As Prophet - Chapter 215



Only Noblemtl

Episode 215. The Song of the Worker

As I moved to a place where the sunlight did not reach, my breathing became tense. The time I had taught them came back to me as it was. As I pulled out my breath as if pulling out a thin thread, the true energy passed through Mi-ryeo, the three passages of Hyeop-cheok, and the jade needle.

The energy that stayed in Nihwan passed through Baekhoe, Indang, Jeonjung, and reached Danjeon. If you do this nearby, the luck of those studying will be smooth.

When Dalcheon started practicing breathing when he was young, his teacher was always by his side. It was all thanks to his teacher that he was able to break through the three stages, which seemed absolutely impossible, so early and so easily.

Dalcheon sincerely prayed that he could help the students study by studying beside them, just like his teacher had done. Warm sunlight fell on his knees. There was peace in that precise time when each grain of light could be caught. What else could we call peace?

I should have come earlier. I thought it was a gathering of powerless people whose names were not recorded in the mountains, so I didn’t pay attention. I felt sorry for those who wore the uniform and read the sutras without a proper teacher or proper relationship.

Time passed in an instant. The manager of the reception hall was loitering around across the street. Who else had come in the meantime? Dalcheon nodded and the guy approached him, timidly.

“Who else is here?”

“No, Jinin, I want to study too.”

It seems like I’m falling behind because others are doing it. Anger also helps with studying. Dalcheon turned his head and pointed inward.

“What won’t you teach me?”

“It is time to practice breathing diligently. Try to be quiet and empty. Then you will feel the sun. If you don’t know, try to do it by following what others do.”

“All right.”

“Where is the reception desk?”

“I have set one up because it is not good.”

The thought of the lack of a stone statue suddenly came to mind when I heard the words, “Bulmokhani.” Not all Bulmokhani are like that, but since it is something engraved in our experience, it is not easily erased. I nodded, smiling and closing my eyes.

“Well done.”

The number of people in Sogyeokseo, including the number of Doryu and Hakin, is less than twenty. It is a sad reality. The petitions of the Confucian scholars demanding that Sogyeokseo be abolished are probably still being filed. The narrow-minded theories that consider Dalcheon’s support as hardship for us will be blown away again.

Is it because there is little inside that it is noisy? What can be done with Neo-Confucianism, which has lost the true nature of Taoism and is left with only logical metaphysics? Because it is a small and narrow country, it does not know the news of the world and still holds it up as a golden rule. In the Central Plains, where Neo-Confucianism originated, it has long since declined. It gave way to Yangmingism during the Song Dynasty, and even now there is no trace of it.

Dalcheon suddenly thought that Hanyang Joseon was like a frog in a well. There was no communication with the outside world, and he looked down on the outside world as useless. If he had traveled to the central plains even once, he would have been able to see how poor the current government’s Neo-Confucian discussions were.

When this moment passed, Dalcheon silently slipped inside. The two people were holding their palms. They continued to study while holding them. With a gentle smile, he helped the two people’s fortune. When he lightly brushed the major acupoints, the two people’s bodies flinched.

It is important to remain calm, and if someone helps, it can easily lead to fatal disaster. Nevertheless, Dalcheon carried out his work leisurely. When he rubbed his hands together to warm them and placed his palms on the acupoints on his back, he flinched but continued to breathe.

The silent teaching made one person’s energy rise to the jade needle. Dalcheon curled his mouth roundly and gently stroked the acupoint on the back of his neck. The inside of the guy must be hot as if it was going to burn. How long had it been? The body of the guy sitting cross-legged was swaying back and forth. If he was not careful, it could be dangerous.

Dalcheon slowly waved his hand in front of the guy.

“Let’s stop there for today.”

The boy rubbed his hands and his face, then bowed deeply in front of Dalcheon.

“That’s Sojucheon.”

“… … .”

“This is just the beginning. I’ve opened the Dok-maek. The Im-maek is easier than the Dok-maek. Just go up and down for a few days and then try it. But you have to feel it well when you come down. It’s like here and there, so you have to look for it well. Most people who come down this way shout that they’ve succeeded after feeling it somewhere.”

“thank you.”

“Go out and get some rest.”

Another one was similar. Dalcheon helped him and he quickly pushed up to Nihwan. He stopped there and sent him away. And he made those who had not yet achieved it continue. When someone’s success leads to their own efforts, it is thanks to those who study together. The success of the two motivated others. They worked harder, and the large room became hot with their enthusiasm. Dalcheon adjusted the air throughout the room as he inhaled and exhaled. This was exactly the case when my breakfast helped others’ breakfast. Just having Dalcheon by my side made my studies go up quickly.

“I took a half-day break.”

Dalcheon’s muttering made him uncross his legs as he heard groaning sounds coming from all directions. He tried it, but it was a move he didn’t usually do. He stretched out his legs and rubbed them. He rubbed his face with his clenched palms, and stretched out his body and let out a groan as he relaxed.

When they went out, the two guys who had succeeded primarily were doing Paldan Geum. We know it well and we think that we don’t have to study it repeatedly. So few people think of Paldan Geum as studying. So they don’t do it. They do something continuously for twelve hours a day, but they don’t do anything related to practice.

“Is next time Paldan Geum?”

Je-jo approached Dal-cheon, who was standing at the end of the pedestal, and asked.

“I’m thinking about what would be good.”

“That’s something everyone knows, so there’s no need to teach it separately.”

