Chapter 10 — Buddha and Dao
劍問蒼天 · Page 4 of 6
Buddhist and Daoist thought diverge utterly, and their methods of cultivation naturally run counter to each other; only, for thousands of years each has guarded its secrets and neither was known to the other. And now, on Dazhu Peak of the Canglan Sect, one petty disciple, Zhang Qingyue, was left with his head splitting over the matter.
"Which one is right, after all?"
Zhang Qingyue sprang off the bed and paced ceaselessly back and forth in the room, his head a welter of confusion, his thoughts running wild, and he dared not ask anyone. At last he could only sit dumbly on the edge of the bed, heave a long sigh, and say nothing.
He was not by nature a clever man, born of a farming family, young in years, and with little experience or judgment to his name. On a matter of such consequence he thought and thought, and after half a day of futile labor still could make nothing of it. In the end Zhang Qingyue said to himself in his heart, "Forget it. Master Puzhao never said anything about a case like this anyway. I'll just cultivate both together and be done with it." Thereupon he thought no more on it, and his heart grew light instead; he climbed back onto the bed, sat in meditation, and first cultivated the Taiji Profound Purity Way.
Only, it was easy to conceive and quite another thing to do. The Taiji Profound Purity Way refines qi by opening the seven apertures and every pore of the whole body and drawing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth into the body to course along the meridians, thereby tempering and firming the body's vital essence and inner vessels. The Great Brahma Prajna, however, requires entry into the realm of extinction, sealing every thought, perception, and consciousness of the whole body, taking one's own body as a single world, beholding one's own nature alone, and with the true essence of the deep mind consolidating the root and nurturing the source.
The two methods were diametrically opposed, and they left Zhang Qingyue in unspeakable misery. Over the three months that followed, apart from climbing the mountain to cut bamboo every day, rain or shine, he gave himself wholeheartedly to cultivating these two methods. But no sooner had he gained a little success in the Taiji Profound Purity Way, his apertures opening for the first time and the spiritual qi entering his body, than the Great Brahma Prajna that followed demanded he force them all shut again and enter the realm of extinction—so that all his prior effort was all but poured down the drain.
Three months later, Tian Buhui took it into his head one day to come and inspect Zhang Qingyue's progress. He asked a question and gave a test, and it very nearly choked him with rage. By common reckoning, an ordinary person cultivating the Taiji Profound Purity Way, crude as the first tier is, should have some small success after three months, able at least to draw the spiritual qi of heaven and earth into the body and run it three to five circuits. But Zhang Qingyue's aptitude was so poor as to be truly rare and unheard-of. After a full three months of cultivation, he could not even control the apertures of his whole body at will; as for drawing in the spiritual qi, it was a strain at best, to say nothing of running several circuits.
Tian Buhui glared at Zhang Qingyue with wide eyes and a face full of wrath. The other disciples looked on with sympathy but dared not make a sound. Song Dayi had meant to put in a word or two for Zhang Qingyue, but seeing the junior brother he had taught reach such a pass, he lost face and dared not speak either. As for Tian Lingsu, she stood by grinning and watching the fun.