eyes.
"My days are numbered, and I will now entrust the Southern Shaolin Temple to you."
Master Lingxuan looked at Bu Huo with a smile in his eyes, yet also with other emotions.
“You have a compassionate heart, but you are impatient, unable to see things clearly, and unable to let go. You have two of the three vices: greed, anger, and ignorance. If you do not correct these vices, you will take many detours and will not be able to transcend them. The Diamond Sutra says: ‘One should abide nowhere, and yet give rise to the mind.’ I hope you will remember this.”
Upon hearing this, Bu Huo paused for a moment, then bowed his head and clasped his hands together.
"Yes, Master."
Zen Master Lingxuan smiled and waved his hand.
"let's go."
After leaving the meditation room, Bu Huo then left the monastery.
Jiang Ning glanced at Bu Huo's departing figure from the shadows, then at the figure inside the meditation room.
The figure remained motionless and made no sound.
Seeing this, Jiang Ning left, keeping the conversation between Bu Huo and Zen Master Ling Xuan in mind.
This nighttime expedition yielded little result; instead, they overheard monks from the Southern Shaolin Temple talking about the Huashan Sect behind their backs.
Chapter 504: Exploring Martial Arts
After leaving Master Lingxuan's monastery, Jiang Ning returned to the guest courtyard, where he discovered that Linghu Chong was still awake.
Jiang Ning asked in surprise, "Senior brother, are you still awake?"
Linghu Chong shook his head and explained, "No, I just practiced a sword routine in the courtyard."
After saying that, Linghu Chong asked again, "Junior brother, where did you go just now?"
"Take a walk around."
Jiang Ning smiled.
Linghu Chong didn't suspect anything, got up, yawned, and went back to his room. This time, he was really ready to sleep.
Jiang Ning didn't stay long and went back to his room to sleep.
Early the next morning.
The young novice monk came to greet them and led the two to Master Lingxuan's meditation room.
At this time, there was another person in the meditation room besides Zen Master Lingxuan.
"Did you two young heroes sleep well last night?"
Zen Master Lingxuan said with a smile.
"Thank you for your concern, Master Lao. My fellow disciple and I slept very soundly last night."
Jiang Ning smiled.
Master Lingxuan nodded slightly; he seemed to have aged more today than when Jiang Ning had seen him.
Only then did Zen Master Lingxuan begin to introduce another monk to Jiang Ning and the other man.
"This is my disciple."
The monk rose and bowed to Jiang Ning and the other man: "Amitabha, my Buddhist name is Bu Huo, I greet you two young heroes."
Linghu Chong quickly stood up to return the greeting.
"Junior Linghu Chong greets Master Bu Huo."
Upon hearing his voice, Jiang Ning recognized the monk as the Huashan Sect member who had been cricketing behind his back the previous night.
Jiang Ning also stood up and said, "Junior Jiang Ning greets Master Bu Huo."
Bu Huo was of medium build and appeared to be around sixty years old, roughly the same age as Yue Buqun now.
Bu Huo smiled slightly, showing none of the hostility he had shown towards the Huashan Sect when he spoke with Zen Master Lingxuan the previous night.
At this moment, Zen Master Lingxuan said, "When Headmaster Yue wrote to me before, he wrote that our two sects have not been in contact for many years. Now that Headmaster Yue intends to befriend my Southern Shaolin, my Southern Shaolin feels the same way."
With a smile on his face, Zen Master Lingxuan said, "In the past, my Southern Shaolin Temple and your esteemed sect were already on good terms, but we have neglected our interactions over the years. If it weren't for this letter from Sect Leader Yue, I would have also been planning to write to your esteemed sect to re-establish contact between our two sects."
Upon hearing this, Linghu Chong couldn't help but smile.
Before they even left the mountain, Yue Buqun said that their mission was to establish diplomatic relations with the Southern Shaolin Temple. Now, the abbot of the Southern Shaolin Temple, Zen Master Lingxuan, had shown them positive goodwill, which meant that they were able to complete the task given to them by Yue Buqun. Linghu Chong was overjoyed.
"Speaking of discussing martial arts, our temple also greatly admires your sect's exquisite swordsmanship and would like to learn from and discuss with your sect."
"Not confused," Bu Huo said at this moment.
While it's called a discussion, it's actually an exchange of martial arts theories between oneself and the other party, hoping to gain inspiration from different ideas and thus take a further step on the path of martial arts. This often happens in the martial arts world, but in the end, the discussion always leads to a sparring match.
"All right."
Master Lingxuan laughed and said, "This old monk is old. I am willing but unable to discuss martial arts. You and your junior brothers can accompany the two young heroes to discuss it."
Bu Huo respectfully replied, "Yes, Master."
After saying this, Bu Huo turned to Jiang Ning and the other two and said, "Young heroes, you must not have had breakfast this morning. Our temple has prepared breakfast for you. Please follow me."
Jiang Ning stood up and said, "Thank you for your trouble, Master."
Linghu Chong also got up and left with Bu Huo.
The food at Shaolin Temple was all vegetarian. After the meal, Bu Huo personally led Jiang Ning and the other person to tour the Southern Shaolin Temple.
Shaolin Temple has one courtyard and four halls: Bodhidharma Courtyard, Arhat Hall, Precepts Hall, Guest Hall, and Prajna Hall.
This courtyard and four halls are very important places in Shaolin Temple, and are the core institutions. There is also a Sutra Repository. In addition to these, there are other courtyards and halls, such as the Medicine King Courtyard, which is where Shaolin Temple's martial arts monks are treated for injuries, as well as the Proof of the Way Courtyard, the Relic Courtyard, and other places.
