The Mandate of Heaven

by Murgatroyd, Tim

  The Buddhist Tibetan clergy wondered if the wily Worthy Master was attempting a ruse. Such a hasty offer, so contrary to Daoist interests and on such a desperate day, was incomprehensible. But they had long heard rumours of the Worthy Master’s eccentricities and concluded that the Divine Buddha Makhala had afflicted him with madness. Accordingly, they rushed off messengers agreeing the exchange. Soon news of it was circulating all across the city, further proof – to some, at least – of the world’s imminent end.

  Those most affected by the Worthy Master’s decision were among the last to learn of it. It was mid-morning before an embassy arrived at Cloud Abode Monastery with an Edict of Instruction signed by the President of the Provincial Daoist Council.

  Yun Shu had risen very late, weak and unsteady from the effects of Void’s magical pills charged with autumn minerals. Her most intimate place felt raw and bruised. More painful was the recollection of the Worthy Master’s rituals, his anger and denunciations. The thought of it brought on wretched tears. The unfairness of his accusations!

  Then there was her hasty, insane letter to Golden Lotus calling upon him to collect her from Cloud Abode Monastery. Yun Shu could only think Void’s pills were laced with demonic promptings. How else might she explain her conduct? If only she had heeded Bo-Bai’s warnings! Yun Shu had no idea what to do if Father appeared at the gates of Cloud Abode Monastery and ordered her to accompany him back to Prince Arslan’s compound. A father’s word was law, especially after her hysterical request for his protection. The damage to her standing as Abbess would be fatal.

  The one threat Yun Shu failed to anticipate that morning, as crowds of refugees gathered in the streets and two fleets clashed out on the lake, was the Worthy Master’s desperation. Hence her surprise when messengers from Golden Bright Temple beat on the closed bronze doors of the monastery with the butts of bamboo clubs.

  At that precise moment the Nuns of Serene Perfection were gathered in one place – before the grinning image of Chenghuang – beseeching the City God to avert a massacre. They had formed a shape with their bodies that imitated the Great Dipper constellation and had commenced a sutra. All fell silent as shouts of alarm and running footsteps crossed the courtyard to the Temple of Celestial Teachers. Fifteen Nuns were present, the rest having fled the monastery for the safety of their families. As many servants also remained, continuing their routines under the stern eye of Eunuch Bo-Bai.

  Suddenly the painted wooden doors of the Temple slid open, revealing a pale autumn morning. Candles in the shrine room flickered and glowed. A few stray, brown leaves blew in past four men wearing the purple robes of Daoist priests. At their head stood Void. The assembled Nuns muttered prayers and fingered amulets to avert misfortune arising from the interruption of their rite.

  ‘Where is Abbess Yun Shu?’ drawled Void. His eyes were red-rimmed and unfocussed.

  ‘Do you really not recognise me?’ she asked, contemptuously.

  The wind was rising in the trees of Monkey Hat Hill.

  ‘Read this,’ he instructed, holding out a sheet of parchment on which hastily composed characters snaked in ribbons. She recognised it as the Worthy Master’s handwriting when in a divinely inspired condition.

  Unfolding the thick paper – at least no expense had been spared for that – she read the letter with shock then anger.

  ‘This is a foolish edict!’ she exclaimed. ‘I refuse to believe the Worthy Master wrote it!’

  Void surveyed her laconically.

  ‘Even if he did,’ she added, ‘I do not believe he possesses the necessary authority!’

  ‘It is the Provincial Daoist Council that commands you,’ said Void.

  ‘How can they! The city is in chaos. They cannot have met to discuss such a matter.’

  ‘The Council expects obedience from registered Nuns,’ he said. ‘Are you not instructed to read it aloud three times to all Nuns of Serene Perfection and servants residing in Cloud Abode Monastery? Well then, proceed!’

  Yun Shu bowed her head in distress at such disrespect. Her eyelids fluttered.

  ‘You read it,’ she whispered.

  Void nodded courteously and unrolled the letter.

  ‘Assembled Servants of the Dao,’ he intoned. ‘On the 9th Day of the 9th Month in the Year of the Tortoise, let it be known that Divine Instructions have been sent to the Provincial Daoist Council of Hou-ming Province by the Blessed Queen Mother of the West! First, a message sent through spirit-writing. Then, a vision-journey experienced by the President of the Daoist Council in which he was summoned to the Queen Mother’s throne room to receive divine commands.’

