The Concrete Temple Intro: The Golden Ring

When I first came here from ROD (Realm of Dragons or Nagas depending on your preference) I was in poverty financially. That is to say I had no money. I didnt think anything of it because I had magic powers like every other Ming Wang Buddha. So what did I need money for? 

I was a lonely beggar looking type of fellow for a while. One day I was walking g through Boston's Chinatown. Now it's not that Chinatowns are the only place I can eall. I can go wherever I want, I walk in the woods, on the sea, in the deepest of oceans, I can go to the moon quite easily if I wish and often do. But as it so happens, I prefer Chinatown, and especially Boston's Chinatown. That's my spot, as it were.

Crossing through the gate over to Hei La Moon I saw a short man from a distance. But immediately I recognized his aura....it was Shun M Hong. Or Sun Wu Kong as people say in Mandarin, and Hanuman as they call him in India. So many stories have been told about him and he can be in more places than once...he often confuses people saying he has a twin brother....but others say it is just him cloning himself and messing with people.

But as I have said, I'm an MWB....when I see him, I see him with the eyes of the Naga realm and I know who he is, and he knew who I was...but could not remember my name.

"Hey!" He called out.."Her.....Her....MWB! What's up man what are you doing HERE!" M Hong said embracing me. 

I'm eating Dim Sum with a friend of mine...he's real connected around here. You know Odin? Usually we know him for that nonsense he tried to pull with the Tao Pong rebellion...oh...the old Christmas guy, Sing Dan Lo Yun....that's him too....he's like me...he likes messing with people...I know you like "teaching" people as well haha..." then M Hong leaned in a littel closer whispering conspiratorially....he can be a little more mean spirited....like how I used to be...but I mean....just be on guard but I do hang out with him.. there's not a lot of people like us you know and sometimes it's good to just remind yourself you know...

We walked into Hei La Moon. And Monkey pulled me back for a second, "Hold on you look like a bum" and he waved his hands to make me look more cleaned up and stylish...a little bit more. He stepped back , "Haha you should hold that look."

And we stepped through Hei La Moon's doors. 

The old man with the wide brimmed hat and blondish white beard was already sitting there drinking tea. He looked up at us and smiled and nodded to M Hong who sat to his right. 

The old wanderer took of his hat and threw it on the chair on his left as I sat next to M Hong.

He pointed at me laughing and then pausing, "Mahn fut Ji...10,000 Buddhas...in the New Territories." He saw the surprise on my face at him knowing where I had studied and come through into this realm and said, "Recognized you right away. I love Hong Kong....especially now...but I thrive on chaos....heh heh so your a friend of the Monkey King huh?"

"How many?" Looking back and forth from me to M Hong

It wasn't until I was talking to the God of the Tai Ping (Monkey King Sun Wu Kong is a mutual friend) and he was like,

"Look, powers or not, you need money in this day and age."

"But money is made up...I mean it's not even gold any more. Incense smoke is more real." I argued like the little upstart deity that I was.

Odin spread his hands....(oh you didn't know the Blond bearded wide brimmed hat wearing trickster that the Tai Ping were frothing at the mouth about was Odin? Yeah it was. And yeah he was just messing around for fun to see how many people he good get to kill each other and maybe have a whole country to himself again. Don't judge me he's Monkey King's friend.)

So anyway Tai Ping Odin  was like, "Look young Buddha, I see potential in you. And I dont mean that you'll rise "above" being a wrathful deity, I mean you won't and me and Wu Kong will have someone to live vicariously through and hang out with...but will also keep us in check from going too far. Money is fake than incense? Awesome. All the more reason to play with it." He slipped a golden ring from his wrist, "I have 5 of these.. .just like the Christmas song. The story goes that they increase every night and that's why I'm generous. That's an idea. I dont create matter. But these rings each draw money in their own elemental way. This one draws money through fire...heroic service...and that's just not my thing." Monkey King laughed at that...we were eating Dim Sum at Hei La Moon on a cold winter's day and Monkey was just sort of looking out the window at people passing by. He didn't say that much. I would find out later he had a lot on his mind, but that's another story.

Tai Ping Odin took my hand and slipped the ring on to my wrist.

