Chapter 53: Tathagata Cutting Flesh to Feed an Eagle
“You monster, it must be you who killed Master, watch us avenge Master!”
Pigsy and Sha Wujing frowned immediately, and they picked up their weapons.
Even if Pigsy was preparing to divide the property and run away, if the person who killed Master was right in front of him, he would definitely not let them go.
White Dragon Horse suddenly froze, he remembered that he had arrived at the Journey to the West team before the two of them, and had existed in the form of a horse ever since, so the two had not seen his human form.
Ao Bing transformed back into a white horse and said, “Do you two Senior Martial Brothers recognize me now?”
The two quickly put away their weapons, and Bajie said, “White Dragon Horse, you can turn into a human?”
White Dragon Horse said, “I was originally the son of the Dragon King of the Western Sea. Because I broke the Lapis Lazuli Pagoda that the Jade Emperor gave to my father, I was demoted to a river to be a monster.
Later, after being guided by Guanyin Bodhisattva, I protected Master on his journey to the Western Heaven.
But because I unintentionally ate Master’s horse, the Bodhisattva turned me into a white horse to carry Master on his journey to the Western Heaven.”
Pigsy: “I see.”
Sha Wujing: “Then why did you say that we should not abandon Master? Could it be that the charred corpse on the ground is not Master?”
White Dragon Horse said, “That charred corpse is naturally not Master. Master was captured by the White Bone Lady of the White Bone Cave Dwelling.
That demon is very powerful. I fought with him, but I was no match and was badly injured and fled back.
Now, please, two Senior Martial Brothers, quickly go and rescue Master.
You must hurry, otherwise Master will be boiled and eaten.”
“What?”
Sha Wujing and Pigsy were both surprised and happy. They were happy that Master was still alive, and surprised that the monk had been captured by a demon. They didn’t know if it was still possible to rescue him.
The two quickly soared into the clouds and flew towards the White Bone Cave Dwelling with the White Dragon Horse.
“After I defeat those other two disciples of Tang Sanzang, I will boil and eat Tang Sanzang, and then you will all be able to get a share.”
After defeating Ao Bing, Bai Fu Ren returned to the cave dwelling and held a grand banquet. The little demons in the entire cave dwelling were overjoyed. They did not expect that their Madam now had such abilities.
They all congratulated Bai Fu Ren.
On the other side, Bai Ze was alone, and came to the cave room where Tang Sanzang was imprisoned.
This Tang Sanzang must be released, because Tang Sanzang’s journey to the West is of great significance to the Great Tang Dynasty. Only when the True Scriptures are spread to the Great Tang, will the demons and monsters be less prevalent in the Great Tang. If the True Scriptures are not spread to the Great Tang, then the Great Tang will be like the area around White Tiger Ridge, a place where humans and demons live together.
Is this state good?
Bai Ze, as a demon of White Tiger Ridge, knows the cruelty of all this better than anyone. The human body is suitable for cultivation, and it seems that it should be stronger than demons, but in fact, it is the opposite.
The human body is suitable for cultivation, but its growth potential is good. No one is born with great power.
On the other hand, demons, they don’t know how much time it will take to cultivate a perfect human body, and their cultivation speed is naturally not comparable to that of humans.
However, the greatest characteristic of demons is that they have powerful magic power from the moment they are born.
Just like Bai Ze and his Mother, from the moment they were born, they knew how to use the White Bone Claw, Corpse Separation Technique, Bewitching Technique, and Corpse Raising Technique.
After advancing to a Demon King, they automatically unlock the ability to refine Ghost Fire Skull Heads.
Therefore, if the human territory was not guarded by the Underworld, it would have been completely destroyed by demons long ago.
But the Underworld’s ability is limited. Just like the demons of this White Tiger Ridge, don’t they often eat people?
If Bai Ze was born a demon, he might not think about these things.
But he was once human after all. Demons can run rampant in the world, but he doesn’t want the Great Tang to be like that. He can’t control the world, but he can control the Eastern Tang Dynasty, which was his former hometown.
As long as the True Scriptures are spread to the Eastern Tang Dynasty, most of the demons will move away from that land, and the rest will not be able to cause much trouble.
So Tang Sanzang’s journey to the West must succeed!
As for whether the humans in the East Victory Divine Continent and the West Cattle Continent are being slaughtered by demons?
