Under a bright moon with few stars, a small cottage at the foot of the shady side of the Two Chan Temple mountain was filled with loud snoring. Surprisingly, it was a plain-looking young woman who snored so ungracefully. She sprawled her limbs and occupied most of the bed. With a powerful turn, she accidentally kicked the middle-aged bald monk beside her off the bed. The poor monk sat on the ground, stunned for a while, then put on a white robe and walked out of the room. The adjacent room was partitioned into two small rooms by wooden boards. The white-robed monk tiptoed into his daughter’s room and covered her with a blanket. The girl slept restlessly, just like her mother. Then he went to his apprentice’s room and saw the little fool smiling, probably dreaming about playing somewhere with someone.
The small, sparsely decorated room was neat and clean. The shoes and socks of the two women in the house were always scattered everywhere, but this clumsy boy, Wu Nanbei, was different. He always arranged everything meticulously, just like when he lectured to the monks of the Hui generation at the temple.
The white-robed monk walked out of the cottage alone and arrived at the Thousand Buddha Hall. The walls were painted with vivid Vajra Arhat Fist Technique (Vajra Arhat Fist Techniques). The ground was uneven, with a total of 108 small footprints, each a testament to the Two Chan Temple’s most powerful demon-subduing skill. It was said that whoever could follow the 108 steps correctly while facing the wall and observing the fists would secure a place among the top three martial artists in the world. The hall was named the Thousand Buddha Hall because a new Buddha statue was carved there every year, and now there were over a thousand statues. The white-robed monk was not only the guardian of the stele of this generation but also the sculptor of the Thousand Buddha Hall.
Standing at the entrance of the hall, one could see that none of the ten directions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas were the same, and the grandeur of the three walls of boxing techniques was even more magnificent. The first patriarch of the Two Chan Temple had left a Buddhist saying: “All who enter the hall and see, hear, or know will gain the seed of Bodhi and liberation.”
Inside the hall hung a couplet: “Since the lotus steps began three thousand years ago, the hall has been rebuilt for the Arhats. After enduring eighty-one trials, the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra are preached to save all beings.”
However, since the white-robed monk returned to the Two Chan Temple from the far west, he had only carved one Arhat statue. That year, he had just brought the little monk Wu Nanbei back to the mountain.
The white-robed monk looked up at the moonlight spilling over the thousand Buddha statues and sighed deeply.
The little monk Wu Nanbei appeared behind the white-robed monk, looking worried, and asked, “Master, is the mistress going down the mountain again tomorrow?”
The white-robed monk resignedly said, “Let her go. There’s not much money left in the bowl anyway.”
Wu Nanbei sighed with an old man’s tone, “After several times of going down the mountain, she now only buys the most expensive cosmetics when she goes shopping with the mistress. What should we do in the future?”
“How did you wake up?”
“I was dreaming about holding hands with Dongxi, but she hit me with a nut, and I woke up. Sigh. Hey, why did you hit me, Master?”
“Besides holding hands, did you do anything else?”
“No, just holding hands. What else could I do?”
“Really? A monk must not lie. The Bodhisattvas and Arhats in the Thousand Buddha Hall are watching you.”
“Um, besides holding hands, I also told Dongxi that I liked her…”
“No wonder you got hit.”
“Master, the old abbot said you are the third Arhat, the Vajra Arhat, reincarnated. The scriptures say this Bodhisattva has no delusions or troubles. Why do you always get called a sourpuss by the mistress and Dongxi?”
“The head monk also said you were the last disciple of the Buddha, Subhadra the Venerable, who received the Buddha’s final teachings before entering Nirvana and attained the Bodhisattva fruit. It sounds impressive, but why don’t you show any wisdom or eloquence? Not to mention the temple and the mountain, but even in our cottage with only four people, who can you argue with?”
“Sigh, the old abbot likes to say nice things to everyone. Being praised isn’t really something to be happy about.”
“Master, why don’t you teach me to play Go?”
“Why do you want to learn Go?”
“Dongxi asked the mistress to buy two sets of Go stones when she was down the mountain, but the mistress doesn’t know how to play. Dongxi said she can’t play with you, so she has to play with me.”
“My daughter is the smartest in the world, but when it comes to learning Go, her talent isn’t that outstanding. She might even lose to you. Then the master’s copper coins will be wasted again.”
“It’s okay, I’ll let her win.”
“Fool! How many games can you let her win?”
“For a lifetime, of course. Anyway, once I achieve the relics, it won’t be that many decades.”
“Alright, it’s been a while since the master touched the Go stones. Go get the Go box.”
“Now? I dare not go to Dongxi’s room. I might get beaten up again. I can’t run away, and if I run into the stele forest like before, Dongxi won’t be able to find me. Then the mistress will only give me half a bowl of rice when she serves food.”
