Beautiful Evening: a whale in the sky.

Sometimes the weather caught me by surprise, the gray clouds got dispersed as if by magic and the evening turn out to be very dazzling with golden light. How these amazing colours could suddenly lift my spirit and put my mind in a different dimension of reality! The force of nature seemed to overwhelm all negative vibes inside my head.

Suddenly, I stopped rushing around and the pressure of having to get things done as quickly as possible also went away. So, I could just walk with lightness and empty head along the river, watching the currents flowing downstream quietly. Silly thoughts still crept into my head but they went away like the breezes. The feeling of letting go of attachment to past memories was very liberating.

Whenever my mind was quiet and ‘empty’, pictures of the past from school years or childhood started to pop up. Old friends whom I haven’t met for years came to talk to me in my mind. Some came to say sorry for the quarrel we had together; it was as if they came to say goodbye. This kind of incident did happen quite often. Then, a few weeks later, I would hear the news that my old school friend just had a heart attach and passed away.

These people floated into my mind as if they were clouds that could fly everywhere around the globe to talk to those to whom they wanted to say ‘goodbye’ or ask for forgiveness before their final journey to the other dimension. I also used that opportunity to ask for forgiveness and explained my real intention behind my incomprehensible actions in the past. In this way, we could have a clean closure to unfinished or unresolved conflicts and misunderstandings years ago. I was grateful to this ability of perceiving and listening to invisible vibes.

The sunset continued to progress towards its routine journey to the other side of the earth. So, we could rest to regenerate our body and mind before the start of another busy day of living and struggling to keep the harmony amidst the dynamic nature of reality. Luckily, I happen to have the river and her friend the sun nearby. They are members of the special team of Mother Nature who always look after all sentient beings on earth. But her presence and vibes are too delicate and gentle for most noisy I to be able to notice. I thought Mother Earth was teasing me by placing a big whale in the sky during sunset. I did wonder if Mother Nature was sending me an encouraging message about the future to discount my gloomy anticipation of the situation in my country next year.

As everything around us is dynamic and moving constantly, the future is not yet totally fixed or molded in solid patterns. So, it should be possible to influence some directions or vibes which would become more substantial in the preordained time. As a Buddhist, the invisible vibes or energies from our mind have amazing power which we could never fathom as we are parts of nature and nature is a part of us. Logically, the synergy of the beauty of the sunset, the colourful vibes which affect our quiet mind to create positive energy flowing to join Mother Nature’s realm.

That’s why it’s so important for forest Buddhist monks to become enlightened so that newly liberated pure energy would help in healing the whole world and sentient beings. That reflected the reason why people could become enlightened very easily in the presence of the Lord Buddha. The flows of energies from an enlightened one should be truly amazing as the one has become with with the universe where ‘one is all’ and ‘all is one’. I just wish I could quickly become enlightened in this lifetime; but I knew my time is far into the future in another lifetime after the great cleansing has long passed. The cycle of Time has already been programmed by the Universe. So, I have to persevere and diligently practice meditation and reflection towards the path of enlightenment.