Kōng Fú waved her hand; the other monks and Voss departed the room.  “The first step along the Eightfold Path is Right Views, which are defined by our knowledge of the Four Noble Truths.”

Morris considered not mentioning the presence of a spy, selfishly, in the interest of haste.  But he knew informing Kōng Fú would take little time.  “Hold that thought for a moment.  When he accosted me earlier, Juéxǐng let slip he had a spy in your midst.”

Kōng Fú contemplated this information.  “Our drawbridge broke recently, and multiple items of note have gone missing.  Our compasses, for one.  But only the four elders have access to the missing items.”

“Would any of them have reason to help the Mahayan?” said Morris.

Kōng Fú scrunched her face in concentration, then her features opened as if she had an epiphany.  “Perhaps someone defected to spite me.  After all, who wants to follow a leader so blind she can’t see a traitor in her inner circle?”

Morris’s eyebrows raised.  “I’m so sorry.  I didn’t mean to imply…”

Kōng Fú grinned.  “None of the elders would betray our order.  The compasses and books must have just gotten lost, and an animal probably chewed the ropes of the drawbridge.  Juéxǐng just told you of a spy to mislead us and to cause paranoia to fester.”

Morris felt relief that Kōng Fú wasn’t actually offended, but he wasn’t convinced about the spy.  He decided to probe the elders and note any suspicious behavior while learning from them.

Morris sat, and Kōng Fú began her lesson:

“The first noble truth of Buddhism is that life is suffering,  But the Dalai Lama tells us, ‘Suffering is dependent on causes and conditions.  This means one can prevent these causes to overcome suffering.  Suffering is neither permanent nor inescapable.’  

“The second truth is that we all share a desire for personal fulfillment, as dictated by the ego.  

“The third truth is that by ending our desire for personal fulfillment, so do we end our suffering.  

“The fourth noble truth is that the Eightfold Path allows us to end our suffering and reach nirvana.  The Eightfold Path includes Right Views; Intent; Speech; Conduct; Livelihood; Effort; Mindfulness; and Concentration.  To recap:  Life is suffering because of a desire for personal fulfillment, and one can end this suffering by following the Eightfold Path.

“The second step of the path is Right Intent,” continued Kōng Fú.  “Intent frames every thought which passes through your mind.  Intent gives thought context -- a reason to care.

“Personal worldviews establish a practical veil through which experiences can be defined.  Left to my own devices, my worldview would not likely extend beyond seeking ways to mask my hideous face from the world and so avoid the hatred of local children.”  

Kōng Fú was perfectly normal-looking for her age; Morris detected dry sarcasm.  

“But I follow Buddhism,” she continued, “which instead utilizes several converging priorities -- suffering, ego, truth, compassion, moderation, and practicality -- to generate an all-encompassing, harmonious worldview.”

“Would it not be wiser to craft a worldview in relation to all, rather than in relation to oneself?” said Morris.

“Your actions are still relative to your self even when your intentions are selfless,” said Kōng Fú.  “Crafting a worldview removed from yourself is impossible.  One only has control of oneself, and therefore the primary question on which one must focus is, ‘what should I do?’”

“If Buddhism’s goal is the destruction of the ego, would it not be constructive for the self to lose focus?”
Kōng Fú scratched her brow.  “You speak as though the ego and the self are the same, but this is far from true.  When the walls of the ego are torn down, the self shines forth in its truest form.”

“How is there such a thing as a self’s ‘truest form?’” said Morris.

“Ego is selfishly concerned with image.  It seeks validation and pride instead of peace.  It is the part of me that tells me to intimidate other women with handsome shoes and shiny boyfriends because my mother never respected me; the part that precludes me from learning new information without pretending I was already aware; that assumes my opinions are more factual than others’ opinions; that won’t rest until everybody knows that I don’t care what they think about me; that tries to justify all the times I hurt my mother when she needed my help, because I was bitter.  Once the ego dissolves, the self is free to act authentically.  

“Dissolving the ego destroys the primary barrier to righteous action by removing one’s attachment to personal biases.  To hurdle the remaining barriers, one must cultivate the virtue of adaptability.  If one has renounced ego, adapting oneself is easy.  One is not personally invested in one’s tools and methods, so one can shed them without emotional pain.”

As Kōng Fú spoke, an insect which had been buzzing around the room landed on one of her foggy eyes.  It looked something like an oversized, blue house-fly.  It crawled around on the cornea then began cleaning its eyes with its legs.

“I know that you stopped listening to me,” said Kōng Fú, “and I know that you are staring at the insect on my eye.”

“You can feel it?”

“Of course I can feel it.  My blink reflex, though it is as useless as the rest of me, still exists.  But why should I make the poor creature find somewhere else to clean its eyes when I’m not using mine for anything better?”

Morris shrugged.  “You shouldn’t.”