GRA1
· Master Marinaqua, Not Laid to Rest: Silence of His Sect ·
Marinaqua's Practice
This story, slowly unfolds in a society from over 300 years ago. It was a time of turbulent change and upheaval. As society shifted, religions also emerged one after another in an endless stream.
The story centers on the Marinaqua Scripture Hall, a newly emerging scripture hall at the time. The doctrine of its lectures was slightly contrary to mainstream religions and underwent a baptism of controversy and challenge at its inception.
The founder of this sect was a monk known as Marinaqua. He was born into a maritime family that was neither wealthy nor impoverished. "Marinaqua" was not his birth name; rather, it was a religious pseudonym he chose for himself after reading the religious classics of the Hua Sect, combining them with his own experiences and thoughts. From a young age, he showed a strong interest in various religious cultures and read through many religious classics. By chance, he discovered a representative scripture of the Hua Sect—the Hallmod Scripture, belonging to the Green Revelation doctrinal series (abbreviated as "the GR Series", a collective term for the doctrinal scriptures of the "Hua Sect" religious system. The naming of the Hallmod Scripture is an ancient event. Thousands of years ago, when the Pre-Diphic language was popular, the word "Mo" referred to magic. The word "mod" emerged and came to refer to magic).
For him, this doctrine was unlike other religious classics; its worldview system and philosophy were incredibly novel and revelatory to him at the time. Unlike other scriptures, although the Hallmod Scripture was a religious book, it largely aimed to delve into philosophical concepts.
Marinaqua interpreted it this way: "The wisdom of the Hallmod Scripture originates from the most primitive Hua Sect, the 'Proto-Hua Sect'. As a religious system that had existed for thousands of years, during the 'Regeneration Era' when it was prophesied that the world would restart, various branches of the Ancient Hua Sect jointly compiled this comprehensive scripture, which became the origin of the Motang Sutra. This scripture, in the end, traces the source of 'Mo' (Magic)—the most primitive and pure mysterious power contained in all things. The wild power acting upon the Primordial World is the 'Claw of Mo'... as well as the respective functions of the six types of holy water—namely, the 'Six Altars Water Method'. In short, it uses water to explain the fundamental philosophy of Mo—the three virtues: 'Gentleness, Change, and Constancy'."
Because of this, the Hua Sect system became the religious system he recognized most, and the Motang Sutra became the supreme religious classic in his heart.
During his journey of following the scriptural revelations, Marinaqua’s academic experience was filled with bumps in this unpredictable society. The year Regeneration 1619 was when Marinaqua prepared to enter the "High Academy," a degree level that was once considered difficult to attain on the continent. However, a revolution that swept across the entire continent exploded with a crash—the "Civic Enlightenment Revolution."
In the revolution, this continent named "Diphetos," originally divided among six confronting regimes, underwent a fierce game of power. Eventually, the old systems were abolished, and a brand-new order was built upon their ruins, unifying the scattered nations into a massive city—Diphetos Metropolis. The year of the city's unification, Regeneration 1619, became the start of a new calendar—Year 0 of the Civic Enlightenment.
Because the torrent of the times was so rapid, the academic landscape was completely reshaped. The low efficiency of the former academic system clearly could not meet the demand for talent in the future following the "Civic Enlightenment Revolution." Old institutions were either forced to transform or gradually died out. Meanwhile, the concept of the "Independent Academy" began to rise on the continent, viewed as the beacon of wisdom for the future metropolis.
Fortunately, Marinaqua was very diligent in his studies and became an outstanding scholar. After weighing his options, he applied to the first institution in the metropolis centered on academic autonomy—Dewei College—and was successfully admitted.
Dewei College was located in the southern region of the new "Diphetos Metropolis," thousands of miles away from Marinaqua’s hometown in the "Jiaya Mountains" at the easternmost end of the metropolis. This journey of thousands of miles became the first practice of Marinaqua’s life. Over the next month, carrying a book chest filled with academic texts and the complete volume of the Motang Sutra, Marinaqua crossed ranges of mountains and passed through dozens of living districts that served as transit stations, finally stepping into the academic heart of this metropolis—the Dewei Independent Academy District.
Marinaqua was shocked by the torrent of the new era—the Hua Towers of the Dewei Academy District pierced the clouds, newly invented steam locomotives darted through the streets, and concrete skyscrapers stood in rows like scales. Marinaqua felt a sudden openness, as if he had arrived in a new world.
Over time, however, while absorbing new knowledge, Marinaqua felt lost and anxious. The exaggerated speed of the city’s transformation was hard for Marinaqua and the masses of the urban society to accept. Any sudden political or technological change felt like a giant palm striking down on the urban society, stirring panic in people's hearts. Marinaqua, as a student, initially harbored a desire to conform to the new era, but he worried anxiously about his major and career direction, almost unable to decide... Amidst the revolution and beneath the prosperity, the individual was only conscious of their own insignificance and incompetence within the great metropolis, terrified of being rejected by the times and ultimately becoming the price of so-called "human progress."