“The way of the Dao, though there are thousands of people, I will go. Don’t you understand this principle? What are you doing cultivating Buddhism?”
“Master, isn’t that a famous saying of the Confucian sage from the secular world?”
“Is that so?”
“Absolutely true! Sigh, I used to hear the abbots at the temple say you were very good at the Lotus Platform lecture, even the Confucian scholars and Taoist immortals were impressed. It seems they were just boasting. Did you give them copper coins privately?”
“Nonsense! Isn’t the master’s private money watched by your mistress?”
“What about the pot under the “Longmen Twenty Steles” behind the house? Didn’t you just have me bury it two days ago?”
“Ha, Nanbei, the moonlight is nice today. Wait here, the master will go get the Go box.”
…
A moment later, the white-robed monk came with two sets of Go stones and a rough Go board made by the little monk cutting down a tree at Dongxi’s request. The master and apprentice sat on the ground in the Thousand Buddha Hall. The white-robed monk gave the Go board with crooked lines a disdainful look, discarded it, and instead used his finger to draw seventeen vertical and horizontal lines on the floor. The floor of the hall was carefully paved with special stone material, known to the world as “Vajra Mirror,” which even the best swordsmen could not leave a mark on with their swords, making the 108 clear footprints particularly evident of the divine skill. The little monk Wu Nanbei was not surprised by his master’s finger-drawn lines, but only looked mournfully and said, “Master, the head monk is okay, but the other abbots will surely talk to me about Buddhist teachings for days and nights.”
The white-robed monk was indifferent and said, “Let them chatter on.”
The little monk lamented, “But they don’t want to chatter with you, Master. They only keep after me!”
“Chatter on” was the unique catchphrase of this strange family of four in the temple.
The white-robed monk ignored him, glanced at the nineteen-line Go board, and exclaimed, “Marvelous! Unfortunately, there’s no wine. Back then, your master played two draws with an old rogue, on fifteen and seventeen lines respectively. He angrily said that if it were nineteen lines, your master wouldn’t be his match. But looking at the situation at that time, this rogue was not willing to propose a nineteen-line Go board first. Nanbei, do you know who first created it?”
“It was said to be Xu Fengnian’s second sister, Xu Wei Xiong, with such a grand name. Dongxi envied her for a long time and complained that the master didn’t take the name seriously back then. Hmph, actually, I think Dongxi’s name is better, but I dare not say that to Dongxi.”
“Again that brat Xu Fengnian! The master must record a few more knife cuts for him in the account book when I go back!”
“Master, you record knife cuts every day now. What should I do when Xu Fengnian really comes to the temple in the future? Should I help Dongxi or you?”
“What do you think?”
“Help you first now, and then help Dongxi later.”
“Nanbei, the master didn’t realize before that you were not stupid after all.”
“Exactly!”
“Not stupid or stupid, when you are not stupid one day, Dongxi will really not like you anymore.”
“Ah? Master, don’t scare me like that. I won’t be able to sleep tonight! I won’t have the energy to cook for you tomorrow.”
“In that case, just pretend I didn’t say that.”
“Master, I don’t want to learn Go anymore. I want to go outside Dongxi’s room and recite scriptures.”
“Foolish Nanbei, the master tells you that reciting scriptures is useless. The scriptures and the thousand Buddhas in this hall are all inanimate objects. If reciting scriptures alone could produce relics, the head monk would have burned tens of thousands by now. Let’s not talk about that. I’ll teach you to play Go.”
The white-robed monk only roughly explained the rules of Go once. In the first game, he gave six handicap stones, and both master and apprentice played quickly, but the foolish little Nanbei naturally lost. In the second game, he gave five handicap stones, and the little monk still lost. In the third game, he gave four handicap stones, and the little monk lost three games in a row.
The white-robed monk frowned and said, “Nanbei, this won’t do. How can you let Dongxi play tomorrow without her noticing that you’re letting her win?”
The little monk, who looked solemn when he was serious, nodded and said, “Master, I will play Go more carefully.”
In the fourth game, he only gave three handicap stones. According to common sense, the white-robed monk gave fewer handicap stones and did not deliberately let the game go, so naturally the little monk’s game should become increasingly difficult to watch. However, in reality, in the four games, the little monk’s situation gradually improved.
When the fifth game came, the white-robed monk looked at the sky and said, “This game, no handicap stones. If you can last until 160 moves, you win, and you can go play with Dongxi tomorrow.”
Nanbei nodded hard and was about to play white first, but he accidentally saw an ant running around on the robe. The little monk smiled innocently, gently extended two fingers still holding the Go stones, let the little ant crawl onto his hand, and then put it on the ground, waiting for it to go far before crisply placing the stone on the Vajra Mirror.
