THE ASCETIC LIFE 2

Once again, the winter wind blew. Zhu Su stepped forward, his grim eyes stared straight ahead.

I indeed have to train Youdun hard, in order to create him as a strong man. We must be strong, by then we can rise up and succeed in winning this war! To take revenge!

***

"Well, just a little more."

At a small gazebo, Chun pushed her thumb over Zhu Youdun's wrist, and suddenly she jerked it.

"Auuuch!" Zhu Youdun screamed in pain.

Chun smiled. "Now, try to move your wrist."

Zhu Youdun followed as instructed. "Wow! It doesn't hurt anymore!" He shouted happily. "Just now it was so painful, I was afraid that my hand would be paralyzed."

"All diseases can be healed easily when it is treated immediately. The difficult case is to treat the delayed illness. The condition of Shi (Excess) * has changed to Xu (Deficiency) * . Not only has Xie Qi (pathogenic Qi) * destroyed our bodies, our Zheng Qi (Healthy Qi) * has also been drained away. It's a very difficult condition to be treated," Chun explained at length.

"Priestess Chun, you are so great." Zhu Youdun said in amazement. "Not only you. All priests and priestesses here are amazing. Especially the priestesses. You are even more talented than the priests dwelling in the capital."

Again, Chun smiled. Instead of thanking Zhu Youdun for his praise, she said. "Sir, you are a very delicate young man. I guess, you like writing and creating stories, right?"

Zhu Youdun was astonished. "Huh? How can you know?"

Chun continued. "You are also the kind of person who is very concerned about the lower class people, the marginalized, victims of injustice, even lowly women like prostitutes. You feel sorry for them. And, your compassion makes you more interested in getting close to them, and to the contrary, you are fed up with high class people, thus tend to stay away from them."

Zhu Youdun stared close at the middle-aged priestess. Chun's wise eyes stared back at Zhu Youdun.

"You are destined to be related closely to women. I won't be surprised if one day you will save hundreds, or even thousands of women's lives."

Chun stood up.

"And for that, on behalf of all women, I must pay my utmost respect to you."

Chun raised her arms at chest level, then prostrated towards him.

"My goodness, Priestess Chun! Don't overreact! I haven't saved anyone's life! It is you who save me and my father. We're the ones who have to prostrate to thank you!" Zhu Youdun hastily held Chun and helped her to stand up. On the other hand, he looked at Chun with curiosity. "Priestess Chun... do you master divination?"

"Ah... just a little..." Chun smiled again.

"I'm right, then. The priestesses in this temple are very great. Philosophy, management, architecture, medicine, and even divination!... Ah, it's a shame you only live in a remote mountain forest like this and your temple is nameless. All of you deserve to become high-ranking Taoist priests and priestesses, at least in a big city."

"What is Name, Mr. Zhu? Our Great Teacher Laozi once said, "A name that can be named is not the eternal name." * With that principle, we do not yearn for the names that can be named or mentioned. Getting famous or not, gaining high respect or not, it is all the same for us. Being named, becoming famous, or gaining high respect, it all depends on the Destiny. Forcing ourselves to pursue it will drain our energy. Our main purpose in life, is not only to gain name or honor. Our main purpose in living in this world, is to live."

What Chun had said was so deep it made Zhu Youdun perplexed, but at the same time, he could fully understand it. And then, agreed with her.

Having "Name" or not, that indeed is not an absolute matter. Before, he used to be "named" - there was nothing more elite than being the emperor's grandson and the heir to the throne of Kaifeng Fan Wang Guo. However, did the "Name" give him the life he wanted? Perhaps it would be better for him to become an ordinary citizen, whose life was only doing farming for life, but at least, he could have a normal, safe life? Rather than his current condition, when his greatness and talent ignited jealousy and fear from his own family, and even put him in danger. To the contrary, here the priests and priestesses possessed no "Name" and lived in this unrecognized remote mountain, but they were very happy as they lived their own life, clearly showed by the peaceful expression which always emanated from their faces. That was the real meaning of life - just to live our own life, and let it be in accordance with our inner voice, the Heaven and the Earth.

Zhu Su and Hu Nayin stepped into the gazebo.

"How's your wrist?" Because actually Zhu Su was very worried about his son, he thus could not hold his worries back much longer.

"It's okay, Fu Wang," Zhu Youdun said cheerfully. "This great Priestess Chun has healed me instantly!"

Zhu Su turned to Chun. "Thank you very much for your help, Madam Priestess," He said sincerely.

"Besides very skillful in therapy, Priestess Chun is also very talented in divination!"

It was not only Zhu Su who got interested, Hu Nayin was also the same. "Really?"

"Yes. She can guess my hobby." Yet Zhu Youdun looked doubtful. "But... to be honest, I don't understand with this part... that my fate is related so closely with women and I will save the lives of hundreds or maybe even thousands of women... It is very difficult to save even my own life, so how can I save others' lives?"

"Oh, it will certainly be." Chun was firm. "We are still not clear about how you will do it, but that will happen for sure. Both of you, father and son, are destined to save the lives of many people, to help this world. You don't need to know how to realize it. You just need to be sure that it will happen."

"For this part, I also fully believe that Priestess Chun is veracious. Both of you have made a great contribution to society by building a medical center and helping the sick!" Hu Nayin chimed in, her voice was full of enthusiasm.

Chun nodded. "And because of that, the path of life that you should take is far more difficult than others'."

That was a very provocative statement. A statement Zhu Su had been eager to ask for a long time ago; why should it be like that? Why did the people with good intentions for this world, are instead destined to walk on such a very difficult pathway? Or maybe, Heaven was planning to give him something which was still concealed to be known, yet the priestess had known about that? And she would tell him about it right now? If the priestess could give an accurate answer to this question, of course, he would wait to know for it patiently...

Suddenly a chilly wind blew. This chilly wind which was not suitable to appear in this warm atmosphere, even though it was winter now. Zhu Su, Zhu Youdun, and Hu Nayin immediately tightened their clothes.

Chun turned her face to the direction where the wind came from. "If a cold wind like this has been coming... it is usually telling us that something bad will happen."

...

* Shi (Excess) = Excess syndrome is the Chinese medicine syndrome which is characterized by over-activity of the body functions, often in response to some externally caused disease or trauma. It may also be a sign of an obstruction or blockage which is causing accumulation of substances such as Qi or blood. It can be seen in acute or chronic disease and is marked by chest or abdominal pains, heavy breathing, and scanty urination.

* Xu (Deficiency) = Deficiency syndrome is a Chinese medicine condition with weakness and lack of energy.

* Pathogenic Qi = refers to all the various causative factors of disease

* Healthy Qi = refers to the functional activities of the human body as well as to its ability to resist disease.

* "A name that can be named is not the eternal name." = there is also other translation, "...will not always be the name."