Chapter 380: Self-Immolation (1)
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If there was an influential sect in Henan, it was indisputably the Shaolin Temple of Mount Song beneath Luoyang. Was it only Henan? If one were to pick the sect with the strongest influence in the entire Central Plains, it would likely be the Shaolin Temple.
Even in the case of the Namgung Clan representing Confucianism, they followed conduct rather than being a religion, and while there were sects based on Daoism such as the Wudang Sect, Mount Hua Sect, and Zhongnan Sect, Daoism also possessed a strong character of individual cultivation rather than religious coloration.
In that sense, since the Shaolin Temple preached a religion that influenced even the common people, their influence naturally had no choice but to be immense.
The thousand-year ancient temple Shaolin Temple, first built during the Northern and Southern Dynasties more than a thousand years ago, which laid the foundation of Buddhist martial arts starting from the Tang Dynasty.
That Shaolin Temple was currently facing a crisis of a lifetime.
“If there are opinions on what must be done regarding the present situation, I shall hear them.”
Abbot Gakhyeon of the Shaolin Temple spoke.
However, the eminent monks of the Shaolin Temple and Gakhyeon’s junior brothers could say nothing.
Everyone failed to think of a clear-cut method to overcome this situation.
“Is there truly no one?”
When Gakhyeon let out a sigh, someone quietly raised a hand. It was the Fist Exalt, Gakwon.
“No matter how much the militia storms into Shaolin, Shaolin will not be routed. There is no sect that has preserved its overall strength as well as us.”
Gakwon’s words were sound logic. While everyone was quiet, reading the room, shouts echoed from outside the Shaolin Temple.
“You cowardly, bald-headed monks, get out of the Central Plains!”
“Get lost! Get lost!”
Henan is currently the region where popular uprisings occur the most in the Central Plains. The hot sparks of such popular uprisings had splashed all the way to the Shaolin Temple.
What caught the eyes of the militia was the Shaolin Temple’s actions until now.
The Shaolin Temple had moved with the most safety-oriented conduct up to this point.
When the Murim Alliance colluded with the imperial palace, they stuck with them lest they fall out of favor with the imperial palace, and when the imperial palace founded the Palace of Heavenly Worship, they also stuck along while reading the imperial palace’s mood.
Of course, they had not directly harmed people or the like. That could be called their final conscience as Shaolin and the Golden Mean.
That was why, when the New Justice Association and the imperial palace clashed head-on this time, they declared sect closure on their own. Because it seemed they would cause bloodshed by clashing with orthodox martial artists. Naturally, it was an agreed decision between Abbot Gakhyeon and the elders.
They believed it was an inevitable choice to preserve the Buddhism remaining in the Central Plains land and protect its values.
“You bat-like bastards who cling here and there!”
“Come out, all of you! Let us taste just how strong the Shaolin Temple’s martial arts are!”
That choice now appeared like a bat to the common people. Clinging to the Palace of Heavenly Worship’s side back then, only to declare sect closure now that a clash was imminent.
While it looked like cowardice from the commoners’ perspective, from Shaolin’s perspective, it was a conviction to avoid conflict as much as possible and preserve their values.
However, everyone inside the Shaolin Temple’s Great Hero Hall also knew: the fact that the common people were already too agitated to be persuaded by calling it conviction.
“……It is no different from telling us to strike the common people. Then, even if we can protect the Shaolin Temple’s buildings, it is no different from the spirit dying. Where is there a monk who harms the common people? And who would place themselves in such a temple, in such a religion?”
Gakhyeon spoke. Everyone dropped their heads deeply.
“They are currently in a state close to a mob. They do not even know where to direct their anger, do they not?”
“We cannot say their anger is unjustified either. When record-breaking torrential rains poured down immediately, making it hard to make a living, it is a natural principle that rebellion arises when it becomes hard to make a living.”
“What I am asking is why the blade tip of that rebellion is pointed at us.”
“It is because we looked like the imperial palace’s running dogs. We cannot say looking like that is unjustified either.”
Gakhyeon looked at Gakwon with sorrowful eyes.
“I know you wish to protect Shaolin. Who wouldn’t? But that is not protecting it. In my view, there is only one way to protect it.”
“What is that?”
The elders looked at Gakhyeon with uneasy faces.
“We must take responsibility. For Shaolin having such a perception. For the anger of the common people. Even if their anger is truly not proper, we cannot help but forgive them. Is that not Shakyamuni’s teaching?”
“Taking responsibility, you say. Is there a way to take responsibility before those enraged people?”
“There is no choice but to self-immolate.”
At Gakhyeon’s words, everyone was shocked. A Self-Immolation Offering. It meant he would set fire to his own body.
“……Abbot. How can we possibly accept that? Is it not a decision we all gathered our heads to make? Even if the result turned out like this, there is no need for the Abbot alone to take responsibility.”
“That does not mean everyone needs to self-immolate either. Should there not be someone to preserve the Buddha-dharma?”
Gakhyeon smiled faintly.
“Since even the Medicine King Bodhisattva, who burned his own body, was reborn through transformation, where is the guarantee that I will not do so as well?”
They thought they had made the best choice. They had made the most conservative choice they could. But that soon brought about the worst result. A safe choice did not always guarantee safety.
“Buildings can simply be raised again, but a person’s life does not return, does it?”
“You, as a monk, challenge the Bodhisattva’s teachings head-on.”
Gakhyeon spoke to Gakwon in a joking tone, but naturally, Gakwon could not laugh.
