Seeing the two young men struggling over a name for the baby, the old monk smiled gently and said, “I see a clarity in this child’s eyes. How about the name ‘Qing’1?”
Wei and Lan both looked into the baby’s eyes. The newborn’s eyes, free from worldly troubles, were indeed as clear as a pristine stream2.
“Qing,” Wei repeated the name thoughtfully.
“Is Benefactor Wei satisfied with the name Qing?” the old monk asked Wei.
Wei lowered his head and asked the baby, “Would you like to be called Qing?”
The baby sucked on his tiny fingers and smiled at Wei.
“It seems he likes it too,” Lan laughed. “How come this child smiles so happily when he gets it into your arms?”
“I haven’t decided to keep you yet!” Wei touched his forehead to the baby’s, smiling. “Don’t think I’ll go soft just because you smile at me like that.”
“Wei, shall we name him Qing then?” Lan asked Wei.
“Having the master give him a name is a blessing,” Wei said. “Let’s call him Qing.”
“Amitabha,” the old monk chanted, rising to his feet. “Thank you for the water and snacks. It’s getting late, and this humble monk must take his leave.”
Wei quickly stood to see him off. “Master, where do you cultivate?”
The old monk smiled. “This poor monk wanders the four seas with no fixed abode.”3
“Wandering all over the world?” Wei’s interest was piqued. “Master, which places have you been to?”
The old monk chuckled, shaking his head. “I’ve been to too many places to remember them all.”
“You can’t remember?” Wei blurted out. “Then why do you keep traveling?”
“Wei,” Lan tugged on Wei’s sleeve. “What are you saying?”
“Farewell, benefactors,” the old monk said without taking offense, nodding to the young men before departing the small farmhouse courtyard.
“You!” Lan chided Wei after the monk had left. “You spoke carelessly again. It’s not unusual for an elder to forget things.”
Scolded by Lan, Wei felt a bit embarrassed. “How could I have thought of so many things? I just wanted to ask him about fun and beautiful places to visit.”
“After the autumn harvest, we can go out again. Last time we went to the capital to see the fireworks, this time we can go to…” Lan paused, “Let’s go to Jiangnan.”
“To see the misty rains of Jiangnan?” Wei’s eyes lit up. “But we’d have to go in the spring. What about the farm?”
Lan hugged Wei and said with a smile, “We don’t really have to rely on farming for a living, don’t we have savings?”
“Then,” Wei looked down at the baby in his arms and said, “What about this child? Shall we take him with us on the road?”
“His name is Qing,” Lan said.
“Yes, Qing. What shall we do with Qing? He’s so little, can we take him on the road? What if he falls ill? We don’t know how to care for a child!” Wei worried. “Oh, that’s right,” he put Qing into Lan’s arms, “I’ll go find some clothes for him. You just bring him here, we don’t even have baby clothes at home!”
Lan pulled Wei back into his embrace and said, “The village chief will surely bring us something later. He brought Qing to us; he won’t leave us unprepared.”
“Why does he keep smiling at me?” Wei pointed at Qing, still grinning at him with an open mouth.
“It means he likes you!” Lan pecked Wei behind the ear.
“There are people around!” Wei protested, turning to go back into the courtyard, slightly annoyed.
“I don’t see anyone around.” Lan followed Wei back into the courtyard, carrying Qing.
“Do you have eagle eyes4?” Wei glared at Lan.
“Is your little father angry?” Lan asked Qing playfully. “What should we do?”
“He’s so little, how could he possibly understand what you’re saying?” Wei laughed. “Lan, you’re such a fool!”
Lan stepped closer to Wei. “Calling me a fool again, huh?”
Wei turned to run away, saying, “Yes, you’re a fool, Lan!”
Lan caught Wei in one arm while still holding Qing in the other, and spun him around. “Looks like I haven’t disciplined you in a while! You’re getting too bold!”
“Please spare me this time, Master Lan,” Wei played along. “This humble one won’t dare again.”
“Too late!” Lan spun faster.
Wei burst into laughter, “Lan is such a fool!”
“I won’t let you down!” Lan pretended to threaten.
“But you’re the fool I like!” Wei laughed loudly. “My favorite fool!”
If not for the baby in his arms, Lan would have taken this alluring little thing back to the room for some “on-site discipline” right then.
Qing laughed along with Wei in Lan’s arms.
“I’ll let you off this time,” Lan put Wei down before the fire in his heart ignited, “Let’s just have some porridge today. I’ll go ask the village chief what Qing can eat.”
“Alright,” Wei took Qing. “You also need to find out his age and birth details, we can’t be ignorant of all that.”
Lan turned away, smiling. It seemed the village chief was right — Wei was just talking big, how could he not like children?
“What’s that?” Wei noticed a string of beads on the table under the grape trellis.
Lan and Wei walked over.
“Did the master leave it?” Lan asked.
Wei bent down and found a note. “Buddha beads for the fated one,” he read.
“Are these for Qing?” Wei wondered. “He kept talking about fate.”
“What should we do?” Lan asked.
“Go after him quickly,” Wei took the Buddhist beads from the table, without even looking closely at them, and shoved them into Lan’s hand, saying, “An old man can’t walk too fast, go catch up with him and return them. How can we take others’ things without rhyme or reason?”
Lan hurried out with the beads.
Wei waited outside the bamboo fence with Qing.
The village wasn’t big, so Lan came back soon, shaking his head at Wei, “I went far outside the village, but didn’t see any trace of the master.”
Wei took the string from Lan’s hand. After taking a closer look at the beads, he discovered they were made of black jade and colored glaze.
“They look like they’ve been burned,” Lan said, pointing out the marks.
Wei took a look and saw that there were many burnt marks on the string of Buddhist beads, “They do. Why would the master give Qing these?”
Lan said, “They still look beautiful.”
Holding the string of black glazed buddhist beads up, Wei asked baby Qing in his arms, “Qing, is your fate tied to us, or to the master?”
Qing smiled in Wei’s arms until his little eyes crinkled into crescents.
Who can truly explain the mystery of fate?
- 清 – qīng : clear, clean, quiet, still, pure, uncorrupted. ↩︎
- 清澈可见底 – qīng chuò kě jiàn dǐ: idiom describing water that is so clear that the bottom is visible. ↩︎
- 四海云游 – sì hǎi yúnyóu: literally “wander/travel amidst the clouds over the four seas”, meaning to travel/wander far and wide. ↩︎
- 千里眼 – qiān lǐ yǎn: eyes that can see a 1000 li, can also means clairvoyant. ↩︎
Boundless Dao 
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