“Yes, I’m sure everyone is still thinking about the Great Turf Fraud mess. No wonder Lestrade and Mycroft are nervous.”
The trial had indeed rocked the city because no one expected such perfidy from law enforcement officers. It came about when a rich Parisian woman, Madame de Goncourt, was the victim of two English confidence tricksters, men who were very adept at defrauding people after gaining their trust. The men, Harry Benson and William Kurr, convinced her to part with over thirty thousand pounds. Scotland Yard was called upon to investigate the scam, and the Superintendent of the former Detective Department, Adolphus Williamson, hired Chief Inspector Nathaniel Druscovich to bring Benson back from Amsterdam where he’d finally been arrested. Up until then, Benson and Kurr always seemed to be ahead of the game. It finally came to light that another detective, Inspector John Meiklejohn, was accepting bribes from Kurr to warn him when his arrest was imminent. Chief Inspector Nathaniel Druscovich and Chief Inspector Palmer were also implicated in the matter, and all three stood trial at the Old Bailey and were sentenced to two years in prison.
“But I shan’t let Mycroft’s political ambitions or Lestrade’s anxiety stand in the way of my investigation into these murders,” Sherlock said. Then he jumped up. “Now, Poppy, tell me about the autopsy.”
I summarized the necropsy; he paced and nodded throughout. “You believe it was poison then.”
“I do.”
“I shall run tests to confirm it.”
“Of course. Now what have you been able to find out here?”
He pointed to the Buddha in the display case. The statue was approximately thirty centimeters high and made of bronze. I’d seen it before but never given it its due admiration.
“It’s very beautiful,” I whispered, mindful of my surroundings. “I have always admired the artefacts in this room and I remember it from my last visit here with Uncle. It really does look just like the statue that was left with the body.”
“This is a Buddha Vairocana. It’s a Tantric Buddhist image from eastern Java, tenth century.”
He turned around and sat cross-legged on the floor again next to the display case. I joined him there and faced him.
“How unladylike of you,” he laughed.
I shrugged.
“Now, according to the curator, this is quite similar to many of the Buddhist bronzes of eastern India.”
“Wait, Sherlock, Detective Inspector Lestrade was unable to see the curator. How did you-”
Smiling, he said, “I told him I was a reporter and that I was doing a featured article on the museum and promised a very favourable review of his tenure here. He was a bit reluctant at first, considering the last reporter tossed out his feature on the new exhibit in favour of writing an article about the murder. But he finally relented.”
“I see.”
“Now, as to the statue,” he said, pointing. “See how Vairocana sits high on his throne over a double lotus base? Behind him is the back of the throne with a halo of flames and a royal parasol. Vairocana Buddha is sometimes called the primordial Buddha or supreme Buddha. He represents the wisdom of shunyata.”
“Which is?” I asked, though I knew he would explain it anyway.
“It means emptiness. He is considered a personification of the dharmakaya, that which is free of characteristics and distinctions. When the Dhyani Buddhas are pictured together in a mandala, Vairocana is always at the centre. He is white, so he represents all colours. I’ve been speaking to Mr. Brown at St. Bart’s. He is quite knowledgeable on such things,” he explained. “In fact, he was here earlier. Apparently, he is quite the patron of the museum.
“The curator said that the Dharma wheel is one of the oldest symbols of Buddhism. It is used to represent Buddhism, just as a cross represents Christianity or a Star of David represents Judaism. It is also one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism. A traditional Dharma wheel is a chariot wheel with a varying number of spokes.
“The circle,” he continued, “the round shape of the wheel, represents the perfection of the Dharma, the Buddha’s teaching. The rim of the wheel represents meditative concentration. The hub represents moral discipline. The three swirls on the hub are sometimes said to represent the Three Treasures.”
“These three treasures... what are - ?”
“The spokes,” he interrupted. “They signify different things, depending on their number. But a wheel with four spokes is rare. They represent the Four Noble Truths.”
“And what are the Four Noble Truths?”
“Dukkha, the truth of suffering; samudaya, the truth of the cause of suffering, nirhodha, the truth of the end of suffering, and magga, the truth of the path that frees us from suffering. The curator said that when this particular statue was acquired, there were documents relating to it that mentioned a four-spoke wheel, though a wheel with eight spokes is more common, and these concern things like the life journey, the cycle of birth, death, rebirth and so on. But they are irrelevant, according to the curator.”
I was stunned to silence, amazed at the way his mind worked, like a sponge. I wanted to hear more about these truths, but again he continued, his words racing almost as fast as his brain.
Sherlock turned his head to focus again on the statute. “This Vairocana Buddha’s hands represent a form of meditation that vanquishes ignorance. His hands are those of a teacher. So, truth and the end of ignorance...”
Out of breath, he finally stopped speaking.
“Sherlock, this is all very interesting.” And confusing, I added, mentally. “There
