The Witching Snakes pt 20

Fa Hai, Buddhist Monk, Learns about Bai Suzhen. Doesn't Approve. Tries to Influence Xu Xian

Read Part 19

Fa Hai, Abbot of the Golden Temple

Abbot Fa Hai of the Golden Mountain Temple could read your past and the future. All West Lake families revered Fa Hai. They came to his temple with dreams and offering. He could recite sacred scrolls by heart. He accepted their incense offerings. He lived among golden Buddhas and wore the robes of humility; he was the most humble abbot in the province.

The Golden Mountain Temple was filled with treasures from a dozen provinces and kingdoms. Pious Fa Hai ate from golden plates and drank from jewel-encrusted cups. Warlords and palace eunuchs journeyed far for the honor of seeing the monk recite the sutras. If fortune accepted their prayers, a student of Fa Hai would honor them with a glance.

In the time of plague when local villagers were coming up to the temple, Fa Hai sensed a loss of chi. One day a merchant, no more foolish than his neighbors, questioned the ultimate order of illness. The merchant burned incense and gave capital to the tidy and harmonious order of the Golden Mountain Temple. Yet he also found sustenance from miraculous healing potions purchased from a small shop. He lauded the mysterious owner's wife. She wore white and always knew which herbs worked best.

Fa Hai meditated for days. His breath ascended to heaven and then he recited the scripture. He noted a decrease in offerings. The travelers wanted the intercession of Buddha but they lacked urgency. Fa Hai sent supplicants to Hang Zhou. After a day and an hour, the monks returned with reports of miracle recoveries. Mistress Bai had not only sold plague victims medicine; she administered personally to the sweating and the fearful. Eccentric isolated women survived only because Mistress Bai entered their homes. Prisoners wailed about a magic snake. When the most famous baker met his executioner, Mistress Bai convinced him to give over his grain, presumably to distribute bread among the wretched and heretical.

After Fa Hai heard the reports, he dreamed of blood rivers and serpents. He saw hungry violent snakes let loose in the world. Marriages fell apart and soldiers refused to fight. Strange new faiths raced onto the land. He saw spies and counter-revolutionaries gathering to burn red teachers.

Fa Hai woke; his eyes were open. Anger gathered in his heart, a righteous anger against the whimsical demon who would break the order of the world. He did not call the weak monks to his side. As he had grown weary of ridding the temple of rebels, he had instituted a practice whereby his disciples cleansed their sins with public confessions. Potential rebels had either conformed or died. The monks remaining served Fa Hai mango juice and spoke of his wonderful countenance, amazed that Fa Hai could eat sin without succumbing to materialism.