Chapter 188: The Queen Mother descends from the Jade Pool in the west, and the purple air fills the Han Pass in the east
Mahakala is a Sanskrit word meaning "big black". It is a wise guardian deity revered in Tibetan Buddhism and the chief of all guardian deities. Although he looks ferocious, he actually harbors deep compassion within and appears extremely powerful on the outside. He is the patron saint in the eyes of herdsmen.
Many herders like to hang thangkas in their homes with Mahakala as the pattern. In the eyes of herders, this wise guardian of Buddhism can protect them, guard their property, relieve their hardship and poverty, and fulfill all the good wishes of sentient beings.
Chen Jue's act of subduing the wild yak just now was precisely protecting the property of this herder's family. Moreover, the wild yak that could carry a thousand pounds was like a god with infinite power and magical powers in the eyes of this herder's family. That's why they respectfully called him the living "Mahakala".
When Chen Jue heard their respectful titles, he waved to them and hiked into the mountains with the wild yak beside him.
…
The cold wind in December is biting and the scenery in Qilian Mountains is half gray and black and half snow-white.
The weeds buried under the snow have dried up and turned black, and are falling into mud and turning into soil and returning to the earth. This is how nature works. All things follow the solar terms and continue to live in an endless cycle.
As mentioned in the "Records of the Grand Historian: The Autobiography of Sima Qian": "Spring brings life, summer brings growth, autumn brings harvest, and winter brings storage. This is the great principle of the Way of Heaven."
However, Chen Jue and the wild yak beside him were walking in the uninhabited ice and snow world in the wind and snow, as if they were facing the challenges head-on and entering this cycle of reincarnation.
From the light grey gravel to the increasingly thick snow, a man and a cow left long footprints in the snow.
The wild yak beside him walked while breathing hot air. Occasionally, when it could not walk anymore, it would open its mouth and bite a corner of Chen Jue's cassock, then lie down on all fours, lying its whole body in the snow, and let out a coquettish sound: "Moo!"
"Can't walk anymore?"
"Then take a good rest." Seeing the wild yak lying down, Chen Jue stopped and sat down next to it.
He opened his backpack, took out the dried meat and dry food inside and ate them while grabbing a handful of the newly fallen snow on the ground and stuffing it into his mouth to replenish the water needed by the body.
With his current ability of fasting and body purification, these seemingly unhealthy foods can be transformed into nutrition for his own body when they enter his stomach, and then the toxins and impurities can be eliminated.
Seeing the wild yak leaning forward, Chen Jue picked up the dried meat and fed it. Seeing it shook its head to refuse, Chen Jue laughed out loud: "I forgot that this is yak dried meat! Sorry! I apologize to you. I will treat you to this butter tsampa."
After feeding the wild yak with butter and tsampa, Chen Jue dug up a thick piece of snow and pulled some weed roots from underneath for the yak to eat.
There was limited food in Chen Jue's backpack. If he fed it all to this fool, it would be difficult to go into the mountains later, because there were no signs of herdsmen ahead. There were only a few small houses made of earth and stones, which were probably the herdsmen's places to graze after the snow melted and spring came.
…
After enjoying a meal in the snow with the wild yaks and resting for a while, Chen Jue got up again and walked deep into the mountains.
This wild yak was also very human-like. It was probably because it had smelled the "fairy aura" emanating from Chen Jue for a long time, and had become somewhat psychic. It knew that it would feel comfortable getting along with this human, so it naturally followed suit.
The man and the ox walked farther and farther away, crossed the valley, and climbed over the glacier. When it got dark, they found a huge rock to shelter from the wind and snow and stopped.
"Moo! " The wild yak lay down on a dry gray land. The sound it made reminded Chen Jue of the last note of the purification mantra "Om Ah Moo", which coincided with the sound of the yak's cry. He sighed in his heart: "No wonder those herdsmen say you are a messenger of God. You, a silly cow, are born with a connection with Buddha!"
You should know that in the White Elephant Country, the source of Buddhism, there is a custom of not killing cows, and the shadows of cows can often be seen in the streets and alleys.
In the eyes of devout believers, the cow is a sacred symbol and the mount of Lord Shiva. Many images of Vajra and other venerable figures in Buddhism also have cow heads, which shows that the cow has an extraordinary status in Buddhism.
