Tara Zenyora : and the Seven-Jeweled Lighthouse

by Samantha B. Adra

  Tara put on Prince Ao Chen’s outer robe and cloak, which was a little large for her. She could not help but feel herself being wholly enveloped by the refreshing scent of the forest and the ocean permeating from his robe; it was as if he was embracing her whole being.

  When she stepped out, she saw Prince Ao Chen waiting for her with the most seductive smile of impudence. “Let me accompany you back to your chamber.”

  “Prince Chen, may I have a sash please? I need that to tie my robe,” said Tara, slightly embarrassed.

  “Oh sure, apologies for my oversight. Here you go.” With a wave of his hand, a pink sash appeared in his palm. “May I help you with that?”

  “Sure.”

  He skillfully tied the sash around her seductively sylphlike waist into a butterfly knot. “How do you find the butterfly knot? Is that lovely? Do you like it?”

  “Yes I do, thank you.”

  “My pleasure,” said Prince Chen, flashing his charming grin of impertinence. Deep in his heart, he was exhilarated that the very action of tying a knot on her and hearing the response of “yes I do” were the signs that this lady would one day be his.

  As they ambled along the pebbled path toward the Damsel Retreat, he started to introduce himself. “I’m Prince Ao Chen. You may call me Prince Chen. I have never seen you before. You must be new here?”

  “Yes, Prince Chen. I’d just been transferred from the Dung Department to work in the Dragon Library. However, my elderly father is still toiling there, and I’m worried for him working in such a tough environment,” Tara replied dispiritedly.

  “I see. Well, if you’d like, I can help you transfer your father to work in the dragon tea plantation.”

  “Really? That would be awesome, thank you!” Tara was delighted. “In addition to my father, could you also transfer all those people I know to the dragon tea plantation as well?”

  “Sure, it’s always my pleasure to lend a helping hand, especially to a ravishing beauty like you,” Prince Chen told her, his eyes were fixated on Tara’s charming face.

  His praise of her made her gut flip.

  “I’m just wondering, since you are a human, how did you arrive at the dragon kingdom?”

  “My father and the rest stumbled into the dragon world on my wedding day when the ocean and the sky just opened up in a spiral. As for me, I was captured by the sea creature soldiers when I was trying to save a large bird.”

  “You’re married?” asked Prince Chen, his voice tinged with disappointment. “Where’s your husband now?”

  “Yes, I was married but my late husband had already passed on,” replied Tara, feeling the burden of grief coming back to her again.

  Prince Chen’s lips curled into a slight smile, secretly breathing a sigh of relief. She is a widow; I still have a chance.

  “I’m sorry to hear about the untimely demise of your husband,” replied Prince Chen. “It’s always good for a young lady to move on in life with a new partner; there are plenty of eligible young men out there who are willing to bring happiness to you.”

  Tara turned her head to look at Prince Chen. “Thank you for your advice but I’m still grieving my late husband; and marriage is not my priority at the moment. In fact, I do wish to go back home to the human world one day. Would you be able to help?”

  His shoulder slumped the moment he heard that she wanted to go back to the human world. “We dragons can visit the human world anytime. But if you wish to go back, you will need to get the approval of my father, the Dragon King of Sagara. For you, it will be a little complex because you are considered a captive, so to speak.”

  As soon as Tara heard it was difficult for her and her father to go back home, she was devastated. But she was determined to figure something out.

  On their stroll back to the Damsel Retreat, they bumped into Nai Nai who brought with her a fresh new garment. Tara changed into a jade-green, u-shaped, small sleeves Hanfu, the color of which brought out the exquisite green color of her eyes.

  “You look absolutely gorgeous,” praised Prince Chen, his whimsical violet eyes could not let go of her enchanting green eyes.

  Tara momentarily blushed when she received such praise from a handsome prince.

  “Thank you for your compliment. I wish to return you your outer robe and cloak as I don’t need them anymore,” said Tara, extending her hands with the folded outer robe and cloak.

  "You may keep the robe and cloak for yourself,” said Prince Chen. “Treat them as gifts from me. I insist.”

  Tara had no choice but to reluctantly keep his ‘gifts’ that would have not much use to her except taking up space in the wardrobe.

