Lundeeria : Chapter Three
December 27, 2010
Chapter 3: Strangers in Lundeeria
As the first rays of the sun began to lighten the sky, it happened.
As Gazelle shook the moss from her ears, Nightingale sang more softly and then became quiet. The Lundeerians ceased dreaming and began to wake up. The air next to Gazelle started to shimmer. As she and Nightingale and all of Lundeeria watched, the shimmering started to become solid.
The animals saw form and color taking shape, disappearing, and then coming together again, more clear than before. This happened several times. Then, the form and color shimmered brightly one last time, swirled as if in a tiny whirlwind, and settled to reveal two unmoving shapes!
It seemed as if everyone on Lundeeria was holding his or her breath. Indeed, in all the land, the only breathing seemed to be coming from the two forms who lay in front of them. Suddenly from the assembly a voice called out, “I’ve seen such animals before in my dreams! Those are humans!”
The Dream Seeking had really worked? Were these the humans? But they are so small! How could creatures this small cause problems? And how did they get here? How could dreams produce forms? Dreams are just that, dreams. But these creatures appear very real! And since they appear very real, and very alive, what happens now?
Gazelle called out, “Be quiet my friends. Please be quiet as we think what to do now.”
But it was too late.
The two shapes had begun to move. But not like before when they had shimmered and changed. This time the shapes moved as solid wholes. Everyone in the assembly drew back.
It looked as if the human creatures were waking up!
Tortoise came forward to stand next to Gazelle. Nightingale flew in and landed lightly on the shoulder of one of the humans. After a moment, one of the humans sat up. As he opened his eyes and then stared in delight at Nightingale, he said, “Emma, wake up! There’s a bird on your shoulder!”
The human named Emma stretched, also sat up, and opened her eyes. She didn’t notice a bird. But she saw a gazelle! And a tortoise!! And that wasn’t all. There were other animals standing behind the gazelle and the tortoise. She was too scared to move. All she could do was point and stammer, “Justin, loo-look!”
But Justin didn’t turn to look where Emma was pointing. He couldn’t. He too was frozen as he looked out on a sea of animals. All staring back at him!
Seeing that the two humans were alarmed, Nightingale began to sing a soothing song, and Gazelle began to softly speak.
“Please don’t be afraid. We mean you no harm.”
Gazelle’s eyes were so warm and gentle that Emma felt herself begin to breathe again. And the way Nightingale blinked her brown eyes and cocked her head made Justin smile a bit in spite of his fear.
“That’s better. Are you okay? You’re not hurt in any way, are you?”
Gazelle’s soothing voice seemed to further calm the two humans. But even so, all they could do was shake their heads in reply.
“My name is Gazelle. This is Tortoise, and the bird on your shoulder is called Nightingale. Am I to understand that you are a Justin and that you are an Emma?”
Gazelle looked from one to the other as she said their names.
By now Justin was also staring at Gazelle. “Uh-huh,” he said as he nodded his head.
“Yes,” added the other. “I’m Emma. This, this is my brother Justin,” she managed to add.
“I’m very happy to meet you. We’ve never met a Justin or an Emma before,” Gazelle replied as she gazed serenely back at the two, who stared open-mouthed at her.
“Wait a minute! You’re talking! How? Animals can’t talk!” Justin’s curiosity was winning out over his fear.
“Animals can’t talk in your world? In our world, all animals can talk just like we are doing.” Gazelle took a deep breath. This was going to take a bit of explaining.
“You are humans, right?” Gazelle asked.
“Of course,” Justin replied, somewhat confused. How could anyone not know they were humans?
Curious himself, and sensing that Justin and Emma were getting over their initial shock, Tortoise asked, “Please excuse my ignorance, but are all humans like you?”
Unsure what he meant, Emma replied, “Well, yes. But we’re children, not adults. Is that what you mean? We’re twins actually.”
Emma then looked at Gazelle. “Earlier when you referred to ‘our world,’ you meant the animal world, right?”
“In a way,” Gazelle answered.
Nightingale spoke next. “Our world is an animal world, yes. But it’s more than that. Our world is called Lundeeria. And while I don’t want to shock you any more than I’m afraid we already have, I have to ask, is your world called Earth?”
The children were again speechless. Justin managed to blurt out, “Our world? Are you saying this isn’t Earth?”
“Are you saying we’re on another planet?” Emma squeaked.
“Umm, yes dear. Lundeeria is another planet. Have you never heard of it?”
