Journey to the West: Man in heaven, working nine to five

#1002 - Kneeling before the Buddha, not asking for blessings, but asking for mercy

The hundreds of monks in the courtyard and the divine generals in the shadows were ready to attack.

The old Abbot's face was full of sneers, with a hint of killing intent.

"Here, I have the final say! This is also a rule personally decreed by the Buddhas of the Western Paradise."

"Those who enter the temple and donate merit money and burn incense will be blessed. Those who do not donate money or burn incense are disrespecting the Buddha!

If any mortal does not comply, they are slandering the Dharma and insulting Buddhism, and should be dealt with according to the laws of West Niu Hezhou!"

"My West Niu Hezhou is a Buddhist land. Slandering the Dharma is a capital crime! Many people have already committed such sins. I advise you not to make a mistake! Amitabha."

The old Abbot put his palms together, his eyes narrowed into slits, his face full of threat.

Pig Bajie felt it was almost time to attack,

but Tang Sanzang remained unmoved, simply putting his palms together and said expressionlessly:

"Since that's the case, we will naturally abide by the rules."

"However, this poor monk still wants to put on his kasaya, hold his tin staff, and pay homage to the Buddha in an orderly manner. After the worship, I will donate all my wealth to your esteemed monastery."

"Seeing as we are both monks, I implore the old Abbot to be accommodating."

Pig Bajie, who had originally intended to take out his Nine-Toothed Rake, quickly retracted it and shrunk it down to use as a comb to comb his hair.

The old Abbot seemed certain that he had Tang Sanzang in his grasp and said arrogantly:

"Alright, you can't escape anyway."

"Follow me to worship the Buddha! Remember, your lives are given by the Buddha. If you dare to be disrespectful, you will fall into the Avici Hell!"

Immediately, the old Abbot swaggered and led the group towards the courtyard.

Along the way, Tang Sanzang calmly asked:

"By the way, old Abbot, I don't know when the Buddha's decree was issued, or which Buddha issued it."

"And our Chan Monastery is dedicated to the leader of the Eastern Pure Emerald World, the Medicine Buddha!"

"The Medicine Buddha has twelve Yaksha Divine Generals under his command, who are specially guarding our monastery. Everything we do is personally permitted by the Buddha! Do you have anything else to ask now?"

Tang Sanzang raised an eyebrow.

"So, the Buddha already knows about these things, and even these are ordered by the Buddha?"

"Why is this? I have never heard of such strict rules before."

The old Abbot didn't care and continued:

"Now that the world is in chaos and evil demons are rising, our Western Paradise is watching over the common people and guarding one side."

"The Western Paradise is doing such righteous deeds, but it lacks the contributions of believers, so the Buddha ordered everyone to contribute selflessly."

"This matter is a great good deed, but those unruly people are not cooperating. Even donating some merit and offering incense are resisted, so I can only use some means to make everyone cooperate!"

"Hmph, they really don't know what's good for them. If the Buddha didn't protect our world, this world would have already fallen into hell. It's unforgivable that those unruly people don't cooperate!"

The old Abbot complained to Tang Sanzang all the way, full of resentment about the uncooperative people,

but as he spoke, the wealth on the old Abbot's body always caught Tang Sanzang's eye.

Tang Sanzang's face was expressionless, but beneath his calm face, Tang Sanzang felt that his heart was about to erupt like a volcano!

What a Buddha who protects all living beings! Plundering with such righteousness is truly embarrassing for them!

The old Abbot continued to nag along the way, sneering at Tang Sanzang:

"You monks from the Eastern Tang Dynasty must not be clear about the peace of our West Niu Hezhou, but it is also normal.

In Nanzhan Buzhou, killings are frequent, and people are living in misery, while our West Niu Hezhou is not greedy or murderous, nurturing energy and hiding spirits, all because of the efforts of our monasteries."

"If it weren't for the suppression of our monasteries, who knows how rebellious and disrespectful to the Buddha these unruly people would be!

They are really a group of damned unruly people. It is only because of the compassion of my Buddha, otherwise they would have been thrown into the Avici Hell long ago!"

Tang Sanzang listened all the way, the veins on his forehead bulging, but he took a deep breath and suppressed his rage.

Pig Bajie was so angry that he almost laughed.

What shameless words! It's a wonder that this old Abbot can say it so shamelessly.

But looking at the old Abbot's gorgeous kasaya and the gold and jade stones hanging all over his body, Pig Bajie also knew why he could lie through his teeth so brazenly.

Finally, under the leadership of the old Abbot, Tang Sanzang and his disciples arrived in the main courtyard.

Before them was a vast main courtyard, with a golden Buddha statue as high as three zhang in the middle!

This scene stunned Tang Sanzang.

It was the first time he had seen such a luxurious scene. The golden Buddha was ten meters high, and there were also twelve golden statues of Yaksha Divine Generals, each three meters high!

All the temples Tang Sanzang had seen in his life were not as extravagant as this temple!

And under the golden Buddha, rows of believers were kneeling, constantly kowtowing, looking very pious from a distance.

However, when they got closer, they saw that the rows of believers were all chained, like prisoners chained together,

and they were all sallow and emaciated, their heads already bleeding from kowtowing, the bones visible, but they were still kowtowing.

Just as Tang Sanzang arrived, a row of believers who had been kowtowing collapsed. More than a dozen people had already lost their breath. There was a pool of black blood under their heads.

Obviously, they had kowtowed themselves to death.

Seeing this, Tang Sanzang's eyes flashed with disbelief.

For a moment, shock, pity, anger, and killing intent surged into his heart!

Endless anger was already surging in the eyes of Pig Bajie and Sha Wujing,

Even they, as monsters, couldn't stand it anymore. They had never seen such a terrifying scene,

Under the golden Buddha, a row of believers who had kowtowed themselves to death were kneeling!

"Why are you treating them like this!" Tang Sanzang suppressed his anger and squeezed these words out from between his teeth.

The old Abbot didn't care and replied with a smile:

"These unruly people just didn't donate merit money, and they didn't burn incense in the temple, so I punished them to kowtow and chant scriptures before the Buddha,"

"As long as they kowtow a thousand times, they will be spared their crime of disrespecting the Buddha, and they will not be held accountable for anything."

"My Bright Chan Monastery is the most benevolent temple in Baoxiang Kingdom. If it were any other temple, they would have been dragged out and beheaded long ago."

"This is also the best destination for these unruly people. They just died, and they didn't enter the Avici Hell. My Buddha is merciful, Amitabha, well said, well said."

As the old Abbot spoke, he saw monks coming up very skillfully and dragging away all the fallen believers.

And a new batch of believers were brought in to continue kowtowing.