Techniques and Dao

Chapter 106 The Origin of the Fairy Realm (2)

Not long after, like Li Yuan, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, who seized power through crooked means, also faced retribution. In November of the eleventh year of Zhenguan (637 AD), Li Shimin personally introduced the fifth-rank concubine "Wu Mei" into the history of the Li Tang imperial family, who later became Wu Zetian.

Wu Zetian, the only officially recognized female emperor in Chinese history, ruthlessly slaughtered members of the Li Tang imperial family and established a "cruel official politics" during and after her reign. Although the lives of ordinary people improved during Wu Zetian's reign, and her ultimate intention was to return the throne to the Li Tang imperial family, the massive purge of the Li Tang imperial family during her rule resulted in extremely heavy losses for the descendants of the Li family.

Just as during Li Shimin's reign, Wu Zetian, as the supreme ruler of the country, also had dealings with the Shengping Ning Kingdom.

However, in her later years, fearing that after returning to the Li Tang dynasty, the Li Tang imperial family would slaughter the descendants of the Wu family and even exhume and whip their corpses, Wu Zetian sought the elixir of immortality from the Holy Peace Monk in hopes of achieving eternal life.

However, Sheng Pingning's principle of life was to remain detached from worldly affairs, and he proposed that if Wu Zetian wanted to achieve immortality, she would need to give up her imperial throne and go to Sheng Pingning.

Wu Zetian was certainly unwilling to give up the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

This marked the first major disagreement between Shengpingning and the Tang Dynasty. In order to blackmail the administrators of Shengpingning, Wu Zetian inscribed important information about the geographical location and population of Shengpingning, along with her own great achievements as an emperor, on the merit stele of Qianling Mausoleum, located 50 kilometers northwest of the present-day XY City in SX Province. This stele corresponds to the "Shushengji Stele" which praises Emperor Gaozong of Tang.

"Wait! Venerable Master, please stop. Didn't you say that Saint Pingning was in a tear of Avalokiteshvara?" Hua Sheng interjected. "Why does it sound like after all this talk, it's as if it's been an important part of our country's territory since ancient times, an inseparable part?"

Ruokong said, "Don't be impatient, benefactor. Please listen to what I have to say."

Ruokong continued, "In 705 AD, which was the first year of the Shenlong era of the Zhou Dynasty under Wu Zetian's rule, and also the 76th year of the old calendar of the Holy Realm, Wu Zetian's biological son, Li Xian, in accordance with the dying wish of the only female emperor in Chinese history, had the entire text of the book, more than 3,300 characters, engraved on the Holy Stele of the Qianling Mausoleum."

Because it was the emperor's dying wish, ordinary magic could not erase the inscription. However, if the location of "Sacred Peace and Tranquility Source" were revealed to the world, it would be extremely detrimental to both the mortal and immortal realms. Mortals would use immortal techniques to seek personal gain, while immortals would be forever plagued by external disturbances.

Then, the three supreme deities, the Jade Pure Primordial Heavenly Venerable, the Supreme Pure Spiritual Treasure Heavenly Venerable, and the Great Pure Moral Heavenly Venerable, jointly cast a spell to erase the text on the Qianling Stele and all historical records of Sheng Pingning, leaving behind a famous "Wordless Stele" for the human world.

Even today, people can still see the squares carved from top to bottom on the stele, each square being four centimeters long and five centimeters wide, arranged neatly, which serves as evidence that the text was written at that time.

In its early days, Shengpingning comprised only 999,999 acres of land, where immortals, humans, and spirits coexisted without interference. Because its location in the mortal realm was occasionally revealed, it attracted many people seeking immortality and enlightenment over the years.

After nearly being exposed to the world, the rulers of Shengpingning reached a consensus that the celestial realm must be hidden. From now on, the elixir of immortality from the celestial realm must not be allowed to fall into the mortal world, lest mortals continue to flock to it in search of the sacred realm.

