The Psyche Diver Trilogy: Demon Hunters (9 page)

Extended dives can affect a Diver’s very personality. A Diver could become permanently crippled if he was stranded without a protective psyche suit for a period of days, even if he were able to eventually resurface. Divers are physical laborers of the mind. They are required to exhibit a high sensitivity to their surroundings, yet possess a mentality as tough as steel. Only a select few have what it takes to be successful Divers.

Now, an A-grade Diver had been trapped inside someone’s subconscious for over ten days. There was an edge to the way the old man presented the information, as though he was trying to provoke Hosuke to rise to the challenge.

“And you think I would be able to pull it off,” Hosuke said after a period of silence.

“Exactly.”

“I wouldn’t want you to overestimate me. You know what A-grade Divers are. You can’t get to that level through training. You need to be born with talent
and
graduate an impossibly tough regimen. A-grade Divers aren’t like normal people; their skill borders on superhuman. Why would you imagine an unlicensed Diver like me could succeed where an A-grader failed?”

“Come now Mr. Kumon, I am sure you are perfectly aware of your talents.” The old man fixed his gaze on Hosuke, eyes improbably astute for his age. “We have taken the liberty of researching your history. People still talk about your work at NASA; I can only imagine the skill it must have taken to cure Colonel Jones’ mental condition after the Psyche Converter failed in the middle of the dive, and you still enjoy a fine reputation in France after the
exorcism
you performed two years ago. Professor Rozimoff’s...eccentricities...have much improved in the time since. I believe that was when you pioneered the technique that has since become known as the Pearl Treatment.”

Hosuke sighed. The ‘devil’ that had possessed Professor Rozimoff had been a deeply buried facet of his own psyche. His problem had been unique. As an infant he had used a knife to cut his mother’s genitalia in her sleep. The memory had lodged itself deep inside his subconscious, becoming a nucleus that underwent a gradual transformation into a demonic presence. After the incident, his mother had poured her energy into instilling in him the teachings of the Bible, but this only worsened his guilt and, conversely, nurtured the further development of the demonic personality inside him. It is a fact that the more devout a Christian becomes, the more prone they become to possession.

When he dived into the professor’s mind, the demon’s face had been a disgusting caricature of the man’s own mother. Fountains of blood poured from oversized genitals between her legs and her anus was blistered with a cross protruding out of it. Hosuke had used brute force to pin the demon down and covered it with secretions of the professor’s consciousness. Finally, he created a river to continue drawing the secretions into the demon. Over the course of a few years the secretions would gradually assimilate the demon, reducing it to a mostly harmless mental scar. In the meantime, the redirection of unnecessary mental secretions would prevent the professor from lingering on dangerous patterns of thought.

Enjaku listed a few more examples of Hosuke’s previous work. “Well, what do you think?”

“Impressive,” Hosuke said looking genuinely amazed.

“We have useful connections. Nothing to boast about, of course.”

“Obviously, I’m no match for you. Wouldn’t surprise me if you knew the number of hairs on my ass.”

“Freelancers are greatly underestimated by the Divers Syndicate in Japan. This is particularly true, I fear, in your case. However, we place you in very high esteem indeed.”

“Quite the honor.”

“Not at all.”

“So here’s the thing,” Hosuke stroked a thick finger along his cheek, still yearning for his beard, “I hate to beat a dead horse here, but I’m not going to give you an answer until you tell me what was stolen. I have my own rules.”

“But you will accept?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then I cannot tell you.” The man was stubborn. Hosuke was all but ready to accept the job. The pay was good and he was intrigued by the fact that an A-grade Diver had become stranded, but to accept before he knew what had been stolen would be careless. A man was dead and a Diver was on the brink of being crippled. Yet, despite this, these people wanted to keep everything from the public eye. The last thing Hosuke wanted was to get caught up in some bizarre feud.

“It’s Kukai.” Biku broke his long silence. The blood drained from Enjaku’s cheeks. His face darkened like dried parchment.

“Silence!”

Biku turned to face Hosuke, impassive as though he had not heard the man’s exclamation. “Kukai: the self-mummified corpse of Kobo Daishi, his
sokushinbutsu
.”