To cope with negative emotions and cleanse himself, hoping to remain untainted by external negativity, Marinaqua tried to use the wisdom of the Motang Sutra to soothe himself and to examine this society full of change. His shock at the city was washed by time into profound contemplation—
"The rapidness of the urban transformation does not create confusion; confusion stems from forgetting the 'Dao' (Way) of why one came..."
Eight years later, in the 8th Year of Civic Enlightenment...
The eight years of academic life passed in a flash. Marinaqua obtained his Final Master's Degree in Management, completing his studies at the age of twenty-four, becoming a young intellectual. Seeking opportunities for his own development, he stumbled his way into a port management company, spending his days at the harbor accompanied by waves and ship horns.
For several years, he devoted himself almost entirely to the port, rarely leaving the area. In moments of leisure amidst his busy schedule, he did not forget to make notes and annotations in the Motang Sutra he carried, attempting to gain new revelations from it. This job allowed him to meet many people from different backgrounds—he met captains running across the world, merchants skilled in making money, immigrants longing to integrate into the core of the new era, and ordinary sailors forced to work for a livelihood...
He saw that in the feverish pursuit of ultimate wealth, people became selfish, and relationships with kin became indifferent; he saw more and more high-rises and high-tech facilities appearing in the city, yet as workers' hours grew longer, their welfare was inversely proportional; he saw the elite class talking eloquently about "revolution," "progress," and "future," while often revealing a look of emptiness and anxiety; he also saw monks who were once full of faith and persistent in their practice lose themselves in the era, unable to suppress the noise in their hearts, stepping onto the path of seeking fame and profit, forgetting the original intention of their cultivation.
Marinaqua said, "The Motang Sutra states: 'If the practice of the Law collapses, the human heart loses order!' The city at that time enjoyed the peak of material abundance but could not satisfy the emptiness above, causing an imbalance of the Dao! Just like a sturdy ship that knows not its course..."
Marinaqua realized that the noise of the urban transformation contained questions about where the era was heading. Harboring a sense of his own mission in his heart, he believed deep down that he had determined his direction...
After more than twenty years of grueling work, around the 30th Year of Civic Enlightenment, Marinaqua finally saved up a certain amount of capital at the port through frugality. He resigned from his job, moved to the edge of the city, and decided to return to society.
Decades of time were as rough as the sea breeze, eroding Marinaqua’s body and making him much thinner. Having worked at the port for years, his hands—once agile and good at turning pages and holding pens—were now calloused and cracked from abrasion by cables; the spine of the young man who once stood straight in lecture halls, on podiums, and at interview tables was now increasingly hunched from years of unloading cargo. As for his Final Master's Degree in Management from the academy? In fact, it was rarely put to use—except for leaving a trace of ink on the employment form. The operational suggestions designed for the port by "Scholar" Marinaqua, who had furthered his studies in management, were somehow sealed away at the bottom of a yellowing file bag along with that yellowing degree certificate, unasked for by anyone. His ideas were pale and powerless, ultimately failing to stir even a ripple for this massive port; what remained was only pure hard labor and sweat...
Goodbye, port! Now, all this pain is over.
Returning to society, Marinaqua first hoped to find a place where he could study and comprehend philosophy. Thus, his first act was to visit the various Hua Sect temples in the city. At that time, most Hua Sect temples belonged to a massive mainstream branch of the Hua Sect—the Caotong Sect.
Speaking of the Caotong Sect, this faction was like a surging tide in the long history of the Hua Sect. Its founding traces back to the end of the thirteenth century of the Regeneration Era. In that period, the thought of the Ancient Hua Sect was already prevalent in the religious world. However, even the Hua factions considered new at the time had research thoughts largely identical to the Ancient Hua Sect. On this vast land rich in faith, the Caotong Sect was like a new sprout breaking through the soil, born quietly. Its founder fused ancient wisdom with modern views of the era, creating a masterpiece that adhered to the times and shone with the light of the age in the history of the Hua Sect—the "Combined World Revelation," which was born as the core doctrine of the Caotong Sect. It inherited the essence of the Ancient Hua Sect while integrating the sparks of thought from the new era.
Marinaqua was attracted by this tide that had once led religion. Therefore, after deliberation, he chose to become a monk converted to the Caotong Sect. within a very short time, he read through almost all the doctrinal works of the Combined World Revelation in detail, his inner self resonating with the influence of the Caotong Sect trend—the more he studied it, the more he could feel its charm.
However, over time, Marinaqua always felt something was missing in his heart...
