Chapter 15: The Bodhi
"What's wrong with you?" Pang Bo's voice reached Ye Fan's ears as he vigorously shook his shoulder.
Ye Fan snapped back to reality as if waking from a dream. Where was the Buddhist sound? Where was the chanting? The ancient temple remained, covered in a thick layer of dust, while the others seemed to have heard nothing at all.
"Is this really the Great Thunderclap Monastery?" he murmured to himself. What he had just heard and seen, though brief, felt so real. This left him lost in thought, pondering deeply.
Ye Fan stared at the bronze ancient lamp in his hand, but no special feeling arose. It bore some engraved patterns, simple and natural, unremarkable, with nothing out of the ordinary.
"A cushion!" A male classmate pulled an old cushion from a pile of ashes. Time had not worn it away.
Soon after, a female classmate found a purple sandalwood prayer bead beneath the thick dust. It had not been damaged by the passage of time at all. After blowing off the dust, it still had a faint luster.
At the same time, Kade discovered half of a broken wooden fish in the dust before the stone Buddha. It was engraved with three Bodhisattvas—some solemn, some compassionate—all lifelike.
At that moment, Ye Fan's thoughts raced. If this place truly was the legendary Great Thunderclap Monastery, then it was a site abandoned by the gods, and every unearthed artifact must be extraordinary!
"Clang!"
Prince Wen's foot seemed to kick something, producing a metallic sound. He scraped away the dust in that corner, revealing a palm-sized, broken bronze bell missing a piece of its wall, ancient in style.
"Clang..." He shook the bell, and a melodious sound rang out, like Buddhist chanting swirling around, calming the mind.
Ye Fan's thoughts were interrupted, and he couldn't help but look at the bronze bell. It was engraved with flowing cloud patterns, simple yet imbued with Zen meaning, condensed with Buddhist charm.
Pang Bo muttered softly. He had entered the ancient temple first but found nothing—just bad luck.
Almost at the same time, Li Xiaoman found half of a jade ruyi at the foot of the stone Buddha. Wiping away the dust, the translucent, broken jade immediately emitted faint specks of light.
The ancient temple seemed empty, but several people had found artifacts beneath the dust. The others quickly began searching as well.
Ye Fan paid little attention to those artifacts. The only item in the temple that was spotless, intact, and eternally lit—the bronze ancient lamp—was in his hand, and the other items clearly couldn't compare.
"I don't believe I can't find anything..." Pang Bo muttered.
"Search carefully here. Whatever you find, keep it." Ye Fan handed the ancient lamp to Pang Bo, letting him use the light to search. Though he couldn't yet see the divine properties of these broken Buddhist artifacts, he knew that if gods truly existed in the world, these things must be extraordinary!
Ye Fan temporarily gave the bronze lamp to Pang Bo and stepped out of the ancient hall, walking toward the Bodhi tree in front of the temple. By now, he had shed his original mindset and temporarily allowed himself to believe in the existence of gods.
Since the ancient temple was the Great Thunderclap Monastery, how could he miss the Bodhi tree beside it? If there were Buddhas in the world, this withered ancient tree must be extraordinary!
The Bodhi tree is a sacred tree in Buddhism. According to the *Great Tang Records on the Western Regions*, the Buddha once told Ananda that three kinds of objects in the world should be revered: Buddha bone relics, Buddha statues, and Bodhi trees.
This is because the Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree; seeing the Bodhi tree is like seeing the Buddha.
The withered ancient tree before him was gnarled like a hornless dragon, too thick for six or seven people to wrap their arms around. Its trunk was hollow, with only a single withered branch hanging two to three meters above the ground, bearing six green leaves that sparkled like translucent green agate.
Even setting aside whether this ancient tree was connected to the Buddha, those six jade-like leaves alone were enough to show its extraordinary nature.
Ye Fan approached the tree and examined the ancient Bodhi closely. Its massive branches almost entirely pressed down on the ancient temple. If it were full of leaves, one could imagine the sky-covering scene.
