Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Land Acquisition, Eavesdropping and Knife Throwing User
I have not yet decided on what to be disguised as, but my appearance has already changed when I visited a shop on the highway leading to the Capital City . People will not see me as a sadhu who only has undergarments and dreadlocks . My grayed hair was washed clean with aloe vera leaves I found under a waterfall, then after I blushed it into a shiny black style thanks to the concoction of certain plants, then I curled it up neatly . I will look the same as everyone and disguised at the same time, because it is not flashy, I look just like everyone else . I am 100 years old and have lived in caves for the past 25 years, but that does not mean I look so emaciated and helpless . Of course I still looked like an old man, but it wasn’t too old and worn out so it would be strange to be seen riding a horse .
The shop was a haven for people who traveled outside and headed into the Capital City . I came as if I were going to the city and stopped by to eat and drink . Outside there are many horses, it means that many of them are already inside . The shop is near a settlement which consists of only a few huts . I know those hut are for gambling and prostitution .
No one noticed me coming in, because their attention was on someone talking in a crowd .
“Whose side does Rakai Kayuwangi belong to now? Samarattungga has built the grandest Mahayana temple in the entire lands, Kamulan Bhumisambhara, which stands on the recently acquired land of our ancestor, in the villages of Tepusan, Mantyasih, and Pamandayan . Not only three villages were freed, but 24 villages, complete with rice fields, for the sake of fulfilling the eight directions formation (TL: according to literature, it is 9 directions, it’s called ‘Nawa Sanga’) . “But what will happen to them? Since Jatiningrat enjoyed Pramodawardhani’s wealth, not only did the Brahmins (TL: Priest in Hindu and Buddha, in this context, it is the priest of Hindu) gain control over the Palace trust again, but also there are rumors around Tantrayana’s teachings, which were accused of being heretical! Isn’t that Rakai Kayuwangi Dyah Lokapala, whose mother is Pramodawardhani and Samarattungga as a grandfather who liberated the earth for the Buddhist priests? Why did he let us all be oppressed by Shiva’s criminals? ” (TL: This whole paragraph is confusing, I hope I TLed it right)
A long murmur could be heard . Then someone said . “Be careful when you talk, the believer of Shiva is no less cultured than you are . ” “Are you a Shiva yourself?” .
“No, I am a follower of Vishnu, but my family used to believe in Shiva, and have given up his land for the ten-storied Buddhist temple . ” (TL: Hindu has a lot of schools of thought, like daoism, as mentioned, there are Shiva, Vishnu etc . The most popular school of thought in Hinduism in Indonesia today is ShivBuddha . )
“And hasn’t your land been paid for?”
“No, It is not, but we are all listed as witnesses in the inscriptions (TL: they wrote it in some stones) , and such things are more than enough for us . ”
“Then where do you all live?”
“Our family may clear the forest anywhere under Syailendra’s power, but my parents followed Balaputradewa to Suwarnadwipa . ”
“That means you are banished! Why did you just accept that Brahmin Jatiningrat stepped on your head? ”
“Don’t say that, Jatiningrat has defended Pramodawardhani’s interests from Balaputradewa’s lust for power . The princess’s daughter has more rights to the throne than the king’s younger siblings right? ”
“Yes, but who is then entrenched in the palace?”
“It’s been a long time ago . Now Lokapala who is the ruling Buddha, what’s wrong with that? ”
“He is still the ruler of the same area . Our land must be replaced! ”
“Not only the land, even the people’s lives belong to the king”
“If you think like that, don’t ever claim to be Buddhist, don’t even profess a religion!”
(TL: There are multiple arguments, by different individuals, It’s confusing even in the RAW, or I am just that stupid . )
The debate was still ongoing, but people were getting bored, or starving, and they returned to their respective tables to order food . The wine began to circulate . Gambling is still exciting . A group of mask dancers who had just arrived outside the tavern were dancing . A servant woman who I thought was a prostitute came to my desk with a cup of wine . She smiled teasingly, but my head was still thinking about the debate earlier .
