Chapter 3 - Merging Into The Rippling Of The Lake

One sunny Washington summer day, while many Americans were basking on their lawns, I put on my swimming trunks, a yellow one with brown floral print, and walked, under the blazing sun, past the lawns of private homes to the wooden pier at the lake. There, at the end of the pier, I readied myself with the most graceful motion, and in one single moment, plop, I merged totally into the rippling lake.

It was Lake Sammamish with arms stretching out to embrace my bare flesh and bones.

Or was it my love and longing for the musings in the lake?

Does Vajra Master Sheng Yen Lu swim? Yes, I do. A long long time ago, at Da Tung Primary School in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, I was pushed by my teacher into the school's swimming pool for the first time and was able to float to the surface by myself. After that, I sneaked away, unknown to my family, to rivers and creeks to learn swimming. I went to the Precious Pearl Creek, the Canal, the Hsitzu Bay at the Kaohsiung Harbor, the city swimming pool, and any place where there was water. Like a fish, I was longing for a holy spring where I could learn and be trained extensively.

I was a good swimmer even then. From the Hsitzu Bay's beach, I could swim past the buoys that formed the safety line, all the way to the protective dam at the outer sea. It was quite a long distance, and I would sometimes use the gentle breast stroke, sometimes the free style with both my feet kicking, or the butterfly with both my arms spreading out, or the back stroke with my gaze fixed on the huge blue sky.

I became a fish, an arrow fish.

Shooting through the water, not to be stopped.

With eyes on the target, and never to retreat.

Of course, my attempts at swimming were not approved by my parents. When they found that I was getting close to the water, their faces turned ashen and I was treated to "pork stir-fried with bamboo"¹. But with determination on my face and with my beart like an arrow on a full drawn bow, I was tracking my own fate. I longed for the blazing sun rays, the burning beaches, the roaring waves, and I would paint my body with sand and walk alone towards the ocean, to submerge myself into her completely.

"Tomorrow, as soon as dawn breaks, I am going to the beach."

"Don't waste your words. No begging either. Go back to your room. We forbid it," responded my mother.

Early the next morning, mother found that the wooden bars of my bedroom window were bent, and I had vanished. The window had changed its shape and I had long since left for the ocean.

I know it takes a long time to become an expert swimmer. One must undergo extensive training in breathing and coordination, and so improve over time. Only under such long term training would a swimmer emerge with real skill.

Today, Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master merges into Lake Sammamish, and Lake Sammamish embraces the Guru with boundless tenderness. It is a destiny determined long ago, a heartfelt meeting. It is like finding the eternal home without any further need to roam. As soon as fate opened this new chapter, I was totally immersed.

Deep within me, I know learning the real Tantra is like learning to swim. Both require real immersion! The so called spiritual response and realization, the supernatural ability, the distant goal, the swimming with meditative concentration require immersion of a very special kind.

It is not enough to approach Cosmic Consciousness. The Ocean of Consciousness is not a kind of encounter; it is complete immersion.

I know that an enlightened being, besides possessing a wonderful wisdom, a holy and pure life, a lofty mind and an education, also transcends time and space, sunlight, moonlight and starlight. He is totally free of anger, anxiety, fear, and suffering. It is equivalent to overcoming Death. In the midst of everything, it reaches self illumination eternally, not just disillusionment.

Do not wait, you who would cultivate the Way of Tantra. Practical cultivation is a matter of the greatest importance. At the moment of dawn, or when starlight appears at night, we must find a way to reach the place of the Lord, to immerse, to find cleansing of the light, to find happiness and the eternal joy of mystic trance.

Do not wait for something to happen. There is nothing you should wait for. There is no fatigue. This is no excuse for laziness. And don't fall asleep. Waiting, fatigue, sleepiness are all excuses. A true Tantric practitioner sets out and keeps on forging ahead.

We may move ahead quietly, day after day, month after month, and year after year. Our appearances may be frail or worn out, but there will be a day, when great light is emitted from depth of the inner self, and you can immerse yourself in Great Light, and attain the great joy of union. When that moment arrives, stars will shoot across the sky and you can seize them and announce to the world, "Everything in this universe is my heart and my spirit."

Lake Sammamish speaks to me: "Here you come."

"Here I come," I speak to Lake Sammamish.

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