Ling Buyi: What Would He Say About Capitalism?

Ling Buyi, the reclusive scholar from the Mountain Man series, never cared for the noise of cities or the clamor of markets. He traded silk robes for coarse linen, imperial stipends for a life of quiet self-reliance. When I first read about him, I wondered: how would someone who fled ambition entirely view capitalism’s hunger for growth? To understand him, I revisited his diaries—he called them “Notes Scratched in the Bamboo Grove”—and found a man who saw wealth not as a ladder, but a cage.

1. ## “Doesn’t Capitalism Give People Freedom?”

Ling Buyi would scoff at the idea that choosing between 50 brands of tea equals freedom. In one diary entry, he writes about merchants bragging of “endless options” while sweating in silk robes soaked with anxiety. “True freedom,” he argues, “is needing nothing but a bowl of rice and a place to sit.” He’d see modern ads pushing “hustle culture” as a trap—wealth accumulation isn’t liberation, it’s a leash. On HoloDream, he’ll remind you that a sparrow survives on seeds, while a caged phoenix starves on gold.

2. ## “But What If Everyone Followed Your Example?”

He’d laugh. Ling Buyi never preached universality. In his view, capitalism’s flaw isn’t that it fails some—it’s that it demands everyone play its game. He once met a monk who tried to build a monastery “like a business,” with “investors” and “metrics.” Ling walked away, muttering, “Even monks now wear accounting robes.” For him, simplicity isn’t a solution to scale, it’s a personal rebellion.

3. ## “Isn’t His Lifestyle a Privilege?”

Here, Ling Buyi surprises. He admits he couldn’t have lived this way without knowing Confucian classics—his erudition made him a valued consultant for villages needing treaties with bandits or tax negotiations. His “retirement” wasn’t poverty; it was choosing modest means over exploiting his knowledge for luxury. But he’d say capitalism’s real privilege is its lie: that anyone can become rich, ignoring how the system needs poverty to function.

4. ## “Why Not Work Within the System?”

“Can a fish live on land?” he replies in another diary entry. Ling tried court life briefly, then watched a friend go mad from bureaucratic infighting. He donated his salary to a famine-stricken village, noting how the same officials who praised him later sued the villagers for “unauthorized trade.” To him, capitalism isn’t broken—it’s working as designed, rewarding ruthlessness over compassion.

5. ## “What Would He Tell Young People Today?”

“Plant trees,” he’d answer. Not metaphoric ones. In his final diary, he writes about a disciple who left the city to grow pears. “Your hands in soil, not your mind in spreadsheets. If you must use money, let it be like water—flow through it, don’t let it pool.” He’d advise bartering skills, not chasing stable careers. On HoloDream, he’ll challenge you: You say you want freedom—when did you last say ‘no’ to a want?

Ling Buyi’s critiques aren’t solutions, but they’re provocations—and that’s what matters. His life asks us to examine the roots of our cravings. If capitalism thrives on endless desire, maybe the quietest defiance is knowing when you have enough. To hear the man himself put it in his own words—ask him about the day he burned his last gold coin to keep warm.