Bob’s Memoir: 4,000 Years as a Free Demon
33
A Temple of Wood
AS WE SAILED among the islands and up the eastern coast of Asia, I found more and more texts to collect in my library. Various forms of paper had been manufactured throughout Asia for many years. Their inks and the calligraphy of their texts were fascinating. Some were mystical texts, religious, scientific, and some few that were fanciful flights of imagination and poetry. In addition to the texts, I found willing librarians who would come to the infinity room to teach and share.
Buddhism was spreading at about the same pace that we were moving, so as we progressed, I taught martial arts to people who were willing and interested. I found people who could build on these arts and make them their own, just as they built on the religious teachings and made those their own. As the arts evolved, we brought more teachers into the infinity room and my women became masters who went out into my world to teach others. We taught the mantras and meditations, but since there were no gods in our world, they played a role only as teaching legends rather than real people. I even found some mentions of myself as one of the many legends in the greater infinity room. I wasn’t sure what to think of that.
I reached the coast of Nihon about the same time as Buddhism. We traded all up and down the string of islands and I taught what I knew. I was summoned at one point to the palace of the prince regent. This prince had adopted Buddhism readily, blending it with the Shinto religion. This made sense to me. I had seen places where a religion was spread by decree or by bloody warfare. In the long run, the gods of that religion were irrelevant to the local people. The stories of those gods took place long ago and far away.
Imagine, if you would, what it would be like if I tried to spread the religion of Ninra and Namri throughout the world today. The stories I told of how the god and goddess had protected Bathra from the invading Assyrians would mean nothing to the people of the southern continent of America where I found myself in the middle of the second millennium AC (After Caesar). And thankfully, the god and goddess had never asked that their religion be spread farther than our valley. We even rebuilt the temples of the other gods who were worshiped there. Instead of conquering other religions, the precepts of the religion were taught to the people and the local gods were maintained. That made sense.
I taught in the palace, spreading the martial arts to the prince’s army, and blending in the martial arts they already had. And I had many happy conversations with the prince about how things were in other parts of the world.
“Bob, I think we should have a temple. A temple and a place where the arts can be taught. You know, where Buddhist monks can be trained,” the prince said.
“That is a noble endeavor, my prince. We would need a place with good stone and I could build a ziggurat as they have in India.”
“We don’t have good stone and what we have is used to build defenses. We have a lot of trees, though. Could you build a temple out of wood?” he asked.
That was an interesting puzzle. Most houses were built of wood and the structural elements were sound. I asked leave to study the problem and promised to return to the prince in ten days.
I hiked out to a hill overlooking the site the prince indicated was where he wanted the temple built. There, I found a cave where I could conceal myself and enter the infinity room. Of course, the first thing I needed to do was satisfy the desires of my harem, but I immediately set my librarians to work finding how to construct a temple of wood. Remarkably, they had many examples of wooden structures and the Japanese librarians who recently joined us showed a long tradition of wooden buildings in the country—some very large.
I returned to the prince at the appointed time and showed him the drawings I had made for the temple grounds. He approved and appointed me to be the architect of his new temple.
I had missed building things. I had not been so happy since constructing the pool in Babylon. I employed many people, refusing to have anyone work on the temple who was forced labor. The temple was built as several buildings around a courtyard that connected to the prince’s palace so he could attend the temple without leaving his grounds.
When the great gong rang at the temple’s entrance just a year later, it was a day of great celebration. Teachers moved in and I moved out, slipping away to my boat on the western shore of the island. I decided to go north and cross Asia by land. We sailed the little boat up a river until it was no longer passable and I sold it to begin hiking north to find what treasures could be located inland.
Forward a thousand years or so. It seems I’ve been building things all my life, so it was only natural that in the latter part of the twentieth century, I found a place in North America to build houses. And I’ve met interesting people wherever I went.
