“And, you are …”
“You don’t need to know who I am; you can simply call me Nameless. As long as you know why I’ve come, that’s sufficient.”
“It’s because you hope that our … that our temple will donate some money to the religious training center?”
“Not the temple. I hope that you yourself will donate.”
“Me? … Well, I do have some savings.”
“So how much will you donate?”
“I can donate ten thousand yuan.”
“Do you think it would be worth my while to come find you for only ten thousand yuan?”
“Then how about twenty thousand … ? Although I’m an abbot, each month I only receive the frozen salary of a dead monk. Compared with all of you, I am virtually destitute, and although it is true that I don’t need to support a wife and children, I still have almost no savings to speak of.”
“Do you really not have any savings?”
“I brought my bank passbook with me to Beijing. If you want, I can get it and show it to you.”
“Did you hide your passbook inside a sacred book?”
“Amitābha …”
“Do you really not have to support a wife and children? Do you really not have your own family?”
“Amitābha …”
“A hundred and twenty li east of Daxian Temple, there’s a community called Big Li Village. Wasn’t that your home before you joined the monastery? On the east side of Big Li Village, there is a small courtyard with a small three-story foreign-style house. Whose woman is the woman who lives in that house, and whose children are her children?”
“Amitābha …”
“I know you are the Buddhist disciple with the greatest sense of regret. It is only with a sense of regret that one can then cultivate a sense of piety, and it is only because of your sense of regret and piety that I’ve kept silent about this matter until now. That is, I’ve come to see you today not because I want Daxian Temple to make a donation, but rather because I want you to voluntarily make a donation on your own behalf.”
“Amitābha … I’ll do my best. I can donate all of my savings …”
“… Oh! It’s you!”
“You’re very smart. You immediately recognized me, Nameless, and didn’t mistake me for Zhuangzi or Laozi.”
“I know why you’ve come … Would you like green or black tea?”
“Out of all the dormitories, yours is the only one with a pinewood tea tray and tea set. From which of your ancestors did you inherit this purple clay teapot? And don’t tell me it’s from the Forbidden City, or that it was previously used by the emperor … If you were to sell this tea set, the proceeds could cover four years of tuition for ten college students. Even if you sold just the teapot, the proceeds could allow five students to pursue their doctorates at foreign universities.”
“He-he … Why don’t you first have some tea? When you’ve finished, I’ll prepare some of my Da Hong Pao tea, which I’ve never served to anyone before. Once you’ve tried it, you’ll be able to determine whether other fine black tea is real or fake. Of course, I’m not comparing my Da Hong Pao with the high-quality kind that you might find in the home of a governor or minister … If you take a sip, you’ll understand. What do you think? Doesn’t the taste resemble a thread being sewn through your tongue? I wouldn’t exactly call it pain, but it’s a kind of tingling. What would you call it? For years, I haven’t been able to come up with a way of describing the way this fragrance sticks to the tip of your tongue. When Laozi asked those questions about the union of body and soul—While you cultivate the soul and embrace unity, can you keep them from separating? Focus your vital breath until it is supremely soft, can you be like an infant? Cleanse the mirror of mysteries, can you make it free of blemish?—perhaps he was sipping this tea, and as the earthly fragrance coursed through and aggregated in his body, it inspired him to come up with those six statements about virtue? The Dao gives birth to all things and nurtures them. It gives birth to them but does not possess them. It rears them but does not control them. This is called mysterious integrity. That is to say, it produces them yet makes no claim to possessing them; it carries them through their processes but does not vaunt its ability in doing so; it brings them to maturity but exercises no control over them—this is the great virtue of the far-reaching person. And if this is the case, why would I, a Daoist master, want to keep this tin of black tea hidden, drinking it only myself and not permitting others to enjoy it? You should take a sip, and another … That’s right, take a sip, breathe, let it settle, then let the tea sit in your mouth for a moment … like this. When you swallow, you should raise your head and gaze up at the sky, the mountains, and the stars. Even if you are in a dark room, you should let your heart generate the sun, the stars, and the entire universe. Only in this way can you attain a true understanding of the tea … Wouldn’t you like some more? Why don’t you drink for a little while longer? You should definitely finish this second cup, because the flavor of the second cup is completely different from that of the first—it is soft and far-reaching, like standing at the edge of a precipice and staring down into the ten-li-deep abyss … Wouldn’t you agree? Or do you think I’m wrong? Soft fragrance that can be smelled from ten li away, and white clouds that can be seen from a great distance. If you put it this way, it would be completely wrong to treat Bai Juyi as a Buddhist poet. I feel that his Daoist qualities exceed his Confucian and Buddhist ones. Wouldn’t you agree? Could it possibly be otherwise? OK, OK, I’ll listen to you. Go ahead.”
“…”
“Don’t look at me that way. For better or worse, I’m the host of a famous temple, but when you look at me that way, you make me feel like a bad and lazy little Daoist.”
“…”
“What’s wrong?”
