Wandering Gods of Day and Night-Chapter 57 - 54 Divine Revelation
57: Chapter 54 Divine Revelation
57 -54 Divine Revelation
As Zhou Lingyi looked into Yuan Buyu’s resolute eyes, her heart eased.
She took out something from her sleeve, placed it gently on the table, and pushed it towards Yuan Buyu.
The object was a gavel, square in shape, with its surface coated with a shiny layer of lacquer.
The wood was huanghuali, adorned with wheat patterns on all sides.
“This gavel is said to have been passed down from generation to generation from Elder Yuan’s lineage.
Lingyi went to great lengths to exchange for it, and now it’s returned to its rightful owner,” Zhou Lingyi explained.
“Master Zhou has put in much effort.
However, my second disciple has already used this gavel and I don’t wish to use it anymore.
Insisting on keeping it by my side would only be distressing.”
After pushing the gavel back to Zhou Lingyi, Yuan Buyu said, “Tomorrow is the ceremony for joining the Tangkou…”
“Don’t you want to pick an auspicious day?” Zhou Lingyi asked.
Yuan Buyu didn’t care about selecting an auspicious date, saying, “Any day I take on a disciple is an auspicious day!”
…
“Are you ready?”
“Ready.” ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
“Disciple, succeed me!” Yuan Buyu solemnly handed a folded fan to Zhou Xuan.
Zhou Xuan held the fan, feeling that something about the atmosphere was off.
They were in the kitchen, surrounded by the smoke of cooking oil, with several kitchen disciples chopping away with a rhythm.
“I don’t feel like I’m participating in a ceremony of apprenticeship, but rather attending an opening ceremony at a culinary school.”
Zhou Xuan felt there was a need for some ceremonial sense.
Otherwise, they should just stick with the old ways, setting up tea and wine for an apprenticeship banquet.
Yuan Buyu shook his head and said,
“Don’t want to make such a fuss.
It’s just the sense of ceremony you’re after?
Let me think…
that’s right, clothes maketh the man, horses are adorned by their saddle.
We’ve got the wrong attire; let’s change into something appropriate.”
He went to the dormitory and fetched two sets of storyteller’s red robes, wearing one himself and giving the other to Zhou Xuan, then choosing the Ancestor Tree as the location for the ceremony.
“Now, does it feel right?” Yuan Buyu asked.
Zhou Xuan took a look up and down and responded, “Master, what do you think?”
“Don’t call me ‘Master’; everyone in the kitchen calls me ‘Master’.
When you call me that, I feel like I’m back in the kitchen.
Just call me Lao Yuan.
Keep ‘Master’ in your heart, that’s more than enough.”
After Yuan Buyu corrected the address, he returned to the topic of the apprenticeship ceremony and said, “Still doesn’t feel like the ceremony you talked about.
The two of us in robes standing under the tree look like street storytellers; it’s embarrassing!”
“Let me think…
I’ve got an idea.
How about taking a photograph as a keepsake?
Let’s get some shots of the two of us…”
Zhou Xuan drove Yuan Buyu to a photography studio in Ping Shui Prefecture, booked a photographer, and brought the photography equipment back to Zhou Family’s Troupe.
Back in the troupe’s courtyard, Zhou Xuan had Yuan Buyu pose for many shots, such as Yuan Buyu raising the fan high like Wu Song fighting the tiger, while he made funny faces on the side; both teacher and disciple pointing the fan forward together; the master opening the fan while the disciple slams the gavel on the table…
“You’re really good at creating scenes,” Yuan Buyu was having a good time.
After playing around with a dozen poses, teacher and disciple finally took a serious photo together, concluding the apprenticeship ceremony with a blend of both rustic and Western flair.
Since they had already hired the photographer, Zhou Xuan simply called over Zhou Lingyi and five senior disciples to take a family photograph.
Zhou Family’s Troupe was rarely so festive.
…
After completing the apprenticeship, it was time to join the Tangkou and light the incense.
“This lighting of incense, at the very least, takes three days, and it’s inevitably a strenuous task.”
Yuan Buyu moved a table under the Ancestor Tree, then brought over an incense burner.
The incense burner was placed on the table, with a folded fan and gavel beside it.
“Come, light the incense.
Light one stick,” Yuan Buyu instructed Zhou Xuan.
“Just one?
Isn’t that too few?”
It was Zhou Xuan’s first question since becoming a disciple.
He was used to lighting at least three sticks at temples, and a single stick seemed too meager.
“It’s not about the quantity of incense sticks.
It’s all about the specifics.
Lighting one stick signifies the unity of all dharmas, and not every Tangkou is permitted to do this.
Only Divine People from the nine ancient temple can.”
There were many particulars to consider.
Zhou Xuan struck a match and lit an incense stick, then placed it in the burner.
“Lao Yuan, what’s next?”
“Next, it gets complicated.”