“Well now!” Hosuke blurted out. Enjaku let out a wordless groan. Biku’s crimson lips curved into a smile.

4

Kobo Daishi was born more than twelve centuries ago as Kukai in the 5th year of the Houki era.

In the history of Japanese religion he was a singularly charismatic presence. It was through him that Esoteric Buddhism reached its peak, after its origins in India thousands of years earlier and its gradual transmission to the islands of the Far East.

If Saicho and his other religious contemporaries were like priceless gems, Kukai became the incandescent ball of fire that blazed at their heart. His intense dynamism transcended all previous conceptions of beauty, wisdom and religious awakening.

Esoteric Buddhism had its beginnings with the affirmation of human blood and the belief that Enlightenment was possible even while inhabiting the flesh-and-blood world of mortal existence; this was achieved via a process known as
sokushinjyobutsu
, whereby the practitioner was able to maintain a link with humanity. Accordingly, Esoteric Buddhism has not, from its inception, negated other religions but has considered them all as different forms of Esoteric Buddhism.

As part of his quest to seek further insight into Esoteric Buddhism, Kukai crossed to China at the age of 31, journeying aboard the same ship as a group that included Saicho, the founder of the temple at Mt. Hiei. When he entered the capital of Chang’an he was accorded the honor of receiving instruction from Master Huiguo of the Qinglong Temple. It was there that he was consecrated under the twin mandalas of the Womb and Diamond Realms. To say that he received instruction is perhaps a misnomer. Kukai’s genius was unmatched; it was as though he had simply absorbed everything Huiguo had to teach. Kukai stayed in China for close to two years. It was toward the end of his first year that he reached the Qinglong Temple and made Huiguo’s acquaintance.

“
How excellent, how excellent!”
It is said that these were Huiguo’s words as he welcomed Kukai and rejoiced to have finally made his acquaintance. Esoteric Buddhism became Kukai’s flesh and blood; he poured himself into the study with an intensity that suggested he was intent on devouring Huiguo’s very soul. Huiguo passed away at the age of 60 during the December of Kukai’s consecration. Among Huiguo’s many thousands of disciples, Kukai was chosen to pen his epitaph. The only other disciple to have received instruction in both mandalas of the Womb and Diamond Realms was the high monk Yiming, who had already passed away by the time Kukai arrived in China.

At the time, China perceived Japan as backward. It was an incredible turn of events that Kukai, a student from Japan, one that was close to anonymous compared to the likes of Saicho, had not only received instruction in the two mandalas but had also been entrusted, over his other disciples, with the task of composing Huiguo’s epitaph. It was testament to the Kukai’s almost preternatural charm, so powerful that many thought it was a form of magic.

Even though most people remained unaware of the detail of Kukai’s teachings and the fact that he was the one responsible for spreading the first systematized doctrine of Esoteric Buddhism upon his return to Japan, the name most commonly associated with him, Kobo Daishi, became a household figure and appears in many legendary anecdotes. It was said, for example, that water would spring wherever his staff struck the ground, that he could heal the sick with touch alone, and that he was able to tame fierce demons, converting them into his followers. Countless such legends proliferated throughout Japan, and people did not have to consult weighty tomes like the Konjaku Monogatari to find them. After his death, Shingon Esoteric Buddhism would go on to form over 200 different schools. Today, the Mt. Koya school alone has over three thousand temples devoted to it.

And now, Kukai’s body had been stolen.

“Kukai,” Hosuke muttered.

“Yes,” Enjaku said, holding back the irritation in his voice. His face had slowly regained its color. His breathing was more composed, but his features hinted at an exhaustion that was greater than before. “Have you heard the word
Yuina
before?”

“Yuina?
”

“It is the title of an appointment within our order at Mt. Koya.”

“An appointment?”

“Yes. I wonder if you are aware that at Mt. Koya, no matter what service is being performed, there is always a monk dressed in an amaranthine robe. That is the Yuina. The amaranthine robe is transferred from generation to generation each time a new monk succeeds the role. The robe is a symbol of the position. It is the Yuina’s role to watch over Kukai. He resides in a burial chamber beneath the mausoleum of the Inner Sanctuary.”

