All the Gates of Hell Read Online Free PDF Page A

watch. The first thing she realized was that it had four hands. The second was that, in place of numerals, it had the kanji for Earth, Fire, Water and Air at the 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock positions, respectively. Jin wondered for a moment what sort of time Teacher was reading. Then he was already walking away from her. Jin started to follow but her legs were still too wobbly to trust.
    "Wait! You know I have a million questions, don't you?"
    "I know I would, in your place, but I'm sorry to say that I don't have a million answers," Teacher called back over his shoulder.
    "How about just one -- what do I do now?"
    "Your job, of course. And about damn time, too. Have you any idea how crowded a hell can get?"
    In another moment Teacher vanished.
    (())

Chapter 3
     
    In the next three days Jin began to fully comprehend that there was a big difference between "data" and "information." Data she had, in multitudes: books, web articles, magazines all devoted to Buddhism in its various aspects and traditions. There was quite a bit on the subject of Guan Yin or GuanShiYin or Kwan Yin or Kannon, as the names varied depending on the location or sect/tradition. A lot of it was orthodoxy of various stripes, much else was in the realm of folk traditions: stories, legends, rumors, parables. In all that vast disorderly pile, there was not one jot that told Jin how to be Guan Yin.
    So what did you expect, Jin? HOW TO BE A GODDESS IN FIVE EASY LESSONS ?
    Worse, a lot of what she learned was contradictory: Hell existed, hell didn't exist. There were thousands of hells. There were exactly two. There was only one, and every different punishment was just a different section of it. You were kept in hell until your sins were atoned. You were kept in hell until you had learned the lesson you needed to move on. You were kept in hell forever. Guan Yin was male. Guan Yin was female. Guan Yin embodied the feminine aspect of divinity but was neither male nor female. Guan Yin didn't exist. The Avici Hell was permanent. Nothing was permanent.
    Jin sighed, and rubbed her eyes. She paused to adjust a teetering pile of books that was threatening to fall and crush her coffee cup, then turned once more to the open book in front of her. She tried to concentrate but the words were running together like a horde of centipedes. She glanced out the window of her apartment, saw a high full moon despite all the glare from the signs below the level of her tenth floor apartment. Jin put the books aside and went to bed.
    Jin dreamed and, for a change, knew that she dreamed. She recognized that nothing she saw was real, just as she knew that what had happened to her in the alley was real. In the dream Jin got out of bed and dressed warmly against the chill, then glanced once out the window. The moon was still there, though no higher in the sky than it had been when Jin went to bed. Because, of course, it wasn't the real moon, just part of the dream. The moon winked at her as she passed the window, as if she needed a reminder. Jin just smiled and went outside.
    The streets were empty. Jin looked around, not entirely sure what to expect. She knew that, even very late at night there was always some activity somewhere. Someone driving to a drug connection, a patrol car prowling, something. Not now. There was no one and nothing to be seen. The streetlights seemed to conceal more than they revealed, just little patches of light here and there along the streets, like the torches in the passageway to Hell that showed a section of the walls and hid the rest in darkness.
    NOT TO HELL.
    Oh, right. Her mistake. The passageway did not lead to hell; it led to the gateway which in turn lead to all the hells. It took a moment before Jin realized that someone else had supplied that answer, but she looked around and saw no one.
    "Who are you?" she asked aloud. "It's very rude to talk to a person when she can't see you."
    YOU MEAN IF I USED A PHONE IT WOULD BE DIFFERENT?
    "Well...sort of."
    ANSWER