Chapter 841: Five Realms of Buddhism

Chapter 841: The Five Realms of Buddhism

"The Five Realms of Buddhism." Huowang remembered this term; it was not only mentioned by the monks of Zhengde Temple but also by the abbess of Anci Nunnery.

But at that time, he had not even dealt with Danyangzi, and his life hung by a thread, so he paid no attention to what they said.

Later, after coming into contact with various sects and discovering that their worldviews conflicted with each other, he paid even less attention.

"No! What you said is wrong!" Li Huowang's words left Chanzhi unsure of what to say next.

It was something everyone knew, so why was the layman Li reacting so strongly?

"No... what you said is wrong..." Li Huowang, with trembling pupils, began to pace back and forth on the spot.

Just now, combining his previous experiences, Li Huowang had found out what these Five Realms really were.

"That's not the Buddhist Five Realms you speak of; those are histories—five histories with different directions!" Li Huowang voiced his conjecture.

The Daliang world is the history after the Great Qi split a thousand years ago, while the Great Qi is the history before the Great Qi split a thousand years ago!

If the first two worlds are like this, then by analogy, the remaining three worlds are histories that branched out differently from the origin!

The people are still these people, yet there are five completely different possibilities, and they coexist side by side—such a thing can only happen in this utterly mad world.

"No, no, no, Layman Li, please listen to me." Chanzhi naturally disagreed with Li Huowang's statement; it made him feel that the scriptures he had recited for decades were all fabricated, and he had to refute it.

"Layman Li, the Five Realms of Buddhism have existed since ancient times; it is not as you say. According to the *Yiqiejing Yinyi*, the first realm is Tathagata, Vairocana Buddha. 'Vi' means pervasive; 'rocana' means light. It means the Buddha's body and wisdom have unobstructed light, universally illuminating the unobstructed dharma realm." "What is meant by 'pervasive' is universally encompassing the dharma realm; 'light' means the unobstructed dependent origination, free from obstruction and illumination."

Li Huowang grabbed the other's collar and lifted him fiercely. "Shut up! I don't have time to listen to your monk chanting sutras! Is this the key now? Is this important? What matters now is which history's people are attacking us! And what is their motive!"

Letting go of Chanzhi's robe with force, Li Huowang scratched his own scalp wildly, then continued to spin on the spot. As he spun, he suddenly burst into laughter. "It's not Gao Zhijian! He's not the one who wants to kill me!"

At this thought, the stone in Li Huowang's heart also fell. The fool was indeed changing, but not that much.

He was still his brother, that simple giant who went through life and death with him!

The stone in his heart was instantly removed, and Li Huowang felt as if he were stepping on cotton. No one had betrayed him.

Since there were five histories, Gao Zhijian's suspicion instantly dropped to the lowest.

After all, Suisui was watching from that side; if he really had acted against himself, she would have told him.

But having set aside this worry, a new doubt surged in Li Huowang's heart. "Who wants to kill me?"

If it was someone from the other three histories, he had only just learned of their existence, so it was impossible for him to have made enemies with them in the past.

For no reason, were these people taking the wrong medicine? Why would they target me?

Could it be that during the time I came out from Qingfeng Temple, I inadvertently made enemies with them?

After pondering alone for a while, Li Huowang, having gained nothing, looked up at Chanzhi beside him. "Abbot, why do you think they are making a move?"

Chanzhi thought with a grave expression, slowly shaking his head as he turned the prayer beads in his hand. "This humble monk does not know. The sutras say that the Five Realms of Buddhism are the Dharmata Adi-Buddha. The 'Adi-Buddha' is the original essence of the mind, manifesting as the three Tathagata-garbhas: Adi, Vajradhara, and Vajrasattva—that is, the one mind transforming into the three garbhas."

Li Huowang let out a heavy sigh. "Who asked you about that?"

Seeing that he could get nothing from the abbot, Li Huowang had to figure it out himself. He first placed the primary suspicion on North Wind.

Previously, when Dice seized the dragon vein, he had said that to deal with Doumu, all the Zuowangdao of Daliang were cleared by him.

But judging from the result, they were indeed cleared, except that North Wind was not killed; rather, through his special ability, he escaped to another history and evaded Dice's methods.

"Was it her spreading rumors? Deceiving the people of that history into attacking me?" Li Huowang thought carefully but felt it seemed unlikely.

He had never heard of a scheming behind-the-scenes culprit going to the front line to risk their life.

The Zuowangdao are swindlers, not fools. For such high-risk matters, they would trick others to go first, and this was not their style.

They might personally engage in deception, but they would never do the dirty work themselves.

There must be someone behind North Wind. Whether through coercion or transaction, they ultimately used North Wind's strange ability to deal with him.

"Layman Li, have you had any dealings with heart-pans in the past?" Chanzhi stepped forward two paces and spoke to Li Huowang with a grave expression.

"Hmm?" Li Huowang frowned slightly as he looked at him. "What do you mean by that?"

Chanzhi glanced at the spine sword on Li Huowang's back. "The Five Realms of Buddhism have always been independent of each other, with no interference. Apart from the great Bodhisattvas and great Buddhas of the Pure Land who can move freely, only heart-pans remain."

"Heart-pans transcend the five realms and are not within the five elements. They bear the great karma and merit of Bodhisattvas and Buddhas. Each heart-pan resides between two realms and can traverse between these two realms."

"Nonsense. I am also a heart-pan. How come I cannot traverse between realms?"

"And I definitely have no past grievances with any heart-pan from that world. The only heart-pan I know, whom you also know, is Zhuge Yuan. He only traverses between Daliang and Great Qi, and has nothing to do with that history."

Hearing this, Chanzhi nodded silently and said no more, as if things were not what he had thought.

After thinking it over and eliminating various possibilities, Li Huowang finally arrived at only one possibility—what he had been doing recently.

"By saving Great Qi, did I hinder them?" Li Huowang murmured to himself.

He remembered again what Gao Zhijian had said. What if it wasn't just Great Qi and Daliang that were in competition, but all five histories? So they saw him saving Great Qi and sent people to stop him?

He had thought many things before, but now it seemed only this one was more logical.

Li Huowang relayed his thoughts to Chanzhi. The abbot of Zhengde Temple shook his head repeatedly. "No, no, no, Layman Li. The Five Realms of Buddhism complement each other; they are not in a competitive relationship as you say. The Five Wisdom Tathagatas protect the five realms and would never let any one of them disappear."

"Heh heh." Li Huowang smiled a hollow smile. "When Great Qi had no food, why didn't your Five Wisdom Tathagatas come down to save them?"