My brother is so cunning

Chapter 913 There is a Pure Heart Pool on Mount Ling
"Ananda, you've really got a good plan!"

Lingji Bodhisattva said angrily, "If I hadn't personally seen the contract bearing the Buddha's seal, I might have been fooled by your sophistry!"

When the contract was mentioned, Venerable Ananda's eyes darted around, but his tone remained calm: "Bodhisattva Lingji, that evil god is the Creator, appointed by Heaven. What is Creation? It is the creation of the heavens. He is most skilled at forgery. Even if he cannot forge the Buddha's seal, what difficulty is there in slightly modifying the contents of the contract?"

"you!"

Lingji Bodhisattva never expected that Venerable Ananda had already prepared his explanation when the truth came out, and even dared to lie in front of the Buddha. Despite having irrefutable evidence, he managed to cover it up.

“Bodhisattva Lingji, that evil god is extremely cunning and full of malice towards our sect, which is why he devised such a vicious scheme to harm our sect.”

Ananda, looking indignant, said with righteous indignation, "You are also a great enlightened being who has cultivated the Bodhisattva path. How could you be so easily swayed by his few provocative words? Is it because you have been too close to your junior brother Jin Chanzi and listened to too many of his misleading and wicked words praising the Dao of Intercepting Heaven, thus planting a demonic thought in your heart, making you so easily bewitched and used by that evil god?"

It is common knowledge within the Western Sect that Bodhisattva Lingji and Jin Chanzi were on good terms.

In later Journey to the West, when Tang Sanzang, the reincarnation of Jin Chanzi, was in distress, Lingji Bodhisattva helped him many times, precisely because of this connection.

Now that Jin Chanzi has been punished by the Buddha as a typical example of disobeying the righteous law and promoting heresy, Venerable Ananda cunningly took advantage of this and instead pinned a big label on Bodhisattva Lingji.

"That makes sense, otherwise why would anyone be so easily convinced by an evil god?"

"From the time he left Mount Ling to his return, less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he was persuaded by the evil god to rush here and make trouble for his own Venerable One. Are you a divine messenger from the Heavenly Court or a Bodhisattva from my sect?"

“Brother Ananda’s character is still trustworthy. He has been in charge of the Sutra Transmission Hall and the Treasure Transmission Hall for many years. When has he ever skimped on the resources we need to cultivate the Dharma? On every occasion, he has done his best to provide the best resources.”

“Bodhisattva Lingji has been cultivating on Mount Sumeru for many years. Apart from Jin Chanzi, he doesn’t often interact with us on Mount Ling. Hearing some rumors, he lost his sense of fairness. It’s because he is too far from the Buddha and his teachings are not thorough enough.”

……

Lingji Bodhisattva is one of the most upright and noble bodhisattvas in Western Buddhism. He has never been one to wade into the muddy waters of Mount Ling.

Even highly accomplished Buddhist masters such as Guanyin, Samantabhadra, Manjushri, Vimalamitra, Phra Dzogchen, and Dipankara do not establish temples on Vulture Peak. It's not that one mountain cannot accommodate two Buddhas, but rather that great Buddhas are easy to meet, while lesser monks are difficult to deal with.

Even the Buddha of Joy, the Buddha of Fear of the Sun, and the Buddha of Maitreya all kept their distance from Mount Ling and established their temples far away.

Good people are often targeted with guns pointed at them. The monks on Mount Lingji, who had been in a close relationship with Ananda for many years, all spoke up in favor of Ananda and started praising Bodhisattva Lingji.

Lingji Bodhisattva was clear-headed and had already guessed the whole story. He was certain that it was Venerable Ananda who had done this good deed, but he was besieged by the monks and could not defend himself.

"Buddha, please uphold justice! Quickly arrest Ananda and force him to reveal the location of the hidden funds. Send them to pay the internet bill as soon as possible, or Lingjiu Temple will fall!"

