Chapter 44- Debating the Dao

Daoist Heartmend stood straight, his eyes bright, his shoulders relaxed and his arms loose. His robes had once been decent enough, but now looked weathered and rough, a faded and mottled gray. His beard was wispy, reaching down to his chest, and his eyes were as deep as an old well. He carried no weapon, and wore no ornament other than a plain iron ring.

Tian and Hong knew damn well he was a heretic. He knew they knew. The only ones who didn’t were Diviner Bonecaster and the unfortunate in the cangue.

“Daoist Heartmend wouldn’t come with no purpose. Speak, then.” Hong started looking around, plainly checking for ambushers.

“I came to debate the dao with you. Truly debate the dao, not some animal violence. I, truly and sincerely, wish to speak with you. Together, the two of you should be capable of killing me. My life and death are entirely in your hands.” His voice was as tranquil as his eyes. “I am confident in my fighting ability, of course. I wouldn’t die alone. I won’t permit myself to die before we have spoken, and should you test me on this, I will ensure the town behind you dies with me.”

Tian nodded. “Speak then.”

“Let us take the case in front of us as our starting point. This man, Cao Sen, for whatever reason, came to owe a debt he could not repay. To shame and torture him for being a deliquent debtor, the magistrate sentenced him to a month in the cangue. His flesh suffers. His spirit suffers. His heart breaks. He comes to understand the cruelty of the world in a way he had never dreamed of, understanding so much more clearly the suffering of every other person who has ever worn the cangue.”

Daoist Heartmend recited these facts as though he were describing the weather.

“Then there is Daoist Bonecaster, who was moved by pity to help him drink some water, and perhaps eat something. This would prolong Cao Sen’s suffering, of course, because without Daoist Bonecaster’s interference, Cao Sen would likely die. Then there is Daoist Hong, who shares Daoist Bonecasters’ intention, and lastly you, Daoist Tian, who wishes to tear open the cangue and set Cao Sen free.”

Tian nodded lightly.

“Then there is me, Heartmend, who says the correct thing to do is simply walk on past him. Treat him with neither pity nor contempt, but as a pebble on the road or tree by a stream. A matter of indifference.”

“Get to the point.” Hong flexed her fingers slowly.

“Two are motivated by pity, but fear for the future consequences for Cao Sen if they defy the will of the kingdom. One sets his morality above the wishes of others. And one feels that nothing should be done at all. Which of us pursues the true Dao?”

“You frame it as three positions, but I see two- one which holds to the Supreme Virtues of Compassion, Frugality, and Humility, and one that does not.” Tian smiled. No one could confuse the expression with warmth or humor. “There is merely disagreement in how those virtues should be expressed.”

“As you like, but I think you will come to regret that framing. Still, it is early yet.” Heartmend shrugged.

“So make your case, Heretic Heartmend.” Hong glared. “Why is ignoring Cao Sen’s plight the true dao?”

“Because the great dao is indifferent. It emerged from primordial chaos, a thing that is the pinnacle and essence of the word ‘undifferentiated.’ Life and death are a single thread, while good and evil, if such words even have sensible definitions, are matters of opinion, putting values on things the dao does not, and cannot.”

“Compassion, frugality, humility?” Tian asked.

“Humbug. Show me where the Dao says those things exist, let alone are supreme virtues.” Heartmend gently waved at the scene in front of them, then extended the motion to the fields around them, the sky above them, the road below.

“Does virtue come from the heavens? Plainly not, or we would all be virtuous. Does it come from the teachings of the ancestors? No, they have taught us cruelty. So I ask you, where is virtue? Where is vice? I say they lie entirely within our minds, our own self-delusion. Our minds are disordered, constantly searching for the simplicity and indifference our pre-natal selves knew. When we burden ourselves with a need to fix the world, we cause suffering for ourselves and others. No different than if we lose ourselves to depravity.”

Hong shook her head. “There is no society that can be true to the dao, then. We would be concerned only with ourselves yet wanting nothing, caring nothing for our own life and death.”

“Exactly.” Heartmend nodded. “A sage wants to save the world and serve the people. Look on the product of their labors.” He pointed at Cao Sen. “A sage set out to rule the land, governing with justice and compassion, setting laws to guard and guide the people. Universal compassion and benevolence fixed the cangue around Cao Sen’s neck, as surely as his desires lead him to borrow the silver in the first place.”

“On the basis that a strict and fair system of laws applied honestly will also serve to correct the punished as well as comfort the victims.” Hong guessed.

“And deter other crimes that might occur.” Tian added.

“Just so. But we know that the laws of the Kingdom do no such thing. They are a mill, grinding people, breaking them, separating the suffering essence from its clay husk. The intention is benevolent, the result is cruel. Conversely, a bandit robs a farmer to feed himself, making the farmer starve instead. Most would call it a wicked act. But he steals because he has not learned to be indifferent to his own life and death, or how to be content with whatever the day brings. He will soon starve again, and now two suffer instead of one. Good or evil, benevolence or selfishness- don’t they reach the same result?” Heartmend nodded.

Tian considered the arguments. They were logical. Completely logical. They just ignored reality.

“Your argument boils down to “anything good people do is a matter of opinion or actually a bad thing, and anything bad people do to one another should be ignored because suffering is a defect in understanding.” Hong cut to the chase.

Tian smiled slightly. “You are an envoy from the Black Iron Gorge, aren’t you?”

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Heartmend wiggled his hand in the air. “I don’t work for them, but they occasionally give me things I might find useful. They really don’t understand me.”

“Because useful and not-useful are the same thing to you.” Tian concluded.

“No, not at all. Useful is unnatural. Useful means you are doing something to better your existence in a superficial way, or ‘bettering’ the lives of others. True improvement would come with improved understanding of the self, being more true to your pre-natal nature. What you are truly doing by becoming useful is becoming miserable. You are used by others or used by your disordered mind until you fall into exhaustion and an early death. A slave toiling in a mine is useful. The girl taken to breed sons for the Emperor is useful. But they are miserable.”

There was a cadence to Heartmend’s words. This wasn’t a spontaneous speech. He had said these exact words many times before.

“Compare a dog and a cat. A dog will guard, hunt, turn a treadmill, and can be eaten. It is bred to labor, suffer and die. Meanwhile a cat is quite useless, and will only do what it wills. We accommodate ourselves to the cat, and claim that we keep it to hunt the vermin we attract. We claim the animal is making itself useful. It is doing no such thing. It never thinks of being useful. It is merely true to its nature.”

“So the true daoist is a useless lump, passively but contently drifting through the world, accepting what changes come, forgetting even a sense of self, until they eventually die unmourned. Is that your position?” Hong asked.