Chapter 23 - The Magical Bowl

Master Ch'ing-chen is my direct personal teacher. Although we were not together for too long-only two years-the memory of his face and voice is vivid in my heart. He told me that he studied from Ch'ing-ch'eng Mountain (Sichaun Province, China). He learned a great deal from the temple there. Every time he thought about teaching someone, he was afraid he might teach the wrong person; therefore, he never accepted students. I went to see Master Ch'ing-chen after I was guided by my spirit teacher, Mr. San-shan-chiu-hou. If not for him, Master Ch'ing-chen would have never received me as a student.

Master Ch'ing-chen is an overly cautious man. He hardly leaves the mountain where he lives. His appearance is that of an honest farmer. The only difference is that in the thatched roof house where he lives, he worships Upper Pure, Jade Pure and Great Pure. Pictures of those gods line his altar.

He lived on Lien-t'ou Mountain for more than 20 years, but nobody knew he was a master with great knowledge and spiritual achievement. I studied with him on weekends for two years before he died. Before his death he said, "After I am gone you will be alone. The road ahead will be difficult. You will suffer much. If I hadn't accepted you as a student you could have lived a more peaceful life. However, since I accepted you, you will have trials and challenges. Can you endure?"

"Yes, I can." I answered.

"In this world one of the most difficult things is to save, or deliver, people. After I die you should keep in mind always that as long as you maintain a righteous heart and righteous thoughts you will have the guardian in heaven to help you. You should not concern yourself with any other trivial matters."

He repeated this lesson to me many times before he died. I never forgot it.

I remember one Sunday when I went to Lien-t'ou Mountain. A friend and classmate named Shang had invited me to his house to visit. I had never been there before.

That day when Master Ch'ing-chen put one hand on top of my head at the crown chakra he said gently, "Your mind is not here. Do you have something else on you mind?"

"Master, to be honest with you," I answered, "today I had a very close classmate invite me to his house. He has invited me many times before. Every weekend I come here and I turn him down. Today he invited me again. I feel obligated to go to visit with him."

"Well, in that case, why don't you just take off early?"

Master Ch'ing-chen then went into his house. In awhile he brought out an exquisitely delicate porcelain bowl. The rim bore a carving of two white rabbits. The bowl was half full of water.

"Lian Shen," Master said, "this bowl is the treasure of the Temple of the Ch'ing-ch'eng Mountain. This bowl's name is Jade Rabbit Water Shadow Bowl."

I looked at my teacher with wonder. I didn't know the purpose of the bowl.

"Lian Shen, what's your friend's name and where does he live?"

His name is Shang Tzu-ch'iang and he lives on the Chang-nan Road in Nan-t'ou City."

My Master took a brush and wrote something on yellow rice paper, then he burned the yellow paper into ash and spread the ashes into the bowl.

My teacher looked at the bowl for about five minutes. "Lian Shen, your friend is taking a nap at his house now. He is tall and sturdy. His left eyebrow has a dark mole. He has a very sharp chin. His face indicates that he might fall easily into danger or accidents. He should learn to be more gentle and soft, otherwise he might die early. His family is rather wealthy. His bedroom is nicely decorated. Come over here and take a look."

I stepped forward and looked. I only saw dark ashes floating on the water, nothing else.

"Close your eyes first," said Master. "Rotate your eyeballs clockwise twenty-one times and then counter-clockwise twenty-one times and then look again."

I closed my eyes and did as he said then opened my eyes again. Miraculously then I saw a circle of white light in the bowl. At first it was foggy, then it slowly disappeared. Gradually I saw a bedroom with a person sleeping there. I looked more closely. It was, without a doubt my friend Shang Tzu-ch'iang.

Seeing him there in the bowl I called, "Hey! Shang Tzu-ch'iang!"

I saw him wake. He looked around to see who was calling. Seeing no one, he settled back down to sleep again.

"Master! This bowl . . . !"

"This bowl is very marvelous. It can transmit the shadow picture and the voice, but only those who have the trained psychic eye can see it. To ordinary people, the bowl is useless. But for people who develop their psychic eye this bowl will be useful, because everything in the world can appear in it. In the future I will leave this bowl to you.

"Master! Thank you!"

"You can leave now," he said.

When I arrived at my friend's house it was four in the afternoon. An old servant answered the door. "Shang Tzu-Ch'iang woke up and rode away on the motorcycle," she said.

As I turned to go I heard a voice from the sky saying, "Stay for two more minutes. Your friend will be back."

At that moment I realized I existed in my master's magic water bowl.

He was watching me. I turned to the old servant and said, "Well, he will be back in two minutes."

The servant wondered what was going on. Yet after two minutes my friend did return. He waved to me from far away and nervously said,

"Lu! I knew you were coming today! While I was sleeping I heard you call me! I rode my motorcycle out and then I heard a voice from the sky that told me to return! Strange things are happening today! It's good that you're here! Come in! Please come in!"

While I was in my friend's living room I told him what his bedroom looked like. He looked at me in amazement. "Yes! My room is exactly like that!"

Then I told him, "In this world there is a bowl called Jade Rabbit Water Shadow Bowl. It can transmit picture and sound."

But he just shook his head saying "No. No. I don't believe it. You're kidding. "

Master Ch'ing-cheng didn't tell me, when he passed away, where he hid the bowl and I never found it. My friend, as Master Ch'ing-chen predicted, died in a traffic accident.

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