At that time, the compassionate Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was establishing a Guanyin temple in Mount Putuo, which resembles a dragon lying in the sea. Upon learning that the Holy Peace was about to leave the mortal world, she shed a tear for the suffering that the people of the world would endure in the future.

This tear of Guanyin fell from Mount Putuo into the vast East China Sea. So the six immortal saints of Shengpingning used the "Hun Yuan Yu Xu" method to seal the source of Shengpingning within this tear of the Bodhisattva Guanyin with boundless power, and hid it in the vast East China Sea.

In the history of San Binh Ninh, it is referred to as the 76th year of the old San Binh calendar and the first year of the new San Binh calendar.

Hua Sheng interrupted, asking, "Abbot Ruokong, I hadn't thought of the question you raised before. So, although Shengping Ning is a realm of immortals, it was actually Guanyin Bodhisattva who founded it?"

“You are right, benefactor.”

"But that doesn't make sense. Shengpingning was originally a fairyland founded by Taoists, so why was it moved to the East Sea and established by Buddhists?"

"Because Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva is compassionate..."

Hua Sheng interrupted, "Master, you're speaking like a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I'm asking about the real reason."

"The real reason is compassion."

"What does it mean?"

Master Ruokong said, “Benefactor, you are a member of the Taoist Academy, so you should know the meaning of the saying that Heaven and Earth are indifferent.”

“I know that. The saying ‘Heaven and Earth are indifferent’ doesn’t mean that they have no good intentions. Rather, it means that good and evil are the same to Heaven and Earth. They do not deliberately pursue doing good.”

Ruokong replied, “Then you should understand. Heaven and Earth are indifferent, so whether Shengpingning exists or not makes no difference to the Dao. The gods will not do anything special because of Shengpingning’s existence. Even if all the immortals leave the mortal world and the mortal residents of Shengpingning are in dire straits, they will not save them.”

"This..." Hua Sheng didn't know how to answer for a moment.

"However, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva firmly upholds compassion."

Hua Sheng then understood Ruo Kong's words and said, "What the Master means is that Taoism advocates non-action, but Buddhism did the work of preserving Sheng Pingning?"

Master Ruokong put his hands together and said, “What you say is very true. Buddhism should not interfere in the life and death of the inhabitants of the Taoist fairyland. However, Buddhism upholds the principle of relieving suffering and rescuing those in distress, so Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva did something that seemed to overstep his bounds.”

Hua Sheng thought for a moment and said, "That doesn't make sense, does it? Since they all need to preserve Shengpingning, why don't the Taoist immortals just do it themselves? Surely these immortals have a way to do it?"

"Therefore, there are also disagreements among the immortals..." Ruokong said, "You should have heard of the Seven Sages of the Holy Peace Immortal Realm." "Indeed, I have heard of them."

"Since you are in the Academy of Arts and Sciences, you should have heard of Dao Ling Xing Jun."

Upon hearing this name, Hua Sheng immediately said, "I know that. Dao Ling Xing Jun is the dean of the Daoist Arts Academy! Moreover, he is over 18,000 years old and is one of the Seven Saints of Sheng Ping Ning."

Ruokong said, "Do you know why Dao Lingxingjun, despite being one of the Seven Sages of the Foundation Establishment Realm, only manages a small Daoist Academy in Shengping Ning?"

"That's...because of this change?"

"That's right. At that time, Dao Ling Xingjun advocated preserving the immortal realm of Shengping Ning. Because if this region were abolished, the immortals could return to the immortal realm, and the spirit race, because of their magical cultivation abilities, would live a life second only to the immortals. The remaining residents, if they wanted to return to the mortal world, would be stripped of their magical abilities to prevent the chaos caused by immortal magic, and would experience the wars that followed in history."

"Wouldn't Dao Ling Xing Jun be doing this..."

"Because their views align with those of others, they are seen as heretics."

"But in the end, Shengping Ning was preserved. Shouldn't the Taoists reflect on this?"

