Chapter 43: CH 43

The sutras could be sold continuously. Strictly speaking, there weren’t many people who bought sutras for reading, but rather, it was to spend money on their convictions and faith. New Year’s Day, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Bathing Buddha Day and the Ghost Festival were all peak times for sales. The market would be vast and devout clients would not be stingy and hesitate to spend money. As long as his printed books were relatively good quality, they would be easily sold in the future. It would also be easier to disseminate the books to sell in markets outside of the prefecture. There was no need to imitate the steps taken to hype up the《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》, where he had to promote it layer by layer, step by step, until it was finally released to the public.

It was just that, the name of this bookstore would have to change its name once they started printing sutras or scriptures.

Young Master Wang’s outside mistress resided in the study’s rear courtyard; there were some colorful and gaudy rumors that had been disseminated outside. Previously, they had been selling Beauty prints and scrolls, anthologies of poems written by outstanding and romantic talents, all in addition to fictional novels about goddesses, immortals, demons and ghosts. 

The faint rumors and groundless speculation spreading in the street markets had not hindered them previously in any way. But now they were going to start selling scriptures, with such a reputation, Cui Xie was afraid that those who practice Dāna[1] would disdain their bookstore for not being clean enough.

But at this point, it was too late to rent out a new storefront and open up a new store; it was unnecessary. Cui Xie called for Shopkeeper Ji to arrange these matters: when printing the books, to include the alternative identity “Tranquil Bamboo Hall” in the paiji[2].

In any case, the printed scriptures would be directly delivered over to the various monasteries. Once the time came when the scriptures would be in demand during those festivals, he planned on renting a place in the temple and setting up a temporary storefront for a couple of days, and it would be convenient for people to buy it as well.

Even if everyone were to discover that these portraits were printed by his study, as long as no one explicitly uncovered the truth, these Buddhist benefactors would have no qualms and have a clear conscience to practice their Dāna.

Shopkeeper said with a smile, “Young Boss is thorough, so let’s just change the study name. Our family used to often set up stalls in front of the temple gates, but now that business is doing well, there was no need for us to set up such stalls for the past couple of months. After changing the name, do you want to hire some new faces as clerks to sell the scriptures, lest people discover who we are?”

Cui Xie hadn’t visited the store for some time so he inquired, “How many new clerks do we have? If you really can’t find anyone suitable enough, just select someone to solely sell our refined works under the banner of ‘Tranquil Bamboo Hall”. If someone asks, just say that they have changed owners.”

Shopkeeper Ji chattered, “It doesn’t sound very good to say that….fine, it’s still early. Worst comes to worst, we can just find a broker and hire a few quick-witted guys and let them temporarily take charge over the matter.”

While one could slowly select the people for setting up the stall, there were still some remaining details regarding the Dāna scriptures that needed to be addressed. Shopkeeper Ji lowered his head and looked at Cui Xie below him, “Now that we are still quite a while aways from Tomb Sweeping Day, when does Young Boss plan to donate the scriptures?” 

When practicing the act of Dāna, one needed to have a certain reputation andreason. For example, some Young Master had a dream in the middle of the night that his deceased ancestors were suffering hardships and he needed to donate scriptures to atone for his ancestors;for instance, if a rich man wanted a good marriage, he had to donate scriptures to pray for Buddha’s blessing; for example, a scholar who studied poems and books had fallen ill and wanted to donate scriptures to relieve his illness….The only reputation that one could not have was being the owner of a bookstore that wanted to sell Buddhist scriptures and ask the monks in the temple to promote the books donated by him.

“Then just say that I have been studying too hard these past few days and am unwell. Only after painting a Buddhist painting two days ago did my heart feel at rest, so I printed the painting into a scripture and desired to gain good karma by practicing Dāna.”

Cui Xie lowered his gaze and pondered, propping up his chin, “It just happens that these past two days are devoted to worshiping at the Wenwu Temple[3], so Teacher Lin gave us a two days holiday. I’ll simply take advantage of this time to go to the temple in the east of the city to have a look and along the way, I will commission for a few scriptures to be read during the Tomb-Sweeping Festival for my deceased mother to avoid any bad karma….”

