Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 329 The Tathagata’s Calculations Begin
"If I make them meat dishes, not getting kicked out would already be a miracle!"
Maitreya scratched his head; he knew Sun Wukong was making sense.
He didn’t care about the rules himself, but that didn’t mean those others didn’t; it was indeed quite troublesome, yet Maitreya was somewhat reluctant to just resign himself to fate.
Suddenly, he had a stroke of inspiration, as if he’d thought of something, and hurriedly spoke up, "Wukong, that’s where you’re mistaken."
"This Buddhist Dharma banquet isn’t only for us Buddhas. We’ve also invited celestials from the Three Realms, and not all of them are vegetarians. If all the dishes you make are vegetarian, what are they supposed to eat?"
Maitreya made a point that was both rational and well-founded.
"Hiss!" Sun Wukong took a sharp breath in surprise: "I had no idea about that!"
He had been too hasty!
"Well, I’ll have to think about it later then," Sun Wukong frowned in thought, his mind already pondering the dishes he would prepare.
"You must make plenty of meat dishes, that’s for sure!" Maitreya cautioned him again and again.
Perhaps it was because he hadn’t touched it for so many years, but in his view, meat was the soul!
Sun Wukong rolled his eyes but didn’t reply. Even if he were to make meat dishes, they would be for those Immortals who didn’t abstain from meat, not for someone like Maitreya.
Watching the nearly arm-in-arm pair of Maitreya and Sun Wukong, a few silver-haired Bhikkhunis were stunned.
Since when had Maitreya Buddha become so close with a monkey? It was indeed strange.
"Wukong!" Maitreya’s chubby face suddenly wore a sly smile.
Sun Wukong felt a chill and instinctively stepped back: "What do you want?"
Maitreya rubbed his hands together and chuckled: "Could you treat this poor monk to an early treat today?"
When he saw Sun Wukong didn’t immediately reply, Maitreya, a figure of immense authority, put on a pitiful act and quickly added, "Ever since our last parting, this monk has been dying for it."
"You have no idea how terrible the food at Spirit Mountain is."
"All right, all right!" Sun Wukong waved dismissively: "I’ll make you something in the kitchen later."
"It’s a promise then!" Maitreya’s expression lit up with joy: "Let me first take you to see our Spirit Mountain’s vegetarian hall."
Having said that, he turned to look at the silver-haired Bhikkhunis.
"Follow us!"
The silver-haired Bhikkhunis exchanged glances, all seeing the confusion in each other’s eyes. Wasn’t Maitreya Buddha supposed to be greeting the chef who would cook for their Buddhist Dharma banquet?
But where was this chef?
One of the Bhikkhunis couldn’t help but voice the question: "Buddha Ancestor, weren’t we waiting for the chef? Are we not waiting anymore?"
"Isn’t this him?" Maitreya pointed at Sun Wukong standing beside him.
Ah this...
For a moment, everyone was somewhat taken aback.
All the praises Maitreya Buddha had heaped on this chef’s culinary prowess, and it turned out he was talking about a monkey!
Wasn’t that a bit far-fetched?!
Although it was hard to believe, since it was said by Maitreya Buddha himself, they dared not refute him and could only quietly follow behind.
"Maitreya, why are you waiting for me behind Spirit Mountain instead of in front?" Sun Wukong asked while flying after Maitreya, clearly puzzled.
"The front is for welcoming those attending the banquet. Wukong, since you’re invited by Spirit Mountain to help us, it’s not quite appropriate," Maitreya explained.
Although the Buddhist Dharma banquet was called a banquet, in essence, it was a grand assembly for discussing Buddhist Law, or at least it had been in the past.
Anyone in the Three Realms who practiced Buddhist Law or aspired to it was eligible to participate. Usually, these individuals would arrive many days in advance to engage in discussions on Buddhist Law.
Those who arrived on the day of the banquet were the invited Immortals from the Three Realms who were merely there to be present and enjoy the feast, so they would not arrive beforehand.
