The Heartless Buddha [GB]

At their first meeting, moonlight streamed down like silk, and the lamps glimmered in the fading night.

He stood tall and straight, his features like a distant mountain dusted with winter snow. Every movement was the height of elegance.

She smiled as she plucked a flower, holding an eight-ribbed umbrella with a white canopy patterned in red flowers and curling vines. "A gentleman without flaw," she said.

*

At the Muxi Temple, he knelt on a prayer cushion, palms together, and made a wish before the statue of the god.

May Muxi always be joyful and free of worry.

May peace reign throughout the land.

May...

May...

His eyes half-closed, he bowed three times before the gods and Buddhas, praying in his heart: may Muxi be free of worry and always joyful, and may he never forget his first aspiration.

Theme: Strive upward and do good