The soft chirping of a bird broke the still silence of the dawn, rousing the monks and abbot of the Monastery Of The Quiet Palm from their slumbers. The monastery comprised of a collection of small bamboo huts, a main stone prayer hall, a wooden wall-less dining pavilion and the fields and lands of the hills around them.
Inside the prayer hall, on the main central seat, sat a child about five-years-old. He was sitting cross-legged, with back straight, and hands sitting on his lap. His eyes were closed and he was deep in meditation. He was dressed in yellow monk robes, but instead of being hairless like a monk, he had shoulder-long pitch black hair. He looked calm and at ease. As the chirping of the birds reached him, his eyes gently opened, revealing his beautiful amber irises, and a soft smile appeared on his lips.
He was Ren Alaric, formerly known as Alaric Carter, now a monk disciple.
When, five years ago, his parents' home in Britain was attacked, he had been sent away with a portkey, and he had landed in Northern China, below the branches of a Ginkgo tree on the grounds of the Monastery Of The Quiet Palm. He had found by one of the monks, and taken to the abbot. The abbot had taken one look at his calm eyes and said the monastery would take him in and raise him. When one of the monks had brought up the fact that I didn't have a name, the abbot had read the English written on the towel he was wrapped in. It said, 'House Alaric.' Then he gave the child the name 'Ren', meaning benevolence.
And so, Ren Alaric had grown up as a disciple in the monastery. He knew who he was - a wizard. He knew he would have to return to Britain someday to learn magic. So decided to spend the first eleven years of his life as a monk disciple. It was fitting, considering the fact that he was perhaps the only person in this world to have a completely calm and controlled heart sea.
Speaking of the heart sea, it had changed, courtesy of Ren. He had made the sun moon rise so that they are both fully visible, and made them circle each in a binary orbit. So now, the entire sky of Ren's heart sea swirled languidly like a massive yin-yang diagram of day and night. His small stone platform had also expanded, becoming a large circular platform, with enough moving space for Ren. He had added tables, chairs, bookshelves, etc. to the space. He had also inscribed beautiful patterns on the floors. Also, Ren had surrounded the platform with large stone lotus petals, so the the platform looked like a massive lotus. In the center, Rings of steps rose to a tall meditation platform, from where Ren could see the entire stretch of the sea around him, without the petals obstructing his view.
Every night, instead of sleeping, he would 'meditate' in the prayer hall. The monks praised him for his excellent state of mind. Even the monk could not meditate for the entire night and do it like it was sleeping. In reality, while he was meditating, he would be inside his heart sea, either observing it to further enhance its calmness, or modify it as he saw fit. When he was born, his heart sea represented stillness. What he had been working on over the last five years to achieve was stillness in motion. The yin-yang sky was the perfect example of that. He would also do multiple things other things in his heart sea sometimes, like reading, or swimming in the ocean or even conjuring a TV and watching Harry Potter.
But when he would open his eyes in the morning, he would feel extremely refreshed, like had a night of the best, most relaxing sleep.
Alaric got up, stretching to unlock the stiff joints and muscles of the body. Then he bounded out of the hall, running around like a child he was, knocking on all the huts to wake up the monks and the abbot. Then all of them went to a small, clear waterfall downhill to bathe and wash.
Some time later, all monks were sitting quietly at the wooden table in the dining pavilion, eating plain steamed rice. The only sound was the clatter of chopsticks and wooden bowls. Soon, breakfast was finished, and the abbot, an old monk called Master Jing'an, led a small prayer of gratitude for the earth from which the food was grown, and the donors of the food.
Then he opened his bright, twinkling eyes and they landed on the youngest member of the monastery. "Little Ren", he said, in has soft, calm voice, "You are now five-years-old. Today is the 8th day of the 4th lunar month, the birthday of the Buddha. It is an auspicious day, and I believe it is time for you to become a monk. What do you think?"
Ren matched Master Jing'an's gentle gaze with his own, and said, "Thank you, Master Jing'an. I think I would like to become a monk today."
Master Jing'an smiled gently with quiet satisfaction, and announced, "Very well. We will hold the novice ordination ceremony in the afternoon today."
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Ren sat in the center of a large stone courtyard, where the entire monastery had gathered for the ceremony. In front of him sat a large stone statue of the Buddha, with a tall rock behind it, inscribed with numerous teachings of the monks. On his sides sat the abbot and the senior monks, chanting sutras in preparation of the ceremony. Behind him sat all the rest of the monks, rhythmically ringing bells, wooden fish-drums, and other kinds of calming instruments. The entire area was diffused with the soft, gentle fragrance of incense.
The chants ended and the ceremony began.
Master Jing'an softly said, "Child, get up. Bow thrice to the statue. Once to the Buddha, the founder of our kind, once to the the Dharma, our teachings, and once to the Sangha, the monks of the monastery. This is called taking refuge in the Three Jewels."
Ren nodded silently, and stood up. He slowly brought his hands together and cupped his fist.
Then he bent in his waist, in a full 90-degree ceremonial bow. Suddenly, the sky darkened, as heavy clouds rolled in. Though it was unexpected, monks paid no mind to it. The ceremony was more important
Then coming up, Ren bowed the second time. Thunder boomed in the sky. The earth shook slightly, almost imperceptible. Some of the younger monks jumped. Master Jing'an's brows furrowed as he looked up at the sky. Ren also looked up, surprised.
Then, suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, Ren bowed the third time.
BOOM!!!!
A massive bolt of lightning descended from the heavens, striking the tip of the tall rock behind the statue. The upper half of the rock exploded, debris flying everywhere. Ren fell back, tripping on the rough ground as he tried to avoid the rocks. Then he saw it…
A sharp, massive piece of stone, the size of his chest, hurtled towards him with the promise of pain. No. Not just pain. Ren was in grave mortal peril. If he did not dodge this block…
He was going to die.
His senses expanded, feeding him information on a level no human could achieve. He could simultaneously sense every speck of dust in the area around him. His mind sharpened, processing the thousands of bits of information it was receiving, calculating the trajectory angle, speed, etc. of every rock flying around him. His thoughts sped up to such a degree that time seemed to stop.
He quickly figured out a way to dodge the massive rock hurtling his way, as well as the rest of the rocks in his path to safety. And then, as he perceived time speeding up around him again, he moved. He moved with extreme grace, speed and efficiency, because he was perfectly controlling every muscle in his body to a very calculated degree.
Soon, he was out of danger.
And as he was the only monk standing near the statue, the rest of members of the monastery were safe.
The chaos settled around him and he calmed down.