Notes on Longevity

Chapter 91 What is destined to be yours will be yours; what is not, you cannot force.

"I remember that Taoism is divided into two schools: Quanzhen and Zhengyi. One focuses on quiet cultivation, training the body and mind, and cultivating both nature and life; the other focuses on talismans, practicing internal alchemy, and exorcising demons and ghosts. Zouma Temple combines both schools. I wonder which school or sect Master Ping An practices? Are there any dietary restrictions?"

Inside the Emperor Wenshang's palace, his appearance unchanged, he looked at Ping An sitting opposite him and the box beside him and smiled gently.

This afternoon, the eunuch who delivered food to Crown Prince Li Bohong told him that the prince had made an appointment with a Taoist priest that evening, saying he was going to Penglai to seek immortality. Upon hearing that it was about seeking immortality, he sent people to wait outside the palace early in the morning, so that as soon as the Taoist priest arrived, they could be delivered to him.

Ping An looked at the Emperor Wenshang in front of him, sat down and bowed to him before speaking: "I have never belonged to any sect, I am just a Taoist priest, but my daily diet is mainly Quanzhen, and I usually eat vegetarian food."

"Oh," Emperor Wenshang nodded with some confusion, and said to a young eunuch standing to the side, "Eunuch Qing, have the imperial kitchen prepare vegetarian food for today. We will not eat any meat." He thought for a moment and then added, "Taoist Master Ping'an will be visiting the Crown Prince tomorrow, so prepare vegetarian food for him as well."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Eunuch Qing replied, then walked out of the palace and closed the door behind him. Now, only Emperor Ping An and Emperor Wen Shang remained in the palace.

"No faction?" After the door closed, Emperor Wenshang voiced his confusion. "I remember that after entering the temple, disciples of Zouma Temple are asked to choose the path of cultivation. Why does Master Ping'an say that he has never belonged to any faction?"

A trace of sadness flashed across Ping An's melancholy face as he spoke, "My master and I are not casual disciples. Moreover, since I was born, I have followed my master on a journey to seek immortality. My master has no faction, so naturally I do not."

"Oh?" Emperor Wen Shang was even more puzzled. "If you're not a disciple of the traveling monks, then you must be a hermit in the mountains or a wandering Taoist priest. May I ask who your master is? Would you mind telling me? If you are a wandering Taoist priest, you may have been to the capital, and I might have even met you."

“His Majesty must have seen or heard of him.” Ping An remembered that his Uncle Qingshui had told him that his master’s real name was Zhang Jinggong, who had once been the top scholar in the imperial examination and had served as an official. So the Emperor Wenshang should naturally know about him.

"Oh? What is your master's Taoist name?" Emperor Wenshang suddenly became interested. What he had just said was just a polite remark, but he did not expect that he actually knew about Ping An's master.

“My master’s Taoist name is Qing Xuanzi, and his secular name is Zhang Jinggong,” Ping An said.

Emperor Qingxuanzi had never heard of Zhang Jinggong, but the name sounded very familiar to him. He remembered a Minister of Rites named Zhang Jinggong who had been demoted during the Shangyuan era, and he had admired him for his decisive and efficient manner. Moreover, he had heard that Zhang Jinggong had later entered the Daoist sect on a mountain in Longtan Village, Beishan County, Fuyun Prefecture, and was wholeheartedly seeking immortality through the Dao. Seeking immortality through the Dao? Could it be such a coincidence?

"Which sect of Taoism is your master from?" Although she had a guess in her heart, she still wasn't sure, after all, there aren't that many coincidences in this world. But Ping An said he had seen or heard of him, so she wasn't quite sure either. She could only ask tentatively.

"My master entered the Daoist path in Longtan Village, Fuyun Prefecture."

Sure enough, what a coincidence! He hadn't expected it to be the same person he had once admired. He also hadn't expected Ping An to be Zhang Jinggong's apprentice.

