Chapter 121 Lotus Brand Merit and Vow Converter? At the end of the Nara period, there was a ghost legend circulating about Prince Sawara, the younger brother of Emperor Kōmu at the time. Because Prince Sawara's mother was of poor origin, he became a monk at Todaiji Temple at a young age. Later, after Emperor Kanmu ascended the throne, Prince Sawara returned to secular life and was made crown prince. At this time, Emperor Kanmu already had an heir who could inherit the throne. Later, Fujiwara no Tanetsugu, who was highly valued by Emperor Kanmu, was murdered and someone framed Prince Sawara. Emperor Kanmu imprisoned Prince Sawara without giving him any explanation and then exiled him. In order to prove his innocence, Prince Sawara went on a hunger strike on the way to exile and starved to death a few days later. Prince Sawara, who died with deep resentment, returned to the capital as an evil ghost. Not long after, Fujiwara no Momokawa's widow died suddenly of illness, Emperor Kanmu's biological mother and empress died one after another, and his son Prince Anden also fell seriously ill and was bedridden. At this time, long-term droughts, famines, floods and other natural disasters began to occur inside and outside Heijokyo. Bandits swarmed, people were living in misery, and it was a complete hell on earth.
As a result, more and more people believed that this was the ghost of Prince Sawara who died with his eyes open. Later in the story, in the 19th year of the Enryaku period, Emperor Kanmu posthumously bestowed the title of "Emperor Sudō" on Prince Sawara and built the Sudō Shrine to worship Prince Sawara. From then on, Prince Sawara's ghost disappeared. This version of the legend is the most widely circulated to date. Pinggong Chiye learned another story that was somewhat different from this one from the host of the Cultural Affairs Bureau. After Prince Sawara was appointed Crown Prince, Emperor Kanmu deliberately took advantage of Fujiwara no Tanetsugu's death to maliciously frame Prince Sawara in order to pave the way for his own biological heir. Perhaps Emperor Kanmu still had a little affection for Prince Sawara in his heart, so he simply exiled Prince Sawara. Unexpectedly, in order to prove his innocence, Prince Sawara chose to protest by fasting and eventually died. When the ghost of Prince Sawara, filled with anger, grievance and unwillingness, was born, he did return to Heijokyo. But at that time, Heijokyo and its surrounding areas had begun to suffer from long-term droughts, famines, floods and other natural disasters. Bandits swarmed, and people were living in misery. It was a complete hell on earth. The instigator of all this was the Empress of Emperor Kōmu. She is a powerful female ghost who has achieved great success in spiritual practice, and all disasters are caused by her. Although he hated his brother Emperor Kanmu and became a monk in Todaiji Temple since childhood, Prince Sawara, who was kind-hearted, chose to let go of his hatred and have a fierce battle with the female demon queen of Emperor Kanmu. In the end, both of them fell into a deep sleep in the Taiji Hall, and this catastrophe at the end of the Nara period came to an end. Later, out of guilt and the need to suppress the female ghost, Emperor Kanmu named Prince Sawara "Emperor Sudō" and established the Sudō Shrine, where Emperor Sudō was always worshipped. When Heimiya Chiye finished hearing this legend, he felt sorry for the fate of Prince Sawara, who had been immersed in Buddhism since childhood. Emperor Kanmu might have been bewitched by the female ghost, but it was also true that he wanted to frame Prince Sawara. The so-called brotherhood had long been as thin as paper. This is a story about a man framing his own brother in order to pave the way for his own offspring to ascend to the throne. The so-called female ghost of the empress might have just been put forward to bear the infamy for Emperor Kanmu.
"Is this the Empress of Prince Sawara and Emperor Kanmu?" Pinggong Qianye stood outside the Taiji Hall, looking up slightly at the two huge ghosts that were suppressed in the golden Buddha light barrier. Even through the Tai Chi Temple, one could faintly hear the two ghosts' soul-stirring cries. "Hate it!" “Angry!” "Damn it!" They hate the former Emperor Kanmu madly. As the power of the two ghosts continued to impact, the entire Tai Chi Hall was shaking, as if it was about to burst. The Buddha's light formed by the Hundred Lamps Precepts was gradually dimming. If it were not for the support of four eminent monks including Master Wen Zheng, the Hundred Lamps Precepts would have been broken long ago. In the other three directions, the high monks of Todaiji Temple, Saidaiji Temple, and Horyuji Temple all cast their gazes in attention. They didn't understand why the abbot of Toshodaiji Temple would allow such a young monk to go to the Taiji Hall. Doesn’t the civil servant know that Taiji Hall is the most dangerous place at this moment? The two vicious ghosts inside are about to break the seal and come out. Once they get close to the Tai Chi Hall, their lives will be in danger. But they had no time to care about that at the moment. They needed to concentrate on maintaining the Hundred Lights Ring and hold on until the next morning when the sun rose. Pinggong Qianye stood outside the Taiji Hall and watched for a while before he stepped into the range of the Hundred Lamps Ring and pushed open the door of the Taiji Hall. As soon as they entered the door, the two ghosts seemed to have found a breakthrough, and rushed towards the door with a cold and gloomy ghost aura! The black ghost energy seemed to condense into substance. The two ghosts behind him had hideous faces and swollen bodies. Their upper bodies were somewhat human-like, while their lower bodies were a mass of black air currents that gathered like a whirlpool. With a creaking sound, Pinggong Qianye closed the door of Taiji Hall again. Faced with the terrifying ghost energy coming towards him, he just calmly pushed out his right hand, and the golden Buddha light turned into a wall, easily blocking the two ghosts. "Do not worry." Pinggong Qianye spoke calmly, the golden Buddha wall in his palm stood tall and majestic, allowing the ghost energy to attack him crazily without wavering in the slightest. "Monk?" The male ghost seemed to be in a trance for a moment. "Bald donkey!" The female ghost let out a sharp scream, carrying with it a huge resentment that had been dormant for many years, and transformed into countless ghost heads with long tails, which continuously attacked the golden Buddha wall formed in Pinggong Qianye's palm. "Are you prejudiced against monks?" Pinggong Chiye tried to talk to the female ghost, but never got a response. It seemed that she was left with only the instinct of resentment, without much self-awareness. Seeing this, Pinggong Qianye raised his left hand and reached out from the golden Buddha wall. The female ghost saw this and came to bite him madly. A lotus with golden light blossomed and slowly flew out from Pinggong Qianye's fingertips. The lotus rotates gently, continuously absorbing the surrounding ghost energy into the lotus.