Sorry, I’m not familiar with these humans, why should I care about them?
However, Tang Sanzang’s flesh and blood is indeed a treasure. Since it is in my hands now, it would be a pity to let it go for nothing, so Bai Ze found Tang Sanzang.
When Tang Sanzang saw a white-clothed child arrive, he subconsciously felt that the child was cute, but when he remembered that it was this child who had changed his identity, tricked his eldest disciple Sun Wukong away, and tricked him into this cave, he felt a chill run down his spine.
Bai Ze came to Tang Sanzang and said, “Elder, I have some questions about Buddhist teachings to ask you.”
“……”
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Tang Sanzang had not expected that the first thing this demon would say would be to ask about Buddhist teachings?
Have demons started to practice vegetarianism and chant Buddhist scriptures?
Tang Sanzang said, “Little Benefactor, please speak.”
Bai Ze said, “In the past, there was a hawk chasing a sparrow, wanting to eat it.”
The sparrow said, ‘Why are you chasing me? You and I are both learning Buddhist teachings under the Buddha. The Buddha teaches not to kill, so you cannot kill me.’ ”
The hawk said, ‘I don’t want to kill you either, but I am a carnivore. If I don’t eat you, I will die.’ ”
The sparrow desperately fled to Tathagata, begging Tathagata for protection.
Tathagata asked the hawk, ‘Can you not eat it?’ ”
The hawk said, ‘I don’t want to kill it either, but if I don’t eat it, I will starve to death.
Between my death and its death, I have no choice but to let it die.’ ”
Tathagata said, ‘Since you eat it to survive, then I will give you meat of equal weight, so you don’t have to eat it anymore.’ ”
Saying this, Tathagata placed the sparrow on a scale and cut a piece of flesh from himself of equal weight.
Afterwards, the hawk ate this piece of meat and transformed into a Garuda, becoming one of the eight great protectors of Tathagata. Is this not so?”
Bai Ze had heard this story long ago. At first, he only thought it was to promote Tathagata’s compassion, but later he felt there were many hidden secrets within it.
Both the hawk and the sparrow were disciples of Tathagata, so they definitely were not ordinary beings.
Would the hawk really die if it didn’t eat the sparrow?
And even if it had to eat meat, why did it have to eat a fellow disciple? There is plenty of pork, mutton, cat meat, and dog meat. Moreover, creatures without spiritual intelligence are very different from those with spiritual intelligence.
Eating a creature with spiritual intelligence will be recorded as a sin in the underworld’s register, and one will also be tainted with extremely heavy evil qi.
Eating a creature without spiritual intelligence will not have these consequences.
The hawk chasing a fellow disciple, and a celestial bird with spiritual intelligence, to eat, clearly had its own intentions.
And Tathagata cutting off his own flesh to feed the hawk, while the hawk became one of his important protectors, perhaps there is some hidden story.
Tang Sanzang said, “That is so. My Buddha is compassionate and cannot bear to see living beings devour each other. There was indeed an act of cutting flesh to feed a hawk.”
Bai Ze said, “There are so many carnivores in this world, can Tathagata save them all?”
Tang Sanzang said, “It was because of this event that my Buddha realized that in this world, many living beings eat meat to survive, and cannot live without flesh and blood.
Even if they are monks, if they are born in a pastoral area, they still have to eat meat. Therefore, the Buddha specially allows disciples to eat three kinds of pure meat.”
Bai Ze said, “What are the three kinds of pure meat?”
Tang Sanzang said, “Not seeing the killing, not hearing the killing, and not killed for me.”
Not seeing the killing means that when it dies, you do not see its suffering.
Not hearing the killing means that when it dies, you do not hear its painful struggle.
Not killed for me means that it is not slaughtered specifically to provide for me.
All meat that meets these three conditions, Tathagata will transform his Dharma body to replace it, so that living beings do not incur karma.
Before that, Tathagata was not yet Buddha, and he became the ancestor of all Buddhas through this merit.”
After listening to Tang Sanzang’s explanation, it seemed that the various questions about the hawk eating the sparrow were resolved.
Bai Ze said, “In the past, Tathagata cut off his own flesh to feed the hawk to save the sparrow. Since Elder is a Buddhist disciple, you must also be greatly compassionate.
My mother and I are now in mortal danger. Please, Elder, save our lives.”
