Chapter 145: Harvesting Rack and Clairvoyance
Starting from Cangzhou, Chen Jue walked all the way to the southwest.
His pace was not fast, but he was able to last for a long time. With Chen Jue's current physical strength, he could walk for a whole day without feeling soreness in his legs and feet. He was indeed countless times stronger than when he had just returned to his hometown in Chencun from Hangzhou.
Following the walking route given by the mobile phone navigation, Chen Jue passed through several counties and cities, and went to crowded streets and old city areas.
Unlike the Taoist masters in ancient times who retreated into the mountains and built huts to avoid the world, Chen Jue practiced in the world, and his focus was on finding his own inspiration and path of practice in this long and turbulent world.
Therefore, the more crowded places he went, the more peaceful and at ease Chen Jue felt.
Moreover, Chen Jue did not walk around aimlessly. When there was a signal on the road, he would use his mobile phone to search for food and restaurant guides in the next city while walking.
When you go to a city, try the old-fashioned flavors that the locals like, see the special charm of the old streets and shops, and experience the local customs and culture.
At night, I would find a clean hotel nearby to stay in, take a hot shower to wash off the dust on my body, and hand over my clothes to the hotel front desk to be sent to a nearby dry cleaner for overnight cleaning and drying. Finally, I would go to bed and have a good night's sleep to replenish my physical strength and store energy for the next day.
His actions made others think he was just like a seasoned backpacker.
However, when it comes to food and accommodation, Chen Jue is more relaxed than those budget backpackers. He does not try to save money and does whatever he wants, whatever makes him comfortable.
He could spend a few dollars on breakfast, or spend thousands on a big meal for lunch or dinner. Anyway, he had the 100,000 yuan prize money from the competition, so he didn't feel bad about spending it.
At Chen Jue’s level of cultivation, money is readily available to him, so he doesn’t care so much about the thickness of his wallet.
Just like us ordinary people, we used to spend money in cash, and the change was both small and large, and it felt good to count the money from the wallet.
Nowadays, when we go out, we use e-wallets and scan codes to pay. Facing those strings of numbers, after a long time, they no longer feel like real money. Instead, they are like recharging game coins when playing games.
After a month of living in a daze, I didn't know where my money went. Then I looked at the meager salary I received every month and the overspending bills of last month, and suddenly I felt like crying but had no tears.
…
He walked more than 600 kilometers in this way, at a speed of more than 100 kilometers a day, and it took him almost a week to walk from Cangzhou to Guanzhou. Chen Jue found a hotel in Guanzhou city and stayed there for one night.
The next day, I got up, had breakfast, and set off again. It was not until noon that I slowly walked to my first destination, which was Shaolin Temple.
Among the martial arts that Chen Jue practiced, several were passed down from Shaolin Temple. In addition, he had fought with the monk Yan Tong before, and although they did not exchange contact information, Chen Jue still wanted to visit and travel first.
It won’t be too late to go to the nearby Wudang Temple after you’ve finished visiting Shaolin Temple. They are on the same route anyway, it’s just a matter of order.
It's just that the Shaolin Temple is now heavily commercialized. After being operated as a business, it has become a tourist attraction, just like the Putuo Island near the home of Chen Jue's college dormitory Lao Liu. Most of the people who come to the island are tourists, and only a few come to worship Buddha sincerely.
By the way, on the eve of graduation, Chen Jue went to Putuo Island with Wang Biao, Cheng Wei and others as a graduation trip.
It was also during that trip that Chen Jue witnessed the power of religious belief.
An old lady who was burning incense and praying to Buddha could take out a gold necklace from her bag and throw it directly onto the altar, which made Chen Jue and his roommates look at her in disbelief.
Thinking about it now, Chen Jue understood that it was the belief in the hearts of every devout believer and their own feeling.
Just like those great men in history, such as Sakyamuni, Bodhidharma, Wudang Master Sanfeng, and Quanzhen Sect Master Chongyang, their greatest strengths were not their physical practice and martial arts, but the Buddhist and Taoist classics, culture, thoughts, etc. that they passed down, which subtly influenced later generations.
On the contrary, those "Martial Saints" and "Invincible" who were praised as gods in the martial arts circle were eventually buried in the dust of history, and few people mention them now.
…
Chen Jue carried his backpack, spent 80 yuan to buy a ticket, and followed the crowds of tourists into the temple for a tour, visiting the Eighteen Bends, the Bodhidharma Cave, the Pagoda Forest, the Sutra Library, and so on.
Of course, the temple also arranged for monks to perform martial arts, but most of them were superficial skills. With Chen Jue's current eyesight, he could recognize at a glance which of the seventy-two unique skills they were practicing.
These performances are indeed very exciting in the eyes of ordinary people, just like the street performers in ancient times, who could draw rounds of applause by stabbing throats with a gun or crushing rocks with their chests, and throw a few copper coins into the gongs and drums.
