novelraw Chapter 229: The Wooden Fish of Kolkata
Chapter 229: The Wooden Fish of Kolkata
Kolkata, affluent district, inside an abandoned Buddhist Hall.
(India still retained a marginal Buddhist following. Though small in percentage, a population of over ten million believers was far from an insignificant force.)
Sitting upright on the lotus platform within the Buddhist Hall, Wutian slowly opened his eyes. "I sense the power of Asuras, but I also sense their depravity! This land is truly a natural breeding ground for absolute evil!"
The overwhelming karma saturating the air made Wutian feel as if his very energy was suffocating. It was no wonder Asura power received a boost here; this was a malicious kingdom of Asuras!
"Thus have I heard. Hah! When Ananda and Kashyapa recorded those words, could they have foreseen that your ancestral land, Shakyamuni, would turn into such a Hell?"
"I truly wish you could all come here and see this: Tathagata, Dipankara, Maitreya, Amitābha, Bhaisajyaguru..." Wutian murmured slowly. As he sat there, gradually absorbing the pitifully scarce Buddhist essence of the entire nation, he had gained quite a bit of insight.
Even by Wutian's moral standards, hardly anyone in this country was worthy of his attention. Not even those Buddhist Followers!
What kind of Buddhist Follower immediately segregated people into castes? What kind of believer instantly categorized others into first, second, and third classes?
The Equality of All Sentient Beings was a doctrine etched into the very core of Buddhism. Anyone who dared to oppose this equality was unworthy of being a believer!
The people here were not Buddhists at all; they were Cultists. Even in Wutian's eyes, they were undeniably Cultists!Fortunately, Cultists were what Wutian feared the least. Since he had come to this world, he naturally needed to acquire power, and the best way to do so was through Proselytizing.
Thus, after absorbing Incense Offerings for several days and accumulating a substantial amount of the Power of Incense Offerings, Wutian was finally ready to make his move.
"World-Honored One, today I shall play the role of your messenger! Hahahahaha!" Wutian laughed uproariously. With a spin of his body, he transformed into the image of a Buddhist Monk wearing cloth robes, carrying a Monk's Staff, holding an Alms Bowl, and bearing a Cloth Bag on his back.
In a flash, his body materialized outside the city of Kolkata, appearing on a deserted dirt road.
"This poor monk comes from the East, journeying to the Western Pure Land to see the World-Honored One, to see the world, and to see the future!" He crafted his identity and name with quite a bit of dedication. "My dharma name shall be Zanluo!"
(The origin of this name would be quite easy for anyone familiar with the lore to guess.)
He had taken the form of a remarkably handsome young Buddhist Monk with fair, clean skin and a tranquil expression. Just like that, he walked down the road, making his way toward Kolkata one step at a time.
Originally, he hadn't possessed any grand plans, but with the appearance of Asuras, he had found a slight sense of purpose.
"Perhaps it is difficult to guide all sentient beings to enlightenment, but in this city, guiding a single Asura to enlightenment should not be difficult!" Monk Zanluo said with a smile.
"Do not block the way, Pariah!" Amidst the curses of the people behind him, he walked into the city, step by step, completely unhurried.
Even in a city like Kolkata, with its complex crowds and bizarrely diverse populace, his figure stood out starkly from the rest of the crowd.
After all, in a place like India, a person this immaculately clean who wasn't riding in a vehicle but walking barefoot on the street was incredibly rare!
The High-Caste would never go without shoes, and the low-caste could never be so fair and clean. A person like him was most likely a unique tourist, and in this land, a tourist was no different from a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered!
Thus, before Zanluo could even walk much further, someone eagerly approached him. "Do you need a guide? Others charge 4,000 rupees, but I will do it for just 2,000!"
Zanluo stared at the man, clearly hearing the distant shouts of others offering the same service for 500 rupees.
"Patron, this poor monk greets you!" Zanluo pressed his palms together and spoke softly. "This poor monk has sustained himself by Begging for Alms throughout this journey and has no money to hire a guide!"
"Tsk, a pauper? And a rare Buddhist Follower at that?" The man looked Zanluo up and down before walking away with a look of extreme disgust. "Dressed so cleanly when you have no money?"
Zanluo continued forward, his expression serene. His previous incarnation was a Bodhisattva; he had seen this kind of thing countless times and naturally paid it no mind.
One could even say he had met these people's ancestors—the ancient Brahmins.
Furthermore, his Buddha heart was clear, and his body was pure; he could effortlessly read the other party's thoughts.
The man appeared to have left, but in reality, he had just changed directions and continued to observe Zanluo. However, the curiosity and probing in his eyes had long since been replaced by greed and malice!
The covetousness in his gaze seemed intense enough to incinerate everything before him.