His eyes flickered slightly and his gaze fell on the clear sky peeking from the corner of the window, and he said in an extremely soft whisper, “And let them read a few lines of blessings for me too.”

While he himself was not superstitious, he had after all transmigrated into someone else’s body. He was more than willing to recite scriptures to the original owner of the body according to traditional customs and hoped that Little Cui Xie would be safe in the next life and it would also put himself at ease.

Shopkeeper Ji put his palms together and quickly chanted ‘Amithaba’[4] and said with a smile, “That is the proper way and with the Young Boss’ sincerity, the Buddha and Bodhisattva will bless and protect us so that our business becomes thriving and prosperous. It is just that in order to recite and donate the Buddhist scriptures, one must write down the name and eight birth characters for the temple. The monks will record it down for it to be presented in front of Buddha, so that the scriptures can reliably eliminate any calamity and karma for you, as well as pray for blessings to prolong longevity. The Young Boss should write this information on a sheet of paper beforehand, and then give it to the monks at the temple once you visit.”

Cui Xie did not know the birth day of the original Cui Xie or his mother, so he went back to talk to Cui Yuan and his son to ask about his Eight Characters [5]and how to write it down. Pengyan knew Cui Xie’s Eight Characters but he did not know Late Cui Furen’s characters. Pengyan only knew that she had died due to a difficult birth due to dystocia. The day of her death was precisely Cui Xie’s birth date. When Cui Yuan was younger, he served Official Cui personally and actually remembered that she had married during the 6th year of the Tianshun [6]reign. But he did not know how old she was when she got married, since there were never any grand celebrations held on her birthday. As such, he didn’t know what day her birthday was.

In the end, the card for Liu shi [7] could only read, “Woman of the Cui Family, Liu shi resided within Qian’an’s city walls in a such-and-such residence, in a such-and-such street. Her birthdate is unknown, and passed away in the 5th year of the Chenghua reign on February 30th between the hours of chensi [8]; As for Cui Xie’s card, he recorded down his current address as well as his Eight Characters and then the two cards were packed together into a silk brocade pouch. Back in ancient times, going out was not as simple as it was in modern times. For the rest of the day, they prepared the appropriate scriptures, silver coins, and fumigated a few sets of clean clothing. The next morning, they boarded the carriage and drove towards the temple.

Xuanjue Temple was located to the northeast of the county, and only about a half a street away, the roads were already fervently bustling with noise and excitement with various different vendor stalls: some sold yellow and white rice paper, some sold incense sticks, some sold fresh flowers, some sold incense burners, some solid fruit flavored pastries, some sold Buddhist scriptures, some sold gold and silver plated Buddha statues; there were even stalls for fortune-telling as well as various food stalls interspersed between….Three Religions and Nine Schools[9], monks and layman, all of them squeezing pass each other in the streets, this image was exactly the type of scene one saw at a lively market or fair.

Along the whole journey, Cui Xie and Pengyan peeled the carriage curtain away, craning their heads as they looked out. From time to time, they would debate about which shop’s sweet walnut cakes were steamed the thickest or which stall gave larger portion sizes for tea and soups so that when they came back from the temple, they could buy some to take home to eat.

Their carriage and clothes were ordinary, but Cui Xie was naturally good-looking and also had a kind of demeanor that seemed to be used to seeing big scenes, hence his appearance becoming quite eye-catching among the crowds that worshiped Buddha. The monk who recognized them as guests took the initiative to approach and welcome them. Seeing that they had brought good incense and although the incense silver ingots intended for donation to the temple was not a big piece, it was still a whole silver piece with snow white silk coiled around it. Seeing this, the monk added some enthusiasm and asked them whether they would only burn incense at the temple, or were they going to donate for an altar lamp to burn day and night, or practice Dāna by donating scriptures to the monks or performing the Liberation Rite of Water and Land[10]…….