“You don’t say you know? Then you don’t know it properly. If you know it properly, you can never filter it out. I don’t think there’s anyone who has done that three hundred times.”

“Three hundred times? No way.”

“They say they know how to do it, but I think you should take it as ‘having done it before’. They are all poor. I plan to do that and a few things that I used in the military.”

“Is this continuing?”

“Yes. How nice would it be if you could alternate between the three without getting bored?”

The manufacturer pointed to the two people who had already gone out and done some work.

“What about those guys?”

“He seems to have come quickly because he has a bright personality. I have to teach him well.”

“Me?”

There are many questions in the world, but in the end, what I’m curious about is my own life. I feel like I know a lot, but I’m not sure, so I want to rely on the judgment of others.

“It won’t be easy for you because of your age.”

“Yes. Age.”

“The accumulated habits of that age are not small.”

“Still, I lived a clean life.”

“I see.”

Dalcheon nodded, knowing the meaning.

“But it will take time. Don’t be impatient and fill each day with activities such as reading sutras, sitting meditation, and practicing the eight-stringed zither. These are the studies that you couldn’t do because you were practicing the ceremonial precepts. Now, you should reduce the number of initial offerings, refrain from doing things for personal glory, and secure time to study in this way. You should prepare the rituals in turns, and continue studying on the other side. A Taoist is someone who tries to elevate the status of a person by training himself to become a better person.”

It’s okay to talk. I didn’t study because I was focusing on the ceremony, but now I’m told that I shouldn’t do that.

“I’m embarrassed. I took it for granted that I didn’t have to do something so easily.”

Dalcheon blinked his eyes.

“And the Sogyeokseo must function as an educational institution. It is important to comfort the people’s ups and downs, of course, but it is also important to help them advance to beings beyond prayers. If blessings come simply by praying, what world would be easier than that? It is necessary for them to study with the sincerity of prayer.”

“Yes. If we set up a lecture hall on one side and the true man ascends the Dharma platform, people will flock there like clouds.”

If you think about it, you’ll end up doing it that way.

“The Sogyeokseo can only be a place to pray for the well-being of the royal family, but it would be more meaningful if it were to become a place for the people. Don’t focus on performing the task in front of you, but look beyond that. Are you only going to do what you are told? You hold a ritual for rain. Of course, it is for the people. Have you heard the story of the wind master, rain master, and cloud master that Dangun used when he created the world? Why can’t they play that role now? Dangun enriched this land with those things. Is it because the tradition has been cut off? Then you should think about how to continue it. Isn’t that right?”

“Of course. Yes.”

“Do not mislead the people with good winds and bad rains, but use them to enrich the lives of the people.”

“… … .”

“So more than half of the work here has to be spent on studying. Do you agree?”

“Yes, every word is correct.”

Not long after, Dalcheon urged him.

“Then, you should start by setting an example. Wouldn’t the students follow suit?”

“You can rest a little more.”

“You can start early.”

“Okay.”

“If you do the eight movements of the Paldan Geum eight times, then 88 is sixty-four. If you do that three hundred times… … Hmm, that’s nineteen thousand two hundred. Hmm. That’s a little under twenty thousand.”

Jejae opened his eyes wide and blinked frantically, bewildered by the numbers Dalcheon presented.

“You’re not really telling me to do that, are you?”

“It helps with breathing exercises. I trained people who can’t sit still like that. Would you like to try what the soldiers do?”

Manufacturing was rushed to completion.

“No, I will do it.”

“Hehe, ehehe. Are you trying to extend your break time by talking for a long time?”

“Of course not. I’m not that cunning.”

“Hehehe ehehe.”

Dalcheon raised his fingertips in the air and spun them around. There was no agreement on what it meant, but he knew what it meant. About twenty students lined up at arm’s length stood neatly and began to play the paldangeum.

Dalcheon watched people’s movements and corrected several people. There are people who want to do everything comfortably. No, if you do it, you will end up going in the comfortable direction. Then, it is a well-established principle that even if you do it a million and twenty-one times, you will not learn anything. He taught them the angle of the arms and the waist to make the movements correct, and climbed up to a high place on the pedestal.

He recited a single sentence in a low voice. He spoke it clearly and clearly so that everyone could hear it, and the students were surprised. It seemed as if the sound was not heard with the ears, but was pierced into the bones of the body.

“Even if you don’t know something, don’t try to understand it, just recite it in your mind. Those who can’t recite it should step aside and do something else that requires strength.”

When I told him to do something else, the slow-moving guys moved their eyes as fast as arrows. My worries are not just mine. There must be someone similar to me. The manufacturer asked while in motion.

“I couldn’t memorize it. Please say it one more time.”

“This is a song. Let’s call it Gongbuga (工夫歌).”

Dalcheon calls out again, and one of the guys comes out and starts writing it down diligently. The other guy who couldn’t recite it looks relieved.

“Please repeat this out loud.”

Dalcheon would recite one and have the students follow along several times. When they could clearly pronounce the sound, even if the meaning was secondary, Dalcheon would start repeating it 300 times. Then he would approach the two students who had made progress in their studies.

“You have to do that for 300 days.”

“ah.”

“You have to do it every single day.”

“If I do this, I won’t have to go for 300 days.”

“Probably. There are people who would find this very helpful.”

“I will work hard.”

“No, say, ‘I will definitely do it.’”

“I will definitely make it happen.”