Nightfall

Although the sky was dark, there was still light.

Sangsang was holding the big black umbrella. Her feet were in the light, but her body was in the dark. She closed her eyes and was looking solemn and quiet.

She was puzzled. Although Buddha is strong, he is not as strong as the Headmaster of Academy and the human world. How could he make me so weak?

Countless pictures were flashing back at a high speed in her consciousness. They were so clear even though hundreds of years had already passed. The tranquility in the small courtyard. The tea and wine. The chess and the streaky pork. Walking hand in hand. Wandering by the lakeside. Holding umbrellas in the alley. Watching the ancient temples during the rain and the frontier juncture in snow. They all represented attachment.

The quarrel in the small courtyard. The blood in the market. The fading figure. The angry query. The confrontation between life and death. The violent emotions. The low mood. They all represented aversion.

The rest of the pictures all started from attachment and aversion, or led to attachment and aversion, which represented obsession.

According to Buddhism, attachment, aversion, and obsession were the three poisons.

The Mahayana stated, “People who have attachment indulge in all things they favor and become insatiably avaricious. People who have aversion indulge in all things they hate and become anxious and angry, and people who have obsession indulge in logic due to ignorance.”

The Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom stated, “People get attached to things that come across their way and become averse to things that disobey them. This is born of confusion instead of wisdom and will lead to obsession. These three poisons are the root of all troubles.”

The Nirvana Sutra stated, “Attachment, aversion, and obsession are the most poisonous.”

Sangsang was poisoned by attachment, aversion, and obsession. Even she could not avoid powerful poisons like these.

Buddha wanted to destroy her the last time at Lanke Temple. But he could only try to destroy the imprinting that was inside her for she had not woken up back then. Since she had woken up, Buddha wanted to destroy her.

If you wanted to destroy something, you must first make it weak.

How could Haotian be weakened? The Headmaster of Academy and Buddha came up with the same idea, but they performed it differently: to turn a god into a human being.

The Headmaster of Academy wanted to kindly influence her and change her with the goodwill of the human world. Buddha wanted to indulge her with the poisons of the human world.

Ning Que could sense her thoughts since Sangsang and Ning Que were each other’s natal item. His face turned even paler and held her hand tightly.

After spending so many years in Buddha’s chessboard, she was already deeply poisoned and became so weak that she was unable to leave the chessboard’s world. Then what was her fate?

“Don’t worry.” Ning Que held her into his arms and whispered, “Even if the Buddha can kill you, you can still return to the Divine Kingdom. Maybe you will remember me and the Academy…” He couldn’t finish the sentence. If Sangsang were to return to the Divine Kingdom at the cost of her own death, then she would never come back to the human world. There would be no Sangsang in the human world, only Haotian.

Buddha couldn’t calculate that the Headmaster of Academy had split Haotian into two people, or that the Academy had kept one of them in the human world. So he couldn’t calculate that he was unable to kill Haotian even though he could kill Sangsang.

But Sangsang would die anyway.

“I don’t want to die.” Sangsang said, “Sangsang doesn’t want to die.” Haotian, who was also Sangsang, didn’t want to die.

Ning Que looked at the far east and said, “Then you won’t die.”

Sangsang turned around and walked out of the White Tower Temple.

Ning Que held the black umbrella and walked behind her.

Walking out of the temple, she pointed to a woman who was standing under the eaves and said, “Do you feel very strange that she has not grown old after so many years?”

Ning Que answered, “Over the countless past years, people who have believed in Buddhism will come to this chessboard after their death. Here is the real Buddha land. They are all dead, so they won’t grow old.”

Sangsang said, “But you are not getting old either.”

Indeed, I am not getting old and not dead even though hundreds of years have been passed.

Looking at the dark sky, Sangsang observed the light which represented the rules and said, “If the rules of the world had not collapsed, then why is there no death?”

Ning Que couldn’t answer this question.

Sangsang asked, “Do you know what is Nirvana?”

Ning Que answered, “The highest state of Buddha Dharma.”

Sangsang said, “Nirvana is a status.”

“What status?”

“The status of being quiet and tranquil, ignoring life and death, being away from troubles; neither dead nor alive, neither dirty nor clean, neither possessing anything nor losing anything, and never obsessed with bias, fate, eternity and nothingness.” Sangsang said, “This is Nirvana and achieving Buddhahood.”

Remembering that Sangsang had mentioned Schrodinger’s Cat in front of the stone statues of Buddha on Wa Mountain, Ning Que said, “If Nirvana really means what you said, it’s no wonder that even you can’t calculate whether Buddha is dead or alive.”

Sangsang said, “The people here are the same.”

Ning Que frowned and asked, “You mean that people here are neither dead nor alive?”

Sangsang answered, “They are both dead and alive.”

Ning Que thought for a while and said, “You are right. We can’t know whether they are dead or alive before we observe them. They are all in an overlapped region where death coexists with life.”

No one knew whether Buddha was dead or alive, not even Haotian and the Headmaster of Academy. Because Buddha had entered into such a status after reaching Nirvana, nobody knew his condition before actually seeing him.