In this game, the little monk managed to last until 170 moves.
The white-robed monk did not play anymore and smiled, “Are you asleep now?”
The little monk touched his bald head and said happily, “Okay!”
The white-robed monk waved his hand and said, “Go, leave the Go board and the Go box here.”
The little monk said “Okay” and stood up to leave the Thousand Buddha Hall.
The white-robed monk, sitting cross-legged, waited until his apprentice was far away, probably back to the cottage, and then rested his cheek on one hand, leaning sideways to gaze at the game.
The white-robed monk stretched and said softly, “Cao Changqing, you still have such patience. No wonder you are called Cao Guanzi.”
Except for his words, the hall remained silent.
The white-robed monk reached out and grabbed a dozen white stones on the ground, which suddenly hovered in the air. Then he gently flicked his hand, and the stones shot out like rain towards one side.
Soon, a scholarly man dressed in green appeared in the hall, holding the sixteen stones in his hand. Each step he took, he threw out a stone. The stones were invisible in the air, and in the blink of an eye, fifteen of them stuck to the white-robed monk’s robe. This unorthodox monk, who drank, ate meat, married, and had a daughter, remained unmoved, but the thousand Buddha statues in the hall shook together, as if they were invaded by a great demon. Especially the several wrathful The Fierce Vajra and the Serene Bodhisattva Arhat Statues (Vajra wrathful Bodhisattva and Arhat statues), which were particularly terrifying when they swayed back and forth, probably because the fifteen stones hitting the white-robed monk’s robe brought a violent ripple of qi each time, causing such a strange phenomenon.
The elegant middle-aged scholar had only one stone left in his hand and smiled, “Indeed, no one in the world can break your Vajra realm.”
Without any visible movement, the fifteen white stones fell from the white-robed monk’s robe and were endowed with spirit, quickly rolling back to their original positions on the Vajra Mirror.
The white-robed monk said flatly, “Cao Guanzi’s fifteen-pointing-to-mystery is just that. Why don’t you try to bring out your heavenly realm?”
The tall scholar smiled, gently threw the last stone to the ground, and it bounced a few times forward, obediently returning to its original position like the other fifteen. He shook his head and said, “No need to try. Back then, the number one person in the Northern Desert, who was said to be able to fight with Qi Xuanzhen, came south to the Two Chan Temple but couldn’t even scratch you. However, the ground was left with 108 Vajra imprints from your anger. But I’m curious, why do you like to end in a draw when you fight and when you play Go? Huang Longshi once challenged you with the lives of over 300 monks, one life as one stone. In that game, 43 people died, but you managed to draw. Later, after the end of the Spring and Autumn Wars, Huang Longshi forced you to play again, using hundreds of Buddhist temples in the hundred commanderies of the world as stones. Losing one stone meant destroying a temple, and winning one stone meant building a new one for the Liyang Dynasty. Why did you still end in a draw? After I studied the game records, the first game you had little chance of winning, but in the second game, you clearly had a chance to defeat Huang Longshi.”
The white-robed monk looked up at this famous Cao Guanzi, who was similar to himself. This fellow had also played Go with Huang Longshi personally. It was said that their hand-to-hand combat was almost at the endgame stage. Compared to those court-appointed national masters, Cao Guanzi was naturally much stronger, but facing such a divine figure in the eyes of the world, the white-robed monk remained calm and said flatly, “If I say I was in a hurry to go home to cook for my wife, would you believe me?”
Cao Guanzi, hearing this rare joke in the world, did not laugh much and sighed with regret, “Now you even have a daughter, so you have even less patience to play with me until the end. It seems there’s no chance for me to play with you anymore.”
The white-robed monk sneered, “Who would want to play with you? One game can take months or even years.”
Cao Guanzi, whose real name was Cao Changqing and was already unknown to most, sat opposite the white-robed monk. Looking at the game records he was already familiar with, he smiled and said, “Your apprentice is really amazing. He is indeed the hope of the Buddhist community in the great crisis of the end of the Dharma.”
The white-robed monk said calmly, “Cao Changqing, my temper is actually not as good as you think.”
“You are willing to play Go with me, but I don’t want to fight with you. Here, I found some good wine for you in the palace.”
Cao Guanzi took out a wine pot from his waist and threw it to the white-robed monk. Then he picked up a white stone with his left hand, gently placed it, and as if knowing the white-robed monk would not play with him, he took the black stone with his right hand and placed it on the ground, creating a self-entertaining scene. He said, “Don’t worry, I’d rather have a fight with Deng Tai’a’s peach blossom branch than get involved with you. The world only knows you are invincible in the Vajra realm, but I know the terror of your Vajra wrath.”
The white-robed monk took a sip of wine and asked with a frown, “Didn’t that Han Ren Mao leave you?”
