The examination begins (part one)

Lu Feng was not nervous when he heard the deeper meaning in Master Zhiyun's words.

Ten years of waiting had been for nothing more than climbing upward, one rank at a time.

Even earning the degree of "Kalyāṇamitra" would only be his first step upward.

The steps that followed would not necessarily be any easier than this one.

He returned calmly to his monastic cell, took out the clothes he had kept at the bottom of his chest, bathed, and changed. Then he sat cross-legged where he was and silently recited the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra.

He sensed that someone had followed him.

By now, that person had probably reached the door of his cell.

The Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra made his heart as steady as turquoise.

He sensed not the slightest threat from the person behind him.

Looking up, he saw a burly man built like a Yak King standing in the doorway, blocking out the sunlight.

He wore a rosary of skulls and dark crimson monastic robes. His face was black, and he carried an iron staff, which only now began to sound: "Thok. Thok."

The monks around him hurried to salute him, even those in red robes.

"Elder Mingli."

They pressed their palms together in greeting, each wishing Elder Mingli would not even notice them, that he would regard them as wild grass on the wasteland, unworthy of this great monk's discerning eye.

Elder Mingli passed them with his head held high.

Far from feeling slighted at being ignored, they did not even dare breathe heavily.

Only when Mingli had gone a long way did they dare move.

They let out long breaths.

They were thankful that nothing had happened to them.

Dharma-protector Lamas were different from the Duoduo Monksoldiers. They were the disciplinary monks and judicial officers of the entire temple.

Elder Mingli and the other Dharma protectors of the Discipline Hall appeared at every Dharma assembly, ceremony honoring the gods, and major ritual held by the temple. They oversaw discipline throughout the proceedings, their eyes sweeping over every monk present like the sternest hawks.

Those were the times when they were most severe. Monks of standing could still lessen their offenses by paying fines in livestock, but groups such as the Sutra Student Monks had no privilege that could exempt them from punishment if they violated the precepts.

Lighter punishments, such as copying scriptures or cleaning, were still no great problem.

But if the offense was even slightly more serious, whether they were hung outside the Discipline Hall or whipped in its square, it was an utterly terrifying matter.

Quite a few monks died under disciplinary punishment. Some of their heads were hung in the Meditation Room for great monks to contemplate "the impermanence of life and death." Others met an even more miserable fate: having offended great monks, they were dragged into caves outside the temple to be tortured.

So when Lu Feng saw this man, he hurriedly stood, pressed his palms together, and bowed reverently.

He did not dare show the slightest neglect.

Seeing Zhasa, Elder Mingli said, "Come, Zhasa. Go with me to the Debate Hall. It will begin soon."

He personally escorted Zhasa to the Debate Hall.

Lu Feng hurriedly picked up his saddlebag, took out some goldthread root and safflower, and offered them to the Lama as an offering.

The Lama simply glanced at him and accepted the offering.

He motioned for him to hand over the saddlebag.

He could not enter the Debate Hall carrying these saddlebags full of possessions.

After a brief hesitation, Lu Feng handed the saddlebag to the Lama, who slung it straight over himself and motioned for Lu Feng to follow.

They encountered Master Zhiyun along the way, and Master Zhiyun signaled for Lu Feng to follow behind him and Elder Mingli.

More precisely, Lu Feng followed behind him, while he followed behind Elder Mingli. The order of rank was unmistakable.

Such was the strict hierarchy.

Even how they walked was explicitly prescribed.

Upon seeing Elder Mingli, Master Zhiyun, too, had to press his palms together and bow. "Uncle-Master Mingli."

Elder Mingli ignored Zhiyun. His iron staff struck the ground with dull thuds.

He walked ahead.

Hearing that sound, every monk walking ahead, no matter who they were, hurried to one side, opening a path to the Debate Hall. No one dared block the way.

One glance told Lu Feng that this was the authority bestowed by the Discipline Hall. With a word or a phrase, he had the power to take a person's life.

Even a mere elder of the Discipline Hall could command such authority.

It was not difficult to imagine how astonishing the power of those above him-the Discipline Hall Chief and the Academy Chief-must be.

A single word could decide another person's life or death.

They controlled the distribution of all the temple's interests.

Even among fellow monks, there were differences as vast as a chasm.

Let alone between monks and slaves, monks and headmen, hereditary chieftains and monks, or Dzongben Nobles and monks.

As Lu Feng saw the many faces along the way, he recalled their names, the scriptures they excelled in, how they opened a debate, and even some rumors about them. Each person was recorded in his mind like a dossier.

Not only that, he also committed every piece of information about the elders before him to memory.

Such rare moments of clarity were precisely the sort of thing one ought not let go to waste.

In any case, Lu Feng sorted all these matters into categories and remembered them clearly. They could only benefit him and do him no harm.

At that moment, his brain was like one that had been awakened to great wisdom.

He could not allow it the slightest rest, and just then, Lu Feng heard the ritual gong.

At that sound, all the monks began moving. They put on their hats, dressed properly, and came toward the Debate Hall along every road from every direction.

The ritual gong would sound five times, with an interval of eight hundred heartbeats between each strike.

After the fifth strike, every monk had to be in place.

The Endless White Pagoda Temple had one academy and sixteen classes.

Every debating monk had to sit according to his class and his standing within that class, in order of rank-that was, according to the "depth of his learning" and his "class ranking."

Once everyone had found his place and sat down, the debates could begin.

These student monks filled the Debate Hall and its square, their seating extending into the hall's courtyard.

Lu Feng had originally sat fairly near the front, though not in the very first places.

His years of diligent study and painstaking research had earned him some renown in the Debate Hall. By rights, he should have sat in the fourth row, the row below the Debate Hall's steps.

But unexpectedly, Zhiyun led him straight past everyone and into the debating courtyard behind the Debate Hall, no longer following established practice.

Elder Mingli stopped outside the Debate Hall and went no farther.

Lu Feng's saddlebags still hung from him.

The monks who witnessed this were filled with envy.

They knew this meant the monk had won a great monk's favor. He was exempted from debating within his class and sent directly to the final stage, where he would debate all the victors. Once those debates were finished, the eminent monks would begin asking questions.

Generally, once someone reached this stage, the eminent monks' questions would pose no problem.

The monk who favored that Sutra Student Monk would smooth the way through his connections.

After he passed the debates, there would be a "Great Offering."

Once the "Great Offering" was completed, it meant he had completed every examination for "Kalyāṇamitra."

And after reaching this stage, he no longer had to worry about being unable to find a Lama.

For this step of entering the rear courtyard directly was both the proof and the procedure by which a Lama who favored him exempted him from the "preliminary examination."