RisingPhoenix72: That aside, HiddenDragon. You mentioned the Vajra Subduing Palm earlier. Where are you with that? Any idea of where that starts?

  HiddenDragon88: I don't know much. Just the name and that it shows up in the movie Return to the Shaolin Temple.

  WulinCrane66: If we're talking about Vajra. Vajra is a small metal ritual scepter with prongs on both ends. Monks use it in ceremonies. It's the weapon carried by dharma protectors in Buddhist iconography. The wrathful deities who guard temple gates.

  BitterTea: the scary statues with the big muscles? (°△°)

  WulinCrane66: Those are artistic representations, but yes. Originally the vajra was Indra's weapon in Hindu mythology. The king of gods used it to slay demons. When Buddhism absorbed it, the meaning shifted from a literal weapon to spiritual symbol.

  The word Vajra means both Diamond and Thunderbolt. Diamond, the hardest substance, can't be cut, broken, or destroyed. Thunderbolt, the unstoppable force. Shatters everything it touches. If we take them together as a palm technique, it means the palm that can't be broken is the palm that breaks everything.

  LaughingSword: so it's half of a prayer, not just pure martial arts. Like chanting namo amitabha buddha? Any relation to Shaolin's Indestructible Diamond Body?

  WulinCrane66: They share the same etymology, but other than the names being similar it's hard to say. My guess is they are related, maybe one is simply a small part of the other.

  LaughingSword: So, if you can do one you can do both? But if we're talking about names. It's Vajra Subduing Palm. If Vajra means the Indestructible Thunderbolt. Then what does the Subduing stand for?

  DrunkenScholar: it's a buddhist technique right? in most of the stories they're always fighting demons. wouldn't subduing have something to do with that?

  LaughingSword: demons aren't real.

  MoonlessSky: depends how you define it. I've met people I'd call demons.

  WulinCrane66: If we take from classical scripture like the Devi Mahatmya, demons exist but were just extremely strong mythical figures with evil intentions. Mahishasura earned his power through legitimate practice. Meditation, austerity, discipline. He did everything right. But his nature was still demonic underneath. His nature was to dominate and conquer all living things.

  Buddhism took this further. Mo are the obstacles to enlightenment. Mara, the demon king who tempted the Buddha? His name just means 'death' or 'destruction.' His armies weren't monsters. They were strong emotions. Doubt, fear, rage. The things inside you that stop you from being at peace with the world."

  LaughingSword: but how does that get us any closer to what the move means?

  WulinCrane66: It doesn't, but the idea that the physical becomes spiritual is something we can transfer over to how the move was supposed to be done. Perhaps, instead of fighting demons. You're fighting your emotions. Self-doubt, fear, or something else.

  HiddenDragon88: Strange. Why would Buddhism change the meaning? If there were really demons, why make it spiritual?

  WulinCrane66: I don't know. History is full of blind spots. This change is one of them.

  BitterTea: maybe the real demons got defeated and all that was left were the feelings? (′?ω?`)

  Daniel's fingers hovered over the keyboard.

  Subduing demons? But how exactly did you fight your emotions? Was it just reaching some state of mind or did he have to physically confront something inside of himself to master the move?

  Daniel's mind wandered, thinking about what Li Qinghua had said about Bodhidharma the founder of Shaolin. He had meditated for several years before becoming a master. Perhaps, fighting your inner demons, wasn't just a figure of speech.

  Or perhaps qi was different in the past than it was today. There could be other factors he wasn't accounting for.

  LaughingSword: Well, whether or not there are real physical demons or if they are all mental projections. We can't know till we try out some methods for ourselves.

  I guess sutras that the monks chant to calm their mind would be helpful here. HiddenDragon how about trying some of the common sutras and see if they help you master a method of using the move?

  HiddenDragon88: Good idea, I'll think there are a few temples near where I'm at. I can get some sources directly from the monks here.

  SilentMountain: I'll also send you some sutras, HiddenDragon. I have a bit of relation with the monastery near my house. So, I have some that you can try out to see what works.

  HiddenDragon88: Thanks.

  RisingPhoenix72: Alright, that's two out of three and now the last one. Ladder Cloud Step.

  LaughingSword: Stepping on clouds. It's mythical because out of all the skills that claim to make you as light as a feather, it's the only one that lets you perpetually go up into the sky. It's the closest thing to flight there is without flying.

  WulinCrane66: The Liezi describes sages so light they could ride the wind, but all my sources show these were all mythical figures that already possessed great supernatural abilities. It's hard to say if this was a proper technique or just clever wording that imitates legend.

