劍問蒼天 - 第177章 苦海難渡 - 翰墨軒

Fa Cheng smiled. "Master's discerning eye sees it truly." Then, as though recalling the past, he sighed. "To speak frankly with Master: from the day I first met Benefactor Zhang to this day, ten years have passed in a flash. In ten years this disciple's Buddhist learning and practice may have advanced a little, but in the matter of a human life, I am like an infant on the road, scarcely changed at all. Only this Benefactor Zhang—looking at his life, the towering waves, the surging crests and troughs, the great sorrow and great suffering, the love and hate, the gratitude and grievance—the many pains the Buddha spoke of, he seems to have tasted every one of them."

Master Pu Cheng's expression stirred faintly; he pressed his palms together and softly chanted the Buddha's name.

Fa Cheng went on: "There have been nights when this disciple lay sleepless and thought of Benefactor Zhang, and tried to put myself in his place, to imagine all those sufferings falling upon me. Alas, this disciple's Buddhist learning is shallow after all, and I was seized with dread. The Buddha speaks of the **skin and flesh**—in the end they are but dust; only the way of the heart matters, and it lies in realization. Whenever I think on this and recall Benefactor Zhang's lifelong hardship, and how even now he can still bear up under it, this disciple's admiration is sincere."

At this point Fa Cheng's expression suddenly changed, and he knelt before Master Pu Cheng. Master Pu Cheng was taken aback. "What is this?"

Fa Cheng said in a low voice: "Master above me, this disciple's practice is young and his understanding of the dharma shallow, yet for a man like Benefactor Zhang, suffering under his heart-demon, I cannot bear it. I beg my honored master to employ great divine power, to use the boundless dharma of our Buddha to deliver and enlighten him—to use the compassion of the Buddhist gate to dissolve his fierce spirit, that he may escape the bitter sea of the heart-demon. This too would be a work of great merit, answering above to Heaven's merciful heart, and below bringing comfort to the departed Uncle Pu Zhao. Master, have compassion!"

So saying, he bowed his head to the ground and knocked his head three times.

Master Pu Cheng shook his head and sighed, a long sigh. "Foolish child! Foolish child! Do you know that in speaking so, you have rather broken the precept against anger? Besides, it is not that I am unwilling to deliver this man—it is that he has passed through so much hardship, a lifetime so full of storms, that by now his will is firm as rock; no ordinary man can shake his resolve. As it is said, the Buddha is in the human heart, and all beings have a Buddha-bond. Whether he sinks into the bitter sea hereafter, or turns back to the Pure Land, all lies in a single thought within his heart. We can bring no power to bear on him now."

Fa Cheng rose slowly, bowed his head, and pressed his palms together. Disappointment showed on his face, but still he said in a low voice: "Yes, this disciple understands."

Master Pu Cheng was silent a moment. "You had best go to the little room in back and look in on him. The cold in there should do no harm, but in his present condition, a day and night without food or water is not good either."

Fa Cheng assented, steadied himself, and walked toward the door. As he pulled it open to go out, he saw suddenly that someone was standing outside; sunlight poured in from behind the figure, whose face lay all in shadow, so that for a moment he could not make out who it was.

Fa Cheng started and stepped back a pace; only then did he see that it was Ming Li, who had come no one knew when to the doorway and stood there without a sound. After a day and night unseen, Ming Li showed little sign of weariness, but his face had gone very pale, his eyes shot with blood—he had likely not closed them all night.