  A few of the Nuns cried out in joy at such signs of divine favour. They did not doubt what everyone knew to be true: the Worthy Master was on the threshold of Immortality and conferred with the goddess on a regular basis.

  ‘Ahem,’ continued Void, ‘there is more: “The Queen Mother instructs all loyal servants of the Dao to obey the following. Firstly, to give thanks for Her gracious condescension. Secondly, in order to heal the rift between Buddhist and Daoist in Hou-ming Province, Cloud Abode Monastery is to pass in perpetuity to the control of the Buddhist clergy at dusk on the 9th Day of the 9th Month in the Year of the Tortoise. Moreover, that the image of Chenghuang shall be likewise passed to them. Thirdly, any registered Nun, Priest, Monk or other sundry servants of the Dao questioning her Divine Edict shall be de-registered instantly and without appeal. Fourthly, the Nuns of Serene Perfection currently residing in Cloud Abode Monastery must gather their belongings and leave that place by dusk of the 9th Day, 9th Month, Year of the Tortoise or be de-registered instantly as Serene Ones.’

  A shocked silence greeted this divine decree. No one dared speak lest all the protections offered by the law to a Serene One be confiscated: her license to preach and cast spells for a fee, to beg alms and sell amulets, let alone the food and shelter provided by the Daoist authorities. In short, she would be thrown upon her own resources in a city torn by war. A world where women were either wives, drudges or whores – often all three at once.

  Yun Shu met the eye of her predecessor as Abbess, Lady Lu Si. Both women were pale. Perhaps they shared the same thought, for when Yun Shu replied, barely concealing her bitterness, Lady Lu Si nodded approvingly.

  ‘Tell Worthy Master Jian we are obedience itself,’ said the Abbess. ‘Tell him that when the peace resumes and loyal followers of the Dao learn about his true motives in this matter, he shall have many questions to answer.’ Trembling, she added, ‘Tell him, I hope the Buddha’s knucklebone makes him an Immortal very soon, for that is the only way he will escape those questions!’

  Void bowed, smiling slightly. ‘I think we can be quite sure of that,’ he said. His face hardened. ‘By dusk! You must be gone by dusk or I shall personally tear to shreds your certificates of registration!’

  With that, he withdrew to a nearby chamber with his assistants. From this vantage point he could supervise the Nuns’ preparations for departure. It was significant the priest’s entourage included a dozen guards armed with swords and thick, bamboo clubs.

  There was no need to call a conclave of the Serene Ones. All had been present in the Temple of Celestial Masters. Yun Shu ordered them to sit on the floor in a circle. Most were weeping. Only one, ancient Earth Peace, was saved by the bewilderment of old age from comprehending how the certainties of an entire lifetime had expired in an instant. Instead of joining the others, Yun Shu led her to a chair near the door where she sat patiently.

  ‘I cannot believe the Queen Mother of the West wants this!’ said Lady Lu Si. ‘Yet the Worthy Master was quite clear he had spoken with the Goddess!’

  Three Simplicities looked round to check whether they were overheard. Seeing two Daoist officials in the shadows she proclaimed loudly: ‘I welcome this indication of Divine Favour! How blessed we are in our holy President!’

  Yun Shu and Lady Lu Si shot contemptuous glances at their fellow sanren.

  ‘I see Three Simplicitie
s intends to profit from the destruction of an institution that has existed in this city for four hundred years,’ said Lady Lu Si.

  ‘Oh, I am obedient!’ cried Three Simplicities. ‘My dearest wish is that the authorities take note that some are loyal in this monastery!’

  ‘We do not deserve this!’ exclaimed Gold Immortal in her high, fluty voice. Realising what she had said, the old nun added hastily: ‘Not that I am disobedient or questioning!’

  A regretful smile crossed Three Simplicities’ thin-lipped mouth. ‘I have no choice but to report that,’ she said. ‘Why did you have to say that, Gold Immortal? I have no choice!’

  Lady Lu Si cleared her throat. ‘Three Simplicities can make any report she likes,’ said the former abbess while Yun Shu continued to watch silently. ‘As soon as the Worthy Master gets his inch of bone I’m sure he will lose interest in us. My own fear goes deeper.’