Cui Xie cupped his hands together and piously replied, “This humble self is embarrassingly short of  money and cannot be comparable to those truly sincere, faithful and benevolent characters. It is just that a hundred volumes of the Diamond Sutra were printed by my family and I wanted to practice Dāna by gifting your precious temple with them and creating some good karma. Next month, it will be Tomb Sweeping Day and I would like to ask a senior monk to recite a few volumes of sutras for my deceased mother to dispel any suffering and calamity, and also read a few volumes for me so as to accumulate blessings in the next life.”

The receptionist clasped his palms together and praised a chant, ‘Amitabha’ to say, “Benefactor has a pure heart and will definitely earn great merit.”

Being the case that it was a moneybags who had come to donate scriptures, the receptionist could not just let him stroll around in the courtyard. The receptionist led him to a guest courtyard and ordered an itinerant monk to carry the scriptures over and then personally sat next to Cui Xie to accompany him. The monastery had first-rate fragrant teas and the novice Buddhist monk approached to plate the various teas, serving it alongside pine nuts, hazelnuts, jujubes, chestnuts and dragon beard candy that had been made by the temple the year before.

The receptionist persuaded Cui Xie to taste the tea and food and then inquired, “I do not know where this benefactor comes from?”

Cui Xie pondered for a second on whether he should fight a Zen battle of verbal wits, but in the blink of an eye he thought, You might be able to come up with a few philosophical sayings, but I don’t know how ah! Although he could answer this question with the standard phrase of ‘My journey led me here’ or even add another phrase, ‘Everything flows along naturally, much like the clouds in the blue sky and the water in the jar,’ but if he were to continue along this same vein, he would not be able to connect it any further.

Why would he waste such effort? It was better to be a clear-cut, pure and unpretentious benefactor. No matter how much Zen allegories or Buddhist subletites the other spoke, he would just interpret them as straightforward questions instead!

Cui Xie made up his mind, lowering his head, “I came from the area where the public-merit archway is located in the northern part of the city, and the Cui Residence located behind the archway is my household.”

Unexpectedly, the receptionist monk was also a straightforward character that didn’t like to embellish his words with fancy Zen ideologies. He sighed after hearing Cui Xie’s reply, “Could it be that the benefactor is the distinguished owner of this memorial archway, Righteous Cui Hero personally commended by the Imperial Court? Then the benefactor is precisely the righteous character who destroyed the White Lotus Society demon?”

As the monk said this, Cui Xie just nodded along. As the monk continued to ramble on, he actually suddenly stood up and stared at Cui Xie with a pair of bright, twinkling eyes. Clasping his hands together, he chanted a Buddhist mantra, “This small Buddhis monk has admired the benefactor’s graceful bearing for a very long time. I did not think I would be able to meet the real person today, and the real person is much more brilliant and brighter than the mere rumors.”

Cui Xie felt like one could see three visible question marks floating up from the top of his head, but he really could not understand how he, a person who received a martial arts commendation, could acquire a monk’s admiration.

Seeing Cui Xie’s vacant and blank look, the receptionist laughed to explain, “Those White Lotus Society demons borrowed the name of the great Maitreya[11] to commit great evils, fooling the world and usurping a good name! They even tainted us Buddhists’ pure reputation, truly Buddhist heretics! Righteous Hero Cui was able to apprehend the organization’s Patriarch, eliminating the evil White Lotus Sect, even those heretic books that have been selling in the market have been cleanly swept away. This little monk has always felt deep admiration in my heart.”

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So….this was a dispute between the old, traditional Buddhist factions and out-of-character heretics? The monks had no fighting power and had not been able to nip the White Lotus Society in the bud, an organization that could instigate the common people to rise in rebellion. He racked up a name for himself by helping to capture the demon, and now a legitimate monk was grateful for it?

No no no, the true hero that should be thanked were the Jinyiwei[12], he could not be too greedy for this kind of merit! Cui Xie quickly explained, “At that time, it was Battalion Colonel Xie of the Jinyiwei who wounded and captured the White Lotus Society’s Patriarch and elders. I just so happened to be on the scene and luckily escaped with my life intact from those demons’ hands.”

