Chapter 21 Meritorious Buddha Statue After Ye Tianming dealt with the pirates on the Giant Whale Island and collected the robe of merit from Lu Mei, he checked the words of merit written on the Merit Robe is made of black gold thread, the same material as the cloth strips of the Amitabha Sutra. It is resistant to fire and cannot be damaged by swords, and can be said to be a treasure. It reads: Thus I have heard, once I asked the Buddha, what is merit? If I take the great world, infinite... seeing the nature is merit, equality is virtue, every thought is unobstructed, always seeing the original nature, true and wonderful use, this is merit... …… The merits chapter on the cassock is different from other scriptures that encourage people to do good and accumulate virtue. The merits mentioned on the cassock have nothing to do with good or evil, but only with one's own nature. Knowing one's nature is merit, expanding one's nature is virtue, and the combination of the two is merit and virtue. Even if a demon who kills people like crazy, if he does evil according to his nature and makes his mind feel comfortable, it can be regarded as a perfect merit. He can become a free demon, possess the same power as Buddha, and enjoy great freedom and transcendence. …… “It is worthy of being the chapter on merits in the Tathagata Sutra passed down by the Buddha himself. If it were to be spread out, I wonder how many Buddhists would think it is heresy.” Ye Tianming read it with great interest. According to Ye Tianming's understanding, the true meaning of this chapter of merit is to use the most authentic and powerful power to shatter all things that obscure one's nature, grasp the present, and be the only one who is supreme. Only by grasping the present can you achieve merit.
After writing it down, Ye Tianming casually put away the cassock, intending to give it to Monk Jingren as a gift. Then he began to look for the Buddha statue that contained the Tathagata Sutra's training method. After entering the secret room of the study on Giant Whale Island, Ye Tianming only took a copy of "Fighting Buddha Records" and the Ten Merits Buddha statue in the underground secret room of the study. As for the other martial arts secrets, Ye Tianming did not touch any of them and left them for other lucky people. The wooden statue of Merit Buddha was carved from a piece of golden nanmu wood. It was six feet tall and covered with red gold all over. It looked like a golden Buddha, except that it was hollow inside. The Buddha statue has drooping ears and drooping eyebrows. It sits cross-legged on a twelve-petal lotus platform with its hands formed into a Dharma seal. Before the destruction of the Great Chan Temple, the abbot of the Great Chan Temple placed the second half of the Tathagata Sutra inside this Buddha statue. The general outline of the Tathagata Sutra was placed in a Qiankun cloth bag and was taken away by Monk Jingren. It was also because of this that the complete version of the Present Tathagata Sutra was scattered along with the demise of the Great Zen Temple, and was not obtained by Hong Xuanji, Yang Pan and others. Ye Tianming had an idea and drew divine power from the sea of suffering, transforming it into countless thin lines that continuously ran along the veins of the tree core, constantly searching for tiny spatial fluctuations, so as to easily find the small world inside the Buddha statue. Click click click... As the power of the Sea of Bitterness circulated inside the Buddha statue, tiny changes began to occur inside the statue, and bits of clear light emanated from the statue's body. This clear light is only seven inches long and one finger wide. It leads to a small world inside. However, this small world is extremely unstable. It is likely to have been opened up by the Four Tribulations Ghost Immortal and may collapse at any time. Once the small thousand worlds collapse, the 108 methods of practicing acupoints recorded in the Tathagata Sutra will also disappear into the endless void. Ye Tianming found a sutra woven with black gold thread from the small world. The whole sutra weighed ten thousand pounds. On the cover was a picture of the current Tathagata Buddha, with the middle finger and index finger forming a ring, forming the seal of the Tathagata Palm. Ye Tianming turned a page and saw a lifelike Buddha statue, giving people a three-dimensional feeling. There was a red dot inside the Buddha statue, and the method of measurement and cultivation was recorded next to it. The entire scripture contains the measurement and cultivation methods of a total of 108 acupoints. As for the boxing techniques, moves, methods of circulating qi and blood, and even the mental methods, none of them are included in this book. Ordinary people cannot form a systematic martial arts training, let alone cultivate the Tathagata body. "There are only twenty-nine acupoints that I haven't opened. I'm really disappointed." Ye Tianming spent some time reading the scriptures and recorded all the images of Buddha's postures in them in his soul. When comparing them with the acupoints in his body, he found that most of the acupoints recorded in them were already opened by him. Now Ye Tianming's divine stone spirit fetus has opened up more than two hundred acupoints. Opening up dozens more acupoints will not achieve any qualitative change at all. Unless he can obtain the general outline of the Tathagata Sutra and observe the mysteries of Tathagata Buddha's martial arts, maybe at that time Ye Tianming can reach the point of opening up a hundred acupoints with one acupoint and break through to the realm of the peak human immortal. "I hope Hong Xuanji will not let me down. He must open a few more acupoints that I don't have, so that I can gain more." Ye Tianming put away the entire Buddha statue and continued on his journey. By the way, according to the acupoint measurement method of the Tathagata Sutra, start measuring and opening the acupoints to enhance your own foundation. ……
Outside Yujing City, West Mountain. The Western Mountains cover an area of nearly 100 miles, with lush trees and complex terrain. They are home to wild animals such as jackals, tigers, and leopards. Every year, people go into the mountains to hunt. It is winter in the world now. The whole land is covered with a layer of white snow. A white wind blows from the west mountain. The weather is so cold that it is enough to freeze people's fingers. Ye Tianming stood on a high mountain in Xishan, looking at the scenery in the distance, constantly searching for the target he wanted to find. I saw a group of noble sons, wearing fur coats and taking their Ao dogs into the depths of the West Mountain to start hunting. They would pull their longbows and shoot wild beasts from time to time. Whenever someone caught a prey, they would show off to their companions. "Where is that Taoist genius you told me about who will be able to attain Yang Godhood within ten years? Why can't I see him?" Under Ye Tianming's feet, there was a huge golden spider, as big as a kitten, with two long fangs, which looked extremely poisonous. Its entire body is greasy and smooth golden in color. Unlike other big furry spiders, it does not look scary overall. Instead, it looks cute and makes people want to touch it. Above the head of this golden spider, there was a girl wearing a golden robe and with bare feet. She was looking around curiously, trying to find the genius Taoist who Ye Tianming mentioned would be able to achieve Yang God status within ten years. "Let's go. I've found him. He's drinking with a demon fairy with the same name as your grandfather." Ye Tianming grabbed the big golden spider and flew directly towards the destination. In order to escape her marriage, this big golden spider ran away from home without telling her grandfather. Ye Tianming saw her on the road and grabbed her so that he could have a companion on the road. (End of this chapter)