"The way it works is you rub it and the Jinns or fire dragons as you call them bring you gold...or money nowadays. If you believe that sort of thing. But it's not free. You would call it Karma. For me it comes with a price. For you.. it comes with a service. I think it will give you something to do in this world. Cause you can't be doing magic tricks for baos or bowls of rice. Not in this country. 

I wore it for a while without rubbing it, because the things is....I actually dont need to eat or sleep. I mean I just lie to one side for a minute or two and then the other side and I'm good. I can photosynthesize too. I'm not human. But man Tai Ping Odin and Monkey King were right. That's just not how this country works and I felt like I was just an observer standing to the side. I wasnt human and I didn't feel human so I had to try this money thing out. I rubbed the ring.

Now I'm not sure the full connection but this ring is the same as Aladdin's ring from the story. Except in of a finger ring, the real one is like those teeth sing kuen rings.in fact the whole wearing of the teeth sing kuen rings is derived from some connection to the ROD where Tai Ping Odin and Monkey King frequent as well as other magical types, and the physical world. Except with Teet Sing Kuen...your basically giving power to ROD. This thing works the other way and the Jinns work their magic invisibly. When I first got here and first rubbed that ring I could still see them. They didn't grant me wishes. They just helped bring me money and I didn't get to choose how. Now when I rub the Ting I know they are working for me, but I can't see them any more.

I rubbed it and Bam! This fire Jinns tell me to follow them. They fabricate all this back leg work with computers and set me up for a job interview as a private investigator right up the street. They tell me.what to say and I say it and they mesmerize everyone for about a week, fake it till you make it type of thing...and I worked hard because like I said...I don't require food or sleep. So that's how the ring works. Bot sure how the other 4 things work...but I cab see why Tai Ping Odin gave me this one. I mean looking back it wasn't exactly a favor or a gift...but it was what I needed. 

After working in the field for a couple of years, I opened up my own office, the Concrete Temple. People hire me.for all kinds of stuff. Sometimes just to talk. And business is always booming when I want it to be...because of the Ring. In fact...I am charging you right now and you should know that before we continue. And maybe you want to tell me what I can do for you instead of asking me about the name I decided to put on the wall. I do Tarot, Kau Cheem, Private Investigation, Exorcisms, Marriages, Lion Dance, Dragon Dance, Guided meditation, Real Estate, and a few other services. The part I told you about the ring I will erase from your memory, not that you believe me anyway, and I actually need to go meet some friends for dim sum so you cab either come with or reschedule. It's a $99 dollar deposit just to talk to me...that was what you paid through We Chat at the door. If you dont6hire me, that's still mine, if you do, it will go towards your bill. 

chapter 20: Fancy Flight

About a week later an eagle came bearing a message I couldn't read. Zhang Fei happened to be there and was able to decipher it. It was instructions on how to get to a magical town on the West coast that would hold a big festival every year for a  water Goddess. They had a ton of Man Tous and other great food. All the lions and dragons and kei luns and other creatures would gather their too from the Bamboo Bridge. Joyce said I should go but that she wasn't interested and that the children wouldn't want her to leave them again. The Children indeed were started to get very bit picky about enforcing rules. Saying that we should be more responsible and get better jobs.

Chapter 21: Lion dance IN chinatown

Chapter 22: The Lantern Inn

Chapter 23: A Temple and a Town 

Chapter 24: The Ring

Chapter 25: Return

Chapter 26: Hibernation

Zhang Fei said he would fly me over and so he did. In the air I met with the Monk who was flying the Metal dragon..."How do you like it? I am borrowing it for our trip!" The mouth opened and Zhang Fei Flew in. The Dragon had been redone so instead of looking like a maze of scary iron it was a flying ship that had the decor of an old school Kung Fu movie. We flew over the Rockies and landed in Yut Fau.

Chapter 19: Inside the metal Dragon

I woke up to the sound of metal banging and the smell of steel and blood. I had a headache and I was in a long hallway that shifted and moved and slid like I was on a long cross town bus or a subway. Their was screeching of metal against metal too. I realized I was all alone and freaked out sprinting along down the hallway finding that I was in a maze of hallways. 

I ran and ran and slowly came across Joyce. 

