The Angel's Descent Chapter 5

Mason didn't know what to say, so he let her go.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. When it got dark, Mason was restless and drank tea until midnight. Finally, he got up and went out.

The gate of Lingyin Temple had been closed for two hours. Mason sneaked in from the vegetable garden behind the temple and went straight to the monk Rusong's room. The lights were off in the room. Mason knocked on the window frame and heard Rusong's low voice: "Who?" Mason: "The one who copied the scriptures."

Rusong opened the door and did not invite Mason in. He asked, "What's up tonight?" Mason said, "I just want to ask about the Buddha's enlightenment." Rusong said, "Huh?" and remained silent for a while. After a while, he said, "This is a big deal. Please come in."

After entering the house and sitting down, Rusong sighed: "Because of a star." The Buddha was sitting under a Bodhi tree and made a vow not to get up until he was enlightened. On the seventh night, when his body and mind were relaxed, he looked up and saw a star, and thus he was enlightened.

Some people say that this star is a real star in the night sky, while others say that it is a hint that the Buddha practiced an ancient method called "Cundhi Method". The first point of Cundhi Method is to visualize a star of light one inch above your head, illuminating your internal organs, the sun, the moon, and the stars.

The Cundi Dharma was passed down by a bodhisattva named Cundi before the universe was destroyed and reborn billions of times. The only image of this bodhisattva that has been passed down is the back. Rusong took out a bronze mirror wrapped in yellow cloth from the drawer, and saw the back of the bodhisattva, with eighteen arms.

Rusong turned the bronze mirror over, and the mirror surface was as clear as water. Rusong said: "If you practice according to the Dharma, the face of the Bodhisattva will appear in the mirror." Mason looked into the mirror and saw a woman's face. It was the woman who was looking forward to getting pregnant. He couldn't help but stare at her infatuatedly and couldn't take his eyes off her.

Rusong remained calm and slowly wrapped the bronze mirror with yellow cloth. Mason was like a drowning man struggling out of the water, taking deep breaths, and after stabilizing himself, he said, "Shame on you!"

Rusong smiled and said, "You came to visit me late at night, not just to ask about a star, right?" Mason knew that his thoughts had been discovered, but he didn't want to explain, so he changed the subject and said, "The Buddha's enlightenment was not just because of a star, was it?"

Rusong nodded and said, "Yes. It was also because of a woman."

Mason was shocked and looked at Rusong in amazement. Rusong said gently: "Before the Buddha meditated under the Bodhi tree, a woman gave him milk to drink. With nutrition and comfort, he had the energy to meditate. Wasn't it because of a woman that he became a Buddha in seven days?"

Mason relaxed and said with a smile: "That's what I said." He looked at Mason with eyes as deep as pine trees and said: "What do you think?"

Mason's face suddenly stiffened and his whole body tensed up. Rusong smiled instead and said, "Why did you come here today? Can't you tell the truth?"

After hearing Mason's truth, Rusong frowned. Mason said in panic, "I know I am totally wrong." Rusong waved his hand and said, "Your little evil thoughts are not worth mentioning. I just feel sorry for that woman. She can't get pregnant if she stays in the temple for one night."

The custom of staying overnight at the Guanyin Temple to pray for a child originated from a Hubei temple during the Northern Song Dynasty, and was introduced to Hangzhou at some point. This custom has drawbacks. The woman's husband waits on a bed outside the temple to prevent people from entering, and the sedan chair inside the temple can be seen through the window, so it should be fine overnight. However, the thief is the monk in the temple. There is a mechanism on the floor of the temple that can lead the woman into the basement... and she gets pregnant with the monk's child.

Rusong said: "The monks violated their own precepts, and the customs were corrupted. As the abbot of this temple, I know the secrets, so I strictly forbid this, seal the tunnel, and only preserve this custom." Mason praised: "A good deed."

Rusong sighed, "It's hard to tell good from evil. Maybe it's evil." Mason was stunned. Rusong said after a long while, "Those senior monks who had affairs with women may not be committing adultery, but compassion."

After Rusong became the abbot, he had to receive pilgrims and donors from all over the world. He gradually experienced the world and had a different way of thinking when reading Buddhist scriptures. Many Buddhist scriptures say that the merits of Buddhism can change women into men. Why do women want to become men? Because women are subject to various restrictions in reality and are in a painful situation.

For example, if a woman is infertile, the cause is often the man, but the world will blame the woman. If a woman does not get pregnant after staying in the Guanyin Temple for one night, she will be despised forever in the family.

Rusong blew out the oil lamp, and moonlight came in through the window. A silver edge appeared on the outline of Rusong's head, and his voice became softer: "I became the host at the age of 41, and the tunnel has been closed for 33 years. Do you know where the entrance to the tunnel is?"