Cao Guanzi played on both sides, shaking his head, “This time I just happened not to meet him.”
The white-robed monk wiped his mouth and asked, “You, this destitute Western Chu scholar, still want to find that little princess with the imperial mandate and restore your country?”
Cao Guanzi looked melancholy and said, “How could I not want to. They say she died with the emperor, but I never believe the little princess is dead. The Western Chu dragon’s qi is still there; the Imperial Astronomical Bureau just dares not admit it.”
The white-robed monk tilted his head back and took another sip of wine, “Cao Changqing, are you here for my new calendar? The Liyang Dynasty inherited the old calendar, which was originally ordained by heaven, but after conquering eight countries, it is obviously no longer appropriate. The Imperial Astronomical Bureau is busy with this, and I am also working on it intermittently, not in a hurry. Are you planning to do something? To reserve a line of hope for the restoration of your lost country for that little princess?”
Cao Guanzi suddenly stood up, bowed deeply, and remained bent for a long time without straightening.
The white-robed monk sighed, “Cao Changqing, don’t you know this is an act of defying heaven and altering fate? Don’t you know the fate of the previous Celestial Master of the Dragon and Tiger Mountains?”
This Cao Guanzi, who had almost become the leader of the martial world in the past twenty years and was as proud as anyone, still did not straighten.
The white-robed monk hesitated for a moment and said solemnly, “It’s not that I don’t want to help, but the trend is unstoppable. The old Western Chu can’t succeed at all. Even with the old grand councilor Sun Xiji inside, what can they do? Do you really think everyone in the world is a helpless fool? Xu Xiao and Gu Jiantang are not dead, the six feudal princes are not dead, now with Zhang Julu, and the one in the palace. Cao Changqing, Cao Changqing, the sages only say to save the day, but the tide has passed, the situation is settled, what can you do? Not even Qi Xuanzhen, a fairy of that kind, can do anything!”
Cao Guanzi straightened up, staring blankly, his face filled with sadness.
Outside the Thousand Buddha Hall, lightning flashed and thunder roared, soon followed by heavy rain.
The white-robed monk looked down at the white stones played by Cao Guanzi on behalf of his apprentice, resolutely ignoring them. Where were those meticulous endgame moves of Cao Guanzi? For a moment, he felt a bit sad and sighed, “Well, well, this pot of wine is good. I can only guarantee that this Western Chu little princess will not die. As for the rest, I can’t help. If you keep pushing, I’ll just go down the mountain to the palace to get a pot of wine to repay you.”
Cao Guanzi bowed again, turned around with a smile, and walked into the heavy rain.
This is exactly what the Confucian saying means: though there are thousands of people, I will go.
The Confucian spirit remains strong.
Even though the white-robed monk is in the Buddhist community, he still feels some sadness.
The little monk, who had just fallen asleep but was awakened by thunder, quickly ran over with an oil-paper umbrella. Seeing the extra pot of wine in his master’s hand and recalling the middle-aged scholar who had just walked out of the Thousand Buddha Hall, he asked curiously, “Master, is this wine given to you by that scholar?”
The white-robed monk nodded.
Wu Nanbei put away the umbrella and smiled, “I had one umbrella and borrowed another from that scholar just now.”
The white-robed monk glared and said, “Why did you borrow it from him? When can you ever return it! An umbrella costs quite a few copper coins!”
The little monk was in a dilemma and said, “What should I do? The head monk doesn’t give me any copper coins for preaching at the temple. If Dongxi and the mistress ask tomorrow, it will be a problem.”
The white-robed monk helplessly said, “Forget it, I’ll say I bought the wine.”
The little monk gratefully called out, “Master!”
The white-robed monk rolled his eyes and said, “The master has to go to the temple’s scripture pavilion to hide from your mistress. You go to sleep.”
The little monk was anxious and said, “Master, should I still tell the mistress the truth?”
The white-robed monk stood up and hit this foolish apprentice on the forehead with a nut, “Fool!”
The little monk smiled brightly.
The white-robed monk earnestly instructed, “Nanbei, tomorrow if the mistress gets angry, for you, it’s just eating less and working more. But if the mistress is in a bad mood, she always likes to buy some clothes that she can’t wear for a year, which are all the master’s hard-earned money.”
The little monk suddenly understood.
The white-robed monk smiled and said, “Go, go to sleep.”
The little monk nodded and said, “Dongxi is afraid of thunder. I’ll go outside her door to recite scriptures for her.”
The white-robed monk touched his bald head, this apprentice.
Standing at the entrance of the Thousand Buddha Hall, watching the clumsy Nanbei running through the mud without caring about the rain, the white-robed monk murmured, “Nanbei, you have one Zen, not betraying the Buddha nor your beloved.”
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