The God in the Incense Ashes

Overworked office drone Lin Ruanruan ducks into Hanshan Temple to escape the rain and falls in love at first sight with a statue of a Subduing Tiger Arhat. In her twenty-five years, she’s never seen a sculpture blend “serene divinity” and “alluring beauty” so perfectly! On a whim, she casts the divination blocks and asks, “Can you be my boyfriend?” After being rejected twenty times, she refuses to give up and throws them a hundred more times, finally hearing the crisp sound of a “yes.”

That night, a bodhisattva appears in her dream, pinches her chin, and complains, “Mortal, you broke three divination blocks in my temple.” She wakes up thinking it was only a dream, until one stormy night, a drenched “Arhat” crashes onto her balcony. Gods and Buddhas entering the mortal world have no idea how things work here: he mistakes her phone for a “glowing magical artifact,” takeout for “mortal offerings,” and even insists on carrying eighteen bags of vegetarian mooncakes home from the supermarket.

But a warning from the Heavenly Court drifts in on the incense ash: “Relations between gods and mortals are blasphemy.” He was once a god of war who protected the realm, but became a Buddha after overcoming his tribulation. She’s just an ordinary mortal, yet she dares to kneel before the Buddha and pray, “All the gods and Buddhas in Heaven, I only want him.” As thunder rumbles, he holds her and faces the heavenly tribulation. “If giving up this divine position means you can live in peace, then I don’t need it.”

After surviving the tribulation, he becomes an ordinary boyfriend who can squeeze onto the subway and cook clear noodle soup. Years later, he brings their child back to Hanshan Temple. The child points at the Arhat statue and shouts, “Dad!” He smiles and ruffles the child’s hair. “That was Dad’s old office.”

A bond born among the incense ashes finally finds its place in the warmth of everyday life.