At ten o'clock in the night, Xiang Que entered a restaurant, thinking of ordering some wine and food. Although as a god, he didn't need to eat or drink at all, but he still couldn't change his eating habit. After a long time without eating or drinking, he
It will inevitably feel a little itchy.
However, he was a little disappointed in this restaurant in the West. It was all vegetarian food without any wine or meat. Only then did he notice that the diners next to him were eating vegetarian food. Helplessly, Xiang Que had no choice but to order a few at random.
All kinds of side dishes, porridge and rice, after all, you can sit down and leave without throwing up your sleeves.
While Xiang Que was waiting, he saw several monks sitting on a nearby table. Judging from their attire, they should belong to the Venerable.
In the continent of Xitian, the highest status is the Buddha and Bodhisattva, followed by Arhat. The status of the Venerable is much lower, but in the eyes of ordinary people, he is also a big shot on Lingshan. These Venerables come in
After that, I saw that the people who were eating all put down their bowls and chopsticks and saluted him, but these venerables were all expressionless and did not even respond at the most basic level. On the contrary, those people seemed not to
Feel something.
What made Xiang Que even more puzzled and strange was that the tray the waiter was carrying was obviously the vegetarian meal he ordered first, but when he passed by the monks, a monk suddenly waved his hand.
, the waiter put the tray in his hand on the table and took down the vegetarian food. After putting it down, he turned around and left without even saying hello to Xiang Que.
Xiang Que originally wanted to stand up and greet the waiter. He was not bad at eating, but he would definitely be in a mood. If this kind of thing was done in a restaurant in his previous life, everyone who ate would probably have to
I have to break up with the people in the hotel. Besides, the current service industry is very particular about first come, first served, and no one would do that.
After waiting for nearly half an hour, Xiang Biao's vegetarian meal was served. After the waiter put the tray on the table, he asked softly: "I just ordered the vegetarian meal first, but why did you give it to me first?"
Where are those masters?"
The waiter looked at him with a surprised look, as if he thought Xiang Que's question was a bit stupid, but he may have come to his senses later and asked: "The guest officer is from outside, not from Xitian, right?"
"
Nodding to the point, the waiter said "Oh" and explained: "You may not understand it when you first come here. In Xitian, the masters of Lingshan have priority no matter what they do."
"Is this a rule?" Xiang Que asked with a frown.
Erxiao shook his head and said: "It's not a rule, it's a way of respecting Master Lingshan..."
Xiang Que held his chopsticks and was deep in thought. At this time, the venerables had just finished their fast meal. He saw them getting up and walking out of the restaurant without even saying hello. The waiter didn't even say a word after seeing them.
After giving the money, he naturally came over and cleared away the leftovers on the table.
Leftovers means that there is a lot of vegetarian food left, and they did not eat it too cleanly, and even some dishes were only touched with a few chopsticks.
When Xiang Que came out of the restaurant after finishing his fast, he suddenly felt that the Western Heaven was very different from the Western Heaven he imagined.
Especially when walking on the street, many people and things he saw more and more subverted his previous understanding.
For example, Xiang Que saw a plainly dressed mother holding a child in her arms and holding another in her hand. Then while setting up a street stall, she accidentally knocked over the fruit basket in front of her, and several fresh fruits rolled over.
The floor was all over the place, and the mother was busy cleaning up because she had to take care of her two children. At this time, several monks passed by, but they didn't even lower their heads to look at it, let alone reach out to help.
Xiang Que also saw a person who was obviously terminally ill. He was walking with great difficulty. He could tell that this patient was caused by the loss of life in his body, but there was clearly a real-life venerable passing by.
Those who could take action to deal with it just passed the other party indifferently.
What about the Buddha who promised to be compassionate and save all sentient beings?
Xiang Que was a little confused at first, but after seeing more, he no longer had any doubts except confusion. It seemed that the compassion of these monks was just arbitrary. If you want to be compassionate, you are compassionate. If you don't want to, it's like you can't see it. And those who are clearly
Ordinary people thought about being helped by monks, but they never complained.
In the next few days, Xiang Que left the town and continued to wander down. Anyway, he had no specific destination, so he just casually looked at the customs and customs of the West. But after looking along the way, he found that what he had been doing before was
The problems I saw can be found almost everywhere in the West.
Almost half of these Buddhist practitioners from the West always maintain that aloof attitude, and in their eyes, ordinary people are like ants among all living beings.
Of course, there are many such situations, and there are also many situations of compassion for heaven and humanity. Some masters can also reach the level of saving all sentient beings, the Buddha is compassionate, or if I don't go to hell, who will go to hell.
Xiang Que was quite surprised at first, but then he thought of the passage in Journey to the West where the four monks and his disciples of Tang Dynasty wanted to take away the scriptures after they arrived at Lingshan Mountain. Wasn't it because Tang Xuanzang and Sun Wukong didn't take the scriptures with them because they didn't give them to the two novices who were in charge of the scriptures?
After receiving some benefits, someone finally deceived me into taking away some blank scriptures.
In Buddhism, there are eminent monks who can achieve perfect merit through practice, and there are also some monks whose minds are not pure and have been spoiled by the world. Generally speaking, people are all good and bad, and there is no distinction between monks and ordinary people.
Half a month after arriving in Xitian, Xiangque was already tens of thousands of miles away from Lingshan. The place he was at at this time could be regarded as the boundary of Xitian. If it was further away, it would be the outer sea area of Xitian.
On this day, Xiangque traveled to a remote mountain forest. He originally wanted to rest here for a while and then go back. He found a place to stay at the foot of the mountain near Lingshan Mountain so that he could have a look even if he didn't show up.
Is it a grand event on Buddha’s birthday?
However, in this mountain forest, Xiang Que suddenly heard the faint sound of chanting scriptures. It seemed that there was a temple built here, so he walked over.
Xiang Que was very curious as to why there were temples in the mountains and forests, because in the West, all temples were built in cities, and they looked particularly tall.
The temple must be the brightest building in the city and it is unique.