The Monastery

Chapter 41: The Golden Key

That night, after everyone had gone to sleep, Susant crept out of the garden. He walked silently as he made his way down the path toward the entrance of the monastery. He glanced once at the iron gate he had entered through long before, then turned and walked up the stairs to the main temple. The dogs did not growl.

              During his meditations, he had time to ponder dozens of different things. Being the curious boy that he was, he often thought about the Golden Temple that Jampa had told him about. The place where the Ancient One lived.

              Jampa told me that he thought he had seen the key to the golden gate, thought Susant. He stared up at the main temple before him, remembering the morning where he had done water offerings with the nuns. There was a room he had not been able to enter that day.

              The key to the Golden Temple must be in that room, thought Susant. And if my thoughts are correct, then the key to the Golden Temple isn't actually the key to the place of the Ancient Ones, but to the place where the monks and nuns go to return to the world below. That's the only reason they would keep that place off limits, so that no one could accidentally stumble upon it and leave. 

              Susant found the front door of the main temple locked. One of the dogs looked up from its nap, staring at him as he crept around the side of the building. Finding a tree that was leaning close enough to the temple, Susant climbed it. He crawled out onto one of the branches and was able to push open one of the windows on the second floor.

              Susant closed the window behind him as quietly as he could. The main temple was silent as could be. Remembering the path that Jampa had showed him to the water offering room, Susant crept along, taking the winding stairs up to the third floor.

              Not wanting to be any more disrespectful than he already was, Susant opened up the drawer with the masks in them and put one over his mouth. He felt stupid, knowing that he was already breaking one of the precepts by attempting to steal the key, but it just felt like the right thing to do.

              Creaking open the door to the Guru's rooms, Susant was surprised to find long rows of candles decorating the outer walls. The ambiance was dim but well-lit enough for Susant to easily find his way. He moved as silently as a cat in the night.

              Halting to a stop and holding his breath, Susant saw something he had never seen before. Sitting on one of the couches was what looked like a monk meditating. But that was just the thing. There was no monk there. Only the clothes of a monk, stiffly upright in the sitting posture, as if the monk beneath the clothes were invisible. He felt a shiver run down his spine.

              Turning away from the creepy meditating clothes, Susant found the door he had seen the nun walk out of that morning and opened it, slipping inside. The room within was quite small and was decorated with dozens of beautiful gold, silver and jade statues.

              In the middle of the room was a beautiful waterfall fountain, with rising tiers of crystal bowls on each level. If he hadn't been partially terrified about breaking into the Guru's rooms, he would have truly appreciated the craftsmanship of such a thing, but not on that night.

              "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," whispered Susant, feeling nervous as could be. "It's gotta be in here." His eyes caught a glimpse of something gold, and there it was. Sitting simply on one of the tiers of the fountain was a golden key, lying next to one of the water-filled bowls.

              Swallowing hard, Susant picked up the golden key. It was heavy, and he knew the moment he touched it that it was the key to the mysterious gate. Taking a few deep breaths, Susant slowly left the little room, passed back and through the Guru's main rooms, and found his way back into the darkness of the main temple.

              A few minutes later, Susant dropped down to the ground from the tree. Hearing the snapping of a twig, Susant whipped around. He quickly ducked back into the shadows of the building, but the glint of the key in his hand caught the moonlight. He quickly hid it.

              He sat still for several minutes, waiting to see if anyone would come forth, but no one did. Feeling his heart hammering in his chest, Susant walked away from the temple. Just when he reached the bottom of the stairs and was about to head toward the golden gate, Susant ran into Tenzin, the Chanting Master.

              "Oh, my, you startled me," Tenzin laughed. He looked at Susant, fear plainly written all across the boy's face. "What are you doing out and about so late, my boy?" He carefully surveyed Susant, who took a step backward and put his hand behind his head, forcing a grin.

              "Oh, you know, just walking around. Hard to sleep in the garden sometimes."

              "I can imagine," said Tenzin, eyeing him carefully. "Have you considered what we spoke of earlier?" He noticed that Susant was a little out of breath but said nothing. "We believe that you have what it takes to truly become one with our understandings, Susant. I hope you aren't doing anything to endanger that . . ."

              Susant felt a strange courage rekindle his heart. The words of Tenzin had brought back the memories of the old man who had passed, the memories of him being trapped in the monastery, and the thought of never seeing his father again.

              "I think that I would like to go home," said Susant. "I need to see my father."

              "But you haven't finished what you came here to do," said Tenzin plainly.

              "Maybe it would be a lot easier to motivate people to do that if you weren't trapping everyone in the monastery that were brought here." The words left Susant's mouth like a force, and although there was no anger in his words, something within them struck Tenzin.

              "My young Susant," said Tenzin slowly. "I assure you. No one is kept in here against their will."

              "Then why is the iron gate always closed?" Susant's voice was near a growl.

              "I believe that is something you should ask yourself," said Tenzin. "I think that this isn't a good time for us to speak of you taking refuge. Perhaps, you should take some time and meditate over this."

              Thoughts of the last moments he had spent with his father flashed back to Susant. His father had said the exact same words to him just before he had blown up in his face, just before he had said all those terrible things to him.

              Susant stared hard at Tenzin. "I don't need to meditate. I just need to go home."

              Tenzin sighed. "You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make it drink, I suppose. Either way, the only thing I can say is that you should spend some time alone with this, after letting yourself cool down. Good night, Susant. I wish you peace."

              At that, Tenzin went on his way. Susant watched him walk up the path and around the main temple. He waited until he was a thousand percent sure Tenzin wasn't coming back. Taking one last breath, Susant turned and walked towards the golden gate.

               It was time.

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