The Flying Carpet of the East
By Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Shan Tung Hsu P.hD., Bekka, Karin Greenway
Translated by Shan Tung Hsu P.hD., Bekka, Karin Greenway
This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 31st book, 東方的飛氈.
In the summer when it's hot I take it easy.
Once when I closed my eyes for an afternoon nap I felt my soul leave my body to travel to a different place.
I found myself on a strange road, with an old man rambling toward me.
"Aren't you Lian Shen" he said when he came nearer.
"Yes! I am," I answered in surprise. "Venerable sir, who are you?"
"I am the blessing god at the T'ou-pien Mountain."
"I remember that mountain. I went with some friends to visit and to see some land there. I stopped by your shrine to pay my respects."
"Yes, yes. This is why I know you are Lian Shen he answered.
"Since you are here now, if you are not going anywhere I'd like to take you to see a couple of interesting things."
The blessing god said no more, but began to move very fast. I didn't have time to think about it-I just followed.
My experience in astral travel is that the world traveled to is much clearer than the world of dreams.
No physical boundaries can stop you in the astral world.
You can walk on water; you can fly up to the mountains; you can walk rivers or enter into houses.
Doors can't stop you.
You can travel very fast.
The old man took me to a deserted mountain.
There I saw a thatched roof house.
Inside was a skinny corpse in a coffin.
The old blessing god and I hid behind a rock to observe.
In a while we saw heaven open.
A celestial being came riding down to the mountain on a cloud.
The mountain's colors became luminescent with golden tones of light.
Land gods arrived to guard the celestial being.
The celestial being humbly knelt before the coffin.
Respectfully, he paid homage to the skinny old body, kneeling three times and bowing three times after each kneeling.
Then he stood and dust fell away from him.
The celestial being ran his hands lovingly over the body caressing, touching ever so gently.
He then disappeared into the sky.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"The celestial being has paid his respects to the corpse. That body was the celestial being's physical body when he was alive. The higher soul comes back to see the old bag which carried the higher soul. It is called, 'To use the not real to cultivate the real.' To reach the state that the celestial being now is in, the body had to suffer much."
"Yes, I answered, "I can understand that."
"The spirit came down to this deserted mountain to pay respect to a corpse because when it was alive that body could carefully follow the precept, cultivate his nature, and spread blessings with a good heart. Hence, his pure soul could reach the celestial world."
While I was realizing this idea, the blessing god moved again and I had to follow.
We traveled and traveled, but this time we didn't walk on a deserted mountain or a small trail-we went to a busy city. We zig-zagged through traffic and crowds.
No one could see us. Finally, we arrived at a big house.
The blessing god entered and I followed.
The main room was huge, with a beautiful carpet on the floor.
White cloths hung from the ceiling bearing written messages:
"Return to heaven," said one; "You exist forever," said another;
"Always in my heart," was on still another; "Return to Western Paradise."
Behind the white curtains, I saw a huge, fat body resting in a coffin.
The cloths indicated that he was the director of a business association, and had been the president of many companies.
The blessing god instructed me to wait behind the sofa.
Soon I saw a strange animal appear.
Its body stunk and its eyes popped out like a goldfish.
It had a big mouth and a tiny neck.
He walked step by step on skinny legs toward the coffin looking at it angrily, brandishing a whip.
Fiercely, he whipped at the corpse, and spat on it, shouting and swearing.
The face of the corpse turned blue, then looked very frightened.
The white fine skin became covered with patches of blue and red.
The muscles began to shrink and smell horrible.
"You!" the angry ghost yelled out. "This dirty body ruined me!" He was in anguish.
The blessing god said, "Lian Shen, this is the regret of this angry ghost. While he had a physical body he indulged
in all kinds of desires. Now he regrets his actions, but it's too late."
"This person had lots of chances to do good for society. Why didn't he do it?" I asked.
"This is called disillusion. People don't cry until they see the coffin" (An old Chinese expression meaning people don't respond to a situation until a direct confrontation occurs).
The blessing god said. "When you return to earth you should write of your experiences here, in hopes of awakening some people in the world. "
"I don't think people will believe this! To them it would sound too much like a fairy tale," I said.
"If people have affinity they will believe it. If they don't, let them laugh at it. Life is but a dream anyway. It's time for you to wake up."
He pushed me and I woke up in the human world. I looked at my watch. I'd only slept an hour.
My arms and legs were as sore as if I'd walked a great distance.
Amituofo
Lotuschef
Pure Karma
True Buddha School
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