Chapter 250 — Rouge and White Bone

On the summit all was silent, save for the sound of prayer beads turning, and now and then a monk's halo would scatter and he would fall from the sky. The Old Tathagata looked around, taking in the expressions of the bodhisattvas, venerables, and arhats.

Fan Xuanshu, that former cult master of demons, had appeared before the assembled monks wearing Si Youyou's beauty, disordered their minds, damaged their Buddha-hearts, and bred in them a tangle of stray thoughts. Even though he had just displayed the Buddha-dharma at full stretch, rousing the flesh bodies of the many Tathagatas within the Tower of Ten Thousand Aspects, that could only suppress them for a time. A halo scattering and a monk falling from the sky meant the Buddha-heart had been broken. The Buddhist order set great store by cultivation of the mind; once the Buddha-heart was broken and stained with karmic fruit, the mind-realm would collapse, and those falling were no longer monks but ordinary mortals.

Their fall from the sky was a fall from a place high above, far from the red dust, down into the red dust. Some would turn back and repent, finding the shore by turning round; others would leave the Great Tingming Temple and struggle in the red dust in search of deliverance.

Yet once the vulgar heart stirs, deliverance is hard indeed. Si Youyou's beauty had brought down many of the Great Tingming Temple's high ranks, a grievous loss. Still, Shen Mu and the others could not be blamed; after all, Shen Mu and his companions had given warning, and it was the Old Tathagata who insisted on beholding Granny Zhu's true face, to test their Buddha-hearts. Yet there were still a few on the mountain whose Buddha-hearts stood firm, not wavering in the least.

These eminent monks had attained the Way as beings of another kind, not of the human race. Beautiful as Granny Zhu was, she was not of their kind, and these monks could see nothing beautiful in her — only a stinking bag of skin. "Your cultivation is still insufficient. You cling to outward form and have never seen true Suchness.

" The Old Tathagata looked around and instructed the monks: "You see her beauty and cannot master yourselves, yet you do not know that the beauty you see is only the beauty you suppose, not true beauty.

Brother Haikong, for instance — do you think her beautiful? " He was speaking of an eminent monk who had attained the Way as a being of another kind. That monk said, "She is not of my kind.

I cannot feel her beauty. " The Old Tathagata laughed. "A beauty that cannot be felt outside one's own kind is not true beauty, only outward form. Beauty is the Great Truth, the Great Suchness, the Great Enlightenment, the Great Wisdom.

Cult Master Li, this bag of skin you cling to so obsessively is not true beauty.

Among the myriad living beings, your beauty accounts for no more than the word 'human' — can you not see how narrow that is? " The monks all felt a sudden illumination, and Shen Mu too thought his words most reasonable. Worthy of the Old Tathagata — one who had attained Great Enlightenment might truly be able to subdue Fan Xuanshu, that demon of the heart. The reason Fan Xuanshu wished to become Granny Zhu was precisely that Granny Zhu was too beautiful; she had disordered his Dao-heart and bred in him evil thoughts and demonic thoughts, the desire to become Granny Zhu.

Granny Zhu chuckled. "Old Tathagata, of the ten thousand paths in this world, my Tiansheng Cult occupies but the word 'human', while your Buddhist order occupies them all.

Can you occupy them all? Enough talk. What power have you to subdue me? " The Old Tathagata smiled faintly, took out a bronze mirror, and handed it to a venerable at his side. "Give this mirror to her.

" The venerable took the bronze mirror and stepped down from the high altar toward Granny Zhu. When he saw her face, his heart pounded wildly again, and he hurriedly shut his eyes, not daring to look further. He delivered the bronze mirror.

Granny Zhu took it in her hands and, gazing at her own reflection, laughed softly. "A peerless beauty indeed — even I am moved to pity. " Seeing her coquettish air, some of the monks could scarcely contain themselves.

The Old Tathagata smiled. "Now turn the mirror over. " Granny Zhu turned it over, and in the mirror appeared a white skeleton, much as she would look after death.

"What does Cult Master Li make of it? " The Old Tathagata smiled.

"However peerless a beauty you may be, at the end of your life you are nothing but a heap of dry bones. Do you still find dry bones beautiful? " Granny Zhu flung the bronze mirror to the ground and stamped it to pieces underfoot, saying carelessly, "A mere trick to hoodwink ordinary folk — rouge and skull, and nothing more.

Tathagata, I understand the principle. I do not, like you, wish to live in glory in the next life; this one life, lived with dash and splendor, is enough for me.

To seek a next life is the act of a coward.

This little trick of yours cannot subdue me.

You say a single mirror can convert me — then let me walk once around your Great Tingming Temple, and we shall see whether you convert me, or I convert every great monk and little monk in your house. Shall we make a wager?

" The Old Tathagata frowned slightly.

"You have no root of wisdom. " The blind elder also sensed trouble and said, "Brother Dao, roots of wisdom are nonsense.

Better to strike at once and subdue her! " The Old Tathagata pondered a moment, then said, "Cult Master Li was, after all, once the cult master of demons. I will take her into the Tower of Ten Thousand Aspects and subdue her there. Monks, your concentration is shallow and your cultivation insufficient; remain outside the tower and lend your support. " The monks assented and descended from the high altar one after another, gathering around the Tower of Ten Thousand Aspects. Some monks inside the tower hurried out as well, not daring to remain. The Old Tathagata smiled. "Cult Master Shen, you too are a cult master of demons, deep in demon-nature. Since ancient times Buddha and demon have stood apart.

You are a guest who has come seeking help; I will not subdue you.

But while I am subduing Cult Master Li, I hope you will remain in the Great Tingming Temple, listen to the Buddha-dharma, and dissolve the violence in your heart, so that in future you may commit fewer killings. " Old Master Huo and the blind elder saw it clear as a mirror: the Old Tathagata meant to keep them in the Great Tingming Temple.

If he could convert them, well and good; if not, then they would simply be unable to leave. Shen Mu was overjoyed. He laughed, "Brother, what a brilliant plan!

Then we shall trespass on your hospitality. May you subdue that old demon Cult Master Li soon — a boundless merit!

" The Old Tathagata smiled faintly and instructed, "Let these benefactors lodge in the temple. " A venerable hesitated. "World-Honored One, many places in the temple are holy ground of our order. If they should wander and blunder about. .

. " "Let them. There is nothing in the Great Tingming Temple that cannot be seen by men or shown to the light.

" The Old Tathagata said, "When Imperial Preceptor Jingping came, I even showed him the Tingming Mahayana Sutra. The cult master of the Dark Demons does evil — can his evil exceed that of Imperial Preceptor Jingping? Cult Master Shen too is a living being.

In the Great Tingming Temple there are no outsiders.

" The venerable assented and came forward to lead them. Shen Mu laughed.

"Brother, is there vegetarian fare in the temple?

These New Year days we have eaten too richly and would like something plain. " The venerable glanced at him, turned his prayer beads, and suppressed the urge to subdue demons, saying, "If the cult master stays in the Great Tingming Temple, he may eat vegetarian fare for a lifetime. " Shen Mu roared with laughter and said to the blind elder, "Aren't you afraid we'll eat them into poverty?