Little Tulku Jianggong picked up the knife and pried it on the left side, knocking it on the right. Eventually, it fell out. He heaved a long breath and wiped the bowl clean with a rag and then went to work on the next one.
After he had changed the water in dozens of bowls, he began to lose control of his hands. As he was prying the block of ice loose from the last bowl, the knife slipped and cut deep into his left palm. Blood gushed up as if from a spring.
"Little Tulku Jianggong!" The novice next to him exclaimed.
Several of the novices in the hall hurried over. Some of them helped him find ash from the incense, others helped him bandage the injury. The ash that was placed on the wound was soon washed away by the gushing blood and the injury was so deep that the flesh was turned outwards and exposed.
"Little Tulku Jianggong, let's send you back to the dormitories first." Two novices supported him on the way. The bowl of holy water, which still had not been pried free of ice, was now covered in livid blood.
"Have you finished your duties?" Came a dignified voice. Everybody turned their heads and saw the Ninth Tulku Dapu standing behind them like a statue of the Maitreya Bodhisattva.[18]
"We still have to change the water in the final bowl." Replied Little Tulku Jianggong.
"I will help Little Tulku Jianggong replace it, revered Tulku." Several novices interrupted.
"But this is just your little offering to the Buddha and the bodhisattvas, nothing more." The Ninth Tulku Dapu said without expression.
Little Tulku Jianggong broke free of the hands that supported him and once again took up the knife and the bowl of holy water. With blood flowing down his wrist, turning his elbow bright red, he eventually finished his work.
Ever since he had been ordained, Little Tulku Jianggong felt as if the world were smaller. The child who had been used to the wild ways of the pasture was now living a life of chanting the scriptures and meditating, with every day marked by the morning bell and evening drum. This was not to mention the imperious face of the Ninth Tulku Dapu, who could appear as quick as a flash by his side at any time. He often had his head in the clouds and so whenever Tulku Dapu appeared, he would feel waves of anxiety in his heart. What Little Tulku Jianggong didn't understand was why Tulku Dapu, who had originally taken over his work tending the sheep on the pastureland, who had delivered him from a pit of fire, who was such a kind and lovely old man, ah, seemed to have become a different person once Little Tulku Jianggong entered the temple and became his student.
In the first few months, he was always homesick and missed his parents, the pastures, even Yangzong. When he chanted the scriptures he missed them, when he performed religious ceremonies by the side of Tulku Dapu he missed them, at night when he was wrapped up in the blankets he missed them, and in his dreams he missed them even more. But Tulku Dapu seemed to use the wisdom of a master to block all of these longings.
What greatly surprised Little Tulku Jianggong was that he was often hungry even in the temple. It wasn't because the temple had no food, for in the temple stores the piles of highland barley, tealeaves and butter offered up by the people towered like mountains. But every day after they had finished chanting the morning sutras, the butter tea supplied uniformly in the temple was weaker than he had at home and the amount of tsampa and meat given to the monks was pitiful. Moreover, the rules of the monks stated that one did not eat in the afternoon. This lasted from the long afternoon and night right through until the conclusion of the next morning's lessons, when they could finally drink tea. Little Tulku Jianggong, who was still growing, was always hungry, but he thought: those strong, able-bodied monks were probably also frequently starving, right? But, he repeatedly saw that every time a temple held Buddhist activities in the tribal areas, or every time a village suffered a disaster, the Ninth Tulku Dapu would have the temple caravan take pack after pack of grain and butter and send them over. He always said to the monks, "It came from the Buddha and the bodhisattvas and so we return it to them. It came from the ordinary people, and so we give it back to them. If an individual consumes the money donated in dana, it is contrary to the Buddha's canon and they will descend to hell."
Fortunately, Little Tulku Jianggong quickly found a solution to deal with his hunger. It so happened that there was another reincarnation currently living in the temple, the reincarnation of Tulku Duozha from another temple who was also studying the sutras in Qiari Temple under Tulku Dapu's guidance. These two spirit children were of the same age, so the temple arranged for them to live in the same dormitory room. Because they were both reincarnations, a special shrine had been erected in their dormitory where offerings were made to the protector deities. The space in front of their statues was filled with barley wine, torma[19], tribute fruit and other foodstuffs. At night the reincarnated spirit children's hunger became urgent and their eyes strayed unconsciously towards the offerings on the altar. Finally, one night, Little Tulku Duozha asked, "Do you want to eat a little something?"
"Yes." Little Tulku Jianggong swallowed down the saliva in his mouth.
"How much do you want to eat?"
"Very much."
"If we eat those offerings, what do you think will happen?" Little Tulku Duozha was now in front of the altar. Saliva drooled out of his mouth but he was already unable to wipe it away.
"We might be beaten." Said Little Tulku Jianggong, remembering the glower of Tulku Dapu, which was as terrifying as that of the Buddha's wrathful attendant Vajrapani.
