"Form does not meaningfully differ from emptiness. Emptiness does not meaningfully differ from form.
Her fists, clenched so tight they hurt at her waist.
"Ergo, form is emptiness, and emptiness form."
A woodsman's axe on her belt.
"This is the same of feelings, of perceptions, of mental formations and consciousness."
Each heavy step dug furrows in the dirt. The tracks are out in the open. Is it trying to lead her into a trap? Doesn't matter. It dies today.
"Surely, Sariputra, all Dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced, nor destroyed, nor defiled, nor pure, and neither increase or diminish."
The tracks lead down to an overfilled brook and over a mossy log. It snapped in half after Yogming crossed, washed away in the roar of the river. The white wave-foam covered the two dark shapes long before they were swept away. Her heart beat like a drum in her chest, each pulse shaking her mind as thunder. She made the words in her mind and filled her mouth with them.
"Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, feeling, cognition, formation or consciousness. No eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind, no sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch or dharmas."
She heard some other song, floating through the leaves and branches like that of a songbird's, accompanied by the screech and twang of an instrument. An erhu, almost, and the other song Yongming could not understand the words.
"Ha nye zu fia mu logo!"
"No field of sight, no ignorance or ending of ignorance, no old age, no death or ending of old age and death. There is no extinction, no Dao, and no understanding or attaining."
This she first snarled out, low and guttural at first. Then when the other singer chanted out "Fia dada mu logo!" with a voice full of cheer it took roost in her fury and pecked at it. Her voice rose, from snarl to something half between a roar and a scream.
"Because nothing is attained, the bodhisattva through reliance on the perfection of wisdom is unimpeded. Because there is no impediment, they are not afraid, and leaves dream thinking behind."
"Fia dada mu logo!" the singer repeated. "Aye aye he!"
"And."
"Ha nye lea tsiagawote mu logo na ye hee!"
"Ultimately."
"Fia dada mu logo!"
"Nirvana."
A teak-skinned man sat upon a rock in front of a cave's mouth, where the track of the tiger led to. He was strumming an instrument made of a hunter's bow, a strung bow held in his left hand, singing as if it was a fine summer day and if he was sitting in front of his house instead of a demon's cave. Maybe he was the tiger, but no. "Move aside," Yongming said, her hand on the head of the woodsman's axe. "Don't you know about the tiger in the cave behind you?"
"Tiger?" He smiled. "No, no, no. There is no tiger here. This tiger, I do not know of. Who is she? Why do you ask about tigers, when I have sung this song?"
"Explain the trail." This man is covering for something. She stepped closer, towering over the man as he drew out a long note on his musical bow.
"What an ineffable mystery!" Now he laughed, a sequence of notes played out on his bow. "Ah, but who knows the ways of-"
"Then I'm going in."
"Ah, sister, stay and sit a spell!" He grabbed her shoulder when Yongming passed him. "The sun is high, the birds are-"
Temper frayed and snapped like an old rope. The axe was an arc of killing steel that flashed in the cloud-covered sunlight. Yet, he disappeared like mist. Like a spirit. Where was he? Where was this fuck- "Down here!"
Three heavy blows bit the ground, where the man laid and rolled away in a spray of dirt. He sprang up into a leap with only a hand. No, Yongming revised, not a leap. He flicked himself off the ground, floating like paper on the wind. Body Levitation. He landed on top of the cave, still laughing. "You are so rude. And here I offered to-"
Yongming snatched a rock and threw it at the man, who swayed like a reed in the wind. The rock splintered the tree it hit. "You're going to kill her," he stated.
"Yes."
"Nothing to change your mind."
"Yes."
"Then I'll gut you." He disappeared from sight, so of course he'd suddenly be behind Yongming with a strike to the neck like all xia who trained their speed. Yongming immediately turned around, raising her fists. She saw her footprints on the muddy trail behind her, and nothing more. He was-
Something heavy slapped her ear. The world rang like a bell and she hit the dirt.
There was a rock in his hand. Was there blood on it? Something wet trickled down her ear. If he ruptured her eardrum she's going to be mad.
Up-kip to drop kick. She drove her full weight into the teak skinned man, sending him flying into the lip of the cave, and herself assumed a horse stance. There wasn't any resistance. Like striking willow leaves.
He moved again, darting forward like a snake in the grass. Where was he going for? Legs? Arms? Neck? Liver?
The teak-skinned man whipped the stone at her knee, lunging like a viper. All she had to do was simply lean forward and let the rock hit her iron thigh, then kneed him in the face. This time, the blow connected and blood gushed out of his nose.
Steel whistled again, and again the man simply rolled away from the steel an inch away from his ear. He swung like a pivot, and rammed the heel of his foot into Yongming's forehead. Both gained distance from the other, circling like wolves. In this uncertain lull, there was space for thought.
Why was the man with the skin of teak protecting the tiger?
Because…
[]- "You're just using the tiger, aren't you?"
[]- "You're actually friends with the thing?"
