Self-struggle starting from Douluo

Chapter 201: Appearance, Body, and Function

In fact, there really isn’t any elixir or elixir recipe in this secret book!
The scope of the secret realm is not large. Although there are lush vegetation, birds singing, and flowers blooming, it is just like the real world. But apart from these nine stone tablets, there are no traces of human beings!
For several days, Hai Bodong and his companions searched every corner of the secret realm, but found nothing.

Instead, Qinglin had a problem—the food was almost gone.

Hai Bodong, Yun Yun, and Medusa have strong fighting spirit, so it’s okay if they don’t eat.

But Qinghuan and Qinglin have to eat.

Fortunately, there is a bird in this secret place... the bird that sings and smells the fragrance of flowers.

After being beaten to death by Hai Bodong, he was brought to Qing Lin and said, "Use this bird as a cushion first. I will see if there are any other edible animals."

"No! Apart from the bird, there are no other living things here." Medusa said quietly, "To be precise, apart from this bird and these plants, there are no other living things!"

Yun Yun's expression changed slightly: "Have you found a way out?"

Hai Bodong shook his head.

Medusa snorted coldly and said, "The black flames can let us in, so they can also let us out... That guy should wake up by now, right?"

Several people looked towards the fifth stone tablet and suddenly discovered that Qinghuan, who had been sitting in front of the stone tablet, was nowhere to be seen.

Before he could be surprised, he found Qinghuan squatting beside Qinglin, looking at the bird that Hai Bodong shot.

"Brother?" Qinglin called carefully.

Qing Huan nodded, without taking his eyes away from the bird, as if he had discovered a peerless beauty.

Yun Yun couldn't help but ask, "Did you see anything?"

Qing Huan suddenly said, "This bird has such big eyes and wings... It must be hard to hunt, right?"

Hai Bodong didn't understand, and said, "No, it was knocked down by throwing a stone."

Hai Bodong has fallen back to Dou Ling strength and is unable to fly.

Qing Huan said with great interest: “Legend has it that there is a strange magpie, with wings that can’t fly, and eyes that can’t see… It has big wings but can’t fly, and big eyes but can’t see clearly. The reason for this is that it has ‘forgotten its true self’!
Real people! Real people! Hahahaha…I see!”

Everyone was confused, but they also understood what Qinghuan had realized.

Qinghuan didn't bother to explain and ran away, all the way to the first stone tablet, and then looked from the first stone tablet to the fourth stone tablet.

This time, he saw something different!

……

Legend has it that Confucius once visited a real man, but left without saying anything when they met.

Zilu was very curious and asked Confucius, "Teacher, you have wanted to see him for a long time, why don't you talk to him when you meet him?"

Confucius said: "When one sees it with one's own eyes, the truth exists, and one cannot allow it to be heard."

A true person who is not burdened by material things can only feel it with his heart and cannot express it in words.

If "essence, energy and spirit" are the three indispensable treasures of life, then "substance, appearance and function" are the three treasures of "Tao"!

The concept of "phase" is very broad. To put it simply, it refers to all "things", whether visible or invisible.

In every space and every dimension, there are inanimate objects, sentient objects, and even the "consciousness" of life... Existence is "appearance"!
Everything that humans know is “appearance”!
And "appearance" comes from "substance"!
What is “body”?
Buddha said "emptiness", Lao Tzu said "nothingness", Master Huineng said "originally there is nothing", and Zhuangzi said "there has never been anything"!
The “body” is shared by all living things, so there is the “private treasure” of Zen Buddhism and the “self-sufficiency of nature” of Xinxue…

Lao Tzu also said in "Tao Te Ching": Nothingness is the beginning of heaven and earth, and existence is the mother of all things.

"Nothingness" is the "substance" and "existence" is the "appearance", so the 40th chapter of the Tao Te Ching says: "All things in the world are born from existence, and existence is born from nothingness."

Legend has it that when Purna, the Buddha's most famous disciple who was "the best at preaching", heard the Buddha say that "everything is empty", he was puzzled and asked the Buddha: "How did the mountains, rivers, earth and other phenomena suddenly appear?"

Since everything begins with "emptiness" and "nothingness", how can "mountains, rivers, earth" and all kinds of "appearances" come into being?
Buddha said: "All appearances are false! If you see that all appearances are not appearances, you will see the Tathagata!"

