Green Mountain

But now, Chen Ji didn’t give Wuzhai the opportunity to ask questions at all. He pulled Wuzhai into the scripture debate, making him the one to question, just by borrowing a small matter.

Wuzhai twiddled the Buddha beads in his hands, stopping at one of them, and calmly said, "To answer the benefactor’s question, can an evil person who slaughters a city still become a Buddha? The ’Guanyin Xuan Yi’ says, ’An evil person ceases doing good, but doesn’t lose the goodness of their nature; a Buddha ceases doing evil, but doesn’t lose the evil of their nature. Benefactor, an evil person merely commits evil deeds, but it doesn’t mean there is no grain of goodness in their nature. The Buddha disciplines himself to not do evil deeds, but it doesn’t mean there is no grain of evil in his heart.’"

Chen Ji quickly responded, "The Buddhist Sect says that good deeds have good results, and evil deeds have evil results. If an evil person can become a Buddha, where is the karma?"

Wuzhai calmly replied, "Becoming a Buddha is self-enlightenment and sudden enlightenment, not a reward and rebirthed virtue in this ten-direction world, and a Buddha is no more impressive than a person. Benefactor, becoming a Buddha is not a reward for virtue."

Shen Ye quietly said, "Marvelous!"

Before Qi Zhaoning could grasp the profundity of this response, Chen Ji no longer sat kneeling. Instead, he leaned on the bamboo mat with his left hand, sitting slanted, teasing, "Bodhisattva, since I inherently possess the Buddha nature, why must I cultivate further?"

Wuzhai twiddled another prayer bead and answered, "Buddha nature is like hidden gold in a mine, though obscured, it is inherently complete. Our cultivation is merely the process of unearthing the Buddha nature."

Chen Ji picked up a piece of Zhuangyuan Cake and stuffed it into his mouth, "Since the Buddhist Sect says that all dharmas are empty, where does that gold in the mine come from?"

Wuzhai twiddled another prayer bead, "Benefactor, you are being paradoxical. Hidden gold in the mine is just a metaphor; Buddha nature is the potential for enlightenment, not a physical entity, and it is not different from emptiness."

Chen Ji sat up straight with a smile, "Since all dharmas are empty, and beings are without ego, why do Buddhas still aim to save all beings? Aren’t they treating people in a dream?"

Everyone had a renewed sense of focus.