Chapter 13 10. The dense forest meets evil

After the boat traveled more than a hundred miles, there were dense Ayuga trees on both sides of the river. As the boat went further in, the forests on both sides became deeper and darker. Xuanzang, who had been in danger many times, felt a sense of surprise in his heart... The weather is sweltering, and even the river wind is hot in the boat. After Xuanzang and his companions paid pilgrimage to the holy sites in Ayodhya, they came to the Dakga River (the upper source of the Ganges) in northern India. They boarded the same boat with more than 80 business travelers, intending to go to Ayam. country.

Ah, the Ganges River, Xuanzang was very excited when he saw this Buddha River. He had heard that the banks of the Ganges River were the holy places where the Buddha Sakyamuni preached, and they were the veins of Indian Buddhism. Xuanzang looked excitedly at the rushing water in the upper reaches of the Ganges and the dense forests on both sides. He took a handful of water, drank it, and sighed, O Tianzhu, the poor monk who came from afar finally drank your milk. After the boat traveled more than a hundred miles, there were dense Ayuga trees on both sides of the river. The further the boat went in, the forests on both sides became deeper and darker. Thinking that this forest is too gloomy, maybe something will happen today... As expected, before Xuanzang had time to think deeply, the sky suddenly became dark, a black cloud came from behind the big tree, and suddenly the wind roared and the rain poured down. Downwards, the big river set off a vicious wave...

"Ah, the boat is going to capsize..." People exclaimed. "Everyone, don't panic, don't panic, don't squeeze together, the Buddha will bless us..." Xuanzang shouted loudly. "Yes, we can't squeeze together, the boat is crooked, spread out!" The boss of the boat also shouted desperately. After everyone returned to their original positions, the boat came straight. After the storm passed, all the people on board gratefully cast admiring glances at this fearless monk. Just when people were still in shock and still had lingering fears, more than a dozen boats suddenly sprang out from the dense forest and surrounded them in a half-moon shape.

"It's over, I met a river robber." The boatman said in horror. All the people on the boat changed their faces when they heard this, and some of them who knew how to swim jumped into the water and fled for their lives. A man with a thick face and a beard standing on the thief boat in the middle, holding a large saber in his hand, shouted: "By the boat to the north bank, hurry up!" The boatman was so frightened that his face turned ashen, so he had to row the boat to the north bank.One by one, the robbers jumped onto Xuanzang's boat with big knives and drove all the passengers into the dense forest.

Xuanzang took a look. These robbers were not only numerous in number, but also extremely ferocious, even more terrifying than the robbers in the desert.He thought, the eighty people on the boat with me, old and young, are all innocent, and he must try to rescue them from the tiger's mouth.When he wanted to stop the robbers in the desert, he used the reflection of the desert to save everyone. Now he is in the dense forest, what can he do? Xuanzang was thinking anxiously... When Xuanzang was anxiously thinking about countermeasures, the robbers ordered the passengers to take off their clothes, put knives on their necks, and confiscated all the money one by one.All the passengers tremblingly let the robbers plunder, and no one dared to resist, otherwise they would be hacked to death by the robbers.

When Xuanzang was found, the bandit leader suddenly found that Xuanzang was very handsome, so he shouted excitedly: "Guys, this Samana is very beautiful, just kill him for this year's sacrifice." All the robbers ran over to see it, and they all happily held up their butcher knives and exclaimed. So the robbers tied Xuanzang and pushed him to a mound, ready to kill him to sacrifice to the river god. When the two envoys escorting Xuanzang saw this, they knelt down to the robbers and begged them not to kill Xuanzang. "He is a monk. You cannot kill him. If you kill him, you will offend the Bodhisattva."

"Go away, I beg you to sacrifice to the river god." The robbers cursed and kicked the monks at the same time. Some had no money, and the robbers tied them up and prepared to kill them. "Let us go!" "Let us go!" They wept and begged the robber. When Xuanzang saw it, he said to the bandit leader: "The reason why the poor monk came to the Western Regions to learn Buddhist scriptures from China is to promote Buddhism and save suffering. It seems that my wish cannot be realized. Now as long as you release these innocent beings, I will die without regret. "

Those traveling companions were very moved when they heard this, and they all knelt down to intercede for Xuanzang. An old man cried and said: "I am old, and death is not a pity, but this mage is so kind-hearted, I am willing to die instead of him, so you kill me and let this mage go!" The bandit leader shouted: "No, get the hell out of here, I want to kill this monk myself to sacrifice to the river god!" Xuanzang was escorted by the robbers and stood on the altar of the mound. Seeing the bandit leader sharpening his knife on a stone, he thought to himself, I have already experienced eight deaths in my life, and it seems that this ninth time I must die. He also wanted to die in a detached state, so he closed his eyes and recited the "Yogi's Land Treatise"... At this time, he seemed to see Ci Shi Bodhisattva speaking, and he couldn't help but smile.

