The Sage, the Swordsman and the Scholars

by Pierre Dimaculangan

  “Ah, there it is,” he whispered to himself smiling when he spotted the old noodle house he used to frequent in his younger days. It had not changed much after all these years. He unfastened his pack and took a seat near the entrance where he could get a full view of the street in all of its liveliness. Such was the innocence of the townsfolk inhabiting this place, free from the cares of politics and far away from the empire’s enemies. Life was simple here, but it also saddened his heart that they knew not of the Way.

  As he enjoyed a bowl of hearty noodles, a man in the corner across the street eyed Jie. His clothes were old and worn, and he paced nervously back and forth, restless and anxious. The man’s restlessness did not go unnoticed by Famin Jie who paid him no attention, but continued to enjoy his meal without worry. After he had finished his meal, Famin Jie returned to the street in search of an inn to spend the night. The inn, being on the other side of town, was quite a distance away so he rounded a corner that led into a lonely street full of many dark spaces. As he proceeded down the narrow street a shadow emerged from his rear. As he turned to see who approached, Famin Jie was violently tackled into the ground. It was the nervous man he had seen from the noodle house. He wrestled with Jie on the hard dirt ground and snatched the coin purse that hung from his belt. The man sprang to his feet with the coin purse in his hand and sprinted into the darkness only to be tripped and pinned back into the ground by a bald-headed young man wielding a wooden staff.

  He was bald and wore the faded yellow and orange garments of a warrior monk from the Shaolin Temple. “You will not resist if you know what is good for you, thief!” declared the monk. The thief shivered and whimpered and nearly wanted to cry. It became apparent to Jie however, that the thief posed no threat and acted out of desperation. His appearance and expression testified to it.

  “That is quite alright there, young lad. Take it easy, he is not going anywhere,” said Jie calmly as he approached the thief. He brushed the dust from his shoulders. The monk snatched away the coin purse and tossed it to Jie. “I am sorry you had to resort to the coin purse of an aging man, sir. If you had just asked me for some coin, I would have gladly offered you a generous sum,” Jie said gently smiling to the man whose hands were held up in surrender.

  His lips quivered and his eyes watered. “Please, please do not hurt me. I am sorry for what I have done,” he pleaded.

  “Ha! How typical it is for one to become ‘sorry’ once he has been captured. I saw everything. You are a coward for preying on old men,” the bald monk snapped. He pressed the base of his staff deeper into the thief’s throat.

  Famin Jie motioned for the monk to stay calm and to remove the staff, and provide some space.

  “Come now, let us speak to one another like civilized gentlemen,” said Jie kindly. He reached out his hand and helped the would-be thief to his feet. The bald monk observed them, seemingly unsure of what think. He did not expect Famin Jie to have been so calm and forgiving about the situation.

  “Do not even dare to think about running. I will–” Jie stopped him mid-sentence, gesturing for him to relax. “But he is a thief! His kind have become rampant in these parts, and they must be punished!” the monk declared as he maintained the white-knuckled grip on his staff.

  Famin Jie gently put his hand on the man’s shoulder and asked: “What ails you, my neighbor?” The man lowered his head; tears fell from his face. Shame overtook his face. It became clear to Famin Jie that he was but a desperate man resorting to desperate measures. “It is my daughter, sir. She is gravely ill and I have nothing left for food and medicine. Bad fortune has fallen upon my household and my crops have failed this year. The harvest is dry.” He began to sob.

  “Do not fret, dear neighbor, for Heaven surely knows of your troubles. I do not believe our meeting was a mere chance,” Famin Jie assured him compassionately. “You may find it well that I have a bit of experience with medicinal recipes. Come; take me to your home, neighbor. Monk, you come too. The crossing of our three paths was no accident.”

