The Novice Read Online Free PDF Page A

joined, eyes closed, breathing with highly focused awareness.
    Then the novice looked straight ahead and calmly addressed the chairman. “Respected chairman, respected village council, I am a monk, committed to rigorously observe the monastic vows I took. How could such a transgression occur? Lord Buddha above is my witness. I, novice Kinh Tam, assert that since the day of my ordination, I have never transgressed my vow of chastity, with any person. This young woman here must have mistaken me for another person.”
    The words spoken by the novice were logical, clear, and solemn. The chairman turned to ask Mau to respond. In an incisively sharp tone, Mau simply repeated the story she had already given and once again kept her eyes downcast.
    Novice Chi Tam was unable to restrain his furious temper. He screamed loudly, “Young lady, you should not falsely accuse my younger brother of such an offense. Six o’clock is when all three of us novices do our evening chanting. Novice Kinh Tam from his ordination till this day has never missed a period of evening chanting. How could he have been with you behind the patriarch’s stupa at that time?”
    Mau quickly backtracked on the point. “Maybe I did not remember the correct time. Maybe it was before the evening chanting session, between four and five o’clock in the afternoon.”
    Seeing how resolute Mau was, the chairman ordered, “Thi Mau has confessed, but novice Kinh Tam refuses to admit his fault. Guards! Spread him out face down on the mat and strike him seven times with the raffia pole. Let’s see whether this dishonest novice will continue to deny his grave offense.”
    Two guards took Kinh Tam to the large straw mat in the middle of the courtyard and spread the novice’s arms and legs out flat on the middle of the mat. One of the guards struck Kinh Tam repeatedly with the raffia pole, each blow sharp and hard.
    Novice Chi Tam bellowed, “You will kill him, hitting him like that!” But his exclamation could not stop the guard. Although Kinh Tam took seven excruciating blows, the novice did not let out a single cry.
    The abbot compassionately implored his student, “Kinh Tam, if you really were inadvertently so foolish, then you should truthfully confess to the village council. Then you can be cleansed of the wrong deed and begin anew as you continue with your monastic practice. I will try my best to gather enough money to pay the fine and compensation for you. Confess now, dear disciple, or else they will punish you with more blows that you will not be able to withstand. Your strength and stature are those of a scholar; you are not as strong as your elder brother Chi Tam.”
    Novice Kinh Tam joined his palms and turned toward the abbot. “Respected teacher, as I did not transgress any vows, I cannot say that I did. Please, respected teacher, be compassionate and accept my determination not to concede to this false accusation.”
    The chairman shouted another command for the guard to question and to strike Kinh Tam another thirty blows. Blood soaked through the novice’s monastic attire. As the interrogation went on, Brother Thanh Tam could not endure any more. He sobbed out loud, covering his eyes with his two hands.
    Abruptly, Thi Mau screamed. She stood up, walked toward the mat, and bellowed, “Go on hitting, keep striking the blows, and don’t stop till he dies! And how about me? Strike me as well! Hit me till I also die!” Thi Mau tore at her clothes, beat her hands on her head, and pounded her chest.
    Suddenly there was a loud clearing of the throat, and a baritone voice, deep as the sound of a large brass bell, boomed through the courtyard. It was the voice of the abbot of Dharma Cloud. The Zen teacher was standing and reciting a meditation verse:
    The river of attachment is thousands of miles long.
    The waves on the ocean of suffering rise thousands of miles high.
    To free ourselves