Born, in the most unusual of circumstances, and destined, to become something extraordinary, translated…
Auntie Chou was only twenty-three, but, her skin already became, too dried up, she’s, thin as a beanpole. At sunset, she’d stopped weaving, gone into the backyard, to find her son, Ren, who was, chopping up the firewood. The seven-year-old is the size of a ten-year-old, he’s chopping up the firewood, rhythmically, mumbled to himself, “Two into one, don’t keep the one. With just one heart, a million thoughts came from………”
Auntie Chou watched her son’s sturdy body, and recalled, the shame he’d brought to her life from back when, but, how he’d often, surprised her, again, and again. When she was just fifteen eight years ago, she’d become, pregnant, her parents grilled her on who’s child it was, she’d told them nobody, that she’d, never slept with, anybody. Her parents disowned her, kicked her out of the house, she then, drifted from the towns, into the counties, working odds and ends as she’d, drifted, as she was about to be in labor, she’d begun, begging for food. Recalling later on, as she was, doing the laundry for her boss’s family, she’d gotten tired, fallen asleep inside a small cave. Was it, when she’d, fallen asleep, that it’d, happened? But, that cave, was only, big enough for just ONE person to be there inside. So, how did she, come to, be pregnant, with her son, Ren? The people living inside the houses on the streets of the county all called her son, Ren, “child without a last name”. And, Ren would only, stared at those who’d called him that, without anger, or shame. He is, JUST as strong and tough as his own mother.
Shin, the Zen Master, sketch from online…
She’d told her son, “Let’s head back”, Ren turned his head, and smiled toward her, collected the fallen chopped up firewood, quickly, stacked the pieces up, layer, by layer, he’d not need to be taught to do anything, he does it on his own. She’d recalled how she’d given birth to him by the pastures by the creek, and used a small knife that she had, to sever the umbilical cord. The baby’s cries were quite loud. She’d thought, that life would be too harsh, if she’d kept him. There was, a piece of, driftwood close by, she’d put the child into dent in the piece of driftwood next to her, and, as she struggled, she’d, placed that driftwood, into the river. Float away, let some rich family find him. Then, she’d, gone back to that small cave, slept, for a day and a night, when she woke, she’d thought about her son, walked toward the waters to look, and, that piece of driftwood was still, close, within her reach, it didn’t drift away, instead, it’d, floated, upstream for thirty meters. She’d fished out the wood, carried up her son, what’s strange was, the infant’s body was, warm, his face glowed with this redness. She’d hugged tightly onto him, thinking, “I will, NEVER abandon you again!”
The mother and son walked out of Hong, the landlord’s house, Chou asked her son, “What was that tune you were humming while you were chopping up the wood?”
“It’s a song called, ‘Song of Faith’”
“Who taught it to you?”
“It was, an elderly monk, he was humming the tune by the resting place, I’d asked him to sing it to me twice, slowly, from top to bottom.”
Chou thought, Ren heard it only twice, and had it committed into his memories, there was, that hint of regret on her face, unfortunately, she didn’t have any money, to send him to the schools.
They’d returned back to their roofless home, it was, under the roof of the welder, Lee’s shop. Chou went to the marketplace, to pick up the vegetables that the vendors couldn’t manage to sell for free, bought two eggs for her son. Ren went to the roadside of the welder’s shop by the road, to kick a toy around.
The setting sun made a silhouette out of two people who were, walking towards the shop, both were wearing the long robes, with their tin canes, they were, monks. Ren stood firmly, looked at them, the one in front is really tall, the one behind carried all the bags. The taller was not yet thirty, very handsome, looked like a scholar of sorts. Ren noticed how gentle his gazes were, this monk has a very gentle heart, and, his heart’s gentleness was the entire town’s people’s gentleness added up.
Master Shin-Zen was hurrying on his way, from the Yoju Temple of the Huangmei Mountains in Hubei to the Daling Temple in Lushan, Jiangxi to preach about the Buddhist beliefs. This child in front, with all the patches on his shirt and pants. The setting sun illuminated the kid’s red face, there were, that blue luster from his big eyes, he had full cheeks, and, he was very well-fed, his teeth, orderly, hands fall past the knees, slender fingers, and, there was, that small white light, that shone, from between the eyebrows. she’d, found him.
The servant behind the Zen master told in a voice, “he was, the child nicknamed, ‘child with no last name’.”
The Zen master walked to the child, asked, “Child, do you have a last name?”
Ren answered, “I have a temperament (last name), but, it’s not your ordinary last name.”
The Zen master asked, “What sort of a last name is it?”
Ren replied, “the senses of Buddha”.
It’d made the servant, as well as the master laugh. The Zen master asked the child, “Do you, recognize me?”
Ren looked at the loving face of the master, got down on his knees, stated, “You are, my master.”
The master pulled Ren up, said, “then, you shall, come with me then.”
He’d told his servant, “This, is an extraordinary child, thirty years from now, he will, make our teachings known to the world, take the child to meet his family, said that the Master Shin-Zen want to take him as his apprentice. And, you must settle his families well.”
the disciple, Master Jen…picture from online still…
The servant followed Ren to the backwall roof of the welder’s shop, saw a thin woman, using a small mud pot, cooking up the taros. The servant gave the money he and his master had prepared for their trip to the Daling Temple to Ren, told him, to give it to your mother. The servant greeted auntie Chou, told her how Master Shin-Zen wanted to take her son under his wings. Chou’s eyes lit up, asked, “The Master Shin-Zen who’d, saved our lives in the famine three years ago? He’d gone with the followers, and his disciples to get pluck the chrysanthemums and dig up the roots of the ferns, made it into a rice crispy, and gave to us, people who are starved, without him, neither one of us could’ve made it past two years ago alive. Of course, it’s a blessing on Ren’s life, to follow him.”
She’d put her hands together, and bowed toward the servant. Ren got to his knees, and bowed three times toward his own mother, and, delivered ALL the money the Zen master gave to him to her, told her, “Mother, when I pass by here, I will always pay you a visit.”
That very night, the three of them, master and disciples, stayed at the temple outside the citadel, and continued on their way to Daling Temple.
When Master Shin-Zen was sixty-five, he’d passed his will to the forty-three year-old Master Jen-Zen. Seven years later, as Master Shin-Zen passed away. Because Master Ren-Zen has accumulated a lot of followers, he’d built up the Dongshan Temple at Huangmei Mountain, with close to a hundred disciples who’d followed him.
So, this child was, destined for an extraordinary life, there were, the signs, how he was born, and the trials of his former life, to how he was, taken under the wings of the great master, and, became, a great master himself, accumulated, his own set of followers too. It’s, an extraordinary life, and this still showed, how an extraordinary life must endure through the trials, before the person can become.
Life, the Obstacle Course 