(Two years' time couldn't purify your evil thoughts, huh?)
Amamiya Rin sighed deeply.
(Evil? So what! I like it! I'm only happy when I see others unhappy! Just you wait, I'm not only going to ruin this marriage, I'm going to make that man named Toshiyuki strangle that ugly woman with his own hands, and then kneel and beg me to be his girlfriend!)
Kawakami Tomie sneered, emitting an unusually vicious curse within the [Tomie Network].
(Understood. For people like you, there's no need for kind words. To guide you towards goodness, I can only use mandatory measures.)
Amamiya Rin's disappointment and resolve spread along the nerves of the [Tomie Network]. Feeling Rin's will, Kawakami Tomie's heartbeat skipped a beat involuntarily.
Kawakami Tomie bit her lower lip lightly, a trace of chill passing through her heart. Instinctive fear gave rise to the thought of temporarily avoiding his sharp edge.
(Oh, fighting?)
(This guy is too arrogant, right? Daring to boss us around!)
(Exactly, a cripple who can't even walk properly dares to speak so shamelessly.)
(We've rolled through blades and guns, let's not lose face.)
(Right, look sharp!)
...
However, just as Kawakami Tomie considered retreating, the voices of the other Tomies rang out.
A crowd of Tomies, with the mentality of spectators who don't mind if the trouble gets bigger, fanned the flames within the [Tomie Network].
Tomie's snickering and discussions ignited Kawakami Tomie's anger. There were three things she found most unbearable.
First, men ignoring her charm.
Second, the appearance of fakes.
Third, being looked down upon by fakes.
These three things were all blows to her self-esteem.
(Amamiya Rin! Idiot! Idiot! You damn cripple who struggles even to walk! What gives you the right to show off your power to me? Want me to listen to you? Fine! Kneel down and beg me! Lick my toes, and I might consider it!)
Kawakami Tomie clamored loudly in the [Tomie Network].
(Alright! Well said!)
(Good job!)
(Beautiful! Didn't shame the name Kawakami Tomie!)
The schadenfreude-filled agreement of the Tomies buzzed along like a swarm of noisy flies.
Faced with the boiling malice in the network, Amamiya Rin's response was simple and direct.
(All conditioned phenomena are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow, like dew or like a flash of lightning; thus should one view them.)
Amamiya Rin's hands naturally overlapped in front of his knees, forming the Dhyana Mudra, and he silently recited a passage from the [Diamond Sutra].
A short verse of scripture, like a drop of cold water falling into boiling oil, exploded within the noisy consciousness network of the Tomies.
They had heard this scripture to the point of nausea during the two-year [Long Dream]. They almost subconsciously recalled the meaning of the verse, reflexively feeling an instinctive irritation.
(So annoying! Chanting again!)
(Shut up! Who wants to hear this!)
The [Tomie Network] was instantly filled with the Tomies' shrill resistance and curses, attempting to use noise to drown out the chanting that made them so restless.
At the same time, Amamiya Rin had already entered a deeper level of [Dhyana].
Inhale—Exhale—
His breathing was extremely long and continuous. Every inhalation seemed to take in the purity of heaven and earth, and every exhalation seemed to expel the turbidity within his body.
Gradually, his breathing harmonized with the chirping of birds outside the window and resonated with the undulations of the distant mountain forest.
In just a few breaths, the external noise and internal disturbances quietly vanished, and the lake of Amamiya Rin's heart gradually became clear.
With thoughts turned inward and no waves rising, it was like an ancient well or a deep pool—reflecting all things yet remaining unmoved.
Mind and breath ceased together; he entered the Gate of Stopping of [Dhyana].
Inside the tea room, Kawakami Tomie's breath suddenly hitched.
She unconsciously took a deep breath. This breath was drawn so deep and long that it completely violated her normal breathing habits.
Immediately after, her exhalation became unusually slow, as if her body was self-regulating to a frequency unfamiliar to her.
It was not just her. The other Tomies scattered throughout the city—whether shopping, enjoying men's flattery, or plotting how to trouble Amamiya Rin—all experienced the change at the same moment.
They involuntarily slowed their movements and stopped their words.
The noisy inner world was forcibly pressed with a mute button.
Breathing changed, heartbeats changed. A kind of disgusting tranquility quietly rose from their hearts along with these changes.
The restlessness and malice that always existed in their brains also became blurred and distant.
A near-inert calm temporarily shrouded the [Tomie Network], which was usually filled with constant clamor.
Regulating the mind through the Gate of Stopping, settling the thoughts. Amamiya Rin naturally transitioned from the Gate of Stopping to the Gate of Contemplation.
He observed the slight coolness in the nasal cavity upon inhaling the air, and the slight warmth brought upon exhaling.
He observed this breath naturally arising, staying, changing, and vanishing. Like waves rushing in and receding, no two moments were the same, and no substantial entity could be grasped.
He clearly observed the atrophy of his muscles, perceived the weakness of those tissues, and the subtle resistance as blood flowed through.
He observed this body as nothing more than a temporary aggregation of the four elements—Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind—not constant or unchanging. Ultimately fragile and perishable, it followed the law of Formation, Existence, Destruction, and Emptiness.
He observed the breathing of the Tomies—breaths that were rapid, languid, or carrying emotional fluctuations.
He made no distinctions, judged no good or bad, but simply truthfully illuminated the impermanent process of their arising, staying, changing, and dissipating.
He clearly illuminated these bodies they regarded as treasures, seeing the Nine Stages of Decay from birth to death: skin ulcerating, pus and blood flowing out, internal organs rotting and breeding worms, and finally the flesh being devoured by swarms of maggots until only white bones remained, and the white bones turned to ash.
He observed their physical sensations—the tactile feelings of different Tomies sitting, standing, or walking—as well as that deep greed rooted in the depths of every body for these beautiful skins.
He observed their thoughts. Those emotions of arrogance, hatred, calculation, and boredom were like foam on the water's surface, constantly arising and bursting.
He gave rise to no annoyance, nor did he generate rejection. He simply watched the arising and passing of these thoughts calmly, discerning their illusory and restless nature.
This state of mind, observing the impermanence and impurity of breath, body, and thought, mapped onto the depths of every Tomie's consciousness along the veins of the [Tomie Network].
For the Tomies, it was an incomprehensible sobriety, a perspective they had never held before.
Kawakami Tomie watched how her vicious thoughts burst like floating foam. She looked at the blood, muscles, joints, body fluids, fat, stomach, intestines within her shell... things temporarily combined of flesh and bone. If one analyzed the interior, how much difference was there from ordinary men and women?
Tomie wanted to scream, wanted to struggle, wanted to use more intense emotions to cover up this uncomfortable truth. But she found that even this impulse to resist and the feeling of anger revealed their nature of illusory arising and ceasing under that omnipresent observation, and subsequently dissipated.
In this moment, every Tomie was forced to synchronize with Amamiya Rin's body and spirit, experiencing the reality of peeling away layers of self-attachment to reveal impermanence and emptiness.
Kawakami Tomie looked at her fair, slender fingers. For the first time, she felt a sense of strangeness, yet it was also incomparably familiar. Because within the realm of observation, they could not escape facing their own physical and mental states directly, facing the [Five Aggregates] that constituted their existence and flowed impermanently.
____
New Story: Junji Ito: I Shall Smash Hellstar Remina
✅ Read up to 40 chapters in advance (all stories)!
✅ Access exclusive posts and updates first!
Let's achieve our community goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 extra chapter for everybody
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 additional chapters on ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnutchan