Suddenly, I found myself in a mist, and through the mist, I dimly made out what
appeared to be a cave. As I moved closer, my perfected insight revealed exactly
what it was the den of the Great Dragon of Atta.
Three of the dragon's
guards lie dead and decomposing at the entrance, obviously killed a long time
ago. I recognized them; their names were "Doubt," "Belief in a Permanent
Personality" and "Belief in Dogma and Rituals." They were large, hideous
creatures covered with coarse hair; looking more animal than human, with
grotesque and distorted faces and long, yellowed teeth hanging over their
blistered lips.
Being the fearless warrior that I was, I carefully
walked around the dead guards and headed directly for the den. This was truly my
last chance . . . and this dragon had badly miscalculated this meditator.
With my intuitive Insight, I detected movement inside the cave. Two more
guards, one on each wall awaited me. They were wounded, but still moving, and
when they attempted to raise their weapons, I drew my razor sharp, Great Sword
of the meditator, honed from years of meditation and concentration, and swiftly
cut off the head of "Anger," the first guard. Then I faced "Sense Desires," who
was on the other wall. As the beast raised his crossbow, I threw my sword, end
over end, striking the "animal" in the heart, killing him instantly.
I
became stronger with each guard's death, and could not wait to meet up with the
Dragon of Atta, my immortal enemy. I wound my way through a maze of confusing
passageways and endless tunnels with dead-ends and puzzling forks that would
have deceived any adversary. But my teachers' instructions were flawless, and
with the help of my Investigation, I saw through every one of the deceptions.
Finally, I noticed a faint glow deep inside, and went straight for the dragon.
My blood ran cold when I saw it - a horrifying sight, standing thirty
paces tall with huge green scales the size of shields, and nostrils spewing
scorching fingers of fire that licked the walls of its den. As soon as it saw
me, it began anchoring its huge claws into the solid rock floor, and whipping
its spiked tail back and forth like an agitated cat. The great meditator finally
faced the horrible Dragon of Atta.
The dragon was surrounded by its
remaining treacherous gang of five guards; "Craving for Existence in the World
of Form," "Craving for Existence in the World of Non-Form," "Spiritual Pride,"
"Spiritual Restlessness," and "Egoism."
My great Insight developed
during years with my teachers assessed the situation quickly, and in a split
second, developed a plan to defeat them all. The battle hardened guards that had
dominated me for uncountable ages laughed at me, confident that this would go
the same way as so many other fights did with this warrior-meditator, but when
in a blinding-fast move, I cut "Spiritual Pride" in half, the four other
surprised guards instinctively moved closer to their dragon for protection.
I stood my ground and watched carefully, waiting for one of them to
move; I had developed all the patience in the world. I did not have to wait
long. "Craving for Existence in the World of Form" and "Craving for Existence in
the World of Non-Form" began circling behind me in opposite directions, and I
reacted by attacking "Spiritual Restlessness" and "Egoism" head-on. The dragon's
nostrils flared, its searing flames destroying everything in their path and
coming right for me, but I was too fast. The flames missed and engulfed "Craving
for Existence in the World of Form" and "Craving for Existence in the World of
Non-Form" who were circling behind me, and as the two monsters burned, scales
began to fall off the dragon in sheets.
I wasted no time in engaging the
two remaining guards as they cowered by their dragon. They were no match for
this trained spiritual warrior that they now faced. The pain and suffering these
guards had inflicted upon me now became painfully apparent and I showed them no
mercy; I attacked with a supernatural vengeance. Surprisingly, there was no
anger, only concentrated conviction.
The dragon engulfed the entire den
with great, scorching flames, its claws ripping gigantic chunks of rock out of
the floor and hurling them in every direction. I paid no attention to this
display and fought the remaining two guards with a focus and intensity so
powerful that they had no chance to react. I studied "Spiritual Restlessness"
with my powerful Insight, finally understanding that there is nothing to know
and nobody to know it, and as I swung my Great Sword and beheaded him, "Egoism,"
the last and most cunning warrior of the dragon's guards, left the protection of
his dragoon and calmly approached.
He could see that my strength
increasing and his waning, and in a desperate, last ditch effort pleaded with me
to spare his life.
"What harm could come of keeping a little egoism' for
a meditator who had achieved everything else? It would be of good use to you,"
he bargained shrewdly.