"Carrying such a heavy metal staff, even if there is no gold inside, just the copper is enough! More than enough for me to kill him and sell his corpse to the Factory!"
The man muttered to himself, showing absolutely no hesitation or guilt about committing murder.
The earlier conversation had merely been a test of identity. If Zanluo had shown anger or dissatisfaction, the man would have naturally left, as they did not prey on troublesome foreigners.
Those who got angry were usually trouble—people with backing or wealthy individuals. Touching them would only bring disastrous consequences.
But someone like Zanluo, who swallowed the insult without a word, was marked as an easy target or a pauper. Since he clearly wasn't rich, he could be bullied, humiliated, and sucked dry of every last drop of blood!
'The sins of the people here are like the grease of the Avici Hell. Every drop squeezed out is tainted with the endless blood of wickedness!'
Zanluo sighed inwardly, completely solidifying certain resolves within his mind. He continued walking, weaving through the crowded streets toward the affluent districts.
Since he claimed to be Begging for Alms to survive, he naturally had to play the part to perfection. He certainly couldn't beg for food in the slums, because the poor here couldn't even feed themselves.
Only in the wealthy neighborhoods could he actually beg for food and allow his journey to continue.
Unfortunately, his path forward was abruptly cut off by two burly security guards.
The pair stood right in the middle of the road, their gazes fierce and their demeanor brutish. They were clearly telling him that a person like him was barred from entry!
"Amitābha!" Zanluo chanted the Buddha's name and turned to leave.
Even on the public streets, a strict hierarchy was enforced. The lower castes were absolutely forbidden from entering High-Caste Streets. This was the rule.
He watched with his own eyes as a low-caste man, who had merely brushed against the edge of that road to dodge a vehicle, was grabbed and viciously beaten.
The man did not dare resist at all, only keeping his head down and taking the blows. It wasn't until the fists stopped falling that he limped away through another block.
The expressionless faces of the onlookers and their accustomed numbness prompted Zanluo to chant the Buddha's name once more.
He was a compassionate monk. That was his persona, and it suited him flawlessly.
The iron rings on his Monk's Staff produced a crisp jingling sound. The pedestrians on the road actually turned their heads at this clear noise, only to catch a fleeting glimpse of a Shaven Head gleaming in the sunlight.
Some were astonished, some were in awe, and some harbored insidious thoughts. But regardless of their reactions, everyone could see that a Buddhist Monk had entered the city.
"A monk from Xuanzang Temple?" someone asked.
"Unlikely. The monks there aren't this clean!"
Trailing behind this immaculate monk was a large crowd of utterly filthy individuals, and walking ahead of him was another group of less-than-clean people. Their gazes were so sharp they seemed intent on piercing his very skin.
Upon walking into the city, Zanluo had already sensed the presence of these people. His movements gradually became more deliberate.
He had originally intended to stir up trouble, and now that trouble had come knocking on its own, he decided not to walk any further. Instead, he found a secluded corner and sat down quietly.
Spreading his cloth robes over the ground, the monk sat perfectly straight, his Alms Bowl and Monk's Staff by his side. He even pulled a Wooden Fish from his Cloth Bag, and right there in that quiet spot, he began to rhythmically tap it.
"Tok!"
"Tok!"
"Tok!"
The crisp sound of the Wooden Fish echoed through the alley, causing the perplexed stalkers' hearts to skip a beat!
In the midst of the noisy city, this light, serene tapping made the listeners tremble uncontrollably. The crowd, who had initially been brimming with confidence, suddenly felt a wave of panic.
They stared at the man who had spoken earlier. "Gaur, are you sure he is just a monk with no background?"
"If he had any backing, why would he walk into Kolkata barefoot?" Gaur argued, bracing himself. "He was even chased away by the affluent district's security guards!"
"I think he is most likely a monk from those two small countries to the north, just coming here to Beg for Alms!"
The small nations to the north—places like Bhutan and Nepal—essentially survived on India's sufferance. To them, India was the Celestial Empire, and these men considered themselves part of the High-Caste!
Those words restored the group's confidence. They pressed forward and soon entered the alley, where they spotted the fair-skinned, perfectly composed monk.
The moment they laid eyes on him, some of them were already tempted to make their move!
After all, in this country, merely glancing up at someone so pale could invite unimaginable punishment, let alone actually touching them.
But now, this exceptionally fair monk was sitting right in front of them, striking his Wooden Fish, looking as if he was entirely at their mercy.
However, as they drew closer, a Buddhist Chant slowly drifted through the air:
"Now there are those in Hell, hungry ghosts, beasts, and slaves. The rich and the poor, the noble and the lowly, of myriad kinds. We only wish the World-Honored One to fully expound the Dharma. If sentient beings hear the Buddha's teachings, it is like a child finding its mother, a patient finding a doctor, the famished finding food, and those in darkness finding a lamp..."