Under One Person: Starting with the Dual Cultivation of Body and Soul

Chapter 121 Cultivation and Relaxation

Although improving one's life cultivation level will naturally increase one's control over oneself.

However, this is only the lower limit at this stage. With some practice, there is still a lot of room for improvement.

Li Chang'an's training method involved sitting on a stool with two ropes and a Rubik's Cube on his lap, and while turning the Rubik's Cube, he would use the two ropes to tie and braid the ropes.

It didn't sound like anything special, but he didn't use his hands; instead, he manipulated the white skin on his body to do it.

A knot is made by wrapping and tying a red string into various knots, such as a square knot or a lark's knot.

Rope braiding is the process of using rope to make bracelets, necklaces, belts, hanging ropes, etc.

Needless to say, the Rubik's Cube training is from easy to difficult, and it involves doing all three at once.

It was very difficult at first. I would often focus on one thing and then fall behind on the other two. And whether it was knotting, braiding, or Rubik's Cube, I could only do the simplest ones.

But gradually, he became more skilled and could not only operate all three at the same time, but his precision also improved little by little.

During this process, he began to understand why Taoism refers to the power transformed from Qi as magical power.

Method refers to techniques, and strength refers to power.

Magic power is actually the power of spells and magic.

The law must be understood and the strength must be practiced.

After training the white light on his body surface in this way, Li Chang'an found that he had made great progress in its application. He could not only multitask, but also divide his thoughts.

Previously, this white qi was used for protection; if you wanted to hit someone, you had to swing your fist.

But now, he doesn't need to swing his fist; with a thought, the white energy around him can directly strike back.

If someone punches him, he can control the white qi to form a fist and exchange a punch with that person. He can also control the white qi to form a hand and grab that person's fist, preventing them from pulling away.

This is somewhat similar to the counterforce of the Golden Light Mantra or the Golden Bell Shield.

If you punch me, I don't need to retaliate. With just a thought and a flick of my wrist, I can injure you.

Once Li Chang'an mastered this application, even if he stood still, his entire body became a weapon, and any part of his body could be used for attack, defense, or grabbing.

However, the current attack range is still very small, limited to the area that the white qi can move within, about three inches, and the force decreases the further away it is.

Within this scope, proactive attacks are too limited; they can only be used for passive defense, and their technical significance outweighs their practical significance.

"With my current control over the dialogue, if I were to use the Golden Light Mantra, I would probably be at the Transformation Realm," Li Chang'an thought to himself.

Transformation is a rather advanced application of golden light in the Golden Light Mantra. Even among the younger generation of Longhu Mountain, few have reached the level of transformation.

The Reverse Life Triple Technique is much more complex than the Golden Light Mantra, and the difficulty of transforming white qi into form is much greater than that of the Golden Light Mantra.

After practicing micro-operations for a while, Li Chang'an stopped and gently rubbed his throbbing temples.

Just like tempering one's life and refining one's body with high-voltage electricity, forging magical power is also a very demanding task. After using his intermediate state awareness to examine his own condition, he felt that he needed some rest and relaxation.

The kind of relaxation Li Chang'an wanted was definitely not entertainment like watching TV or playing games.

In his view, watching TV or playing video games doesn't make people relax; relaxation only comes when you are focused on and immersed in awareness of your body.

Focusing on the present moment puts you in a state of low energy consumption.

Chaos and disorganization lead to high consumption.

Therefore, Li Chang'an chose to relax by writing.

He turned and went to his study, spread out a roll of white paper, picked up a stone inkstone, and began to grind ink.

Many people nowadays like to use ready-made ink when writing, for convenience, but Li Chang'an believes that serious calligraphers should grind their own ink.

Only ink ground by oneself, with its varying shades and textures, can truly reflect one's heart. Ink is like human nature; if one is impatient, it will froth.

As the ink gradually spreads in the clear water, a delicate fragrance of ink wafts through the air.