Only the "substance" is real and substantial, everything else is false and mock!

All "appearances" are "illusions" manifested by the "substance", they are all false and unreal, which is what Huineng said, "originally there is nothing"!
Therefore, the "birth" out of nothing is not the birth of an entity, but the manifestation of an illusion. The process of the manifestation of the illusion is "Tao begets one, one begets two, two begets three, and three begets all things"... Lao Tzu said, "All things are created together, and I observe their return. All things return to their roots"!
All things are born from "nothing" and return to "nothing". They are just illusions that appear and disappear.

All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows!

If you only understand these and feel that life is meaningless, then you have fallen into the so-called "annihilation".

In addition to "substance and appearance", there is also "function"!
In terms of "essence", all sentient beings are the same, but in terms of "function" they vary greatly!

This "use" is not just the "use" in terms of "appearance", such as methods of dealing with things, speaking skills, competitive strategies, science and technology... etc. all belong to "appearance and use" and belong to "worldly law"!
This is what Zhuangzi called "useful use".

Lao Tzu said: "Everyone knows the use of useful things, but no one knows the use of useless things."

Master Huineng said: "How could one have expected that one's own nature could give rise to all things."

Self-nature is the "substance", all dharmas are the "appearance", and the ability to give birth is the "function", "wonderful function"!
All things are born from self-nature, and in order to be "used" in the middle, a medium is needed, that is, the "heart", the original heart, the true heart, the true self!

Sincerity is the “self-nature” that plays a wonderful role!
The true heart is an invisible and formless mirror of perfection and harmony. It is everywhere and can reveal all dharmas.

"I do not know that the physical body, as well as the mountains, rivers, sky, and earth outside, are all things in the wonderful and bright true heart!" - All existence in the world is an illusion in the "mirror of the heart".

……

I wrote five thousand words but still couldn't make it clear what I wanted to express, let alone the author?
In short, after comprehending the "appearance, body and function" on top of the "essence, energy and spirit", Qinghuan felt completely different when looking at these stone tablets again!

How could this be a stone tablet? It was clearly a set of recipes for elixirs!
It’s not about refining medicine, but the recipe for refining medicine!
If it is just to "seize the fortune of heaven and earth" and refine various medicinal materials for use on the human body, that is only the lowest level of means, and it can be called "refining medicine".

But refining the elixir means "living together with all things in the world"!
Take from heaven and earth, and use it for heaven and earth!
Take a blade of grass from the heaven and earth, and help a snake from the heaven and earth… Take a chicken and a piece of firewood from the heaven and earth, and help the heaven and earth see the light again…

Take away the world's deadlock and help it revive.

From the "substance" comes the "appearance", from nothing to something, creating a new world!
The method demonstrated by the old man was alchemy, which is also the "use" in "body, appearance, and use"!
……

Eight kinds of seals.

The four types are for "body", true self, source of life, and fire of chaos.

The four types are for "appearance", which can be elixir, the sun, or all things in the world.

Qinghuan named the first four types "Fire Control Techniques" and the last four types "Controlling Pill Techniques".

When Qing Huan realized this, he laughed.

While laughing, he used the "Yudan Jue".

As he made gestures, the entire secret world began to shake.

Medusa and others were alarmed and rushed to Qinghuan, watching him laughing as if he was crazy.

When the "Imperial Pill Technique" was used, the entire secret world suddenly began to shrink and collapse...

Finally, it turned into a round "pill" and fell into Qinghuan's palm.

The surrounding scene turned back into a desert... They came out of the secret realm.

Medusa stared at the "pill" in Qing Huan's hand and said with difficulty, "The entire secret realm is the pill in your hand?"

Qing Huan calmly handed over the "pill" and asked, "Do you want it? Do you know how to use it?"

Medusa's face twisted slightly, she snorted coldly and turned her head away without answering it.

They entered the secret realm together and saw the nine stone tablets together, but only Qinghuan understood this magical method from the stone tablets...

This left Medusa speechless.

Qing Huan complacently pinched the "Dan" and it turned into a ring, which was completely blue in color.

Putting it on his finger, Qing Huan looked at it and said, "From now on, I will call you "Bi Lan"!"

(End of this chapter)