Gong did not give Su Beishan any further explanation, but simply stood up to leave. Su Beishan went with him to the mansion gate and watched as he walked off into the distance. Ji Gong walked straight out through the Qiantang gate and along the Su Embankment, singing to himself.
Those who live a century
Since the ancient times are few,
First a child, then faltering age,
In between not too much time.
There is sadness; there are cares.
Though our nation brims with wealth,
This dynasty’s governed ill.
Though officials gain much gold,
Few have wisdom, none are brave.
Once disturbed, their hair turns white.
Autumn’s moon will soon grow dim;
Autumn’s flowers quickly fade;
Time for flowers passes soon.
Bring the wine jar round once more
And forget the dusty tombs,
‘Til the grass turns green again.
The monk was still singing when he came to the mountain gate. The moment that Guang Liang saw him, the superintendent said, “Brother teacher, thank heaven that you are here! Such a calamity! It is as if the sky has fallen on our temple!”
After Ji Gong had asked for the details about which he already knew, he said, “No matter what the calamity, even if the heavens fall, Brother Teacher, it does not matter. Leave it all to me, Mad Ji! But this pagoda is something we cannot give them. Do you think that I would fail the body of monks in this temple?”
Guang Liang said, “But, Brother Teacher, you must not provoke these men to anger. They are the four great managers of the prime minister’s estate. He has sent them here to take down the Great Memorial Pagoda and use the materials from it to restore his lofty pavilion.”
Ji Gong said, “Ah! He is the prime minister of the present reign, and he wants to destroy the Great Memorial Pagoda, so it must be destroyed! Then after another two days pass, the commander of the capital’s palace garrison will order us to have the Great Treasure Hall taken down, and we will let him destroy that! And there will be still more! Again, after another two days, a letter will come from Linan prefecture, saying that its officials want us to take down the two halls to the east and west! Again we will have to let them be destroyed! After still another two days, a letter will come from Qiantang prefecture, or some other prefecture, saying that its officials want to take down the storage building for sutras, and we will have to let them destroy it! And there will be still more! I raised the money for the Great Memorial Pagoda, and I cannot give it to them to take down!”
Hearing this talk, the superintendent thought in his heart, “Ji Gong was never right for us in the past. This situation may be our chance to get rid of him.” Thus, even now, the superintendent was still trying to take advantage of the situation to injure Ji Gong. Then Superintendent Guang Liang said, “Brother Teacher, do you dare to ask them not to take down the Great Memorial Pagoda? The four honorable great managers are now sitting in the large meditation hall. You may go to look for them, but I fear that you will make trouble that you cannot control.”
Ji Gong gave a cold little laugh saying, “Brother Teacher, I do not want you to concern yourself with this matter.” Having spoken, he walked quickly toward the large meditation hall.
The courtyard that he entered was shut in on three sides by buildings. A dozen or more low-ranking officials were standing about in the courtyard, and the four honorable managers were just then drinking tea in the best building on the north side. When the low-ranking officials saw the poor monk with clothing so badly torn and ragged, they quickly stopped him saying, “Who is this?”
Ji Gong said, “It is I.”
The lower officials asked, “Who are you? The various great people are now here talking. What is a poor monk like you doing by coming here? To what temple do you belong?”
Ji Gong replied, “I belong to a nun’s convent.”
When the lower officials heard his reply, they admonished him, saying, “That is no kind of language to use. You are a monk. What are you doing in a nun’s convent? Men and women mixed together!”
Ji Gong said, “You do not understand. The old nun in the convent died, and the young nun has run off with somebody. I am staying at that temple as the caretaker. I have heard it said that all you honorable great people have come asking about large pieces of timber. In large temple where I come from we have accumulated a great pile of timber, a pile like a mountain, truly large and truly bulky, like these long beams that hold up the roof. If a man squats down at this end and another man squats down at the other end, the pile is so big that the man at this end cannot see the man at the other end.”
The low-ranking officers said, “What a big pile of timber that must be!”
The monk went on with another rush of words, repeating himself. “That big pile of beams in our temple, with a man squatting down at one end and the other man squatting down at the other end, and the man on this end unable to see the man at the other end!”
Again the low-ranking officers said in unison, “What a big pile of timber that must be!”
The monk rattled on, repeating, “The pillars and rafters under the roof in our temple are piled so high that the man squatting at this end cannot see the man squatting at that end, and the one at that end cannot see the man at this end.”
When the low-ranking officials heard this, they all laughed and asked, “What do you expect to do about these timbers, Monk? Do you want to sell them? Do you want to give them to our great man?”
The monk replied, “I do not want to sell anything to the great man. I would only like the great man to give me some money to fix my pants.”
Inside the large meditation hall, Qin An had heard all this conversation very clearly. Deciding that it was some kind of trickery, he had someone call the monk inside. One of the low ranking officials said, “Monk, our great man has called you. When you see our great man, be polite. None of your fox and monkey antics!”
The monk did not respond, but strode over to the hall, pushed aside the bamboo curtain, and entered. When the four men (Qin An, Qin Sheng, Qin Zhi, and Qin Ming) saw that it was this miserably poor monk, Qin An asked, “Monk, does your temple actually have some timbers?”
Ji Gong blinked his eyes and asked, “Where did you four honorable people come from?”
They answered, “We have been sent from Prime Minister Qin’s residence. The great man has given an order that the Great Memorial Pagoda be torn down and the materials used to repair the large, many-storied pavilion in the prime minister’s flower garden.”
Ji Gong said, “You four honorable people have been ordered to come and take down the Memorial Pagoda by the great person of your houses.”
The four men exclaimed, “How could there be a great person in our houses!”
Ji Gong said, “The fact
