Chapter 653 - 67: Monkey Becomes a Disciple, Enters The Beginning of Ancient Times, and Realizes the Emptiness of the Buddhist Sect

Chapter 653: Chapter 67: Monkey Becomes a Disciple, Enters The Beginning of Ancient Times, and Realizes the Emptiness of the Buddhist Sect

Sun Wukong was a bit dazed. ’Wasn’t this great immortal supposed to have no disciples?’

He didn’t dwell on it, just nodded repeatedly:

"Master, I understand, I understand! I will cultivate diligently, strive to achieve my true attainment, and successfully live up to my name, Wukong!"

Lu Xuan shook his head.

"Far from it, far from it!"

Sun Wukong froze. ’Far from it?’

’Where did I go wrong?’

He saw Lu Xuan turn and sit down. Behind him, the Ancient Tree, radiant with great wisdom and Pure Light, revealed its true form. It suddenly withered and burned with scorching flames.

He said calmly:

"Wukong, your name is meant to have you understand emptiness through enlightenment and practice the principle of ’emptiness.’ It is not for you to escape into the Buddhist Sect and cultivate their so-called ’true attainment.’"

A look of confusion appeared on Sun Wukong’s face. He pondered for a long time, scratching his ears and cheeks, then bowed once more.

"I beg you, Master... please resolve my confusion!"

"Do you know of the Buddhist Sect?"

"I do, I do! Senior Bodhi had me read Buddhist Scriptures for three years, so of course I know. The Buddha preaches compassion and saving all living beings!"

"Then do you know where the Buddha originated from?"

"From the three First Patriarchs of Buddhism!"

"Wrong!"

Lu Xuan denied it outright and said with a smile:gc

"The Buddha originated from the Dao."

Sun Wukong looked around in a daze, asking in confusion:

"Master, didn’t Senior Bodhi say that the Buddhist Path and the Daoist Path are incompatible? He told me that the Daoist Sect is mostly evil, only knowing how to seize the Creation of the heavens and the earth without giving back, seeking only to take;

But the Buddhist Sect is mostly good. It borrows power from heaven and earth, and after achieving true attainment, it takes saving all living beings as its duty and perfecting heaven and earth as its fundamental vow..."

Lu Xuan chuckled. ’This Bodhi, he really stopped at nothing to get Sun Wukong to join the Buddhist Sect, subtly shaping the monkey’s perception that the Daoist Sect is evil and the Buddhist Sect is good, that the Daoist Sect is in decline and the Buddhist Sect is flourishing...’

Shaking his head slightly, he spoke indifferently:

"Since you know the Buddha originated from the First Patriarchs, and you also know I am one of the First Patriarchs of Buddhism, do you know where *I* originated from?"

Sun Wukong’s own comprehension was in a class of its own. He was stunned for a moment, then said hesitantly:

"Could it be, Master... you originated from the Dao?"

"I was originally a Daoist Celestial Venerable," Lu Xuan nodded.

Sun Wukong was silent for a moment, seemingly in thought. After a long while, he finally looked up.

"Wukong, Wukong... to understand emptiness, enter the gate of emptiness, achieve true attainment... but that is not the final destination. Is returning to the Dao the true path?"

"Half right, but not entirely."

Lu Xuan tapped the monkey on the head and asked gently:

"Let me ask you first, are there any Dharmas you wish to learn, any marvels you wish to cultivate?"

This time, Sun Wukong was unusually firm.

"I wish to learn my Master’s Dharma and cultivate my Master’s marvels!"

"Very well. Follow me."

Lu Xuan rose calmly, pointed a finger, and tore open a river of roiling, chaotic Time. He took the bewildered Sun Monkey with him, traveling upstream to the most ancient of days, to The Beginning of Ancient Times.

"The Buddha is about saving all living beings, delivering them from their worldly tribulations—it is giving a man a fish. The Dao is different. The Dao is about the Cultivation of all beings, enabling them to overcome tribulations on their own—it is teaching a man to fish!"

As Lu Xuan spoke, he shed his Buddha Robe, dissipated the halo of Buddha-light from behind his head, and transformed into a simple Daoist.

Sun Wukong stared blankly. ’Give a man a fish? Teach a man to fish?’

He pondered it carefully, a flicker of understanding in his eyes. ’One is to eliminate the suffering of all beings for them, while the other is to teach all beings how to eliminate their own suffering?’

’No, that doesn’t seem quite right...’

Just as Sun Wukong was lost in deep thought,

Lu Xuan spoke again:

"You have entered my sect. I shall take you to meet your three grandmasters, tell you the rules of our sect, and let you see what it truly means to ’teach a man to fish.’"

He couldn’t be bothered with slow and careful planning. He intended to lay his cards on the table with Sun Wukong, go straight for the home base, and show him the true [Dao]. Then he would show him the barrenness of the Western Buddha Land, letting him know that compared to the [Dao], the Buddha is the inferior path!

Once he meets The Three Pristine Ones, sees the Daoist Ancestor preach the Dao, and witnesses the poverty and hardship of the Western Buddha Land, he will truly be Wukong!

Wukong, Wukong... to realize the Buddhist Sect is all for naught.