"If Heaven is to order things, Heaven will have flaws," the young man retorted.
Zhang Houlu was quick-witted and answered immediately: "After death, one's nature returns to its source, and heaven will not be lacking."
The young man suddenly picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at Zhang Houlu.
Zhang Houlu was a university scholar. If he was attacked by an external object, he would have been repelled by his instinctive power. However, everyone was surprised to see that the stone treated Zhang Houlu's power as non-existent, drew a graceful arc, and gently landed on Zhang Houlu's forehead, leaving a faint red mark on it.
Some scholars looked angry. How dare a student attack the Grand Secretary
However, they couldn't get angry and just waited to see how Zhang Houlu would handle it.
Zhang Houlu stood there in a daze, as if he was stunned and began to be in a daze.
"When a stone falls to the ground, it returns to its source. Where does your pain come from and where does it go? What about your fear, confusion, and worry?" asked the young man.
Zhang Houlu was still sitting there motionless.
The others stared at Zhang Houlu blankly, then turned to look at the unprepossessing young man. They were all deeply shocked. If a great scholar had said such words, it would not be surprising, but how could a boy student say such a simple yet profound truth
Everyone gave up their previous prejudices and thought about the young man's words.
A Jinshi answered tentatively: "The pain comes from your power, so it is naturally you who gave it to him."
The young man looked at the stone in front of the tiger skin and asked, "Why can I make it hurt?"
The scholar continued, "This answer is too complicated. I can say it is your strength, but your body is moving, and your mind is moving too. Some of the reasons why you can move come from your talent, and some from food. If you keep asking, you will eventually return to the beginning. Everything is given by God."
"Angels gave him pain, so I shall make him suffer through me. Heaven gave him nature, so I shall make him have his nature through a force."
After the young man finished speaking, everyone was stunned.
Zhang Houlu slapped his thigh and shouted, "You're right!"
Everyone was shocked.
Zhang Houlu seemed to be blind to the crowd. He looked directly at the young man and said, "The power used by heaven is the way. All things should follow the way of heaven."
"Tao, the path that is passed, is it correct?" asked the young man.
Zhang Houlu hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes."
"Then are the beginning and end of the journey also the Tao?" asked the young man.
Zhang Houlu was stunned for a few breaths, his face changed several times, and he gritted his teeth and said, "It can be considered Taoism."
“Is there a Tao outside of that Tao?”
Zhang Houlu said with a stiff upper lip: "The way that is not the way is also the way."
The young man picked up another stone and hit Zhang Houlu on the head again, asking, "Does it hurt or not?"
Zhang Houlu argued: "It didn't hurt at first, but it hurts now, and it won't hurt soon. It's all the Tao."
Fang Yun picked up the stone for the third time but did not throw it away. He asked, "Does it hurt or not?"
Zhang Houlu said quickly: "It hurts if it falls on me, but it won't hurt if it doesn't fall on me."
Fang Yun threw it out, and it landed on Zhang Houlu's head and then fell to the ground.
Zhang Houlu was stunned.
"Does it hurt or not?" Fang Yun asked.
"It doesn't hurt." Zhang Houlu replied slowly.
Everyone saw the confusion in Zhang Houlu's eyes, and then they themselves became confused.
"Wherever there is common ground, there is the Tao. The Tao is not empty! If it is, it is, and if it is not, it is not. If you cannot distinguish between right and wrong, then it is not the Tao. The Tao of man should be clear, otherwise there will be chaos on earth. The Tao of heaven should be even clearer, otherwise there will be chaos in all realms. If there were no four seasons in the sky, no sun and moon, and it would be hot and cold, bright and dark at the same time, how would people survive? If all things are the Tao, then the Tao is endless, so where would heaven be? Righteous behavior is the Tao." said the young man.
Zhang Houlu said solemnly: "Teacher, you are right. The way that should be followed is the way, and the way that should not be followed is not the way. This is the way of scholars. However, if you follow the way, know your nature, and obtain the destiny, what's wrong with that?"
The young man said, "Let me ask you, what is ordained by Heaven is called nature, and what is that which is not ordained by Heaven?"
Zhang Houlu stood there in a daze, his eyes changing, energy surging all over his body, and sweat dripping down his forehead.
Everyone pondered over the young man's words and found that they made a lot of sense, completely overturning the concept of destiny held by the ancient sages of the human race.
Before this, everyone believed that destiny was destiny, and that God gave man nature. However, no one explored the issue from another perspective like the young man did. Since God is the supreme being, it must have more power and it is impossible for it to only have the power to grant man nature.
What else can man get from heaven besides nature
Are those things bestowed by God in other ways, or are they things that God does not want to bestow
The young man continued, "What Heaven has ordained is our nature, and we should take it. What Heaven has not ordained is what people think, desire, and seek, and we can also take it!"
After the young man finished speaking, he walked out. It seemed that he was walking very slowly, but he took a few dozen feet at a time.
Zhang Houlu was stunned for a few breaths, then suddenly slapped his forehead and rode Pingbu Qingyun to catch up, shouting as he chased: "Please teach me, sir! If I don't cultivate destiny, what should I cultivate?"
"Reason!" The young man uttered a word and disappeared.
Zhang Houlu stood there in a daze, and suddenly remembered that someone had said the word "reason" before, but he didn't know who said it for a moment.
He squatted on the ground, grasping his hair with his left hand, and kept writing the word "reason" on the ground with his right index finger, thinking desperately. Suddenly, he stood up abruptly, his eyes shining.
“I remember now!”
Zhang Houlu roared and headed straight for the capital of Jing State.
Many readers wanted to know what the two people said in the end, but their literary level was too low and they quickly lost track.
The people of Yu Town finally stopped at where Zhang Houlu stopped and looked at the crooked "理" characters.
"Who do you think that young man is?"
"I'm not sure, but I remember someone said on the discussion list a few days ago that unknown young people appeared in various parts of the human race. They were not highly educated and not well-known, but their words were powerful and enlightening, and they were no less impressive than university scholars or even great Confucian scholars. After that, some people wanted to find those young people, but they came up empty-handed and could not find any trace of them at all. It was very strange. This person is a bit like the one mentioned by the person on the discussion list."
"I don't think it's important who that young man is. What's important is what he said and what he meant."
"Yes, we shouldn't think too much about it. We just need to understand his reasoning."
"I understand what he meant by Tao, which is that Tao should be real and not false, right and not wrong. If it is wrong, then it is not Tao. We always think that everything has Tao, but in fact, some so-called Tao are not the real Tao. To give the simplest example, the Holy Tao of the Strategists was completely swallowed up by the Political Tao. We can be sure that the Holy Tao of the Strategists is not Tao, but the Political Tao is."
"Yes, his explanation of the Tao is very clear and there is nothing difficult to understand. However, his explanation of the destiny is a bit confusing to me."
"Me too. Because after hearing the last part, I realized that the young man wanted to deny the entire practice method of Forging Heaven's Fate."
"I do understand one thing he said. What he meant was that there are actually many destinies. We humans only have our nature, but we cannot be satisfied. We must obtain other destinies."