I have also read the inscription of Sri Kahulunan which is the title of empress, it was inaugurated in 842 . The inscription’s content was about the acquisition of land . In fact, I still remember it was located at lines 26-33 . as with eggs, if they have been damaged they can no longer hatch, so does anyone who damaged the stone . He will be destroyed . if that person were to enter the forest, may he be eaten by the tigers, if he were to walk on the street, may he be bitten by a snake, if he were to went the river, may he be eaten by crocodiles, may those who dared to damage the land of Sri Kahulunan be destroyed .
Each of those eight directions consists of three villages, then the total number of villages freed indeed becomes 24, which is divided into three layers . At the center of the layer lies the village of Mantyasih . Based on this layer, it can be sorted to the south there is the village of Pamandayan, Tepusan, which ends in Teru . Everything in the Kedu area . With this division, everything becomes the land of Sri Kahulunan’s fiefdom which is called Kamulan . To be specific it became sima or a land in which temples can be built, because it is indeed to establish a jinalaya temple, a temple to glorify the ancestors, which in this case, it is believed it will lead to Buddhahood .
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According to the interests at play, namely for the sake of the royal family, it is actually the people who are considered to have given the land as gifts to the king . Based on the situation, according to the law, the people whose land was liberated will be present as witnesses to the inauguration of the inscription .
There are times when their names are mentioned in the inscription . In the inscriptions of Sri Kahulunan, there are a lot of common people’s names, including village leaders, Mudra, and his wife named Widya . But the acquisition of land is not just a gift from the people, but also a sacrifice, because this land is very likely to have become a rice field, rice fields for the royal family (TL: I might be wrong on this one . The original word is ‘Kanayakan’) or rice fields of the officials, as well as the rice fields of the servants . It was stated that they received different gifts . This means that there can also be people who received compensations for the land and some who don’t . So that it is still a cause for problems decades later, like what I just heard from this shop .
Is it really because of religious differences? I always thought that religious differences were not the reason for the division . It is a competition for power, which utilizes all differences, including religion, which in fact needed the differences . With differences, a nation is fragile, and those with an interest in this situation will easily take power .
I looked around . Those who stopped to drink looked like a group of traders . Outside, there were indeed a number of ox-carts containing merchandise which were unloaded by ships from the north coast of Yawabumi . In addition to traders, there were also armed guards who always accompanied the convoys of goods transporting carts . In various corners, there were also people who looked like a letter delivery, pilgrims, and also whose job is not clear like me . I sweep them at a glance with a question in my head: How far do they all think about religion?
Even before I disappeared from the bustling world, Shiva and Buddhism coexisted . Although Buddhism was born due Siddharta Gotama’s dissatisfaction upon Hinduism in India, the Buddha’s similarity to Hinduism itself was far more than their inequality . In Yawabumi during my era, both Shiva and the Buddha could even attend the same ceremony, because both of them had a place in the palace term of appointments as government officials . When I heard that in the name of religions as justification for disunity my blood rose because I smelled evil that was born by ignorance .
With a sharp hearing, I followed the conversation of a group of people across my table who had been suspicious because I was always whispering to myself .
“It’s very difficult to trace that unnamed warrior now! That is the consequence if you can not immediately kill him! Everyone does not believe that he is so powerful! ‘How can one hundred year old fight,’ they said . Now they feel the consequences … ”
I gasped to hear myself being mentioned .
“I do not understand why the mastery of the Formless Art must be related to that unnamed Warrior and then he is suspected… . ” I sharpened my hearing . Suspected?
“Suspected? Certainly he is the one who spread the secret teachings! ” Secret teaching?
“His picture has been distributed among the assassins, after the palace guards failed to kill him . The Swordsman Melati was even persuaded to look for him after hearing the news that the unnamed killed her daughter . Even though the Nameless Swordsman has disappeared for 25 years, in fact he has even resigned from the pugilistic world for 50 years . ”
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“Disappear? That could also mean that he always moves in secret! ”
“Hmm . That is indeed a possibility . But … Aaaakkh! ”
A flying knife suddenly pierced the nape of the man’s neck . He collapsed forward and his face entered the bowl of porridge marrow he was eating . The white marrow porridge immediately turns red with blood .
