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My Kind of Town Don Chapman |
In the shadows
>> Blaisdell Arena
Te-Wu, the Chinese secret police, had operated in Hawaii for decades. While tasked with the obvious -- knowing what was happening inside American military bases -- they also kept an eye on Chinese students to make sure they weren't picking up crazy ideas about freedom and democracy, as well as on loud-mouthed Taiwanese immigrants. Over the years, a few of those had quietly disappeared. After a headline or two, the news quickly died. Who cared about an immigrant cab driver?
New orders had recently come through, and a chance for redemption. The embarrassment had been that Te-Wu did not learn of the birth of a Tibetan lama in Honolulu until after he had reached a monastery in the Himalayas of India 16 years ago at the age of 2.
But now he was returning home to Hawaii for the first time, and no less than 25 Te-Wu were at the Blaisdell Center, part of an SRO crowd that had come to see the first incarnation of Lama Jey Tsong Khapa be introduced by the Dalai Lama. For his part, the young lama limited his remarks to being glad he was home to see his family and to share the Dharma, and then he chanted the Awakening Mantra of Manjushri with such beatific presence, even doubters such as Detective Sherlock Gomes, a staunch Roman Catholic, were impressed with the purity of his spirit.
Outside now, monks with shaved heads in orange mendicant robes formed lines on both sides of the driveway from the back of the arena leading out to Kapiolani Boulevard, chanting, ringing bells and cymbals, awaiting the two holy men.
Among them was Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka. Still wanted by the law, he'd found the perfect cover. And free meals until he could figure something else out. The chants were new to him, and so he was kind of lip-synching along.
A guy who looked like another newbie, not a bit of peace and compassion about his bearing, slid into the line next to Donovan, and through his robe he felt something hard jab his hip. Something like a pistol. The new guy moved on. Probably an undercover cop on protection duty.
In fact he was Fon Du, a lieutenant with the local Te-Wu. And after hearing the young lama, he knew why they were making him a priority.
Before his death in 1419, the original Lama Jey Tsong Khapa began a renaissance of Tibetan Buddhism that lasted until China invaded Tibet in 1949. And it was one of his disciples who became the first Dalai Lama. More significantly, it was the third Dalai Lama who had tamed the fearsome Mongol warrior clan of Khan. Clearly this boy was a danger to the existing order and had to be removed.
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Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek. His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin. He can be e-mailed at dchapman@midweek.com