However, Bu Huo did not take Jiang Ning and the other two to these places. Instead, he took them to visit some buildings of the Southern Shaolin Temple, where they saw many monks along the way.
For the next few days, Bu Huo hosted Jiang Ning and his companion, mainly to discuss martial arts and exchange martial arts theories with them.
The Huashan Sect is a Taoist sect, while the Southern Shaolin Sect is a Buddhist sect. The two sects, one Taoist and one Buddhist, have different martial arts philosophies, and they have many insights to share when they exchange ideas.
Bu Huo knew that Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong were not ordinary people and that their martial arts skills were very high. He did not underestimate them, but after the subsequent exchange of martial arts techniques, he realized that he still did not take them seriously enough.
Although Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong are young, their martial arts skills have reached such a high level that they naturally have an extraordinary understanding of martial arts.
Bu Huo's martial arts skills were quite good, even among the top in the martial arts world, but he often felt at a loss when communicating with Jiang Ning and the other two, which made him sigh at their talent.
Later, after he was in his forties, he summoned all the highly skilled monks of the Southern Shaolin Temple to discuss scriptures and doctrines with the two. One side started from the theoretical foundation of Buddhist martial arts, while the other side started from the theoretical foundation of Taoist martial arts. Their ideas collided, and each side expounded their own martial arts philosophy. Over the past few days, not only did the masters of the Southern Shaolin Temple admire Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong, but Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong also gained a lot.
In particular, Linghu Chong has gained some understanding of Buddhism through these few days of Buddhist and Taoist exchanges.
Five days later.
"Young Master Linghu and Young Master Jiang are both exceptionally talented, and the monks of our temple greatly admire them."
Bu Huo said to Jiang Ning and the other two.
This wasn't just polite talk; he genuinely admired him.
Jiang Ning also said, "The eminent monks of your temple are not only highly skilled in martial arts, but also extremely profound in Buddhist teachings. My fellow disciple and I admire them greatly."
Over the past few days, he spent his days discussing Buddhist scriptures with the monks and his nights wandering around the Southern Shaolin Temple, trying to explore its secret locations and discover something.
He visited the Zhengdao Academy, the Sheli Academy, and the Damo Academy, but found nothing. Next, he planned to visit the Sutra Repository.
I've heard that the Shaolin Temple's Sutra Repository houses Shaolin's scriptures and martial arts manuals, but it also contains books and martial arts manuals from other schools.
Jiang Ning went to the Sutra Repository not to look at the martial arts manuals, but to see if there was anything about the Huashan Sect inside.
Although so many years have passed, and the Southern Shaolin Temple shouldn't and wouldn't keep this matter in the Sutra Repository, Jiang Ning still decided to take a look rather than let it slip by, and planned to go there tonight.
However, he should be careful when he goes to the library tonight.
Generally speaking, a place like the Scripture Pavilion, where dragons and tigers lurk, might harbor true masters. Jiang Ning might not be afraid, but it would be bad if he were discovered.
Just as Jiang Ning had made up his mind, he suddenly heard Bu Huo speak.
"We have heard rumors in the martial arts world that the sword comes from Mount Hua. Today, since you two young heroes have come here, our temple's martial arts monks would like to have a friendly spar with you."
Sure enough, the discussion of martial arts eventually came down to sparring.
Chapter 505: Arhat Formation (Bonus chapter for Louis who likes oranges, 5/16)
Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong were not surprised. Linghu Chong was even prepared and said, "This junior also greatly admires the martial arts of the Southern Shaolin Temple and would like to have a friendly exchange. May I ask which eminent monk from your temple would like to spar with this junior?"
Without even discussing who should spar, Linghu Chong took the initiative to speak.
Jiang Ning's martial arts skills are extremely high, and it's likely that no one from the Southern Shaolin Temple can match him. In that case, there's no suspense, and Linghu Chong is prepared to take the stage himself.
But Bu Huo smiled slightly and said, "Young Master Linghu is joking. There is no one in our Southern Shaolin Temple whose martial arts can compare to those of you two, so this sparring match may be a bit special. I wonder if you two would agree?"
Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong exchanged a glance, and Linghu Chong asked, "Master, please speak."
"Our temple would like to have a friendly exchange of formations with you two young heroes."
Formation?
Linghu Chong asked, "What kind of formation?"
"The 108 Arhats Formation".
What formation are you talking about?
Not only was Linghu Chong taken aback, but Jiang Ning was also surprised.
The 108 Arhats Formation—how to deal with those two fellow disciples?
Shaolin Temple is famous throughout the world, and they had heard that Shaolin had very powerful formations, such as the Bronze Man Formation and the Vajra Subduing Demon Formation. However, Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong did not expect that Shaolin Temple would choose to use the Arhat Formation to deal with them.
It's impossible to say which of these formations is the most powerful, but the Arhat Formation is known to everyone in the martial arts world; it's extremely famous and universally recognized.
As a major sect in the martial arts world, Shaolin Temple has always said that it dislikes fighting and killing. However, Shaolin's reputation is so great that countless masters throughout history have wanted to come to Shaolin to learn martial arts. This inevitably involves sparring, so Shaolin's Arhat Hall is designed to deal with this. Normally, sparring involves monks from the Arhat Hall fighting with martial arts practitioners. But Shaolin has also introduced a formation called the Arhat Formation.
Shaolin once established a rule that if someone can break Shaolin's Arhat Formation, then Shaolin's martial arts will have no secrets from that person and can be fully revealed to them.
As soon as Shaolin said this, martial artists flocked to the scene, all wanting to break through the Arhat Formation and read Shaolin's martial arts secrets. However, no one could ever break through the Shaolin Arhat Formation. As a result, the Arhat Formation became more and more famous in the martial arts world, and even gained the reputation of being the number one wonder formation in the world.