Chapter 30 – Partings and reunions are impermanent, Part 2
With a faint smile Yang Guo said, “That thin old man’s come back for a sneak attack.” He pushed the window open and gently leapt out. Then he saw the thin beggar crouching down to peep through a crack in the wall. He didn’t see a trace of Peng Zhang Lao, as if that beggar hadn’t yet come up with a plan. Yang Guo walked up behind the thin man and said with a laugh, “Hey!”
Taken by surprise, the thin beggar snapped his head back, thinking that it was Peng Zhang Lao sneaking up behind him. His face looked alarmed and terrified. “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid.” Yang Guo said and reached out to press the three pressure points — on his chest, below his ribs, and on his leg. Then he moved the thin beggar to the front door. Before his eyes was a vast field of white deep snow. The child in him sprang up and so he called out, “Long’er, come quickly and help me build a snowman.” He scooped up the white snow on the ground and started piling it onto that thin beggar’s body. Xiao Longnü came out of the house to help. Merrily, the two of them worked on the snowman and a short while later that beggar was thoroughly covered with the white snow. Except the pair of eyeballs that could still move, the thin beggar turned into an extremely fat and heavy snowman.
With a laugh Yang Guo said, “This thin decrepit old man’s become both fat and white in a flash.” Xiao Longnü giggled and said, “And that other fat and white old man… what would you change him into?” Yang Guo had yet to reply when he heard the sounds of footsteps from the distance. He lowered his voice, “That fat old beggar’s back. Let’s hide.” The two people returned to the house and shut the door. Xiao Longnü shook Guo Xiang, making her cry. At the same time she coaxed, “Hush, hush, don’t cry.” In her whole life, she’d never pretended to do anything but this situation was so strange that she didn’t even think about it. She saw that Yang Guo was having fun so she just played along with him.
As Peng Zhang Lao returned, he examined footprints on the snow. He saw the thin old beggar’s footprints going out and coming back again, showing that he was planning an ambush from the left side of the house. He followed the footprints to the back of the house and then came out to the front again. Yang Guo and Xiao Longnü were about to open the door but then saw his short body bending over to peep into the house through the window, his right hand firmly holding a knife, and his whole body alert.
The thin old beggar was freezing to the bone. He saw that Peng Zhang Lao [Elder Peng] was unsuspectingly standing right in front of him. If only he could move his hand, he would have been able to strike him dead. But the three pressure points on his body had been sealed, making him unable to move.
Peng Zhang Lao saw that there was nobody in the house and thought it was really strange. He pushed open the door, expecting the thin beggar to come out. But suddenly he heard the sounds of footsteps coming from the distance. Peng Zhang Lao’s expression changed, and he went to hide behind the door panel, waiting for the thin beggar to return.
Yang Guo and Xiao Longnü were puzzled. That thin beggar had become a snowman. How could there be people coming? While hesitating, they heard that it was two people and knew that they had guests again. Peng Zhang Lao’s hearing was far inferior to theirs. As the two people were approaching, he looked alarmed.
Then someone from outside the house said, “Amituofo, we needy monks are stuck here in the mountain snow. May we ask the patrons to let us stay here overnight?” Peng Zhang Lao turned his body around and saw two old monks standing in the snow. One had long white eyebrows, with a benign face. The other was a small-built man with a gray beard, dressed in black. And even in this cold winter month, the two people were wearing thin clothes.
Peng Zhang Lao was still in a trance when Yang Guo came out of the room and said, “Please come in. Why are you two still standing in the doorway?” By this time Peng Zhang Lao saw the snowman. And after some observation, he eventually recognized the thin beggar. Seeing this strange transformation, he was greatly surprised and turned around to look at Yang Guo. But Yang Guo looked to be normal, as if he didn’t know anything about it at all.
After having invited the two old monks in Yang Guo thought: “It looks like these two old monks aren’t just ordinary people; especially that wicked looking monk dressed in black. With that strange glow in his eyes, I’m afraid he’ll turn out to be like this Peng Zhang Lao.” Then he said, “Big monks, you’ve stopped to rest here. We are poor mountain people and can’t provide beds for you to sleep in. Do the two of you eat game?”
