The Monastery

Chapter 42: The Golden Temple

Susant placed the key into the gate and turned it. It creaked slightly as it opened. Feeling his heart beginning to race, Susant walked up the path toward the Golden Temple. Even in the dark of night, the magical place glowed like a little sun. As he moved closer, he could feel warmth emanating from it, as if he were edging closer and closer to flame itself.  

Off to the side of the temple was a small garden with a single beautiful tree. A ring of flowers grew around the trunk, and upon staring at it for a moment, Susant realized that the tree was the same kind as the one he slept under in his own garden for so long. He watched the wind move through its leaves, temporarily entrancing him.

              There is magic in this tree, he thought. I can feel it.

Walking over to the small courtyard before the glowing temple, Susant stopped when he saw an old man in a wheelchair watching him from the shadows. He felt a strange chill run down his spine. Then out of the dark, he watched as Nemeth, the little puppy the children had given to Jampa, wander out and into the light.

Nemeth ran over to Susant, who leaned down quietly, never taking his eyes off the old man in the wheelchair. He ran his fingers through the fur behind Nemeth's ears, then watched the little puppy run back toward the old man in the shadows.

Taking a deep breath, Susant stood and faced the stairs to the Golden Temple, but froze when he heard the creaking sound of the gate behind him. Turning around slowly, Susant dreaded seeing Tenzin by the gate, but strangely enough, no one was there. The gate had, somehow, closed itself; perhaps, the wind had come. Trying to push away the thought that there was no wind on that night, Susant turned and walked up the stairs, coming face-to-face with the doors of the Golden Temple. He walked forward and pushed them open.

Inside, the temple was black as pitch. The room smelled strongly of incense. It was jasmine, and although the smell of it usually brought him comfort, it did not in this place. As he took a couple steps forward in the dark, a candle lit on the edge of the room as if by some magic. Then a second one. And then a third.

Susant watched as the candles began flickering to life faster and faster, until the dark of the room was swallowed by the light. The outer walls were decorated by the most beautiful thangkas he had ever seen. The depictions on them looked to tell the story of two children being born to what looked like a king and a queen.

As he followed the story on the thangkas, one of the children was given to someone to take away from the castle, as if they were sending the child away as a baby. Feeling his heart freeze in his chest, Susant realized he was not alone in the temple, as his eyes fell on someone sitting meditatively in the middle of the room, silent as could be.

Susant's breathing grew unsteady as he stared at the man, if a man was what it could be called. The being's skin was not the color of a human's, but blue as an azure sky. His hair was long and black, falling down to his navel. Hung around his waist was the skin of a tiger, and coiled gently around his neck was a marvelous cobra, its eyes as keen of Susant as he was of it. As if held up by some magic, a beautiful trident stood by itself to the right of the being.

Susant crept slowly to his knees and bowed with all that he was, careful to touch his forehead all the way to the ground. The being was levitating before his very eyes. It sat in a tranquil contemplative state, its energy clear, powerful and vibrant.

He now knew that he had been wrong. The Golden Temple was not the place that the monks and nuns used to escape the monastery. It was not a place for them at all. It was not a place for him. It was a place for the gods.

As he sat there in the silence with his head pressed firmly against the ground, Susant began to think of his father, and of the impeding threat of the Empire. It was with those thoughts that Susant, once again, found his courage, and brought his eyes up to meet the Ancient One. Within the being's face was an emptiness that strangely enough, calmed his heart.