But in Chen Jue's eyes, it looked different. Only a few little monks who knew One Finger Zen and practiced Boy's Kung Fu could arouse Chen Jue's interest.
Because Chen Jue could still sense some innocence and sincerity in these little monks.
"Clothes make the man, gold makes the Buddha. To be alive, one must always eat!" After walking around, Chen Jue was inspired.
After having a vegetarian meal in the temple, Chen Jue sat down to rest his legs , and recalled a Kung Fu documentary he had watched online before, and a secret Shaolin boxing technique mentioned in a boxing classic.
We left the temple and turned to the back mountain of Shaolin Temple. We climbed up a small path that no one had climbed. It took us almost half an hour to reach a high cliff where we could overlook the entire Shaolin Temple.
There is a temple built of stones here. In front of the temple is a flat piece of dirt land, the edges of which are made of stones. It looks like a playground, right next to the cliff.
On one side of the temple, there are several wheat fields sown by monks. It is autumn now, and the wheat ears in the fields are golden. Several young monks in grey coarse cloth robes are bending over to harvest the wheat with sickles. However, their movements of harvesting wheat are not ordinary, but rather have the meaning of practicing martial arts.
Seeing Chen Jue, a young man dressed like a tourist, appear, these young monks looked up at him sharply, and then continued to bend down to harvest the wheat .
On the other hand, the middle-aged monk who was standing on a high platform and watching his disciples harvesting wheat, after seeing the extraordinary Chen Jue, let out a sigh, then slowly walked forward and put his palms together and said, "Amitabha! I see that you have doubts in your heart. I wonder where you came from and where you are going?"
Chen Jue clasped his fists and returned the greeting: "Greetings, Master! May I know your Dharma name? I only stopped to take a closer look after seeing how well these masters have mastered the art of cutting wheat racks. Please forgive me if I have offended you in any way!"
There is a saying in the boxing classics: "Taiji is cunning, Bagua is slippery, and the most cruel and poisonous is the mind."
There is no need to say much about the Tai Chi and Bagua in this sentence, but the last one, "Xin Yi", is the real Shaolin Temple's unique skill besides the 72 arts.
You know, Shaolin Temple has experienced several disasters in history, and many martial arts skills have been lost. For example, the dragonfly-skimming-the-water-lifting technique that Chen Jue had seen on Monk Yantong before was one of the seventy-two unique skills that was rumored to have been lost.
If Shaolin Temple did not have so many lay disciples and so many believers, and if it were not for the fact that the temple was rebuilt on its original site every time it was destroyed, so that lay disciples could bring their skills back, the story of the 72 unique skills would have disappeared long ago.
Of course, the saying in martial arts novels that "all the martial arts in the world originated from Shaolin" also originated from the idea that the skills of lay disciples were leaked out, which is somewhat meant to praise Shaolin Temple.
The Xinyi Ba, which is known as the temple's unique skill, is also a superior boxing style that was almost lost due to the return of lay disciples.
"Amitabha! Donor, you have good eyesight! These disciples are indeed practicing the skill of cutting wheat racks in the mind."
"My Buddhist name is Jiande, and I'm honored to meet you, benefactor! Benefactor, you should be a cultivator, right? I see that you have an outstanding bearing and a restrained spirit. You must be a master who has obtained a golden elixir and formed relics." Master Jiande put his palms together and bowed again. He was obviously surprised at Chen Jue's cultivation skills.
You should know that the Taoist immortals who have formed the golden elixir are at the same level as the Arhats, Bodhisattvas and Buddhas who have formed relics in Buddhism. They are naturally extraordinary in the eyes of Master Jiande.
"Master, you have a keen eye!"
"My name is Chen Jue. I am from An County, Wen City, and I am here to meet Master Jiande."
Chen Jue returned the gift again. He had never expected that in this inconspicuous stone temple on the back mountain of Shaolin Temple, there lived such an enlightened monk who could see through his cultivation level at a glance.
I think the other party is a high monk who has obtained the "clairvoyance" in Buddhism.
There is a saying in Buddhism that there are six great supernatural powers, namely, the divine eye, the divine ear, the divine mind, the divine destiny, the divine realm, and the divine end.
In Chen Jue's opinion, this "clairvoyance" is somewhat similar to the Taoist masters' ability to sense heaven, observe qi, read faces, and tell fortunes. They are all a kind of spiritual and mental metaphysical means.
Originally, Chen Jue did not believe in this kind of mysterious supernatural powers, but ever since he realized the Taoist masters' ability to communicate with nature, he speculated that the six supernatural powers mentioned in Buddhism should also exist.
You know, even Li Xiang and Li Wei, the two masters of Hua Jin, would find it difficult to detect the abnormality of Chen Jue's body without Chen Jue's personal disclosure.
However, Master Jiande was able to see through Chen Jue's current situation at a glance. It should be because he had practiced Buddhism to a very high level and acquired the ability of "clairvoyance".