  The monk continued to suspect the man and kept his eyes locked upon him. Together, the three of them made their way to a humble home on a hill not too far from the town outskirts. There Famin Jie laid eyes upon the farmer’s daughter. Her breath was labored and her body was thin and frail. The sight of her broke his heart as he knelt by her side. He felt her hands for a pulse. He unfastened his pack and unpackaged a few herbs he had brought with him.

  “I had a feeling these would come in handy sometime on my journey,” Jie said smiling. He prepared the proper combination of plants and herbs, crushed them, and boiled them into a clay pot. After they had finished boiling, he administered the medicine to the young girl who could barely take a sip of the bittersweet broth. He unraveled a pack of fine needles which he cleansed under a candle’s flame and pressed them into the girl’s vital points to restore the balance of her flow of internal energy. “Now, we will just wait for the treatments to run its course while she rests,” he said with a deep breath. The farmer and his wife sat anxiously beside their child just watching her breathe.

  The bald young monk sat erect in the corner of the small house with his legs crossed and staff placed across his lap. His expression was blank as if unsure of what to feel about farmer’s plight. He too felt compassion for the girl and a small part of him was glad he had not ‘punished’ the farmer for thievery.

  “I have not had the chance to thank you for intervening when you did. I am not as fast as I used to be so I did not think I could have caught our farmer friend, here,” Famin Jie said. “But if not for you, we might not have been able to help this family,” he said as he took a seat beside the bald young man.

  He rubbed his shaved temple and rested his head in the palm of his hand. “Yes, I am pleased that we have made it here to help them. But a large part of me earlier wanted to punish him for committing a crime. I did not know his story.” The monk curiously observed the girl’s parents sitting around her. He had not experienced the love and care of a mother and father and wondered what it would have been like to have been raised by his own.

  “Yes, I know your sentiments, but strict justice and protocol by themselves bear very little fruit, do you not agree? They fall short because they do not change the heart of a man,” Jie replied. “Love – it is the greatest ethic,” he said smiling at him. The monk looked at Famin Jie with a raised eyebrow apparently confused and unsure of what to make of his words.

  “When a criminal is punished for his actions, he would be sure to think twice about repeating his crimes because he would fear the consequences. This form of justice saves innocent lives, sir”

  “Punishments have their place for those who commit crimes and rightly so, but when a man’s heart is truly changed in love, he will not only stop doing what is wrong, but he will become benevolent and begin doing what is good and beneficial to the people. If we had simply punished the man in the street, his daughter might have not lived.”

  Famin Jie prepared a meal for his company later that evening and upon their request he spent the night at the farmer’s home. He awoke that next morning to the sounds of laughter and rejoicing. To his delight, the farmer’s daughter was standing up and out of bed. Her fever had gone and her skin no longer pale. She was swarmed with embraces and kisses from her parents. The farmer and his wife were in deep gratitude. Feeling ashamed for what he had done in the previous night, the farmer fell to his knees and begged for forgiveness from Famin Jie.

  “Oh, compassionate sir, forgive me for what I had done. I was but a desperate man who resorted to wrong means. If there is anything I can do or give as a symbol of our gratitude, please just speak and it will be done.” He kowtowed to Famin Jie who quickly brought him to his feet.

  “Now, now I am merely an instrument of the Orchestrator. It was Heaven that had caused our paths to cross. Give your thanks and praise to Heaven.” Together on that day, they went into town and celebrated the recovery of the farmer’s daughter and the season
’s festivities. As they observed the festival in town, Famin Jie questioned the bald young man who had been accompanying them.

  “Judging by your unique attire and clean-shaven head, you are from an elite order of monks in the forests of Shaoshi Mountain, are you not?”

  “I was a monk, but I was banished from the temple. Since then I have wandered the country side seeking work wherever I may find it and helping people wherever they needed. I have deviated from the teachings of my beliefs long ago, whether intentionally or unintentionally, I cannot even remember. Keeping my head shaved helps me remember who I am and where I come from. As for my banishment, I do not like to talk about it, sorry to say.” Famin Jie nodded respectfully and continued to observe the holiday at the town well into the evening.

