Agriculture Is the Foundation of All Under Heaven
“Martial arts?”
Yoo Eunhyeon repeated the question in surprise, caught completely off guard. The moment he collected himself, he hurriedly added more before Sa Unsik could even answer.
“Even if I said I was interested, out here in a place this remote there aren’t any martial arts or sects worth taking an interest in.”
“Have you never thought about wanting to learn?”
At Sa Unsik’s question, Yoo Eunhyeon shook his head as if there was nothing even to consider. Claiming he had no interest at all would have been a lie, but he had never once thought about wanting to learn it.
“Not even once. I mean, can someone like me—a farmer—even learn martial arts in the first place?”
“Anyone who’s human can learn it. The only difference is how long it takes. But you, young brother, seem to have quite a good feel for it. You look promising.”
“R-really? What would I need to do to learn?”
Since it was still uncertain whether he could learn or not, Yoo Eunhyeon showed some interest.
Sa Unsik, who had nearly finished his meal, set down his chopsticks and raised a single finger.
“Not only for martial arts—this is true of all learning—but the very first step is to begin.”
“Yes… well. Nothing comes of anything if you never start.”
Yoo Eunhyeon offered the remark without much thought. Yet Sa Unsik began to stare at him fixedly for having cut in.
“The beginning is first sensing the energy of nature. Martial arts is the handling of nature’s energy. If you cannot feel that energy of nature, it is of no use whatsoever.”
Having said that, Sa Unsik fell silent for a moment and simply looked at Yoo Eunhyeon, as if asking whether he could sense that energy of nature himself.
Yoo Eunhyeon found himself unable to give any answer at all.
What he felt was largely the flow of energy that ran through the mountains and between them. He had never clearly recognized it as the energy of nature or felt anything distinct enough to name it so.
Because of that, he could not be certain whether the natural energy Sa Unsik spoke of for learning martial arts was the same as what he himself felt, or something entirely different.
Yet from Yoo Eunhyeon’s silence—neither affirming nor denying—Sa Unsik seemed to have found an answer of his own. He raised one finger again as he continued.
“Once you sense the energy of nature and convert it into internal energy, gathering it within yourself, only then are you ready to learn martial arts. Still… to be honest, that is far too early a stage to be called a martial artist.”
At Sa Unsik’s words, a memory of days past rose unbidden, and Yoo Eunhyeon murmured without thinking.
“It’s the same as when you first start farming…”
Sa Unsik did not miss the murmur and asked back at once.
“Young brother, when did you begin farming?”
“When I was five, I think… something like that.”
“Oh-ho. Early education, then.”
“I don’t really remember that time clearly. It’s more like the habits I vaguely formed back then are still left in my body.”
“Heh heh. The beginning of learning is always like that. The head may hold the memory, but in the end you have to work the body to the bone if you want to truly master anything.”
“Ah… I think I understand what you mean.”
For a moment his grandfather’s words seemed to rise in his mind: farming, too, is something done with the body. As Yoo Eunhyeon nodded, Sa Unsik raised a second finger.
“The next stage of martial training is to faithfully follow the path the predecessors have already cultivated. In truth, this is the hardest road of all. Most people remain here for a very long time—or for their entire lives.”
It was exactly as Sa Unsik said. The paths laid down by those who came before were, of course, the concentrated wisdom of the great ones who had gone ahead.
And those “predecessors” were the founders of martial arts, the true geniuses. It was only natural that ordinary people would find it hard to imitate them.
“Still, isn’t it better than starting from nothing? Farming is the same, actually. You begin by simply copying what was done before.”
Sa Unsik’s interest seemed to quicken at Yoo Eunhyeon’s words, and he asked back.
“Hmm. Does farming have secret manuals as well?”
“Nothing so grand… but if you look at the farming records my father and grandfather left behind, you can tell. When they sowed, when they harvested—things like that. You start by looking at those and doing exactly the same.”
“Indeed. Farming is no different from martial arts, then. You’re right. The predecessors have already lit the way, so even simply following it allows you to advance. Once you find the direction you must go and diligently pursue it, that is when you can go around calling yourself a martial artist.”
“Direction…”
Yoo Eunhyeon murmured, sinking into thought as he listened. In that interval Sa Unsik’s third finger rose.
“In that manner you finally reach the end of the path, fully understand the predecessors’ teachings, and can carry them out exactly as they are. Only then can you be called a master.”
“So becoming a master really is difficult, then.”
Knowing full well how hard the road to that point was, Yoo Eunhyeon furrowed his brow.
“As you say, those who reach even that far are never many. If the martial world is the sand on a seashore, the masters among them are barely a handful.”
“But that isn’t the end, is it?”
Yoo Eunhyeon asked without thinking. Sa Unsik let out a short sigh and posed a meaningful question in return.
“Why do you think that?”
“If simply following was the end, there would never have been any progress. Isn’t it the knowledge and skill of the pioneers who broke past that wall, piling up little by little, that have brought us to where we are now? And farming has been around for an unimaginably long time.”
Looking at the sheer span of time humanity had practiced agriculture, Yoo Eunhyeon’s words were no exaggeration at all.
As he said, humanity had farmed since ages so distant they were hard to fathom, and the knowledge accumulated over that time was immense.
“Then what of you, young brother? In farming, have you broken past that wall?”
“M-me? Well…”
At Sa Unsik’s sudden question Yoo Eunhyeon scratched his head, then shook it.