"What's going on?" she yelled. 

I was freaking out earlier... but her freaking out kind of annoyed me into pretending I was calm and that it was no big deal... so I shrugged my shoulders. Now instead of running we walked and stumbled. 

We saw some animals and insects pass by as well as people who we tried to talk to but they just ignored us. Eventually we ran into  the Monk, Wolf and his crew, as well as other people we recognized from the performance. 

"What's going on?" People shrugged. Some people were afraid. Some people were not afraid at all but just kind of oblivious to what was even going on... whatever it was. 

Finally we passed through a few doors.  and came to an opening which looked like a giant mouth with teeth. Outside  we saw  the giant statue... only now he was way bigger than two stories, Wold made eye contact and suddenly seemed to go into a trance and started dancing certain moves which the statue copied... and in this way the thing we were riding was brought down from the air until we landed in the ocean. We all jumped out and got on top of what turned out to be a giant metal Dragon. 

We started swimming around and sort of forgot that this could potentially be a problem. We were relaxed because the giant statue seemed to be in control of Wolf and the scales of the dragon were actually packages of food. It had fruits, baos, soy milk... all in little plant like containers and seemingly anything you could think of. 

From a distance we saw Zhang Fei, our lion swim closer and riding him was Nara and Jinn.

"Where were you guys! it's been a whole week! you left us! we had to pretend at school that our grandparents were watching us. Luckily Zhang Fei can take human form and played along!"

"You can take human form?" I asked Zhang Fei... who simply licked his paws. "Are you sure?" I asked Nara.

"Oh you are going to pretend I am making up stories... like I am a child and you are an adult after we are rescuing you? We should just leave you here!"  Nara said. But we climbed onto Zhang Fei and  waved goodbye to Wolf and the monk and everyone else. They appeared to be working out how to get control of the Dragon itself, which was now a floating kingdom of its own, and we also saw the Lion Statue that we had brought to life. 

"I had something else to tell you about... I will send an Eagle to you with a message. Look out for it." Said the monk. 

Our family went home and we allowed the kids to do whatever they wanted for three weeks since they had "saved our lives" on the ocean and since they had functioned just fine on their own anyway. 

chapter 18: Hoi Gong

We briefly talked to each other to decide how to proceed. Joyce and I would be head, the Monk would play the Buddha and the Wolf would drum with a  fellow brother and another master he had picked up in NYC. 

The Wolf quickly taught me some of his system so that we would be able to sync up... but when in doubt, he would just watch and follow. But at least I now knew the signals to give and  cadence to be familiar with.

And with that  a giant lion was rolled out. 

The King of the small NJ kingdom, which had influence all of the world whispered, "We needed to make the lion really wake up, to help protect us."

Protect us from what? Was what I thought at first, and then I thought, could Zhang Fei protect ys...  iij instead of wandering all around doing who knows what with my old hand in his belly? Not that I cared. The Sun Wu Kong hand I had now had special powers, and would create a terrific ritual.

"Yut deem Jing!" I spoke in a voice that echoed off the high ceiling. Sun Wu Kong' hand helped me make the my voice shake the lungs of people listening, and even those who were not.

YUT DEEN TEEN DEI SUN!

I painted the red cinnabar the monk had brought into one eye which blinked even though we were outside the head.

YEE DEEM JING! Yee deem.yut yet ming!

JONG DEEM Jing. JONG DEEM GWAI SUN GING!

TEET CHIU WAHNG CHING GWAU!

TEEN LING LING DEI LING LING SUN LONG FU HOK SAM HUP YIY YING!

I breathed the power of the dragon tiger and crane into the creature  and then Joyce and I seized it... jumping under the tail and taking control of its body.

We performed a dance of might and power...  as well as comedy. The monk poured wine everlasting from a jug that had no bottom and afterwards we feasted their, the entire kingdom becoming drunk. 

We forgot all about Nara and Jinn and were caught in the reveries for a whole week. Until Nara and Jinn had to ride Zhang Fei to get us.

chapter 17 The Tattoo and the statue

We arrived early and waited for the k to meet us with the rest of the crew whom we had never met before. 

"I'm going to go and check in first." Said Joyce.

