"Thus, in the distant kalpas of the past, the bhikshu Gong Nengguang, and Ali Miluo who offered lamps to Lena Shizhi, reverently worshipped Fixed Light..."
"A Novice Monk paid homage to the Buddha, offering the Five Metals, Five Hides, and Fivefold Sutra to Fixed Light, together with five lotus stems. Fixed Light bestowed a prophecy upon him, completing the principles of the Dharma and transmitting the teachings to deliver him..."
"Through countless ages past, the lamp shone with universal radiance, inspiring his father to leave home and enter the Bodhi Path..."
"When the Buddha was first born, all four directions shone bright, and the sun, moon, fire, and luminous pearls were no longer needed..."
"In the past, through distant, immeasurable, inconceivably numerous kalpas, he appeared in the world, teaching and delivering boundless living beings, guiding them all to attain the Dao, before entering nirvana..."
Within the dimly candlelit Buddhist hall, between its rows of pillars, Bodhisattvas and Arhats in monastic robes sat cross-legged upon Lotus Thrones, halos floating behind their heads, with Venerables and King Mings clustered around them.
Yet the hall was far too dark. Though lamps stood throughout it, their flames flickered uncertainly, unable to illuminate its gilded splendor. Beneath that dim light, the monks' faces were half lit and half shadowed. The halves exposed to the light were undoubtedly devout. Whether compassionate Bodhisattvas, imposing Arhats, or the assembled Venerables and King Mings, all gazed reverently into the depths of the hall, toward that lofty Lotus Throne and the Buddha seated upon it with his eyes half closed.
But on the dark halves untouched by the light, their expressions were utterly different. The Bodhisattvas were jealous, the Arhats greedy, while the shadowed halves of the Venerables' and King Mings' faces were twisted and ferocious. Their gazes upon the