"Sun Salutation"

"Those clothes turned into strands of thread flowing over the celestial maidens, and then they seemed to come alive. They preened and posed at me, making all sorts of shameful gestures... as if they were deliberately trying to seduce me. I'm a monk. How could I let them tempt me..." Doje said.

"...At first, I refused in righteous, stern words. Then I restrained myself, restrained myself, and restrained myself again..."

"At first?" Qu Zan frowned.

"In the end, I couldn't control myself, so I followed along and made the same movements they did. I..." Doje said, his face and ears burning red.

"I remembered six movements. I'll teach you when we get back!" Doje said. "These six movements are a Body Yoga Method. Do you know what yoga is?"

Qu Zan only recalled the yoga of his previous life: people wearing tight pants, striking various poses on mats, a form of exercise to stretch and move their bodies.

But in Mìdì, it probably would not be that simple.

"Body Yoga Method?" Qu Zan shook his head.

"In Mìdì, yoga methods are cultivation methods for attaining Buddhahood through actual practice and realization," Doje said quietly. "What this human-skin thangka depicts should be a kind of Body Yoga Method..."

"...Using seated postures and bodily knots to lock the body's channels and strengthen the flesh."

Qu Zan frowned. "Then what was that dream you just had about those celestial maidens?"

Doje said, "Senior brother, do you know where the Buddhist teachings came from?"

After thinking for a moment, Qu Zan said, "Apparently from the Hanhai Desert to the north, though some say they came from somewhere in the south?"

"According to one account, the Buddhist teachings came from Sindhu in the south. Yoga came from there too. Legend has it that yoga originated from all sorts of positions for coupling.

The man's is called the Linga, and the woman's is called the Yoni. The union of Linga and Yoni is yoga. So the dream I just had actually fits that account," Doje said.

Qu Zan, however, thought: How come Doje dreamed of uniting with celestial maidens when he learned the movements, while all I got was a string of words? Why didn't I see any naked celestial maidens?

"Yes, that's it. Perhaps this is how knowledge empowerment works. Different people experience different sensations, emotions, and memories when they see the same words."

"So I comprehended the Sun Salutation Twelve Forms, while Doje comprehended the six forms of Sun Salutation. Each person's innate capacity is different, so the results they receive are different too."

In the hall, the ceremony for enshrining the thangka ended.

Madam Yangjin immediately had people bring out trays and distribute offerings to the Lama and the chanting monks: silver, whole bolts of brocade, butter, highland barley, tea leaves...

At the sight of those plentiful offerings, the Attendant Monks all looked envious.

Doje said, "These senior monks get so many offerings just for chanting a few scriptures."

"It's simply a difference in rank and standing," Qu Zan said. "If we study the scriptures diligently and earn our degrees in the future, we can become High Monks too."

After the ceremony ended, Madam Yangjin led the monks to the rear hall to dine.

An extravagant banquet had already been laid out in the rear hall, its table lavishly and meticulously arranged.

The table was covered with a gold-woven woolen cloth, with matching silverware and white porcelain tableware arranged at intervals, gleaming with elegance.

Fine dishes covered the table in layer upon layer, a dazzling array with everything from hot and cold main dishes to desserts, soups, dried fruit, and vegetarian wine.

The gently stewed mutton was tender, its broth milky white and rich; the yak tongue soup and curried mutton soup gave off lingering aromas,

The air-dried beef was as thin as cicada wings, its fibers firm; there were fried lamb chops, crisp outside and tender within; spice-braised pheasant with a rich aroma; braised wild venison, accompanied by honeyed raisins, rock-sugar walnuts, milk-curd pastries, and Mìdì-style fried pastries, with sweet, salty, fragrant, and spicy flavors artfully interspersed...

As Attendant Monks, Qu Zan and the others were responsible for carrying dishes back and forth and serving the food...

The banquet lasted well into the latter half of the night. Once it was over, Madam Yangjin saw the monks off.

By then, the entire hall was empty, with only cups and plates scattered in disarray. Qu Zan and the others had gone hungry until now, and only now had time to eat.

The steward said, "Thank you all for your hard work today. Please don't disdain these offerings."

Each Attendant Monk present received five taels of secret silver. Taking the heavy five taels of secret silver, Qu Zan felt a full sense of reward.

Compared with what the chanting monks received, their little share was not even enough to fill a gap between the teeth.

For Attendant Monks, a tip of five taels in one go was a very large sum.

The steward smiled. "It hasn't been easy for you all to keep going until now. Even without merit, you've put in the toil. I'll take it upon myself to add another two taels of secret silver for each of you."

"Thank you, Steward!" The Attendant Monks pressed their palms together.

"There are still some leftovers here. If you don't mind them, eat here. In an hour, I'll have the kitchen slaves come clean this up!"

Qu Zan and the others had long since grown hungry, and they all picked out some good food to eat.

"Those fellows really did eat all the meat!" Doje searched from seat to seat.

"Forget it. Having some rice is good enough," Qu Zan said. "The food here tastes so much better than the black tsampa we eat."

Qu Zan picked up an untouched bowl of silverweed-root rice. He was not so demanding that he had to have meat too.

He was happy enough just to fill his stomach.

"Where did you come from, you fellow!" Doje was struggling with someone over a braised chicken leg left on a plate.

Qu Zan looked over and saw that the man was quite old, with a gap in his front teeth.

"I saw this chicken leg first!" the gap-toothed old man said.

"What do you mean, you saw it first? I grabbed it first." Doje would not give an inch. After searching for so long, he had finally found a little meat, and he was not willing to let someone else snatch it away.

Doje looked the old man up and down. "Wait a moment. Where did you come from, you fellow! Your clothes are all tattered. You definitely aren't one of Madam Yangjin's servants."

Qu Zan said, "Senior brother, it's only a chicken leg. Let him have it."

Seeing that his junior brother had spoken, Doje could only stop fighting over it and let the old man have the chicken leg.

The gap-toothed old man took the chicken leg and tore into it. Casually picking up a wine cup from the table, he drank half a cup of vegetarian wine and said:

"Exactly. You've gained so much today, lad. Was comprehending an exquisite cultivation method from that thangka still not enough?"

Doje and Qu Zan exchanged a glance. Then Doje frowned and said, "What nonsense are you spouting?"

The gap-toothed old man said, "Won't admit it! That's fine if you won't. I'll go have a word with Madam Yangjin..."

"Hey, wait..." Doje hurriedly stopped him.

Qu Zan said, "Senior brother, let him go report it to Madam Yangjin. Though who knows whether Madam Yangjin will see him, looking like that..."

The gap-toothed old man looked at Qu Zan with appreciation. "You have some depth to you, lad."

With a respectful air of seeking instruction, Qu Zan said, "May I ask, elder, do you know where the cultivation method on that thangka comes from?"

"That is the Sunlight Yidam's Anuttarayoga Tantra cultivation method," the gap-toothed old man said.

"May I ask, sir, what does this Anuttarayoga Tantra cultivation method mean?"

Qu Zan knew little about Mìdì's cultivation methods. He had asked Huo De Lama, but since he was not a Scholar Monk, Huo De Lama had never explained them in detail.