Shen Heting’s Search for an Inkstone: A Story of the First Line of the Qian Hexagram

During the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, Shen Heting, a collector in Jinling, was obsessed with epigraphy. Upon learning that Huikong, a reclusive monk in Qixia Mountain, possessed the "Hidden Dragon Inkstone" bestowed by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, he took a large sum of gold and silver into the mountain to purchase it.

Huikong, over seventy years old, sat with eyes closed chanting scriptures, turning a blind eye to the gold and silk. He merely said calmly, "The inkstone is in the temple, but the karmic condition has not arrived; you cannot obtain it." Shen Heting thought the monk was hoarding the treasure to drive up its price, so he rented a house near the temple and visited the monk every day to pester him. He even secretly sent servants to sneak into the meditation room at night, but all efforts yielded nothing. Instead, he provoked Huikong to close his door and refuse to see him.

One day, Huikong suddenly summoned Shen to the side of a deep pool in the back mountain, pointed at the pool water and said, "Donor, your search for the inkstone is like a blind man feeling an elephant. This pool is called Hidden Abyss, and the inkstone is also named Hidden Dragon. Your mind is restless and impetuous, and you forcefully seek from outside. How can you understand the principle of things?" Shen Heting did not understand and returned home resentful.

That night, the autumn rain fell continuously, and Shen Heting tossed and turned, unable to sleep. The next morning, he went to the pool again. He saw the pool water was dark green, unfathomably deep. Occasionally, fallen leaves swirled on the surface, but there was not the slightest ripple. Suddenly, he noticed a huge dark shadow hidden at the bottom of the pool, lying motionless, as if merged with the deep water. Shen Heting gazed at it for a long time, and the restlessness in his heart gradually faded. He suddenly recalled the first line of the *Qian* hexagram in the *Book of Changes*: "The hidden dragon is not to be used." A dragon hiding in the deep abyss is not incapable of acting; it is that the time has not yet come, and one should endure and accumulate strength, not acting rashly. When he searched for the object, he was full of greed and anger, only wanting to take it for himself to show off to his neighbors—this was "presumptuous use." Since ancient artifacts have their own spirit, how could they appear before a greedy man?

Shen Heting suddenly understood. He bowed deeply to the ground, and from then on never mentioned the inkstone again. He put away the gold and silk, dismissed his servants, and every day only sat by the pool brewing tea, watching the clouds drift and gather, listening to the soughing of pines and the singing of birds. His state of mind gradually became like the water of the Hidden Abyss: clear and wave-free, no longer clinging to the desire to obtain the object.

Winter passed and spring came. One day, a mountain flood suddenly broke out, and the Hidden Abyss overflowed. When the water receded, an ancient inkstone was prominently revealed in the mud by the pool. On the back of the inkstone was carved a black dragon, coiled in the deep abyss, with its scales faintly visible—it was exactly the "Hidden Dragon Inkstone."

Huikong walked over slowly, picked up the ancient inkstone, brushed off the mud and sand, handed it to Shen Heting, and said with a smile, "The dragon hides in the abyss, not using its sharpness. Acting when the time comes, its true form is revealed. Donor, today you are worthy of this inkstone."

Shen Heting held the inkstone with both hands. It felt warm and smooth to the touch, but he felt no ecstasy at obtaining the object. He looked toward the deep pool, and saw that the water was still, with only the clear breeze blowing through the pine forest, making a rustling sound, as if sighing that the profound mystery of heaven and earth lies inherently in silence.