Excerpt from chapter five:
What transpired next eluded Max for the most part. It was a combination
of music, chanting and prayer, apparently, and all in either Sanskrit
or Tibetan, he wasn't sure which. They only part he recognized was "OM
MANI PEME HUM" which he thought he had seen in a book on meditation
once. The chanting reached a crescendo, then all fell silent once again.
Then James began to speak, but Max couldn't understand a word he was saying.
He went on for about half an hour, apparently in fluent Tibetan, as the
monks sat in rapt attention. When he finished, he rose, and walked to
the center of the front aisle, in front of the altar. Then, he prostrated
before the image of Shakyamuni Buddha three times. With the first bow,
all of the butter lamps in the shrine room burned brighter, their flames
shooting up to two or three times their normal height. With the second
bow, all of the flowers placed on the altar miraculously sprouted fresh
blossoms, growing rapidly, spilling out from their vessels and covering
the altar, perfuming the air. As James concluded his third bow, the room
began to vibrate as if in the throes of a small earthquake, and all of
the monks, in amazement, began prostrating and praying fervently. James
was visibly glowing now, his eyes beaming golden, radiating love throughout
the shrine room. He turned to depart, smiled to Max, and walked out the
front door.
The monks all smiled and bowed to Max as he left the shrine room, breaking
into a run to catch up with the fleet-footed James. When he caught up,
he reached out and caught James' shoulder to stop him. As James turned
to face him, Max felt the power of compassion wash over him like a wave,
felt the penetrating gaze of those golden eyes, more gold than brown now.
Max's knees gave way and he found himself kneeling in front of James,
his eyes filled with tears, tears of wonder and hope. He tried to say
something, to ask, to understand what had transpired, but the words wouldn't
come out.
