The Monastery

Chapter 42: The Golden Temple

Susant stood to his feet, finding his voice. "Oh, Ancient One," he began, "I humbly beg your forgiveness for my intrusion. I thought this place might be a way for me to return to my home, but I was wrong."

"We know why you are here," said the Ancient One.

"Then, is there a way that you can help me to escape this place?" Susant asked, slightly curious as to why the being had referred to itself as 'we.' He wondered if there were other beings watching him from places he could not see.

"Escape? We do not believe escape is the word you are looking for," the Ancient One said in a deep voice that seemed to reverberate throughout the room. "You have been misled by your mind. There is no need for you to escape this place."

"But I must leave this place," said Susant. "I've had a vision. The Empire is coming for Nyima. I must return home to see my father and my friends."

"And what good will it do your father and friends to have you return home?"

Susant stopped to think about his answer. "Well, they will know that I am alive and well."

"So that all of you can then die at the hands of the Empire?"

Susant was quiet. He hadn't really thought of the importance behind leaving. He decided to try a different approach. "Why is it that people are trapped here in the monastery and cannot leave when they wish?"

The Ancient One laughed, deep and true. "Of course, everyone can leave the monastery when they so desire. You are used to seeing the world as if it were a cage, and therefore it is your natural inclination to believe you are trapped. Like we said, your mind has misled you."

"But the iron gate is always closed with no way to open it. How could my mind have misled me, when my eyes have already seen for themselves?"

"Just because your eyes have chosen to see something, does not mean they have chosen well," said the Ancient One, and Susant could almost hear a faint ridicule in his tone.

"You speak in riddles," said Susant. "Riddles, that, I cannot hope to unravel."

"The iron gate is only closed to those who truly do not wish to leave the monastery. You push away the truth. You choose not to see it. Tell us, is it true that you so desire to leave the monastery? After everything that has happened to you in coming here, after witnessing the truth behind your visions, do you not still have questions that have yet to be answered?"

Susant was quiet.

"It is true that a part of you does, indeed, want to return to Nyima. But that is the part of you that worries for your father. The other part of you, the intuitive part of you, knows deep down that you were brought here for a reason, and that each and every day you spend here brings you closer to that truth. That truth is your purpose, child. And since you have yet to turn your back on your purpose, that is why the iron gate has been closed to you, and always will be, until you learn what you are, or abandon the path completely."

"What do you mean, what I am?"

"It is not our place to answer this question for you."

"Then, what is it your place to do?" Susant shot back, feeling frustrated.

Susant felt a sudden radiance of power emanate from the Ancient One. He watched in shock and horror as a third eye opened slowly on the forehead of the one who sat before him. It chilled him down to the very marrow of his bones.

The Ancient One spoke again, yet this time, his voice was darker, deeper. "It is our understanding that you have broken not one or two, but three of the precepts within the monastery walls."