  The other Nuns waited. Even Gold Immortal stopped sniffling miserably.

  ‘I fear that Chenghuang is punishing us for not serving him with true zeal. Our conduct of the rites must have displeased him. This is his punishment.’

  The circle of Nuns broke into fresh wails and tears. Yun Shu, however, clapped her hands for stillness. She had mastered the illusory anger within her soul – or most of it – and was now calm enough to speak.

  ‘Though sincere in her suggestion, I believe Lady Lu Si is wrong. Chenghuang has been betrayed, but not by us. I have learned a terrible lesson from this. I must advise you that four centuries of devout practice in this holy place has been exchanged so one mortal man might gain Transcendence.’

  Then Yun Shu explained the goings-on in Wild Goose Pagoda, concluding with the Worthy Master’s unfortunate release of twenty years’ worth of jing. There were shocked moans and exclamations from the other sanren. Nevertheless they required more detailed information concerning the ‘accident’.

  ‘Three Simplicities,’ added Yun Shu, ‘you have my full permission to report that. Now I must pack my possessions,’ she said, rising. ‘My final instruction as Abbess is that all, without exception, do likewise. We shall assemble in the hour before dusk to bid farewell to our beloved Chenghuang. Then we shall leave together, our dignity unblemished.’

  The Nuns rose, some hugging, others finding a corner to weep alone. Most hurried to their own quarters, desperately speculating where they could go; not least, where they might sleep that night.

  It took little time for Yun Shu to pack away her possessions. She recollected how the hoarded valuables of Cloud Abode Monastery had already been transferred to the Worthy Master’s treasure rooms in Golden Bright Temple, leaving only a few chests of faded ritual robes and masses of worthless documents. This thought reminded her of the scroll given to her by Teng in the garden of Deng mansions, a lifetime ago, it seemed. She unrolled it curiously: it granted ownership of Wei Valley to the Yun clan forever. Yun Shu believed she was the last of that clan, unless some still survived in far off Nancheng. So perhaps there was a place she might flee, after all. Except that her choices seemed to lead, one way or other, back to her father’s house and the dubious tutelage of Golden Lotus. Yet the moment she re-entered that household there would be no escape from discontent, misery, conflict and bitter reminiscences.

  Yun Shu placed the scroll in her leather travelling satchel and went to inform an Honoured Guest that he must find new shelter.

  Ever since the destruction of his ancestral home, Deng Nan-shi had been staying in a chamber next to Bo-Bai’s, part of a brick outbuilding at the rear of the monastery complex. Few visited that part of the ancient warren of buildings. Most of the narrow alleyways and flights of worn stone stairs were disused except by servants bringing the old scholar his meals or emptying his chamber pot. Occasionally, Bo-Bai helped Deng Nan-shi to the garden where he stared at clouds or hopping birds, meditating on matters he would only divulge through sighs. Yun Shu visited him as often as she could, finding the old man’s tenacious hold on life remarkable. She sensed he was waiting for something – or someone – before allowing himself to be transformed.

  When Yun Shu arrived at his door, she heard low voices within and wondered if Bo-Bai was explaining that Deng Nan-shi must find fresh quarters that very night. Despite her high position as Abbess, she possessed little in the way of cash to pay for an inn. Yet she was determined the venerable scholar would not spend a single hour beneath cold stars.

  After a light knock, she opened the door. The man who was talking to Deng Nan-shi provoked a cry of surprise. She recoiled, looked around. Satisfied they were unobserved, she slipped into the small chamber, bolting the door behind her.

  Teng had not stirred from the stool beside his father’s bed. Now he rose and bowed very low to the Abbess. When he straightened she saw marks of pain and grief on his face. In a flash she sensed something new about him, something formidable, a wisdom acquired through suffering. Tears were in his eyes as he met her own. Both glanced aside.

  She remembered the painting and poem. The promise implicit in the symbol of a blossoming plum, the colours of red and green. Could a man of honour retract so bold a statement? But she was nobody now with Cloud Abode Monastery gone. Why should he consider her worthy of notice?

  ‘Yun Shu,’ he said, ‘Father has told me everything! I will do anything I can to repay you.’ He laughed oddly. ‘I have acquired by the strangest good fortune, well, let us say, I can repay you with far more than gratitude.’