From the children’s faces, the Lundeerians realized the children hadn’t. The animals all held their breath waiting to see how the two small humans would react to this news.
“Cool!” suddenly laughed both children.
The Lundeerians were greatly relieved. Also, they were rather impressed. The two children were remarkably okay with the fact they were on another planet.
“How did we get here?” Justin asked.
“We dreamed you here,” replied Nightingale.
“Super cool!” giggled the two children.
“What do you mean dreamed? How did you dream us here? And why?”
“Well, it’s rather a long story,” Tortoise replied.
And with that, he began to tell Justin and Emma how the dreams started, how confused and worried the Lundeerians had become, and how they all dreamed together and two human children appeared.
After listening to all this, Justin said, “But we still don’t know why we’re here.”
Thoughtfully, Gazelle spoke. “We dreamed you here because we sensed trouble in your world. We felt much fear there. That’s not something we feel often in our world. If something unusual happens, we might become anxious. But the fear we felt from your world seemed much more than that.”
“Oh!” Justin and Emma looked at each other. They were also at a loss to explain what was going on.
Trying to be helpful, Justin spoke up. “Well, sure, there’s fear in our world, but that’s normal. Things can happen and people get scared, but it’s okay in the end. Things work out. It’s no big deal. Right Emma?”
Emma looked thoughtful and then said, “Justin, wait a minute. We’re humans so we’re thinking of human fear. But the Lundeerians are animals.”
“Maybe they’re talking about animal fear?”
(To be continued...)
Essence of the Infinite Life Sutra, Excerpt Seventeen
Always using the practice of the Six Paramitas of giving, precept observation, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom, he taught and transformed beings to help them steadfastly establish a bodhi mind.
“Always” means forever and never changing. One should follow these six principles at all times.
The first paramita is giving. For us, this means letting go and helping others. There are three kinds of giving: the giving of wealth, the giving of teachings, and the giving of fearlessness. Giving is a karmic cause. If we want to have wealth, we should practice the giving of wealth. If we want to be intelligent and wise, we should practice the giving of teachings. If we wish to have good health and a long life, we should practice the giving of fearlessness. In the giving of fearlessness, the most important thing is not to harm any being. In addition to not killing beings, we should not even cause them to have afflictions. A vegetarian diet is a form of the giving of fearlessness: We do not eat the flesh of animals or cause them to have afflictions. To be more proactive, we should free captured animals.
I was supposed to be a person with little good fortune and a short life span. But I have lived to this age and my good fortune seems to increase year by year. Both are the rewards from my learning the Buddha’s teaching and practicing it accordingly in this lifetime.
One should not enjoy the good fortune oneself because one will use it up very quickly. When one has good fortune, one should share it with others. This way, one’s good fortune will never be used up. This is the truth.
As I gained more wisdom, I saw the ins and outs of everything more clearly than before. Thus, I was able to do things that benefited others in a more appropriate and perfect way. Moreover, I did not ask to have my life extended but it was. This is true freedom!
In the bodhisattva practice, giving is listed first. My rewards from the three kinds of giving can be clearly seen by everyone.
The second paramita is precept observation. We should observe the precepts and codes of behavior that the Buddha laid out. The teachings in the sutras that the Buddha earnestly and patiently taught us should be followed too. We should also abide by the laws and customs of our countries. If we abandon the precepts, then the practice and upholding of the Buddha’s teachings will disappear. So even if we lecture on the Dharma, and study and discuss it every day, it will be futile. Why? Because our lives are disconnected from the teachings, we are not applying what we are learning. No matter how profoundly or how well we can lecture on Buddhism, nothing will be achieved. That is why Buddhism has always emphasized practice.
The Buddha taught “three cumulative pure precepts.” “Three cumulative” means three main categories.
The first category is “uphold precepts and codes of behavior.” This encompasses all the teachings that the Buddha taught in the sutras. We should practice all that the Buddha wants us to do and not otherwise.
The second category is “uphold precepts by practicing virtuous dharmas.” A deed that is good should be done. A deed that is bad should not be done. We should know that the spirit of the precepts is to prevent wrongdoing or stop evil conduct; it helps us to end wrongdoings and to practice virtuous conduct.
Even though the Buddha did not list everything we should or should not do, we need to adhere to the spirit of his teachings. For example, the Buddha did not tell us not to smoke, but we know that smoking is not good for us or for others. Therefore, we should not smoke. Things of this nature fall under “uphold precepts by practicing virtuous dharmas.”
