Starting Cultivation During a Trip

...

In the early morning, a hint of dawn appeared in the east.

Along the desolate mountain path, Wang Qinglian pushed the wheelchair to the viewing platform. She looked down, gazing at Wang Qingyi, with a hint of concern and reluctance in her eyes.

At this moment, Wang Qingyi was like a cripple, wrapped in thick bandages, especially around the head, with only one eye visible, almost unable to move his entire body.

He was so severely injured that countless miracle elixirs and exotic treasures were needed just to preserve his body, to save his life.

But his primordial spirit was declining day and night, and all his cultivation was wasted, becoming almost no different from an ordinary person.

"The sunrise is so beautiful..." Wang Qingyi murmured as he looked at the sun about to leap forth, his eyes filled with loneliness and melancholy.

"Brother Qingyi, it's too cold on the mountain, let's go back." Wang Qinglian worried about Wang Qingyi's health.

Wang Qingyi sat in the wheelchair, as if his heart had already died, silent, just staring blankly at the great sun about to rise in the distance.

"Brother Qingyi, wait here for a moment, I'll go to the car to get a coat."

Saying this, Wang Qinglian adjusted the wheelchair and turned to leave.

The mountain wind gently blew over Wang Qingyi, his eyes blinked, but it seemed as if he had lost all sensation.

"I caught the sun, I caught the sun..."

Just then, a voice called out from not far away, as Wang Qingyi turned his head, he saw a child holding a mirror, dancing with joy.

At this time, in this place, the child appeared to be only six or seven years old, yet he was there all alone.

"Uncle, I caught the sun."

Without thinking much, the child came running over, the mirror in his hand reflecting the sun.

Wang Qingyi glanced at it and casually said, "That's not the sun, just a reflection in the mirror."

"A reflection? Is it fake?" the child asked.

"Of course it's fake," Wang Qingyi said indifferently.

"Oh."

The child made a soft hum, looked down at the mirror in his hand, and suddenly said,

"People measure the heavens by themselves, like using a mirror to peep at the sun!"

As the words fell, Wang Qingyi's body trembled violently. His gaze narrowed slightly, looking at the child beside him with some disbelief.

The child seemed oblivious, head down, still looking at the mirror in his hand.

"I've heard people say that everything in the world, even emotions, sensations, and perceptions, exist only because they rely on other conditions."

"Without these conditions, established things, emotions, sensations, perceptions, and so on would not exist either."

"So, can these existences be considered real?"

Such words, such a statement, coming from the mouth of a six- or seven-year-old child, seemed extraordinarily strange.

However, with just one sentence, it plunged Wang Qingyi into deep thought.

Just like a couple, after breaking up, will feel pain, but if the other person is removed, in other words, if the dependent relationship ceases to exist, would this painful emotion still be there?

During the Song Dynasty, the great poet Su Dongpo once capsized his boat on a lake, collided with a ship coming head-on. He walked out of the cabin, cursing loudly, only to find out it was an empty boat. The anger that had just arisen disappeared instantly.

This is the so-called "illusory boat touching objects."

All things and phenomena are false, generated by relying on other conditions, appearing in this world.

As commonly said, "dependent origination," however, when those conditions vanish, all things and phenomena will also dissipate.

What didn't exist before will disappear in the future.

"So-called practice is about understanding the essence from these empty and fake things..."

Understanding that which can exist independently without relying on any conditions.

That is true.

That is the Dao.

"Uncle, why are you sad?" the child suddenly asked, head down.

"I'm finished," Wang Qingyi said in a daze.

"Finished? In this world, only the primordial spirit innately exists, what realm, what cultivation, even our flesh is fake, not existing before and will vanish later..."

"If it never existed, if it's inherently fake, what's the point of being sad about losing it?"

Buzz...

As these words came out, Wang Qingyi's pupils suddenly contracted. His body trembled violently, as if awakened by a profound shock.

"Who are you..."

He opened his eyes wide, looking again, but before him was just empty air, where was there any child?

"Only a peak rises suddenly, then one knows the unmoving is the true mountain."

At that moment, a mystical sound lingered, echoing in Wang Qingyi's mind, resonating with the heavens and earth, strikingly clear.

"Brother Qingyi..."

At this moment, a gentle calling came from behind, as Wang Qinglian approached with a coat in her hand.

Wang Qingyi stood there in a daze, his eyes still hazy and lost.

"Brother Qingyi, what's wrong?" Wang Qinglian noticed something was off and asked.

"Did you just see a child?" Wang Qingyi asked persistently.

"A child?" Wang Qinglian was taken aback for a moment, then shook her head, saying, "In the remote wilderness on this mountain, at this time, how could there be a child?"

"Brother Qingyi, are you... too exhausted physically?"

Wang Qinglian bent down to drape the coat over Wang Qingyi, a look of concern on her face.

"It's fine... it's fine..." Wang Qingyi murmured softly, his eyes still vacant.

Buzz...

Just then, a ray of golden light spread over, casting a golden glow on Wang Qingyi, as if enveloping him in a layer of gold.

"Brother Qingyi, look, the sun has come out."

Wang Qinglian pointed to the east and shouted excitedly at the rising red sun.

Wang Qingyi lifted his head and watched the sun rising in the east, and in his once-muddled eyes, there emerged an unprecedented clarity.

"All living beings are oblivious, like blind men seeing the sun and moon!" Wang Qingyi murmured softly.

"Hmm!?"

Wang Qinglian's brow furrowed slightly, lowering her head abruptly, an unusual radiance appeared on her delicate face, feeling that the Wang Qingyi before her was vastly different, transformed in an instant, as if separated by ages.