chapter 1

When I was three years old, I was adopted by Hongfu Temple in Chang’an City.

The thirty-five volumes of the True Sutra that Tang Sanzang and his disciples brought back in those days were all initially kept at Hongfu Temple.

Since childhood, I have been familiar with the story of how Tang Sanzang and his disciples endured eighty-one tribulations before finally obtaining the True Sutra.

I also listened to the Masters in the temple speak admiringly of how, after Tang Sanzang returned from his journey, he could have attained Buddhahood instantly, yet willingly remained in his mortal body, spending more than a dozen years in the human world just to personally transcribe and translate all the True Sutra.

When I was six, my Master gave me the Dharma name Bu Yi. Under his guidance, I began to recite and copy the thirty-five volumes of the True Sutra every day.

Although I never truly understood the profound meaning of the scriptures, whenever I thought about how Tang Sanzang and his disciples risked their lives to retrieve the True Sutra, and remembered the stories about Tang Sanzang that circulated in the temple, I always felt it was my own dullness that kept me from comprehending them.

But when I saw the worshippers in the temple, their faces full of sorrow, and overheard their unfortunate experiences as they knelt before the Buddha statues, I couldn’t help but wonder: wasn’t it said that once the True Sutra was retrieved, all beings would be freed from suffering?

Then why did they still come to pray and worship the Buddha?

I asked my Master, but each time he only gave me vague answers.

Or he would simply tell me, “The Buddha says: it cannot be spoken.”

It seemed to mean that I should seek understanding on my own.

Unfortunately, I could never quite grasp it.