  DrunkenScholar: file under "nice dream" then.

  BrokenBamboo: I guess that ends that discussion.

  BitterTea: still nice to dream though (′?? ? ??`)

  HiddenDragon88 : Better than what I had before, thank you all.

  RisingPhoenix72: Well, HiddenDragon, let us know how the other techniques progress.

  HiddenDragon88: Will do.

  Then in a private message, Daniel looked and found one sent by JadeBeauty.

  JadeBeauty85: HiddenDragon, it may not help much and I didn't want to mention it in front of the others, but when I was training Tui Shou, I was told the most important thing is the concept of understanding.

  Understanding the other person as deeply as if they were yourself. The rest of the steps reinforce that feeling. So, if you find yourself stuck this might help.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Daniel paused wondering why she wouldn't tell the others, then again everyone had their own reasons. He did a slight bow of his head, thanking her mentally. Whatever her reasons, she was doing him a favor.

  HiddenDragon88: Thank you.

  Daniel logged off and saw the rabbit still staring down from the dropped book from earlier.

  He picked it up, and turned it around, seeing the beguiling smile of it's button eyes change into something less eerie once you had it faced the right way. Perhaps, that was what a demon was? Just one side of the same coin?

  He placed it back on the shelf, and then headed out through the door. Time to see what he could find about Tui Shou and the Vajra Subduing Palm.

  Before he left the library. He looked up a few martial arts that the chat had mentioned earlier, trying to find more notable sources. Wing Chun, Aikido, and even a Filipino art called Kali. The drills looked simple enough, but it was hard to say whether they had any mystical qualities to them. At best it looked like he'd be practicing straight in the dark.

  After gathering his papers. Daniel then spent the latter half of the morning visiting all the local temples. Tin How Temple first, three flights up, dedicated to Mazu the Sea Goddess. Then Norras Temple down the block and then Kong Chow on Stockton, where Guan Yu stared down from the altar with his red face and halberd. The monks were polite but had little to say about palm techniques.

  As for sutras, he had about a dozen that the monks were more than happy to share, but only one stuck out to him. It matched one of the ones SilentMountain had sent him after their discussion.

  The Heart Sutra, also known as The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. One of the most common ones in Mahayana Buddhism. That said, he wasn't too sure on all the denominations of Buddhism, but it had come up often enough that he figured this one was probably on some level correct.

  He left and made his way to Li Qinghua's.

  The courtyard was cool in the afternoon shadow.

  Stone underfoot, swept clean but never quite free of grit. The dried herbal medicine from the shop drifted in. Dried chrysanthemum, and other earthly roots, lightly hung on strings to dry them out. A sparrow had gotten in somehow and was working the cracks between the flagstones, hunting for seeds.

  Daniel stood across from Li Qinghua, their forearms touching. Light contact. Barely any pressure. Henry sat on the stone bench with his notebook, eyeing them suspiciously.

  "So, what are you guys doing again?"

  "Push Hands," said Daniel, breathing in and out. "Or at least trying to figure out a training method for it. The chat said that you could probably figure it out by combining similar qualities from other martial arts together. There were some other notes that it happens across multiple cultures, so the idea is…"

  "Push," she said. "You need some forward pressure."

  He pushed. His weight lurched forward into empty space, and her palm tapped his shoulder from the side.

  "Again."

  He reset, pushed, same result. The sparrow got startled at his stumble, wings beating against the courtyard walls before it found the gap in the eaves and vanished.

  "The idea is that you should be able to feel it even without qi as long as you get the feeling right," mumbled Daniel. "Now, let's try musubi from Aikido."

  "Grab the wrist and then try to sense when I'm about to move it," said Li Qinghua."

  They reset. Daniel could feel her wrist move but couldn't read what it meant. She released and his grip broke, almost as if it was flicked off.

  "Again," Daniel said instead. "I'll do better."

  She stepped back and looked at Henry. "Go get lunch. There's a place on Clay Street. Red awning. Tell them I sent you."

  "How long is the walk?"

  "An hour. Maybe longer, but you should be able to make it back before it gets late. You have been running right?"

  "I should have known," mumbled Henry, "But okay, I'll be back.

  The courtyard was very quiet now.

  "Tell me what's bothering you."

  Daniel blinked. "What?"

  "You said before that emotions are what unblocks meridians. Doesn't that mean something is still holding you back?"

  "I…I'm not sure to be honest. It feels like whenever I'm close to something I can't figure it out and I get frustrated."

  "Let me ask a different question." She folded her hands in her lap and sat on her stool. Her walking stick leaned against her knee, the worn spot near the middle facing outward, pale wood. "What happens when you reach your goal."

