Meanwhile, around that time, Seol-Hwi was winding down again. This was because during the conversation with Ok Jin he had a strange realization.
The Taiji which was spoken of was so different from what Taiji commonly referred to.
“You need to close your eyes to see it.”
It was this unfamiliar perspective, but that was why it all felt new. The perspective of young kids who did not know anything in the world.
And so, even those who did not know anything about the basics could learn easily.
In a way, was this not another path?
A famous figure related to Taoism said this.
Taoists are part of nature, and the people held a duty.
Do not get caught in desires, do not go against laws, and do not suppress people.
Only then will the perfect way of nature come to life.
“Without any preconceived notions and without any forced or deliberate effort. Infinitely comfortable, the principle of freedom…”
In a way, was this not also Tao and Taiji?
When a person is awake and moving, there is Yang, and when they sleep, there is Yin.
Breathing in is Yang and breathing out is Yin. Living is Yang, and death is Yin when returning to the land.
This also converged with the principles of Taiji.
“If one divides it like that, all things in the world are such.”
Going beyond knowing the truth, it was a skill that one can learn for oneself.
Something that everyone could easily follow.
With the body and mind. If one wanted it, then one would be able to meet “him” whenever they wanted.
Seol-Hwi, who thought up until that point, also tried it.
Closing the eyes to see and understand the Taiji.
“I wonder if I would ever be able to meet that man again…”
Although he did not know what would happen then.
And so the first day… he failed.
Perhaps because of the meditation and the cultivation fortune-telling techniques he had been training in, he could not really feel Taiji.
Continuing the flow of energy to the eight meridian points of the body, all the way to the forehead, required a lot of concentration.
In terms of thought movement, it could be likened to cultivation. On the other hand, general meditation involved clearing the head and not focusing on anything specific.
Because it was quiet and passive, it could be considered Yin. However, the principle of Taiji was the harmony of Yin and Yang.
The changeable and unchanging nature of all things in the world twisted and turned.
How on earth can this be done…?
Meditation that involved active thinking and meditation that felt like the body was quietly floating and submerged must be neither and both at the same time.
It was impossible to be both light and heavy, quiet and loud at the same time.
Just leave it as is. Comfort was something to achieve naturally with the mind, losing purpose and desires.
However, it was not as easy as breathing or walking. Although it did not take much effort to walk or breathe without thought, trying to walk correctly or be conscious of breathing made it difficult.
It would have been better if there was no thought, but since he was already conscious of the Taiji, the more he tried, the more shaken he felt.
“I cannot do it anymore.”
After such efforts on the first day, he fell asleep from fatigue. It was just a matter of time.
Second day, third day… there was a feeling of repulsion.
Someone once said,“’never think of the wolf when counting to ten.“
As if the thought of that wolf kept coming into his mind all this time. The more he tried, the more unbalanced it became.
Even though he tried to relax and not think about anything, his concentration broke at some point. There was hunger and also this unstable form. It wasn’t easy to get through this.
“Haa…”
And the fifth day was also a failure. The time spent meditating grew longer. Yet, it was almost impossible to continue for more than three sessions.
What was more difficult than anything else was that, even though he tried so hard and meditated, he could not find even a bit of Taiji.
Seol-Hwi stopped meditating and went back to thinking.
Is there no other way?
Shhh, hhhh.
While he was deep in his agony, his hand was already drawing the shape of Taiji on the ground.
He centered himself and drew the concave circles on the left and right, ending up with a full circle at the end.
But then, another thought struck him.
Seol-Hwi, who was drawing on the floor with a piece of wood, forgot why he was doing this. After being blank for a while, he stopped.
“Circle, the curve…”
Why should Taiji be drawn in circles?
Then, this thought occurred to him again.
Do I need to draw it down in the perfect shape?
Such questions began to arise. While he was thinking about Taiji for a moment, something crossed his mind.
The phrase he saw in the library came back to him.
Great Achievement Lacking: for perfection to be less.
Since the title of the book was not written, the source was unknown. Instead, the meaning was what he remembered.
Curved and straight are the same: what was largely straight was the same as being curved.
This was also there. What was complete meant that it was not the end.
“Hmm…”
In the past, he thought that feeling like it was perfect meant that it was actually interfering with the training, but now he thought he had misinterpreted it.
“If something is a little short, it gets closer to perfection.”
It was also true that something which was largely straight was like being bent.
Does the curve of Taiji not mean that it was straight in a way?
This realization shocked Seol-Hwi.
“No…!”
The thought and intentions of consciously trying to make things perfect were wrong. There was nothing perfect in the world. This was the start of Taiji.
Even straight things can appear crooked depending on how and who views them, and sometimes being clumsy can be the solution.
Then, that could be the case.
Seol-Hwi sat cross-legged again.
This time, he decided not to draw a perfect Taiji as before and entered meditation once more.
“…”
Even so, during that flow, unstable thoughts intruded for a certain period. To be precise, the desire to give up and negative emotions surfaced.
Swish
In the past, he constantly forced himself to become quiet at such times, but now, he allowed his heart to be shaken.
If it shakes, let it be shaken.
And when it becomes quiet, let it be quiet too.
Unlike in the past when he tried to completely overcome it, he maintained focus and let it pass.
Shhh
At some point, the thoughts ceased, and he forgot about everything, even the Taiji.
It was quiet and comfortable. Then, for some reason, he felt exhausted.
Shhhh. Shhh.
Numerous unknown energies shook his mind like a storm, and unpredictable waves rushed in.
“Eukk… eukk….”
Past life, death, pain, achievement, peace, happiness. The joy and sorrows, the five passions, were overwhelming and vanished in an instant.
