Volume 4: Spacetime Singularity Chapter 16: True Nature is Emptiness
After Fang Cheng fell asleep, he had many dreams. He dreamed that he walked for a long time on a winding mountain road, passed through large tracts of forests, and finally arrived at the edge of a towering cliff.
It is said to be a mountain road, but in fact it is clean and tidy marble steps. Various strange sculptures are scattered on both sides of the steps, shining brightly under the moonlight.
This was not the first time he came to this dream world.
Every time he came here, the time in his dream was always night. The dark green forest was hazy and gentle, surrounded by a faint mist, and the pale moon was shrouded in gauze, curling and graceful.
Although the eternal night here is not eerie, the strange cries that pop out from time to time remind Fang Cheng that it is better not to approach the unknown creatures hidden in the darkness, if they are living creatures.
This is why he did not dare to leave the beautiful, sparkling stones when he walked.
Below the cliff was a vast expanse of shining ocean. Under the moonlight, the ocean made Fang Cheng's face appear bloodless and pale. He looked at the ocean below his feet and the clear sky in the distance without saying a word, his heart in a turmoil.
He decided to sit down on the cliff and look at the distant coast to sort out his thoughts.
An overwhelming sound came from all directions, and Fang Cheng stumbled and fell off the cliff. The moment his eyes touched the rolling waves, everything in front of him suddenly became pitch black.
Then he woke up and everything was still dark.
Fang Cheng felt that this was because his eyes had not yet fully adapted to the light outside, so he struggled to sit up, and then his face hit hard against something soft.
"Ah! What are you doing?"
"Ahhh? What's going on?"
He shrank back suddenly, his head returning to where he had been leaning before.
"Eh? Why did you get up suddenly? Did you have a nightmare?"
"Hiss... Uh, it's not really a nightmare... Let me get up first..."
It seemed that he couldn't sit up directly now, as there was a huge obstacle in front of him. Fang Cheng rolled his body to the side, and felt a piercing coldness when his head touched the ground.
"Well... do you know roughly how long I slept?"
"How should I know? There's not even a reference point for the passage of time here. Well...but if you're dreaming, it means your brain has gone through four sleep cycles, so it can be considered a good rest."
In neuroscience, human sleep can be roughly divided into three periods based on different brain waves: falling asleep (N1), light sleep (N2), deep sleep (N3), and rapid eye movement (REM).
During REM, the human brain is very excited and the brain electrical activity is very intense, which is very similar to the state of being awake. Recent studies have shown that the hippocampus becomes very active during this period, creating various new connections in the brain to form memories. At this moment, energy is also consumed violently in the brain.
Since the discovery of REM sleep, it has been closely linked to dreams. Traditional neurobiology stubbornly believes that REM sleep is the only sleep period in which dreams occur, but the latest research seems to have overturned this.
However, Ning Yu'an didn't care about this. After all, in most cases, dreaming meant that one had slept for a long time.
"I feel... much more awake... My mind was really confused before I fell asleep, but now I seem to have a clue."
"Yeah. Well, actually, when you were explaining to me what happened in the past few days, your words were incoherent and your tone was funny, but I didn't have the nerve to interrupt you at the time. You looked so pitiful..."
Fang Cheng recalled carefully and realized that he had indeed been unable to speak complete sentences before. He just uttered whatever words came into his mind .
"So... can you stand up?"
"I can't stand up... You have to help me. I just squatted on the ground for too long, and my legs have no feeling. This is all for you."
Fang Cheng then remembered that Ning Yu'an's lower body had been pressed tightly against the cold ground when he was sleeping, and he suddenly felt very guilty.
If it were me, would I not get up when she was sleeping on my legs? It's hard to say...
He slowly walked to Ning Yu'an and stretched out his hand, pulling the girl up without much effort. He was surprised to find that the girl was so light.
However, he quickly recalled the scene when he carried Ning Yu'an to the car and sent her to the hospital after the junior high school physical education exam. Not long after she finished a long-distance run, she began to vomit violently, and it was later diagnosed that she had stomach cramps.
At that time, he stayed with her in the hospital ward overlooking the sea for the whole afternoon until their parents arrived. He had completely forgotten what they talked about that day, but he only remembered that his arm was scratched and hurt.
Oh yes, it was from that day that she developed the habit of pinching my arm whenever she had something to do.
Thinking of this, I felt a sharp pain in my arm again.
"Oh...my legs are numb...don't move."
Ning Yu'an pressed half of her body on Fang Cheng, with her legs stretched out to the side, and their chests were pressed tightly together at this time.
"How long are you going to keep doing this..."
"Hey, how can you be so troublesome as a man? I'm feeling numb right now..."
Fang Cheng has read all the Buddhist scriptures he knows at least once in the past few days, and has recited the Heart Sutra alone no less than ten times. Now he feels that the strength of the Heart Sutra is still not enough, and has evolved to the Shurangama Sutra.
The true nature is empty and illusory because it arises from causes and conditions.
There is no action, no arising or ceasing, and it is unreal like empty flowers.
Delusion reveals all truths, and delusion and truth are the same two delusions.
If it is neither true nor real, how can you see what you see?
There is no substance in the middle, so it is like intertwined reeds.
The cause of the knot and the solution is the same. There is no difference between the holy and the ordinary.
When you observe the nature of interaction, you will find that both emptiness and existence are incorrect.
Confusion is ignorance, enlightenment is liberation.
…
His own explanation for these extra physical contacts is that when people are experiencing extreme emotional fluctuations, they will unintentionally use physical contact to gain a sense of security, so that they can maintain basic sanity.
This is probably a self-protection mechanism.
"Still numb?"
"Tsk, why are you in such a hurry? Who was lying on my lap just now? Can't I lean on him like this for a while now?"
“It’s not impossible…”
"What an ungrateful person you are..."
"No... Isn't it a bit too stimulating for you to stick so close to me..."
"Oh, so that's how it is. I was wondering what Buddhist scriptures you were mumbling just now..."
When the girl said this, she couldn't hold back her laughter. Fang Cheng's face suddenly turned red.
"What the hell? Did you hear all this?"
"You're chattering so loudly, and there's no other noise here, but I can hear it clearly."