The receptionist sighed again, “Righteous benefactor, there is no need to be so modest. This little monk has also visited the public-merit memorial archway and Imperial plaque. That stone stele located next to it was clearly engraved, the benefactor had fought with all of one’s might, even while blood-soaked in wounds and even wounded the demon! There is also an abbot familiar with the benefactor that even said there is still a long sword scar left on the benefactor’s body!”

The monk suddenly scratched the area under his neck, squinted his eyes together and cautiously asked, “As for the reason for the benefactor’s visit, is it because the demon’s methods have hurt you? Do not worry, although our humble temple are not like those big temples that have received a title from the Imperial court, we were established at the end of the late Tang dynasty and can be considered somewhat reputable.

If the main goal is to eliminate any calamities, this little monk will go to arrange it right now in the next couple of days and find a monk to chant the sutras for you!”

Cui Xie hurriedly said, “I dare not to trouble the great Masters. My heart and qi are usually very upright and proper, how does an evil spirit dare to approach me? I came to the temple today because I have fallen ill from painstakingly studying so hard day and night, and could not sleep well. Later on, I copied down the Diamond Sutra to pray for blessings to grace my grandparents. Since then, my tiredness has completely disappeared. Experiencing such a miraculous event, I asked my family workers to print several volumes of scriptures to donate to the temple.”

As he spoke, the itinerant monk that had been moving the scriptures inside the courtyard moved forward to show them. Cui Yuan also followed behind and rested in one of the outer rooms. Cui Xie personally opened a box and took out a thin volume of scriptures delicately wrapped in a thin layer of red satin to say, “As for these 100 volumes of scriptures, I request that the great Masters please accept them.’

This book was selected from among the translations made by the great master Kumarajiva[13], with more than 5,000 characters in total, in addition to two portraits, odes, mantras, placed at either the beginning or the end of the sutra. This all came together to make a meagerly thin book. A hundred books only added up together to be stored in a small box.

The receptionist first thanked him and then picked up the sutras to read it carefully. He could not help but praise it and applaud silently in his heart. Although the Cui family’s book was not copied on gold and silver embossed porcelain blue paper, the cover was pasted with a layer of crimson satin and both the cover and back cover had colored-patterns printed on it. The figures in the character portraits appeared dignified and stately. There were even small diagrams of various dharma artifacts interspersed as breaks between the various pages, appearing very delicate.

The monk was just about to  praise Cui Xie for his neat copying and good drawing of the various characters and portraits when he suddenly remembered that Cui Xie had said that this was a printed copy, not a handcopy.

Currently in Qian’an county, there was only one store that could print colored pictures. He had also heard of the infamous Cui Beauty’s artisanal skills and reputation. Could this be the person behind the printed beauty portraits…..He subconsciously glanced at Cui Xie. Cui Xie was also looking at him, his gaze clear and honest as he calmly inquired, “I think the colored pictures are better looking than the original ones printed in the sutras, so I asked the artisans to print colored versions. Does the great Master still think it is too eye-catching?”

The receptionist smiled slightly, “The decorative patterns and portraits in the sutras are all very pious, how can they be bad?”

There were numerous benefactors of the temple and the offerings were often made for the purpose of making invidious comparisons with others. Today, a rich man might offer fifty catties of water lanterns in the name of Buddha, and tomorrow there would be a great family offering one hundred catties.  As long as the color-printed sutras could enter the eyes of the monk, there would be someone willing to enthusiastically promote the sutras for him and Cui Xie would not need to worry about other people’s printed sutra offerings.

Cui Xie did not pay particular attention to his speech or exhaust himself by saying endless, meaningless words, but merely cupped his hands together and replied, “Hearing the great Master say this, I am relieved. These sutras will be offered to your honorable temple. Tomb-Sweeping Day is just around the corner, I hope that the Master will take care to choose a good day for me to come chant scriptures and pray for blessings on my behalf.”

The receptionist responded, “Recently, a monk coming from the south in our temple has placed a pending order. He will read well-known scriptures for you and will preside over your request personally on that day.”

