I attained immortality in the real world.

Chapter 73 The Origin of Buddhism
The third day is the day for legal debate.

The people of Bianjing (Kaifeng) flocked to the foot of Baima Temple Mountain.

At the center of the altar stands a five-meter-high white stone pillar, upon which sits a purple-gold alms bowl. Inside the bowl grows a magnificent golden magnolia, which gleams brilliantly in the glow of the sunset.

Two six-meter-high debating platforms are set on both sides of the column, with fragrant flower grounds covered with seven-colored petals, and magnolia flowers, golden lotus flowers and other flowers arranged around the platforms.

Hundreds of seats were also set up near the Dharma platform. The nobles from Bianjing who sat in the front row during yesterday's sermon were moved to seats further back.

The front row was filled with eminent monks from various temples, as well as monks participating in the debate, but there were two special seats.

The figure to the side is a monk wearing a dark blue robe with a half-white beard, Wu Yuan, the national preceptor of the new Tang Dynasty.

The person in the main seat was a young man dressed in fine clothes, whose status was even higher than that of the Imperial Preceptor. Most people guessed that he was Li Zhi, the new emperor of the Tang Dynasty, but no one dared to expose his identity.

The area around the seats was packed with people, with far more onlookers than on religious service days or lecture days.

Ordinary people may not understand the debate, but there will be winners and losers in the debate, and they will know which temple wins and which Buddha to worship in the future.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The bells echoed.

The legal debate officially began.

Two monks stepped onto the debating platform; they were the two debating monks serving as assistants to the chief monks of Daxing Temple.

The senior monk stood in the main position of the debate and looked down, slowly saying: "The Buddha's intention in holding up a flower is the profound Dharma transmitted from heart to heart."

The World-Honored One said: "I possess the true Dharma eye, the wondrous mind of Nirvana, the true formless reality, the subtle Dharma gate, which is not established in words, and is transmitted separately outside the teachings..."

The eye is the source of consciousness, the wondrous mind is the essence, and Nirvana is the key to enlightenment. This is the general outline for the practice of the Five Natures and Nine Consciousnesses.

The true nature of reality is transformed into the illusory, and the formless gives rise to form; this is the general principle of the Dharma practice of Dharma characteristics.

The subtle Dharma gate does not rely on words; it is like a lamp covered with gauze, the very source of Zen wisdom.

This is a special transmission outside the established teachings; it is an entrustment. The World-Honored One instructed Kasyapa that the true Dharma should not be widely spread among the people, as doing so could lead to wrongdoing and the risk of falling into demonic paths.

This is advanced knowledge gained after understanding Buddhist principles. It is taught selectively to select individuals and is based on Buddhist doctrines. Therefore, it should not be transmitted through religious teachings; it is an independent lineage outside of religious traditions.

"........."

All Buddhist practices begin with the act of holding up a flower, which is the root, essence, and source of Buddhism, and is extremely difficult to discern.

Chen Jing has more than two thousand years of accumulated knowledge at Lingshan. Even if his understanding is not as good as Gautama or Siddhartha, is he not as good as Kasyapa?

How can one not appreciate the subtlety of the flower-picking gesture?
Hearing someone trying to explain the meaning of the flower-picking gesture, he naturally listened attentively.

As a result, the abbot of Daxing Temple merely recounted the story of the smile while holding up a flower, without offering any explanation of its meaning, or perhaps lacking the ability to do so.

The slightly younger monk at the other debate platform asked, "How can the mind be transmitted?"

The senior monk replied, "A Zen koan..."

On the Dharma platform, the monks on the two debating platforms did not engage in any heated debate.

Instead, they play the roles of one correct and one auxiliary, one to explain and one to enlighten.

Initial argument.

It was indeed a dispute between two senior monks, and the loser had to offer up his head.

Nowadays, debates have become much more refined, no longer involving two monks arguing like cockfighting in a cage for people to watch.

The two monks presented their views through debate and counter-debate, and then faced questions from all the monks in the audience, engaging in a debate with representatives of the monks from all over the world.

Only by remaining undefeated on the debate platform can one be considered to have passed the first test of the debate and be qualified to become the victor of the Dharma Assembly.

If we lose, we won't have to sacrifice our lives; we'll only lose a little face.

"........."

