132: Chapter 132 Buddhist Philosophy
"If the man standing dies, the way to live lies with—the next person standing."
These words fell into Zixiao Palace like a drop of water falling into a calm lake.
Ripples spread out, circle after circle.
Jieyin looked at Lu Mingyuan, his gaze holding something new.
"The next person standing?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"Yes. The next one."
He looked at Jieyin, then at the people below the stage.
"At The Rift, one hundred and eighty people died. They stood and stood, until they collapsed. But when they fell, someone else stepped up to take their place."
He paused.
"Tie Niu fell, but the person he saved stood up. I don't know that person's name. But I know he is still alive. He is still standing by the edge of The Rift."
Jieyin asked:
"Then what about those who died?"
Lu Mingyuan was silent for a moment.
"The dead are still here."
Jieyin raised an eyebrow.
"Still here?"
Lu Mingyuan said:
"In the hearts of the living. On the path the living walk. In the things the living do for them."
He looked at Jieyin.
"Senior, your Buddhism speaks of Reincarnation. Those who die go to Reincarnation. But before they reincarnate, where are they? In the hearts of the living."
Jieyin looked at him for a long, long time.
Then, he asked:
"Do you know what Buddhism teaches?"
Lu Mingyuan said:
"I know a little. Emptiness and Existence are Not Two."
Jieyin nodded.
"Correct. Emptiness and Existence are Not Two. Emptiness is not nothingness. Existence is not true permanence. Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form."
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
"You said just now that the dead are in the hearts of the living. Those words carry the meaning of Emptiness and Existence are Not Two."
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
"Does Senior mean that death is emptiness and life is existence? But emptiness contains existence, and existence contains emptiness?"
Jieyin smiled.
That smile was very faint.
As faint as moonlight.
"Did you realize this yourself?"
Lu Mingyuan shook his head.
"No. I learned it from Shaolin Temple."
He paused.
"When I was at Shaolin, Zen Master Huijue told me a Koan. Someone asked what the great meaning of the Buddha-dharma was. Huijue said, the snow simply falls."
Jieyin asked:
"Did you understand?"
Lu Mingyuan said:
"I didn't understand then. I understood later."
Jieyin asked:
"When was 'later'?"
Lu Mingyuan said:
"When I was standing by the edge of The Rift."
He looked at Jieyin.
"The snow simply falls. The demon soldiers simply come. I simply stand. When the standing is done, the snow has melted, the demon soldiers are dead, and I am still standing. But the 'me' who is standing is not the same as the 'me' before I stood."
He paused.
"Emptiness is not nothingness. It is change. Existence is not lack of change. It is what remains."
Jieyin was silent for a moment.
Then, he asked:
"What is that 'what remains' of yours?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
"It is the heart."
Jieyin asked:
"The heart?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"The body will die, the dharma will perish, and the Dao will be severed. But the heart, as long as someone takes it up, remains."
He looked at Jieyin.
"Tie Niu is dead. His heart is with the person he saved. As long as that person lives another day, Tie Niu's heart lives another day. If that person passes it on, Tie Niu's heart is passed on further."
He paused.
"When it is passed to the very end, to the day that Rift is finally mended—on that day, Tie Niu's heart will be there too."
Jieyin looked at him, light appearing in his eyes.
"You believe this?"
Lu Mingyuan said:
"I believe it."
Jieyin asked:
"On what grounds do you believe?"
Lu Mingyuan said:
"Because I am the one taking it up."
He looked at Jieyin.
"I am taking up the hearts of those who died. I am taking up the heart of Daoist Songyun. I am taking up the things Master Xuanweizi taught me. I am taking up the things given to me by everyone I met on the road from Zhongnan Mountain to The Rift, and from The Rift to Zixiao Palace."
He took a step forward.
"Senior, your Buddhism speaks of Legacy. The cassock is passed down, the scriptures are passed down, the Zen staff is passed down. But is it really the cassock that is passed down? Is it really the scriptures? Is it really the staff?"
He looked at Jieyin.
