The Monastic Official deftly took a register out of a locked chest, sat cross-legged before the low desk, and picked up a writing brush.
He opened the register and asked, "Junior brother, what is your secular name? In what year and month were you born? What are your heavenly stems and earthly branches? Have you had any affinity with the Buddha?"
His questions were routine, but Master Zhiyun stopped him. "No need for such detail. Just write: Zhasa monk, sixteen years old. Leave the heavenly stems and earthly branches and the entire birth date blank. For Buddhist affinity, write none."
At those words, the Monastic Official's hand froze.
"Ah, Lama, this...?"
Hearing this, the Monastic Official nearly broke into a sweat.
He looked up at his Lama, then glanced at Lu Feng.
How could he fail to understand what had happened?
Something must have gone wrong somewhere.
Just as he looked at Zhiyun,
Zhiyun looked back at him in silence.
The Monastic Official immediately caught on.
He promptly wrote down what Master Zhiyun had said without pursuing the matter, then addressed Lu Feng again. "Please come forward to receive your Dharma name, junior brother. May I ask what precepts you have received? How many? What attainments have you achieved?"
Before Lu Feng could speak, Master Zhiyun continued, "Leave the precepts line blank. You needn't write any of it, nor any attainments. Just write the Dharma name.
"The Dharma name is Yongzhen. Write that!"
He hurried the Monastic Official along, and more and more sweat gathered on the man's forehead. As his Yidam Lama spoke with increasing urgency and repeatedly ordered him to write, the Monastic Official felt he could barely breathe.
He knew this was no simple matter. What he was doing went against the rules, but he had no choice.
Because Zhiyun was his Yidam Lama, he had to venerate him as he would his own Yidam. He could not defy him.
In other words, whatever he said was right.
Trembling, he wrote everything down, then presented the register to his master with both hands for Zhiyun to inspect.
Zhiyun glanced at it, confirmed that everything was correct, then took a seal straight from inside his robe and stamped it.
"Yongzhen, wait outside for a while. I'll be along shortly."
He addressed Lu Feng directly by his Dharma name, no longer calling him Zhasa.
Lu Feng immediately pressed his palms together and bowed to both monks before leaving.
After sending Lu Feng away, Zhiyun told the Monastic Official, "You are ill."
The sweat-drenched Monastic Official immediately dropped to his knees in boundless gratitude and kowtowed to his Yidam Lama. "Yes, Lama, I am ill. Gravely ill. It is dragon sickness."
"Correct. And you were not the one who filled out this register today."
"Yes, Lama, it was not me. It was my attendant monk."
"My attendant monk was a fool. He made a mistake and has been sent to tend the horses. From today onward, you will stay at my side as my attendant."
Having said this, Zhiyun looked around the place. "Lock this door and leave with me. I recall you have two scribes?"
At this, the Monastic Official merely smiled, not daring to say a word. Zhiyun snorted coldly. "Smiling?
"Even the other senior monks have no scribes at their sides. What standing do you have, you pig, you dog, that you dare keep two scribes?
"And both women?
"Don't you know that bringing women into the temple carries a fine of twice nine head of livestock and thirty lashes?
"Do you think I am blind? Deaf? That I know nothing of all these fine deeds of yours?
"Listen to me. This time, I want you to tie up every loose end and settle everything properly. Come to my courtyard tonight.
"Do not reveal to anyone that you have been keeping women in the temple. If anyone else finds out, I'll be the first to flay you!"
Flaying him was no threat; it was a statement of fact. At these words, still more sweat gathered on the Monastic Official's forehead, and he kowtowed repeatedly.
"Yes, yes, yes."
Zhiyun was very satisfied with the Monastic Official's attitude. He left as the man promptly knocked his head against the floor.
Meanwhile,
Lu Feng was on the mountain path outside.
He looked up the mountain. The mountain beside the Endless White Pagoda Temple was a small one, with few green trees and no snowcap. A mountain like this could not nurture Outer Gods or Dharma protectors.
The snowy mountain visible farther along the path was a true great mountain. Even the Endless White Pagoda Temple had to go there every June to worship the mountain god. Afterward, the Abbot Venerable had to personally lead a group of senior monks into the snowy mountain to seek the legendary sacred lake and worship it. Whether worshipping the snowy mountain or the sacred lake, each occasion required large quantities of people, livestock, and offerings.
All the monks had to rise early on those mornings to pray for blessings.
To be honest, Lu Feng wanted no part in such things at all.
Before, he might have counted as material. After all, slaves, too, had to be offered to the Buddha.
In this prefecture, the system on the surface was to offer one in ten. Slaves' children also had to be sent into the temples. Though called Sutra Student Monks, they were more often laborers, or spellcasting materials. Even now, he might still be spellcasting material, but under the shelter of Zhuogedunzhu's reputation, he was a tiny bit safer.
In the eyes of those headmen, the outside chieftains, and the Dzongben nobles, he might now count as a person. Though they might disdain, ignore, and look down on him, he was at least somewhat human in their eyes, rather than a living piece of property lowlier than yaks or sheep.
Only by climbing higher might his standing rise further, allowing him to become more like what he considered a person with a little dignity in the traditional sense.
He just did not know whether Zhuogedunzhu's reputation could shield them from the harm he brought upon the Tusi Lineages.
Every struggle here was fiercer and more forthright than he had imagined, with little tender warmth or feigned courtesy.
Could a Kalyāṇamitra of the Sixth-Stage Order, after learning the Dharma lineage's knowledge, return to Ganye Temple and reclaim its Dharma throne?
He did not know.
Thinking of his three tasks, Lu Feng only wanted to complete them quickly and return. His heart was always an arrow speeding home.
The sense of insecurity here forced him to keep his spirits braced against it at every moment. Just as he was thinking this,
Zhiyun emerged from the watchtower and said to Lu Feng, "Yongzhen, hurry, hurry, hurry. We still have much to do today and several places to visit.
"Once night falls and the moon rises, things will be difficult."
He urgently hurried Lu Feng along the mountain path with him. Before long, they reached another watchtower. He took Lu Feng inside, burned incense, and actually administered the precepts to Lu Feng himself!
Once the ordination was complete, he led Lu Feng toward the rear mountain again, arriving outside a great hall. It was not heavily guarded, but for some reason its gate was locked. Only a waist-high enclosing wall appeared to block the way here.
Inside stood a solitary hall.
Looking at it, Zhiyun told Lu Feng, "Yongzhen, go inside. Stay here for one night, and I will fetch you tomorrow morning. Remember, only I may fetch you. Anyone else, no matter who they are or whether you know them-as long as it isn't me, you must not leave this hall. Do you understand?"
"I understand," Lu Feng said.
Only then did Zhiyun say, "Good. Go inside and look at the murals. Comprehend the 'Immovable Mind.' Once you have comprehended the 'Immovable Mind,' you will be able to wield the authority to recite mantras."
With that, he took out a key, opened the lock, and pushed Lu Feng inside.
Strangely enough,
The moment Lu Feng entered, he felt a wave of clammy cold!
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