Chapter 315: Lingbao Salvation Banner

This Heavenly Palace painting is quite large; Xu Jia was delighted to see it, feeling only that it would be a pity to burn it, as it was all woven from silk.

Embroidered upon it are the sun and moon, Golden Crow, Jade Rabbit, a Gourd, Immortal Cranes, dragons and phoenixes, a Heavenly Palace, and an Ascension Ladder; the overall shape is like a 'T', from bottom to top, they are You Ming, Cloud Void, Heavenly Gate, and Immortal Palace.

The Immortal Palace is filled with auspicious clouds and lucky vapors, yet beneath it, You Ming is nothing but flames and demons.

"Select a large bamboo pole, set it up, and make it the head of the banner," Xu Jia said. "Let us call it the Lingbao Salvation Banner; I shall take advantage of this Dharma assembly to refine it into a treasure of a Ghost Immortal."

"This is a Ten Thousand Soul Banner?" Ao Jin's face turned pale. "Why is Master refining this thing?"

"Ten Thousand Soul Banner?" Xu Jia glanced at him. "This is a treasure for ascension, used for performing salvation Merit. Why speak like that? It is as if I am performing this ritual to trick a million wandering souls into my banner to serve my own cultivation."

Xu Jia said, "Once this banner is established, it shall be known that I possess the ability to save the world," Xu Jia said.

"But can these dead souls really ascend to become Immortals? If it is merely an early entry into reincarnation, isn't this deceiving them? We have cultivated diligently for many years and still have not attained an Immortal rank; can one ritual really make them Immortals? Even if they are only Ghost Immortals, what position could a million Ghost Immortals have in the underworld?"

Xu Jia opened his mouth: "Child, do you wish to take a trip inside my belly?"

Ao Jin's face turned even paler, cold sweat breaking out. He thought to himself, has Master become an evil cultivator? Why has he become so dark? Is he going to eat me?

Before he could finish his thought, he was sucked in by a whirlwind and entered Xu Jia's mouth. Yet, he did not see flesh, blood, or intestines; instead, there were jade towers and golden pavilions, high platforms of an Immortal Palace, and God Immortals sitting peacefully, leisurely expounding the Dharma. In that Water Mansion, the Jiujiang Shuidi was lecturing on water methods; in that Golden Palace, a sword immortal was lecturing on the Flying Sword Jumping Pill Technique; over here in the Fire Mansion, a Star Lord was sitting in fire refining pills; and over there in the Taiyin, the Jade Rabbit was slowly pounding osmanthus flowers.

"What a beautiful place, it is just like a real Heavenly Palace."

"This is my Inner Landscape, which can also be projected into the Light Appearance behind my head. If I become an Immortal, they too will be freed from reincarnation and enter the Way of Heaven and Man."

That "Heavenly Maiden" of Hu Agui's was serving within the Mandala under the Great Joy Vajra Arhat in the Western Paradise; her essence was merely a point of spiritual nature that had attained Didao. She followed the Huan Xi Jin Gang Arhat to cultivate.

"But if everyone ascends to become an Immortal, wouldn't that be chaotic? If everyone can ascend, who would still work hard? Or if everyone becomes an Immortal, then an Immortal is no different from a person; it's just a change of name, and everyone is the same," Ao Jin frowned. "Will right and wrong, good and evil, Cause and Effect be brought from the Desire Realm into the Form Realm? If so, wouldn't the Form Realm also turn into a Desire Realm?"

"If one cannot overcome great love, how can one be liberated and at ease? If the heart and spirit are not sublimated, then even if one is forcibly saved, it is useless. Instead, it easily becomes a foul atmosphere where good and bad are indistinguishable."

Xu Jia's voice came from within. As the only Emperor of the Immortal Palace, his Primordial Spirit led the child to the outside of the Purple Mansion Palace.

"When I first made my vow, I said that everyone could become an Immortal, just as Sakyamuni said everyone could become a Buddha. I also said that if they have three parts of cultivation, I will provide seven parts of response. I also said that I would relieve the suffering of all sentient beings, but who causes this suffering of sentient beings? It is the sentient beings themselves; they do not understand delusion, they cannot attain purity. Without purity, it is like fire burning their eyebrows, anxious and burning with impatience. A few days ago, your father asked me if I was being too hasty. I said it was indeed very urgent, but what I am anxious about is that sentient beings hear but do not listen, see but do not perceive. The true Dharma and supreme treasures are easily obtained, yet they do not cultivate, instead taking winding paths and engaging in crooked, evil ways."

