Journey to the North (Part 4) - Wood

A novice monk travels with his tutor, a master sculptor, to visit the stone Buddhas of north China. He is tormented by a vivid dream of an idyllic rural life outside the monastery, and is tempted to leave.  (Part 4) Dai opens up about her life and work, and Tian tells her about his dream.

Wooden entranceway, Wutaishan, China (Photo: M. Griffiths)

A story in 6 parts.

 

Your feedback would be greatly appreciated to improve this story. Thanks!

 

Read Journey to the North (Part 1) - Dust here.
Read Journey to the North (Part 2) - Gold here.
Read Journey to the North (Part 3) - Stone here.

Journey to the North

 

Part 4

 

Wood

Tian leaned close to Master Shi, his face creased with worry. Master Shi’s voice was still deep but lacked its normal strength. He gripped his hand. “Don’t worry, apprentice. I will recover soon.”

Tian nodded. “Yes, Master,

“I have made a decision. When I am well again we will go south instead of south west. When we reach Wuhan on the Yangtze River, we will first go further downstream to Jiujiang, and visit the Golden Buddha at the Donglin Temple. All my life I have dreamed of seeing the great Golden Buddha and this will be my only chance.”

Tian’s eyebrows jiggled up and down on his forehead. This change of plan was most unlike Master Shi. Normally he would punish Tian for any slight deviation from the rules and procedures he laid down. He had suffered the punishments for many transgressions in his training.

“But master, we promised the abbot we would return as soon as possible.” He wants to complete the plans for the giant stone Buddha this year and start work next spring.

Master Shi nodded. “Yes. And we can still do that. I have been thinking on this for some time. It will not take long and the sight of such a miraculous statue will inspire us in our work when we return home.”

Tian sat with Master Shi until he slept again. Then he quietly slipped out of the room and strode quickly to the stone stopes at the bottom of the hill and paced to and fro. Soon he saw Dai approaching. He stood and bowed. “Good morning sister.”

“Good morning brother.” Dai answered with a nod, but her customary smile did not accompany the greeting.

“You are troubled?” Tian asked.

At first she did not answer. He matched her step for step slowly up the hill. Finally she relented.

“The meeting did not go well.” Dai said softly, casting a wary glance around her.

Tian frowned. “What matter could cause you such unhappiness?”

She stopped and looked at him. Then her eyes flickered to the forest that clothed the hillside and a narrow dirt path that wound among the trees. “Let us walk among the trees today.” Tian followed her at a distance until they were out of sight of the steps.

“The meeting was very unsatisfactory. The abbess is most disappointed.” Tian nodded solemnly. Dai took a deep breath. “Some time ago a wealthy woman, a friend of our order in the east, left a large bequest to the temple in her will, to further our work in the community. During her life she was a great supporter.” She walked a while in silence. Tian watched her face keenly, seeing her jaws clench and unclench.

“The bequest was a large quantity of precious jewels. The hierarchy heard about the matter and brought the jewels here, for ‘safe keeping’, they said. Now they will not return them. They have decided that the jewels should be sold and the money used to construct new temples and statues of Buddha instead. They say this is more important than our work in the community of the eastern kingdom.”

Tian saw her eyes moisten.

Tian frowned. “I can see your work is very important to you sister.”

Dai nodded. “We help families still affected by the radiation sickness. And one day we hope to cleanse the land of the poisons.”

“The poison from the explosions?”

“Yes, the ancient power plant. My dream when I am ordained is to travel to Japan to learn from them about the fungi and plants that can absorb the poisons and remove them from the soil. They have experience with these things.” She bit her lip. “My ancestors were among those affected many centuries ago. They pledged that one person from every generation would become a monk or a nun for one thousand generations until the poisons have dissipated.” Her eyes moistened. “A long penance wouldn’t you say.”

Tian nodded and fought an urge to grasp her hand. Instead he fingered his rosary and murmured a prayer.

“I hope that my work might shorten that time and make a better life for my family and others in the future. We need the money to pay for the trip and to grow the plants and distribute them around the province for many years to come.”

Tian rubbed his shaven head and groped for words that could ease her suffering. “Will you have further meetings? Perhaps they will change their minds.”

Dai nodded. “Yes we will meet them again today. But I do not believe they will change their decision.” She shook he head. “I never dreamed when I became a nun that such politics would…”

They reached small clearing where they could see the valley spread out below them. Dai stared at the view for a minute them looked around for a seat.