The mausoleum’s conical roof is fashioned from cypress bark. Inside the building, about 4.5 meters below ground and roughly 1.8 meters long on each side, was a tomb of 5 stone sections of different shapes and sizes. This is the room that Kukai was said to have entered for his final meditation, or
samadhi
. The Yuina’s role is to provide Kukai with a change of garment and to carry offerings of food each morning and evening, as would have been performed if he were alive. The Yuina’s status equals that of the head priest, and each generation of Yuina is sworn to secrecy regarding their observations in the burial chamber, which applies to their colleagues and friends at the temple as well as their family. People, of course, have been known to speculate.

History records only two examples where someone other than the Yuina has gained entrance to the burial chamber. In official records, the first was the monk Kanken from the Toji temple in the 19th year of the Engi era (919 AD), 84 years after Kukai entered his final meditation. In the
Konjaku Monogatari,
the episode is described in the following way:

As I entered the Shrine of Reposed Contemplation, a dense fog gathered and it became as dark as night. I could see nothing. After a moment, the fog began to clear. A wind stirred, gusting through [Kukai’s] decayed robes; they billowed as dust into the air. It settled into the form of the Grand Master himself. His hair had grown to a shaku in length. I bathed and dressed myself in clean robes before returning to the room, where I began to trim the Master’s locks with a fresh blade.

According to the
Eiga Monogatari
, Michinaga Fujiwara was said to have entered the burial chamber in October of the third year of the Jian era (1023AD). Kukai is described to have had ‘lustrous locks of hair’ and to have appeared as though he were ‘merely asleep’. Both extracts mention that Kukai’s hair had continued to grow after his death. Other historical texts, such as the
Shoku Nihonkouki
, suggest that his body had been cremated, through references to his ‘consumption’. The truth behind these stories remains unknown.

Only the Yuina know whether his mummified body actually exists or whether their role is merely ritualistic. Within Mt. Koya, the monks believe that Kukai is still alive, abiding within the mausoleum in a state of eternal meditation. If you were to ask why they believe this to be so, they would simply reply that it is part of their teachings.

“So, you’re saying that Kukai’s mummified body actually exists,” Hosuke mused.

“That’s right.” Enjaku nodded. “I have previously held the position of Yuina.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere.”

“So...”

“Now I understand why you don’t want this to go public.” In many respects, Mt. Koya was nothing without Kukai’s body. If it became known that his remains had been stolen, it could trigger the total collapse of Shingon Buddhism in its current form. This was not just some statue. Something that should have been impossible to steal had been stolen. It was something the temple just could not have allowed to happen. How could something that was not supposed to have existed in the first place be stolen?

Hosuke raised his massive frame from the sofa. He glanced at Biku, scratching his head. “It looks like your little trip into the mountains was worth it.”

“I see.” Biku looked back at Hosuke, bowing his head in response.

“You will accept the proposition, then?” Enjaku said, standing as well.

“Okay then, give me the details.” Hosuke’s eyes burned with excitement.

5

The room had been rigged with a huge machine connected to a computer.

The Psyche Converter, a cutting-edge positron computer tomography device exclusively designed to interface with PET/CT brain scanners. While a dive was in progress, the machine was able to project a full-color image of activity in the subject’s brain onto a bank of monitors.

“Awesome,” Hosuke Kumon said as Biku stood next to him.

“It’s here on loan,” Biku replied, “but it’s quite special. One of the top three of its kind in Japan.”

“I’d imagine so.” Hosuke whistled as he folded his arms. The technicians he had just been introduced to were, he knew immediately, the best in the business.

A Psyche Converter synchronizes the brainwaves of a Diver with those of the subject. It is a combination of the most advanced technology at the frontier of electrical engineering and neurobiology. The device enables Divers to explore other people’s minds.

While a dive is in progress, a visual facsimile of the subject’s brain activity is rendered and recorded by the PET/CT scanner. CT, or Computed Tomography, is a form of layered digital mapping. First the subject is administered a dextrose solution containing the positron-emitting radioisotope C11. The solution carries the C11 into the body emitting positrons as it enters. The positrons travel until they combine with nearby electrons, which cancel their mass and cause the emission of radioactive energy equal to the value of the mass. The radiation released inside the brain is measured by the positron scanner and translated into a real-time image.