Yuan Buyu walked around the incense table, explaining as he moved, “The incense in this burner is known as ‘external incense’, which is lit to invoke the ‘internal incense.’
Come, follow my lead,
Close your eyes,
Imagine, projecting in your mind a burner that’s an exact replica of the one with the external incense.”
Zhou Xuan tried hard to conjure up the image of the incense burner in his mind.
A bronze body, scales patterns, gray incense powder, pale yellow incense sticks.
The scene was pieced together bit by bit, from an initially easy dispersal to a progressively more solid picture that lasted longer and longer in his mind, until finally, it was as if printed there.
However, the incense in the burner of this mental image was not lit, devoid of flame.
“Is the image stable now?” Yuan Buyu, seeing Zhou Xuan’s brow smoothing out,
“Stable!”
“Remember, the incense burner in your mind represents yourself.
The folded fan and gavel beside the burner will be graced by the Gods’ presence, and they represent the Divine.
You must imagine them in your mind to establish a connection with the Divine,
Once your heart is connected to the Divine, you can use spiritual Perception to slowly ignite the incense.
After the incense is lit, Divine Revelation will occur.”
“Elder Yuan, what does Divine Revelation look like?”
“The folded fan opens by itself without anyone touching it, and the gavel strikes by itself without anyone banging it.” Yuan Buyu described, then asked, “Did you all hear that clearly?”
“Heard it clearly.”
“Good, storyteller Disciple Yuan Buyu, with the fan unfolding and the gavel enlivening Jingtang, invites the Ancestor God to descend.”
Yuan Buyu fixated on the folded fan and the gavel, the tip of his right index finger touching his forehead.
Golden light spots emerged on his skin at his brow, sticking one by one onto his finger.
Once a layer of gold formed, Yuan Buyu pointed at the folded fan and the gavel, each receiving a coating of gold.
At the same time, the originally cloudy sky had cleared, a ray of sunlight breaking through onto the fan and gavel, searing golden cloud patterns on their surfaces.
With the patterns formed, this signified the successful descent of the Ancestor God.
“The Ancestor God has arrived, Xuanzi, light the incense.”
Yuan Buyu signaled Zhou Xuan it was time to begin, then he sat down in a chair nearby, lighting a pot of tobacco for a water pipe, puffing away contently.
Lighting the incense takes at least three days; the wait is long, standing continuously without resting properly will only lead to swollen legs.
Zhou Xuan had already started to imagine the folded fan and the gavel in his mind, this step wasn’t hard, especially since he had just conjured up the grand incense burner; the fan and gavel were only slightly larger by comparison.
Without much effort, the fan and gavel were also etched next to the incense burner in Zhou Xuan’s mind.
At the moment when the fan and gavel images stabilized, Zhou Xuan felt a sense of freedom in his spirit.
The previously elusive spiritual Perception surged forth, enveloping the internal incense in his mind.
With this envelopment, he heard, saw, and felt.
He heard the sound of the wind blowing, saw a nearly transparent whiff of smoke, and felt the unique herbal-like fragrance of the incense, mixed with a hint of burning sawdust.
The incense was already burning, its combustion so minor it was almost negligible.
“If only it burned more fiercely.”
Zhou Xuan mused to himself, and as he wished, the fire of the internal incense really intensified, hearing ‘crackle and sizzle’, the flames becoming visible to the naked eye and the smell of burning sawdust grew stronger.
“Even more fiercely…” Zhou Xuan instructed once more, and this time the burning did indeed become more intense; it was just excessively so, the flame of the incense growing rapidly, like a few meters high fire dragon.
With the intense flames pulling at him, Zhou Xuan’s mind descended into chaos.
He quickly formed a Zen Meditation Handprint, hoping to first stabilize his spirit and then gradually guide the flames to become smaller.
However, the handprint was of no use, and neither was his mental guidance to reduce the flames.
As he was about to collapse from the overwhelming heat, Zhou Xuan suddenly recalled how he had laid flat without doing anything when the Earth Temple had been entangled by the Great Buddha’s chanting, and it proved surprisingly effective.
He thought it might be worth a try…
Yuan Buyu, who was watching from the side, looked at Zhou Xuan, who was sweating profusely, without a word, contentedly smoking.
“Heh heh, you’re too hasty, young man.
Lighting the incense requires a gradual progression.
The more impatient you are, the fiercer it gets, there’s no point in resisting.
Is this not the Divine pressing down on your nature?
Can you really outmatch the Divine?”
Yuan Buyu chuckled, just as he finished smoking a pipe.
He tilted his head, tapping out the ash against the leg of the bamboo chair, which echoed loudly.
“Puff, smack!”
One sound was the fan unfolding, the other was the gavel striking the table.
Yuan Buyu heard the noise, suddenly looked up, and after sitting in silence for a long spell, his expression incredulous, he cocked his head towards Zhou Xuan and blurted, “Ah!?”