“…”
“The issue … Oh, the issue … is money. I’ll do as you say, and if you tell me to donate, I’ll do so. If you tell me to donate a certain amount, I’ll do so. Thirty or fifty thousand, one hundred or two hundred thousand—I’ll donate as much as you want … Right, right, I know that it’s not that you are telling me to donate, but rather that I’m donating voluntarily. This is because previously I was of two minds when it came to belief. I coveted money, so now I’ll voluntarily donate some. Completely voluntarily!”
“Thank you for telling me all this. With respect to the donation, I can offer any amount you like, but if the money is to be used to support inter-sect athletic competitions—and particularly if it is to be used for tug-of-war competitions—then I will adamantly refuse to donate, whether it be on my own behalf or on behalf of my church or my denomination.”
“In that case, you won’t donate anything at all?”
“Not a cent.”
“And you aren’t afraid I’ll reveal your secret?”
“I’m not afraid …”
“If I were to reveal your secret, not only would it impact your ability to become a priest, it could also lead your church and disciples to lose faith in you.”
“I know I’ve sinned … In fact, it was precisely because I sinned that I originally joined the church. I decided to become a priest precisely because I knew I had sinned, and this is also why the believers selected me to become their priest. If I didn’t know I had sinned, the believers would not have selected me to serve as their priest and to explain the Bible’s religious doctrine and its concept of original sin.”
“It wasn’t the believers who selected you, but rather the organization.”
“…”
“Did you not see that your priest certificate has the organization’s stamp?”
“I did see that … but I view that stamp as a handprint left by the Pope and the Virgin Mary.”
“Well put. However, if I were to retract that stamp, then the Pope’s and the Virgin Mary’s handprints would also be retracted.”
“…”
“A donation is not an issue of money, but rather of attitude. Do you understand?”
“…”
“Go ahead and make a donation, even if it is only for ten thousand yuan. If you do, members of other religions will do the same. Protestants, Catholics, and perhaps even some Muslim imams—right now, everyone is watching you … Or you could not donate, but we’ll still announce that you’ve donated a hundred thousand yuan … or fifty thousand … or let’s just say ten thousand. The problem is not whether or not you donate, but rather whether or not every disciple will obey the organization.”
“…”
“How about this? You tell me whether you’ll obey the organization, OK? If you say you won’t, I’ll immediately rescind your priest certificate, and you’ll no longer be a priest in the church that is the most symbolically resonant religious site in China. You will no longer be able to serve as a bridge between disciples and the Virgin Mary, nor will you be qualified to stand inside the church and affectionately tell your disciples how much God loves them, how much Mary loves them, and how much Jehovah loves the world that lies beyond the reach of eight hundred bamboo poles … This is actually a very small matter, so why make it an issue? Even if God wants the world to be harmonious and people to be healthy, isn’t this perfectly consonant with the spirit of the tug-of-war competitions? OK, OK, you don’t need to donate much, just ten thousand yuan. Moreover, you don’t even need to give us the actual money, because we can simply announce that you donated ten thousand yuan in your capacity as the eldest priest. If you do that, I’m sure I’ll see other priests confessing in their rooms. OK, I’m leaving now, so that you can go up to your picture of the Virgin Mary and confess to her. I’m confident that God, Mary, and Jesus will certainly not be displeased with your donation. They are all righteous and broad-minded, and they understand that there is no inherent contradiction between the principle that friendship comes first and competition comes second, on one hand, and God’s advocacy of humanity’s healthy spirit, on the other. They understand that the principle that friendship comes first and competition comes second is the true covenant that God has given humanity.”
“…”
“I’ll be leaving now. Given that you’ve agreed to make a voluntary donation, I’ll be leaving … There’s no need for you to see me out. If anyone asks, you can just say that I’m Nameless.”
“…”
“There’s no need for you to see me out … Goodbye.”
“… Goodbye.”
After Nameless emerged from the religion building, he stood in front of it for a while. He felt as though his energy were going to explode right out of his body. He gazed out at the campus, then went over to the flower pond next to the entrance to the religion building. The pond was filled with bamboo, and in the mud below the bamboo there was a mousehole the size of a man’s finger. Meanwhile, in the corner of the flower pond there was a bottle of sulfuric acid that a cleaner had been using to scrub dirt and rust from the windows. The bottle carried a warning: DANGER! HIGHLY CORROSIVE. Nameless stood next to the bamboo grove and gazed down at the mousehole. He abruptly picked up the bottle, twisted off the cap, and poured half of the contents into the hole. Then he replaced the cap and put the bottle down, confident that the acid would kill the bamboo, and gazed out at the field in front of the religion building. Because the religious training center had money, therefore all the disciples, under the direction of Director Gong, participated in athletic competitions—including shuttlecock, table tennis, badminton, and tug-of-war. And because each event offered both a trophy and a monetary prize, therefore all the disciples participated—including men and women, young and old. The resulting scene was invariably as tumultuous as a conference on world religion being held right in front of the religion building, and the sound of applause and laughter was always like this season’s thunderstorms.
With a smile, Nameless headed over in that direction.