Chapter 051
Chapter 51: Buddha’s Chosen Expounds the Dharma; Everyone Has Their Own Thoughts
Lin Yu Jiao could not hold back her excitement. She edged to her Mother, tilted her body, hid her mouth with a round fan, and whispered in a bubbling tone: “Mother, Mother, doesn’t it feel like we should call Elder Cousin out to take a look?”
Second Madam was sipping tea. She did not even lift her eyelids. With a slant of her eyes, she told her daughter to calm down. So flighty. Not proper.
Setting down the cup, she leaned toward First Madam and breathed softly at her ear: “Sister-in-law, these Misses all seem good. We should have Qing Xuan come out and judge for himself.”
She added with a tactful smile: “In a match, both sides should see each other. That is only proper, don’t you agree?”
First Madam had already turned this plan over eight hundred times in her mind. Hearing this, she smiled with quiet certainty.
She understood at once. With a sharp and decisive look, she signaled to Nanny Zhou: “Go invite the Eldest Grandson Young Master.”
Nanny Zhou bowed to leave, but First Madam stopped her and, after a moment’s thought, added: “Say the Misses have many questions about the Buddhist Dharma and ask him to come explain a few points.”
She knew her son too well. If she said it was a blind date or proposal, he would not only refuse to come, he wouldn’t even leave his courtyard. But if she used the words “Buddhist Dharma,” that changed everything.
Clear on this, Nanny Zhou hurried to Auspicious Cloud Residence. Entering, she found Lin Qing Xuan seated at his desk, one hand rolling Prayer Beads, the other holding a scripture. His bearing was cool and distant.
Nanny Zhou bowed and repeated First Madam’s message word for word. At the end, she watched his face and, as if in passing but with extra weight, added: “Xiao Man, Miss, is also in Drifting Cloud Hall serving.”
The effect was immediate. Lin Qing Xuan had been reading with lowered eyes, untouched by the world outside. His fingers paused. He finally raised his head. A faint ripple moved through those deep, still eyes.
“Nanny, you may go,” he said evenly. “I will be there soon.”
Nanny Zhou sighed inside as she withdrew. She knew the truth. Without mentioning Xiao Man, this Master would not have moved a muscle. Sadly, even with all this fuss, First Madam might end with a wicker basket full of water. The iron tree had finally felt a touch of mortal spring. No one could pry it back with a few words.
In Drifting Cloud Hall, fragrance drifted and laughter sparkled. The Noble Ladies clustered around First Madam and Second Madam with flattery and jokes. The air was so lively it could lift the roof.
At that very moment, Lin Qing Xuan stepped into Drifting Cloud Hall.
With a single step, the scents and laughter froze. Time itself stopped.
He wore a moon-white monk’s robe. Tall as a pine, his face was so handsome it didn’t seem mortal. A cold, keep-your-distance aura poured off him like an invisible iceberg, crushing the room in an instant.
His eyes were sharp as lightning. They slid past the ring of jingling, blossom-like Noble Ladies without a pause. At last, they locked, exact and unshakable, on Xiao Man in the corner, who was trying very hard to be invisible.
“What are you doing here?”
His voice was cool and flat, but it landed like a stone in a still lake and sent waves crashing.
Boom.
Xiao Man’s scalp tingled. She wanted to sink into the floor. [My lord, my ancestor! Can’t you see this hall full of delicate Noble Ladies? Please pretend I don’t exist. I’m begging you. Don’t talk to me! This is public execution. Social death!]
In an instant, every gaze began to flick between Xiao Man and Lin Qing Xuan. Minds awakened and spun.
The “First Beauty of the Capital City,” Zhao Lv Liu, lit up, her brain firing into wild composition. She nearly crushed her handkerchief in excitement: [Goodness! The cold, ascetic look, the otherworldly air! I declare he is number one in my Capital Handsome Men Catalogue. I must draw him. Today was worth it!]
Sun Qian Qian peeked at that face and changed her mind on the spot: [He has hair. He’s so good-looking… Oh no. Marrying a monk might not be that bad. If the face is this pretty, I can chant and eat vegetarian every day!]
[Looks like the information the nannies bought was wrong. They said Buddha’s Chosen avoids women. Marry him and you’ll be a living widow.]
She had fought with Mother yesterday and didn’t want to come. Now she was glad she did. Her heart started to chant like crazy: [Buddha’s Chosen, look at me. Buddha’s Chosen, look at me!]
Qian Shuang smoothed her dress and neatened the hair at her temples, then frowned in doubt: [Who was he talking to just now?]
Qiu Ru Ying’s sleeve was being yanked hard by Lin Yu Jiao, who trembled all over from excitement. Lin Yu Jiao whispered by her ear: “Yingying, look! My Elder Cousin is perfect except for being a bit cold, right? That face, that figure, he’s basically a male Bodhisattva come down to earth!”
Qiu Ru Ying’s cheeks turned pink, but she did not look at Lin Qing Xuan. Instead, she snuck a glance at the embarrassed Xiao Man and murmured: “If he really can help me with the hard parts of the Surangama Sutra, that would be a blessing.”