“No. Not to that extent… I’m just putting into practice what I was taught.”
The words were both sincere and a lie.
Every method Yoo Eunhyeon currently used for farming had, of course, been learned from Yoo Pyo-gyeong and Yoo Dong-gi.
Yet after the two of them passed away, it was Yoo Eunhyeon who judged and acted on everything.
There were times he sought advice from Su Hwa-seon, but when it came to reading the flow of natural energy—the most important part of farming—Yoo Eunhyeon was the superior, so such occasions were rare.
“I may know nothing of farming, but that does not mean I lack common sense. There is no field under heaven made in this fashion. In that case, can we not say you have already leapt past that limit?”
“Mm… I’ve never seen other people farm, so I just assumed this was ordinary… Doesn’t everyone do at least this much?”
“Hahaha! So you weren’t a frog in a well—you were a dragon in a well!”
At Sa Unsik’s ambiguous remark—praise or not, it was hard to tell—Yoo Eunhyeon gave a rather awkward smile of his own.
If Sa Unsik was right, then the way Yoo Eunhyeon farmed was indeed rather unusual.
“Don’t be so modest. Even if one can faithfully follow everything the predecessors achieved, martial arts may be the same, but the person learning it is different. You must look back on what you have learned and reshape it into something that suits you.”
“Yes. Farming is the same. No matter how carefully you follow the records, the soil differs by location and the climate differs. Even in the exact same place the conditions change every year… In the end you have to be able to adapt it to the situation.”
When Yoo Eunhyeon nodded in agreement, Sa Unsik continued as if he had expected exactly that answer.
“Then you understand even better. That is an enormous wall. You must overturn everything you have spent a lifetime learning and remake it into something that fits you… It is not something that can be achieved simply by studying or practicing.”
“Mm… It’s true that just learning and practicing alone seems to have its limits.”
Thinking of Su Hwa-seon, Yoo Eunhyeon nodded as if agreeing with Sa Unsik. In truth, both he and Su Hwa-seon had learned and practiced the same things.
In a way, Su Hwa-seon—who had lived here even before Yoo Eunhyeon was born—had probably learned more than he had, if one looked only at knowledge.
But what of the results? In the end, the only one who could fully utilize and put into practice everything that had been learned was Yoo Eunhyeon.
“In the end effort is necessary, but something else is needed as well, and that something is different for every person. When something is out of joint, it snaps into place in a single instant. What is needed is a moment of sudden enlightenment.”
“Mm… Enlightenment…”
“In the martial world, the realm of those who have leapt past that wall is called the Yeonhwagyeong—the Naturalization Realm. If the masters who have merely reached the wall are a handful of sand, those who have broken through and attained the Naturalization Realm number no more than a fingernail’s worth among them.”
“That few?”
Yoo Eunhyeon asked in surprise, and Sa Unsik answered with a meaningful look.
“Don’t you think so as well, young brother?”
Yoo Eunhyeon understood perfectly well that Sa Unsik was not asking about martial realms, but about farming.
“Well… I’ve already gone past simply doing things the way I was taught. I can look at the situation, feel what’s needed, and adjust accordingly.”
“Since when has that been the case?”
At Sa Unsik’s question Yoo Eunhyeon sank into thought, trying to dredge up the memory, only to furrow his brow as if he had failed.
“I can’t really remember. It just… suddenly started being that way at some point.”
“That is precisely enlightenment. Sometimes enlightenment comes upon a person without them even realizing it.”
“I-is that so?”
Yoo Eunhyeon asked again and tried to think once more, but what truly would not come to mind simply would not come.
He could not even remember when it had begun; trying to force the memory to surface was never going to work.
Instead, after hearing Sa Unsik’s words up to this point, another thought suddenly rose in his mind.
Hmm… After you break past the wall, is there nothing beyond that?
Yet what that might be was something even Yoo Eunhyeon found hard to shape into a clear form.
He only had a vague sense that such a thing must exist.
“Even if you try to recall it all of a sudden, it will not come easily. Enlightenment has always been a rather vague, cloud-chasing sort of thing.”
As if reading Yoo Eunhyeon’s thoughts, Sa Unsik offered the answer for him. Giving up on the thought that would no longer surface, Yoo Eunhyeon scratched his head.
“I’m starting to wonder if I’ve just been spouting nonsense this whole time.”
“Not at all. Talking with you has only strengthened my conviction. At least when it comes to farming, young brother, you stand at the same realm as I do.”
“Ah, no. It’s only farming, after all.”
“In other matters I could not say, but farming seems to share many points with martial arts. Is it not possible, then, that there is something I can learn from you?”
“If there’s anything you’re curious about, just ask.”
Yoo Eunhyeon nodded, thinking that might well be the case. Since Sa Unsik said so, he had little choice but to accept it.
“For today, let us leave it there. As I said a moment ago, enlightenment is a cloud-chasing thing; it does not come simply because one is conscious of it. Young brother, simply continue as you always have, naturally.”
With those words Sa Unsik tidied the place and rose. Then he turned his steps to return to his lodgings.
Yet his eyes, unlike when he had been speaking with Yoo Eunhyeon only moments before, were shining—so brightly they seemed ready to overwhelm even the moonlight itself.
“Agriculture is the great foundation of all under heaven… Indeed, there is truth in that. Hahaha!”
Beneath the full moon Sa Unsik burst into roaring laughter, yet the sound merely circled around him and did not spread outward at all.