After about half an hour, the Dharma-debating monk from Daxing Temple finished his lecture.

Several young monks raised questions and received answers. Suddenly, a hunched old monk in the audience stood up, his cloudy eyes fixed on the debate platform. He demanded, "The transmission of mind to mind is the beginning of Zen wisdom; everyone knows this. Do you have any explanation for the meaning of the flower offering?"

The Buddha held up a flower, and Kasyapa smiled.

Kasyapa was informed of the Dharma of non-writing and transmission from mind to mind; this is the topic of the debate.

The Buddha's act of holding up a flower must have contained a profound insight, which he then transmitted to Kasyapa in a special way.

Kasyapa received the enlightenment transmitted by the Buddha and also understood the special method of mind-to-mind transmission—Zen.

So there's only one question: what was the meaning behind the Buddha's flower offering?

The monks of Daxing Temple equated the act of holding up a flower with Zen koans, which means that the Buddha did not transmit anything. It was not a transmission from heart to heart, but a transmission of transmissions, which was superfluous. How could one attain the Dharma of heart-to-heart transmission?
"poor…………"

The senior monk turned pale.

He twitched his lips twice and finally gave up arguing.

We've gone off-topic! It's like solving a classic math problem, but then answering that the problem's existence is of great significance to the history of mathematics and is an important cornerstone for building a certain theory.

However, even if one doesn't stray from the topic, it's still difficult to know where to begin with an untitled question like "a smile while plucking a flower." The abbot performed a Buddhist salute and said, "This humble monk is of limited talent and learning, and voluntarily steps down from the Dharma debate platform."

"Boom!!"

The sound of the bronze bell echoed.

Two monks from Daxing Temple stepped down from the debating platform, and the second to take the stage was from Baima Temple.

Both were lineage holders of the Yogacara school of Buddhism. The senior monk was about sixty or seventy years old and his Dharma name was Wukui. The junior monk was slightly older than Chiba and his Dharma name was Faxing.

The Venerable Wu Kui ascended the main platform on the left. After the dull sound of the bronze bell echoed again and the audience fell silent, he said, "A flower blooms for a moment, its beauty is fleeting. All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, dew, and lightning. Thus you should contemplate them."

Faxing stood on the right side of the Dharma Platform, not asking questions as a student, nor explaining Wukui's words, but directly refuting: "Are the sun and moon eternal? You see me by color, you seek me by sound, how can illusory light measure me?"

Wu Kui lowered his eyes and refuted: "Sinking into the realm of desire, like the setting sun, withering away, like fish leaping about in the depths, unable to see the light of wisdom, unable to reach the wondrous realm..."

"........."

There are two types of debate: auxiliary debate and counter-debate.

Daigyō-ji Temple was for assisting in the debate, while Hakuma-ji Temple was for direct confrontation.

The so-called "supporting debate" involves one person giving the main speech while another person acts as the straight man.

Although the debate involves cooperation between two people, it emphasizes a confrontational and progressive approach to the debate.

"The body is like a Bodhi tree, the mind like a bright mirror; constantly wipe it clean, lest it be covered with dust!"

"Bodhi has no tree, the bright mirror is not a stand; originally there is nothing, so where can dust alight?"

For example, in these two exposés, the existence of the former elevates the level of the latter, thus constituting a debate.

Wu Kui and Fa Xing engaged in a verbal battle. Wu Kui first compared worldly wealth, power, and lust to the fleeting moment of a flower blooming.

Faxing countered with the argument of illusion and reality, arguing that nothing is eternal, not even the sun and moon, so why not pursue fame and fortune and enjoy sensual pleasures in reality, while the so-called true Dharma is nothing but an illusion.

Wu Kui then proceeded to discuss the debate on the Desire Realm and the Theory of Ultimate Bliss...

By combining the imagery of blooming flowers with the interpretation of the desire realm, its core message is—to persuade people to follow the Dharma.

"........."

Is this the meaning of "plucking a flower"?

unimportant!
Anyway, the referee didn't know the answer either.

As long as I can refute all the monks, no one can drive me off the debating platform.

The Yogacara lineage doesn't care about whether there's a question or not. If there's no question, I'll create my own. Anyway, I can't just hand in a blank paper.

Your questions aren't as good as mine, and your answers aren't as good as mine either, so what right do you have to question me?

(End of this chapter)