So that’s how it is, Sun Wukong nodded enlightenly, indeed, it wasn’t easy for someone like him to walk openly in the front.
"Then how many people will there be at this banquet?" Sun Wukong quickly asked.
Maitreya pondered for a moment, "Counting everyone, there might be a few tens of thousands."
Due to the increasing prosperity of Buddhism, the number of people attending the banquet was clearly on the rise. It was expected to be even more this time.
"Ah?" Sun Wukong’s mouth hung open.
"Tens of thousands of people? Are you kidding me? With so many people, how do you expect me to cook for them all?"
Even if he worked himself to death, starting a few days in advance and working day and night, he might not be able to prepare that much food!
But Maitreya seemed unconcerned, consoling Sun Wukong, "It’s not as exaggerated as it sounds, the vast majority are those with low cultivation, or even no cultivation at all; they won’t be in the main hall."
"Wukong, you only need to help with cooking for the main hall, the rest will be arranged by Spirit Mountain."
The reason why their banquet had such a large number of attendees was because of the many disciples coming to learn the Buddhist law, and these people did not participate in the Dharma banquet.
Sun Wukong breathed a sigh of relief. That was manageable; otherwise, he figured he would have had to summon all his clones to cook together.
"World-Honored One, Maitreya Buddha has already brought that monkey over," Moksha Kasyapa said respectfully, performing a Buddhist salutation to his serene-looking master.
Tathagata slowly opened his eyes, fixing them on Moksha Kasyapa.
"Did that monkey come by himself?"
"To report to the World-Honored One, your disciple did not see anyone else."
He didn’t come? Or is he in hiding?
Tathagata chanted softly in his heart, nodding his Buddha head, "Good."
"Where is that monkey now?"
"He has already been taken to the vegetarian hall by Maitreya Buddha," Moksha Kasyapa reported truthfully, though he felt somewhat perplexed.
Their Buddhist banquet was inviting a monkey to take charge of cooking, which seemed a bit too playful.
As he pondered, the voice of Tathagata sounded again.
"Kasyapa, where is your junior brother, Jin Chanzi?"
"Junior brother?" Moksha Kasyapa paused, then shook his head, "Your disciple doesn’t know. With so much buzz on Spirit Mountain right now, my junior brother is probably discussing Buddhist law with others."
His junior brother was always full of extraordinary ideas and hardly ever idle.
Sometimes, his junior brother’s reasoning dazzled him, while at other times, it seemed utterly preposterous.
In terms of talent for cultivation, his junior was no less than himself, but in the depth of studying Buddhist law, he felt inferior; his junior truly was a genius in learning the Dharma.
But to call him a genius, he personally felt, was more like calling him a madman possessed by demons.
Tathagata fell silent for a few moments, then waved his hand, "Kasyapa, you may withdraw for now."
"Yes!" Moksha Kasyapa performed another Buddhist salutation.
He had returned to report to his master, as prearranged by Tathagata. Now that he had completed his task, it was better to go back early.
Moksha Kasyapa thought to himself, he still had today’s Buddhist scriptures to study in depth!
Having dismissed Moksha Kasyapa, Tathagata became troubled. From his eyes emanated not only a light of wisdom but also deliberation.
The most important aspect of the great calamity of the Journey to the West was the main protagonist, Sun Wukong, the Intelligent Stone Monkey, and the second most important was the Scripture Seeker.
Five candidates were needed for the Journey to the West, corresponding to the number of the Five Elements. Of these, the most critical two positions were generated from Buddhism, while the remaining three were chosen respectively by Taoism, the Heavenly Court, and the Dragon Clan, as a result of negotiations.
But that was in the past.
Now, the most crucial position, Sun Wukong, no longer secretly belonged to Buddhism but to that mysterious person who had never shown their face!
He had labored to suppress Sun Wukong, wanting to turn everything back.