As time passed, the ebb and flow caused by thoughts became more severe. Humans were, after all, animals at their core. A moving body. And as he aimed for infinite tranquility, his instinct was to meditate and maintain calmness.
It was an attempt to interfere.
Shhh. Shhhh.
When his body was filled with passion and tears even flowed, sweat continued to pour down as if he were training, even though he was sitting still.
How long had it been?
Seol-Hwi continued to meditate in that position. He had forgotten about achieving Taiji. He was being constantly shaken by this unstable qi coming from outside, sometimes feeling comfortable and sometimes confused by unknown emotions.
He felt as if his life had been shortened by around ten years from just sitting and meditating.
At a time when he felt so shaken and anxious that he might drown in it, he encountered an unexpected wall.
Crack
This power was different from before.
This huge vortex, bringing a tsunami, had broken through the circle that was created.
Then, the concave circles could not support themselves and continued to get distorted.
Tremble
Seol-Hwi had already lost consciousness for a moment. He felt that he could not resist this anymore. And that was why his body was convulsing to hold onto life.
Woong
And then, something strange happened. The point which was the center, the insignificant thing that formed the balance of the circle, began to grow larger and created Taiji again within.
Then the typhoon turned into a force that covered the sky and shook it.
A terrifying vortex was pressing down like a dragon.
Wooong!
In the face of that great force which he could not handle, Seol-Hwi showed no reaction.
This was because, while a typhoon was occurring in this imagined world, the small dot once again grew like Taiji and protected the center.
Right
Seol-Hwi became the core of this typhoon through meditation. In other words, he had now stepped into the center of Taiji.
Paaah—
Again, time passed, and at times, the waves of energy generated by negative thoughts shook him easily.
But, the shape of Taiji remained the same.
Swish… whoo…
Seol-Hwi was slowly getting used to the flow. At some point, he even tried to shake the flow.
Woong
The vortex there swirled around loudly and moved around his body. The balance, which had shattered around him in the past, was now gently being reestablished.
Because the center was solid, no flow could affect Seol-Hwi.
At some point, Seol-Hwi opened his eyes.
Twisting and turning Taiji.
He realized the meaning of it again. No matter how much shook the outside, Taiji did not shake. In the first place, one did not try to completely subdue the opponent.
They just went with the flow.
Seol-Hwi was now in the flow. Before he knew it, he forgot he was at the center of it.
“Hey.”
He fell asleep. It was someone else’s voice that woke Seol-Hwi, who had lost track of time.
“Come to your senses! Man!”
“Euk…”
The voice continued to urge him to come to his senses like thunder, and Seol-Hwi almost lost concentration.
“Oh, you’re here?”
He raised his eyes and saw Jin Mu’s face, which looked worried.
“How many days have you been doing this?”
“A couple… days passed?”
“Today is the day. You, come on. It has been 15 days now…”
Leader Jin Mu clicked his tongue. It was because his eyes saw how skinny and emaciated Seol-Hwi looked.
“…Just how long have you been training?”
Crack
Suddenly, this occurred to him, and he asked again.
“That…”
Seol-Hwi did the math in his head for a moment and then gave up.
He thought it had been around ten days… he spent a lot of time forgetting about time, or even drinking water or eating. And he was not going to say anything because he did not think it would be believed.
“I think it’s been a couple of days.”
He explained vaguely.
“Fine… shouldn’t you eat something?”
Leader Jin Mu looked around quickly and then vanished somewhere. After a while, he came back with a bottle of diluted rice and a bowl of water in hand.
Gulp… gulp! Gulp!
Seol-Hwi ate and drank. His body was craving it. The clear, cold water and the soft, warm taste felt like heavenly nectar.
“First… rest for a while to replenish your body’s stamina and then come to the Purple Cloud Palace. The guards will stop you, but just tell them that I called you.”
“Yes. I understand, thank you.”
Swish
Seol-Hwi nodded, then clasped his hands together, and something like white scales appeared.
“…? What is that…”
Leader Jin Mu frowned as he looked down. His eyes suddenly stopped, and then they changed.
Like the thin wings of a dragonfly.
The skin was peeling off from Seol-Hwi’s fingertips and flowing down. It was a piece of skin.
Shhh.
Leader Jin Mu looked shocked at Seol-Hwi’s face again.
“Why… what is it?”
What bothered him was Seol-Hwi’s appearance, it was as if he had been starving for 15 days.
Rustle
The skin on his face was peeling off too. Countless pieces of skin were falling off. Leader Jin Mu was shocked and went silent for a moment as this new flesh of a peach shade was revealed below.
In this short period of time, there was the happiness of Taiji.
“…Before that, wash your body first.”
Suppressing the complex emotions he felt in his heart and the pounding of his heart, he calmly said that.
“I do swell… a lot, right? Well…”
Seol-Hwi scratched his head. He had not been able to eat or sleep for over 15 days now, so he had to wash himself.
“Take care of yourself.”
Tuk
Leader Jin Mu lightly tapped on Seol-Hwi’s shoulder and left.
Pssss
Even with such a light touch, pieces of Seol-Hwi’s skin continued to fall like sand.
“Don’t misunderstand… huh!”
After Jin Mu disappeared, Seol-Hwi got up.
Probably because of the ten days of sitting in the same place, Seol-Hwi got up with pain all over.
“I don’t think I will lose that easily.”
Seol-Hwi raised his head.
Clear sky without clouds.
Today, when he looked at the sky like that, it felt like he could feel the Taiji there.
“Turning and turning… Taiji.”
The air flowing through one’s dantian. It was not the previous qi of clear wind.
It was just this very colorless and odorless flow, but at the center of it was this airflow.
It was as such.
The flow of Taiji.