Bodhisattva Lingji disdained to argue with these scoundrels and directly put his palms together with the Buddha, respectfully offering his advice.

"Master, I am innocent! There are no hidden funds at all. It's all a frame-up by Wen Rui. It was Bodhisattva Lingji who believed the false rumors and made false accusations..."

Venerable Ananda also clasped his hands together, bowed to the Tathagata, and loudly defended himself: "The cause of yesterday, the effect of today, all things are predetermined..."

The Buddha spoke slowly, making a gesture of plucking a flower with his hand, gently shaking his head, and then lowered his eyes again without saying a word.

The monks in the main hall were stunned, not knowing what the Buddha had said. This great Buddha would occasionally engage in witty banter with his disciples, but they never expected him to do something like this at this critical moment when things were so dire.

When the Buddha held up a flower, Kasyapa smiled; the master and disciple were truly in perfect harmony.

However, Venerable Kasyapa, who was standing at the lower end, also looked bewildered, but all the monks' eyes were focused on him, hoping that he could provide an explanation.

Venerable Kasyapa glanced at his junior brother, his heart filled with conflict, and finally spoke with difficulty: "There is no time now to dwell on whether the evil god's false accusations are true or false, or to find out where the funds went. The only solution now is to set off immediately to the Lingxiao Palace to meet the Jade Emperor and ask him to issue an edict forcing the Creator Heavenly Venerable to grant our sect the authority to use the Sun-Shielding Canopy, so as to solve our urgent problem."

How could Venerable Kasyapa, who was closest to Ananda, not know Ananda's character?

He also suspected that Ananda had embezzled the military procurement funds, but he had no evidence. He had received many benefits from Ananda in his daily life, and if something happened to Ananda, he would inevitably be implicated, at the very least for the crime of negligence and harboring.

Moreover, if the Buddha's own disciple were to lead the way in embezzlement, what face would the Buddha have left if this were exposed?

Now the Buddhist lineage is deeply affected, and the faith of countless believers is in danger.

With the overall situation paramount, and at this critical juncture of life and death, we must not lose our composure, and we must not say anything that is detrimental to unity.

The priority now is to solve the problem, rather than wasting time thoroughly investigating Ananda by reopening old wounds. Bodhisattva Lingji is too upright, and if we follow his advice, it will certainly not end well.

Not only did Lingjiu Cave fall again, but they also spent another sum of money to ask Wen Rui to grant them access. Wouldn't that confirm that there were corrupt officials among the high-ranking members of the Western Sect?
If this were to spread, it would only invite ridicule from the immortals of Heaven and tarnish the reputation of Buddhism.

Wen Rui is an evil god who likes to use any excuse to smear Buddhism. It would be strange if he instructed his followers to turn this dark history into a movie like "In the Name of the Benefactor" and show it around to spread and smear it.

Even if the truth was as Bodhisattva Lingji had said, Venerable Kasyapa could only cover for Ananda. He, with the mind of a lowly monk, guessed that the Buddha probably already knew the truth, but due to the current predicament, he could only say to the Buddha, "It cannot be spoken."

It would be better to discipline Ananda internally. There's no need to publicly investigate his secret accounts; in fact, it would be even worse if something were found out.

Since they couldn't deal with Ananda immediately, they could only shift the blame onto Wenrui and try to force him to relinquish control of the Sky-Shielding Canopy.

This was the most reasonable decision Kasyapa could make, and the only decision he could make.

Lingji Bodhisattva stood there stunned for a long time before saying, "I finally understand why Pilanpo Bodhisattva vowed never to go to Mount Ling again!"

Upon hearing this, the monks in the Great Buddha Hall were all furious. Venerable Kasyapa sighed inwardly and said helplessly, "Where are the Eighteen Arhats? Bodhisattva Lingji has fallen under the spell of the evil god and lost his mind. Quickly arrest him and send him to the Pure Heart Pool to meditate and eliminate his karma!"

(End of this chapter)