The Monastery

Chapter 24: Water Offerings

Susant felt the chill of dawn as he walked toward the temple. It was the hour of day just before everything began to stir, when only the birds were whispering amongst themselves. He made it to the front of the steps leading up to the main temple. Sleeping at the foot of them was one of the dogs, the same one that had growled at him the first day he had come to the monastery. 

              Susant tiptoed closer, then watched as the dog opened one of its eyes.

              "Look, I promise, I'm not doing anything wrong," said Susant, holding up his hands. "Jampa said to come here around this time and that he would introduce me to the person I need to meet. So please, would you let me pass?"

              The dog eyed him suspiciously, growled softly, then closed his eyes. Susant took it as permission to walk up the stairs. Despite that, he tiptoed as quickly as possible around the dog and ran up the rest of the steps.

              "Wow," said Susant, coming to a stop. He looked up at the beautiful temple. It stood nearly three stories in height. Its beautiful design was lined with gold trim. The statues of the tigers at its base resonated with a feeling of strength and conviction, and just looking at them brought a slight tremble of fear to his heart.

              Susant sat down on the steps of the temple. While he waited, he wondered about the truth of the monastery. How long had it existed? Why had it come to him in his dream? There was no way that the old man had randomly found him in that little bar. He shook his head, unable to make sense of anything.

              "Good morning," said Jampa, quietly.

              Susant looked up, acknowledging his friend. "Good morning."

              "Come," said Jampa. "We are soon to be late for the water offerings."

              Susant opened his mouth and then shut it. He had learned that, sometimes, with Jampa, it was better to just follow and see, rather than ask a thousand questions about it.

              Jampa took off his sandals, and Susant his boots. Instead of walking into the main door of the temple, he followed Jampa through a side door and up a series of twisting stairways. At the top, they walked along the corridor of a second floor, one that could see down and into the main temple area. Susant noticed that at the very back of the temple was a statue of what must have been the Buddha.

              The statue was over twenty feet tall, sitting in a cross-legged stance, with one hand calmly placed on its knee, and the other held up in the form of prayer. Dozens of golden bowls had been placed around it, along with many white scarfs draped over its knees, hands and arms.

              He followed Jampa through a door, then up another twisting flight of stairs. At the top, Jampa bowed to two nuns, both of which were wearing masks over their mouths. Susant opened his mouth, but once again, closed it. Jampa had not spoken. Neither had the nuns.

              One of them walked over to Susant and held out a mask for him to wear over his mouth. Holding out his hand, his eyes caught hers. Upon seeing them, his breath nearly stopped. The woman had the most stunning eyes he had ever seen. It seemed to him that, in that moment, he was not looking into someone's eyes, but through a spherical doorway into a mystical realm.

              Even though the woman he was looking at could have been old enough to be his grandmother, she had the eyes of someone who yet burned with the vigor of life. Remembering the eyes of the Seer from Kingdom, Susant wondered if someone's eyes could change depending on how they had lived their lives, depending on what kind of person they turned out to be.