The black and almost sticky ghost energy entered the lotus. At first, black veins dyed the lotus black, but after just a few breaths, the black veins were completely eliminated. The lotus gradually grew larger, and the Buddha's light emanating from its body became increasingly dazzling, and the ghostly energy it could absorb became more and more, and spread wider and wider. The female ghost, who had originally come with great momentum, was instead attracted by the power emanating from the lotus, and could hardly move forward or retreat, as if she were stuck in mud. During this process, Heimiya Chiye could feel the dedication of merits and vows more clearly than usual. In the past, he needed to liberate the ghosts before he could dedicate some of his merits and vows to them. But now, the lotus flower could convert some of its merits and vows into merits and vows just by absorbing the evil power of ghosts. Probably equivalent to a merit and wish converter? While Pinggong Qianye was thinking, the male ghost suddenly rushed over and completely merged with the female ghost. His strength increased greatly and he shook the lotus, showing signs of trying to break free. The danger level has soared from about 30 to over 45, but is still less than 50. Pinggong Qianye's mind moved, and the lotus flower split into two, two became four, four became eight...soon the entire Tai Chi Hall was filled with densely packed lotus flowers. When there were 128 lotuses filling the Tai Chi Hall at the same time, it was as if a compressed version of the Hundred Lights Ring was formed, absorbing all the ghostly energy. The male and female ghosts were also forced to separate and were pinned down in the corners on both sides, unable to move. "Are you prejudiced against monks?" Pinggong Chiye came to the female ghost again and asked the same question as before. When the thick ghost aura on the female ghost dissipated, an extremely beautiful face was revealed, and her eyes were full of resentment and unwillingness. "Haha, am I prejudiced against monks?" The female ghost sneered, as if she was mocking herself, or as if she was mocking the powerful monk in front of her. "If it weren't for those monks, how could we end up in this situation? They are really a group of good dogs raised by Emperor Kanmu!" "Ah! I hate it! They all deserve to be killed! They all deserve to die!" When anger was mentioned, the female ghost once again lost the sanity that she had finally recovered, and was once again swallowed by hatred and rage. Hiramiya Chiye could only walk up to the male ghost. If the legend was correct, he was Prince Sawara who had been practicing Buddhism since childhood. A ray of Buddha's light condensed from the fingertips of Hiramiya Chiya and flowed into Prince Sawara's mind, allowing him to temporarily escape from the entanglement of endless anger and hatred and gain a bit of freedom. "Master, what do you want to know?" "Stories, stories about you." This will determine how Pinggong Qianye deals with the two ghosts, whether to eliminate them completely or to help them to be reborn. "It's a long time ago..." Prince Sawara leaned against the wall, looked up and sighed, then told the third version of the story. At that time, Prince Sawara wanted to prove his innocence, so he turned into a ghost and returned to the palace in anger and unwillingness. He wanted to find Emperor Kanmu to get everything clear. He never had any ambition to become the emperor, but why did Emperor Kanmu go so far to frame him!
Although I already have the answer in my mind, I still want to hear Emperor Kanmu's personal explanation. When Prince Sawara found Emperor Kanmu, Emperor Kanmu was so frightened that he cried and pushed all the blame onto his queen, then drew his sword and killed the queen himself. When Prince Sawara was about to leave, the high monk guarding the imperial palace arrived. Emperor Kanmu changed his previous crying and repenting attitude and shouted at the high monk to capture Prince Sawara and to kill him completely. There were many eminent monks in the palace, and Prince Sawara, who had just transformed into a ghost, was no match for him. When he was about to die, Emperor Kanmu's Empress, Fujiwara Otomu, transformed into a ghost with the most turbulent hatred. The two ghosts merged into one and temporarily forced back the monks guarding the imperial palace. At the same time, drought and famine occurred near Heijokyo-kyo. As for the bandit uprising, it was purely because Emperor Kanmu's rule was unpopular. After all, Prince Sawara had been influenced by Buddhism since he was a child, and he could not bear to see famine and drought sweeping the country where he once lived, so he voluntarily let the monks who came behind him suppress him in Taiji Hall. Empress Fujiwara no Otomuro, who also turned into a ghost, was naturally suppressed in Taigiden along with Prince Sawara. "This is the truest story, a story about Emperor Kanmu alone who is ugly and disgusting." After telling the story, Prince Sawara tried hard to suppress his emotions, but his unwillingness and anger gradually made him lose control. Pinggong Qianye was silent for a while, collected all the lotus flowers in the Taiji Hall, and said calmly: "Let this little monk take you to the afterlife." (End of this chapter)