Cui Xie did not understand the schooling of zen, nor could he bring up any social customs from the modern era to ask about. He only listened to the receptionist talk about a few more stories regarding preordained fate and karma before making an excuse that it was not early and got up to say goodbye. The receptionist monk originally wanted to keep Cui Xie for dinner at the temple, but Cui Xie emphasized that he still had homework left behind by his Teacher that he had not yet finished and did not dare to dally too much. As such, he turned down the offer and left the temple.

The receptionist monk escorted him straight out of the gate before returning. Seeing the sun beaming down at him above his head, he sighed, “It is a pity that our temple is not famous for our food. If we had Haotian Monastery’s vegetarian food, he would have had to stay for a meal no matter what.”

The little junior monk who had also sent off the guests persuaded, “How could those pampered, finicky officials and rich characters be willing to eat a vegetarian meal? We are not like those Buddhist monks in the south that can braise pig’s heads. Benefactors will naturally go eat at renowned establishments, this matter is helpless.”

The receptionist felt disinclined to say that he had been helpless, but not because the benefactor refused to stay to eat because of the vegetarian food or because there was no braised pig’s head to eat. He quickly sent the little novice monk to attend to the other benefactors visiting the temple. He then took the itinerant monk along with him, personally holding the box of scriptures to show it to the others in the temple.

Although Cui Xie did not eat any vegetarian dishes, he did not eat meat dishes either. Rather, he bought some small snacks from the vendor’s stands located outside the temple. He purchased some sweet walnut cakes, steamed dumplings, taro pastries, and layered cakes, along with three bowls of hot tea and ate it at the stall. On the way back, he also met some vendors selling pine nut candy, baked sesame seed-coated cakes and cloud cakes from Nanjing and also bought a few bags of each. Cui Xie and Pengyan wanted to share some of the pastries with the workers, but they did not expect that there would be guests to welcome at home instead.

They were said to be guests, but in fact, they were only reading silently in his study and did not ask for anyone to serve them.

Cui Xie went in and gave a little ‘We have slighted you’, but when he looked at the scene closely, it was only Guo Yong, Tang Ning and some other young shengyuan[14] reclining lazily on the sofa reading some books. Guo Yong was the youngest and had the best physical strength. He straightened up and cupped his hands in greetings, but the others’ eyelids were already drooping increasingly downwards. Guo Yong sighed, “These past two days we have rushed to complete two large-scale sacrificial rites but still need to write poems and essays. My mental and physical state are both exhausted. Upon returning from the rites, we remembered that the bed in your study room was comfortable and located not far from the temple and thus came as an uninvited guest. Hoping that Cui xiongdi[15] will not disdain us.”

Cui Xie grinned, “How can I dare? Since seniors are willing to come, your presence brings light to my humble dwelling. I am sorry the wine I have to offer you is so poor, but I will ask someone to bring a few jars over to treat you all. Will you all be eating in the hall or here? If you want to eat at this table, I can ask them to clean up the table.”

Several people forced themselves to sit up and hurriedly refused, “No need, no need, we can just clean up by ourselves. How would the servants know where to put these books?”

Cui Xie pulled out a rattan basket from the bookshelf and asked them to put the books stacked on the table inside the basket so he could file them away later by himself. Several people put in their books and commented on the side, “Your study is much more organized than ours. When we are at home, once we are done reading a book we will just randomly throw it away somewhere. How can we still think of retrieving a basket to store them away?”

Someone else also said, “Although this study of yours was organized using a lot of effort, by making a label and pasting it on the back of the book, it saves the effort when trying to find them later.”

Guo Yong did not immediately tidy up. Instead, he picked up a carelessly bound book and asked, “Did you make this 《Compilation of Antithetical Couplets From the Four Books》? I heard my shixiong[16]mention this day. You listed them out neatly and it is extremely comprehensive, the couplets are also made carefully and even the last syllable of each pair rhymes with each other. Why is this not printed as a book?”

Guo Yong flipped through the pages of the book, looked up at Cui Xie and in a severe, yet hopeful tone, “This book is more worthy of being printed than that Shen Garden Poetry Collection, why not print this?”

Footnotes:

TN: New chapter for the week! The amount of footnotes was crazy in this one, the author really has me going on a little history tangent and rabbit hole each time XD~

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