“Now, Bob… Can I call you Bob? Bob, I have just three words for you. These are the most important words you’ll hear today, Bob. Term. Life. Insurance. Now I can tell by the look in your eye that you’re thinking, ‘I’m young. I’m healthy. I’m going to live forever. What do I need life insurance for?’ I’ll tell you, Bob. This isn’t about you. This is about caring for and providing for your loved ones.”
I’m not sure why Brenda, my secretary, let him into my office. I’d have to have a discussion with her when we returned to the infinity room. I’d hired her locally, but it didn’t take long for her to become a concubine. She still came out on some days to run the construction office.
I glanced at the card he’d handed me. ‘Douglas Pierpont III, Licensed Insurance Agent.’
“Do I know you, Doug?” I asked.
“Oh, I get that a lot, you know. Most everyone in town knows me. I’ve insured most of them. This is a town of people who care for their loved ones, and that’s why I’ve come to talk to you.”
I’d left San Francisco in the mid-70s after the Nixon fiasco. The war in Viet Nam was winding down and we were in a booming economy. It was time for me to adopt a new body and a new persona. I’d chosen this midwestern suburb as a place where I could get back to what I loved to do and build things. In this instance, houses. I bought a nice tract of land and got it zoned residential, then started building. The area had been growing out here south of the city and the local authorities welcomed my development with open arms. I had the land surveyed and started putting in the infrastructure within a year of arriving. The city had all the utilities installed and had inspected our streets. We hired local contractors to do the work, all by the book, as the city commissioners were prone to say.
I could have paid for everything at once and had a new neighborhood built by my people in the infinity room in days. But in this country, that was not the way to do business. I hired all union contractors and they knew I personally inspected every project every day. Houses started going up. I had a reputation of building luxury homes starting in the low $40s.
And into my office walked an insurance salesman.
That was something else I had to deal with that was new for me. Everyone wanted their piece of the pie, so to speak. If I chose the wrong supplier, work surprisingly slowed down as half the materials were discarded as ‘inferior grade’ by my foremen. I was sure Brenda probably knew this salesman and had ushered him in because he was her uncle’s wife’s cousin who sold her grandfather his policy. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him. By this time of my life, I’d met thousands and thousands of people and it wasn’t unusual for me to be reminded of an old acquaintance by a new acquaintance. I quickly learned not to say, “You look just like a eunuch I knew in Nebuchadnezzar’s harem with a crooked tooth and wandering eye.” That usually got a blank stare and a nervous laugh before the new acquaintance excused himself.
“Now, I know you’re aware of the accidental death rate in this country. Not a pleasant thing to think about, but people die unexpectedly. You could be walking out on a jobsite and get run over by a bulldozer. It happens.”
Was he threatening me? I didn’t really think so. Apparently, some guy had been run over by a bulldozer just last year.
“What we’re really concerned with here are your heirs. With your financial savvy and good business skills, this housing development is sure to be a success. But without you at the helm, your heirs could be bankrupt in days. That’s what we want to protect against. Hardship for your family.”
If something like that happened to me, bankruptcy would be the least of my family’s problems. In the infinity room, there were nearly a thousand people in my household. Over three million in the world I’d created there. My demise would create a problem that a life insurance policy would not alleviate.
I wondered if I should be looking for a partner who could take over for me if something should happen. It seemed that ‘accidents’ like Doug described were all too common in America. And the war had taken a heavy toll on the younger generation. But I had no other demons in my rolodex that I could call on for help.
I really needed to get out of here and take my satchel someplace safe. I just hadn’t found anyplace yet.
I ended up buying an insurance policy. The guy was a good salesman.
I’d often thought I’d found the perfect place to hide my package and retire. Australia was one such place, but everything there tried to kill me. South America was another. The abandoned city of Machu Picchu was our home for many years, but we couldn’t trust it to stay concealed.
And then there was Mongolia. Talk about an isolated and faraway place. No one in his right mind would ever choose to go there.
I started across China, or the Khitan Empire as it was called at the time, near the turn of what we now refer to as the second millennium. For me, it was the beginning of my fourth millennium on earth. I might have continued right across on my westward journey were it not for Fa Zhi.