"What is passed down is the heart."
Jieyin was silent.
For a long, long time.
Then, he suddenly smiled.
That smile was even fainter than before.
But within that faintness, there was something.
There was the relief of someone who, after seeing through everything, had finally found an answer.
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
"Young friend, do you know why This poor monk came to Zixiao Palace?"
Lu Mingyuan shook his head.
Jieyin said:
"Because This poor monk had one thing I have thought about for tens of thousands of years and could not understand."
Lu Mingyuan asked:
"What thing?"
Jieyin said:
"Emptiness and Existence are Not Two. Emptiness is existence, and existence is emptiness. But how do emptiness and existence transform? How does emptiness become existence, and how does existence become emptiness?"
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
"You said just now that the heart takes it up. This poor monk has taken those words to heart."
He paused.
"The difference between emptiness and existence is but a single heart. If the heart is there, existence can be passed down. If the heart is there, emptiness can become existence. If the heart is not there, even existence is emptiness."
He looked at Lu Mingyuan, giving him a deep look.
"Young friend, thank you."
Lu Mingyuan was stunned for a moment.
"Thank me?"
Jieyin nodded.
"Thank you for helping This poor monk understand."
He turned and walked toward his seat.
After a few steps, he suddenly stopped.
He did not look back.
"Young friend, you understand half of the Buddhist Dao."
Lu Mingyuan asked:
"What about the other half?"
Jieyin said:
"The other half is—Emptiness and Existence are Not Two is not to make people not have attachments. It is to let people know what to be attached to."
He continued walking forward.
"Be attached to that heart that can be passed down."
He walked back to his seat and sat down.
As he sat, the light on his body changed.
It was no longer that faint, flickering light.
It was a solid, heavy light, like a mountain.
But within that solidity, there was emptiness.
Within that heaviness, there was lightness.
Silence filled Zixiao Palace.
Then, someone lightly clapped.
It was the old general wearing white armor.
He looked at Lu Mingyuan with something in his eyes.
It was the look of a man on the battlefield seeing a comrade.
Yuanshi Tianzun's voice rang out.
"The third round is concluded."
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
There was something in his gaze.
Something complex, increasingly complex, and indefinable.
"The fourth round, the Human Sect asks."
He looked below the stage.
"Xuandu, you come."
Xuandu?
Laozi's only Disciple, the Eldest Senior Brother of the Human Sect, the one who was said in legends to most resemble Laozi.
A man wearing a greenish-gray Daoist robe stood up.
He looked very ordinary.
So ordinary that if thrown into a crowd, he could not be found.
But as soon as he stood up, everyone went quiet.
Because that ordinariness was not true ordinariness.
It was the kind of ordinariness where the Great Dao is simple.
It was the kind of ordinariness of returning to one's true self.
He walked to the edge of the stage and looked at Lu Mingyuan on the stage.
His gaze was very calm.
As calm as a pool of stagnant water.
But within that stagnant water, there was something.
There was the kind of thing that sees through everything but says nothing.
"Young friend, this poor Daoist has a question."
Lu Mingyuan cupped his hands.
"Please speak."
Xuandu asked:
"You say the heart takes it up. But what is it that the heart takes up?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
"It is the Dao."
Xuandu asked:
"What is the Dao?"
Lu Mingyuan fell silent.
This question was too big.
Too big to answer.
Xuandu looked at him, his gaze showing no urgency.
He just waited.
Waiting for him to answer.
Lu Mingyuan stood there, held by that gaze.
He suddenly remembered something.
When he was on Zhongnan Mountain, Xuanweizi had asked him the same question.
Back then, he couldn't answer.
What about now?
Could he answer now?
He didn't know.
But he knew he had to answer.
Because this was the Human Sect asking.
Because this was Laozi's only Disciple asking.
Because this was—the fourth round of the discourse on the Dao.
He looked at Xuandu and took a deep breath.
Then, he spoke.
"Senior Xuandu, I will answer you."
He took a step forward.
"The Dao is simply walking the path."