Upon entering the hall, what met their eyes were two giant murals facing each other, one to the east and one to the west. The eastern one depicted an absolutely beautiful woman lying with closed eyes in the wilderness, naked, enchantingly voluptuous, with gorgeous brocade outer robes scattered on the ground covering her lower body.

The western corresponding mural showed a set of white bones in exactly the same pose as the beauty, the withered bones scattered in disarray. Hair thick as dense clouds had already separated from the skull, mixed in the mud like weeds. The magnificent robes had also become dirty and deteriorated, like rags on a starving person’s body.

Guan Shan pressed his palms together and introduced with reverence in his voice: “Beauty and withered bones, arising conditions and empty nature, all return to impermanence. No matter how beautiful the appearance, it will one day turn to bones. These two murals are our master’s works and also represent his Buddhist viewpoint. These are the first phase ‘Newly Dead Phase’ and the final phase ‘Withered Bones Phase’ from the most important dharma treasure of our Great Toad Light Temple – the ‘Nine Phase Contemplation.'”

Below the Newly Dead Phase was inscribed a verse: “In life her beauty captivated all beings, her fragrant form sleeps in newly dead pose. Gorgeous flowers suddenly end in the fifth month of summer, life’s leaves easily fall in autumn’s moment.”

The verse below the Withered Bones Phase read: “Sparse trailing weeds finally entangle bones, scattered here and there, hard to find. The guardian soul of the tomb flies through the night moon, old friends at the grave site shed tears of red.”

Bao Zhu was shocked by the meaning of beauty and withered bones. After a long moment she pulled herself away and noticed that these two giant murals used classical painting techniques – plain drawing with light colors, emphasizing symbolic representation. The face of the deceased beauty was indistinct like viewing flowers through mist, but the details of her body were very subtly depicted. Her plump arms wore white jade armlets inlaid with gold and precious stones, and her delicate fingertips were dyed red with balsam flower juice.

Seeing these two details, she felt somewhat uncomfortable in her heart.

At the same time, the foul stench hidden beneath the rich sandalwood in the great hall became increasingly obvious. Both she and Yang Xingjian couldn’t help but cover their noses with their sleeves.

The Return to Impermanence Hall was very large, divided by screens into front and rear spaces. Only when they moved to the back half did everyone realize where that foul smell was coming from.

On the raised floor behind the screen, a dry pool one zhang long and one zhang wide had been dug out. It was filled with lime, and lying on the lime was a half-skeletonized skull, with a layer of dried flesh remaining on the bottom surface that contacted the lime.

Wei Xun and Shisan Lang both knew that dried bones had almost no smell. This stench must come from a person gradually rotting, the corpse odor soaking and pickling the entire building before leaving this residue. Quicklime could mask odors and absorb rotting bodily fluids. The remaining concentration was just enough to allow people to linger in the great hall – otherwise the originally piercing stench could only be endured by tomb robbers like them.

Under the illumination of lamp stands, sandalwood incense from censers rose in wisps. Beside the lime pool sat two monks dressed plainly, meditating while facing these white bones.

One was old and thin, with white beard and eyebrows, having the appearance of a virtuous high monk. The other was tall and sturdy, with dignified bearing, his face like a lion before Buddha. When the group entered, he opened his eyes to examine the visitors. His eyes shone with spirit, his temples bulged high, and beside his meditation cushion lay a stick painted dark red – a Deshan staff.

In a corner of the great hall sat a third monk, but upon closer inspection, it was just a life-sized seated statue. According to temple custom, patrons who funded Buddhist temple construction would be commemorated in the temple through murals or statues.

Besides these two real and one fake monks, there were no other Buddha or Bodhisattva statues in the hall. Guan Shan and Guan Yun delivered the distinguished guests, bowed, and withdrew.

Faced with such an absurd and eerie scene, Bao Zhu turned to leave immediately, but only her natural intense curiosity made her reluctantly endure staying, wanting to understand what was happening here.

