Li Yuan dove deeper into the ocean of memory.
Deeper than the eleven understandings he had just reflected upon.
Deeper than the long road of cultivation.
Deeper than battlefields and the transformation of his soul.
He returned to… the true beginning.
To the root of it all.
To the place where a name was given with hope and love.
The Name and Its Planted Meaning
Li Yuan.
Two simple characters given by his father, Li Haoming, many years ago.
Li—the family name—meant plum tree.
A tree that blooms in winter when all others sleep.
A tree that withstands the cold, its blossoms emerging from bare branches, offering hope that life will always find a way to flourish, even in the harshest of times.
Yuan—meaning origin, beginning, source.
The headwater of a river before it becomes a stream flowing toward the sea.
A seed before it becomes a tree.
The silence before it becomes a word.
The root of eternity, and the beginning of understanding.
That was what his father saw when he looked into the strange gray eyes of the newborn—
Not just a child, but… the start of something greater.
A seed that would grow into an understanding never before seen.
Father, Li Yuan felt warmth in a soul that no longer had eyes to cry.
You gave me a name that became the path of my life.
You saw who I was before I knew myself.
Gray Eyes That See
Li Yuan remembered himself as a child, sitting on his father's lap, listening to explanations about the world.
"Why are my eyes different, Father?"
"Because your eyes see more than others see, Yuan'er. Gray eyes are like the sky before rain—full of potential, full of something about to come."
And it was true. From childhood, those gray eyes looked upon the world with a calm beyond his years—
as if holding understanding,
or perhaps… the silent judgment of a soul that had lived many times before.
Perhaps the soul is never truly born, Li Yuan mused. Perhaps it only… remembers.
And my eyes were windows to a memory older than this body.
A Desire Planted From the Start
"Father, I want to understand the world. Not just live in it."
The words came from a seven-year-old's mouth, yet with a depth that left Li Haoming silent for a moment.
To understand the world, not to conquer it.
To be part of the flow, not to fight the current.
To seek meaning, not power.
Even then, Li Yuan was different.
While other children played at war, he sat by the river asking why water always found its way.
While they chased butterflies, he wondered why the sea never overflowed though it received water from every river.
A curiosity not normal for a child. Questions too deep for one his age.
But they were the seeds of every understanding to come.
Lessons from the Old Teacher
Li Yuan remembered the old teacher who sat in a shabby hut, yet whose eyes held the wisdom of oceans.
"Young one, written characters carry meanings that can open doors of understanding. But remember—true wisdom is not always found in palaces or thick books."
"It can come from someone sitting in a hut like this."
"True learning begins when one walks alone on their path."
That old teacher saw something in me, Li Yuan recalled. He knew I had to find my own way. That no path already made could contain what would grow from within me.
Daojing was born because no other road fit a soul like this.
From Beginning to Understanding
Li Yuan felt the invisible thread connecting that seven-year-old boy to the soul now drifting without a body.
From simple questions about water → The Understanding of Water flowing in Ganjing
From the silence of an observant child → The Understanding of Silence that grants space
From gray eyes that see deeply → The Understanding of Soul that recognizes unique resonance
From the desire to understand the world → The Daojing system, based not on power but on meaning
From a child unlike any other → A soul that honors the uniqueness of every existence
It was all there from the very beginning, Li Yuan realized with wonder.
In the name Father gave me. In these gray eyes. In the questions far too strange for a child my age.
This long journey was never about becoming someone else.
It was about becoming who I truly was from the start.
Li Haoming: The Root That Gave Strength
Li Yuan remembered his father with such clarity, as if feelings could see sharper than eyes.
Li Haoming—a simple man who worked hard, yet had the wisdom to see depth in his unusual son.
Who never forced Li Yuan to be like other children, but instead protected his uniqueness.
"Yuan'er, the plum tree blooms in winter because it is not afraid to be different. It does not wait for spring like the others. It blooms because that is its nature."
"So too with you. Don't try to be like the others. Be yourself."
His father taught him the basics of martial arts—not to become a fighter, but to understand balance.
He gave him space to question, to reflect, to be different.
"Loss is another form of love that can no longer be held, but still grows within."
Even in his death, Father was still teaching.
Teaching that true love does not fear letting go.
A lesson that would later become the Understanding of Loss.
The Family Name as a Path
Li—the plum tree.
Li Yuan felt a deep connection to the meaning of his family name.
A plum tree that blooms in winter.
That brings beauty when the world is at its coldest and most hopeless.
Its blossoms fragile yet brave, beautiful yet not asking for protection.
That is what I have tried to do all my life, Li Yuan realized.
To bloom in the winter of the world.
To offer something beautiful when people need it most.
Not waiting for perfect conditions to give my best.
Water flowing in a desert. Silence in the midst of noise. Understanding in the midst of confusion.
A plum tree of the soul—blooming not because it is easy, but because it is its nature.
Yuan—The Beginning That Never Ends
Yuan—origin, source, beginning.
Li Yuan felt a deeper meaning to his given name.
He was not only the beginning of his own journey.
He was the beginning of something greater—the seed of Daojing that would grow in a world unfamiliar with cultivation without qi.
The start of a new way to see meaning and understanding.
But most beautifully—I was also the beginning for everyone who drank from the spring that flowed from me.
Every soul touched by my understanding also experienced their own 'yuan'—their own beginning.
The beginning of seeing who they truly are.
The beginning of asking the right questions.
The beginning of honoring their own uniqueness.
I am not the end of a search. I am the beginning of a search that will never end.
The Perfect Cycle
Li Yuan felt the perfection in the pattern.
From Li Yuan the child who asked about the world
↓
To Li Yuan the seeker who developed understandings
↓
To Li Yuan the giver who let understanding flow
↓
To Li Yuan the soul who honored uniqueness
↓
And now… Li Yuan the witness who sees how the seeds planted have grown into an unexpected garden
The plum tree does not bloom only once in a single winter.
It blooms every year, offering new beauty each season.
So too with yuan—the beginning never truly ends.
Every understanding I share becomes the beginning of another understanding.
Every soul I touch becomes the beginning of another soul they will touch.
The name Father gave me is not just an identity—it is a mission that will outlast my physical existence.
A Living Legacy
Li Haoming gave me more than a name, Li Yuan felt deep gratitude. He gave me a vision of who I could be.
And now, after this long journey, I understand that vision was never about reaching a final destination.
It was about being a source of beginnings for others.
Being the 'yuan' in someone else's life.
Being the 'li'—the beauty that blooms in their winter.
This is the true legacy Father left—not wealth, not power.
But the understanding that every child born is a 'yuan'—the start of something beautiful.
And the duty of every parent, teacher, or one who has bloomed first is to ensure that 'yuan' grows into its own plum tree.
Li Yuan felt his soul tremble in perfect harmony.
The eleven understandings had grown from the seed planted in that simple name.
And he knew his journey was not over.
For yuan never ends.
Beginnings always… begin again.
It is time to see the outside world, Li Yuan decided with deep calm. Time to see how the seeds of 'yuan' have grown.
Not to correct or to direct.
But to celebrate the beauty of every unique plum tree that has bloomed.
For that is what a spring does.
It flows not to control where the water will go.
But to give life to whatever plant needs it.
And to let each plant grow into its own unique beauty.
According to the truth of its own nature.