The white-eye browed monk put his two palms together (he shi) joining ten fingers to pay respect) and said, “That’s wrong. That’s wrong. We’ve brought our own food. We dare not burden our patrons.”
Yang Guo said, “That’s good.” Then he came back into the bedroom and whispered into Xiao Longnü’s ear, “The two old monks looked to be very powerful masters.”
Xiao Longnü frowned and said in a low voice, “There are really many evil people in the world. Deep in the mountain like this, people still won’t leave us alone in peace.”
Yang Guo bent down to look through a crack in the wall and saw that the white-eye browed monk took out four lumps of fried noodles from his rucksack. He gave two of them to the monk dressed in black and slowly ate the other two. Yang Guo thought, “The white-eye browed monk looks kind and composed, really like an esteemed monk. But there are just so many evil people who look good on the outside. Isn’t this Peng Zhang Lao always laughing and looking very friendly? Still, how come that monk in black looks murderously evil like that?”
While contemplating this, he suddenly heard two ‘lang-lang’ sounds. That monk in black took out black shiny iron objects out of his robe. Peng Zhang Lao who was originally sitting on a bench immediately jumped up and drew out his knife. The monk in black paid him no attention. Instead, he chained his own feet with one of those black objects, which turned out to be an iron manacle, and did the same thing to both of his hands. Yang Guo and Peng
Zhang Lao were stunned, unable to figure out why he shackled his own hands and feet. But having seen this, they could somewhat let down their guard against him.
The face of that white-eye browed monk was filled with concern. He asked in a low voice, “It’s acting up again?”
The monk in black replied, “On the way here I didn’t feel very well. I’m afraid that it’ll happen again.” Suddenly he knelt down on the floor, putting his two palms together and pleading, “May Lord Buddha show mercy.” Having said that, he crouched down and stayed motionless in a kneeling position. After a while, he started to shiver and gasp for air, making wheezing noises. Then he unexpectedly let out a bull-like roar, so loud that it shook the wooden walls and sent the snow on the rooftop down to the ground.
Peng Zhang Lao was so frightened that his heart was thumping wildly. Yang Guo and Xiao Longnü also gaped at each other in astonishment, not knowing what this monk was doing. Judging from the roar, his body had to be in great distress. Although Yang Guo had been feeling hostility towards him from the beginning, this time he actually couldn’t help pity the man. He mused, “I don’t know what strange disease has struck him. Why hasn’t that white-eyebrowed monk done something about it?”
After a while, the roar from that monk in black slowed, as if he was becoming out of breath. The white-eyebrowed monk soothingly said, “What should not be done will be done; what should be done will be rejected; repent from burning anger and hatred; from now on start anew…” These few sentences were spoken gently. But even amid the loud roar, one could still hear them very clearly.
Yang Guo was alarmed and thought, “This old monk’s internal energy was so profound. Who in the world would be able to match him?” Then he heard the white-eyebrowed monk continue the Buddhist verse, “He who repents for his crime will not be sad but become peaceful. He who repents for his misdeeds will not do evil.”
After the verse was recited, the monk in black stopped panting. He thought dully and croaked, “He who repents for his crime will not be sad… Shifu [master], I know full well I have done all sorts of things, all of them evil and full of hatred. I couldn’t control myself. I was thinking about ‘He who repents for his misdeeds will not do evil.’ But in my heart I couldn’t find peace. How could that be good?”
The white-eyebrowed monk replied, “Being able to repent for past sins is really difficult. We humans are not saints. Who has never erred? Only to know that we…”
As Yang Guo heard this, he vividly remembered something, “Guo Bobo [Uncle Guo] named me ‘Guo,’ meaning to change. He said it came from ‘knowing that we can change is the greatest virtue.’ Can it be that this old monk is a saint, coming today to change me?”
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