He stamped the ground beneath his feet.

In order to control all the monks in the temple, Rusong built his own meditation room at the entrance of the tunnel thirty-three years ago. Blowing out the oil lamp was to prevent the shadow of the brick face from falling on the window and being seen by others.

The tunnel was cold and narrow. After walking for more than two hundred meters, the front began to open up, revealing a space of twenty meters square. There was a large carved elm bed, and the bedding and curtains had rotted away like powder. As the air circulated again, a layer of white foam floated up like waves, and as Mason approached, it drifted out of the bed and collapsed to the ground.

The only thing that was not rotten was a wooden ladder with an iron cover on top. The iron cover was rusty, and when Mason opened it, he saw the bottom of the sedan chair.

The brick surface that was lifted up was in front of the sedan chair, and was blocked by the sedan chair, which was a blind spot for peeping outside the window. Mason half rose from the ground and stared at the sedan chair curtain embroidered with green bats and pink peaches.

What will happen after I open it? Will she understand my intentions? Will she be frightened and scream?

Elder Rusong risked the reputation of the temple and let herself go into the tunnel, but out of her female instinct, she couldn't help but scream.

Only after lifting the curtain can we quickly strike her and knock her out first...

Mason lifted the curtain and stopped his attack. He saw her lying inside with her head tilted on his shoulder. She was sleeping sweetly with her lips slightly parted, which was very lovable.

He carried her out of the sedan chair, down the stairs, closed the iron lid, and placed her on the bed covered with rags and snow. She opened her eyes, curled up, and shouted, "You are so brave!"

Mason: "I just want to help you. In fact, I went to the mountains to practice Taoism at the age of sixteen, and I have never experienced a woman." Her eyes widened, and gradually she smiled and said softly: "You are too brave!"

As he approached her body, Mason looked at the oil lamp on the bedside. It was the one Rusong asked him to take down. The lamp stand was made of black copper, and the touch was polished smooth, showing an indescribable red. The lamp stand was carved with a strong man in heaven with a strong back and strong waist, holding the lamp stand upside down with his arms.

Mason silently said "I have no evil thoughts" and thus entered an unprecedented situation...

She left early and sat back in the sedan chair on the ground. Mason lay alone for a long time, then stood up and stared at the celestial warrior on the oil lamp stand, saying, "If I have a child, I hope it will be the same as yours."

Arriving at Rusong's room, he was surprised to find that it was already daybreak. After a while underground, the sun and moon had changed above ground. After Mason covered the square bricks and swept away the dust, Rusong returned from morning class with a small steamer in his hand.

The morning prayer is chanting mantras, which takes about half an hour to keep one alert for the whole day. Rusong's eyes are clear. He noticed that the floor was clean again. He did not mention what happened last night, but just handed the steamer to Mason.

When he opened it, he saw two layers of buns, six in each layer. He bit into it and it tasted refreshing. It turned out that the filling was made of lotus root. Mason wanted to go to the Guanyin Temple to see if the sedan chair had left, but he didn't want to go against Rusong's kindness, so he sat down and finished a bun in two or three bites.

Rusong brewed a cup of tea, handed it to him, and said, "Eat slowly. When distracting thoughts arise, good deeds are no longer good deeds." Mason understood the hint in the words, sighed silently, took the teacup with his left hand, took a bun with his right hand, and slowly took a bite.

He ate a few bites of buns and drank a sip of tea. Half an hour had passed since he finished breakfast. He thought she had left the temple long ago. He didn't know which family she was from. Once she left the temple, she would be gone forever. I hope she will get pregnant with my child, live a stable life from now on, and become a blessed young lady...

Something fell into the teacup, and although the teacup was small, ripples appeared, like the vast West Lake. Mason felt his lower eyelids slightly warm, raised his eyes and saw Rusong looking at him, and said: "Shame on you."

Rusong took out a towel and handed it to Mason,   who wiped away her tears. Rusong opened the window, and the morning air came into the room, and Mason felt a coolness on her face. Rusong said: "The sublime must fall, and love must part. Fate brings us together and separates us, it's just like this, so just let it go."

Mason finished the rest of the tea, clasped his hands together, bowed to Rushong, and left.

The Guanyin Hall is on the left side of the second courtyard. Mason deliberately walked on the right side, but when he reached the second courtyard, he still couldn't help but glance sideways.

There was no one in front of the Guanyin Hall. Mason adjusted his breathing and walked through the second courtyard. The first courtyard was still empty. It was still early and there were no pilgrims. Mason walked into the mountain gate. The four heavenly kings were enshrined in the mountain gate. The Eastern Heavenly King Dhritarashtra was wearing white armor and holding a pipa. His facial features were fierce but his expression was peaceful. Mason stared at him for a long time.

