Chapter 29 An Unorthodox Bodhisattva

Did we really go back in time? I thought of a word and blurted out, "time traveling? Did we just teleport back? You have that kind of ability? Then could you send me back to the day before yesterday?" I took out my cell phone," wait a moment, let me check the winning combination of last lottery draw."

Liu Shuai was not really excited. He calmly asked, "Bodhisattva, from what I know, there seems to be no record that Immortals and Buddha have the ability to go back to the past, isn't it?"

Zhang Chi Hang laughed, and then formally answered Liu Shuai's question, "you're right. I don't have that kind of ability either."

"Then why did you say we went back through in time and experienced the event then?" I put down my phone, slightly disappointed.

Zhang Chi Hang frowned, "Note, I'm not saying that you have returned to the past. I said that you've participated in it — this is a bit more complicated, let me think of a way to explain it." After saying that, he stood up, paced back and forth a few steps, and then turned around to look at us, "do you know what happened to the the 13th year of Zhen Guan in Journey to the West?"

This topic was changed too quickly. Liu Shuai didn't seem to understand this, but I started to recall, "the 13th year of Zhen Guan, so familiar, allow me to think. That year, monk Xuangzang set off to India to study Buddhism. In the same year, Xuanzang's father, Chen Guangrui, married Xuanzang’s mother and was killed. His mother was pregnant in the same year, and then, she placed Xuanzang in a river, that's why he was also called Jiang Liu'er (a baby on the river). Whoops. That’s not right!"

Liu Shuai also felt that something was amiss and asked me, "what are you spouting? How could it be that Monk Xuanzang's father married his mother, gave birth to him, while in the same year he grew up and promised the emperor of Tang dynasty to request for Buddhist scriptures? It should take at least more than ten years."

I also felt that something was wrong and quickly took out my phone to check. Sure enough, this was what was written in Journey to the West. "What's going on? This doesn't make sense!"

Zhang Chi Hang looked at me, and said, "are you discussing logic with a Bodhisattva? Why don't you discuss acting with a movie star? Your are stranger even than him." He said this while pointing to Liu Shuai. Liu Shuai knew that Zhang Chi Hang was referring to him, and purposely did not raise his head, continuing to look at his phone. "There are so many things in real life that you can't explain using logic, but you choose to ignore them, and stick with the logic."

"What are you talking about?" I was a little confused, "what does Bodhisattva's logic have to do with a movie star’s performing skills?"

Zhang Chi Hang rubbed his temples, "it's nothing. I have just attended too much celebrity banquets recently, and I can't stand to watch people who have poor acting skills but lecture others.” Then he waved his hand and continued, "you're right, something extremely unreasonable happened in the 13th year of Zhen Guan. If you want an explanation, then you must have a great sacred art. And during that period of time, I was the only Immortal in the record who participated completely in the event."

Liu Shuai was also checking his phone, and answered, "there are a lot of analyses on this matter, such as -"

"A lot of analyses indeed," Zhang Chi Hang interrupted him. "but only among minorities. Most people subconsciously think that it's the truth. Do you guys know what that means?"

"Does this mean that because people believe you have a great sacred art related to time, then you do get such a great ability?" Liu Shuai said in a probing tone, but he was not too sure, as this was simply too inconceivable.

"Close, but it is not that people believe it. They have no doubt at all." Zhang Chi Hang nodded his head, "when no one realizes that this is a problem, I then have this strange grey-zone sacred art. You know what, it's not easy to force people to believe in one thing, but it's much easier to make people not doubt one thing. The truth is, the absence of doubt is more powerful than the faith. Because this often means that people think subconsciously that this is the truth, that there is no doubt about it."

Liu Shuai and I did not speak. We were carefully pondering over the difference between the two concepts.

Zhang Chi Hang continued: "So, I didn't send us back to the time of Three Kingdoms. Instead, at that time, Sima Yi made a big worship to me, so I used my sacred art to move Shang Fang Valley at that moment to the present. You can think it as a technique similar to the art of dividing two realms. It's just that the later separates void space, but I used a great sacred art to divide time because people had no doubt about it."

At this moment, I seemed to understand a little and asked, "do you mean that you have the ability to do this because people don't suspect the illogical stories in Journey to the West?"

"Good catch," Zhang Chi Hang said, "Immortals and Buddha's sacred arts exist due to people's belief. After it is created, it can gradually break away from the power of belief. But this kind of belief must be in a large-scale. Over a hundred million people must believe in it for a long time. I got this supernatural power just in the past few decades. You know what, Journey to the West had been ranked as one of the four great books only since several decades ago, but many people read it, which resulted in a large scale of belief."

"What if people later suspect this history?" I couldn't help but think of that possibility.

“Well, it depends,” Zhang Chi Hang returned to a state of not caring about anything, "the worst situation for me would be loosing that sacred art, so be it. What could I use it for? Besides, there is another unquestionable part in Journey to the West that can be read in many different ways. I still have the chance to have this kind of grey-zone sacred art…"

“Which part?" Liu Shuai and I said simultaneously.

“Make your guess." Zhang Chi Hang winked at us mischievously. This expression was probably the most human side of this Bodhisattva.

"How? I don't have any clue." I shook my head, showing that there was nothing I could do.

"That's what exactly I mean," Zhang Chi Hang laughed, "you couldn't find it even you looked for it intentionally, how could others without knowing it."

Liu Shuai seemed to have thought of something. He asked, "So, Bodhisattva, do you mean that Immortals exist because of people's belief?"

"What a slow mind!" Zhang Chi Hang curled his lips, "weren't we just talking about this all the time?"

Liu Shuai ignored Zhang Chi Hang's sarcasm and said, "then are you the Bodhisattva described in the legends, or those figures are actually you?"

"Liu Shuai, what are you talking about?" I didn't seem to understand him, "what do you mean 'he is them or they are him'?"

Liu Shuai looked at me, "all myths and legends assume that there's a god first, and then elaborate classics according to the miracles of him to enlighten the later generations. However, what Avalokitesvara said means that god appears after people read the classics and believe in the stories. Then which came first, gods or classics? If classics came first, then where the figures in the stories came from? In addition, the gods described in details in the legends are all orthodox indeed, but this Bodhisattva in front of us seems to be somewhat unorthodox…"

Uh, I was stunned, this kind of a "chicken first or egg first" question really racked my brain.

"Haha, good question!" This time Zhang Chi Hang was not angry, "I can only tell you that I originated from the one described in the classics but I am not him. People's faith in him gave birth to me. In this sense you could say that I was him, but once I appeared, I got my own freedom. Well, I could not agree with your comment of me being unorthodox."

"Aren't you unorthodox?" I laughed, seeing Zhang Chi Hang not angry, I continued half-jokingly, "I've never seen such an unorthodox Bodhisattva before."

"What a Bodhisattva does is neither what a mortal does nor a saint does." Zhang Chi Hang slowly recited these words.

"Ah!" Liu Shuai's eyes lit up. He suddenly realized something and clasped his hands together, "What a great wisdom!"