Yang Xingjian clearly saw the old monk’s appearance. Enduring the olfactory discomfort, he knelt on a meditation cushion and performed the bow-and-kowtow ceremony of a subordinate meeting a superior. He knew well that high-ranking nobles like Wang Sui, even after retirement and becoming monks, still maintained countless connections with officialdom. Proper etiquette and face must be given.

“This official pays respects to Minister Wang. After fifteen years apart, has Your Excellency been well?”

The old monk opened his eyes and returned a Buddhist palm-pressing salute, slowly saying: “This old monk has long entered the empty gate. As people outside the mundane world meeting as equals, Zhijing need not use those cumbersome official courtesies anymore.”

Zhijing was Yang Xingjian’s courtesy name. Although Tan Lin was already over seventy, his ability to remember everyone he met remained sharp.

Since the Wu Zhou period, etiquette required men to kneel but not women. Bao Zhu, proud of her status, merely crossed her hands slightly in a bow and sat dignifiedly upright on a meditation cushion.

Shisan Lang pressed his palms together in salute and obediently sat beside Bao Zhu.

When it came to Wei Xun’s turn, he didn’t sit immediately but first strolled around the great hall, poked the beard of the patron statue, looked at the Deshan staff beside the sturdy monk, and carefully examined the corpse in the lime pool. Finally, under everyone’s gaze, he wandered back and casually sat cross-legged.

Yang Xingjian closed his eyes and sighed. Despite repeatedly instructing him to be respectful before Tan Lin, he still acted as he pleased when the moment came, simply infuriating. No matter how much he had tried to curry favor earlier, with his attendant showing such disrespect to elders, it was all wasted effort. He could only apologize to Tan Lin, saying his young servant came from humble origins and didn’t understand manners.

Tan Lin smiled slightly and said tolerantly: “So-called ritual teaching is merely a manifestation of worldly vanity. Being attached to these things is like being attached to physical appearances and other tangible objects – all are attachments and delusions that should be broken through. Just let them go.”

Bao Zhu said: “Great monk, is your way of breaking through delusion to strip a dead woman naked and place her here to watch her slowly rot?”

Wei Xun greatly appreciated her straightforward questioning and only added slightly: “The one in the pool is actually a man.”

At this point, Yang Xingjian no longer knew how to salvage the situation and could only helplessly listen.

Tan Lin nodded and frankly admitted: “This is indeed my way of breaking through delusion and clarifying mind to see nature. The Dhyana Paramita Gate says: ‘The Buddha, seeing that sentient beings are greedily attached to the five desires of the world, considering them beautiful, indulging and becoming lost in them, cycling through life and death with no escape, therefore commands cultivating these nine kinds of impure contemplation methods to naturally eliminate and extinguish greed, consume all delusive karma, and attain the fruit of enlightenment.'”

He pointed to the white bones in the pool and said: “This person was a monk in the temple during his lifetime. When gravely ill and dying, he voluntarily entrusted his posthumous body to Return to Impermanence Hall for use by fellow disciples practicing Nine Phase Contemplation.”

Bao Zhu asked puzzledly: “What are the nine phases?”

Tan Lin patiently explained: “Just as shown in the hall murals, the first is the Newly Dead Phase, the ninth is the Withered Bones Phase. The decay process in between: second is Bloating, third is Discoloration, fourth is Blood-smeared, fifth is Festering, sixth is Worm-eaten, seventh is Torn Apart, eighth is Exposed Bones. These nine kinds of impure contemplation are the nine phases. By contemplating each one, one can sever attachment to flesh and carnal desire. Regardless of status in life, male or female, beautiful or ugly, after death all rot and stink the same – not worth clinging to.”

Bao Zhu was extremely intelligent. Hearing this old monk’s patient guidance, she felt some enlightenment in her heart, and her initial disgust and hostility slightly faded. However, recalling the erotic corpse mural she had just seen, she still felt uncomfortable.

