Inside the Hall

I handle the Chinese. You follow the story.

At six o'clock the bell at the eastern end of the hall rang once.

Jin Yunpeng, in the first row, 坐zuò着 cross-legged on his cushion, struck a small wooden block with a cloth-wrapped mallet, and the chant began.

坐zuò. To sit. 坐zuò cross-legged on his cushion means sat cross-legged on his cushion.

Sun Chuanfang, in the second row, center-left, 坐zuò着 in the same posture he had held for the past five months. The padded robe 上shàng his shoulders. His back straight.

The beads in his hands moving slowly through his fingers.

上shàng. Up, or on. 上shàng his shoulders means on his shoulders. 上shàng is up, 下xià is down. You'll hear them paired.

Shi Jianqiao, in the back row, 坐zuò着 in the same posture she had held for the past eight months. Her hands rested in her lap. Her cloth bag rested on the floor 下xià her right knee.

下xià. Down, or under. 下xià her right knee means under her right knee. 上shàng means on top, 下xià means underneath.

The hall, at six on a cold November morning, was lit by candles 上shàng the altar and by the first gray light coming through the tall windows along the north wall. The candles smelled faintly of beeswax.

The incense smelled faintly of sandalwood.

The air outside was cold; the hall, with three thousand 人rén chanting most weekday mornings and four hundred 人rén chanting on a quiet Wednesday like this one, was warmer than the lane.

The chant began with the Heart Sutra.

The Heart Sutra runs about ten minutes when chanted at the TianjinJushilin的de standard pace.Shi Jianqiao chanted along, mouthing the syllables a half-beat behind the older woman next to her, the way she had every morning since March.

At six twelve, the Heart Sutra ended. Jin Yunpeng struck the wooden block twice. The hall held still for the prescribed three breaths.

Sun Chuanfang的de back rose and fell three times.

At six fifteen, the Diamond Sutra began.

The Diamond Sutra at the TianjinJushilin was chanted in three sections, with the third section being the longest, and the third section contained a line Shi Jianqiao had been waiting for since May.

The line was about the impermanence of all phenomena. About how every conditioned thing was like a dream, like a bubble, like a shadow. About how the wise 人rén sees through what arises and what passes away.

Shi Jianqiao had picked the line because it was long enough that the chanters fell into the rhythm of it. Eyes 下xià toward the page. Bodies still. Attention turned inward.

The Diamond Sutra began. Sun Chuanfang, in the second row, chanted with the rest of them. The pages of his copy of the sutra were turned by the older man on his right.

At six twenty-eight, the second section of the Diamond Sutra ended.

Jin Yunpeng struck the wooden block once. The hall held still for three breaths. Sun Chuanfang的de shoulders rose and fell.

At six thirty-one, the third section began.

Shi Jianqiao, in the back row, did not chant the third section.

She lowered her head a fraction further than the chanters around her, the way a 人rén lowers her head when reading a difficult passage closely. Her hands moved from her lap.The right hand went 上shàng the inside right pocket of the third coat.

The left hand went 下xià to the cloth bag at her right knee, untied the string, and lifted the wooden box of pamphlets onto her lap.

The right hand inside the coat closed around the grip of the Browning model 1900. The thumb found the safety. The thumb pushed the safety down.

The third section of the Diamond Sutra reached the line about impermanence at six thirty-eight.

The chanters' voices held the rhythm. Eyes 下xià toward the page. Bodies still. Sun Chuanfang的de back, in the padded robe, rose and fell at the steady rate she had measured for two hundred mornings.

Shi Jianqiao stood up.

She did not stand fast. She stood the way a chanter stands when she needs to step out for a breath.The two 人rén at the back-row registration desk glanced at her, registered the standing as routine, and 回huí their attention to the page.

She walked forward.

She walked between the back row of cushions and the third row, then between the third row and the second row.She walked the way a chanter walks when she needs to leave the hall through the side door, except that she did not turn toward the side door.

At the second row, behind Sun Chuanfang, she stopped.

She stopped at a distance she had measured eleven paces back in October and verified twice in the past week. The distance, measured cushion to cushion, was about eight feet.

Sun Chuanfang, in the padded robe, did not turn around.

His back rose. His back fell. The chanters' voices held the rhythm of the line about impermanence.

Shi Jianqiao took the Browning out of the inside right pocket of the third coat.

In Episode Eighteen, three shots.

That is where we start Episode Eighteen.