"In fact, the Taoist doctrine is not about not saving the people, but about non-action. In this way, the sage and the peaceful would go with the flow."

"At this time, inaction is tantamount to letting things fend for themselves."

Ruokong said, "Taoism calls it 'wuwei' (non-action). 'Non-action' leads to 'nothing left undone.' Let nature decide."

"Is this not compassion?"

"The Daoists have neither benevolence nor malevolence."

"Therefore, after Sheng Pingning moved to Guanzizai's Tears in the East Sea, it was divided into five states: Lingwei Yang in the east, Chi Biao Nu in the south, Han Shuji in the center, Bai Zhaoju in the west, and Ye Guangji in the north. These five states were respectively called Lingzhou, Chizhou, Hanzhou, Baizhou, and Yezhou, and were still governed by Taoist immortals. However, the original official position of Dao Ling Xingjun was abolished, and he was put in charge of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. Of course, this transfer was also the original intention of Dao Ling Xingjun, who was indifferent to worldly affairs."

Hua Sheng thought that perhaps this was the reason why Dao Ling Xingjun had been in seclusion for many years, only emerging during the annual Xuanwu Festival, hoping to project an attitude of indifference to worldly affairs.

Master Ruokong continued his narration, saying that during the transformation of Shengping Ning, the seven immortals simultaneously changed the area of ​​the fairyland from 999,999 mu (approximately 6600 square kilometers) to 9,999,999,999 mu (approximately 666 million square kilometers), forming the spectacular landscape of mountains, rivers, and even oceans.

A magical barrier is formed outside, and people living inside it can observe the sun, moon, and stars directly through the sky, just like people living outside, and experience sunrise and sunset every day.

Buddhism then uses its magical powers to correspond to the 84,000 Dharma gates, injecting the outer layer of this drop of water into a distance of 840 billion kilometers.

At the time, even if someone could find this single tear of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, they would not be able to break through such a great distance from the outside to enter the Holy Peaceful Wonderland.

Ultimately, the Kingdom of Shengpingning was not completely severed from the mortal realm. The seven primordial immortals preserved an interactive channel called the "Primordial Chaos Path." Stepping into this channel allowed one to reach Shengpingning in a short time. In the last hundred years or so, Shengpingning further modified the "Primordial Chaos Path," enabling it to quickly reach every corner of the mortal world through some form of written communication.

This "Hun Yuan Dao" is a secret even within Sheng Ping Ning, and no one in the human world can pass through it. Therefore, mortals are absolutely unable to enter Sheng Ping Ning.

"It is now the year 1316 of the Holy Realm New Calendar. With more than a thousand years of development, the relationship between the three races of Holy Peace Immortal, Human, and Spirit has changed from relative isolation to cooperation and symbiosis, and has become the Holy Peace Immortal Realm that you see today."

After listening to Master Ruokong's account, Hua Sheng breathed a sigh of relief: "I never imagined that the story behind Sheng Pingning was so complicated."

Ruokong said, "Because the Taoists were present during the Holy Peace and Peace period, Guanyin Bodhisattva required all monks not to leave Daqian Temple, and the temple gates could only be opened for three days every hundred days."

"Then why build Daqian Temple here?"

"Because the Buddha's light shines everywhere and the Buddha's teachings are boundless."

"Then why did you choose to stay here, Master? You can't go anywhere in this Holy Peaceful Wonderland, isn't that a great lack of freedom?"

“Without the support of the ruler, it is difficult to establish religious services. No matter where in this world, the Buddha’s compassion should leave a way for all beings.”

Ruokong continued, “This humble monk is nothing more than a candle. I can only emit a little light and bring a little warmth. Perhaps I am insignificant to this world and cannot change anything. But burning is the duty of this humble monk, whether it is a hundred years or a thousand years. Even if I create karma and bear the consequences, I must cross this river of time to make up for the mistakes made by the years.”

He sat upright with his palms together.

"If I don't turn to ashes, who will? Where does this mundane life take me, and what does it matter?"

(End of this chapter)