Thank you, but how do the moments at the pool hold the key to immortality? I will guess that there's nothing more than the moment. Where do grand ideas actually exist, but in the moment?
In this case, the immortality is literal: it's the idea of Daoist alchemists that consumption of gold would make you immortal, because gold itself has this unchanging, eternal quality. Wang was a Daoist as well as a Buddhist, and knew this lore as well as anyone, though I don't think he ever pursued alchemy or immortality in any serious way.
Thank you, but how do the moments at the pool hold the key to immortality? I will guess that there's nothing more than the moment. Where do grand ideas actually exist, but in the moment?
In this case, the immortality is literal: it's the idea of Daoist alchemists that consumption of gold would make you immortal, because gold itself has this unchanging, eternal quality. Wang was a Daoist as well as a Buddhist, and knew this lore as well as anyone, though I don't think he ever pursued alchemy or immortality in any serious way.