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Chapter 326 Enlightenment in Longchang
At Longchang Post Station, the conversation between the master and disciple left all the Luo Luo people, including She Yunluo, bewildered, wondering if these two were talking about Zen.

Only Su Tai seemed lost in thought, listening with great interest...

Wang Shouren sighed and said, "If that's the case, not only was I wrong, but perhaps Zhu Xi was also wrong?"

"Zhu Xi was able to interpret 'rainbow' as 'licentiousness,' which shows his limited understanding of things and his pursuit of knowledge. Therefore, his later ideas of sincerity, self-cultivation, family harmony, and national order are naturally unconvincing." Su Lu said tactfully, "At least those poor women who were harmed by his heresies probably didn't think he was right."

“Yes, he misunderstood things. When he was ‘rectifying his mind,’ he mistook ‘avoiding the rainbow’ for ‘upholding righteousness,’ but this ‘righteousness’ was wrong in itself…” Wang Shouren nodded and sighed, “Then what is right?”

"Teacher, this is another new problem..." Su Lu said helplessly.

"Shall we go back inside and continue thinking?" Wang Shouren was full of enthusiasm. He had never met such a remarkable person in his life who could not only follow his train of thought but also correct his course.

"I want to take a shower first..." Su Lu clutched his oily hair, glanced at Wang Shouren, whose hair was also greasy, and sniffed, "Sir, you should take a shower too, it's all stale."

"They say that a strong body odor can repel mosquitoes," Wang Shouren said somewhat embarrassedly. "However, I haven't tested it myself, so I don't know if it's true or just a rumor."

"Of course it's a rumor," Su Lu laughed. "People in the mountains don't bathe all year round, how can mosquitoes not survive?"

"Haha, that makes sense. Come on, Anzhi, let's take a bath together!" Wang Shouren took a towel from the clothesline and called Su Tai to go out together.

A short while later, the three of them stripped naked and jumped into the small river next to the post station.

After enjoying the coolness of the river water for a while, they began to wash their hair with pig pancreas.

When Wang Shouren loosened his hair, Su and Lu discovered that he was almost bald...

"Alas, I was once a famous handsome man in the capital, known as 'Little Pan Lang of Xizhimen'," Wang Shouren said with a touch of sadness.

"In the blink of an eye, I'm already thirty-six. I still haven't figured out the truth, but my hair is falling out in clumps."

"Teacher, have you not heard of 'exceptionally intelligent'?" Su Lu said with a smile.

"Oh?" Wang Shouren couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this, "Haha, then you should also be careful of premature graying of your hair..."

Su Lu was taken aback when he heard this, thinking to himself, "Is the teacher making a suggestive joke?"

"Alas, my thoughts wander to my homeland; those who are sentimental should laugh at me, for my hair has turned white so early. Life is but a dream; let me offer a cup to the moon over the river..." Wang Shouren recited these two lines with deep feeling, and sighed:

"This poem was written in July of the fifth year of the Yuanfeng era, when your ancestor was exiled to Huangzhou. At that time, Su Dongpo was forty-five years old and had been demoted to Huangzhou for more than two years due to the Wutai Poetry Case... Now I can finally understand his feelings when he wrote this poem..."

"Time really flies, and before we know it, our hair has turned white." Wang Shouren sighed. "When I was young, I was just like Su Dongpo, boasting that I had extraordinary talent and that making a name for myself would be a piece of cake. How spirited and arrogant I was back then!"

“But reality is far from ideal. I fell ill from studying bamboo, and when I submitted a memorial, I was beaten half to death and exiled to a malarial land. It also caused my father to lose his official position…” Wang Shouren became more and more depressed as he spoke.

Last month, news came that Liu Jin had ordered Wang Hua to retire, citing a minor error in Wang Hua's compilation of the "Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty"...

"Now everything has left me, and the only thing that sustains me is the ideal of becoming a sage." Wang Shouren scooped up a handful of cold river water and splashed it on his face, making it look like he was crying.

"In the end, the path I've pondered for so many years has been proven wrong by you..." He smiled bitterly at Su Lu, "Could it be that I'm destined to achieve nothing in this life and die an unknown death in this barren land?"

“Teacher, this is a sign that ‘Heaven is about to bestow a great responsibility upon this person,’” Su Lu said solemnly to the unusually dejected Teacher Wang.
"Perhaps God just wants the teacher to let go of the self that is supported by external things. Back then, the teacher had a good background, a career path, and a reputation. When he was looking at the truth, these were all obstacles! Now that these are gone, perhaps he can see the truth more clearly."

"See clearly? I don't even know where 'principle' is now. It's not in things, it's not in my heart, so where can I see it?" Wang Shouren sighed, looking up at the sky.

"I always feel like I'm just one step away, just one step away from overcoming this hurdle and understanding the truth, but I keep taking that step and I can never find the right direction, maybe I'll never get over it..."

"Perhaps what teachers lack is not 'taking a step,' but 'bending down.' Teachers always think about 'understanding the principles of heaven' before cultivating themselves, regulating their families, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world. But is it possible that the principles of heaven are found in cultivating themselves, regulating their families, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world? Without persisting in practice, one will never understand the truth," Su Lu said with a resounding voice.

"Hiss..." Upon hearing this, Wang Shouren was struck dumb. After a long while, he suddenly excitedly slapped the water and said, "Unity of knowledge and action, progress of knowledge and action! Knowledge is in action, and action arises from knowledge! The key is the word 'action,' which can connect everything!"

Having said that, he couldn't stay in the water any longer and jumped ashore to run back to his seclusion.

"Teacher, you're still naked!" Su Lu quickly reminded him.