"No we have to wait."

"Why should we wait our here they have a lobby. That's what that's for."

"We have to look like one cohesive team."

"Okay but Inhave to go to the bathroom."

Eventually we all did meet up and we checked in, signed several security measures and then started walking down to where we would perform.with the equipment.

We passed by a giant statue that looked like a Japanese statue of an Indian God that you might see in anime. It stood over two stories high indoors and overlooked a reflecting pool.

Wolf snapped a picture and we continued on to where we would perform... where we changed into the monks uniforms. Wolf changed shirts openlynshowing his tatoos.

"Hey," said the monk, "your tattoo looks just like the statue."

"That's weird, it didn't look like that before. Take a picture. I guess we'll worry about Tatoos suddenly changing form later.

Right now we have to figure out how we are performing.

..

Chapter 16: Gathering forces.

Wolf walked down the street caught a cigarette smoked it passed by a mah Jong table jumped in won, slid over to a take out place where he ordered a sam bo fahn. Someone across the street tried to rib an old lady so Wolf flicked his cigarette into the would be robbers eye with out looking then ran upstairs to give his some kids he was watching his sam bo fahn before coaching his lion dance team.

Later he got a text from the Drunken Monk that there was a special gig in the middle of New Jersey. 

"Jersey Really? So what I have to pick up some.other guys and you meet us there with the equipment? Two other guys from New York and then a couple people from Jersey? They can do head? So what we just drum? You paying? Yeah sure we'll do it. I got time during the work week as long as it's okay just a couple ofnus...  yeah I can pick another guy up."

"HAHA... yeah okay see you there then."

BBB Chapter 15: The rainbow bridge

After returning from those lion dances we got a message via Eagle from the Monk who had sold us the pink heads. There was a mother lion dance at the end of a rainbow bridge that he could help lead us to if we could muster the people. We checked which among our team was free that day because it was during the work week and sure enough, we had enough for a team. We gathered at the bamboo bridge where we did see a rainbow and with the help of the monk we were able to tread across to a golden palace. 

We brought two heads. The monk would drum, our students would do one head, and I did the other head with our neighbor and friend whom I had taught lion dance too while waiting for the bus.I will have to go back and tell you about that yet another time... 

The Golden palace was in change of a big chunk of the money that passed through New Jersey. It only dealt with the gold elves that had kingdoms of their own, and large kingdoms at that. 

There was a tiny town that remi6me if Chinatown inside the Palace, there was an arcade for people.to play the ancient games of the 1980's and several stores that sold hipster foods. We lion danced bowing at each store as if they had put out Chiangs...mainly to give our students the feeling of going store to store because New Jersey was not set up for that and we thought that one day... we may have to do that. After our parade around, the heads stopped and we performed Kung Fu.

Here I had my kids perform a three man fighting form that I had trained them to do for our Plum Village's Chinese New Year performance. We finished up, took our way back home crossing the rainbow and the bamboo bridge and continued onto another lion dance that Joyce had set up. 

After this one we stopped to eat at a Malaysian restaurant where we ordered a lavish meal. Thr6restaurant was quite empty because it was a week night. We had called ahead and had Pai Teep to another branch of the restaurant.... and even though this crowd was not super enthusiastic at first about our doing lion dance, they had also given us permission to do it. 

When we started suddenly mist of the staff did get pretty excited about it, pulling out phones and an elderly woman giving tye5head extra Hong baos. We did several rounds which the chefs interpreted as a second collection which cause them to stare straight into their rice bowls and homemade Chinese food that they had cooked for themselves. A lot of bitter melon and cooling foods to counter act the yeet hei of working in a kitchen all day.

The truth is that the first round was our newer students, and then Joyce did a second round because we knew that being recorded, we had to show that we had the Gung Lik and skilled experience of a seasoned team even if some of our members were new. Thi king back.... I realize that actually this dance had happened ed before our store to store...two days before to be exact.and that there was one more additional dance before the store to store I had forgotten to mention as well as Plum Mountain's Chinese New Year award show... whichwas the most stressful of them all.

But more important to the story would be the next to lion dances led by the monk where he would assemble a super team of lion dancers and where the truth adventures would begin.