Chapter 222: Try farming and Zen?
Have you eaten enough?
This isn't something a normal person would say!
Ruyi, who was standing aside, felt inexplicably frightened. The good friends she knew seemed to be becoming strangers.
"Are you still not full?"
“It’s still a little empty, but it’s not as desperately in need of food to fill it.”
"What kind of food do you need?"
"Emotions, any emotion other than boredom and emptiness."
“Whose emotions?”
"Mine."
After a brief exchange, Akechi Mitsushi was startled for a moment, opened his eyes, and looked at Hiramiya Chiye in front of him in horror.
The answer just now didn't sound like something a normal person would say. It sounded like someone who was possessed or a mentally ill patient talking to himself.
To be honest, I am very similar to Baichuan Ming from last night.
"I, what's wrong with me?"
Akechi Mitsuhide asked with a wry smile. Such emotions made him feel like his soul was being fed a little bit of food.
An awkward feeling spread throughout his body. He knew that something was happening to him, but he could not find the root cause, let alone how to treat it.
"Can't an empty heart be filled?"
Hiramiya Chiye seemed to be whispering, as if asking, and then he led Akechi Mitsuhide to the open space outside the hall.
Let Ruyi move in the equipment that Takeda Saburo used to exercise his body before, a stone lock weighing about 20 kilograms.
"Your body has not been tempered yet, right?"
"..."
Akechi Mitsuhide looked at the stone lock that Ruyi brought, and instantly understood Hiramiya Chiye's thoughts.
The purpose is to make your body tired through exercise.
“Does it really work?”
“You need to try it to find out.”
Hiramiya Chiya said this and signaled Akechi Mitsuhide that he could start training in lifting the stone lock.
Human emptiness may be caused by many reasons, and boredom is also one of them.
Ping Gong Qianye asked Ruyi to watch Akechi Mitsuhide and guide him in the stone lock lifting training.
I went back to the temple, took out a Buddhist scripture and a recliner, placed them under the big banyan tree, and lay on the recliner to read the scripture.
"Go ahead, I'll watch you." Ruyi said with a smile.
"I hope it helps."
Akechi Mitsuhide sighed, rolled up his sleeves, first tried the weight with one hand, then used both hands, each lifting a stone lock, and began strength training.
After only a few minutes, Akechi Mitsuhide was exhausted and sweating all over.
He has not practiced the orthodox Vajra method, and his physical condition is similar to Ruyi's, at most slightly better than ordinary people, but far from comparable to Takeda Saburo.
The stone lock that was too light in Takeda Saburo's hands now required all his strength to lift and put down, and it was gradually getting heavier.
He began to breathe heavily, and occasionally looked in the direction of Pinggong Qianye, hoping that Pinggong Qianye would call for a stop so that he could rest for a while.
"Ruyi, record a video and send it to Takeda Saburo and the others."
"..."
"Ok."
Ruyi smiled, took out her mobile phone and started taking photos and recording videos.
Facing the bright camera, Mitsuhide Akechi wanted to show off the strength of his arm muscles and tried to strike a handsome pose. Unfortunately, his strength was not enough to support a handsome performance.
After holding on for another 10 minutes, Akechi Mitsuhide felt that his hands and arms were about to be broken, and he felt a burning pain in his five fingers and palms that were holding the stone lock.
It must be broken skin.
He complained to Ruyi, but Ruyi just shook his head and said that Master Liansheng had not allowed him to stop and rest.
Unable to hold on physically, Akechi Mitsuhide began to circulate the magic power in his body to relieve the fatigue.
He glanced at Pinggong Qianye and saw that he did not object, so he stopped hiding it.
After exercising for about 30 minutes, Ruyi went to the kitchen to cook. Pinggong Qianye put down the Buddhist scriptures in his hand and came over to teach Akechi Mitsuhide how to lift the stone lock and how to use force correctly so as not to hurt himself.
"Pinggong, no, Master Liansheng, I really can't do it anymore. I feel like both of my arms are about to be broken..."
Akechi Mitsuhide had a sad face. No matter how correctly he exerted his strength, the weight of the stone lock in his hand was real and did not shrink at all.
His arms felt sore and weak, and he felt his muscles being torn and torn, causing his facial muscles to tremble in pain.
"Hold on for a while. When Ruyi finishes cooking dinner, you can rest."
"But I'm afraid my body can't bear it."
"You are a practitioner."
Hiramiya Chiya patted Akechi Mitsuhide's sweat-soaked shoulder and smiled kindly.
The sky gradually darkened and cool evening breezes blew across the fields.
Akechi Mitsuhide, who was almost collapsed on the ground, regained some strength with the help of the evening breeze and finally managed to hold on until Ruyi came out with the meal.
"You can't just lie down yet, just stand like this for a while."
When Akechi Mitsuhide wanted to lie down and rest completely, Hiramiya Chiya's voice sounded like the devil's low moan.
"..."
Akechi Mitsuhide could only try his best to keep his body steady and force a smile.
Under the big banyan tree, Pinggong Qianye and Ruyi have already started enjoying tonight's dinner.
"Ruyi, your cooking skills are getting better and better now."
“Maybe I’m really talented at this.”
“Very talented.”
Pinggong Qianye ate the Luohanzhai cooked by Ruyi, and did not hesitate to praise it, and gave his own evaluation of each dish tonight.
"Want to save some for Akechi?"