Yang Xingjian was amazed by Tan Lin’s tireless pursuit of Buddhist dharma. For the sake of enlightenment and attaining the Way, a retired high official from the Taiyuan Wang clan could actually endure corpse poison day after day in contemplation, even creating paintings for it – truly eye-opening.

Wei Xun asked: “You use rice to purchase corpses of starving people – is this what you use them for? When they died, they certainly didn’t volunteer to rot here, did they?”

The sturdy monk beside Tan Lin couldn’t restrain himself and spoke to rebuke: “Insolent wretch! My master teaches through word and deed, tirelessly instructing people. If you can’t understand, so be it – don’t rudely interrupt without knowing better!” His voice was full of vigor, echoing throughout the entire great hall.

Wei Xun laughed: “I’m just interrupting – are you going to hit me?”

The monk reached for his Deshan staff and stood to confront him. Tan Lin extended his withered arm and gently stopped him: “Guanchuan, don’t be impulsive. Among the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance, you still cannot overcome anger.”

The monk called Guanchuan was startled, immediately dropped the staff, and sat back down.

Tan Lin looked at Wei Xun and said with a smile to Guanchuan: “Like your junior brother Guancheng, talented young people always have some arrogance. He doesn’t cling to propriety, doesn’t yield to authority, and doesn’t blindly believe – he’s someone with wisdom and spiritual nature.”

Wei Xun disdainfully curled his lip.

Hearing the name “Guancheng,” Guanchuan seemed to want to say something but ultimately restrained himself.

Yang Xingjian and Bao Zhu thought: Could the Guancheng that Tan Lin mentioned be the painter Wu Guancheng who returned to secular life and married? Even though he had already returned to secular life, Tan Lin still thought highly of him – was it because that person truly had spiritual nature, or because Tan Lin, being a masterful painter himself, appreciated Wu Guancheng’s artistic talent?

Yang Xingjian still remembered today’s purpose for coming to Toad Light Temple – requesting that Tan Lin divine and analyze fate. Tan Lin also guessed his former subordinate’s intention and readily agreed, asking him to write down birth dates and times.

Yang Xingjian immediately opened his calculation bag, took up his brush and wrote down two sets of eight characters on paper. The first line belonged to a noble person, the second line was his own. He then courteously and respectfully asked Bao Zhu: “Would Fangxie like to try as well?”

Bao Zhu was curious and immediately nodded, enthusiastically writing down her birth date and time, then turned to ask Wei Xun: “Will you have yours read? I’ll help you write it.”

Wei Xun didn’t believe in physiognomy and fortune-telling at all and said truthfully: “I’m an orphan without father or mother – I don’t have birth dates and times.”

Shisan Lang said: “I only know which year I was born, not the day or time.” Neither of them wrote anything.

Yang Xingjian handed the paper to Tan Lin, who only glanced at it briefly before handing it to Guanchuan to put away. He said to Yang Xingjian: “I’m old and weak now. I’ll give you the analysis in a day or two.” After speaking, he looked Wei Xun up and down and sighed quietly: “Guancheng is also an orphan.” There was considerable regret in his words.

He didn’t look carefully at those who gave their birth information, but carefully studied the one who didn’t – this puzzled Yang Xingjian greatly. Could it be that this blue-clothed young thief with an appearance of thin fortune and short life actually had a brilliant future ahead?

At this time, footsteps came from the corridor outside the hall, followed by a young monk walking around the screen to bow respectfully to Tan Lin. Bao Zhu’s eyes lit up – it was the handsome monk Guanchao who had been purchasing corpses with rice when they entered the temple.

“Master, today we distributed one shi and two dou of rice in charity.”

Tan Lin asked: “Were there any who died when they shouldn’t have died?”

Guanchao said with a worried expression: “There was one.”

