Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 544

Tian Peng walked and wondered what this could be. Could it be a unique item in the store designed to reflect candlelight and make the room brighter?

He continued walking with his questions, and when he got closer, he realized it wasn’t light at all, but a person.

All the questions in Tian Peng’s heart turned into guilt. He was terribly annoyed. How could he mistake a human head for a lamp? It must have been too long since he had seen a monk, so much that he had forgotten there was such a type of person.

That baldy—no, that monk—was originally sitting at the table drinking tea. Hearing a noise behind him, he turned around, first saw a pair of legs, paused, and then slowly looked up from the legs to finally see the face of the person in front of him.

The monk put his palms together and nodded at the person, which served as a greeting.

Tian Peng also nodded at the person, "Master, are you here alone?"

When the monk turned around, Tian Peng felt he looked familiar. Only after the monk put his palms together and bowed did Tian Peng remember he seemed to have seen this monk back in Bianjing City.

He was puzzled. The monk had been in Bianjing City, so why had he also come out, and such a coincidence to bump into them?

"I left Gold Mountain Monastery to preach in various states. I had already been in Bianjing for over a month, and now I am preparing to go to Chang’an," said the monk.

"You are also going to Chang’an?" Tian Peng was somewhat surprised. It really was a coincidence.

"I was originally going to Chang’an to preach, but seeing these states and counties along the way, naturally I couldn’t show partiality, so I would stay a little longer in each state or county," the monk answered.

So, he must have already been in Bianjing for a long time when he first came to look for the Kaifeng Prefecture. Now that he was on his way to Chang’an, he just happened to run into this monk.

"I see," said Tian Peng. "However, Master, traveling alone to Chang’an, even though you’re on the Official Road, there’s still the risk of encountering wild beasts and bandits. It really seems a bit unsafe."

"Amitabha."

The monk recited a phrase from the Buddhist Scriptures, "Donor, there’s no need to worry. Buddhism says ’survival of the fittest.’ If on the road a wild beast eats me, then it would mean the beast needed to live in this world more than I did. Its stomach is empty and in need of food. If eating me could fill it up, my life would not have been in vain, as I would have saved a creature at least."

"I see. In that case, your life is indeed not in vain."

Tian Peng pulled at the corner of his mouth. This monk’s way of thinking really was different from theirs. Could it be that while they’re made of flesh, monks’ brains were probably carved with Buddhist Scriptures?

"Buddhism speaks of treating others as oneself. If it were you, I would still suggest you’d better run for your life," said the monk again. "After all, you are a mortal, and leaving the matter of sacrificing one’s life to save another should be left to us disciples of Buddhism."

That baldy even had the leisure to care for others.

"So what if you come across not a wild beast but bandits?" Tian Peng teased. "A beast kills to satisfy hunger, but a bandit with all his good skills uses them for acts that defy heaven and harm justice, completely contemptible. Let’s say you run into a bandit, what then?"

"Amitabha." The monk put his palms together and recited the phrase again.

Tian Peng frowned at the monk. Is there nothing else but to recite this phrase, as if it’s some kind of incantation for monks, to show that they are different from ordinary mortals?

"Should I encounter bandits, that would be my fate," the monk said calmly.

"With nothing but my life to my name, if the bandit seeks only money and not my life, then there’s still redemption. Once he spares me, I will chant scriptures for him daily and pray for his fortune, so that he may soon escape from such a life."

"What you say is indeed not bad," Tian Peng replied with a mocking tone.

Unfortunately, the monk was so rigid that he completely failed to detect the sarcasm and took it as a compliment instead.

"Thank you for the praise, Donor. What this humble monk has done is but a trivial matter, and I hardly deserve such laudation," he replied modestly.

Thinking he was really being complimented, Tian Peng found it somewhat amusing but chose not to clarify, instead asking, "What if the bandits who rob you, seeking wealth and life, found you’re just a monk without a penny to your name and, in a fit of rage, decided to kill you to vent their anger? What would you do then?"

"That would simply be this monk’s fate. If that’s the case, the bandit who kills me will surely descend into the nine levels of hell a hundred years later to suffer the torment of the sword and the sea of fire, reaping the karma he sowed," he explained.

"You really are..."

About to throw a jibe or two, Tian Peng thought better of it, since the monk probably wouldn’t get it—he hadn’t understood the earlier sarcasm either. So Tian Peng changed tack and said, "You indeed are wholeheartedly devoted to Buddhism."

As expected, upon hearing this, the monk immediately replied, "Amitabha, this humble monk’s single-minded devotion to Buddhism is the lifelong pursuit of every monk. Donor, your words truly are a compliment to me."

This response he caught on to, and Tian Peng nodded, "I believe with monks like you around, the scripture studies you impart will surely flourish."

"Amitabha," the monk said, bringing his palms together and bowing to Tian Peng.

After a brief exchange, the attendant hearing the conversation came out and said to Tian Peng, "Oh, my guest, you are here. What would you like to eat?"

Tian Peng thought the attendant’s words were a bit odd. "What do you mean ’you are here’? This master has been sitting here for such a long time, and all you’ve offered is a cup of tea. What if the master becomes tired from talking? You really ought to consider these things for the master."

"Donor, you flatter me too much. I’m just an ordinary monk and cannot bear the title of master," the monk interjected quickly. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

He caught on fast, and Tian Peng smiled but ignored him, instead addressing the attendant, "I’m speaking to you, weren’t you listening?"

"Oh, my guest, please spare me," the attendant hastened to say. "The master only asked for a cup of tea."

"What do you mean by that? He’s been here for such a long time. Other than pouring him a cup of tea, you haven’t attended to anything else. That’s no way to do business," Tian Peng said.

Before the monk could reply, the attendant pressed his palms together and said, "Ah, big brother, you don’t understand, I’m really in a tough spot. The master has been drinking tea since morning."

"So what?"

Tian Peng didn’t grasp what the attendant was getting at. "Isn’t it time for a meal? Shouldn’t you offer to see if he’d like to eat something?"

"It’s not that I don’t want to offer, but the master said he isn’t accustomed to the food at our small establishment and brought his own dry provisions," the attendant replied with a look of distress.

"The master has come to our place multiple times, always sitting in this spot, and then begins to teach Buddhism. He talks so eloquently that both he and the audience forget to eat, harming our business," the attendant lamented.

Turning to look at the monk, Tian Peng thought, if what the attendant said was true, then the monk’s actions were quite inconsiderate. Yet the monk didn’t ask for anything, leaving one unsure of where to even begin being annoyed.

"Esteemed Donor, please calm your anger. As the saying goes, every cause has its effect. Why don’t you sit down, and I can recite some sutras to calm the mind?" the monk said, still with a gentle demeanor, bringing his palms together and bowing towards the attendant.