"When it comes to mandalas, you must learn to draw, build, and visualize and extrapolate them. Knowledge of mandalas is required in examinations for high-ranking scholarly monks."
"...You must memorize the dimensions, colors, orientations, and guardian arrangements of all mainstream mandalas, without a single error.
"The core of constructing a mandala lies in the Four Activities of Pacifying, Enriching, Magnetizing, and Wrathful, corresponding respectively to white, yellow, red, and black... you must master the proportions of these four colors..."
"Of course, if your cultivation reaches an exceptionally high level, you can construct a mandala through visualization alone, achieving twice the results for half the effort in your practice.
"But only practitioners with exceptionally high cultivation can Build a City with a Single Thought..."
Duo'erna handed Qu Zan a set of colored chalk pencils and said, "Draw a simple Five-Buddha Mandala first. This is a basic introductory mandala."
Qu Zan took the chalk pencils and began drawing on a wooden board. The outermost ring was a wheel of flames, the second layer a wall of vajras, the third a lotus moat, and the fourth a square palace...
Time passed quickly. Although Qu Zan remembered what the mandala looked like, he was still somewhat unpracticed when he put pencil to board.
"Drawing mandalas cannot be mastered in a day," Duo'erna said. "It takes years upon years of study."
"Yes!" Qu Zan nodded in acknowledgment.
He turned toward the steaming spring in the courtyard, where lotuses bloomed with dewy beauty.
"Master, could I ask for a few lotuses?" Qu Zan asked.
"Of course," Duo'erna said without hesitation. "One secret silver per flower. That's not expensive, is it?"
"I'll take two, then. Deduct it from my monthly stipend. I'll come pick them when I need them," Qu Zan said through gritted teeth.
"What monthly