But my Insight was far too developed for this
clever ploy, and with one powerful thrust I drove my Great Sword deep into the
heart of this monster, this putrid "Egoism," which had so confused me and kept
me imprisoned.
And as I withdrew my sword, I turned and faced the Dragon
of Atta. No guards protected it now.
An agonizing scream echoed
throughout the cave, and scales began falling like leaves with its flames
turning to merely wisps of smoke as the Great Dragon of Atta writhed and tossed
from wall to wall in pain. And all the while I stood my ground and challenged it
to come closer. But the dragon never did.
The Dragon of Atta was a
fraud, a deception, and in the end there was only a smoldering heap of scales.
And the dragon was gone.
The Dragon of Atta was never real, never
Reality, just an illusion created in my mind by its ten imaginary guards.
The moment the dragon disappeared, my mind again became a blank screen,
and on this blank screen, I appeared in the middle of a great circle in the
center of space, feeling as if I was being carried to the edge of a void by a
flood.
My concentration on this image was intense. I could feel it,
touch it, and in the next instant, I, as well as the center of the circle
vanished, with only the circumference of the circle remaining. This
circumference immediately began to expand, larger and larger until it swallowed
up the entire universe. It continued to expand further, engulfing all knowledge
and all perception, going beyond all worlds, beyond everything known and
everything unknown.
I was plummeting into each Great Calm, one after the
other in rapid succession. The Source started to move upwards from the base of
my spine faster and faster, spinning through the seven centers, whirling round
and round as my body and mind; contact, feeling, memory, and imagination,
shattered like thin glass as a million suns suddenly flashed. I finally knew
that there was never anyone searching, and there was never a search, there was
only the key all along.
I saw myself leaping with great fear yet with
great courage into an immense vacuum of white nothingness, and from this white
nothingness arose everything. I went beyond the three dimensions, into the
fourth, and then the fifth, the sixth, the seventh, and then beyond every
inconceivable dimension. I saw all forms and non-forms, spheres and time and
universes expanding and intensifying in great breaths, countless universes,
immeasurable past lives, everybody's' past lives. I was immersed in the
universal consciousness of every being since the beginning of beginning less
time, and I was now unconditioned, with no previous condition or future cause. I
saw the Source of all things and in this seeing realized that the Reality was
all of me, and I fell completely into its arms, holding the key in my hand as
the moment and everything in it . . . vanished.
I was now filled with
emptiness; the fullest emptiness in all the worlds, and there was nothing left
to do. I was free. The king was finally home.
The next morning, Weepasa
was peeling a mango and happened to look out of his window. He noticed an old
man; followed by a limping horse, slowly make their way out of his compound
walking toward the east . . . and he smiled.
We traveled through the
desert and then through great, fertile fields of rice paddies dotted with mango
and banana trees, accompanied by brilliant red sunsets and misty mornings tinged
with the smoke of charcoal fires. The farmers' lives followed the seasons,
leading their water buffalo to the rice fields every morning for plowing and
leading them back to the villages at night. They would spend their lives in
these paddies, in their flimsy, temporary shelters out there, planting in the
springtime and harvesting in the summer, and experiencing both birth and death
in the fields with the whole family. It was a pleasant way to come into the
world, and a pleasant way to leave.
I never before saw life in this
manner, this harmony, this ordinary cycle of things, unhurried and calm,
confident and sure, with nothing out of place and nothing needed. It was as if,
for the first time, I could really see, without the heavy veil of myself in the
way. How beautiful and natural it all was.
The spiritual nature of the
world was opening completely for me, and I was immersed in the discovery that
the world and I were inseparable. Everything was a reflection of the Source and
everything was all-encompassing love, and I knew that truly nothing mattered
now, as I experienced that unity with Reality, that which is indescribable.
The world was an expression of the love I had now become, and I realized
that the Source was not only in me, but around me, everywhere. The Source
infused me. I was the Source . . . and yet I was not, for the Source was like a
great star where I must never come too close nor stray too far away.
And
there was a promise to keep. ( To be continued)
(hr)
E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal
teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center, http://www.SouthwestFloridaInsightCenter.com
His twenty-nine years of meditation experience has taken him across four
continents, including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote
northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. His book, A Year to
Enlightenment (Career Press/New Page Books) is now available at major bookstores
and online retailers. Visit http://www.AYearToEnlightenment.com
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