A man is on an expedition to visit a temple and is greeted by a monk. The young monk explains that the monks sit in dark rooms all day in hopes of achieving enlightenment. There are three periods to the process, and the young monk will be entering the first period soon. The visitor suddenly realizes he has met the young monk before, in Darjeeling, in the old Lama's house. The monk explains that he was given a mission to go to Ceylon and then Russia. The young monk watches people pass him and wonders about the Riddle of men, until one day he sees a woman who he calls the Golden One. He saw her for the first time in Darjeeling, and follows her to see the way that the sun would glow in her golden hair. The monk follows the Golden One to an inn, where there are other women dressed like her. She dances, and snakes begin to sway around her feet. The next day, the monk goes to a temple and tries to think about a goddess, but he can only think about the woman. The monk traveled to other towns, and in one he discovers the Street of Throbbing Drums. It is a dim street, and there is a drum beating in one of the houses. A prostitute comes out and approaches him. Just as he is about to run away, another woman appears from the house across the street. The woman yells at the prostitute and strikes her. The woman is The Golden One, and she leads the monk to her house, where they drink juice and talk. The monk leaves, and the Golden One tells him not to come back to the Street of Throbbing Drums. However, the monk does intend to come back. The monk was supposed to leave on a ship in the morning, but in the middle of the night he goes to the dock and makes the boatman take him to the beach. He goes to the Golden One's house and the door is closed, but he opens it and enters. He could have returned to the Dalai Lama, but he could not go into nirvana with a flaw, so he is spending his days at the temple in penitence.