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Chapter 33 - The Lake Of Summer It is a season of radiating light and heat. In the State of Washington, people long to see the sun, especially during this quarter of the year when it is time for vacations. Too many people turn their eyes on Lake Sammamish during the summer. This upsurge of people is not seen during the other three seasons. People throng to the lake, to sunbathe, to swim, to water ski, to sail, to canoe, to ride in motor boats, water cycles, and hydroplanes. At the lakeside, there is a family which owns four hydroplanes. Lake Sammamish becomes the airport for these hydroplanes. Too many Americans throng to the lake in summer. Young ladies put on bikinis to display their bodies and men put on swimming trunks to tan their skins to an antique copper. All around the lake the parking areas are full of cars, and many people are forced to park quite far away, then continue on foot towards this lake of summer. On the freeways around the lake, cars are speeding; even the people crowding the freeways are baring their shoulders and chests. The parks by Lake Sammamish are packed like sardines. It is not an exaggeration to liken them to sardines. On the grass by the lakeside, row after row of people are sunbathing. Someone compared these sunbathers to big belly fish which have rolled on their backs after washing up on shore, their whitish bellies pointing up toward the sky. So many big belly fish with their stomachs turned up-an exhibition that is quite a sight to behold. The lake water is sparkling, the sun is sparkling, and the blue sky is high and deep. Lake Sammamish has become a focal point and all the feelings of sadness are gone. As in a season of joy in which everything is active, all unrest and despair are gone. Lake Sammamish is a mellow wine that is too sweet, and everyone is willing to drink this sweet, mellow wine. Lake Sammamish is turned into a garden of amusement. In these days of the high sun, people are tasting happiness and joy. It is a season of leisure. Actually, in such a joyous season, Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master, like the other Americans, is also sunbathing and turning himself tan. I am also swimming and boating. I find happiness in the lake water; I forget the little bit of grief. There is only one thing that needs to be done at this time, and that is to enter the lake and enjoy this garden of amusement. Yet, amid this leisure, I have not forgotten the mission of the Tathagata, I have not forgotten to commune with all the Deities in the Cosmos. I am still maintaining my concentration and in my heart there is always my calling: to maintain the most valuable and meaningful work, to awaken all the sentient beings towards Eternal Life. I will teach all the Way seekers; I will aid those who are impoverished and degenerate. Frankly, my heart left the mundane world a long time ago and will never return to it. In this life of mine, I have travelled all over. When I was young, I was hedonistic. I sought all kinds of pleasures to the point of nauseation. But these pleasures are all very short-lived and have not brought me any true happiness and comfort. In the West, hedonism is still very much in vogue. One pleasure after another has become a kind of cyclical game, until death calls. Actually these pleasures are only a superficial and empty happiness, and over indulgence leads to meaningless games of death. I walked, in the season of summer, into the midst of the crowds and sat quietly down. Lake Sammamish disappeared; all the sounds of people around me also vanished. The lake of summer turned completely quiet all around, and my only consciousness flew into the midst of the Space. I stopped thinking. That was the beginning of antiquity, a holiness that never became stilled ... The perfect Zen meditation. The all benevolent Zen meditation. I forgot where and when I was. I returned to the Maha Double Lotus Ponds and was enveloped by all kinds of Light. I stayed in Eternity for a long, long time. It was a holy and transcendental moment. The world seemed very far away, the family seemed very far away, and the disciples seemed very far away. These were, of course, insignificant, even the explosion of the earth seemed insignificant. I only knew that I had become transcendental. The lake of summer is so very beautiful. The lake of summer has its own uniqueness and is extremely seductive and happy. I mingle with it. I am not deferring to pleasures. I am just a guard, working for the calling.
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