"It is also a pity that my wisdom is insufficient to guide them one by one, so I made a vow. It is not to guide and liberate everyone at once; that is too grand, too difficult."

"With a single heart, I make my vow, never forgetting it, doing one thing as one, doing two things as two. As long as I keep doing this, constantly and forever, perhaps in immeasurable kalpas, there will eventually be a day when all sentient beings attain liberation."

Ao Jin thought: Isn't this just drawing a cake to satisfy hunger? But then he thought, to draw a cake to satisfy hunger, one must first draw the cake. Moreover, this Master is truly doing things, using wisdom to guide those who come after. At first, it might be the path of one person, which is very difficult, but later, as people yearn for it, it becomes ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred million, and even immeasurable sentient beings, until a collective consensus is reached, embedded into the Heavenly Dao and engraved into the human path. This is ideology. Thus, he became respectful: "The child understands."

"Previously, I took three thousand six hundred hungry ghosts into my belly's Inner Landscape. Now, they have all obtained the Lingbao Daoist Register, understood their own methods, and entered the Dharma Realm to save countless dead. This is based on the foundation of those three thousand six hundred hungry ghosts, splitting up to save others. They do not have my wisdom, so they follow the texts and scriptures; what they can save, they save, and what they cannot, perhaps the timing has not yet arrived, so it cannot be forced. Or perhaps in the future, they will be able to see through it, or perhaps my wisdom will be greater in the future and I will be able to resolve it for them."

"Master speaks well, speaks wonderfully. I have cultivated Water Virtue for several hundred years, but the effect was not great. I worked hard in silence and only obtained one Rao Pearl. Now, following the Sect Leader to cultivate Water Virtue again, it is actually ten times, a hundred times more effective than before."

"This is called coming from the masses and going to the masses. You cultivated Water Virtue before, but only on the surface, understanding the virtue of water, which is why you spent all day in the water. But to cultivate Water Virtue, one must know how to use Water Virtue. Desire-water is also water; the desire-water of the human world is boundless, turning into a sea of sin. If you can understand the Water Virtue within it and master it, you will succeed."

Xu Jia's past-life desire to "love being a teacher" flared up again, and Ao Jin was a good questioner.

That was a standard "good student," so Xu Jia could not help but recite a few more lines.

"I still lack sufficient wisdom. If I could save people, why would I need to save ghosts?"

"Ghosts are easier to fool than people!" Ao Jin joked. "These ghosts, their spirits are ignorant, with only a single obsession or cause. Once the obsession is resolved, they are liberated. These hungry ghosts have the obsession of starving to death in life; these plague ghosts have the obsession of dying of plague in life. If there were food to eat, if there were the ability to cure illnesses with medicine, these two types of ghosts would not exist."

"Yes, that is why I sigh and feel pity. It is a pity that sentient beings actually starve to death, freeze to death, are killed by weapons... The Buddhist school thinks that exhorting goodness is enough; the Confucian school thinks that if the world has morality, it is enough, and that when a Sage appears, problems will be solved; the Legalist school uses strict laws and regulations to restrain, but none of these can solve the problem."

"It still requires you, Master, to take action!" Ao Jin flattered him.

"Me?"

Xu Jia sighed: "I do not know either, I only follow my own heart. Perhaps in the future, food will be so abundant it cannot be finished, clothes so plentiful they cannot be worn, yet there will still be people starving to death, freezing to death, dying of illness, being killed..."

"How could that be possible?"

"Human potential is infinite, and so are desires. I use great desire to transform into a great vow. Once this layer is solved, there is still another layer!"

Material scarcity is the first.

After material abundance, spiritual development is the second.

Once the spirit develops, everyone awakens; the more they awaken, the more painful they become, and they begin to seek peace of mind. This is the third.

Is peace of mind so easily attained? If the fundamental contradictions are not solved, it is impossible.

(End of chapter)