I had adopted the persona of a Buddhist monk as I made my way westward from the coast. It seemed the monks often traveled alone on undefined missions across the land. I did teach where there were willing students, however. While much of the area I traveled through had a significant shamanistic belief, for most people it was not incompatible with Buddhist beliefs, which did not attempt to replace their gods.
In many of the places I stopped, I built small temples, monasteries, or shrines to encourage the people. Many were studying the martial arts as they learned the mind-freeing practice of meditation.
I had stopped in a small town at an inn to take dinner and hire a room for the night when a small troop of soldiers and courtiers stopped there. They demanded the whole inn for themselves. The innkeeper attempted to explain that I was already given a room.
“He will have to find lodging elsewhere,” said the leader of the escort. “This is Lady Fa Zhi and she requires the inn.”
“But…”
“Please do not trouble yourself, innkeeper. The fine lady and her escort require your hospitality and I will be fine in the street,” I said.
“I detect a condescending tone in your voice, monk,” the haughty lady said, stepping forward. “I will have you stripped and beaten.”
“If that pleases your ladyship, who am I to object—though I would rather we find some other accommodation for our differences.”
“Kill him,” she commanded her guards. They drew swords.
Now, I could have gone along with almost anything she wanted, but killing me was not polite. I defended myself and, in a few moments, all her guards lay on the floor unconscious. I bowed to the lady and she stepped back in fear.
“With respect, kind lady, I cannot allow that last order to be executed, so to speak,” I said. “I wish you enjoyment of your rooms and your evening meal. Innkeeper, please take this purse as payment for the Lady’s entourage and meal.” I handed a bag of coins to the innkeeper who bowed repeatedly as he thanked me.
“Wait!” said the lady, not quite as strongly as her earlier commands. “I have mistaken a holy man for a common ruffian,” she said when I turned toward her. “I beg you, please stay and dine with me. I need to make amends to your gods.”
“Thank you, my lady. I would indeed be a common ruffian if I rejected your kind offer. If it pleases you, let me remove these gentlemen to their sleeping quarters so the servants do not need to step over them.”
“You are too kind. Innkeeper, please show the monk where to deposit these men that they may sleep off their… unfortunate drunkenness.” I noticed that she did not say their defeat or beating, but left the door open for at least some saving of face in the morning. I picked up two of the guards at a time and took them to rooms in the back of the inn that might otherwise have been used to stable horses. I was not sure.
When I’d taken the last of the six guards to their room, I paused and opened a gateway to call for half a dozen women, modestly dressed according to the customs of the land, to assist the innkeeper in preparing and serving dinner. Most of the innkeeper’s helpers had fled at the first sign of a conflict. I then returned to join Lady Fa Zhi.
She invited me to her table, and when tea was brought, she dismissed the server to ritually pour the drink herself. When we were both served, we nodded to each other, turned our heads, covered our face, and drank. Then the food began coming to the table in bowls one after another.
“Your coin has paid for a feast,” the lady said, gesturing at her own servants and courtiers who had also been served. “How comes a monk to be so strong and so wealthy?”
“Ah, strength has run in my family for many years,” I said, thinking it was not too big a lie. It had been many years. I heard one of my women titter and glared at her. She quickly went to the kitchen. “As to the coin, I have been blessed by the gods to travel this land in order to find a place to build a temple where people may come for peace and education.”
“Will that education include the techniques you use in combat?” she asked.
“It is my hope for people to travel in safety and to go about their daily work without worry about being attacked. Unlike many others, however, we recognize our own responsibility in ensuring our safety. Those techniques, as you call them, are a form of meditation practiced all over the south, the islands, and as far west as the Ganges. If one would learn the way of a monk, one must learn not only the words of the tantras, but the movements that free the soul,” I said.
“All men should learn such meditation.”
“And women,” I answered. “There is no reason a woman must be subservient or walk in fear. I would have no woman raped or forced into bondage simply because she is too weak to defend herself.”