Just then, Ye Fan's heart stirred. He noticed that the six translucent green leaves emitted faint, barely visible green mist. A small part drifted toward the distant five-colored altar, while most sank into the tree roots.
The green mist, thread-like, continuously spilled from the six leaves, giving off a sense of life, with boundless vitality flowing.
Ye Fan crouched down and dug into the soil at the tree roots, wanting to see what lay beneath that could gather the green mist from the Bodhi leaves.
Under the soil, he saw no divine object, only a single Bodhi seed. It had no light, no radiance, no mist swirling around it. Its color was dull and ordinary; if not careful, it could be mistaken for a clod of earth.
Its only special feature was its size. Ordinary Bodhi seeds are only the size of a fingernail, but this dull one was as large as a walnut.
Ye Fan was astonished. Could it be that the green mist from the Bodhi leaves was being absorbed by this seed? After observing for a moment, he saw the thread-like green mist flow down and disappear three inches from the seed.
Though he hadn't seen it absorb the essence of the Bodhi leaves, he could almost confirm it was the cause.
Ye Fan held the Bodhi seed in his palm. After careful examination, he revealed a look of shock. The natural patterns on this dull, ordinary Bodhi seed connected together to form a compassionate Buddha!
The Buddha was naturally formed, entirely from the intersection of natural textures, but it seemed as if it had been meticulously carved on the surface.
The dull Buddha image, simple and natural, faintly exuded a Zen charm.
"A naturally formed Buddha image—could it be that 2,500 years ago, Shakyamuni truly attained enlightenment because of the Bodhi tree?"
The Bodhi tree has other names: the Tree of Wisdom, the Tree of Awakening, the Tree of Thought. Legend says it can open one's divine nature and awaken oneself.
Ye Fan raised the Bodhi seed above his head, facing the six green leaves above. The rate at which the green mist spilled out immediately increased, and the vibrant life force grew thicker, all concentrating toward the Bodhi seed. Of course, the light still disappeared three inches from it.
"Pop!"
A soft sound came as one translucent Bodhi leaf released its final wisp of green mist, then shattered, turning to ash and drifting down.
At this point, Ye Fan was finally convinced. The Bodhi seed seemed ordinary but was truly extraordinary. He carefully put it away.
At that moment, he noticed a lot of powder on the ground, identical to the ash from the Bodhi leaf. Could it be that all the Bodhi leaves on the tree had disappeared like this? Ye Fan was quite shocked.
The Bodhi seed with the naturally formed Buddha image felt immensely significant to him. He vaguely sensed it was even more important than the bronze ancient lamp that had always accompanied the stone Buddha!
There were still five green leaves on the Bodhi tree, but they were no longer as translucent as before, having dimmed considerably. Ye Fan did not pick them; one Bodhi seed was enough, and he didn't want to attract attention.
No one had yet emerged from the Great Thunderclap Monastery. Ye Fan left the Bodhi tree and returned to the ancient temple.
By now, seven or eight more people had found Buddhist artifacts, each different. Liu Yunzhi actually found half of a golden pestle behind the stone Buddha. Though it had been buried in dust for who knows how many years, it was still gleaming and gave a heavy, condensed feel. If not for the damage at one end, it would have been a perfect, powerful piece of craftsmanship.
This pestle, shaped like a scepter, had a formidable name in Buddhism: the Vajra Pestle, symbolizing the meaning of "destroying enemies." It represented invincible, indestructible wisdom and true Buddha nature, a weapon held by all venerable saints.
If Buddhas existed in the world, this Vajra Pestle was undoubtedly a sacred object, bound to have extraordinary phenomena. Even if it possessed the mysterious power to split mountains and sever rivers, it wouldn't be surprising. But for now, no divine qualities were visible.
Liu Yunzhi swung it forcefully, and the half Vajra Pestle cut through the air like a golden lightning bolt, shining brightly and full of momentum.
"What do you think? If these artifacts were once held by gods, and we figure out how to use them, what earth-shattering scene would unfold..."
Hearing Liu Yunzhi's words, everyone who had found Buddhist artifacts was filled with longing.