|
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
Chapter 11 - The World Under The Lake Sand In one of my earlier books, I mentioned the existence of a Kingdom, called the Omnipresent Underground Kingdom. In Buddha's teachings, it mentions the existence of Earth Dwelling Heavens. It is said in the Earth Deva Sutra that Mahabrahman Devaraja rules the heavens, and the Earth Deva rules the earth. The Sutra of the Merits of the Twelve Heavens says,
When Buddha Shakyamuni attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, the earth split into two halves, and bubbling out of it came a treasure vase filled with blooming exotic flowers in the shape of a person making offerings to the Buddha. Not all of the Earth Dwelling Heavens mentioned in the sutra are found underground. Heavens such as Firm Arms, Holding Wreath, and Always Unrestrained are located in the lower half of Mount Meru. These are also the dwelling places of Yaksas, ghosts and deities. Their status are equal to the ordinary heavens. Also, the Sun-Moon Constellation Heaven, the Four Celestial Kings Heaven, and the Trayastrimsas Heaven are all still within the boundary of the Earth Dwelling Heavens. If the readers are interested in finding out more about these heavens, they can refer to the Dharmadhatu Establishment Chart. Is there really an underground kingdom? Many people have asked me. My answer is yes. Under the earth there is indeed a most stable, most fortunate kingdom immune to external invasions. In the sand at Lake Sammamish, I saw clams living there. Some people dug holes, at the beach, as deep as five feet, and still found live mollusks, round in shape and white in color, living there. Imagine this: Days of darkness, a group of clams are living out their existence under the sand dunes, ingesting sand and burbling out water. With their characteristic wriggling, they move in sand. When men intrude into their world, they are thrown into a panic and start burbling to try to get away. Burrowing in and out, they move smoothly and rapidly. Some people, after digging out the clams for the first time, tried to make a clam broth but found that it was quite inedible, because there is too much sand. Washing the clams repeatedly doesn't help because the clams' stomachs are filled with sand. This reminds me of a saying, Big fish eat small fish, small fish eat little shrimps, and little shrimps eat muddy soil. So the clams do indeed eat sand. What a wonderful world of sand! Some people know that in order to eat the clams of the lake, one must first make the clams spit out all the sand. People of the lakeside go to the supermarket and buy cornmeal, a powdery food made from maize, and scatter it into the water with the clams. The clams love cornmeal and they regurgitate the sand back into the water in exchange for the cornmeal. After the sand is all gone from the clams, they can be cooked and eaten. This is one method to eat the clams without eating the sand. From the world of sand under the lake, I think of the Omnipresent Underground Kingdom. In the depth of the sand of the lake, there are living organisms such as the clams. So why wouldn't there be a kingdom at the spaces beneath the earth? Even Bodhisattva Kuan-Yin (Avalokitesvara) has made an appearance inside the shell of a clam, that is the famous Bivalve Kuan-Yin. I feel deeply that I am sometimes overwhelmed by waves of awareness, such as an awareness of the realm under the earth, the Omnipresent Underground Kingdom. This awareness is a very special kind of knowledge that has brought me close to true maturity, and to the stage of understanding the primal cause of everything. So, under the sand of the lake there is indeed another world, not known to man unless he starts digging into it. The days I live at Lake Sammamish have turned me into a middle aged man; I am no longer young. Some of my thoughts have faded in colors, but others have been newly born, or in other words, my thoughts are always adjusting. No need to thirst for any more gurus. I have changed from being taught to teaching others. After truly attaining the Way, I become as a consequence the greatest, the wisest,the holiest..... I feel that the most important thing for each one of us is to understand one's own self. Being able to understand one's own self is an exceptional quality. The metaphysical Self is the most important beginning. Many people living in this world do not understand themselves. The most confused person is the self. The person you don't understand most is also your self. Are you one of the clams living in the world of the lake sand? Are the clams of the lake sand hiding from illumination? Indeed, what is the difference between men and clams? I smile and I finally understand. It is not that some people do not want to search for an illuminating world, but rather they are afraid. They are afraid of themselves. They are so afraid that they try to escape, and try to release themselves using improper excuses: Some commit suicide to attempt to escape from the self. Some become addicted to drugs to escape from. All of these demonstrate the misunderstanding and the fear of the self. They are simply lost. The world of sand of Lake Sammamish is a kind of revelation. When Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master strolls by the lakeside, he feels like he is embarking on a trip to a far away land. With a slow but steady pace, he is approaching fulfillment, step by step. In the depth of his inner-mind, there is the Divine Self, with its Buddha Nature radiating brilliantly, absolutely, permanently, and spontaneously. The heart of the Guru flows completely with the leaping stream of awakening. It is not the world under the lake sand, always in darkness. Quite the contrary, it radiates with a bright light in all directions.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|