Short story reading " Lotus Shadow " A story of Liberation of the mind through Buddhism скачать в хорошем качестве

Short story reading " Lotus Shadow " A story of Liberation of the mind through Buddhism

Lotus Shadow The lotus buds, still unopened, swayed quietly, coated with morning dew. Their pale pink petals softly whispered of the existence of a pure world, as if lighting a light deep in my heart. But a heavy sediment settled in my chest. As I lay sick in bed, dozing, the smell of burnt hair suddenly hit me. I opened my eyes, the world was dyed crimson, and heat ran through my left cheek. Turning around, the firewood stacked in a crisscross pattern was ablaze, staining the low clouds red and illuminating the ground like blood. The smell was even stronger, clinging to the back of my throat. "They're burning a corpse." A raspy voice rang in my left ear. I looked, and saw a small shadow crouching on my shoulder. Its hair was messy, a grotesque creature barely maintaining its human form. Its eyes shone as if peering into the depths of my soul. "Hehe, I'm the devil who possesses you. This is the deepest part of your heart. Tangled anxieties, frozen solid, never to be resolved." I was speechless, and could only listen to the voice. The flickering flames seemed to reflect the waves of my heart. "It's best to surrender yourself to nature. Look, here's the bus. Shall we get on?" The bus winds its way up the narrow mountain road. The eaves of the houses visible from the window are so close you can almost touch them, and the passing scenery feels like a fleeting dream. "There's no way to pass other vehicles on this road," the devil muttered. The slope becomes steeper, and the houses become more sparse. The bus stops next to a sabo dam. When I get off, the city fades into the distance, and the sea is no longer visible, but the scent of the mountains quietly fills my nostrils. "Look, that dragonfly," I point. "It flies in smoothly from the right, then turns around and comes flying back. I envy that natural movement. My heart, always plagued by a sense of urgency, sees freedom in that light flight." The demon looked up at the sky in silence. Soon, rain began to fall in drops. "Shall we take shelter under a tree?" The rain fell softly, the sound of it beating against the leaves soothing the restlessness of my heart. The western sky was still bright, and as the rain let up, a faint light filtered through gaps in the clouds. "It's dusk," I muttered. The sun shone on the mountains in the distance, casting a clear light and shadow over the folds. Even the demon's voice murmuring that it was divine sounded somehow distant. As I started down the path, an old man approached me. He was muttering something to himself. "Namu Amida Butsu," the sound of his chanting dissolved into the wind. "Does chanting the nembutsu bring any good?" I asked. The old man gently narrows his eyes. "Nenbutsu is a sound that calms the soul. It can be Namu Amida Butsu or Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, or any other words. Simply chanting it repeatedly calms the mind." I frown. "Please explain it more simply." The old man smiles. "Worries sink the mind to the bottom of a whirlpool. But when you continue to chant nembutsu, your brain can't think of two things at the same time. Worries don't sink to the bottom, but remain on the shallow surface. That's the peace I feel." "Does God exist?" I ask again. "There is no God, heaven, or hell," the old man says quietly. "Nenbutsu is a way to cross raging waters. Take your own step without relying on others. That's the key. Buddhism teaches us how to face the suffering of this world. Wisdom enables us to become pure and free from attachments, that's all there is to it." The old man leaves, chanting nembutsu again. Namu Amida Butsu, Namu Amida Butsu. The voice blends into the sound of a lone cicada chirping in the distance. I woke up to a cool breeze blowing in through the open window. The tightness in my chest still lingered, but it seemed to bring a faint sense of hope.