A Sudden Dawn. Goran Powell

Ananda on the shoulder, concerned, and inquired if he was unwell. Ananda turned slowly, seeing him for the first time, and assured him that he was fine. The assistant was reluctant to leave him in such a state, but Ananda insisted, so the assistant complied.

      But The Venerable Ananda was not fine. The vision he’d spoken of to Bodhidharma and Yin Chiang had changed, and ever since their departure, a new vision had taken its place. It returned to him each day, entering his mind during meditation and invading his dreams when he slept, and each time the vision was more vivid than the last. In it, he saw his greatest desire would be fulfilled. Bodhidharma would bring The Way to China. But far from making him happy, the vision filled him with dread.

      He could still make out Bodhidharma’s powerful figure on a slope of startling green in a place that could only be China. Bodhidharma was walking with two companions. They were entering a monastery together, the same little red monastery he had seen before. Everything was as it should be.

      But then the eye of his mind descended from the sky, and settled closer to the gates of the monastery. From here he could see that Bodhidharma’s followers were not the same two who had left Nalanda with him. Ananda stretched his mind, hoping for a glimpse of their faces, but that much he could not see. All he knew was that the Indian hermit and the Chinese scholar were no longer with Bodhidharma. He searched for them on the green mountainside and followed the rocky road from the temple to the main highway, all the way to the long river that cut China in two, but there was no sign of them. He searched the countless towns and cities of the Empire, the vast grasslands and endless deserts, the high mountains and the deep lakes, hoping to find them, but he searched in vain.

      And finally, he prayed for them, and wept for what he had done.

      PART 2

MOUNTAIN

      Monks Go East