Great Qin Empire, Xianyang Imperial City, outside the Gold Mountain Monastery.
This was a small temple, with only seven or eight monks in the entire monastery.
The aged abbot looked at the young novice sitting solemnly under the statue of Buddha, his eyes filled with comfort and gratification.
The young novice was only four years old. At such an age when children are often considered troublesome and annoying, he could still calm his mind and recite scriptures. Truly, he was born with Buddha Nature, a true Buddhist Sect's son.
In the Great Qin Empire, where hundreds of schools of thought contended, the Buddhist Sect, though a foreign faith, did not face discrimination.
However, the concepts advocated by Buddhism were not widely accepted by the Daqin people, thus the Gold Mountain Monastery did not thrive, and had few believers.
Besides reciting sutras and practicing vegetarianism, the monks in the monastery had to grow their own food and live frugally.
