Shuangyang Mountain.
The plaque of Juyi Hall hanging high shimred with golden light under the sunlight.
Inside the main hall.
Two monks were seated.
One of them, a white-robed monk, had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, appeared to be sixteen or seventeen years old, with a fair complexion. However, the most striking feature was the twelve scars on his shaven head.
Anyone with so understanding of Buddhism would know what twelve scars signify.
The twelve scars, also known as Bodhisattva Precepts.
In Buddhism, this is a symbol of status.
Beside this young monk was another with a round face, large ears, and a burly physique, resembling a tiger-backed figure.
From his open robe, a patch of thick body hair was visible.
"Junior Brother, want a drink?" the burly monk spoke up.
"Senior Brother, you’ve broken your vows!" the young monk smiled, shaking his head.
"Eh! Hasn’t the Junior Brother heard this saying? ’Even as wine and at pass through the intestines, the Buddha stays in the heart. Where there’s the Buddha in the heart, everywhere is Buddha!’" Saying this, he took up the wine jar and drank heartily, the wine dribbling down his cheeks onto his open chest.
However, seeing this scene, the young white-robed monk didn’t show any anger; instead, a faint smile appeared on his face.
This person before him was not his blood relative but closer than one.
In this world, he had just this one relative.
He had long been aware of the burly monk’s behavior.
Back in Vajra Temple, when the burly monk took care of him, he had already broken the alcohol prohibition.
He was even expelled from Vajra Temple for being caught drinking by the abbot.
"Senior Brother, give it to !" the young white-robed monk stretched out his right hand.
"What is the Junior Brother doing?" the burly monk looked puzzled.
"Didn’t Senior Brother say it?" The young white-robed monk chuckled: "’Even as wine and at pass through the intestines, the Buddha stays in the heart!!’
"No, no, no!!!" The burly monk hugged the wine jar tightly, shaking his head frantically, the wine on his face scattering, with a few drops falling on the young monk’s white robe.
He then sheepishly said, "I was just joking with Junior Brother, you must not follow my example! You are the hope of Vajra Temple, destined to make it the number one sect in the world."
"What number one sect, I don’t have such ambitions!" the young white-robed monk replied nonchalantly.
"Junior Brother, your identity determines that this responsibility belongs to you!" The burly monk looked at his forr junior brother with a sigh.
He didn’t expect that the little beggar he picked up out of montary compassion outside turned out to be the so-called reincarnation of the Buddha.
Now receiving the Bodhisattva Precepts, bearing thirteen scars on his head.
Every ti he thought of it, it felt incredible.
"Junior Brother, they say that both you and that person are called reincarnations of the Buddha, which of you is truly so?"
"I don’t know!" The young white-robed monk looked indifferent.
"Junior Brother, is your past life really the reincarnation of Buddha? Is there truly a reincarnation of the Buddha?" The burly monk asked again.
"Believe it, and there is, don’t believe it, and there isn’t!" The young white-robed monk replied with a gesture of holding a flower with a smile.
"I hate such mysterious mumbo-jumbo!" The burly monk looked annoyed.
At this mont.
A series of footsteps ca from outside the door.
The two looked up to see a bandit with tangled hair like a bird’s nest and cloth shoes, hurriedly approaching, wielding a Golden Cup Great Chopper.
"What’s going on? Didn’t I say not to disturb ?" The burly monk frowned, resembling an angry Vajra.
His towering figure and rugged face, along with his broad shoulders and back, naturally exuded a strong sense of pressure.
Seeing his leader angry, the bandit imdiately wore a crying expression.
"Boss, a caravan has co down the mountain! We’ve been hungry for a winter; it’s ti to work!"
"A caravan?" The burly monk stood up imdiately.
Instantly standing like a brown bear.
"Junior Brother, how about waiting here for , my brothers below have been hungry for many days, we need to do so work!"
"Wait!" The young white-robed monk got up: "Senior Brother, I’ll go with you."
"Alright!" The burly monk glanced at his forr junior brother and then nodded heavily.
...
After leaving the village.
The young white-robed monk walked barefoot through the throngs of dense bramble-covered forest, yet it was as if he were walking on flat ground.
"Junior Brother!" The burly monk suddenly spoke.
"What’s up?" The young white-robed monk glanced sideways.
"Does Junior Brother suspect I’ve committed murder?"
"Just a mont ago I did, but then I felt it’s not possible!" The young white-robed monk smiled.
"Junior Brother’s suspicion was correct!"
"Correct?" The young white-robed monk paused, montarily stopping in his tracks.
"There are people who deserve to be killed; killing one can save a hundred, a thousand. Junior Brother, do you think they should be killed?" The burly monk’s expression beca unusually calm.
At Vajra Temple, the precepts are many, prohibiting killing being one of them.
It’s alongside prohibiting sexual misconduct as the heaviest rule.
"Senior Brother..." The young white-robed monk watched as his senior brother’s broad back walked away with large strides, murmuring softly.
In the next mont.
With a complex expression, he followed once again.
"Junior Brother, why are you following again?"
"I trust in Senior Brother’s character!" The young white-robed monk said calmly.
Then, he added, "Senior Brother, the people you’ve killed, do they all deserve death?"
"By the law of Great Xia, many would not deserve death! But in my eyes, they do!" The burly monk continued walking as he spoke: "Like a notorious rapist, violating more than twenty chaste won!"
"Under Great Xia law, the maximum is twenty years in prison."
"But in my eyes, he’s no different than having taken more than twenty young won’s lives."
"And those traffickers kidnapping children, how are they different from murderers?"
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