The old man, the fox, and the eternal question.

That afternoon, the meditation hall of Zen Master Baizhang gradually emptied after the assembly had dispersed. The last rays of sunlight slanted through the door cracks, illuminating the cold brick floor. Master Baizhang sat still upon his seat, his eyes half-closed, yet something in his heart still kept him from leaving the teaching platform.

Suddenly, he noticed an old man still seated in the far corner. The man’s back was bent, his hair completely white, yet his eyes shone with an unusual brightness. Throughout the lecture, the Master had observed this old man’s frequent appearances, but today, he had not left with the others.

“Who are you?” Master Baizhang asked, his voice deep yet warm.

The old man slowly stood up, pressed his palms together, and bowed very low. His voice trembled, as if suppressed for a hundred years:

“Venerable Master, I am not human. I am a fox from behind the mountain, and I have lived for five hundred lifetimes.”

Master Baizhang’s expression did not change. He merely nodded slightly, as if he already knew.

“Five hundred lifetimes ago, in the time of Buddha Kasyapa, I was also a monk practicing within these monastic walls. One day, another monk came to ask me: ‘For a practitioner who has achieved enlightenment, is he still subject to the laws of cause and effect (karmic law)?’”

The old man’s voice choked, his gaze seeming to stare into a distant abyss:

“I answered: ‘One who has achieved enlightenment is no longer subject to the laws of cause and effect (karmic law).’”

“Just because of that single sentence, I have been condemned to a fox’s body for five hundred lifetimes. To this very day, I still do not understand where my error lay. I humbly beg the Venerable Master’s compassion to instruct me, so that I may understand correctly, and so that I may escape this fox existence.”

Master Baizhang gazed at the old man for a long time. Within the meditation hall, the silence was so profound that one could clearly hear the wind whistling through the door cracks. He spoke slowly:

“Ask me that question again.”

The old man looked up, his eyes filled with hope and anxiety. He drew a deep breath and then posed the question:

“Venerable Master, for a practitioner who has achieved enlightenment, is he still subject to the laws of cause and effect (karmic law)?”

Master Baizhang smiled kindly, his eyes bright as stars:

“Not obscured by it.”

Only those two words, yet they struck like a thunderclap on a clear day. The old man froze, his eyes wide open, and then slowly, tears rolled down his wrinkled face. He knelt down, bowed deeply three times, and spoke through choked sobs:

“I understand now. I understand now! For five hundred lifetimes, I was wrong because I thought that achieving enlightenment meant escaping cause and effect (karmic law). But in truth, achieving enlightenment is to see cause and effect (karmic law) clearly, to be no longer deluded, to cease creating new karma, not to deny or transcend the laws of cause and effect (karmic law). I had taught others a wrong view, and I have paid the price for five hundred lives.”

Having said this, the old man slowly vanished. But before dissolving into emptiness, he turned to look at Master Baizhang once more, his eyes brimming with gratitude. From that day on, no one ever saw the strange old man appear in the meditation hall again.