Emperor Wen Shang smiled. He had once sat in this very spot, facing Qing Shui, and heard Qing Shui say to him, "If Your Majesty were to ask what the most wondrous thing in this world is, it would undoubtedly be the word 'fate'."

He asked, "Why?"

Qingshui smiled and replied, "What do we cultivators seek? One is to be pure of heart and free from desires, to have a heart as still as water to observe the changes of all things in the world. As long as we do not go against the normal course of the world, we will not disturb its initial operation, we will not stop its growth process, and we will not change its outcome."

"Secondly, one seeks the path to immortality, the method to become an immortal, to escape the mortal world, and ascend to heaven. Both of these depend on fate, and so does everything in the world." Emperor Wenshang asked in bewilderment, "May I ask if Daoist Qingshui could explain further?"

Qingshui smiled and said, "What is destined to be yours will be yours, and what is not destined to be yours, you cannot force. The way of the Tao can be cultivated and sought, but it cannot be forced."

Emperor Wen Shang was even more perplexed. He couldn't understand it at all: "What does it mean that this cannot be forced?"

"There are countless people in this world who cultivate the Tao. Besides the disciples who have left home to become monks in Taoist temples, there are also lay practitioners who cultivate at home. The so-called enlightenment does not depend on the length of time, but on fate. When the time is right, everything you understand can help you attain the Tao. If you do not have the right fate, no matter how high your understanding is, you still have to wait."

"But if all the conditions are right, and you seize the opportunity to ride the wind and soar into the clouds, you can attain enlightenment in an instant; if you don't seize it, even if an immortal personally imparts the Dharma, it will be difficult to ascend to the immortal realm. This is the wonder of the word 'predestination'."

"The same applies to encounters between people: when fate brings them together, they gather; when fate separates them, they disperse. The same applies to the imperial court and the changing of dynasties."

Emperor Wenshang nodded, a wry smile on his face as he looked at Ping An, "I have indeed seen and heard of him. Not only that, I also admired him when I was still the Crown Prince."

"Your Majesty, I have a request, and I humbly ask that Your Majesty enlighten me." Ping An suddenly stood up and bowed deeply to Emperor Wenshang. His words were full of sincerity.

"What is it?" Emperor Wenshang asked.

“I have heard Uncle Qingshui talk about Master’s life. I know that he was educated, passed the imperial examination with top honors, and served as an official. But Ping’an doesn’t understand what Master did to be demoted by the late emperor.”

Ping An remained bowed, his plea growing stronger, for he simply couldn't understand how such a young top scholar, such a young Minister of Rites, a man with such a promising future and limitless potential, could end up being demoted.

"This..." Emperor Wenshang hesitated, wondering whether he should tell Ping'an the truth about what Zhang Jinggong had done back then. After all, Ping'an had been with Zhang Jinggong since childhood, and he feared that if he told the truth, Ping'an might not believe it. In addition, Ping'an was still young, and if he heard this, would it affect his Dao heart? After all, that matter was not honorable, especially for a child. If his Dao heart was not firm, it might ruin him.

"Does Your Majesty have any concerns?" Ping An looked up at Emperor Wenshang and sensed something from his hesitant expression.

"Do you want to hear the truth, or a mixture of truth and falsehood?" Those who cultivate the Tao emphasize following their hearts, letting everything unfold according to their will and the development of all things. And he himself was also a half-cultivator, so after much thought, he decided to let Ping An choose for himself.

He thought to himself that if Ping An couldn't even accept this, he was destined not to go far on his path to immortality, since the pursuit of immortality was far more difficult than this. If a comparison were to be made, what Zhang Jinggong did was merely exploiting a human weakness, a man's weakness; while seeking immortality was like trying to grasp the radiance falling from the sky in the midst of nothingness, which was almost impossible.

"The truth." Ping An also made his choice. He wanted to know what his master had done to make the Shangyuan Emperor dismiss such a young and promising Minister of Rites.

"This story begins in the spring of the fortieth year of the Shangyuan era, when your master proposed to overturn the verdict against his new position as Minister of Rites and to reform the system of rites."

(End of this chapter)