"No need. You see he has been training so hard, he certainly can't eat anything. It would be troublesome if he vomits." Not far away, Akechi Mitsuhide, with his hands on his knees and breathing heavily, listened to the conversation between Hiramiya Chiye and Ruyi and smiled bitterly.
He could feel the hunger coming from his abdomen, but he also knew that he was not fit to eat at the moment.
You need to wait until your body cools down from its tired and hot state before you can think about eating.
But, the aroma of food under the big banyan tree blowing in with the evening breeze really makes people itch.
There was no other way, Akechi Mitsuhide could only breathe in the aroma of the food a few more times, as if he was tasting the food himself.
After dinner, Ruyi went to clean up the dishes, and Mingguang Xiucai lay down on the ground and looked up at the sparse stars in the sky.
He hadn't been so tired and hungry for a long time.
Hiramiya Chiye walked over, looked down at Akechi Mitsuhide on the ground, and smiled, "How do you feel now?"
"I'm tired, hungry, and don't want to move." Akechi Mitsuhide replied weakly.
"I'm asking about your empty heart."
"Ah, I don't have the energy to care about it. I'm almost dying of exhaustion."
"That's good."
"What good?"
"The proof that your soul is empty is that you are simply too full and bored."
"..."
Akechi Mitsuhide was stunned for a while, it seemed to be true.
When he used all his strength to overcome the stone lock training, the physical fatigue and pain left him no time to think about the emptiness of his soul.
If you are almost starving to death, how can you care whether your soul is hungry?
Could it be that my so-called spiritual emptiness is simply due to having too much free time and thinking that I have seen through the mundane world, so I cannot derive pleasure from it?
"That's not right. When I went to the bar before, I would always feel excited, happy, and agitated. But I didn't feel that at all last night."
Mitsuhide Akechi, who was lying on the ground, turned over and gestured with his hands, saying, "That feeling of emptiness... How should I put it? Anyway, I feel uncomfortable all over, but I can't tell where I feel uncomfortable. My heart feels empty... Uh, you should understand what I am saying, right?"
Hiramiya Chiye signaled Akechi Mitsuhide to calm down first, and then said: "You just care less and less about these things. Because you don't care and pay no attention, the various sensory stimulations they can bring to you are naturally weakened a lot."
"No desires, no requests?"
"Don't think so highly of yourself. You are far from reaching such a level."
"..."
"Seeking something to fill one's heart because it is empty is also a kind of desire."
Ok.
Akechi Mitsuhide could only admit that he was too full and bored, which gave rise to the emotion of emptiness.
"Is there no other possibility?" Akechi Mitsuhide tried to struggle again.
"Have."
Ping Gong Qianye thought for a moment and answered seriously, "All the emotions born in your heart have been sucked away, leaving you empty and at a loss."
This is not an exaggeration. Judging from the abilities displayed by the Seven Sinners, absorbing all kinds of desires and emotions of living beings is as easy as drinking water.
Emptiness, nothingness.
Hiramiya Chiye had heard such statements before, such as the Void Monk, members who left the Spiritual Club, and unknown friends of the members... The symptoms they showed were very similar to those of Akechi Mitsuhide.
Therefore, it is normal for people and things like the Seven Sinners to exist.
"Hey, now that you mention it... it reminds me of a person who behaved strangely last night."
Akechi Mitsuhide told Hiramiya Chiya about his conversation with Shirakawa Mei last night.
"Have I been influenced by him?"
"Maybe."
The two talked for a long time until Akechi Mitsuhide's stomach started to rumble with hunger, which ended the conversation.
In the kitchen, Ruyi had already cooked a pot of some noodles for Akechi Mitsuhide.
Only after eating three full bowls of somen did Mitsuhide Akechi feel like he was completely alive again.
My stomach was bloated and my whole body was sore and weak, but my heart felt unusually full, as if it was full just like me.
Hunger of the soul.
In order to completely solve this problem, Heimiya Chiye asked Ruyi to mark out an area on the vacant land beside the Arakawa River and give it to Akechi Mitsuhide to reclaim farmland.
It is common in many temples, especially Zen temples, to cultivate farmland by oneself.
Farming Zen, Zen monks integrate Zen into farming and attain enlightenment through farming, it is both their lifestyle and a way of practice.
Mitsuhide Akechi, who is complaining about emptiness and boredom, seems to be very suitable for this path of practice at the moment.
I just don’t know if he has the wisdom to be able to gain freedom from it.
"Farming? Farming Zen?"
After hearing Hiramiya Chiya's arrangement, Akechi Mitsuhide, who was slumped in the chair after eating and didn't want to move, had a complicated expression on his face, but finally nodded.
I can only hope that through proper farming, I can fill my empty soul.
"Master Liansheng, am I also suitable for the path of farming and Zen?" Ruyi also became interested.
"You can try."
Anyway, there are still a lot of open space around the temple, which is suitable for growing vegetables, fruits and melons.
"You want to snatch my land for farming?"
Akechi Mitsuhide joked with a smile, and Ruyi smiled and said, "Farming Zen is close to nature, which is more suitable for my personality, but I have never thought about it in this way before."
"That's true. With your personality, you don't like fighting and you don't like to cultivate your body. It's really good for you to exercise your body through farming."
"I'll buy some seeds and farm tools tomorrow."
Ruyi looked excited, as if he couldn't wait to show his skills in the fields.
Farming is indeed very interesting.
It seems like I could try it myself, combining work and rest.
The farming gene deep in Hiramiya Chiye's heart also began to stir.
(End of this chapter)
