Marco Polo: One Hundred Eyes

[first lines]

Monk:
[at the door] Li Jinbao. Mongols. They've already destroyed the temple at North Peak.

Hundred Eyes:
Where are the nuns?

Monk:
In the cloisters, East. Remember the oath: we fight to the end.

Hundred Eyes:
Life and death are one thread. I will guard the scrolls.

Kublai Khan:
What kind of monk is able to kill, by himself, 25 Mongol soldiers? Is it a form of dark magic practiced at your temple?

Hundred Eyes:
You shall never know, shall you?

Kublai Khan:
What did you just say, monk?

Hundred Eyes:
You destroyed a temple and all of the ancient scrolls that contained the answers you seek.

Hundred Eyes:
There is only one Supreme Executioner. And those who try to take his place are like children trying to carve wood as a master carpenter. Most will injure their own hands.

Kublai Khan:
You do not fear death?

Hundred Eyes:
I do not cling to life. There is a difference.

Kublai Khan:
A merchant once gifted me a white crane from Lesser Armenia. A water bird that was most uncommon, because it had been born all black. Black white crane. I knew it was an auspicious being that would bring me fortune, but that black white crane refused to stay on my lake. Always, it would fly away. Just its natural calling, you see. So, I served him and my fortune by cutting one wing.

Justice Minister:
[reading] By law of the Grand Khan, Lord of Lords...

Kublai Khan:
Why do you think I had you fight blindfolded? Because I'm a capricious fool? Or to see if you are capable of your Taoist secrets and skills while in the dark?

Justice Minister:
So be it.

Kublai Khan:
Because I knew the moment you were presented, you would not be like the obedient painter, the resigned astrologer, the noble poet contented with wine. [snake hissing] You would refuse to serve the Mongol Empire. To this day that black white crane remains on my lake. He is mine, and he is beloved. [snake spits into Jinbao's eyes and he cries out]

Hundred Eyes:
The monks of Wudang spend their lives trying to achieve true emptiness. For only when the sage can overcome the self does he enter into the Tao. That is a dark mystery beyond all mysteries, and a gift you gave to me. Blind? I now see the world with one hundred eyes.

[last lines]

Kublai Khan:
I ask of you, as a Wudang priest, give my son his Chinese name.

Hundred Eyes:
There have been 500 over time who have held the name Emperor of All China, Son of Heaven. Ordained by blood, there are those who would have been better suited to harvest cow dung than to rule the greatest empire on earth. There are those who were as silver, a lesser metal, but worthy of coinage. And then there are those, like cold stone, who force their strength and fury and win the title by fear and intimidation. Blood is nothing. Heart and spirit make the sage. And by this, I give this boy the name Jingim. "True gold."

Kublai Khan:
Hmm. So be it. He will walk out of here with this name, and carry it as his own into a tomorrow only the oracles can see. As for you, priest, this temple is yours.