The bandit leader raised his knife twice, but was frightened by Xuanzang's smiling face. Seeing the bandit leader stunned, Xuanzang took the opportunity to open his eyes and said: "I know that the reason why you have taken this path is because of life. You all have parents and brothers, and they may be calling your name at this moment. Now as long as you put down the butcher knife and change from evil to good, the Bodhisattva may be able to forgive you; If you persist in your obsession and continue to do evil, I am afraid that your sins will be too deep, and you will fall into the eighteenth level of hell after death, and you will never recover."

A monk kneeling on the ground cried: "You can't kill him. He is a Chinese. He is an eminent monk who came to Tianzhu from China to learn Buddhist scriptures. If you kill him, your sins will be endless!" "What! Is he an eminent monk?" The bandit leader asked in surprise. "Yes, killing an eminent monk is to offend the Buddha." The monk hadn't finished speaking when there was a thunderclap in the sky, and black clouds surged suddenly. A passenger shouted in shock: "You killed the eminent monk, look! The gods are already angry." The robbers were all frightened, and knelt down to the leader of the bandits, begging him not to kill the monk.

The arrogance of the bandit leader finally subsided. Xuanzang took advantage of the situation to persuade the robbers: "Life is as short as lightning. If it's too late to do good deeds, it's even more wrong to do evil, or God will punish you... You must have parents, wives and children. If they know that you are killing people and doing evil, they don't know how sad they will be... ..." Before the mage could finish his words, there was another thunderclap. In an instant, the sky was dark, black winds blew up, the waves rolled in the big river, and the boat tilted... The passengers kowtowed to the sky in fright... The bandit leader turned pale with fright, and hurriedly kowtowed to the sky and said: "Please appease the gods and spare us! I will never kill people and do evil again." After saying that, he threw the knife into the river, and other robbers also threw their knives into the river one after another, untied the mage and all the passengers, and returned all the robbed property to the passengers. At this time, the wind stopped suddenly, and the sky was clear and clear. The thieves all knelt down to the mage and asked to pray for them to be punished. "Master, please raise your hands high, and ask the gods to forgive us, and we will no longer kill people and rob things." The master said: "Please stand up! To be able to truly forgive sins, you must rely on your own piety. In fact, everyone has a Buddha-nature. If everyone has a Buddha-nature, if everyone has a Buddha-nature, do more good deeds and do less evil karma. The world will naturally be peaceful. , Good and evil karma, good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be rewarded with evil. If you want to live a safe life, please wash your hands and refrain from doing evil karma, and abide by the five precepts: no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no lying, and no drinking. Only in this way can you correct evil and return to righteousness. Start anew." The thieves all looked attentively and listened devoutly. After the mage finished telling the five precepts, the sun shone into the woods again. The thieves all got up and thanked the mage for opening the door to Buddhism for them. Raise your hands to salute the Master farewell. The boat started again, and the passengers who escaped from the death were all sighed. They all knelt down to Xuanzang, praised him for being fearless in the face of danger, and thanked him for saving everyone. One day, Xuanzang and the others came to a big river, and saw that the river was wide and the water was surging. The local people said: "Because of the frequent torrential rains, the water in this river is soaring. From a distance, it looks like it has fallen from the sky." Same, so it’s called Tongtian River.” They were looking for a boat along the coast to cross the river, when suddenly a few muffled thunders sounded from the western sky, and suddenly it began to rain cats and dogs. "It's really Tianhe, but I don't know how to get there?" There was no ferry boat, so they had to cut bamboo and make a big raft to prepare for the forced crossing, because it would be more difficult to cross the river if it rained for a few more days.They lost two horses, and some belongings, and seven or eight people huddled together on the raft, bravely started the crossing. In the middle of the river, a vortex almost overturned the raft, Xuanzang shouted: "Everyone hold on to the raft tightly, don't let go..." The guide shouted while paddling: "Hold on, we'll be over soon." But at this moment, a torrent came, and the raft that was about to reach the shore was washed down, and everyone shouted in fright, Xuanzang thought in his heart: This time, he will definitely die. I didn't expect that after nine deaths, it still won't work. Could it be that there are still ten deaths?Lord Buddha, bless us! .... Things are like this in the world, they expected to die, but God gave them an unexpected turning point, their bamboo raft was suddenly blocked by a thicket of reeds, so they climbed onto the shore... When they landed on the shore, they were all drenched, like drowned chickens. Fortunately, the rain was over and the sun cleared, and the hot sun dried their clothes quickly. Finally hit the road again. This crisis was the tenth time that Xuanzang suffered the test of death during his journey to the west, and he finally saved himself from danger again.