What could have been mere minutes later, Morris awoke to a chaotic din and the strong scent of smoke.  He crested a hill and shivered at the scene below.

The monastery and several of the huts blazed.  Hundreds of dark-robed Mahayan assaulted the courtyard; more still streamed over the drawbridge and into the valley.  Some carried torches, gardening tools, or knives, but most wielded nothing, relying instead on brute force and numbers to overwhelm the Theravids.  The Mahayan chanted, “Purge the heretics!  Purge the heretics!”  The Theravids who hadn’t already been caught and slain in the initial madness were cornered at a bend in the river.  They huddled together, terrified.

Juéxǐng De Lóng wore his clean white robe and a grotesque, three-eyed demon mask of black, red, and gold.  He fired a crossbow into the Theravid mass; a body fell into the river and floated toward the sea.  

Beside Juéxǐng, two teens carried an empty wooden cage and a dozen teens carried a larger, full cage.  Upon staring, Morris realized the latter contained the Shù Rén -- the humanoid seed of the Buddha’s Palm -- and he was shocked by the size and sight of it.  The cage was about six feet to a side but the creature was crammed inside.  Its stilt legs stuck from between the bars at odd angles, it was bent awkwardly, and its tendrils moved about frantically.  Morris shivered

A gang of villagers carried a loudly protesting Chénshuì toward Juéxǐng.  Juéxǐng shoved his father into the empty cage.  Chénshuì hit the far side of the cage and it rotated twice from the force, first smashing him against the ground then turning and dumping him on his head.  Juéxǐng locked the door.  Chénshuì lay in a heap; he seemed to be crying.  Morris was saddened by these events but couldn’t muster pity.

A Mahayan brought Juéxǐng a bundle of scrolls from Kōng Fú’s seafaring library.  From among the Mahayan ranks, Hǎo approached Juéxǐng in tears, kowtowing; she seemed to beg.  Juéxǐng unsheathed a knife and jammed it deep into the back of Hǎo’s neck.  Morris put his head in his hands, and wiped away tears.  Damn.

Morris had not suspected Hǎo of being the spy.  But Morris had barely questioned her.  And now that Morris thought about it, it made perfect sense, and not just in a hindsight-is-20-20 sort of way.  Hǎo alone seemed to want more from life than mere emptiness.  She probably felt sorry for the Mahayan and wanted to help them; she probably trusted Juéxǐng to take the boats and to leave the Theravids otherwise unharmed.

Damn, damn.  Morris lied to himself that he’d tried his best to catch the spy, but he didn’t buy it.  He’d tried to find Voss and leave instead.  And he hadn’t even questioned Niǎn.

But why was it his fault?  He didn’t come here by choice.  He had his own family to worry about; he couldn’t dawdle and solve the Theravids’ problems, especially when they wouldn’t confront the problems themselves.

Morris looked back up.  The Mahayan rounded up the remaining Theravids and tied their wrists with rope.  The wind carried flames from one hut to the next and blaze turned to inferno.

As the fire neared the Shù Rén it writhed in its cage, and the teenagers carrying it struggled to hold on.  It swung one of its shovel-hands between two bars and split open the head of a teenager.  Morris grimaced.  It swung its limbs horizontally once, twice, and the bars of its cage started to splinter.  It started flailing its limbs; the cage broke and collapsed, then the shovels tore apart human flesh.  Within moments, most of the teenagers lay bleeding out on the ground.  Juéxǐng De Lóng lay among them, his white cloak stained red.

A woman wailed and ran toward an eviscerated teenager; the towering monster cut her down.  The villagers fled.  The Shù Rén ran splay-legged down the valley, onto the beach, and into the ocean.  Morris shivered, feeling somber and helpless.

He jumped as a weighty hand landed on his shoulder.  “Let’s go,” said Voss.

Morris frowned.  “People are dying.”

Voss shrugged.  “Their lives are momentary; they’ve been alive two days and would die in a week regardless, their stories forgotten to history.”

Morris supposed Voss was right, but he couldn’t shake his unease.

“Did you gain a sufficient understanding of Buddhism?” asked Voss.

“I did,” said Morris.  “Call me arrogant, but I think I understand Buddhism better than anyone else on the island.  But if you want to see human religion in action, this is as real as it gets.”

“Why?”

“In reality, people don’t fully understand their religions.  Every major religion lends itself to ethical readings.  But even in a religion whose ethics are as clearly defined as Buddhism you find followers who either misinterpret or ignore the core philosophy.”

“What philosophy is that?” said Voss.

“I can’t put my finger on it exactly,  It definitely involves opening your heart, or something like that.  It definitely doesn’t center around withdrawal from the world, and it definitely doesn’t have space for theft, arson, and murder.”  Morris shook his head.  “I don’t want to disrespect the dead, but what I’ve seen the past two days makes me angry.”

“So where’s the disconnect?” said Voss.  “Why are humans so bad at understanding their own religions?”

“Most leave religious interpretation to their religious authority, who is as fallible and corruptible as any other person.  A lot of cognitive biases also play into misunderstandings.  People seek information which confirms what they already believe, and so twist their religion to fit their worldview.  They are confident without proof, they oversimplify information, they mistake repetition for truth…  They believe information based on mental shortcuts, not based on logic.”

“Interesting, though not surprising given humans’ irrationality in such spheres as economics and politics.”  Voss nodded and pondered.  “So, with the right presentation and context, humans will believe anything?  Your species is even more gullible than I thought.”

Morris followed Voss back through the forest toward the Theravid monastery.  Near the clearing where Morris had woken up, Voss left the path, and shortly thereafter disappeared into thin air.  Morris stopped briefly out of confusion, then Voss’s huge arm reached out, grabbed him, and pulled him into the universe machine.