  “The Dragon Library is in the deepest part of the ocean. Humans can’t enter the Dragon Library without assistance. May I have the honor of giving you a lift?” asked Prince Chen with his trademark impertinent smile.

  “Thank you, I’m so sorry to trouble you,” said Tara, giving him a slight bow.

  “You need to wear this wheel necklace for you to breathe in the water,” said Prince Chen, taking off his necklace that had pearl-encrusted navigational wheel pendant. “It was a gift from my Venerable Smile when I was a baby. I no longer need it to travel to the ocean.”

  Tara lowered her head to allow Prince Chen to help her put on the wheel pendant. The moment the wheel pendant was placed on her neck, a helmet-like invisible shield was activated, enabling her to breathe in the water.

  “I’m going to transform myself into a dragon soon, don’t be alarmed.” As soon as he said so, a gigantic white dragon with a turquoise mane appeared in front of Tara, which gave her a momentary fright.

  “Tara, come over and sit on my back. Just hold on tightly to my horns when I’m flying. Relax and enjoy your ride,” reassured Prince Chen.

  It was an eye-opening experience for Tara to travel deep into the ocean. She saw the ocean was inundated with trash, plastic bottles, food wrappers, cigarettes, oil spills, and shoals of dead fish and various marine creatures such as whales, dolphins, and sharks. As they went deeper into the water, she saw metal cans, plastic bags, glass bottles, shoes, tires, and fishing equipment.

  It is the ocean pollution. If I can go back to the human world, I want to take action to protect the ocean, the environment, and the Mother Earth. Tara thought.

  CHAPTER 14

  THE DRAGON LIBRARY

  Soon, the human and dragon duo arrived at the Dragon Library located at the deepest of the ocean. There was an invisible round shield that protected the Dragon Library.

  “Just call me using the white conch and I will come over to fetch you,” said Prince Chen, giving her a white conch with a high spire.

  “Sure, thank you Prince Chen.” Clutching the exquisite white conch in her hand, Tara felt a sense of joy welling up inside her.

  The Dragon Library was built within an underwater mountain cliff and it was like a grotto. The library’s façade resembled that of Shaolin Monastery Library, replete with upturned roof corners, overhanging eaves, and stone lions. A horizontal inscribed board with the Chinese calligraphic characters that meant “Library of the Dragon King” was placed on top of the main door. Two intimidating-looking soldiers in ancient Chinese military attire stood on each side of the main door.

  A bespectacled, lissom female dragon librarian was waiting outside the Dragon Library for Tara. Tara’s late arrival tested her patience. “You are late! It’s unacceptable if you wish to continue working here in the Dragon Library.”

  “Apologies for my tardiness. I promise to be punctual from tomorrow onwards.”

  “I’m Fang Ting, the Head Librarian in the Dragon Library. There are two other Library Assistants. You are the third. We work on a roster, and you are assigned the morning slot with me. The other two assistants are on the afternoon slot. Let me give you a short briefing of your roles and responsibilities. You need to arrive early in the morning to get the first level classroom and learning materials ready for Venerable Wenshu. You are responsible to sort
and shelve scrolls according to color, and keep the shelves, tables, chairs, and the floor clean. If you do well, I may assign more duties for you,” said Fang Ting, walking her into the library.

  “Venerable Wenshu, the spiritual teacher of the dragon kingdom, has already begun the daily Dharma class for the grandchildren of the Dragon King. Try not to make any noise when entering the library. I’ll show you how to do sorting and shelving of the books and scrolls later.”

  Having taken off her shoes and placed them on the shoe rack outside, Tara padded across the main hall and climbed up the shimmering spiral staircase made of white crystal to the topmost floor, closely behind Fang Ting.

  “The Dragon Library is the private library of the Dragon King Sagara, therefore only his immediate family members are allowed to use the library for personal reading, research, and borrowing of the books and scrolls. No human has been allowed to visit the Dragon Library since the last visit of Nagajurna. I wonder why the Dragon King allows you to work in his private library.”

