Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!

Chapter 1949 1419: Domain of Faith! Mahayana Buddhist Law and Chief Divine Law

"Causes and conditions come together, and all dharmas are accomplished. In a Good Karma Blessed Land, what has been accumulated from past causes bears fruit without error; good karma will surely ripen into good results!…""To be able to meet the Mongolian Golden Chief today is truly the good karma cultivated in a past life! I only hate that I cannot sit with you on the bare ground, drink tea and watch the sea, drink wine under the moon… only then would we be worthy of this karmic encounter!…"

"…"

Zuwaro was dressed in Ceremonial Dress, with Cloth Armor underneath and a Feather Crown on his head, his face full of bewilderment. He looked at the smiling Great Merchant Mori no Kiyoshi, who was bowing respectfully, and in particular stared at the man's bright Silk Straight Robe and headgear. Those greetings full of Buddhist doctrine, once passed through the Ainu Translator, always took on a strange flavor.

For example: "We met in our previous lives, and that's why we have the cause to meet again in this one, and such a meeting is very very good, it will bring even better things in the future?"…

Hearing this, Zuwaro was quite astonished. He furrowed his brow, thought for a moment, recalled many heroic names from Nava myths, and then probed.

"May the Chief Divine protect us! Could it be that you are a Reincarnated Heroic Spirit of the Highland Tribes on the Nava Plateau? Before you reincarnated, were you also a little butterfly and a little bird from the Red Divine Kingdom?…"

"Huh? Very high, very high Mountains and Highland? Red palaces? Tibetan Esoteric Sect? Butterflies and birds reincarnating?… Uh!…"

This time it was the Great Merchant Mori no Kiyoshi's turn to be speechless. By the Buddhist view of reincarnation, wasn't this basically saying he had been reborn from the animal realm into a human? But considering that, as recorded in the Tang Book, the Mongolian Tribes did indeed believe in Tibetan Secret Sect, their customs Barbaric, and their notions all quite different from the Tiantai Secret Sect…

After a long while, Mori no Kiyoshi still forced himself to keep smiling and replied.

"Honored Mongolian Golden Chief! The Buddhist Law came east from India and did indeed pass across the Tubo Plateau before reaching the Central Plains and opening up the Mahayana path… but our Tiantai Secret Sect lineage is inherited from Fujujingang Zuicheng Shangren six hundred years ago! As for the Yuan Invasion… ahem, the Vajrayana lineage believed in by the various Mongolian Tribes probably also comes from Padmasambhava of Tubo in roughly the same era… our lineages are different. And in my previous life, I should not have been a butterfly or a bird!…"

"Ah! So you are not a Reincarnated Heroic Spirit of the Highland Tribes? Then we definitely did not meet in a past life! Our encounter has nothing to do with past lives; it is the arrangement of the Chief Divine at this very moment!… Still, if you want a drink, I do have a Skin Bag of Deer Blood Wine here—nothing is more invigorating! Tamicao, bring me the Skin Bag with the wine!…"

"Yes, Captain!"

"...Uh! This? This wine? It's Blood Wine?!…"

Mori no Kiyoshi stared wide‑eyed at the wine Skin Bag in his hand. The red liquid inside exuded a strong stench of blood! If he were an ordained monk, a single mouthful would violate two of the "great precepts." Even as a layman still wearing his hair, one sip of this Blood Wine would leave him miserable for quite some time…

"What? You suspect I've poisoned it and don't dare drink?…"

Zuwaro smiled, took the Deer Blood Wine, and "ton, ton" gulped down two big mouthfuls. Then he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and passed it back to Mori no Kiyoshi.

"Try it! I added some chili, dried tomato, and salt—this is authentic Highland flavor! All the Tribal Warriors around me say it's good when they drink it! I can hardly bear to let them have it, seeing as there isn't much chili left…"

"Buddha above! These Barbaric Mongolian Tribes! They actually use blood to brew wine?!…"

Mori no Kiyoshi cursed inwardly, then, having no choice, reluctantly raised the Skin Bag and took a tiny sip. At once a salty, spicy, and bloody taste rushed from his mouth straight up to the crown of his head! Another wave of scorching heat surged down into his lower belly, as though he had swallowed a ball of Fire. Mori no Kiyoshi's face first went green, then flushed red; he nearly vomited on the spot!