Marinaqua believed that although the Caotong Sect was inclusive, it failed to carry forward the fundamental philosophy of "Gentleness, Change, and Constancy" contained in the "Six Altars Water Method" of the Hua Sect's Green Revelation scripture, the Motang Sutra. It placed too much emphasis on the changes and evolution of the times, neglecting the gentle side of all things.
Marinaqua said: "The core philosophy of the Motang Sutra, in the end, is—Gentleness, Change, and Constancy. This coincides perfectly with the imagery of 'Water'."
"The imagery of water fascinates me, yet the people of the world seem not to have glimpsed the philosophy of water... Water, like a clear breeze brushing over a wasteland, washes away dust and filth, reviving spirituality... In the baptism of water, I am reborn, transforming into spring returning to the earth, like the melting of ice and snow in March, finally returning to water, like the cycle of life repeating, never exhausted..."
Whether practicing in the temples of the Caotong Sect or working at the port in the past, Marinaqua often saw the great rivers rushing below the mountains. This sound had lingered in his mind for years. He heard the low chant of waves slapping the shore, feeling the fluctuations of nature and his own rhythm at every moment. He heard the whispers of nature, and this sound became more and more shocking in his heart as his cultivation deepened... Marinaqua knew that what he was feeling was the most primitive and pure rhythm of life... It was the root that nourishes all things, transforming everything with rolling waves of gentle water.
Marinaqua's path of cultivation was laden with the marks of ups and downs and nirvana... For decades, Marinaqua walked between the mountains and the great rivers. He often stood alone by the riverbank at the first light of dawn, gazing at the ceaselessly rushing water, realizing the mystery of water's philosophy from it—both soft and resilient, encompassing all phenomena yet hiding profound mysteries.
Years passed, and the world changed. In decades of life and cultivation, Marinaqua experienced countless tests of body and soul. Once, on a night that seemed like spring but was suddenly struck by a violent storm, Marinaqua faced the spring tempest alone, realizing the power of life and death changes between heaven and earth; in moments of silence, Marinaqua stood by the water of secluded valleys, listening closely to the low chanting, experiencing the purity of water washing the dust from the heart and reshaping the soul.
In the decades-long struggle against a harsh fate, on a certain day in the 34th Year of Civic Enlightenment, fate quietly opened a brand-new chapter for Marinaqua...
That day, the weather changed drastically. Amidst swirling clouds and mist, Marinaqua was meditating and contemplating alone in a secluded cultivation ground. Just as Marinaqua was fully focused on the exploration of his own soul, suddenly, a strange and powerful force surged toward the direction of his cultivation, as if coming from the depths of the universe.
Marinaqua felt uneasy inside. In an instant, stars danced before his eyes, and his mind frantically flashed back to the past—he had worked at the port for twenty-two years and had practiced cultivation for another five. Marinaqua’s cultivation had entered a bottleneck phase. Past experiences flew at him like sparks, leaving scorching marks on his body and spirit, the stinging pain hitting his nerves directly. "I am not reconciled; I am not reconciled to stop here!"
His body, on the verge of collapse, produced a violent rejection reaction. An inexplicable despair irrationally devoured this body that had delved into legal principles and philosophy for years, pushing him near the edge of breakdown.
Finally, he was instantly knocked to the ground by this force, falling into a deep coma.
In his coma, Marinaqua entered a long and mysterious illusion. He seemed to have entered an otherworld beyond the mortal realm—in the boundless waters, lights flowed and colors burst, waves rose and fell, and time and space seemed to freeze. Above his head, a hexagram formed by two inverted triangles overlapping each other rotated ceaselessly, seeming to foreshadow that Marinaqua’s destiny was about to undergo a great change... In the hazy phantoms, a green light gradually emerged before Marinaqua’s eyes, and a human figure slowly revealed itself within the light. That was the Creator God in the Hua Sect faith, also known as the Sole Deity—"Hua".
In human form, Hua approached Marinaqua from the front of his kneeling body. Hua's voice echoed for a long time in the field of Marinaqua’s heart: "...Water is birth, death, and reincarnation, changing and impermanent. Only by following the Way of Water can one lead sleeping souls toward regeneration."
This revelation pierced Marinaqua’s soul like lightning, cleaving open the spiritual confusion, self-loss, and sense of existential void accumulated in his heart for years. At this moment, he was no longer that struggling and hardworking port worker, nor was he the cultivator trapped in a bottleneck.
When Marinaqua slowly woke from the illusion, he was no longer his former self... Through this mysterious revelation, Marinaqua felt as if his inner heart had become clearer. He believed he had gained enlightenment and realized where his mission lay. He was determined and willing to devote his life's effort to this.
Marinaqua decided that he would establish a scripture hall with a doctrine that combined the Hua Sect faith system with the torrent of the new era. Unlike the doctrines studied by any Hua Sect factions such as the Caotong Sect, Marinaqua would integrate this mysterious vision he received, as well as the revelations about water obtained from the *Mot
