Great Merchant – Dao Ming Chapter 10

???, Hall of Calm Intent(平意堂)

“Boss, boss!” Ming storms into the meditation hall that’s currently in use, breaking all the junior monks’ concentration. Row upon row of monks slowly open their eyes, their robes looking like a field of rapeseed being harvested as they turn to look at the source of the disturbance. The young monks-in-training shift minutely as they try to cast-off the unpleasant thoughts that come about when one is disturbed. 

THWACK

An old monk that served as a proctor for the monks-in-training smacks the bundled bamboo in his hand across Ming’s shoulders. “How many times did I tell you not to call me that?! I have a name, you know!”

The other proctors turn to the man, silently wondering to themselves. “Is that the first thing you should be angry about? Not the disturbance?”

“But calling you ‘Master Zingsum(静心 - Calm Heart)’ feels weird, you are neither calm nor patient, and I’m pretty sure calling you a ‘Master’ is wrong as well!” The younger monks struggle to suppress their laughter, some choking in the process; the other proctors cough or turn away, trying to hide the look on their face.

The old monk takes several deep breaths to forcefully calm himself. “What do you want? You are interrupting us.” The voice is slightly strained as he tries to keep it as flat and neutral as possible. 

“One of the brother monks responsible for calligraphy might be ‘awakening’.” Ming gets right to the point since there are no longer any distractions. 

“You should’ve said that sooner!” The old monk takes long strides towards the back-stairs, quickly disappearing from sight. 

“For now, focus on solo-endeavours, don’t slack off, it could be one of you that awakens in the near future if you stay diligent.”

The many dozens of monks calm themselves and restore their composure, some continue their meditation, others exit the hall to complete other tasks.

[T/N: I know “smelly old geezer”(臭老騾) and “old bone freak”(老骨怪) sounds weird, but we couldn’t think of better names in english T.T E/N: ENGLESKI HARD. GAMBURGA.]

[T/N: 先生 used in this case is exactly how it would be used in japanese for sensei, to be accurate, this is where sensei originated from.]

[T/N: 走火入魔 is being used in its original meaning in taoism and in older wuxia that focused heavily on meditation. Not Qi Deviation or the like used in xianxia. 走火 means run (through) fire, refers to the practice of whatever it is, which can be borderline harmful to you, 入魔 means “entering (the) evil”, it means becoming obsessive or being processed by a demon, in short, psychosis/mental illness. Originally, it had absolutely nothing to do with qigong, it’s something that’s relatively recent that was attached to this term by modern authors. E/N: Think insanity induced by a bad trip on hallucinogens]

[T/N+A/N: 菩提心 -> Bodhicitta is the mindset for one to discard one’s self and to express empathy and compassion towards all sentient beings. While it may sound noble, it can be filled with a lot of dark undercurrents (thank gods for author’s note). Here’s an example, as provided by the author, there’s a worm that burrowed out of the ground, there’s a starving chick that fell from the nest. You can save the worm by guiding it back into the soil, or you can save the bird by feeding it the worm. In buddhism, they get around this by using the karma realms. The bird is on a higher realm than the worm, so there would be no problem with just saving the bird. But, now, let’s say you’ve found two identical twins in a desert, you can only carry one of them out, and whoever remains will certainly die. Who do you save? They will suffer no matter what happens. Or, would you kill them both? I’ll have to note that, the example given, most buddhist sects don’t accept any sort of mercy killing, killing is wrong, period. There are some sects that do have mercy killing though, an aspect of Guan Yin is depicted as a ferocious warrior, stomping on the skulls of demons and enemies. So, it isn’t a concrete thing, just thought I’d share the fruit of my research :P I think what the author’s note is hinting at is, it’s possible for someone to come to the conclusion that to be compassionate to all living things is to kill all living things. Tl;dr, skynet might just be filled with compassion~]

[T/N: 老天爺 - means old sky grandpa, I just used Heavens as replacement since that’s what it’s referring to, just noting this down cause the way he’s saying heaven is a mix of lamentation and exasperation. 有眼无珠 - have eyes, but no eyeballs, just changed it to my eyes are wasted to keep it smooth]

[T/N: My inner nerd is screaming… ASPIRIN PRECURSOR. For those not familiar with chemistry or medicine, willow bark alone was highly unstable, so much that it was hard to control the dosage. The correct isolation of salicin, which is the active medical ingredient in the willow bark, was what made what we now know as aspirin possible.]

The older monks nod slowly, finally understanding what their senior-brother is intent on doing. The younger monks are excitedly talking to one another and teasing Yangchun, since their famed Master-Uncle is going to personally train him.

Chapter end