"Ugh!…"

"Hahaha! Your capacity for wine is no good at all!…"

Seeing Mori no Kiyoshi's sorry state, Zuwaro burst out laughing, and the surrounding Kingdom's Warriors, Unanga Warriors, Deer Clan Hunters, and Jurchen Warriors all roared with laughter as well.

"Hahaha! He can't even get down something as good as Deer Blood Wine! How's he going to survive the winter!"

"Exactly! A chieftain this skinny and weak can actually command so many Warriors among the Japanese and become a Chieftain?"

"Huitzilopo Great Divine Spirit! A Chieftain must be strong, and a Priest must also be strong! Only then, out on the snowy plains and in the Forest Sea, in the White Mountain Black Water, can the Tribes have a future of continuity!…"

"Right! If you want to live, you must follow a divine stag, or follow a Wolf King!…"

In that moment, amid the joking laughter of the various Warriors, an invisible yet almost tangible line seemed to divide Mori no Kiyoshi and Zuwaro, to divide the characteristics of their Tribes, to divide their spiritual worlds, and even more to divide their Domains of Faith!

On one side of this invisible line stood the Tiantai Secret Sect from which Mori no Kiyoshi hailed, the Tiantai Sect from the Central Lands, the Mahayana Buddhism that came from the Han Land!

A more stable agrarian life and highly developed productive forces had, over ages of time, precipitated speculative and profound religious philosophy. Upon the fertile soil of abundance and culture, Monks needed not labor and enjoyed ample conditions for cultivation. The ideas they brought deeply influenced the spiritual world of East Asia and, together with the more settled and prosperous Confucianism, had long since firmly occupied the Domain of Faith of the Ming Dynasty, Korea, Japan, Northern Vietnam… occupying the upper strata of the entire East Asia!

On the other side of this invisible line was the "Tibetan Secret" that Mori no Kiyoshi knew of, and the "Chief Divine Hummingbird" he had yet to learn about! This belief, reeking of Wilderness blood, had evolved out of ancient Sacrificial Rites; it was more simple and plain, easy to understand. It possessed more tenets driven by fear and provided more anesthesia from body to Spirit, naturally better suited to harsh environments with low productivity, suited to the Barbaric Tribes struggling in those environments!

Wealth and poverty, stability and migration, wisdom and purity, compassion and fear, reflection and obedience… the differences between the two sides of this line of faith were simply vast beyond measure! In a certain sense, the Kingdom's Chief Divine faith could never spread into the prosperous Celestial Empire Han Land, and it was almost impossible for it to penetrate the upper echelons of the Capital City of Japan!

And the Chief Divine Hummingbird's competitor—the faith niche it occupied—almost completely overlapped with Tibetan Buddhism! The sky it could fly through always lay north of the prosperous agrarian zones, over those cold and barren lands, among those Tribes struggling in hardship, from blood to snow!…

"Buddha above! *Cough, cough!* Honored Golden Chief… I think we can begin to trade some more precious 'Wealth' now…"

Mori no Kiyoshi steadied his breath and returned the Blood Wine to Zuwaro. Then, pursing his lips, he gestured toward the third merchant ship… Dozens of Craftsmen, all looking uneasy, were herded off the ship with their families by seven Monk Soldiers.

"The Buddha cut his flesh to feed the eagle, walked the path of the compassionate Bodhisattva, practicing self-sacrifice and almsgiving to save…"

Mori no Kiyoshi put on a look of compassion, chanting Scripture as he bowed his head from the heart. Then he bowed deeply to the dozens of cowering Craftsmen as though facing a compassionate Buddha statue.

"Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva! You all travel far to the Northern Ezo, accumulating good karma to instruct the Shandan people; your merit is beyond measure! The Cash you receive in return will also be used to do good and accumulate virtue, to distribute food to refugees, to cast a Golden Body for the Buddha… The Buddha is compassionate! Since you all are performing such great good, you will surely receive blessed rewards in future lives and ultimately, through cultivation over lifetimes, attain Buddhahood!…"

"Come forward, come forward! Practice the Perfection of Giving and give rise to the Six Perfections… Mori no Kiyoshi here bids farewell and bows to you all, you virtuous devotees!…"