[Mainland Chinese Drama 2017] Not to Fail God, Not to Fail You 不负如来不负卿

[sugarplum892]

Details:

Chinese title: 不负如来不负卿 / Bu Fu Ru Lai, Bu Fu Qing
English title: Not to fail God, Not to fail You

Genre: Ancient, Time-Travel, Romance

Episodes: 20

Director: 

Broadcast Period: 12/20/2017

Novel: Faithful to Buddha, Faithful to You 不负如来不负卿

Cast:

Rong Zhuo

Niu Zi Fan

Aliya

Yang Ting Dong

Yu Hao Yang

Synopsis:

In order to verify history, Aiqing became a lab rat and repeatedly traveled through time and space in a time machine. Fate led her to meet a famous ancient monk. Standing between them wasn’t just the distance of thousands of years, but also chaos and war, and his pious heart to Buddha.

She was his friend and teacher in their youth, their affection tender and warm. Together, they went through hardship as adults and kept a smile for each other in their old age. “For example, lotuses do not grow on dry land, but they grow in wet mud.” He suffered unfortunate ups and downs. He weathered wind and frost. He became a revered reverend. But could he hold onto his life’s greatest love?

Beyond the earthly realm were Buddha and the Dharma. In the earthly realm were feelings of love. Camel bells rang the song of the West. One thousand and six hundred years ago, a pure love took its journey along the Silk Road. How to be faithful to both Buddha and love…

Ashamed that my feelings have dirtied the holy path,
I remained afraid of the alluring beauty after I entered the mountain.
How do I fulfill both?
So that I may stay faithful to Buddha and to you?

Cr shushengbar

 

**Please use spoiler tags for those who have not seen the episodes yet**

[spoiler ]enter your spoiler here without the spaces inside the brackets[ /spoiler]

Preview:

 

 

OSTs:

 

 

Additional Links:

Not to Fail God, Not to Fail You 不负如来不负卿 Raw Episodes

Faithful to Buddha, Faithful to You 不负如来不负卿 English Novel Translation

 

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[Yeekrfan2]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Yeekrfan2]

[sugarplum892]

new stills below, and can someone enlighten me?  I thought monks are not allowed to fall in love...

 

 

cr avirtualvoyage

 

[nelomello]

On 12/7/2017 at 1:57 AM, sugarplum892 said:

 

new stills below, and can someone enlighten me?  I thought monks are not allowed to fall in love...

 

I think that’s the whole point of the drama.

A pious monk has to choose between following the “path to holiness” or his heart because he clearly cant have both.

 

and for the female lead she knows the male lead is supposed to become a reknown monk who spreads buddhism in other areas, so would she help him achieve his destiny at the price of losing the love of her life?

 

I’m glad the drama kept the time traveling aspect of the story but (although I cant understand a word) I think they’ve clearly changed a lot of the plot.... I don’t know yet if I’m happy or not with the adaptation lol

[nelomello]

@angelangie hehe ikr but I really enjoyed reading the original novel version of this drama so I was excited for it to come out  although there has been (and probably will be) many time travel dramas recently I think this one portrays an emotional and (in a certain way) ethical dilemma that is not usually portrayed in dramas 

[sugarplum892]

13 hours ago, nelomello said:

I think that’s the whole point of the drama.

A pious monk has to choose between following the “path to holiness” or his heart because he clearly cant have both.

 

and for the female lead she knows the male lead is supposed to become a reknown monk who spreads buddhism in other areas, so would she help him achieve his destiny at the price of losing the love of her life?

 

I’m glad the drama kept the time traveling aspect of the story but (although I cant understand a word) I think they’ve clearly changed a lot of the plot.... I don’t know yet if I’m happy or not with the adaptation lol

ahh okay i get it now lol...but now I am thinking how attractive can a monk be?

[crackaddict]

Full disclaimer, my family is Buddhist. 

 

but DANG that young adult monk is so handsome! I think you can find someone good looking but not necessarily lust after them. I think the issue here is the very close interaction between the female MC and male MC that eventually developed into romantic feelings. Normal lay people, especially women, wouldn't necessarily have that same proximity. 

 

I just skimmed the novel so I'm not sure where the romantic buildup started either but from what I gleaned of it... there seemed to be an affinity (intellectual, philosophical, eventually emotional) between the two characters that seemed to develop into romantic attraction. Also, it looks like the drama adaptation seems to have changed quite a few things (of course, I only read a few chapters). 

 

Reflecting back on the novel, I didn't expect the lead female in the drama to be so attractive or anything...but the drama actress kinda looks like an auntie. Sorry if that offends anyone. It's not that she's unattractive; she's definitely intelligent and elegant looking, but I just expected her to look younger since she's in her early 20s in the beginning of the novel (right?).

[nelomello]

On 1/2/2018 at 3:04 AM, crackaddict said:

i just skimmed the novel so I'm not sure where the romantic buildup started either but from what I gleaned of it... there seemed to be an affinity (intellectual, philosophical, eventually emotional) between the two characters that seemed to develop into romantic attraction. Also, it looks like the drama adaptation seems to have changed quite a few things (of course, I only read a few chapters). 

I agree that it wasn’t really about the physical attraction but more of an emotional bond between the two... though there was a scene in the book where the female lead thinks the young monk is attractive... I was kind of disturbed since the monk was like 13.... 

 

 

On 1/2/2018 at 3:04 AM, crackaddict said:

Reflecting back on the novel, I didn't expect the lead female in the drama to be so attractive or anything...but the drama actress kinda looks like an auntie. Sorry if that offends anyone. It's not that she's unattractive; she's definitely intelligent and elegant looking, but I just expected her to look younger since she's in her early 20s in the beginning of the novel (right?).

I didn’t like the the casting either :<

 

 

On 1/1/2018 at 1:28 AM, sugarplum892 said:

ahh okay i get it now lol...but now I am thinking how attractive can a monk be?

Umm I dont think it’s fair to brand all monks as unattractive >.<

[sugarplum892]

30 minutes ago, nelomello said:

 

Umm I dont think it’s fair to brand all monks as unattractive >.<

1

 I just don't have much knowledge or exposure about monks.  Except that their impressions are calm and unexpressive.  So with that, i was wondering how can someone like an individual who doesn't show how they feel about things.

[nelomello]

22 hours ago, sugarplum892 said:

 I just don't have much knowledge or exposure about monks.  Except that their impressions are calm and unexpressive.  So with that, i was wondering how can someone like an individual who doesn't show how they feel about things.

lol I get what you mean.

Still I think that is the stereotypical view of a monk or the ideal image which monks try to be. But monks are still human beings with their own unique characteristics which cannot be easily abandoned or changed (unless they've achieved enlightenment). So there are many types of monks as there are many types of priests, or teachers or in any other profession.

 

This applies very well with the male lead. Kumarajiva is admired and honored in his own time as a great (ideal) monk and he clearly knows this and tries to live up to all the expectations but keeps failing because no matter how much like the Buddha he wants to be he simply isn't Buddha. He has to struggle with his own feelings and demons which for me makes him more humane and relatable as a character. I don't think I would have loved the novel if Kumarajiva was portrayed an emotionless and 'transcendent' monk who overcomes everything easily.

 

On the drama note, I wonder how they will end the show with only 8 episodes left. They clearly will not be following the book.

....