Kong Yin may not have attained enlightenment in this life, but in the future, someone would surely be inspired by him to enter the Buddhist path, and amid the vast sea of Buddhist teachings, awaken to profound wisdom.
The instant she stepped beyond the gates of Kinkaku-ji, a resonant, sonorous bell toll rang out from behind her.
The chimes connected one to the next, pealing several times without any sign of cessation.
The monks within the temple, each absorbed in their duties, halted in their tracks when the tolls surpassed thirteen.
The bell at Kinkaku-ji rang but seldom, reserved only for significant occasions to mark the hour.
And those hourly chimes never exceeded twelve strikes.
Once the bell tolled beyond twelve, every monk in the temple was duty-bound to set aside their tasks and proceed immediately to the main hall.
For this bell would continue to sound for nine times nine, eighty-one peals in all, signifying that the abbot had passed into nirvana.
Though Japanese monks were more worldly in their ways, those of Kinkaku-ji, under Kong Yin’s influence, held a far greater devotion than their counterparts elsewhere.
In the dharma’s expanse, they were like swaying skiffs adrift, requiring a conspicuous flagship to guide them, and Kong Yin had been that flagship.
Now, with Kong Yin’s nirvana, these highly devout monks felt as though they had lost their beacon amid the boundless ocean.
Many monks, unable to contain themselves, streamed tears as they hurried towards the main hall.
Hundreds of them, eyes reddened, advanced in silence towards the hall with swift steps and hurried trots. They refrained from outright running, lest they disturb the abbot’s serene passage to the Western Pure Land.
Hearing the bell, Lin Wan’er halted once more.
Her thoughts drifted back to Kyoto over a century prior.
At that time, her residence had not been far from Kinkaku-ji.
One day, she had taken the children to admire the cherry blossoms in the courtyard, recounting to them the history of the sakura, explaining that these blooms, ubiquitous and cherished in Japan, had actually been introduced from China during the Nara period over a millennium ago, when China flourished in the Tang dynasty’s golden age.
Just as the children began posing questions inspired by this tale, the bells of Kinkaku-ji rang out, echoing ceaselessly through Kyoto as they did today.
When the children asked why the temple’s bell kept tolling without end, she told them that eighty-one chimes signified a return to the ultimate truth through nine nines.
Japanese Buddhism originated from China, where after nearly two millennia of sedimentation and localisation, it had absorbed much of ancient Chinese wisdom.
In China’s ancient I Ching, nine was deemed the greatest yang number, or in other words, the largest units digit in the decimal system.
Thus, nine symbolised the utmost and the complete.
Eighty-one, being nine squared, denoted a completeness elevated to supreme fulfilment.
She refrained from conveying death to these young ones. Instead, with a gentle smile, she said: “The reason Kinkaku-ji rings the bell eighty-one times is that their abbot has fulfilled his virtuous deeds completely, and the entire temple, from top to bottom, is celebrating him.”
At that moment, a wide-eyed little boy gazed at her and declared in a clear, piping voice: “Miss, Zhengping wants to be abbot one day too. Zhengping wants Kinkaku-ji to ring eighty-one bells for him as well!”
Lin Wan’er shook her head with a helpless laugh. “Among all of you, Zhengping, you are the most competitive, always striving to outdo everyone in everything.”
The little boy pointed with his chilled, rosy hand at the largest snowman in the courtyard and boasted proudly: “Miss, Zhengping always aims to do everything the best, even piling the biggest snowman! So becoming Kinkaku-ji’s abbot will be no trouble for Zhengping in the future!”
The visions from a century past raced through her mind like a whirlwind, and Lin Wan’er could not help but sigh inwardly: some things, seemingly mere jests and whims in passing, were in truth predestined by the unseen hand of fate.
She lifted her gaze to the sky and murmured to herself: “If this world truly holds a Western Pure Land, I might well be the one with the broadest connections there. You are all such good children; you must have gone there ahead of me, and you will surely all be waiting together for my arrival, will you not?”
