no fields under culti-vation. On the trip up here I saw little evidence of the sort of caravan you would need to keep this place supplied. I also noticed, when I woke up yesterday to eat what a rapjung brought to me, that the fruit that looked like an orange was segmented differently than oranges I’ve had before.”
Mong shrugged. “You and Mi-ma-yin notice the segmentation problem. Most of our monks just noticed they do not have ‘Sunkist’ stamped on them.”
“So, you send getsuls and gelongs out to forage amongst the various realities?”
“Since all reality is one, accepting nourishment from another dimension is a blessing.” The monk folded his arms into the sleeves of his robe. “I think there is one more thing you should see before we begin your formal lessons.
Follow me, please.”
Mong headed off on the long circuit around the outside of the Lhakang. Off to his right, Coyote saw the northern gate in the lamasery wall. Aside from its having carved stone doors that could not possibly ever move, it looked exactly like the western gate through which he had entered Kanggenpo. The 27 monks seated in the prayer alcoves surrounding it were deep in their meditations.
Coyote came around to the rear of the Lhakang a step behind Mong. He stopped short as the monk pointed to it.
”You entered through the west and will depart through the east.”
The gate appeared similar to the others in all its elements, but they had been rearranged and changed to make that gate seem threatening. It is almost malignant and hateful. A stone causeway connected it to the Lhakang level of the main temple, placing it 40 feet above Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
the courtyard level served by the other three gates. As with the others, 27 monks guarded it, but they were armed with weapons and wore armor. The two sets of nine in the vertical alcoves on either flank carried swords, spears and bows and arrows, with their armor of traditional Tibetan design. The monks in the horizontal row capping the gate had old AKM and G3 assault rifles slung over their shoulders and two had LAW rockets leaning against the alcove walls.
The gateway they surrounded led directly into the mountainside, and their alcoves had been carved into the mountain’s hide. Seeing no doors, Coyote thought the gateway was just the entrance to a huge, dark cavern.
Then he caught sight of what had to be the doors, but he was uncertain because they seemed insubstantial and ethereal. Intricately worked with arcane designs, they slowly solidified into a ghostly gray plasm, then began to fade again before they reached opacity.
Opposite the gateway, painted tall and menacing on the rear of the Lhakang, a black-skinned giant with four arms snarled at the gateway. Bright white tusks thrust out and up from his lower jaw, and his eyes looked filled with blood. His upper two hands held lightning bolts, the lower left a sword and the lower right a mace. Around his neck hung a string of skulls, and Coyote noticed that a number of them were not of terrestrial origin.
Coyote looked from the gateway to the picture and back. “I have the feeling I’m not intended to understand this.”
Mong nodded solemnly. “The painting is of our Yidam.
He is called Vajrabhairava, and he protects us from all harmful creatures. The monks warding our gates chant his name again and again and again to keep us safe.”
He nodded toward the east and the heart of the mountain. “The gate is the only way you will leave here.
If you have learned enough that you can travel through it to the outside world, you will have command of the skills you have come here to learn.”
“And if I don’t?”
Mong’s expression darkened. “Pray you do. Being reborn into this world is not something I would wish on even the most malignant Dark Lord.”
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Putter resting on his shoulder,
Mong shrugged. “You and Mi-ma-yin notice the segmentation problem. Most of our monks just noticed they do not have ‘Sunkist’ stamped on them.”
“So, you send getsuls and gelongs out to forage amongst the various realities?”
“Since all reality is one, accepting nourishment from another dimension is a blessing.” The monk folded his arms into the sleeves of his robe. “I think there is one more thing you should see before we begin your formal lessons.
Follow me, please.”
Mong headed off on the long circuit around the outside of the Lhakang. Off to his right, Coyote saw the northern gate in the lamasery wall. Aside from its having carved stone doors that could not possibly ever move, it looked exactly like the western gate through which he had entered Kanggenpo. The 27 monks seated in the prayer alcoves surrounding it were deep in their meditations.
Coyote came around to the rear of the Lhakang a step behind Mong. He stopped short as the monk pointed to it.
”You entered through the west and will depart through the east.”
The gate appeared similar to the others in all its elements, but they had been rearranged and changed to make that gate seem threatening. It is almost malignant and hateful. A stone causeway connected it to the Lhakang level of the main temple, placing it 40 feet above Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
the courtyard level served by the other three gates. As with the others, 27 monks guarded it, but they were armed with weapons and wore armor. The two sets of nine in the vertical alcoves on either flank carried swords, spears and bows and arrows, with their armor of traditional Tibetan design. The monks in the horizontal row capping the gate had old AKM and G3 assault rifles slung over their shoulders and two had LAW rockets leaning against the alcove walls.
The gateway they surrounded led directly into the mountainside, and their alcoves had been carved into the mountain’s hide. Seeing no doors, Coyote thought the gateway was just the entrance to a huge, dark cavern.
Then he caught sight of what had to be the doors, but he was uncertain because they seemed insubstantial and ethereal. Intricately worked with arcane designs, they slowly solidified into a ghostly gray plasm, then began to fade again before they reached opacity.
Opposite the gateway, painted tall and menacing on the rear of the Lhakang, a black-skinned giant with four arms snarled at the gateway. Bright white tusks thrust out and up from his lower jaw, and his eyes looked filled with blood. His upper two hands held lightning bolts, the lower left a sword and the lower right a mace. Around his neck hung a string of skulls, and Coyote noticed that a number of them were not of terrestrial origin.
Coyote looked from the gateway to the picture and back. “I have the feeling I’m not intended to understand this.”
Mong nodded solemnly. “The painting is of our Yidam.
He is called Vajrabhairava, and he protects us from all harmful creatures. The monks warding our gates chant his name again and again and again to keep us safe.”
He nodded toward the east and the heart of the mountain. “The gate is the only way you will leave here.
If you have learned enough that you can travel through it to the outside world, you will have command of the skills you have come here to learn.”
“And if I don’t?”
Mong’s expression darkened. “Pray you do. Being reborn into this world is not something I would wish on even the most malignant Dark Lord.”
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Putter resting on his shoulder,