The Lovely Heiress Is Actually A God Beast

Master Baizhang said, ”Go ahead and ask your question.”

The old man said, ”Five hundred lifetimes ago, I too was a Buddhist teacher. During the time of Kashyapa Buddha, I was the abbot of this mountain. A traveling monk once asked me, ’Do those greatly practicing still fall into karma?’ I replied, ’They do not fall into karma.’ Because of that wrong answer, I was punished and reincarnated as a fox for five hundred lifetimes. I could not attain liberation. Master, please tell me, where did I go wrong?”

After listening, Master Baizhang said, ”Ask me again!”

The old man repeated the original question to Master Baizhang.

Baizhang solemnly and loudly replied, ”They are not blind to karma.”

The old man, upon hearing this, was very pleased and knelt down to thank him, saying, ”I am liberated. Tomorrow, please, kind old monk (referring to Master Baizhang), come to the cave at the back of the mountain and cremate my fox body, bury me according to monastic rites.”

Baizhang indeed found the fox corpse in the back mountain cave and cremated it according to the rites.

Little Taotie blinked and felt that there was a profound meaning in the story, but was also confused, a hint of bewilderment and incomprehension in the depths of its black pupils.

The little girl tilted her head, deep in thought.

Beside her, the monk’s kind voice sounded again: ”In Buddhism, the cultivation of cause and realization of effect is precisely the law of cause and effect. The old man believed that practitioners could ’not fall into karma,’ which is exactly a false view, categorized as ’great false speech,’ resulting in his retribution as a fox.

Zen foxes do not fall into karma; the practitioner, due to not reaching the truth of emptiness, mistakenly believed in ’not falling into karma’ and thus was a fox for five hundred lifetimes. Only when Baizhang revealed it as ’not blind to karma’ did he shed the fox form and transform.

Therefore, anyone who engages in empty philosophical discussions and only talks about no form, no self, no Buddha, no sentient beings without having undergone genuine practice is called a Zen fox.

Those who genuinely practice and are also obsessed with having great merit, hoping to become a Buddha or patriarch, and have immeasurable beings to save, are called stubborn practitioners by Buddhists.

One must understand the principle of not being blind to karma and yet not be attached to the reality of ’self’ to grasp the true principle of Buddhism...”

Little Taotie listened, feeling dizzy, still unable to fully understand.

In fact, the little girl felt a bit bewildered inside: Why was Uncle Monk telling me these things? I’m not a monk, after all.

The monk saw the little girl tilting her head in contemplation, eyes wandering around, knowing that this was temporarily useless to her but would be of use someday.

He had already noticed that the girl was missing some of her Three Souls and Seven Spirits, similar to how he was before.

In this situation, once the Three Souls and Seven Spirits are complete, combined with various factors, she would surely reach great enlightenment, and telling her this now was just in hopes of helping her then.

As Little Taotie pondered, the monk quietly left, transforming into a strand of Golden Light heading west.

When Little Taotie snapped out of it, there was no one in sight, and she wondered, ”Where’s Uncle Monk?”

Feng Qi curled his lips, ”He left a while ago.”

”I didn’t even say goodbye!” Little Taotie asked again, ”Which direction did he go?”

”He’s a monk, so of course to the West.”

Little Taotie spun around, a bit confused: ”Which way is west?”

Feng Qi held his forehead and casually pointed.

Little Taotie faced that direction and shouted loudly, ”Goodbye, Uncle Monk!”

Standing on a cloud, the monk shook his head with a smile and softly responded, ”If fated, we will meet again.”

The monk’s distant voice seemed to murmur into Little Taotie’s ears, and she smiled with her little dimple sinking deeply, ”Feng Qi, I heard Uncle Monk’s reply. He said if fated, we will meet again.”

Feng Qi’s eyes showed a slightly complex expression as he nodded, ”Let’s go; this isn’t a place to linger.”

The monk was already gone, and the Blinding Method was dissipating. She worried that too much bloodshed would scare the little one.