Li Chang'an smoothed out the paper, picked up the pen, suspended his wrist, and began to write.

He suddenly brought his pen down, the tip moving across the paper with fluid, graceful movements, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes lifting, sometimes pressing, all demonstrating mastery of technique.

Li Chang'an wrote the Analects. The Sanyi School is based on Confucianism and extends it with Taoism. Li Chang'an is naturally quite knowledgeable in Confucian culture.

In recent years, although he has not gone to school, he goes to Lu Jin's courtyard every day to listen to Lu Jin talk about traditional Chinese culture and the classics of the three religions.

Sometimes when Lu Jin was too busy to teach, he would ask his friends to teach in his place. Fang Dongtian of the Quanzhen Baiyun Temple had taught Li Chang'an many classes.

During this process, Li Chang'an began to understand why the Three Ones Patriarch used Confucianism as his foundation; it was not simply because the Three Ones Patriarch was a disciple of the Confucian sage Wang Yangming.

Furthermore, Confucianism is more accessible and down-to-earth, while many Taoist classics often start too high. If one tries to pursue a higher level of understanding without reaching that level, taking too big a step can easily lead to trouble.

First learn Confucianism for a good transition, then practice Taoism to climb to a higher level.

In fact, not only the Sanyi School, but all three religions have evolved to the point that they are no longer clearly opposed, but rather intertwined and interdependent.

Even Confucianism, from the very beginning, carried the shadow of Taoism. After all, Lao Tzu and Confucius were both teacher and friend.

The Analects contains more than 10,000 characters, so it was impossible for Li Chang'an to write it all at once.

Today he wrote a classic quote from the "Xue Er" chapter:

Confucius said: "A gentleman who is not dignified will not command respect, and his learning will not be solid. He should uphold loyalty and trustworthiness, not befriend those who are not as good as himself, and not hesitate to correct his mistakes."

Li Chang'an liked this sentence very much.

Come to think of it, the first time he encountered this phrase was in school in his previous life.

Back then, when the teacher explained this saying, he said, "A gentleman who is not serious will not command respect." A gentleman should be calm, composed, and dignified, not frivolous and carefree all the time.

"Do not befriend those who are inferior to yourself" means do not associate with people who are not as good as you, such as petty thugs and hooligans outside of school; keep your distance.

"One who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and one who stays near ink gets stained black. Only by making friends with outstanding people and those who are better than you can you become stronger and reach higher and higher."

To be honest, Li Chang'an felt that what the teacher said made some sense, and that this was also the survival rule of today's society.

Even in school, students were divided into groups based on their grades. Those who did well in school were placed in honors classes with strict management, while those who did poorly were placed in regular classes with less strict management.

So, when Lu Jin first told him this, that was also Li Chang'an's answer.

As a result, Lu Jin criticized him. Lu Jin said that was fallacy.

Lu Jin said at the time that this was a misinterpretation of Confucius's meaning. Many people think that "a gentleman who is not dignified will not command respect" means that a gentleman must be dignified...

One must have authority.

But in fact, they did not understand the specific meaning of this "heavy".

They thought that putting on a stern face and letting their two fat bulges down meant being "serious," and that a gentleman without seriousness would not be dignified.

This is essentially no different from Dong Shi imitating others.

Li Chang'an was deeply impressed by this metaphor. The word "重" in "君子不重则不威" (a gentleman who is not dignified will not command respect) can be interpreted in many ways, but it certainly doesn't mean hanging the two pieces of flesh on one's face heavily.

Although several years have passed since that lesson, Li Chang'an remembers that sentence particularly well because of this interesting analogy.

Lu Jin later explained, "The saying 'Do not befriend those who are not as good as yourself' does not mean that you cannot make friends with people who are not as good as yourself. That is the way of a snob. If everyone thought like that, there would be no true friends."

"The real meaning of this sentence is that everyone should have self-respect; the 'respect' here refers to self-esteem and self-confidence."

