tokyo creator

Chapter 349 Banhuan Road ([-])
"Wait a minute, the practice you mentioned is 'that' kind of practice?" Hui Yuanchu interrupted Jack excitedly.

"Um……"

While Jack was still pondering, Arthur turned his head and criticized unceremoniously: "Hey, how do others know what kind of 'kind' you want to say?"

Then after a pause, he nodded with a serious look on his face and said, "Yes, it's 'that kind'."

"I roughly guessed what rude things you were thinking about...but, okay, yes, it's all there." Jack said slowly, "After all - it's Shugendo."

"...Huh? It turns out to be Shugendo..." Hui Yuanchu looked disappointed for some reason.

"No matter what rude things you are thinking about." Jack, who was standing upside down, glanced at Hui Yuanchu, "...Anyway, I will continue. There are many ways to practice Shugendo. I will give examples one by one below. alright."

"——'Entering the peak' is the most fundamental way of practice. That is, entering the mountains and forests to practice hard. Use the spiritual experience in the mountains to get closer to becoming a Buddha..."

"...It sounds like mountain climbing combined with survival in the wild." Hui Yuan thought about it for a while and commented.

"——But you can't bring equipment?" Arthur answered, "Except for the traditional attire of turban, conch, cassock, and vajra staff, you are not allowed to bring any modern equipment. Even shoes can only be worn with straw sandals. "

"...That is indeed a kind of penance."

Arthur continued to comment: "Because this method is indeed the most closely related to the teachings of Shugendo: As a religion that originated from mountain belief, most of the main deities believed in by different schools of Shugendo are mountain Gongen. The mountain is also regarded as the body of the god itself. Therefore, the act of 'entering the peak' has a very direct meaning of 'getting close to the god'."

Jack ignored Hui Yuanchu, just nodded towards Arthur, and then continued: "——'Cai Lamp Gomo'. Collect gouma wood and pine branches to build a bonfire in the wild, and chant sutras in front of the fire. Among them, It also includes the movements of wielding bows, swords, axes and other magical weapons.”

"Huh? Forget about bows and swords, but there are also axes... Isn't it really necessary to chop wood to light a bonfire?" Hui Yuanchu continued to complain.

"——'Building the foundation' literally means using solid wood to consolidate the land required for lighting lamps and protecting the mosa. At the same time, it seems to be strengthening one's own body and mind, taking a step as solid and solid as a Buddha."

"So... this is just a nod to the hard work that you have to do in the first place, right?"

"——'Crossing the fire', the fire samaya method. While reading scriptures, praying to the eight dragon kings and other water-related gods, while walking barefoot through the charcoal of the remaining fire of the lamp protector. It means using great wisdom to burn away personal and The troubles of the country are addressed in order to pray for the stability of the country and a good harvest, and for individuals to avoid disasters.”

"——'Practice under the Waterfall'. Meditate under the waterfall and recite scriptures."

Hui Yuanchu hammered his left hand into the palm of his right hand with a bang, and became excited again: "Oh, these two, these two, this is what I'm looking forward to! Excuse me -"

Jack didn't seem to see Huiyuan's original interest at all, and continued to say: "——'Enduring asceticism': In a closed Dharma hall, release mixed with dried chili, mugwort, and other tobacco containing stimulating ingredients to burn The smoke that comes out is used to simulate and feel the pain of sulfur smoke burning in the "hell" after death, to appreciate life, and to make us cherish the fresh air that we usually ignore.

"I don't know what hell is like, but your method of seeking death... even tear gas is nothing more than that." Hui Yuanchu was immediately diverted again.

"——'西覗'. The meaning of '覗' is 'to peep'. This kind of ritual forces people to peek into their own hearts that they usually do not intend to or deliberately ignore. The method is to tie the practitioner with a rope , throwing his upper body over a cliff hundreds of meters high, hanging his head upside down on the rock wall, looking directly into the abyss below... The shugenja will suffer from congestion and pain in the brain, and will be affected by the strong wind and the strong wind in front of him. He was terrified by the unsheltered and bottomless valley, and felt that his life was hanging by a thread because his life was in the hands of the rope puller, thus experiencing the feeling closest to death... At this time, the justice will still Raise all kinds of questions that point directly to the original mind, thus forcing the shugen practitioners to conduct involuntary introspection in this extreme situation."

