Chapter 15 Bodhi Tree
Editor: RED
“What’s up with you?” Pang Bo’s voice rang out within Ye Fan’s ears. He was forcefully shaking Ye Fan’s shoulders.
Ye Fan seemed to have awoken from a dream. Where was the Buddhist chant? The ancient temple was still as it was before, covered with thick layers of dust. The others seemed to have not heard anything at all.
“Is this really the Great Thunderchant Temple?” he lightly muttered to himself. Although he had only heard the chanting briefly, it had truly caused him to be completely spellbound for a moment. He quietly mulled it over in his head.
Ye Fan gazed at the bronze ancient lamp in his hand, but there was no longer any special feeling. On it were some very simple and ordinary decorative carvings. There was not even the slightest abnormality.
“A prayer mat!” A male classmate pulled out an old-fashioned praying mat from a pile of ashes.
Not long after, a female classmate found a red sandalwood bead in the dust. It didn’t have the slightest damage and was still faintly lustrous.
At the same time, Kade found a mokugyo[i] in front of the stone Buddha. There were three Bodhisattvas carved on top of it that appeared dignified, merciful, and lifelike.
Ye Fan carefully thought about it; if this really was the Great Thunderchant Temple of the legends then these are items left behind from a god. Everything here should be extraordinary in some way.
Dong!
Wang Ziwen’s foot kicked something that produced a metallic vibration. Sweeping away the dust in that corner, he found a palm-sized bronze bell. The bell was missing one side, and it was in an extremely old style.
Dong… Ringing the bell, a melodious sound immediately sounded. It sounded like a Buddhist chant that lingered around, causing people to feel tranquil.
Ye Fan’s line of thinking was immediately cut short. He couldn’t help but to walk over to that bronze bell. The engravings on it appeared to be flowing clouds. Its humbleness seemed to involve meditation, gathering a Buddhist serenity to itself.
Pang Bo quietly muttered to himself. He was the first to enter the ancient temple, but he had yet to find anything. Yet he could only blame his bad luck.
At almost the same time, Li Xiaoman found a broken piece of jade under the stone Buddha’s feet. Polishing off the dust, the broken piece of jade became bright and glossy, and specks of light seemed to come out of it.
The ancient temple appeared to be completely empty, but many people had found things in the dust, causing the others to immediately speed up their search efforts.
Ye Fan didn’t really care about those items. The ancient temple’s only dustless and complete item, the bronze ancient lamp, was currently in his hands. The other items clearly didn’t seem to be able to compare.
“I don’t believe that I really can’t find anything...” grumbled Pang Bo.
“Carefully look again. No matter what you find, you have to keep it.” Ye Fan handed the ancient lamp to Pang Bo to allow him to use the light to search. Although they couldn’t immediately tell what was so magical about these broken Buddhist items, if gods really existed in this world, then everything in here would definitely be extraordinary!
Having temporarily handed the bronze lamp to Pang Bo, he walked out of the ancient temple towards the Bodhi tree at its front. At this time, he had already cast off his preconceptions from Earth, and he temporarily allowed himself to believe in the existence of gods.
Since the ancient temple was called the Great Thunderchant Temple, then how could he miss this accompanying Bodhi tree? If there really was a Buddha, then this withered, ancient tree would definitely be extremely exceptional.
The Bodhi tree was Buddhism’s sacred tree. According to the Great Tang Records on the Western Region's recordings, Buddha had once told Prince Ananda that there were three objects in this world that deserved worship – a Buddhist’s sarira[ii], Buddhist statues, and the Bodhi tree.
Buddha had achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree; therefore, seeing the Bodhi tree was equivalent to seeing Buddha.
The withered, ancient tree in front of him was still strong and upright like a young dragon. Even six or seven people wouldn’t be able to wrap their arms around its hollow trunk. A single dried up branch that dangled two or three meters above the ground had six green leaves hanging from it. The leaves were sparkling and translucent, pure and glittering like green agate.
Not even considering whether this ancient tree actually had a relationship with Buddha, just those six green jade-like leaves were enough to show how extraordinary it was.
Ye Fan arrived beneath the tree. Carefully observing the ancient Bodhi tree, he saw that the immense branches almost completely covered the top of the ancient temple. If it were to be completely in bloom, he could imagine the magnificent scene of it covering the sky and blocking the sun.
At this moment, Ye Fan’s heart suddenly trembled. He noticed that the six sparkling green leaves were overflowing with small specks of green mist. A small portion of the mist floated over to the five-colored altar while the rest of it was drawn into the tree’s roots.