Mason imagined that this heavenly king wanted to use music to convert sentient beings to Buddhism. Music can inspire the soul more than language, and what is more powerful than music is the experience of worldly affairs, such as the experience I had with a woman last night...

He put his hands together, bowed to the Heavenly King Dhritarashtra, and walked out of the mountain gate with deep emotion. He just wanted to immerse himself in his own feelings, walk back to the medicine shop in silence, close the shop, and sleep for a whole day. But there was a man sitting on the steps of the mountain gate. This burly figure forced him to speak. It was the old man who was on night watch at Yuewang Temple.

The old man sat in the morning light with his eyes narrowed, like a wooden sculpture. Mason found that his appearance was somewhat similar to that of Dhritarashtra, and said, "Old sir."

The old man turned his head, his eyes were cloudy, and he stretched out his hand. Mason helped him up. The old man looked strange, and Mason did not dare to ask questions. He helped him walk more than 30 meters. The old man whispered: "I wanted to teach you martial arts, but you don't have a good foundation, so you can't become a master."

Mason waited for the old man to continue, but the old man didn't say anything. After walking more than 20 meters, the old man spoke again: "Masters are the most careful people, because life and death are only a thin line in a duel. I am a master of my generation, but I always need your help to get up. You are too dull. Don't you find it strange?"

After walking another ten meters, the old man said, "My lower body has rotted away."

It was unknown which of the two hundred women had caused the old man to contract a strange disease. Half a year ago, red pustules formed on his back, shaped like mold spots on rotten steamed buns. Later, these mold spots gathered more and more on his thighs. The old man used all his life's internal energy to cultivate the mold spots on his chest and prevent them from spreading to his face.

The old man has suffered from insomnia for nearly 20 years, and has been suffering from insomnia for the past six months. He feels like he is in hell every night. Last night, he unexpectedly fell asleep and dreamed of Dhritarashtra, who played a piece of pipa music for him. The tune was strange, beyond human music, and made him forget about his body.

After waking up this morning, he rushed to Lingyin Temple with the hope of being cured, and wept bitterly in front of the statue of the Heavenly King. It was indeed a miracle that a young monk who was cleaning the courtyard gave him a Heavenly King's handprint, saying that it could cure worldly diseases.

The old man stopped, put his hands down in front of his abdomen, palms facing up, index finger, middle finger, ring finger and little finger crossed, two thumbs facing each other, and said: "Little monk told me, let me feel the subtle tightness between the crossed fingers, and feel the two thumbs echoing in the air."

Mason: "It must work." The old man shook his head: "It can indeed make the body strong. The method of forming the hand seals conforms to the boxing formula of 'movement without moving' - I knew it when I was 18 years old, because it is Tai Chi Kung Fu."

A hand seal actually contains the secret meaning of Tai Chi. Buddhism is unexpectedly vast. The old man said, "But this hand seal cannot cure me, because I have been practicing the movement of immobility for forty years." Mason said hurriedly, "I know the abbot of this temple. He must have a way to cure your disease."

The old man smiled slowly and said, "I have never asked for help from anyone in my life. I only asked the young monk to teach me the hand seal this morning. I don't want to ask for it a second time. The Buddha's teachings are profound, but it's a pity that I don't have enough time to practice. My practice is Tai Chi, and I don't want to practice anything else."

Mason: "It's a matter of life and death."

Old man: "I have lived enough."

Mason understood the old man's state of mind. The old man did not want to do something embarrassing like begging for his life. When the old man sat on the steps of the mountain gate, he dozed off in a daze. This was his second sleep in twenty years. The second time he dreamed of Dhritarashtra, the King of Heaven, who showed him a golden mountain that was 3.36 million miles high.

The old man thought that it was the King of Heaven hinting that he had a good destination and that he would pass away today.

Back at the hut in the backyard of Yuewang Temple, the old man was already limp, and various signs of death gradually appeared. Mason helped him lie down on the bed, and the old man said incoherently that today was a good day, because every year on this day a friend would come to see him.

Mason: "You have been avoiding the Peng family all your life, how can you have friends?"

The old man smiled kindly and did not answer. Mason thought that today was not a holiday, so he asked: "Is it your birthday today?" The old man shook his head and said faintly: "A person's birthday is not just the day your mother gave birth to you. There are many other things. The day that can change your mood is your birthday."

After the old man finished speaking, he coughed and gasped, and then fell into a coma.

But until dusk, the old man's friend did not show up. The old man woke up at nightfall. Although his hands and feet could not move, his face was rosy and his eyes were bright. Mason knew that this was a last breath, which would last for an hour at most before the old man died.

Mason asked the old man what he needed, and the old man said calmly: "I want to listen to music, find a girl who plays the pipa."