  The sect of warrior monks from the forests of Shaoshi Mountain was a mysterious gathering, legendary for their physical abilities and renowned for their skills in close combat. They were also quite paradoxical, spending their days training in the martial arts while simultaneously adhering to the teachings and daily practices of an ancient mystical teaching that taught peace and abandonment of all desires. They rarely ever leave their one thousand year old monastery in Henan province, which was in fact, but one of several others.

  The emperors tolerated their existence on the condition that they would be ready to fight for the nation if they were called. Despite their contrasting philosophical and spiritual beliefs, Famin Jie believed that even they could prove to be very instrumental for the cause of righteousness in the dark days to come.

  “Since you have no definite destination, friend, perhaps you could join me on my journey into Huangshan. I am to meet an old friend in the mountains there and I would most certainly appreciate good company on the long, uneventful journey,” said Famin Jie.

  “I believe a new journey would be good for me. My name is Zuo Shilong. I would be glad to accompany you.” It would be the first time he would have a friend since his banishment from the temple.

  The next morning, Famin Jie spoke to the farmer and his family concerning the mysterious Way and the importance of living in it. “The blessings of Heaven are poured out to those who live in righteousness,” told Famin Jie to them. “This is living the Way: Love, honor, and obey Heaven, love all people as you love your own self, help them sincerely with benevolence, be generous with what you have, always forgive those who wrong you and repay them with goodness. Live as such and you will find tremendous grace in your life. Never before have I seen a follower of the Way starve and go begging for food.” With these words, Famin Jie bid the farmer and his family farewell and continued his journey north with the warrior monk Zuo Shilong trailing right behind him.

  Their journey together, although not completely uneventful was made bearable with good conversation. The monk found the sage’s company quite interesting and fruitful. Accompanying him restored a sense of purpose that he had lost since his banishment from the monastery. It was also the first time he had met a philosopher. Zuo Shilong found him most intriguing.

  Far down the old and lonely roads many li away from the town of Fuza, they unknowingly entered the territory of a local gang of outlaws who called themselves the Furious Tigers. Their markings have been etched into trees along the side of the beaten path.

  This fact did not remain unnoticed by the traveling duo as they were soon confronted by the bandits near sundown. The ones on horseback circled around them while those on foot blocked their path with spears and shields. Their leader, who was mounted on horseback, opened dialogue with mockery. He was a very large and powerful man with a booming voice to match his muscular frame.

  “What do we have here?” he laughed mockingly. “An old man and a monk are trespassing through our territory without permission or tribute payment. This offense is punishable by death. What do you have to say in your defense?” he shouted. He was indeed a very tall and large man, muscular and burly, and sported a rough, unruly black beard that covered his cheeks, jaw and neck. He was clad in antiquated hard leather armor and sported bear and fox pelts around his waist. “We apologize if we have caused you any offense. We were just passing through and did not know we were treading on restricted ground,” Jie replied humbly.

  “Ignorance of our laws is not valid defense, fool! That you did not know on whose soil you tread is no one’s fault but your own. Take them away!” barked the bandit leader.

  Zuo Shilong brought his staff at the ready but Famin Jie motioned for him to stand down. “Please, sire. Hear what I must say to you first. Something dark approaches from the horizon and threatens our land and it is bigger than you, or me, or all of us,” said Jie. “I humbly beseech you to forgive our offense and not impede our progress.”

  The leader and his bandits looked at him in silence then broke into laughter. “I give you credit for creativity, old man,” the bandit leader said catching his breath, teary-eyed from laughter. “Since you made me laugh, I am feeling merciful. Someone ought to pay a pretty penny for your release. Tie them up and haul them back to camp until we can figure out what we want to do with them.,” he barked to his men. Before his fellow bandits could obey the order and Famin Jie could make a response, Zuo Shilong charged through the assailants in a blur of motion, his staff gracefully twirling and spinning in the air and slamming into the bandits. The elegant circular motions of the staff testified to the monk’s mastery of it as he brutally took them down one by one with every strike. His speed overwhelmed the gang and could not keep up with his movements to respond accordingly.