  Yun Shu looked wonderingly between father and son at this speech. Deng Nan-shi sat propped in bed, a fierce light in his eyes.

  ‘My son means to say,’ he croaked, ‘he has returned …’ A hoarse, gasping cough interrupted him. The younger people waited patiently. ‘Returned through grave dangers,’ continued Deng Nan-shi, ‘to fulfil his filial duty as First Son of the Dengs.’

  Teng nodded. ‘Yun Shu, I have loyal retainers in my service. Men sworn to protect the descendents of Yueh Fei. We shall carry Deng Nan-shi away with us after dusk. Bo-Bai has told me all about Worthy Master Jian’s treachery!’

  He cast an uneasy glance at his father. ‘But tell me: when you leave Cloud Abode Monastery, are you provided for?’

  ‘I suppose not,’ said Yun Shu, miserably, ‘I am certain the Worthy Master will revoke my licence as a Nun. Then I must return to my father’s house, though it is the last thing I want – with all respect to you, Honourable Deng Nan-shi, as a father yourself.’

  The old scholar laughed. ‘Not all fathers make considerate parents,’ he conceded. ‘In any case, you are female so it is natural for him to be less interested in you. You can hardly blame him for what is natural.’

  ‘No doubt,’ said Yun Shu.

  ‘What of Lady Lu Si?’ asked Teng. ‘Will she, too, lose her licence?’

  Yun Shu thought of Three Simplicities’ promise to report disloyal opinions.

  ‘Most probably,’ she said.

  ‘Then, Father, we must take her with us as an Honoured Companion,’ said Teng. ‘I have the means to support her and many more followers.’ He turned back to Yun Shu. ‘If there are spies, and I assume there will be, it is vital we do not stir their suspicion. When you leave Cloud Abode Monastery for the last time at dusk, go to the gardens of Deng Mansions. Ensure my Honoured Father is carried there. Perhaps you will think me presumptuous, yet I wish to make a proposal that may be of great interest. Above all, bring the scroll I once gave you concerning an estate far to the West.’

  Yun Shu bowed. It felt pleasant to follow someone else’s plans. In her heart she had no expectation of a happy release. Her thoughts were dragged to Prince Arslan’s compound, where the Salt Minister’s house must become her prison, her one remaining task in this life to breed grandsons for him to spoil and corrupt, as he had his own precious sons and heirs, her dead brothers.

  It was no coincidence that on the other side of the city another restless mind brooded upon the same topics as Yun Shu. It belonged to Golden Lotus.

  The petite man’s l
otus feet were restless, too, as he shuffled through the front courtyard of the Salt Minister’s residence to accost a female servant. As usual, Golden Lotus wore silks and make-up worthy of the finest lady. The effect – overwhelming to a certain taste when he was young – threatened comedy in his thirty-eighth year. Still he retained the mannerisms of a coy, beautiful girl as he greeted the family’s faithful maid, Pink Rose.

  ‘What have you discovered?’ he asked in a loud, falsetto, fluttering a painted silk fan.

  The maid bowed. She was trembling. ‘The guards said the streets are full of people trying to leave the city. When I asked about Cloud Abode Monastery no one knew anything until …’ She hesitated fearfully.

  ‘Well! Speak up!’

  ‘A sergeant told me all the Nuns would be sold as whores if the rebels got hold of them.’

  Still Golden Lotus’s fan fluttered.

  ‘And the sergeant said the Buddhists have been given Cloud Abode Monastery. All the Nuns are to be forced out onto the streets.’

  The fan stopped. ‘Stupid woman! Tell no one of this!’ He slapped Pink Rose across the face with surprising strength for one so slender.

  The maid bowed and hurried off to inform the other servants that Master’s daughter, Abbess Yun Shu, was being violated by bloodthirsty bandits along with every other Nun in the city.

  Golden Lotus was left standing beside the gatehouse of the Salt Minister’s compound, aware that he must decide whether to act – and soon.

  His troubles had started shortly after dawn with a hysterical letter from Yun Shu, begging the Salt Minister to collect her from Cloud Abode Monastery without delay. Golden Lotus’s unstable feelings for her – sometimes angry, insulted, unforgiving, sometimes touched by reluctant respect – reached back to when he had been Gui’s beautiful, precious new consort, twenty-five years earlier. Then Yun Shu had been an irrelevance. Now she could not be dismissed lightly.