When I left the mountain, my master told me that the mortal world was a tribulation. I didn’t understand.
I thought my eldest senior brother’s political schemes could protect the people, but he died in the intrigues beneath the imperial throne.
I thought my second senior brother’s business acumen could make him the richest man alive, but he drowned in a golden bath.
I thought my third senior sister’s love could transcend life and death, but for the sake of one person, she burned her soul away.
I never fell in love with anything beneath the mountain, yet I witnessed the most fierce and burning experiences of human life: birth, aging, sickness, and death.
When I returned alone to the mountain gate, my master came to greet me beneath a sky ablaze with rosy light.
He asked how I had come to understand. I said:
I had simply seen the “answer” with my own eyes.
