Notes on Longevity

Chapter 61 Time flows like water, clear water speaks of respect

It was the 20th day of the autumn month in the 22nd year of Wen Shang's reign, at dusk.

Yellow clouds piled up in the sky, and children formed a forest in the mountains.

On the largest platform of Zouma Temple, hundreds of disciples, swords in hand, marched in sync with the sword-wielding movements of a man in a gray Taoist robe at the very front.

There was a significant age difference between them; some were only a few years apart, while others were already in their forties. As the sword moved, their mouths uttered the following words: "There is something undifferentiated and complete, which existed before heaven and earth. Silent and still, it stands alone and unchanging, ever-present and inexhaustible, and can be regarded as the mother of heaven and earth."

"The spirit of the valley never dies; it is called the mysterious female. The gate of the mysterious female is called the root of heaven and earth. It exists continuously and inexhaustibly, and its use is inexhaustible."

"Man follows the earth, the earth follows the sky, heaven follows the Tao, and the Tao follows nature!"

The sound echoed through the mountains and forests.

"Junior brother, are you still reading?" Yu Yan carried the medicine soup and walked into Ping An's room from the already cool night.

He placed the medicine in front of Ping An, who was reading a book, and said with concern, "Drink your medicine first; your health is the most important thing."

Upon hearing this, Ping An put down the Taiyi Golden Flower Principle in his hand, closed it, and raised his face, which was gradually maturing, with delicate features and a slightly handsome appearance: "Thank you, Senior Brother."

"It's nothing, we're all disciples, no need to be so polite." Yu Yan rested her chin on her hand, watching Ping An's rosy face as he drank his medicine. "It's much better than before."

After slowly finishing her medicine, Ping An put down the bowl and gently wiped the medicine stains from the corner of her mouth with her hand. "Thank you for serving me meals and medicine every day for the past two years, Senior Brother."

“This can also be considered a form of cultivation,” Yu Yan said with a smile.

Although Ping An is only thirteen years old, his mind has already fully developed over the past two years. He understands that Yu Yan is comforting him, so he also smiled and said, "There are things in the world that are born from heaven and earth. Flowers and grasses all have spirits; birds and beasts all have intelligence. They all absorb the energy of heaven and earth and the essence of the sun and moon to cultivate themselves. They can become spirits, demons, or even attain the Dao. All things cultivate themselves together with heaven and earth and the sun and moon. Individuals cultivate themselves differently. However, there are thousands of methods in the world. Apart from spiritual cultivation, there are still thousands of other methods."

Yu Yan was slightly shocked by what Ping An said, because he had never heard anyone say these things before, not even his master, Qing Shui. Yu Yan stared at him blankly, then asked curiously, "Who taught you these things?"

Ping An remained calm: "In the book."

“I have read and studied the three thousand volumes of the Daoist Canon, but I have never seen this sentence before. Where did you see it?” Yu Yan asked, puzzled. He looked at the Taiyi Golden Flower Principle in front of Ping An, his brows furrowed.

“It’s in the Three Thousand Daoist Canons,” Ping An said.

Upon hearing this, Yu Yan rubbed his forehead and smiled wryly, feeling as if he had been tricked. But seeing Ping An's calm and composed expression, he couldn't help but ask, "What about the three thousand Daoist scriptures?"

“But it’s more than three thousand?” Ping An’s words stunned him. He stared at Ping An, speechless for a long time.

But he was deeply shocked. Was he really just a thirteen-year-old child? How did he start speaking in riddles like the Old Ancestor of Yuyang?

When he saw Ping An pick up a book and start reading again, he tactfully left Ping An's room.

As he walked back to his room, he pondered Ping An's words, but he couldn't quite understand them. So he looked up at the waning moon in the sky.

The waning moon resembled a hook, and at its center seemed to be a dark shadow. Yu Yan rubbed her eyes in surprise, turning back to look at Ping An in the room with a look of horror. But Ping An was quietly reading a book by candlelight.

So he looked at the crescent moon again, but suddenly it became enormous, almost within reach. He watched as Ping An sat cross-legged on the crescent moon, holding a book and engrossed in it, seemingly lost in thought, his body unable to move.

Yu Yan slowly opened his eyes, but the glaring sunlight outside the window made his eyes sting, so he closed them again.

"Ping An." Yu Yan lay on the bed with his eyes closed for a while, but his mind was filled with the image of Ping An sitting on the crescent moon reading a book. So he quickly got dressed and ran to Ping An's room without even washing up. But when he pushed open the door, the room was very tidy, but Ping An was nowhere to be seen.

He went out of the room and found a Taoist priest who lived near Ping An and asked, "Junior brother, have you seen Ping An?"

“I saw it. He went up to the mountaintop with the abbot early this morning.”

"The mountaintop?" Yu Yan lowered her hand from the room that was pointing at Ping An, her gaze following the mountaintop.

The Taoist gate, the forest path, the red pavilion, and the river flow along the way. On the stone platform at the top of the mountain, two old people and a child sit together.

"Do you know about your master's past?" Yu Yang asked, staring at Ping An.

Ping An shook his head, his expression slightly solemn, and said, "I have never asked, and Master has never mentioned it."

"That was more than forty years ago." Shimizu shook his head helplessly.

"What's wrong with Master?" Ping An asked.

“A hundred years of life is but a fleeting moment. Your master was named Zhang Jinggong. In his youth, he was a man of great talent and unparalleled literary skill. It’s just a pity that he was young and arrogant, lacked true talent, and held a high position in the court, so he was inevitably ostracized!” Qingshui sighed.

"Did Master ever serve as an official before?" Ping An asked, puzzled upon hearing the words "court."

“I have done it, and once I became an official, I was a high-ranking one,” Shimizu said.

"Could you tell me about my master?" Ping An looked at Qing Shui, eager to know about her master's past.

"can."

"What official position does Master hold?"

"Besides teaching you the classics of Taoism, what else did your master teach you?" Qingshui looked at Ping An with a meaningful gaze.

Upon hearing this, Ping An thought about it for a long time, and finally he remembered what he had been taught for the first time when he was four years old.

"Moral principles and righteousness cannot be established without propriety; teachings and correcting customs cannot be complete without propriety; disputes and litigation cannot be resolved without propriety; the relationships between rulers and subjects, fathers and sons, and brothers cannot be established without propriety." This was the first sentence his master told Ping An when he first started learning.

“Yes, your master was a famous scholar of etiquette.” Qingshui looked at Ping’an and said, “I first met him when I was traveling to a village in Beishan County. At that time, this place produced a top scholar and a third-place scholar, but they both resigned from their official posts and returned to this place to teach.”

“At the time, I found it strange that someone could pass the imperial examination with top honors but not become an official. Later, I learned from the villagers that there was a Taoist temple on the mountain in this village, where several Taoist practitioners lived. That’s when I met your master.”

"Didn't Master become an official? How did you meet my Master in the Taoist temple?" Ping An was very confused.

"Although he wasn't the youngest top scholar in our dynasty, he was certainly the youngest Minister of Rites in the thousand-year history of the Yan Dynasty. Unfortunately, the court was treacherous, and coupled with his arrogance, he offended many people, ultimately being demoted and exiled to Longtan Village in Beishan County."

"Master was the top scholar in the imperial examination? And he even served as the Minister of Rites?"

"I've done it before, and I've done it."

(End of this chapter)