“I hope you’re coming to realize that our practice is rather different from the Christianity you’re used to,” Ao Tara said.

“I haven’t been a practicing Christian in a long time, but there’s definitely a lot less talk about god.”

“True Buddhist wisdom does not care about deities other than the divine, and we hold that within ourselves. The eightfold path is only a road map. Everyone arrives at enlightenment in their own way.”

“Here’s what I don’t understand—how do you reconcile the violence of the dakini with right action? You’re sending Suvara to continue Khandro’s work, to disable the raw material production for pills and bots. You know that humans and bots will attack her to defend their property. You know she’ll fight back. How is that right?”

Ao Tara frowned. “Violence has nuances, like everything in life. Not all of it is evil, especially if that action can decrease the suffering of many others. We haven’t revealed the full abilities of the dakini—to you or to the people on Earth. You’ve seen what they can do physically, but it’s the psyche that will truly transform humanity, if we’re willing. We need people to have an open mind. We need to free them from their dependency on pills and machine labor. Sometimes a great trauma is necessary before the soul is ready to see truth.”

“Like the death of a child?”

Ao Tara’s gaze sharpened. “Is that what you believe? That Josephine Lee lost a son, and now I seek to inflict that pain on others? Do you think I want revenge?” Ao Tara shook her head. “Josephine Lee did what she could to keep working people from getting hurt, but she lacked the courage to break the law when it mattered most. She could have exposed the fraud being perpetrated on humanity, but she stayed silent. Kept secrets. I started on a different path here, but karma follows us to eternity. I want to avoid making the same mistake that Josephine did. Those who have the power to effect positive change cannot remain silent. Passivity is its own betrayal.”

“So this is how you help? By creating killer dakini who attack innocent people?”

“They don’t attack. You figured that out.”

“Bullshit! A dakini killed Briella Jackson with no provocation. I was there, too.”

Ao Tara sighed heavily. “That was an error in judgment. Kanata-san led us at the time. Dakini also embody temptation, a test in judgment, and our abbot failed it. He let his anger cloud his thinking. He gave them permission to kill, and for that, he lost his robe and his name. Some days later, by his own choice, he let himself out of an air lock.