  As Tara walked with Fang Ting, she noticed that there were thousands of scrolls in the library. She would later learn that the number exceeded 84,000 scrolls. A quick glance informed Tara that the scrolls covered diverse topics, including the language, history, etiquettes, and the rites and rituals of the dragon world. But what interested her the most was the Dharma scriptures and transcripts of the Buddha’s teachings. The Qian Long’s Chinese Buddhist Canon, Tibetan Buddhist Canon, the Pali Canon, Tangut Canon, Sanskrit Canon, Gandharan Canon, Taisho Tripitaka of Japan, and Tripitaka Koreana of Korea. She always wanted her bookshelves to be adorned with these gems.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by Fang Ting, who showed Tara the five humongous baskets of scrolls waiting to be shelved. “Please get these shelved before noon. I have other duties and matters to settle. If you need any help, you can find me in my office behind the Main Hall.”

  Tara was captivated by the splendor and grandeur of the library. There were nine levels in the Dragon Library. Every level was accented by a different type of crystal. On the first floor, rainbow obsidian and white quartz was the predominant crystals, the second floor had red rubies, the third was decorated by orange sapphire, fourth was yellow beryl, fifth green emerald, sixth blue aquamarine, seventh amethyst, and lastly on the highest floor was the diamond.

  The floors and walls were made entirely of quartz, beryl, sapphire crystals, and many other kinds of crystals. Every level had a 2-meter tall Buddha statue sculpted from one giant slab of white diamond. There was a couplet on both sides of the Buddha which meant ‘Enter deep into the treasury of the Dharma scrolls, and your wisdom shall become as vast as the ocean.’ Each time Tara entered a level, the diamond Buddha statue would light up spontaneously, sending bright, radiant light to illuminate the entire level.

  On the ceiling of each level was a gigantic crystal chandelier with two sculpted dragons and a huge white pearl in the middle. In the middle of the level was a large, round table made of different types of crystals.

  Natural crystal geodes - amethyst, emerald, obsidian, lapis Lazuli, ruby – could be found on the side of the mountain. Some were spiky and protuberant, others iridescent and egg-shaped. The different colors and textures were simply breath-taking. Some of the jewels were shaped just like the corals and sea anemone. The entire cavern was filled with jewels and gems of all kinds.

  In the process of doing the sorting and shelving, Tara randomly opened one scroll to see its contents: it was written in the dragon language with which she was unfamiliar with. Then, she discovered some scrolls and books written in traditional Chinese characters.

  “Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra, Amitabha Sutra, Vimalakirti Sutra, Mahaparinirvana Sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra, Shurangama Samadhi Sutra, Lotus Sutra, Golden Light Sutra, Infinite Life Sutra …these are all the Mahayana sutras!” exclaimed Tara, briefly browsing the ancient scrolls made up of bamboo. Many of these sutras are the authentic works of Kumarajiva, the most renowned Buddhist translator in the history of humanity, she thought excitedly.

  Many commentaries such as Master Hui Neng’s Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, and Master Zhiyi’s Three Tiantai Treatises: The Great Calming and Contemplation, The Profound Meaning of The Lotus Sutra, The Words and Phrases of The Lotus Sutra, Master Shinran’s The True Teaching, Practice, Faith and Attainment of the Pure Land, two sutras by Master Bodhidharma: Tendon Transformation Sutra (Yi Jin Jing) and Marrow Purification Sutra (Xi Sui Jing), Master Kukai’s Attaining Enlightenment in This Very Existence, and the compilation of epistles by the Japanese monk, Nichiren, The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin were all available for borrowing.

  At one corner of the shelf, English copies of the Lotus Sutra translated by different translators such as Burton Watson, Gene Reeves, Senchu Murano, Bunno Kato, Jan Hendrik Kern, Leon Hurvitz, and Minerva T.Y. Lee were arranged neatly.

  Marvelous! The Dragon King must have assigned someone to get these English copies of the Lotus Sutra from the human world and keep them in his private library, she thought.

  She randomly took a Lotus Sutra copy translated from Minerva T.Y. Lee and flipped through its pages.

  Ingenious! She even created an overview and a notation system to facilitate the reader’s understanding. That’s indeed a tour de force translation of the Lotus Sutra! Tara was impressed by the painstaking efforts and joyful passion of the translator. She put back the sutra and took out one of the ancient-looking scroll.

  ‘Evam Me Suttam.’ someone said in a toneless male voice.

