Chapter 220 — Thieves' Shadows Never Cease
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
"This cloud is large enough, yet not large enough. The cloud over the Kingdom of Jingping, and this snow — they are more like a warning.
" On Western Mount Sumeru, the Golden Summit Great Thunderpeal Monastery crowned a towering majestic peak, the golden summit itself seated above the sea of clouds. The Old Tathagata cast his gaze over the whole of the Kingdom of Jingping and saw the sun blazing with golden splendor, making the sea of clouds shine with extraordinary brilliance. "In the long history of our Great Thunderpeal Monastery, we too have witnessed celestial attacks of this kind.
" Before the Old Tathagata stood a host of Bodhisattvas, Venerables, and Arhats, and they heard the Old Tathagata say: "That celestial attack was far more vast than the present one.
There too was great snow, there too were dark clouds, so that the people had no means of life, and natural disasters followed year after year — none can say how many died. Venerable Ku, go to the Sutra Pavilion and bring the Scripture of the Lamenting Emperor's Empty Chronicle, and turn to page one thousand three hundred and sixty-seven. " A monk with a sorrowful brow rose and went. After a moment, this Venerable Ku returned bearing a thick scripture in both hands, turned to the page the Old Tathagata had named, and read: "Empty Chronicle, year six thousand four hundred and twenty of the Lamenting Emperor: the heavens changed, snow fell for thirty days, clouds locked eight hundred thousand li, and neither sun nor sky could be seen. The starving dead filled the fields, and bandits rose on every side; the Lamenting Emperor commanded the gods and the dragon kings to destroy them.
Year six thousand four hundred and thirty of the Lamenting Emperor: fire meteors fell from heaven, star-rain like a tide, volcanoes erupted — ten thousand volcanoes — the great earth quaked, the ground split into chasms a thousand zhang deep and ten thousand ravines, rivers dried up, the seas emptied. And when the next year came, the sun vanished, and sun and moon alike lost their light. . . " Behind the Old Tathagata, the Poor Master and the others were shaken to the core and cried out involuntarily: "Tathagata, this is. . . " "The Wasteland.
" The Old Tathagata turned and looked toward the vast, boundless wilds behind Mount Sumeru, and said: "What this scripture records is the final history of the divine kingdom in the Wasteland.
The great snow and the dark clouds were only the first warning.
But this warning has come earlier than I imagined — many years earlier, and far lighter as well. It seems the deeds of the Kingdom of Jingping have made those above take notice. " The Poor Master, True Lord Tian, and the others felt their minds thunder and murmured: "The Wasteland. . .
" "If the Emperor wishes to quell this disaster, there is only one way: he must immediately halt the reforms, issue an edict of self-blame, beg forgiveness of Heaven, and beg forgiveness of the common people.
" The Old Tathagata's gaze was deep. "Otherwise this snow disaster is only the beginning.
Afterwards there will come celestial phenomena even more terrible — not merely snow and cloud, but star-rain, volcanoes, rivers and lakes running dry, the sea evaporating, and the sun and moon vanishing altogether. This is Heaven's chastisement. That Heaven in its wrath should make the common people bear it — that is going too far. . .
" "Report to the Tathagata: the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Jingping has sent a messenger, requesting an audience.
" The Old Tathagata was briefly startled, then smiled: "So His Highness has come to find this old monk after all.
Invite him up.
" "As your holiness commands. " The Old Tathagata said to the monks all around, smiling: "His Highness the Crown Prince is quite extraordinary. Perhaps he will be the lord who saves the world.
The Emperor is set on going his own way, but the Crown Prince will not be so.