Up on a beam, a furry head poked out. The moment Tuan Tuan saw that iceberg face, he shot back into hiding: [I’m out of here! Buddha’s Chosen’s aura is too strong. If I get caught, I’ll be locked up again! I’ll come back to cause trouble after he leaves!]
Only Wang Yao, the Cousin Miss from Duke An Manor, was relaxed. She cracked a fat melon seed with a click and watched the show with joy. Eldest Cousin’s ruin-the-kingdom face paired with a hall full of spring-struck girls made the perfect year-end drama.
Everyone’s attention stuck to Lin Qing Xuan like glue.
Xiao Man sighed inside: [Some people are born to live under a spotlight. Even in a time without spotlights, he still becomes the center.]
Ignoring the room, Lin Qing Xuan first bowed properly to his Mother and Second Aunt. Then he turned to First Madam and asked in a calm tone: “Mother wishes me to stay here and Expound the Dharma for these Misses?”
In this setting? Expound the Dharma?
Second Madam nearly choked. Finished. Completely finished. If he Expounded the Dharma to a circle of young ladies ready to marry, this carefully planned viewing would be ruined.
Before that thought settled, Qiu Ru Ying raised her hand. Under everyone’s stunned gaze, she stood with poise: “Yuan Jue, Buddha’s Chosen, I truly have a question.”
Her voice was clear and steady. “In volumes nine and ten of the Surangama Sutra, it mentions the ‘Fifty Skandha Demons.’ I do not understand what a ‘Skandha Demon’ is, and why there are exactly fifty kinds.”
A murmur of surprise filled the room.
Hearing this, a touch of wonder finally flickered in Lin Qing Xuan’s still eyes. He turned and motioned for a servant to bring a chair.
He sat at ease. His chilly distance melted into a deep, calm gravity. Then he spoke, voice bright and measured, each word like a bead.
“‘Skandha Demon’ does not mean outside demons and ghosts. It refers to the inner false states that appear in a person’s Cultivation when the ‘Five Aggregates’—Form, Feeling, Perception, Formation, Consciousness—cover the pure mind.”
“Each of the Five Aggregates has ten mental deviations. For example, clinging to visions of light, craving the pleasure of deep quiet, or mistaking small powers for Attain Enlightenment. Five times ten makes fifty Demonic States.”
He paused and lifted his eyes to Qiu Ru Ying, giving an easy example: “It is like wearing tinted glasses. Whatever you see will no longer be the true color of things. The Five Aggregates are the inborn ‘filters’ on our knowing. The Demonic States are illusions twisted by that filter.”
Qiu Ru Ying listened with bright, eager eyes and asked: “Then how do we practice the line from the text, ‘When you awaken to delusion, delusion fades; when awareness stands, delusion cannot arise’?”
Lin Qing Xuan nodded and answered patiently: “‘Awaken to delusion’ means that when a Demonic State appears, you notice at once that it is only a false image from the Five Aggregates. For example, during Seated Meditation you suddenly see Buddha light filling the room and a Heavenly Maiden scattering flowers. You must understand right away: this is an image from the ‘Aggregate of Thought,’ not real.”
“‘Delusion fades’ means you neither chase after it nor push it away. Let it drift off like a cloud at the horizon. Your mind stays as clear as the sky.”
“‘Awareness prevents delusion’ means you keep this noticing all the time, a mind like a bright mirror. When awareness shines, illusions have no place to grow, just as darkness cannot stay when sunlight floods the earth.”
He finished gently: “If you see strange signs during Zen practice, simply recite the heart phrase of the Surangama Mantra, ‘Om Anali Pishedi,’ and neither accept nor reject. Do not welcome, do not resist. You will pass through safely.”
With that back-and-forth, his logic was clear and easy to grasp. The hall showed every kind of reaction.
Some nodded again and again in admiration, like Second Madam.
Some started to doze, like Lin Yu Ning.
Some stared wide-eyed as if a new world had opened, like Sun Qian Qian.
And one, Zhao Lv Liu, was using a white handkerchief as her sketchboard, sneaking strokes with brow ink to capture Buddha’s Chosen as he Expounded the Dharma.
Second Madam clutched First Madam’s sleeve and rasped in a thrilled whisper: “Sister-in-law! Do you see it? Isn’t Miss Qiu the best of them? This is a match made in Heaven!”
First Madam nodded in satisfaction. The more she looked at Qiu Ru Ying, the more she liked what she saw. She had the exact eyes of a mother-in-law looking at a son-in-law.
Xiao Man stood quietly in the background, but inside her heart was boiling: [I ship this! I ship this so hard! They’re perfect together!]
[One loves to Expound the Dharma, one loves to listen to it. Both are walking scriptures. If they marry, on their wedding night and every night after, won’t they study the Buddhist Dharma together and advance in Dual Cultivation? How nice. Perfect!]
Lin Yu Jiao’s invisible tail was wagging to the sky, her inner little self standing hands-on-hips with pride: [Done. Done. This is solid. Doesn’t this make me half a gold-medal matchmaker? I’m claiming Cousin-in-law Yingying right now!]
Only in the corner, Lin Yu Ning curled her lip, filled with boredom and impatience: [When will this end? My new gifts are waiting for me to open them. Listening to all this is making my head hurt.]