Soul and Body in Harmony
"This is—"
Ye Qin instinctively held his breath, staring incredulously at the scene before him. What? You still don't know? |.Read.CＯＭ, read chapters without errors| Hurry and Google it.
Soon, a layer of flesh appeared before him, fair and delicate. It was human skin.
Next, flesh grew over the other toes as well, spreading toward the soles. In no time at all, a pair of perfect feet appeared before his eyes.
They were like the perfect work of Heaven itself. The skin was fair and smooth, without the slightest blemish. Even their shape was graceful, with ten rounded toes lined up side by side.
Yet they inspired not the slightest trace of vulgarity.
However, when he looked farther up, crimson veins writhed and tangled beneath a faint membrane, while the flesh above had yet to take shape.
The sight was truly somewhat terrifying and savage. Set against the perfect feet, it formed a powerful visual shock.
The skin grew at astonishing speed. Flesh spread continuously upward, and the transparent skin gradually took on a fleshy color, as though someone were slowly adding color with a paintbrush.
Soon, other colors appeared upon the painting of white bones.
Flesh grew over the calves, then the knees, then the thighs. The lower body grew flesh, followed by the middle section and its internal organs. Even the organs themselves gradually took shape.
The blood-red threads became bridges connecting the bones, allowing the muscles to attach themselves to them.
The White Bone Contemplation.
Flesh grew over the bones, and a complete "person" slowly appeared before Ye Qin.
Yet that still was not enough. Jet-black hair sprang forth like luxuriant leaves in spring, quickly enveloping the exquisitely proportioned body.
Her entire body radiated a jade-like glow. Not a single flaw could be found. Her graceful curves were displayed to perfection, and her faintly visible, willowy bearing inspired no vulgar thoughts—only a sense of holiness.
From the shadow alone, it was unmistakably the shape of a woman.
Most importantly, a faint halo hovered above her head. At first glance, she looked like a Pure Glazed Body, clear and translucent, filled with an indescribable Buddha-nature.
Who could have imagined that not long ago, this had been nothing more than a pile of white bones?
Ye Qin never could have imagined that the true identity of this pile of white bones was actually a woman!
Before this, he had even thought it was a scholar.
Only the positions of her features were somewhat blurred, blocked by a mass of radiance, as though separated from him by a layer of hazy white mist.
Although he could not see her appearance clearly, instinct told him that the woman's looks had to be extraordinary. Ye Qin tried hard to widen his eyes, wanting to glimpse her true face.
The woman stood there quietly. She held her hands together in a loose palm seal, opening her palms and touching each index finger to the upper joint of its corresponding middle finger, then bending both thumbs to touch the lower joints of the index fingers.
This was the Samaya Dharani Mudra.
She seemed to have sensed Ye Qin's thoughts and gaze. Slowly, she walked toward him, and golden lotuses even bloomed beneath her feet, appearing one after another in surging waves. Every movement she made was filled with Buddha-nature.
Lotuses bloomed with every step, and she was incomparably graceful. Nothing else could compare.
The woman's figure drew closer and closer, while the Buddhist chants in his ears grew increasingly clear.
He was only a hair's breadth away from seeing her features clearly.
A trace of desire arose in his heart. He wanted to see clearly what the destined woman truly looked like.
"As such, know it; as such, see it; as such, believe and understand it. Do not give rise to the dharma-form."
A Buddhist invocation came from the horizon, drifting into Ye Qin's ears and cleansing everything.
Golden lotuses surged into view, and through the gaps between their petals, it was as if he could see countless white bones piled together.
In an instant, his originally hazy gaze gradually cleared, and the longing that had filled his heart at the beginning vanished as well.
What would it matter whether he saw her clearly or not?
No matter how beautiful the skin, after a hundred years it would become white bones, and in the end, a handful of yellow earth scattered across the world.
Only follow the Dao; only take the heart as one's foundation. Emptiness is form, and form is emptiness. Dreams and illusions fade away, coming and going in haste. The moon in the water, the wind in the trees. Contemplate things thus, and nothing will remain impassable.
All dharmas are empty in nature: neither arising nor ceasing, neither defiled nor pure, neither increasing nor diminishing.
A beautiful face becoming white bones took no more than the snap of a finger.
At this thought, Ye Qin's heart inexplicably trembled, as though enlightenment had suddenly dawned on him. He seemed to have comprehended something and slowly opened his eyes. His beast pupils were utterly clear, without the slightest desire.
Before him was still that pile of white bones. Where was the vision of a woman walking upon golden lotuses with every step?
Reality or illusion often lay within a single thought.
White Bone Contemplation: contemplate white bones, witness the flowing radiance, and give rise to flesh.
At this moment, Ye Qin had already gained insight in his heart.
This was the Contemplation Method!
Contemplate all falsehood until it becomes real within consciousness.
He slowly lowered his head and contemplated his own body. At this moment, his vision seemed able to pass everywhere without obstruction.
Peering at a leopard through a tube, yet seeing the whole beast from a single spot.
His vision might be restricted, but his thoughts were not.
The black snake's body was covered in scars and all kinds of marks, making it look hideous. Between its pitch-black scales, white light seemed to flash past, resembling the shape of bones.
At this moment, through contemplation, Ye Qin seemed able to see clearly how the bones within his body were growing.
Immediately afterward, countless scales fell away, followed by the flesh of his entire body, dropping piece by piece until only white bones remained.
Unexpectedly, throughout the entire process, Ye Qin felt no pain whatsoever.
The flesh rotted and fell away, revealing white bones. Even his entire body was reduced to white bones.
A complete snake skeleton appeared before his eyes.
As he watched himself become this way, his beast pupils remained calm, without the slightest panic. Everything followed its natural course.
The pupils of a snake appeared somewhat cold. More precisely, it was a kind of detached freedom from the mundane world.
Ye Qin blinked slightly. He still had the scales charred by lightning, without the slightest change.
It seemed that everything just now had been nothing more than an illusion.
Leaves grew old and fell, after which new buds sprouted from the branches. The cycle of life and death was nothing more than a single thought.
Ye Qin felt as though he were a bare tree. This did not mean that his vitality had been lost, but that he was being reborn.
As the saying went, nothing could be established without first being shattered.
The flesh rotted and fell away, revealing white bones. Even his entire body was reduced to white bones.
Soon, all the scales and flesh on his body fell away, and a complete snake skeleton emerged.
At this moment, through contemplation, Ye Qin could clearly see how the bones within his body were growing.
A snake generally had between one hundred and four hundred bones, connected to one another by ball-and-socket joints. Thus, every section of its spine could move freely.
This was also why snakes were so flexible.
Ye Qin's snake body was small, so his skeleton was equally tiny. It appeared as a densely packed mass, distributed with perfect balance. At first glance, it even shimmered with a glazed radiance.
Because he had previously suffered severe injuries, many of the bones in his body had sustained damage of varying degrees. Some areas had even fractured, and there was still congealed blood within him.
But now, as if influenced by some inexplicable force, these bones slowly joined with those beside them. The congealed blood and impurities were expelled.
The entire skeleton was like a work of art.
The End of the Chapter