Cultivating From Obtaining Experience

Chapter 35: Kindly Mind Your Own Business

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The ticket was eighty yuan. Wang An paid for them.

Inside the temple gates, there was a sturdy Bodhi tree in the courtyard, and the temple buildings on both sides looked quaint and ancient.

Perhaps because of the timing, there were not many pilgrims in the temple, and no monks could be seen either.

“A ticket costs eighty yuan. Making money here is much easier than running a dojo,” Li Xinzhu whispered.

“If your Intention Fist Dojo could last for two hundred years, then by that time, it might make money faster than here,” Wang An said with a smile.

The two of them walked straight toward the main hall. In front of the main hall was a large incense burner filled with ash. Next to the incense burner was a merit box.

“Shouldn’t we express our gratitude?” Li Xinzhu looked at the merit box.

“Sure, we should make some offerings.” Wang An took out ten yuan and put it in the box.

“Isn’t this a bit too little? Wouldn’t the Buddha be displeased?”

“By your logic, will those who don’t offer anything incur the Buddha’s wrath?” Wang An laughed. “It’s the thought that counts.”

Li Xinzhu thought for a moment and put in twenty yuan. “Ten yuan more than you.”

Wang An smiled.

The two entered the main hall, where the Buddha statue stood solemnly. It looked majestic.

They paid their respects to the Buddha, with Li Xinzhu murmuring some words under his breath.

After coming out of the main hall, they wandered around the temple. They saw a group of monks studying in the temple hall. They were deeply engrossed in chanting scriptures. The sound of Sanskrit chants drifted from the building.

“Do you think these monks know Kung Fu?” Wang An looked at the monks inside the building.

“What kung fu? Chanting scripture?”

“Buddhist martial arts.”

“Here? I doubt it. If you want to see Buddhist Kung Fu, you have to go to the Zhongyue Temple. Are you here to watch Kung Fu?”

“Let’s take a look. We might learn something. Perhaps we’ll even encounter someone like the Sweeper Monk.”

“Sweeper Monk? Don’t you think you read too many novels? Let’s first find out where their kitchen is. I can smell the vegetarian food from here.”

Li Xinzhu twitched his nose a few times, then followed the scent toward a side hall.

“Hey, something’s not right. Why do I smell roasted chicken?”

“You want to eat roasted chicken?”

“It’s not that I want to eat it, but there’s really this smell. Yes, it’s the smell of roasted chicken and a hint of cumin.”

“Hmm?” Wang An sniffed. Indeed, he could smell chicken with cumin. “That’s true.”

Following the scent, the two of them found a monk in a corner behind the side hall. He squatted against the wall and gnawed on a roasted chicken. Oil was dripping from his mouth.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Li Xinzhu shouted.

The monk was startled, and he threw the chicken into a flower bush. After seeing the two of them, he stood up and pressed his palms together.

“Namo Amitabha. Greetings to the two benefactors.”

“I didn’t expect you, a monk, to be hiding in a corner and secretly eating roasted chicken.”

“What chicken?” the monk asked.

“What chicken? C-H-I-C-K-E-N. You were just secretly eating roasted chicken here. You’re a monk. Eating meat is one thing, but lying as well?”

“There’s a saying: “Wine and meat enter the intestines, but the Buddha resides in the heart.” What you see as roasted chicken, this humble monk does not. Moreover, what this humble monk does is none of your business.”

“Oh my! This monk is quite cheeky. Come, let’s go meet your master,” Li Xinzhu said as he reached out to grab the monk.

“Namo Amitabha, honorable benefactor, please refrain from meddling. Also, this humble monk has some martial arts training,” the monk said as he moved aside.

“Haha, what a coincidence! I’ve trained in it too! Come, let’s fight!” Li Xinzhu took a step back and adopted a martial arts stance. He then beckoned to the monk.

“Buddha is merciful. Why are you here, respected Master?” The monk suddenly looked behind the two of them.

“Master?”

Li Xinzhu and Wang An turned around at the same time, only to find the area behind them empty. They turned their heads again, and the monk had already run away.

He was swift and agile like a rabbit.

“This monk is really dishonest. He is full of lies and runs quite fast!”

“He really does!” Wang An could tell by the monk’s movement that he was skilled in martial arts.

“Get him!” Li Xinzhu chased him.

Having been tricked three times by the same person, he decided to catch that monk and have a good talk with him, while also taking him to meet the abbot of this temple.

Wang An had no choice but to follow behind. Not long after they ran out of the side hall, they saw an old monk in his fifties or sixties standing beside the monk who had been sneakily eating roasted chicken.

“Why do you look flustered?”

“Master, be careful. These two people seemed to have come here with ill intentions!” The monk who had been sneaking roasted chicken turned around and pointed to Wang An and Li Xinzhu.

“This monk is actually telling on us,” Li Xinzhu said. He was stunned.

“Why do you smell like meat, young man?”

“He was sneaking around and eating roasted chicken in the corner just now!” Li Xinzhu shouted.

“The chicken flew from afar and hit a tree and died. I was only conducting its salvation,” the young monk said.

“F*ck, what an interesting explanation! Monk, were you waiting for the chicken by the tree?” Li Xinzhu was already rolling up his sleeves.

“Namo Amitabha, please mind your language, benefactor. This is a pure place of Buddhism. How can you use such foul language?”

“Monk, isn’t that hypocrisy?” Li Xinzhu was ready to confront him.

“I, a poor monk, do not understand what you mean, benefactor.”

“Come on, let’s spar.” Li Xinzhu adopted a fighting stance.

“Master, please step back. Let me handle this benefactor.” The monk took a stance.

“Young man, go copy the Buddhist scriptures,” The abbot spoke calmly.

“Ah, copying again? Can’t we try something different? I threw up the last time I did it.” The young monk looked troubled.

The old monk gave him a stern look.

“Understood.” The monk lowered his head and turned to leave. He looked like a mischievous schoolboy who had been chastised by his teacher.

“Apologies if we have embarrassed ourselves in front of you, guests,” said the abbot.

“That’s alright. We’re just here to learn something new,” Li Xinzhu said with a smile.

“Master, I have some questions I’d like to ask.”

“Please go ahead.”

Wang An then proceeded to mention the Buddhist vocabulary from the ancient book that he did not quite understand. The abbot explained each term to Wang An.

“Are you practicing Buddhist martial arts?”

“I acquired the book by chance, and I don’t understand it well.”

“What a coincidence! My unruly junior once practiced martial arts at the Faxing Temple. Perhaps you could explain it to him. You might benefit from it. Please follow me.”

“Thank you, Master.”