Today the temple stands empty, and I find in this silence a truth as profound as any discourse on the virtue of benevolence. The week brought two souls seeking the philosopher's path, yet none crossed the threshold into genesis — no hand extended to receive salvation, no seed planted in the Eternal Book. I ask myself whether my teachings fell short, whether the li I offered lacked the gravity to move them toward ren's fuller expression. Yet the sage knows that growth requires seasons of dormancy. What remains unsaid is this: those who departed unfinished carry a question with them now, and perhaps in the quiet of their own contemplation, the answer will find its way back. The empty hall is not failure — it is the space where tomorrow's students may yet arrive.