In "Looking for Whales", Ming Haisu Ting's past life chapter.
Minghai is a sixteen-year-old boy who will never grow old because he is riddled with violence.
His body and soul were bound to the day of the Xuanwu Change.
He was born of obsession and could not transform his anger. If he did not become a Buddha, he would become a demon.
In the ancient temple, a solitary lamp always remains with you.
In front of the Buddha statue, in the curling green smoke, the lotus lamp was burning with a wick, and the wick called him: "Hey, what's your name?"
He has forgotten my secular name and only said that my name is Minghai.
One person and one lamp are always with each other. She is just a cluster of flames lit by a thin wick.
He said: "Let me give you a name. A wick in the lotus lamp in front of the Buddha. How about I call you Lotus Core? Your Dharma name is to listen. This way I hear, this way I listen."
The little flame danced happily and said delicately: "Okay! I'm very happy. I am Lianxin, Minghai's Xiaoting."
**
She was originally a wick and a cluster of flames in the realm of nothingness, extremely difficult to form and unable to transform. When he condensed her soul into the body of the dying little white snake, he thought that maybe he was too lonely.
Later, she transformed into a human form, and standing in front of him was a nineteen-year-old woman who was the most beautiful woman in the country. Looking at her made him regret that he shouldn't have taught her to transform. She was his fate, and even more so, his calamity.
But she just wanted to be the little white snake who would accompany him while drinking tea and copying scriptures under the lamp.
As long as she stays with him, that's fine.
However, he is riddled with karma and has become a demon...
She called him softly, "Hey, please open your eyes and look at me."
I, let go of the world
But I never let you go
——Tsangyang Gyatso
Intention: truth, goodness and beauty