Chapter 117: Encountering Reincarnation within Reincarnation
Ye Qingxuan strolled slowly by the West Lake, her eyes clouded with confusion as she murmured, "Where am I?"
Then, catching sight of the scenery of the West Lake, she couldn’t help but laugh and say, "I’ve forgotten! In the springtime, the scenery of West Lake is at its most beautiful, and I specifically came to see the sights. How could I be so forgetful? Could it be that I’m getting old?"
It was early spring, a time when the warmth of the season brings flowers into bloom.
A gentle breeze carried warmth by the lakeside, where lotus leaves had begun to surface, fishes swam in the shallows, and the entire West Lake was shrouded in a misty haze.
Suddenly, from afar, someone came rowing a boat, singing as they paddled, "Spring has its flowers, autumn the moon, summer has cool breezes, winter the snow. If one’s heart is untroubled by idle concerns, every season is a fine time to be alive."
The sky suddenly began to sprinkle rain, neither heavy nor light but just enough to soak a person through.
The boat approached the shore, and Ye Qingxuan finally made out the newcomer’s appearance. Clothed in monk’s robes but with hair grown long, this individual had clear, expressive brows, and their eyes shone bright as beacons. The monk disembarked from the boat, opened an umbrella, walked up to Ye Qingxuan, and shielded her from the wind and rain.
"Why does the benefactress stand alone here in the rain?" the monk asked.
"Why have you, Master, grown out your hair?" Ye Qingxuan replied, not with an answer but a question of her own.
"Within my heart resides the Buddha, hence I need not adhere to the false practices of those Buddhist followers—vegetarianism, tonsure, or suppression of desires," the monk replied.
"Though it’s raining, there is no rain in my heart. May I ask the Master’s dharma name?" Ye Qingxuan responded.