“Of course you will return through reincarnation. But even if you return through reincarnation, if the Abbot cannot remember us and we cannot recognize the Abbot, how can that be called returning…….”
Gakwon shed tears. The people here were all individuals who had lived together for at least forty years. They were beings beyond family.
“We are believing. Is religion not such a thing? Faith in the unseen. I shall be born as a pear blossom on the tree in front of the Great Hero Hall next year, so you all simply need to regard the pear blossom blooming next year as me and believe.”
Gakhyeon spoke solemnly. It had already been half a day since the common people caused a ruckus in front of the Shaolin Temple. They were even threatening that if the Shaolin Temple continued to keep its gates locked, they would pour oil around the temple and burn Mount Song to the ground. Now was truly the time to go out.
“Do not come out, any of you.”
Gakhyeon stood up. Everyone bowed their heads. In truth, they all knew as well:
That without someone sacrificing themselves, this current situation could not be resolved. And that the person responsible could only be the Abbot.
“…….”
Gakhyeon stepped out of the Great Hero Hall. Quiet silence drifted in the Great Hero Hall.
Unlike the somber Great Hero Hall, Gakhyeon’s footsteps heading outside Shaolin felt strangely light.
The only one to take responsibility was himself. That was the only way to step out of the flames of this popular uprising.
“A-Abbot, how are you here?”
The disciples who were struggling on the inner side of the Shaolin Temple’s main gate to avoid opening the doors were startled upon seeing Gakhyeon. Gakhyeon folded his hands in prayer and spoke.
“Open it. I shall face them.”
“However, they are vicious right now. Rather, waiting until their excitement calms down is…….”
“Their anger cannot subside without burning something completely. Do you not feel that as well?”
Gakhyeon patted the disciples on the shoulders.
“You have worked hard until now. Leaving it to the disciples is something shameful in itself. I shall handle it now, so open the doors.”
The disciples could not disobey the Abbot’s command. They slowly opened the doors of the Shaolin Temple’s main gate. As the Shaolin Temple’s massive main gate opened with a creaking sound, the crowd momentarily halted their commotion.
“The Abbot of Shaolin, Gakhyeon, greets you.”
Gakhyeon spoke while folding his hands in prayer. A serene voice resonated across Mount Song.
* * *
I suddenly grew curious about Shaolin’s situation. Though the Shaolin Temple is on Mount Song, it is a place close to bustling areas like Luoyang and Zhengzhou. If popular uprisings had broken out to this extent, it felt as though they would have suffered damage as well. The anger of the masses had the characteristic of spreading uncontrollably once ignited.
“Shaolin, is it.”
At any rate, it was Mount Song situated on the way to Beijing. I thought stopping by at least once wouldn’t be bad.
In truth, I didn’t have much feeling toward Shaolin. Because although they belonged to the Palace of Heavenly Worship, they hardly participated in the Palace of Heavenly Worship’s activities.
Of course, from the New Justice Association’s perspective, it could be viewed as cowardly behavior, but that was our perspective. From the Shaolin Temple’s perspective, I thought they could fully do so. Since the Shaolin Temple was a side that received many alms from the imperial palace. Perhaps the sect most intertwined with the imperial palace was the Shaolin Temple.
Also, Gakwon, whom I met last time, didn’t leave such a bad impression either. Should I say he seemed like quite a pure martial artist? That was why I hoped nothing particular would happen at Shaolin.
Soon, Mount Song drew near. When the ridges of Mount Song gradually began to enter my sight, I sensed a strange sign. Because a wisp of smoke was rising along with a pungent, burning smell. To say the entire mountain was burning, the scale was small, and the smell was strange too.
And this smell—having encountered many corpses in this life, there was no way I wouldn’t know. It was the smell of a human physical body burning. Yet it wasn’t the smell and smoke of burning in large quantities either.
Curious, I continued climbing Mount Song. Soon, I saw people packed densely. Seeing everyone carrying pickaxes or scythes on their shoulders, it seemed the militia had indeed stormed all the way to Shaolin.
The people were standing blankly, murmuring. I pushed through the gaps between them and went before the crowd. And I saw a shocking scene.
One person, dressed in monk’s robes, was burning. He was quietly seated in an upright cross-legged posture.
“…….”
Originally, when militia gathered like this, it was normal for it to be noisy. Yet even with this many people gathered, only the crackling, popping sound of a single person burning echoed.
I saw the life force still remaining. Martial artists usually possessed tougher vitality than other people.
Instead, the pain of burning was intact, so he would be receiving even greater agony.
Yet I could not save him right now. Seeing that burning physical body, a person’s body becoming dried stalks, I was able to read the situation up to this point.
The militia had visited Shaolin in the sense of protest, and that Shaolin monk was self-immolating in the sense of taking responsibility.
I did not know whether that self-immolation was a noble act or an ignorant act. However, that blazing flame felt like the embodiment of determination. Looking beyond the self-immolation, several elderly eminent monks were shedding tears while looking at him. If so, the person burning here was likely Shaolin’s Sect Leader, the Abbot.
‘Then again, if someone were to take responsibility, there is only the Abbot.’
The reason I could not save him was simple. Because he was throwing his body to save the Shaolin Temple and disciples behind him, so I could not save him.
Crackle, crackle.
As skin crumpled, immense intense agony would be visiting his body, but the Abbot’s expression remained serene as always.
Blankly, I watched the burning Abbot. I saw his life force completely extinguishing. Even as his life force extinguished, the monk’s body, with its spine held upright and straight, did not collapse.
Even after death, the resolve vividly burned the flames.