The third category is “uphold precepts by bringing lasting benefits to all sentient beings.” When a deed benefits beings, we should do it. There are three kinds of beneficial deeds. The first kind is the deed that will bring immediate benefit but will have a harmful effect in the future. This kind of deed should not be done. The second kind is the deed that will bring benefit not only now but also in the future. This kind of deed is truly beneficial. The third kind is the deed that will not bring immediate benefit but will bring great benefit in the future. This kind of deed is also beneficial.
This shows that Buddhas and bodhisattvas look far ahead, not only at the immediate future.
The third paramita is patience.[1] To accomplish any undertaking, one needs to bear any hardship that one encounters. In the process of cultivation, one will surely encounter frustration. The more diligent one is, the greater the amount of frustration one faces. Why is there so much frustration? Because of the evil karmas that one has committed over countless kalpas, obstacles from karmic forces are unavoidable. The only solution is to tolerate any hardship. This will decrease karmas. If one has meditative concentration, it can eliminate karmas. One should face obstacles with wisdom, resolve them with forbearance, acquiesce, and make diligent progress. Only with the paramita of patience will one be able to improve. If one is not patient, one will encounter obstacles.
The fourth paramita is diligence.[2] The Chinese term for “diligence” is jingjin. Jing means “pure and unadulterated” and jin means “making progress.” For bodhisattvas, diligence is their only good root.[3]
Nowadays, many Buddhist practitioners make the mistake of learning too many different things, resulting in a mixture. Although they make progress every day, their progress is adulterated. They spend a lot of time and effort but their accomplishment is very limited.
The little achievement I have in this lifetime is due to having a good teacher. He forbade me to proceed in an unfocused and random way. I learned from Mr. Li Bingnan in Taichung for ten years. His teaching method was that even if a student was very smart and had an exceptional capability, he or she could simultaneously learn only two sutras at most. If the student wanted to learn three sutras [at one time], he would not teach this student. Students who did not have a good capability learned only one sutra. Only when Mr. Li considered that a student had learned a sutra well enough would he teach the student a new one. Otherwise, he would not allow the student to learn a new sutra. During my ten years with Mr. Li, I learned five sutras, whereas in a Buddhist college, the students study more than five sutras in one semester.
The first sutra I learned was the Sutra on Ananda Asking about the Good Fortune and Misfortune of Learning the Buddha’s Teachings; the second was the Amitabha Sutra; the third was the “Chapter of the Vows and Practices of Samantabhadra”; the fourth was the Diamond Sutra; and the fifth was the Surangama Sutra. I spent ten years learning only these sutras. Mr. Li’s criterion was that only when one learned one sutra well enough could one learn a new one. “Well enough” meant that the student could explain the sutra thoroughly on stage to an audience. When the student lectured on stage, Mr. Li would sit in the last row. Without using a microphone, the student had to talk loud enough for Mr. Li to hear. Heading toward one direction and one goal, his students were thus laying a good foundation and would naturally understand the other sutras.
“When one masters one sutra, one naturally masters all sutras.” The question is whether one has truly learned and understood the sutra and entered into the states described in the sutra.
The fifth paramita is meditative concentration. It means being in control of one’s mind. Within, the mind is unmoved; without, the mind is not attached to phenomena. One should not be easily tempted by any external phenomena. For example, when one learns a sutra, one concentrates on this sutra. This way, one would be in control of one’s mind.
The sixth paramita is wisdom. Simply put, when one interacts with people and engages in tasks, one should do so based on reason, not on emotions.
This excerpt teaches us the six principles for interacting with people and engaging in tasks in daily life. These are also the guidelines that bodhisattvas use in teaching and transforming beings to help them be steadfastly established [in the bodhi mind].
[1] The cultivation of this virtue involves two aspects: to be patient without anger in the face of harm done by others and to endure various afflictions and suffering and to be unafraid of the implications of such Mahayana teachings as emptiness.— Damien Keown, Dictionary of Buddhism (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003), 148.
[2] Diligence means to courageously cultivate good dharmas and end evil dharmas. It is to focus and to progress tirelessly.—Trans.
[3] Diligence is the only good root of the bodhisattvas because they are already replete with worldly good roots of no greed, no anger, and no ignorance. This good root of diligence allows the bodhisattvas to advance in cultivation without regression until they attain enlightenment.—Trans.
~ Essence of the Infinite Life Sutra by Venerable Master Chin Kung.