I actually saw the knife glide, but I felt it best not to get involved if I wanted to see the whole picture of this situation . Of course I should also force one of those who whisper to talk, but I’m worried that what he said would be misleading, because apparently everyone doesn’t know the full story . .
The people across the table immediately stood up, but the flying knife user greeted him with a dozen or so flying knives which were very fast . They all collapse to the ground as corpses, each with two knives on their body .
The incident happened in a blink of an eye . The people inside the shop can not even follow the movements by using naked eyes . Only the wind shakes and the shadows they fell .
The marrow porridge has turned red, and the corpse fell to the ground . The servant woman who I thought was a prostitute screamed . I felt there was no need to linger around in that place anymore .
… . .
I followed the flying knife user, which I have noticed since I entered the shop, stuck to the ceiling with Lizard Art . It was a different art from what I knew, this one used his back to stick to the ceiling, so his hands were free to throw flying knives . When he flew down he continuously threw his knives . So everyone got stabbed with two knives bearing golden flowers on its handle .
He is very agile . His horse galloped through the trees in the forest towards Mantyasih . I followed him while jumping from tree to tree . Several times he turned to look at me, but he would only feel like seeing something . It is easy for me to kill him with one palm in this kind of situation . As I followed him I thought about myself, who was continuously targeted for murder . What does the Formless Art have to do with all of this? What does that have to do with secret teachings? I suddenly Remembered a quote from Sang Hyang Kamahayanan Mantranaya .
Do not teach the Hyang Vajra, Gantra, and Mudra to those who have not seen the mandala
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To those who have not experienced the teachings . This must be kept a secret .
This is the difficulty with Buddhism, whose teachings were initially full of simplicity, then after the Buddha died it turned out to be complicated again . Tantrayana, for example, all his teachings depend on the existence of the teacher . Otherwise, any verse will be confusing, and wrongly interpreted quite easily . I have heard, before he died in his bed, Buddha said, “There is absolutely nothing to keep secret . ”
Now Buddhism spread with so many schools of thought, it is said that the pure teachings of buddhism were brought to Jnanabhadra of Yawabumi by the monks from China . That happened in 665 . Hmm . What can still be pure in this world actually?
I darted behind the leaves to follow him . When he came out of the woods and drove down the driveway into the city, I took refuge as a shadow behind the shadow of his horse, which extended in the beam of sunlight from the west side .
Who is this flying knife user? It was clear that it was in his interest to stop the conversation of the people he killed . The conversation must stop because in it there may be forbidden information to be discussed together or known by others . The problem is whether the information has already been exposed or not, which one made the flying knife user killed the man?
It is related to me, somehow my Formless Art is associated with a secret teaching . Perhaps this is because no one in this world can learn the art through ordinary means . Is it through a book, or a teacher . I also learned it through thought processing, because it has nothing to do with martials, it has something to do with deepening thinking, we can dismantle and arrange new moves, not only in martial arts, but in everything, including state affairs .
So there are those who think about Formless Art in terms of connectedness, but with a wrong idea to begin with . Formless Art cannot be learned not because they are kept as a secret, but because they must be found in the process of thought, not in martial arts . Meanwhile other secret art is indeed learned through guidance from teachers, because only teachers know the key to unlocking the secrets .
I was still thinking about why a teaching had to be kept a secret, when the horse approached the temple gate briefly . The sriti birds filled the sky like watching spies . The sky suddenly became cloudy and the wind howled, blowing all the leaves that had been scattered into the air . Outside the fortification walls I saw royal elephants bathed .
I borrowed wind power to glide over the wall, down the back of the elephant, and I arrived inside the Capital City ahead of the flying knife user . The elephant straightened his trunk and made a sound, knowing where to find the cause of his pain .
The person I followed covered his track by walking around in Capital City, perhaps he wanted to avoid someone who would follow him . I just walked along behind him in secret . Every time he looked back, I slipped behind the wall, or behind the backs of other people who passed by . From hallway to hallway, through to the main road, into the hallway again, he finally stopped at a tavern and moored his horse . He did not enter the tavern, but walked to the back door of the tavern through the hallway beside him . The hallway was quiet and he still looked back occasionally . How can I follow into the tavern without being seen?