Tian pointed at a tree. “Look, a monkey.”

Dai turned and smiled at the small monkey as it stared at them, then scampered from limb to limb out of sight. “I used to climb trees when I was child, but the temple doesn't encourage it.”

“They can’t stop me!” Tian grasped two branches and began to haul himself up. Several metres above the ground he stopped, looked down at her and grinned.

Dai smiled back. “Careful monkey!” She looked around and spied a log, the remains of a fallen tree, beside the path, brushed dirt and leaves from the surface and sat down as Tian descended from the tree. He joined her on the log, separated only by a foot now. Dai absently traced the creases and knots in the surface of the wood. Beside the log a small seedling stretched skyward. She pointed to it. “The cycle of life, death and rebirth is everywhere.”

Tian nodded.

Dai slid her fingers into a knot hole. “Oh, it’s hollow.” she said.

Tian nodded. “Yes.”

Dai stood and crouched by the end of the log. She brushed away some leaves and looked inside. “The soul has flown.” she said with a faint smile.

She swept the leaves back into place and sat down again. She twisted her rosary in her hands and mouthed a prayer. Tian watched her silently.  Eventually she stopped and looked at him with a smile. “Thank you for your company today. I feel better now.”

Tian blushed and nodded. “I…” he started, then stopped immediately.

She looked at him, eyebrows raised.

“I have a dream too. A real dream that comes to me often in the night.”

“Dai nodded for him to continue.

“I see a farm in the country, a house, crops in the fields, trees all around. And I hear a woman singing.

He looked at her briefly. She returned his gaze calmly.

“I feel it is a message for me to leave the monastery. I went there as an orphan and I am not sure it is the life that I…” He paused to take a deep breath.

“Last night I had the dream again, the woman was singing and I saw her face for the first time.

Dai raised her eyebrows expectantly.

“It was you.”

Dai gasped and clasped her hands together.

“I believe we were meant to meet here, and we can have a wonderful life together.” Tian said quickly.

Dai opened to mouth to speak, the closed it again. Finally she whispered. “Where would we live? How would we support ourselves?”

“We would have a farm in Sichuan and grow crops. And I would plant trees for fire wood and timber. I know a lot about that. And in the winter when the farm work is quiet I will carve statues and you can meditate. We will choose a village away from the earthquake fault lines, the monastery has a big map that shows them all.”

“Such a long way from my home. What if you died? How would support myself, without family nearby?”

Tian recalled a meeting just after they left the monastery. Master Shi had taken him to visit a rich man, a relative of Master Shi, on the way to Chengdu to catch the steam train. He was a businessman who made his fortune from trading cotton, silk and tea from the south and east and even products from overseas borne on ships of sail and steam. He was also a collector of furniture, old books and statues. They had an interesting conversation. Master Shi had chided him on his collection, telling him he could not take it with him to his next life. The man had laughed and said he could give it all up in a moment. But Tian had seen a strange look in his eye. At the time he was not sure whether it was mirth, true disdain for the things he had surrounded himself with, or, as Tian now suspected, a deep and growing fear. The man had asked Master Shi to carve him a Buddha for his courtyard garden.

“There are wealthy people who would appreciate the reassurance of a Buddha statue on their courtyard.” Tian declared. “I will find special stones and carve beautiful statues. I know where to look. We can bury money in a safe place to support you if anything happens and surround the house with high walls.”

Dai nodded, thought for a while, then spoke. “You have given this much thought, but I am not sure any walls could keep us safe. The community in the temples is our best security brother.” She smiled and the sparkle in her eyes returned. “Are you sure you can sell so many statues? Perhaps you overestimate your skills?”

Tian leapt up and searched among the trees and returned with a broken piece of a branch, about as thick as his arm. “Give me a few days, I will show you what I can do.”

Dai laughed. “Ok, and I will think about your words.” She patted the log between them. “You have helped me a lot this morning brother, more than you know.” She stood up. “I should go now.”

Tian stood and they exchanged bows. He watched Dai walk along the path, a smile on his face, then sat down, pulled a knife from his small carry bag and began to carve the wood.

****

Your feedback would be greatly appreciated to improve this story. Thanks!

Read  Journey to the North (Part 1) - Dust, here.
Read  Journey to the North (Part 2) - Gold, here.
Read  Journey to the North (Part 3) - Stone here.

Read  Journey to the North (Part 5) - Jewels, here.

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