Reincarnate

A priest met us at the entrance and motioned toward a wooden cart.

We slipped off our shoes and socks, then stepped closer.

The stone beneath our bare feet felt warm where the sun reached it and cool beneath the temple’s shade.

Out of habit, Dani and I turned right.

The priest stopped us with a gentle wave of his hand.

“This way.”

He pointed left.

We circled the temple clockwise instead.

~

Four smaller shrines stood around the main sanctuary.

At one, the priest paused, pressed his palms together, and bowed his head.

“Our god. Surya.”

Then he smiled and caught up with us again.

The temple climbed skyward in repeating bands of white marble. Every surface had been carved.

Rows of flowers gave way to elephants, then horses, then people. Each layer repeated the rhythm of the one below until the carvings dissolved into a golden spire above us.

The priest rested his hand on the lowest row.

“Hell.”

His finger climbed upward.

“Elephant. Horse. Human.”

He pointed to a row of figures seated with impossible posture.

“Tantra.”

“Tantra? I thought tantra was Buddhist.”

He smiled.

“Buddhism is from Hinduism. Buddhism is in Hinduism.”

He held one hand above the other.

“Buddhism here.”

The second hand settled beneath it.

“Hindu here.”

Then his hands began trading places.

“Horse. Human. Peacock. You. Me.”

One hand rose.

The other followed.

“Reincarnate.”

Again.

“And again.”

~

A red flag snapped above the temple’s golden spire.

I looked up.

The priest’s eyes followed.

“Reincarnate until heaven.”

The drums had faded somewhere inside.