The Hexacoto

所谓：望子成龙，望女成凤。但当长了翅膀，想起发的龙望的路往往会辜负对他戴希望的人，那如何呢？

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在窝里受得一辈子的气，火气十足，是别离的时候了。

“我得向外飞。” 子儿说。

“为何？” 长辈问着，“危在外多，个个角落藏着不安，不定，不满，不幸。不如不走如何。”

“不行。我不能。”

“那你能去哪里？”

“去西取经：经验、精宴。哪里都比这好。”

“取经？取惊还差不多吧。崇洋媚外，你迟早会回来。”

而非听劝告，放下了一生的友情，放下了一生的便利，他身无长处地往外走。子儿默默地说，“你瞧着。无论你有多么的不信，是胜是亡，由我双腿创我自己的路，是我的选择。” 连伞都不带的他就那样踏出了门，相信他身上燃烧的火将会带他出路途的黑暗。

未成龙的子儿无法独立地飞，只好搭乘飞机，造个西游记。但他没想象路途遥远行程当中淋的雨会是那么的湿。

起初滴的雨，偶尔几滴，算得了什么？心胸已抛了铅，放步如筋斗云，毛毛雨的湿，心怀戴的三昧真火让他暖着，干着。

但不久毛雨变大雨，之前从天上飘落的水花成一刺一刺的箭，泼了下来。走了一半，望不清头，看不见尾。是否迷了路？本是盔甲的衣，被雨淋湿，沾到了皮。让雨刺了皮，刺了心。渐渐，尖尖的箭尖把自信化成灰，掘出了他的虚荣和骄傲。

“这值得吗？” 子儿开始想，长辈播下的疑问的种被雨淋了，开始萌芽。“我还能继续吗？”

路途所见，妖，精，魔，怪不在外，都在内。心里的战场上，已经拼杀过的心魔散落满地。

自疑精他挥着剑，“最初的乐观都是蠢！”

自责王加入了战场， “如果你当初没那么任性，也不会落到现在这下场。”

绝望怪轻轻的唱着，唱着，“从空想造成的意愿始终是空。”

战斗还进行中，在外的我不停地淋雨。

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(note: This is another one of those “If you can’t read Chinese, you won’t be able to fully appreciate the nuances of the language” pieces. There are footnotes at the end to help with some of that.)

-Translation-

As they say: May the sons become dragons, may the daughters become phoenixes. But when they are ready to spread their wings to take flight, and that their journeys will inevitably disappoint those who heaped hopes on them, what then?

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After a lifetime of antagonism, with a heart full of burning anger/passion, it is time to leave.

“I have to leave this place,” the son says.

“Why?” asked the elder, “Danger lies outside, and in every corner lurks vulnerability, instability, discontent, and misfortune. How about you don’t go?”¹

“That’s impossible. And I can’t.”²

“Then where can you go?”

“To the West for sutras: experience, feasts.³ Any place is better than this.”

“Sutras? More like shock.⁴ Fawner of all things foreign, you will return eventually.”

Unheeding of advice, leaving behind a lifetime of friends, a lifetime of convenience, with the barest of necessities he departed. Silently, he said, “Hark, no matter your lack of confidence, even if I were to triumph or die, with my feet I carve this journey of my own choice.” And like that, without even taking an umbrella, he stepped out, believing that the fire that burns inside him will light him through the darkness of his journey.

The son who is yet to be a dragon is unable to fly on his own, thus he takes an aeroplane on his journey to the West. But what he did not envision was how wet the rain on his journey would be.

At first, the rain was imperceptible — the occasional raindrops, what does it matter? With a heart free of lead and each step on a Somersault Cloud, the wetness of the fine drizzle was stayed by the True Samadhi Fire⁵ carried within, keeping him warm and dry.

Before long, the drizzle turned into a downpour. The water flowers that drifted down from the heavens earlier turned into piercing arrows, pouring down in torrents. Halfway into the journey, the sight of the beginning is lost, the sight of the goal is lost; is the way lost? The clothing sticks to the skin, becoming armour no longer, and has let the rain pierce the skin, the heart. Slowly, pieces of sharp arrowheads erode the confidence to ash⁶, leaving behind conceit and pride.

“Is this all worth it?” the son begins to wonder, and the seeds of doubt planted by the elder, watered by the rain, begin to germinate. “Can I still carry on?”

The imps, spirits, demons and monsters encountered along the journey are from within, not without. The battle is in the mind, and the slain demons are scattered everywhere.

The Spirit of Self Doubt hefted its blade, “The optimism you held in the beginning was folly.”

The Demon King of Self-Blame joins the fray. “Were you not so obstinate, you would not have landed yourself in this quarry.”

The Monster of Despair sang softly, softly, “All ambition borne of fantasy is but emptiness.”

And as the battle rages on, I stand on the outside, being drenched in the rain.

-Footnotes-

1: “危在外多，个个角落藏着不安，不定，不满，不幸。不如不走如何。” “Danger lies outside, and in every corner lurks vulnerability, instability, discontent, and misfortune. How about you don’t go?” — There is stylistic repetition using the ‘not’ character in the Chinese text, 不, which is lost in translation. A stylistic translation would go: “Danger lies outside, and in every corner lurks not-safety, not-stability, not-contentment, not-fortune. Not-about not-go?” 不如不走 in the last part also uses the ‘not’ character, but translates as “How about you don’t go?”

2: “不行。我不能。” “That’s impossible. And I can’t.” — Similarly, it continues the usage of the ‘not’ character in response. A stylistic translation would go: “Not-possible. I am not-able.”

3: “去西取经：经验，精宴。” “To the West for sutras: experience, feasts.” — This is a play on and repetition of sounds. The romanisation would be “Qù xī qǔ jīng: jīng yàn, jīng yàn.” The sound for sutra shares the same sound as the first character of experience, and the first character of the compound word, exquisite (jīng). The purpose for highlighting this repetition become apparent in the next point.

4: “取经？取惊还差不多吧。” “Sutras? More like shock.” — A pun on the sound for sutra 经 (jīng), which is the same sound as shock 惊 (jīng).

5: Somersault Cloud and True Samadhi Fire is an artefact and a weapon in the Chinese classic, Journey to the West.

6: 渐渐，尖尖的箭尖把自信化成灰 Slowly, sharp arrowheads turn confidence to ash — This phrase is a brutal repetition of the sound “jian,” varying only its tones. The romanisation goes: “jiàn jiàn jiān jiān de jiàn jiān bǎ zì xìn huà chéng huī.” This utilises the sharp sounds of “j” to evoke the imagery of piercing.