A Daily Life of a Fire Dragon

7.The Heart Sutra

(back to the present)

“What are you doing standing out there?” Dayin comes up to him in her human form. This time she actually remembered to get dressed.

“I got lost in memories,” he tells her. “Were you bored?”

“I slept, I cooked dinner. You weren’t there, so I came looking for you,” she smiles.

“Let’s eat then,” Shi Lang smiles back at her. She has put in the effort, he has to pretend to like it. Dayin in the past could cook fantastically, but this last incarnation of her only manages to make a decent meal once in a while. That she volunteered to cook is a great feat all in itself.

“Have you been studying the heart sutra?” Shi Lang asks her. If she stays human for just a few more minutes, she might learn something new later.

“Yes. I know it by heart. I even repeat it in my sleep,” Dayin smiles at him. He knows it’s not true. She misses a line every time he asks her about it. Are the gods mocking him? They finally allowed her to reincarnate as a spirit with a chance of immortality, but she has the attention span of a squirrel. It takes forever for her to learn something.

“Recite it for me, please,” he smiles back at her. She looks at him and he can see her contemplating. Will she say no? Will she do it? How many lines will she miss this time?

“Fine,” Dayin nods. She sits in the lotus position and places her hands carefully on her knees. A deep breath later, she starts to recite: "Form is nothing more than emptiness, emptiness is nothing more than Form. Form is exactly emptiness, and emptiness is exactly Form. The other four aggregates of human existence: feeling, thought, will, and consciousness, are also nothing more than emptiness. All things are empty: Nothing is born, nothing dies, nothing is pure, nothing is stained, nothing increases and nothing decreases. So, in emptiness, there is no form, no feeling, no thought, no will, no consciousness. There are no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind. There is no seeing, no hearing, no smelling, no tasting, no touching, no imagining. No plane of sight, no plane of thought. There is no ignorance, and no end to ignorance. There is no old age and death, and no end to old age and death. There is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no end to suffering, no path to suffering. There is no attainment of wisdom, and no wisdom to attain."

“Congratulations! You did it. You didn’t miss anything this time,” Shi Lang chuckles. He hugs her tight, and spins around the room with her in his embrace. To hear her laugh is the best reward.

“Let me down! You’re making me dizzy,” she protests, but snuggles up to him at the same time. This girl is full of contradictions. But he stops spinning at her request. Having her in his arms feels good.

“I’m so proud of you. You finally learned the Heart sutra,” he tells her.

“But, I still can’t cook. I know you just humour me and eat everything I put on the table,” Dayin smiles. “I will try harder next time.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Shi Lang smiles back at her. He is happy that she’s here with him.

“Oh,” Dayin mouths. Her clothes fall to the floor, and he’s left holding a red squirrel in his hands. She still can’t hold human form for long.

“Are you sleepy?” Shi Lang asks. He takes her over to her pagoda, because he knows she feels the most comfortable sleeping there. He’ll go retrieve his book to read by the fire for a while. He’s not sleepy yet. When someone said long ago that dragons are like cats, they weren’t joking. He could sleep for days when he was younger, but the older he gets, the less sleep he actually needs.

The book of archery suddenly lost all his interest. He’s not inviting any more memories to invade his thoughts. So, he gets up to browse his collection for something innocent and light to read. Maybe some poetry? Nothing seems to catch his interest right now. There is nothing new in his collection, because he rarely leaves the mountain. With Dayin here, he’s got everything he ever needed. But, it still gets lonely late at night when she sleeps. Since nothing stirs his heart, he returns to the fireplace. Getting in the lotus position for meditation, he lets his mind wander. His spirit soars over the mountain tops. West is the general direction he’s interested in.

Junmeng comes and goes. There is nothing new to see there. Skipping over the plains and deserts, he crosses the Great Wall of China. The man made wonder was interesting when it was first built, but that was about it. He’s seen many such endeavours in his long life. Hardly any worth mentioning, but there is something with this wall that makes him smile. It’s still there. That must count for something. The lights of Europe draw his attention. What is going on? What are humans doing now? How much time has passed since he last spied on them? The cities have grown, and changed immensely. There are colourful lights hung everywhere. The decorations make no sense, but they look nice. They even decorated trees, not just buildings.

He lands in Wienna to inspect what seems like a holiday of some sort. The language they are speaking is a mystery, but he is not here to talk with people. He won’t even make himself visible to them. Just walking around and looking at things tells him so much more. The atmosphere is one of joy. Everyone seems happy. But the people are not what draws him in. It’s the lights hung in a tree. The baubles and ribbons compliment them nicely. He likes it. The cables are weird, but it seems that those are what makes the lights so bright. Oh! Electricity. That is not something found in his world. Why would a magical creature like him need it? The cultivators don’t use it either. Humans are just weird. But, maybe, it’s their kind of magic?

Shi Lang finds a young Chinese boy on his own in the crowd. His curiosity got the better of him, so he makes himself visible. With any luck, this kid will understand him. He catches the gazes of people around him. His robes are really out of place, but what the humans are wearing doesn’t look comfortable at all. The boy he has his sights on is looking back at him with big round eyes. He’s probably not used to seeing anyone dressed the way Shi Lang is. The dark red robes are eye-catching indeed. And his height makes him stand out even here where people seem to be taller.

“Cosplay, nice!” The boy smiles at him.

“What?” Shi Lang asks. “What is cosplay?”

“When you dress up as one of the manhua characters,” the boy shows him a weird looking little book he’s holding. The pictures are drawn with amazing accuracy, and the characters are dressed in a similar fashion to his.

“I see,” he nods. Telling this kid that Shi Lang always dresses like this might lead to more questions than he is willing to answer.

“You’re not from here, are you?” The boy asks him.

“No,” Shi Lang shakes his head. “Tell me. What is all this? A light festival?”

“It’s Christmas. But you can call it a light festival, too. It’s a celebration of the birth of Christ. Now-a-days, it’s mostly about lights, decorations, and presents,” the boy smiles.

“Fine by me,” Shi Lang nods. He is careful not to smile and confuse the boy. Taking his pouch, he gives the boy a pearl: “Thank you.”

“Wow! Is this real?” The boy exclaims when he looks at the pearl.

“Yes. I don’t have any money on me. This is all I can give you. You said this festival is about presents and lights,” Shi Lang chuckles.

“It’s too valuable. You can’t just walk around handing those out,” the boy protests and tries to give the pearl back to him.

“Keep it. Exchange it for money and buy yourself some more of those books,” Shi Lang winks at the boy. Then he walks away before any more objections would come his way. He has seen enough. It’s time to return home.