Chapter 405: Three‑Body Buddha

At this moment, we have been driven into a desperate situation.

I looked at Liu Junyan.

Liu Junyan nodded at me: "Xiao Jiu, go ahead, give it a try."

I replied: "Okay."

As the words fell, Liu Junyan brought me back up to the second floor.

When I stepped into the second floor again, I suddenly saw that the eyes of the Shakyamuni Buddha statue were continuously streaming two lines of blood tears.

Directly in front of it, sitting cross-legged facing it, was the Copper Coin Person.

The Reincarnated Spirit Child's soul was slowly being pressed into the Copper Coin Person's body…… An eagle's cry pierced in from outside, constantly reminding us what we must do.

Liu Junyan and I moved behind the Buddha statue and stood on the platform.

The chanting rose again in unison.

This time I stood at the very front of the platform and looked down.

It turned out that at the very bottom of the tower's center, several ceramic pagodas stood in a staggered arrangement.

The ceramic pagodas were gourd‑shaped, round and plump, with a pointed top whose side bore a round opening.

These must be the stupas holding relics.

A rustling sound came from below.

The Dragon Scale armor began to flip over, and the gilt runes emitted light.

When the golden ring rotated to the second floor, I almost reached out and grabbed the bell at this end of the iron chain.

The bell felt warm and moist to the touch, and a steady stream of merit and mana poured into my body; the lower abdomen that had just been aching sharply stopped hurting instantly.

I took a deep breath, striving to empty my mind.

At this moment, I needed no thoughts of my own, nor could I have any hesitation.

Everything…… is left to heaven's will.

I raised my hand and flung the bell forward hard; it left my grip, and I closed my eyes.

Liu Junyan immediately gripped my shoulder, pulling me into his embrace.

The rustling sound continued upward.

One circle, another circle, and yet another……

This process was long yet fleeting.

Just a moment ago I felt it would never end; the next instant, a bronze bell rang out suddenly, dong……

I jerked my eyes open, then immediately shut them again.

The golden light was too blinding.

The tower trembled.

The ground shook.

A warm current flowed through our bodies, radiating outward.

Boom!

The Shakyamuni Buddha statue collapsed with a roar; the caisson ceiling above it also cracked apart, and a shrill eagle's cry came from all directions, then vanished instantly.

The golden light continued to spread outward.

In the night, the entire Great Dharma King Temple shone as bright as day, as if to let no sin hide.

In an instant, the golden light completely dissipated, and all returned to calm.

What had just happened seemed like a fleeting dream.

But this was no dream, for when I opened my eyes again I saw the monk sitting cross‑legged on the opposite platform…… blood pouring from his seven orifices…… he was dead!

I instantly looked at the monks on the platforms to his left and right; they were the same.

Then I looked down and up…… scanning all around, without exception!

All the monks who had just participated in driving the prayer wheel to the state of "Great Perfection" had exhausted their oil and lamps, bleeding from the seven orifices and dying!

Even the corner of Liu Junyan's mouth had a trace of blood seeping out.

Only I.

Only I felt completely at ease, my lower abdomen full and warm.

Even…… my previously flat lower abdomen now bulged slightly at this moment……

Liu Junyan raised his hand to pat my hair, saying: "It's all right, Xiao Jiu, let's go out."

Without any joy of surviving a catastrophe, Liu Junyan remained heavy‑hearted.

But when he took my hand and stood on the second‑floor railing looking down, his face broke into a relieved smile.

He called out to the Empty Silence Abbott standing below: "Abbot, we have succeeded!"

The Empty Silence Abbott pressed his palms together, saying "Amitabha: You two have boundless merit."

Descending from the Revolving Wheel Tower, the Empty Silence Abbott led us through the Sutra Library toward the main hall, where a young monk was leading a person waiting at the main hall's door.

It was Fang Chuan Zong.

Fang Chuan Zong saw us and was especially excited.

He had obviously been here for a while; his clothes were stained with blood, indicating he had also taken part in the fight earlier.

He could not have come alone; his men should be stationed outside the temple.

The three altars on the left side of the main hall were still there, with monks continuing to chant and perform rites.

The altars must last a week; this is the latter half of the third night.

Accompanying their chanting, the Copper Coin Person stepped step by step toward the altars.

And the Reincarnated Spirit Child's soul had already merged completely with the Copper Coin Person.

In the reception hall of the main hall, Empty Silence Abbott sat down with us three, looking back at all that happened tonight, he couldn't help sighing: "I have always believed that the Dharma can transform everything, just as when I listened to the Dharma at Dahui Chan Master's knee for several decades, eventually being convinced, I thought I could also transform the heart lamp, but I ultimately failed to reach Dahui Chan Master's realm; not only did I not succeed, I instead raised a bloodthirsty wolf."

"This is not your fault," Fang Chuanzong said, "a wolf is a wolf; it is innately bloodthirsty, a wolf cub has wild ambitions—even if Dahui Chan Master personally enlightened it, the heart lamp could not have your level of comprehension; this is his choice, and also his fate."

Empty Silence Abbott felt somewhat regretful: "Infinite Light Buddha, perhaps this truly is fate."

For a moment, everyone fell into silence again, each with their own thoughts.

"By the way," after a while I still couldn't help asking, "What is the Three Buddhas' simultaneous manifestation? Now that the souls of the Dībā pò and the Reincarnated Spirit Child have merged, do we need to separate them again?"

Empty Silence Abbott said, "No need to separate; they are originally a unity."

He explained, "In Esoteric Buddhism there has always been the existence of the Three Bodies of the Buddha; the so-called Three Bodies of the Buddha refer to the three different aspects of Shakyamuni Buddha, namely the Dharmakaya Buddha, the Sambhogakaya Buddha, and the Nirmanakaya Buddha."

I immediately pricked up my ears to listen, because Empty Silence Abbott had mentioned the three characters "Dharmakaya Buddha".

"The Dharmakaya Buddha is the Dharma itself; the Sambhogakaya Buddha is one who spreads or promotes the Dharma; the Nirmanakaya Buddha is one who practices the Dharma—these three are the Three Bodies of the Buddha, and when they advance together, the Dharma attains Mahayana."

"What the heart lamp calls the Three Buddhas' simultaneous manifestation refers respectively to the fetus in Xiao Jiu Zhanggui's womb, the Reincarnated Spirit Child, and……Liu Qiye."

I shuddered in disbelief, looking toward Liu Junyan—how could he be here?

I didn't understand: "What about the Dībā pò?"

"The facts prove that the fetus in the womb, turning the prayer wheel, attains the Great Perfection; then he is the reincarnation of the Dharmakaya Buddha."

"And Dahui Chan Master devoted his life to spreading and promoting the Dharma; given his achievements, he ought to have been the rightful Sambhogakaya Buddha, but when he cultivated the Dībā pò, he suddenly realized that he himself had a major flaw—he… perhaps merely a product of some Fēnshēn—so he separated the Dībā pò as a vessel, awaiting the true Sambhogakaya Buddha's soul to return; tonight, the fusion of the Dībā pò's soul with the Reincarnated Spirit Child's soul is exactly that."

Too complicated.

I feel my mind is a mush.

Yet I also vaguely feel that Empty Silence Abbott is reasonable and correct.

"And the duty of the Nirmanakaya Buddha is to practice the Dharma; put in terms you can understand better, it is to walk the world…"