I woke up this morning feeling joyful and physically light. I decided it would be the day to dash down the mountain. Chen had two female roommates who moved in with her last night and they teamed up to head down the mountain together.
People had different takes on how long it would take to get down the mountain. I wasn’t sure at all. After two days of seclusion in meditation, I felt I could fly. In fact, I ran down the mountain in just two hours. I had no idea how fast I was going until I was down in the valley at the main gate and checked the time.
While running down the mountain a passed a young man who decided to be competitive and run too. On the way down I saw lots of people who were hiking up that looked like they were in pain. It’s a difficult hike I my opinion and they should have taken the cable car up and then hike downward.
The trail from the main gate up to the central mountain is rigorous. And then from the central area through the Western Sea trail up to top valley is more intense. It is best to start from Eastern Gate up to the Swam Peak, go west to do Western Sea Trail down to Central area then back down into main gate.
I took the main gate shuttle to the bus terminal where I bought a ticket heading toward Jiu Hua Shan “Nine Flower Mountain”. I had missed the direct bus to Jiu Hua Shan. There was only one per day at 6:20am. Being intent on being in Jiu Hua Shan tonight I decided to find ways to make transfer buses that will get me there. It was only 11:30am what else am I going to do?
I was dropped off at the nearest intersection for Jiu Hua Shan by the bus driver who called for a cab to pick me up to drop me off at Jiu Hua Shan gates. This way I would save myself an hour of extra detour to Tai Ping where the bus was headed. It was arranged that I would only need to pay 10 yuan for this cab ride.
As I approached the cab I noticed there was a driver and another man sitting in the shotgun seat. The driver was under the command of the man in the shotgun seat. It turns out this man was an owner of a hotel in town not on Jiu Hua Shan. He wanted my business for the night. He spent his time trying to convince me how I don’t need to visit the mountain. All I have to do is go to this one monastery and it would be good enough. In fact, said he, that most of his clients do this upon his recommendation. He continued to teach me his form of Buddhism that involved offering money here and there and then burning pyramids of incense here and there. Why? Because he also has a connection to an incense shop. Maybe he gets commissions or something. Maybe he owns the shop. He insisted that I need to buy incense and it is cheaper at this shop he recommends.
The man continue to try to derail me from going into Jiu Hua Shan. He took me to a monastery outside of the gates that was working on expansion. He instructed me to make an offering of any amount. The monk at the desk was ready to write my name on the merit and virtue sign in book to log me in when I pulled out the nearest money I had and it was 5 yuan. Seeing my sum, the monk stopped me from signing my name on the booklet. I guess it wasn’t really any amount that was all good. I guess only certain amount was considered meritorious.
Outside this monastery one can pay a sum to have a, no joke, incense bundled in the form of a 6X5 feet pyramid tower outside. I passed on such an activity and the man told me how as a Buddhist I know nothing about Buddhism, blah, blah, blah….. Afterwards, I continued to keep up with my determination to not get derailed by his business intentions through using the name of Buddhism.