"The West says that there are seven deadly sins, and pride is one of them. That's not wrong; humans are born with a certain degree of pride. But sometimes, when faced with the unknown and danger, people lose their pride and become extremely cowardly."

"For example, one day in the future, you might be entrusted with an extremely important and dangerous mission by your sect or country."

"But because this matter is important and dangerous, you will instinctively feel fear and insecurity."

"And at this moment, you need to use your real knowledge to support yourself."

"This knowledge refers not only to the dead knowledge in books, nor only to your personal cultivation, but also to self-respect."

"Even if a person possesses a great deal of knowledge and learning, and has immense power, if they lack self-respect and self-confidence when they need to use that knowledge..."

"Then what you've learned is meaningless and unstable; this is what is meant by 'learning without stability'."

Therefore, everyone must build their own character and self-confidence, and never feel that they are inferior to anyone else.

"And the following phrase, 'Do not befriend those who are not as good as yourself,' means that you should not look down on anyone and should not arrogantly think that others are inferior to you."

"The previous sentence is about respecting yourself, and the next sentence is about respecting others. Since we must respect ourselves, we must also respect the self-respect of everyone else."

No one in the world is perfect. When people interact, each person has their own strengths. He may not be as good as you in one aspect, but he may be better than you in another.

"Therefore, there are two extremely important principles that you need to keep in mind when dealing with people and situations."

That is, not to dismiss someone's words because of their personality, nor to dismiss someone because of their words.

When he said this, Lu Jin used himself as an example, saying that he was one of the top ten people in the world of supernatural beings. Many of his good friends were not as strong as him, but when they encountered problems, he would still listen to their opinions carefully.

Therefore, Lu Jin reminded Li Chang'an: "Never refuse to listen to someone's good ideas just because they are not as good as you or because you have a bad impression of them. That would be wrong."

"The saying 'Do not befriend those who are not as good as yourself' means that everyone in the world has their own shining strengths. We should be good at discovering and utilizing the strengths of others, while discarding their weaknesses."

"In this process, if you discover your own shortcomings, never be afraid to correct them. This is the true meaning of 'If you make a mistake, don't hesitate to correct it.' This is true wisdom!"

Li Chang'an understood these words clearly and grasped their deeper meaning.

In fact, many profound teachings of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, in essence, all aim to help you find your "true self" deep within your heart.

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The "gratitude" in "A gentleman who is not gracious will not command respect" refers to self-respect and self-esteem. Gratitude is about one's true nature, and respect is also about one's true nature.

This is actually the same principle as the Buddhist saying "In heaven and on earth, I alone am the most honored," only expressed in a different way.

Memories flow through my mind, and the words on my pen follow.

After completing the last stroke, Li Chang'an paused his wrist and steadily finished writing.

He put down his wolf-hair brush, took a half step back, and quietly examined his work.

The running script on the rice paper is silvery and powerful. The strokes are vigorous and the rhythm is continuous, exuding an extremely pure spirit. In terms of the skill alone, this piece of calligraphy is absolutely on par with those renowned calligraphy masters in the country.

A moment later, he casually crumpled the Xuan paper covered with beautiful running script into a ball and threw it into the trash can next to his desk.

Throughout history, countless masters have treated their works in this way when creating them.

For the masters themselves, those precious calligraphic works that many people would pay a fortune for are merely casual creations inspired by a sudden burst of inspiration; not every piece of calligraphy or painting can satisfy them.

If even renowned masters are like this, then Li Chang'an is no exception.

This is also his mindset when doing things.

If you approach each time you pick up a pen with the mindset of writing well and leaving a lasting impression, it will be difficult to produce truly good characters, and you will lose sight of the original purpose of using calligraphy to relax your mind and body.

Li Chang'an tidied up his desk, washed and hung up his brushes. He felt refreshed and invigorated after this calligraphy session, and all his previous fatigue vanished.

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