  Famin Jie pleaded for him to stop but the monk had already rendered the bandits unconscious. The bandit leader was knocked off his horse, but he quickly rose to his feet and grasped a large pole weapon. It was a heavy glaive called a Guan Dao crescent blade – a large and heavy steel broadsword attached to an extended shaft the length of a spear. Its size was well-suited for the bandit leader who stood a full head and a half taller than the monk, with veins throbbing out of his large biceps.

  “I don’t believe you realize just what you have done. Do you not see!? I am Buff Baby, the woodland wrecker!” he bellowed. He brought his Guan Dao glaive to bear.

  He positioned his weapon and charged at the monk at full speed. Buff Baby skillfully swung and spun his glaive at Zuo Shilong at various angles effortlessly tearing through tree trunks and slicing bamboo stalks, all while the monk gracefully ducked and dodged each blow. As the glaive swung low at Shilong’s ankles, he leaped and quickly spun around to bring his staff slamming into Buff Baby’s face. He fell to the ground with a heavy thud while his Guan Dao sank into a tree stump and stuck. The powerful blow left Buff Baby unconscious, snoring on the ground, face down in an awkward fetal position. Zuo Shilong prepared to deliver the final blow to Buff Baby when Jie stopped him in his tracks.

  “Do you really think that taking his life will stop any more of them from coming?” The monk halted mid-stride and just looked at him puzzled at the sudden question. “For every bandit you dispatch, ten more will take his place. He will cause no more harm to us and there would be no honor in taking his life. Come now,” continued Jie. “A long journey lies ahead and we should not walk it with bloodied hands.” Buff Baby lay on the ground writhing and moaning in pain while Famin Jie left at his side a packet of herbs to help manage the pain of their injuries. They were going to need it once they awakened. Leaving the bandits to tend to their own injuries, the sage and the warrior monk made their way out of the Furious Tigers’ territory further north.

  “I have a feeling as to why you were banished from the monastery, my friend,” commented Famin Jie. Shilong turned to look at him with one eyebrow raised.

  “So you think you have it figured out?” he asked.

  “No, but I have observed that you are impulsive and prone to violence. An emotion courses through you and you act on it without thinking. Those tendencies can be harmful, especially for you.”

  The monk sighed and replied: “It is people like him that need to be eradicat
ed. They are free to commit mischief as they pleased because those who are good leave them unchallenged. If I had not acted, we may not even be alive right now. I did what I had to do for our survival. They do what they do because they think no one will stand up to them.” Famin Jie calmly replied to him saying,

  “Buff Baby had no intention of killing us. Had he so desired he would have just done so without confrontation. If I had spoken to him more, he would have listened. He is living out of pain, Shilong. Not out of a senseless desire for mischief or evil.” Zuo Shilong frowned.

  “How can you be so sure of such things, teacher?” asked the monk.

  Jie paused to look at him and said: “Because I was like him once – angry and rebellious. The results of violence against those who are wrong us are temporary and not far reaching. Despite its seeming necessity for the moment, its effects do not last very long. Do not be so quick to raise your staff to take the lives of those who act against you. Unless your life is under immediate threat, restrain your hand from reaching for your weapon,” continued Jie. Shilong shook his head as he found it difficult to share Jie’s view.

  “I do not see your passivity as producing any benefit for the law or the people. Criminals like him truly need to die,” he said coldly as he slung his staff across his back.

  “Do you think their deaths will stop crime from ever happening, or criminality from forming in the heart of a man? No, the Great Way alone is the answer to all these things.” Jie told him.

  “How can this Way protect me from those who wish me harm?” asked Zuo Shilong. Famin Jie paused to look at him with a fatherly gaze.