Tan Lin said: “I’ll take a look later. Bury the others properly.”

Bao Zhu asked: “What does ‘one who died when they shouldn’t have died’ mean?”

Tan Lin replied: “Those are the dead whom people would pity – like the death of the young, the death of beauties, the death of the healthy. If an old, weak, ugly, sickly thing like me died, that would just be the natural way of heaven. Only those who died when they shouldn’t have can make observers feel regret.”

Yang Xingjian was shocked by Tan Lin’s unrestrained self-deprecation and quickly said: “Master need not speak so.”

Bao Zhu was also stunned: “Are you looking for the corpse of a young, beautiful woman who died unnaturally? Like the one in the mural?”

Guanchao said: “It’s not that Master is looking for one. The one in the lime pool is sufficient for our contemplation practice. It’s that an important figure in Luoyang has commissioned Master to paint a new set of Nine Phase paintings to break through inner demons. We have no choice but to look.”

Yang Xingjian secretly wondered – with Master Tan Lin’s status, there was still someone who could make him paint what he had to paint. It showed that even after cultivating to the point where the five aggregates are all empty, as long as one is still alive with breath remaining, one must be constrained by worldly ways. Providing charity to disaster victims, though a good deed, indeed had other purposes.

Wei Xun heard this and became even more vigilant, secretly glancing at Bao Zhu twice. Speaking of young, beautiful, healthy girls, she fit the description perfectly. The sinister nature of this Toad Light Temple was truly alarming.

After Guanchao finished reporting today’s accounts, he was reluctant to leave. Tan Lin saw the sorrow in his eyes and asked: “What’s wrong?”

Guanchao walked over and knelt before Tan Lin, saying with tears: “Master, this disciple has carefully calculated the accounts. The rice stored in the great kitchen warehouse is enough for us to use for three and a half months. Why don’t we provide more relief to the disaster victims? Each time they plead with me, I can only sternly refuse. This is too tormenting!”

Tan Lin sighed deeply and gently stroked his head, saying: “You have the most compassionate heart, but you’re too young and cannot yet see through human nature. The edible parts of a starving corpse are roughly equivalent to one dou of rice. If you give more, people will deliberately kill their relatives to exchange for rice. Only when rice and flesh are equivalent can we maintain human hearts from falling into the demonic path. Don’t test the dark depths of human nature!”

The old monk’s deep voice echoed through the hall. For a long time, no one spoke. In his aged, weary eyes was a look that saw through worldly affairs while having compassion for all living beings.

Tan Lin said sincerely and gently to Guanchao: “It’s not only material charity that constitutes practice – dharma charity and fearless charity are equally practice. Tomorrow is the Ullambana Festival. Delivering souls trapped in hell is currently the temple’s most important task. How are the preparations for the dharma assembly?”

Guanchao wiped away his tears and composed himself. After a moment he returned to that coldly distant yet slightly sorrowful appearance, reporting to Tan Lin one by one the various complex affairs of the Ullambana Assembly. Without needing written notes, he knew the quantities of ritual implements and prepared vegetarian food like the back of his hand.

After hearing this, Tan Lin praised his dedication and asked: “What about Guancheng? We need him to demonstrate his skills at the dharma assembly.”

Hearing his respected master ask about that brother who had returned to secular life, Guanchao seemed slightly displeased and said: “Haven’t seen him for the past half month. He’s probably gone to the city looking for his wife.”

Tan Lin was silent for a moment, sighed, and instructed Guanchao: “You and Guanyun together should entertain these four distinguished guests and take them to the guest hall.”

He turned to Yang Xingjian and the others: “Guanchao is the head cook of the great kitchen, managing the dining hall. All food and provisions for monks and laypeople in the temple are under his management. If you have any dining needs, feel free to find him.”

Guanchao accepted the task, bowed to Tan Lin, and led this official from Chang’an along with his family and attendants to their lodgings.