  “Who’s that?” Tara swiveled around to check who was talking but there was no one to be seen. She was all alone.

  ‘Evam Me Suttam.’

  The phrase was repeated again. The voice seemed to come from the air above her.

  “Evam Me Suttam?” Tara muttered while she was holding a scroll.

  An obese guardian spirit popped out just like a genie coming out from the lamp. He yawned and stretched his body, as if he had just woken up from slumber. “Who disturbs me? Don’t you see I’m still sleeping?”

  Tara was astounded by what she saw. “May I know how to address you?”

  “I am Scroll #37, the guardian spirit of the scroll. What do you want?”

  “Could you help me understand how to go back to the human world?”

  “You need to track down the Seven-Jeweled Lighthouse called the Qibaota, defeat the demons surrounding the lighthouse, unlock the Gate of Sunyata, and cross over the rainbow bridge to go back to the world of Manusia. That’s all I can share with you. Goodbye.”

  “Hey…wait…” Tara tried to stop the scroll guardian spirit but he went back into the scroll.

  She put back the scroll on the shelve and tried another scroll, muttering, “Evam Me Suttam.”

  A gaunt, impetuous, and supercilious guardian spirit appeared. He shot a sharp and intimidating glare at Tara.

  “Sorry to disturb… … could you enlighten me… where can I locate the Seven-jeweled Lighthouse?” said Tara hesitantly.

  “Who do you think you are? A filthy woman such as yourself could never hope to vanquish the Devil of the Five Skandhas, the Devil of Afflictions, the Devil of Death, the Devil of Three Poisons, and the Devil of Demon Net to enter Qibaota! Forget about seeking out the Seven-Jeweled Lighthouse!” said the insolent guardian spirit. He went back to his scroll thereafter.

  Tara did not want to give up so easily. She tried the third scroll, “Evam Me Suttam.”

  An elderly, dignified-looking guardian spirit with long white beard in a grey flowing robe appeared with his palms pressed together and a slight bow, addressing Tara, “Amituofo. I am Scroll #108, how may I help you?”

  Tara breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that she had finally found the right guardian spirit who could lend a helping hand.

  “Amituofo. May I know the whereabouts of Qibaota, the Seven-Jeweled Lighthouse?” said Tara with a slight bow and her palms pressed together.

  “Benevolent One, the Seven-jeweled Lighthouse
is hidden deep inside the ocean and there is no specific location. It only emerges from the ocean when the Seeker of Qibaota is ready. Once the Seeker successfully subdues legions of demons, Qibaota will be available for entry. The Seven-jeweled Lighthouse is perched on the Eagle Peak mountain on the Lotus Island of the Paragon of Dragons,” explained Scroll #108 in a soft voice. “If you are keen, I can give you an immersive experience of what Qibaota looks like.”

  “Sure, that would be wonderful!”

  The next moment, guardian spirit emitted white light until it enveloped Tara’s entire being.

  She found herself walking on the surface of the ocean, as multi-colored phoenixes danced in the sky and colorful butterflies fluttered beside her. Then, she started moving with great speed, it was as if she was a ship cruising along the ocean. After enjoying the enthralling sights of whales and dolphins coming up for air, she arrived at the Lotus Island of the Paragon of Dragons.

  The center of the island was a rugged mountain where a tall, white lighthouse with seven rainbow-colored jewels was perched. Round jewels ranging from red to violet were encrusted on its surface. Immeasurable radiant white light coming from the white pearl in the middle of a Dharma wheel was moving in circles, making the light beam sweep around in four directions. The Qibaota was brightly illuminated.

  As Tara was appreciating the splendour of the lighthouse, thousands of black and white shadows appeared from the sky, laughing hysterically just like the famous Malay female ghost Pontianak. They circled the island, preventing Tara from approaching the Seven-Jeweled Lighthouse. All the black and white shadows came dashing toward her, trying to tear her apart.

  Panic-stricken, she wanted to scream but no voice came out from her mouth. She wanted to turn back but she was stuck there, rooted on the ocean’s surface witnessing the black-and-white shadows crashing into an invisible glass that acted like a shield protecting her from harm. At his moment, Tara was pushed out from the book. Shuddering with fear, her heart was beating furiously.