Sang Sang said, “So there is no life and no death.”

Ning Que said, “But we have lived here for hundreds of years and we have seen them for a long time.”

Sangsang said, “They are just the attachments of the chessboard.”

Ning Que asked, “You mean that these people in the chessboard are all extensions of the Nirvana that Buddha had reached?”

The autumn rain stopped, and the streets outside the White Tower Temple gradually became livelier and livelier. The pedestrians were selecting goods at the stalls, and mothers were chasing their children, who were running around. No one noticed that the sky had become extremely dark.

Sangsang said, “It can be understood this way. They don’t even know that they are dead. They just walk and don’t think about anything else.”

Ning Que was hit by complex feelings and said, “Is it the Paradise that Buddha mentioned?”

Sangsang answered, “You said that here is the real Buddha land. You are totally right. If you and I don’t wake up, then we will end up with becoming a part of this world.”

Looking at the pedestrians on the street, Ning Que felt extremely cold. We nearly became a part of this world. If we really do, is it a bliss or misfortune to not know whether you are dead or alive?

This was the true meaning of Nirvana. Buddha and Haotian both could do the calculations. But if Buddha had reached Nirvana, then Haotian would be unable to calculate Buddha’s moves, but Buddha would be able to calculate Haotian’s moves. Although Buddha didn’t jump out of karma, but he could see through it and sway it in his favor.

Karma was also the cause and effect which the Academy always talked about.

Because Ning Que found that baby girl in Hebei Province, because the Headmaster of Academy took Ning Que as his disciple, because Ning Que wanted Sangsang to become a human being, and because Ning Que and Sangsang fell in love with each other, this situation came to be.

“We woke up after all. What other methods can Buddha use to kill you?” Ning Que said, “Since he has already reached Nirvana, he can do nothing according to the rules.”

“I am also curious.” Sangsang handed him the black umbrella and walked toward the alley with her hands behind her back. She said, “I really want to know how can that damn monk overpower me?” Her tone was calm and proud.

Ning Que held the black umbrella and dared not to leave her. Looking at the lights in the sky, then he stared at her pale face and signed, “Can you quit bragging since you are so sick?”

Waking up didn’t mean being able to leave. The poisons of attachment, aversion, and obsession made Sangsang very weak, so she could just wave the problems away. What would happen next would be very troublesome.

Walking through the crowds in the streets, Ning Que suddenly stopped and looked to somewhere in the far east. Monk Qingban also looked there before he died, but nothing was in there.

After they went back to the small courtyard, Ning Que made a nice dinner. The most delicious meal was a bowl of pickled green, red pepper, and tender ginger. And of course he didn’t forget Sangsang’s favorite, pickled vegetables.

The big black umbrella was on the table, and the dishes were placed next to the handle of the umbrella. Ning Que and Sangsang sat under the umbrella and lowered their heads to eat, which looked a bit strange and somewhat funny.

Sangsang used the chopsticks to play with the rice grains mixed with the broth in the bowl. Then she looked at the dishes covered by umbrellas and said, “Why can you still eat so happily after knowing that they are all fake?”

Ning Que was busy eating, and the pickled peppers made him sweat heavily. Hearing what Sangsang said, he picked up a towel to wipe his mouth and said, “My feeling is real, so I eat heartily.”

Looked at the big black umbrella above, Sangsang frowned slightly and said, “How can you eat heartily when we have to open the umbrella while we are eating? I am not happy.”

The omnipotent Haotian was forced to eat under an umbrella due to the lights from the dark sky which represented the rules. Of course she was not happy.

“Don’t be unhappy. You have to thank the umbrella and also thank me for mending it.” Ning Que pointed to the big black umbrella and said with a smile, “The umbrella can go for three-year new, three-year old, and another three-year in patches. I am sure it would become our family heirloom in the future.”

Holding the big black umbrella, they didn’t need to worry about being discovered by the light which represented the rules, but how would they leave? After dinner, they began to plan.

After spending so many years in the chessboard, Ning Que and Sangsang were not in a hurry, for they thought that they still had plenty of time to solve the problem.

The poisons of attachment, aversion, and obsession were indeed powerful. Sangsang had no way to detoxify herself, and Ning Que was also at the end of his rope. In this case, they still had to carry on living.

Last night’s dinner was too hearty, and there was no more food at home. Ning Que went to the market to buy some ingredients. Sangsang followed him even without his request, for they only had one umbrella.

When they arrived at the market, they discovered that they were wrong.

Under the protection of the big black umbrella, the lights indeed couldn’t find them, but people can.

Standing in front of a dewy green vegetable stall, Ning Que chatted with the woman who owned the stall and laid foundation for the subsequent bargain.

The woman thought he was very cute, so she smiled.

She had a very nice smile, looking very elegant and compassionate. While smiling, a red mole appeared between her eyebrows.

Ning Que was also smiling at the beginning, but his smile gradually went away.

He looked at the woman and asked seriously, “What kind of Buddha are you?”