Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 3 2018 | Page 36

Xuanzang's Dream
Diocesan Boys' School, Yeung, Thaddeus - 14
T
he boom of cannon fire echoed in the hills; for a moment, a fiery amber spread across the night sky,
and then all was black.
“The Gokturks are trying to bring the Wall down again,” the general explained. “Their efforts are
futile – the Wall has been standing for four hundred years now, and it’s not coming down anytime soon.”
The general turned to the monk, who was standing in front of him in a corridor lit by torches fastened on
the stone brick walls – the interior of a fortress. There were two giant doors to the side of the pair, latched
shut by a giant wooden bar.
“I hope that you understand what I am saying,” the general continued. “The Gokturks may not be able to
penetrate the Great Wall, but we are still in a state of war. Leaving the safety of this side of the Wall means
almost certain demise.”
The monk remained silent.
“Even if you manage to evade the cannon fire, odds are you will not go far. Unlike us, the Gokturks are
barbarians, and they will not hesitate to kill you for your belongings, or simply slit your throat for sport.”
“I understand the risks, general,” the monk said. “I have thought about this for some time now, and I
know of the dangers I may have to face.”
“You do not understand,” the general said. “You are a monk who lives in a monastery and have never
seen a pig slaughtered. As a soldier who has fought, I can tell you that what you plan to do is madness.”
“I had a dream a week ago,” the monk said, ignoring the general’s last comment. “In that dream, the
Buddha told me to trek to India to retrieve the Holy Scrolls. These scrolls will save mankind from sin – it is
all the will of the Buddha.”
“That was but a dream,” the general retorted. “What happens in dreams does not happen in reality. Surely
you can differentiate between the two?”
“It was no ordinary dream,” the monk said, indignant. “The Buddha appeared to me in that dream.”
“Don’t they all say that?” The general scoffed.
The monk continued, unfazed: “In that dream, I was standing in a field. The field was barren with growth,
and the soil of the ground was rock-hard – it had been abandoned for a long time. Around me were several
houses forming a small town.
“I heard yelling and shouting coming from the town. I advanced to have a look, and I saw a woman with
child wailing in a heap. A man lying in a pool of blood before them, and a man robed in armor – a soldier
of some sort, a bloodied sword in one hand and a sack in the other, was sauntering off into the distance,
unhurried. The bystanders seemed oblivious to the woman’s wailing. I realized I had witnessed a brutal
robbery.
“Then, I was whisked away into the clouds. I was pulled through a vast sea of blue, and soon before me
was a great temple in the sky. I was then delivered inside by some invisible force, and before me was the
Buddha on His throne.
‘Xuanzang,’ the Buddha summoned. ‘Come before me – I have a task for you.’
I did as He commanded, but also because I was attracted by the Buddha’s radiance, like a moth attracted to
light.
‘Man is corrupt,’ the Buddha said, resting his eyes on my face. ‘As you have seen, man has embraced a life
of sin. People are willing to go to great lengths to fulfill their desires, even if it means the performing of
horrible sins.’
Then, the Buddha instructed me to retrieve the Holy Scrolls: ‘These scriptures will enlighten man and
purge mankind of its sinful ways. With their retrieval and translation into your tongue, mankind will be
redeemed from its eventual undoing. They are located in a western land known as India, and you shall reach
this land and retrieve the Holy Scriptures.’”
Having finished his narrative, the monk turned to the general, hoping to find approval on his face.
What he found was discomfort.
“About your dream,” the general inquired, “How much of it do you remember?”
“Every detail,” the monk assured him. “This adds to the reason why you should believe what I told you.”
“If that is so,” the general said, “Describe for me the appearance of the killer in your dream.”