The green mist appeared like silk threads as they unceasingly spilled out of the six green leaves. It gave off an air of life, a boundless vitality and life energy.
Ye Fan crouched down and dug at the tree root’s soil. He wanted to know just what kind of object was down there that could actually condense the green mist from the Bodhi tree’s leaves.
Underneath the soil, he didn’t find any miraculous object. He just barely managed to notice a Bodhi seed that lacked any luster. No mist lingered on it, and its color was a very dull gray. It was completely ordinary, and if he wasn’t paying attention he would probably have mistaken it for just another piece of dirt.
The only unusual part of it was that Bodhi seeds were generally only as large as a fingernail, whereas this dull Bodhi seed was already as large as a walnut.
Ye Fan suddenly had an amazing thought: what if the green mist was all absorbed by it? Observing it for a short moment, he saw a thread of green mist flow down, but once it was three inches away from the seed, it just disappeared.
Although he didn’t see it absorb the leaves’ essence, he had basically confirmed what was happening.
Ye Fan grabbed this Bodhi seed into the palm of his hand. Carefully observing it, he was startled to find that this dull and ordinary Bodhi seed had some naturally forming veins. These veins formed an unexpected pattern: the Buddha of Mercy. The Buddha appeared as if it were made by the heavens and was completely natural. It was completely formed from the seed’s veins, and yet it seemed like it was a perfect and detailed carving.
The Buddha pattern on the dull seed was simple and natural, and a faint meditative feeling passed through it.
“A natural drawing of Buddha; don’t tell me that twenty-five hundred years ago, Shakyamuni really did achieve enlightenment under this Bodhi tree?”
The Bodhi tree had another name: the tree of wisdom. Understand the tree, become the tree. Legend has it that a man who could do this would be at the first step of divinity, and reach complete enlightenment of himself.
Ye Fan lifted the Bodhi seed high over his head, pointing it towards the five green leaves. The green mist’s speed overflowing from the leaves immediately increased greatly. The boundless life energy became even denser, all of it coming towards the Bodhi seed. However, all of it still disappeared three inches away from it.
Puff!
A translucent and sparkling Bodhi leaf released its last thread of green mist before completely breaking apart, becoming dust that floated down.
Ye Fan was now completely convinced. Although the Bodhi seed appeared completely ordinary, it was definitely extraordinary and extremely valuable.
At this moment, he noticed that the ground was covered with fine powder. This powder appeared just like what the leaf had turned into…was the Bodhi tree originally completely covered in leaves that had now shattered and become powder like this? This idea shocked Ye Fan.
The Bodhi seed with the natural picture of the Buddha gave him a sense that it was extremely important. He vaguely felt that it was even more important than that bronze ancient lamp that had been paired with the stone Buddha!
The Bodhi tree still had five green leaves on it, but they were no longer as sparkling as they were before. Ye Fan didn’t continue with the leaves. Just the seed was enough for him; he didn’t want to attract anyone else’s attention.
At this moment, no one had come out of the Great Thunderchant Temple yet. Ye Fan left the Bodhi tree and once again returned to the ancient temple.
Seven or eight people had now found more Buddhist items, each one different. Liu Yunzhi found half a gold pestle behind the stone Buddha. Although it had been buried under the dust for countless years, it was still resplendently bright, giving people a sense of how powerful it was. If one end of it wasn’t damaged, it would definitely be considered a perfect masterpiece.
The pestle was a kind of scepter with a very mighty name in Buddhism: a vajra scepter. Its indirect meaning behind its name was to destroy enemies, and it was a symbol of invincibility. When it was combined with the knowledge to conquer everything and Tathata’s Buddhist nature, it was honored as a sacred staff.
If this world had the existence of Buddha, this vajra scepter was undoubtedly a sacred item that was far beyond the ordinary. It was said to be able to possess the mysterious power to break mountains and split rivers. But, not surprisingly, nothing marvelous could be seen of it now.
Liu Yunzhi once more began to fervently search. The vajra scepter’s golden light flashed like lightning, the brilliant glow giving it an extremely majestic air.
“You know, if these really are things that gods left behind, and then if we could learn how to use them, just how earth-shattering would that be….”
Hearing Liu Yunzhi say this, everyone searching seemed to have their minds enter a fantasy world.
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[i] A mokugyo or ‘wooden fish’ is a percussive instrument. It is often used by Buddhists during chants.
[ii] When a Buddhist dies and is cremated, pearl/bead-like objects are found in their bodies that are the result of their enlightenment, known as sarira in Sanskrit.