  "You get everything you want," Li Qinghua continued, "You've become an expert. Well-versed in forms, able to leap across vast distances, with the foresight of a thousand miles. Wise beyond your years. What will you do then?"

  "Well, if I completely mastered superhuman strength and abilities. I guess I'd help people."

  "But why?"

  "Cause it's the right thing to do?"

  Li Qinghua paused. Her head tilted slightly. The light caught the lines around her eyes.

  "I think that's a strange answer. I think if you thought about it, you'd think it's a strange answer too."

  "Being a hero is strange?"

  "No. Helping people for no reason is."

  The ants had reached the base of her stool and begun to climb. She didn't seem to notice. Li Mei had said that too. That helping people was weird. Was it really that strange?

  "I think most people would help others if it was a choice given to them," Li Qinghua said. "Like a situation where someone fell over and you could help them up. But to go out of your way to help someone, to actively seek them out. The only ones who do that are what you'd call saints…or sinners."

  Daniel's heart nearly skipped out his chest.

  What?

  "A saint helps out of the goodness of their heart. All things are equal in their eyes." Her hands hadn't moved from her lap. "But a sinner helps because they feel guilty. They help because it's punishment for something they did."

  "I say this because even though you are young, you do recognize the good from the bad. You don't have an idealized version of the world that you would have if you had the goodness of Buddha in your heart." She leaned forward slightly. The stool creaked beneath her. "Which means you have something you are atoning for. Why?"

  Big brother! Remember to come back and see me…

  Daniel stopped for a moment to collect himself. His throat had gone tight. The courtyard seemed smaller suddenly. The walls closer.

  "I had a sister…"

  Get out of the fire. Daniel! Leave, don't worry about us.

  The smell of smoke. The heat pressing against his face. Hands, not his mother's, someone else's, gripping his shoulders. Pulling him backwards.

  "But more than that…my…."

  "You don't have to say anymore."

  "Some things don't need to be said. They just need to be acknowledged."

  "As long as you know it's strange, you can get over it." She stopped by the hanging dried herbs, reached out, touched a dried bundle. The leaves crinkled under her fingers. "I never told you, did I, that I used to know real martial artists?"

  "Oh?"

  "I'd say the last true martial artists were still alive during my time. They couldn't do all the things you see in the movies, they couldn't fly or run on water, and most of them couldn't even break a slab of stone with their fists, but they did have their own heart."

  Li Qinghua moved, and for a moment Daniel saw someone else.

  Her spine straightened. Her chin lifted. The shuffling gait of an old woman vanished, replaced by something from the past. Her hair must have been sleek black once, her eyes gazing far into the distance, along the cliff of a mountain.

  Just for a moment, he glimpsed the woman she'd been. Back when she was younger. The moment passed. She was old again. But the image stayed with him. Burned in like staring at a bright star.

  "The ones I knew, the real ones, they weren't saints. They drank. They made mistakes. They hurt people they loved."

  She tapped her walking stick once against the stone. The sound was sharp in the quiet courtyard.

  "They helped people anyway. Just because they were there and someone needed help." She turned to face him. Her eyes caught the afternoon light. "That's all a hero is. Someone who was there and ran towards the light instead of away from it."

  She placed her hands back on her walking stick and got up.

  "Now, let's get back to work"

  A few hours later after training, the door to the shop opened behind them, and Li Qinghua stepped out. She'd changed into a different shirt, dark blue, cotton, the kind of thing you could move in. Her hair was pinned up more carefully now.

  "Same time tomorrow," she said. "Bring pork buns."

  "That was my idea," said Henry.

  "Good ideas should be repeated."

  She started to turn away, then stopped. Her expression shifted. Something passing across her face that Daniel couldn't read.

  "Be careful," she said. "Both of you. Something's has changed recently in the neighborhood. There are people moving around that I haven't noticed before."

  "What do you mean?"

  But she just shook her head and closed the gate. The brass bell chimed. The lock clicked. And she was gone.

  They walked through Chinatown as the lights came on. Red lanterns glowing. Neon flickering. A shop owner was pulling in racks of postcards and plastic Buddhas, metal scraping against the sidewalk.

  "What was that about?" Henry asked. "Something's moving?"

  Daniel didn't answer.

  The man you killed was probably a bit famous. Others will want to know how he died and who killed him.

  The world wasn't waiting for him to sort himself out. It was already moving. Already on him. While he practiced, somewhere in this city, people were asking questions. Looking for answers. Maybe, looking for him.

  He walked faster.

  It was time for Hidden Dragon to come back.