"The murder on the cliff in the mountains? The murderer is among the rope holders! After all, who has the biggest motive?"

"——Finally, it's 'martial arts' and 'spells'. Subdue ghosts and gods."

"...Huh? Do you want to learn this too? Is it useful?"

"I have learned the spells seriously, but I don't know if they are useful, because I have never seen real ghosts and gods, so I have no chance to practice them." Jack replied politely, "-But martial arts are really useful. , Haiyuan, do you want to try it?"

"No, no, no matter what you mean by trying, I don't need it anyway, thank you." Hui Yuanchu waved his hands quickly, and then couldn't help but look at Jack curiously, "So... you do all the above practices. Yes?" "Of course." Jack replied without hesitation.

"Because I was born in a secluded mountain forest practice group. That's why I said that before, I only knew how to practice."

"Oh..." Hui Yuanchu took advantage of the situation and asked the key question that he obviously wanted to ask from the beginning: "However, what do these cultivation methods have anything to do with the 'loneliness' you mentioned?"

Jack nodded and asked, "So, why do we practice?"

"Uh, in order to..." Hui Yuanchu thought for a moment and uttered two words, "To become stronger?"

"That's a good answer. But how can I be considered stronger? Does being better at climbing mountains, surviving in the wild, and enduring poison gas and high temperatures count as becoming stronger?"

"Well……"

"And the point is, how can a child who is not yet an adult have the idea of ​​'becoming stronger'?" Jack continued to ask.

Hui Yuanchu scratched his head and didn't answer.

"This is essentially a good question, and we may continue to chat later, but now - it is not the answer to this question." So Jack continued, while answering it himself, "So, very simply, at that time, it was still As a child, I would practice with other shugenja practitioners...for the simplest of reasons: my mother is a shugenja practitioner, and my mother is practicing, that's all."

"So, when I was a young child who could not survive independently, I instinctively relied on and followed my mother. I lived with her in the mountains and forests, helping in various rituals... But unintentionally, this It is a practice in the original meaning of 'entering the peak' and 'building the foundation'."

"Then when I got a little older, my body began to develop, and my mind began to understand... In order to gain the approval of my mother, who is a spiritual practitioner, I naturally entered a deeper level of practice: 'Walking through Fire'," 'Under the waterfall', 'endure asceticism', spells, martial arts..."

"Although at that time, a child's thoughts could not be so clear, but looking back now, it can be summed up in one sentence: I don't want to be abandoned by my mother, I don't want to... be alone."

This time, Hui Yuanchu did not make any inappropriate complaints.

He was quiet for a moment and asked softly: "Will you really be abandoned?"

"Yes." Jack said with certainty, "Shugenjas are a group of people who value purity and abstinence. They choose to practice hard in order to overcome their instincts."

"Family affection...is one of the instincts they want to overcome."

"The formation of the Shugenja group is not based on any family ties or friendships, but on the consistency and mutual understanding of the goal of 'becoming a Buddha'."

"In other words, if you are not a shugenja but a child, there is no reason to stay in the group."

Arthur added a few words lightly on the side: "Shugendo is a school that combines the practice of gods and gods. And the so-called school of gods and practitioners...Haihara, you also understand, right? They are all familiar with each other, and they are actually the same. For the apostles here, believers of light. The so-called "becoming a Buddha" is just a localized way of saying "escape from flesh and blood and return to the kingdom of light." So for this group of people, human nature is actually something they are afraid of avoiding. thing."

"So... I'm quite surprised that you can grow up in a shugenja group." Arthur shrugged, "Normally, they would find an ordinary family to raise you... ...Or even more cruelly, when you are just born as a baby, just throw you into the mountains of Yoshino, let the mountains decide whether you can survive, let the mountains raise you - as the saying goes, 'yamabushi' 's original intention."

Jack did not deny it: "For various reasons, I was left with my mother and was raised within the group to the age where I can walk and run... But you are right, Shugenja are this kind of people."

"Maybe it was because I instinctively sensed that possibility that I practiced hard at that time." Jack sighed, "I just... didn't want to leave my mother."

After a pause, he changed his explanation: "Because I'm afraid of loneliness."

(End of this chapter)