The cow is also an extremely sacred creature in Taoism. Laozi rode a cow out of Hangu Pass to attain enlightenment and become a saint, and there was a green cow following him.
Chen Jue is now entering the Qilian Mountains, stepping into the deserted mountains covered with ice and snow. With the wild yaks by his side, he feels a bit of the otherworldly meaning of becoming a saint, as Laozi rode a yak to the west and merged into nature.
…
The sky was getting darker and the temperature in the mountains began to drop sharply. Although the snow had stopped, the cold wind was so cold that it made people feel very cold as soon as they inhaled it.
Chen Jue ate some dry food and snow water, and picked some weeds to feed the wild yak beside him. Seeing that there was some warmth from the body heat radiating from the wild yak lying there, Chen Jue simply ignored the stinky smell of the wild yak, leaned on its furry belly, and snuggled up to it for warmth.
Following his line of sight, Chen Jue saw the tops of snow-capped mountains and stars shining in the dark sky.
With his current eyesight, he can see farther than ordinary people, so these stars become extremely conspicuous in his eyes. In addition, the plateau is at a high altitude and has high visibility, so the stars he can see are more eye-catching than in the city.
After staring at the stars for a long time, Chen Jue suddenly discovered that these scattered dots seemed to be slowly rotating, just like the time-lapse photography of the starry sky taken on the plateau that we ordinary people have seen in online videos, with an arc-shaped star trail.
These are the star trails caused by the rotation of the earth. They carry with them an extremely wonderful visual sensation. Ordinary people would feel peaceful when they see them , but in the eyes of a cultivator like Chen Jue, they give rise to a different experience.
"The sky is round and the earth is square. So this is what the ancients meant when they said the sky is round!" Chen Jue saw a hint of the special artistic conception of the great way of roundness from these circular star tracks.
Of course, among those stars, Chen Jue saw the moon hanging high among them that made him obsessed.
However, the moon at this moment was no longer shaped like a jade plate . Instead, it was missing a piece, revealing a crescent shape. In this silent and cold night, it gave off a unique chill.
"I will also remove the miasma from the ridge and wash away the coldness of the moon palace."
"I guess those ancient sages could not have imagined that the moon actually hid such a big secret." Chen Jue stared at the moon for a long time, muttering to himself.
Seeing the obsession in his heart rising again, Chen Jue began to change the hand seals with his hands. In this deserted place of ice and snow, listening to the whistling cold wind in his ears, he snuggled up with the yak to keep warm, sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, and practiced the Tantric Mahamudra, chanting the cleansing mantra softly in Sanskrit, which intertwined with the occasional mooing of the yak beside him.
At this moment, Chen Jue seemed to be integrated with the sky, the earth, the snow-capped mountains and rivers, and the yak beside him. This was the state of "harmony between man and nature" taking effect, allowing him to coexist harmoniously with all things and communicate with heaven and earth. At this moment, his heart began to become more and more peaceful, and he began to slowly dispel the obsession in his heart.
When the moon sets and the sun rises, the stars dim , and the cold wind that has been blowing in the mountains all night begins to subside, a ray of morning sun breaks through the cold and silent snowy mountains and shines into the heart of the boulder. Only then does Chen Jue slowly open his eyes, staring directly at the flaming red sun like a wheel, muttering to himself: "One breath of morning sun is born, and it repeats itself over and over again. After a night's rest, it's time to hit the road again."
After saying that, Chen Jue took out his backpack, took some dried meat and milk skin to fill his stomach, and found a place in the snow where the melted water from the morning sun was found and drank a sip.
With his current physical condition, drinking this ice water will not cause him to have stomach upset at all.
Seeing that the yak that had slept all night also got up and was licking the snow water, its tongue twitching due to the cold, looking extremely playful, Chen Jue laughed and jumped on the yak's back. Looking at the majestic Qilian Snow Mountain in the distance, he patted the yak's butt, and under the golden light of the rising sun behind him, he chanted loudly: "Looking west, the Queen Mother descends from the Yao Chi, and looking east, purple air fills the Han Pass..." Man and yak set out on the journey to the west again.