"Oh, I got carried away with my excitement." Wang Shouren calmed down and, while putting on his pants, said to Su Lu, "You'll come with me into seclusion. We'll study the Great Dao together, and this time we must find it!"

"Yes, sir." Su Lu was naturally more than happy to comply.

“It just so happens that Anzhi and the others are renovating their brick houses. We won’t be staying at the post station this time. I’ll take you to a wonderful place!” Wang Shouren added, “It’s a veritable paradise!”

~~
That day, the master and his apprentice returned to the post station, packed some dry food and cooking utensils, and went up to the nearby Longgang Mountain.

Wang Shouren walked briskly ahead, while Su Lu, Su Tai, and a guard named Luo Luo followed behind carrying luggage.

"Sir, how did you know about this place?" Su Tai couldn't help but ask. From the moment he set off, Wang Shouren hadn't hesitated about the direction, clearly indicating he had been here once before.

"It was the Miao leader, Mang Gulu, who told me about it. I came to see it once before, and it was indeed very good." Wang Shouren was also a genius in languages; in just two or three months, he could already communicate with the Miao people. "We're here. This is it." As he spoke, he led the three to a gray-blue cliff.

The area in front of the cliff is open and flat, like a natural courtyard. The cliff face is covered with lush green vines, like rolled-up curtains.

Wang Shouren stepped forward, reached out and parted the drooping vines, revealing a hole more than two people high.

"Come in and have a look." Wang Shouren took the lead and the three followed closely behind.

The cave was more spacious than expected, even larger than a main room. Moreover, the entrance faced the sun, and light shone through the vines, making the cave bright and spacious, unlike the dark caves of ordinary mountains.

Su Lu reached out and touched the stone wall beside him. It was cool and dry to the touch, not damp as he had imagined. He couldn't help but praise, "It really is a good place for quiet cultivation."

“This place is exactly like the Yangming Cave where I lived in seclusion in my hometown of Yuyao six years ago. It’s just as quiet and peaceful as ever, as if heaven left it for people to settle down.” Wang Shouren stroked his beard and smiled, “Let’s call it ‘Yangming Little Grotto’!”

As Su Lu and Su Tai were talking, Su Tai, who had come in to investigate, said, "Sir, Qiu Ge'er, come in and take a look."

The two followed the sound and discovered that this was only the outer cave, and there was another mystery inside.

The inner cave was not only smaller and darker, but also contained two... stone coffins placed side by side.

Su Lu pulled down his sleeve and asked, "Does Yangming Cave in your hometown, teacher, also have this kind of thing?"

"Of course not." Wang Shouren shook his head with a wry smile, stepped forward and saw that the two stone coffins had no lids and were empty inside.

After examining it carefully, he laughed and said, "No one has used it before, so it's perfect for us to use as a bed!"

"Does it have to be this wild?" Su Lu didn't think it was a good idea.

“This is called facing death with courage! If you’re going to face a death trap, you should act like one.” Wang Shouren said with great interest, “Besides, you’re going to take the imperial examination and become an official, how can you back down at the sight of a coffin?”

"..." Su Lu couldn't help but smile wryly, "I almost forgot I still had to take the imperial examination..."

During this period, he spent every day with Wang Shouren, helping him to understand the Dao, and he even neglected his studies.

"Don't worry, as long as we comprehend the Great Dao, passing the imperial examination will be as easy as eating and drinking." Wang Shouren comforted him, "After I turned eighteen, I focused on becoming a sage, and it didn't stop me from taking the imperial examination."

"So you only passed the exam on your third try," Su Lu couldn't help but complain.

"Isn't that because I didn't figure it out yet? Once I figured it out, I passed the exam!" Wang Shouren put his arm around his shoulder and laughed, "If you become my disciple, you have to follow my method. Trust me, I'm right!"

"Sigh, alright..." Su Lu nodded helplessly. He had taken on such an unreliable teacher and didn't know if he would be led astray.

Whether it will lead to a ditch or not, it's already in its coffin...

~~
That very night, the master and apprentice slept in the stone coffin. Surprisingly, they slept quite peacefully; no ghost complained that they were taking up its bed…

In the days that followed, the two of them spent their days and nights debating and contemplating in this serene Yangming Grotto, trying to comprehend the Great Dao together...

“First of all, based on the results of our previous discussions, we should reach a consensus,” Su Lu said, lying in his stone coffin.

"It is very likely that there is no 'one great principle that encompasses all things in the universe'."

“Hmm. The difference between physics and intention shows that these two are difficult to explain with a single unified principle,” said Wang Shouren from the other stone coffin.

The two used this method to forget their identities and concerns, let go of all distractions, and leave only their purest thoughts.

"That is to say, the Great Dao is not unique, and one cannot expect to solve all problems by comprehending a single principle," Su Lu added.

This premise is crucial; it avoids many pointless arguments and allows the two theories to coexist, thus enabling a true discussion of collaborative learning.

“If it is not the only one, then it does not deserve to be called the Great Dao, but it is also possible that the Great Dao does not exist. We can still strive for the highest and attain the middle.” Wang Shouren said.

“Even the best principles will eventually fade away. Don’t you see that of the Hundred Schools of Thought, only Confucianism remains today? Even Confucius’s Confucianism will one day be discarded like worn-out shoes.” Su Lu, however, was quite philosophical about it and said, “So, teacher, there’s no need to force it.”

“Yes,” Wang Shouren agreed, “As long as it is ‘beneficial to the world,’ the middle way is also excellent.”

"Then let's officially begin the enlightenment process in the stone coffin!" he said with a smile.

“It sounds better to call it Longchang Wudao…” Su Lu insisted.

“Alright, I’ll listen to you. Let’s call it Enlightenment at Longchang!” Wang Shouren readily agreed.

P.S. Chapter 3 is still only halfway through...

(End of this chapter)