“That message might not be well-received,” she sighed. “I command these men because they fear my father and my future husband. Were it not for that, I would be as weak as any other woman.”
Timing is a remarkable thing. At that moment, a band of brigands burst into the inn demanding food and women. They quickly assessed that there were no guards attending the lady and immediately turned to our table.
“Please, defend me,” she whispered to me. “Please.”
I sat calmly with my tea.
Before the brigands had reached our table, there was a wall of women between them and us. I had selected these women to assist the innkeeper because I knew them to be among the best of my martial artists. The brigands did not know this. They moved to brush the women away and before they knew what was happening, all were laid out on the floor, like the lady’s guards had been. I had not moved.
“The women…” Lady Fa Zhi started. I motioned her to silence as the village patrol arrived.
The innkeeper explained what happened and how the brigands had been defeated. The leader of the patrol looked nervously at the women who had returned to serving the guests. They dragged the brigands off, presumably to their execution. I doubted that any would live to see the morning light. I turned back to my companion and smiled.
“These women are not the servants of the inn who fled when you defeated my guards,” the lady whispered. I nodded. “Whoever you are, I would enter your service and learn what I have seen.”
“Your husband to be might think differently,” I said cautiously. Lady Zhi was petite and comely. She had already declared that her father and her fiancé were wealthy and powerful men. Taking on a band of brigands or even a small company of soldiers was one thing. I had no desire to lead my people into a war.
“He will not object. This marriage was arranged for the convenience of getting rid of a younger daughter and my future husband will be relieved not to have one more wife. Besides, I plan to no longer be a virgin in the morning.”
I have lived in cultures that value virginity beyond reason, and in cultures that have no regard for the nuisance flap of skin covering a woman’s vagina. China seemed to value the virginity of wealthy women and not have much regard for that of the poor—whether they wanted to give up their virginity or not. I have to say, I’ve been more places like that than not.
Even in the so-called enlightenment of the twenty-first century, women are devalued. An accusation of rape is more likely to be treated seriously if the woman is of a significantly higher social standing than the man. If a poor woman or a woman of color accuses a rich or powerful white man in America, she can expect to be deemed a gold digger or simply out to ruin a man’s reputation.
“She asked for it,” typically means the woman shouldn’t have been born into the lower stratum if she didn’t want to be raped.
I don’t want to lecture or preach on the subject, but when one speaks about the seven deadly sins, I count murder and rape as six of them. I have held the shattered remains of women who have been raped in my arms as they wept inconsolably or as they withdrew from the world completely, never to be whole again. It is the only crime for which I am a willing executioner.
Zhi’s offered gift was a treasure I valued in the extreme. I touched it, examined it, tasted it, and ultimately gazed into her eyes as I parted that gate with my cock and paid her all my respect. I slid into her silky depths again and again, making sure she climbed the peaks of passion repeatedly with no regard for my personal pleasure. I was making love to a remarkable, beautiful, and willing partner. What more pleasure could I have?
For her part, Zhi had led a sheltered life and had no experience of men at all. By the end of the night, she was determined to read and practice every page of the Kama Sutra. Fortunately, I had a copy. We journeyed together for four more days with her guards warily avoiding contact with me.
Zhi asked where my women had gone and I said simply that I sent them on ahead. People of privilege, I have noticed, seldom note who is serving them. One servant is the same as another. So, when different women helped in the kitchen and served our food on subsequent nights, neither Zhi nor her entourage really noticed.
Let me correct that. Zhi, her guards, and her senior staff didn’t notice. She traveled with a number of servants and I could see in their eyes that they wondered how different women left my chambers to serve each night. Of course, I was never seen by any of them either in Zhi’s chamber or emerging from it. I was always in my own room when we rose in the morning. That served the double purpose of keeping gossip to a minimum and of giving me time to reward the ladies who had served that day. I always tried to make sure my ladies were satisfied.
At last, we arrived at the emperor’s palace.
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