Part 8 of 9
On the way down to the meadow I stopped on the edge of the path, and looked down at the Jujube tree in the center of the small meadow. My teacher had stated this tree had the answer to my question, I had presented to him about the labor of healing. As I looked closer, I could see this was not just an ordinary meadow. It was beautifully groomed with many pathways curving throughout. It looked very much like a Chinese classical garden. My teacher heard my thought and said, “A Poetic Garden, this provide a spiritual utopia to connect with nature, to connect with healing.”
“A spiritual utopia?” I asked.
“Yes, a place for ideal perfection to heal,” he answered. “Now I stay here. You walk down to the tree; you walk on the paths and sit on the stone facing the Jujube tree. You ask question, then you come back and we talk.”
I continued walking down the side of the mountain toward the meadow. As I approached the meadow, I could clearly see the many intricate designs throughout the garden. The pathway entering into the garden was made of smooth flat stones set close together, with multiple colored ground-covering growing in-between the stones. As the pathway continued, the stones became further apart, requiring a longer stride in my step. The grass throughout the meadow was a deep, moist green; different shapes had been cut out of the grass exposing the dark soil. Within these shapes were plants, flowers, or unique shaped stones. The strength of the fragrance would vary, as the breeze shifted its direction. As I approached the jujube tree, I needed to take one expanded step. I saw the stone, raising about three feet above the ground in front of the tree. I sat on the stone, quieted my mind, and stared at the tree. Its trunk was very large with large branches coming off of it. The tree was 94 years old and had been well taken care of throughout its life. The branches had many thorns; it was not a tree you would want to climb.
I asked the question in my mind, “I find many people grow tired of healing, or as they heal they find something else that is in need of healing. Their healing seems to take all the energy they have. I see them walking through life, as if they have a great burden.”
I felt at one with the tree and heard in my mind, “The complex questions are the ones with the simplistic answers. Look around you; look at the great beauty of this garden. This garden took much work, much healing.”
I closed my eyes and could see my teacher’s father planting the jujube tree, but there was no garden, the entire area appeared to have experienced a massive mud and rock slide from the mountain. There was no vegetation, only brown mud and grey fractured rocks. “This area needed healed,” I heard. “So your teacher’s father planted the tree of healing, knowing his son would continue the healing of this area. He knew his new born son, was a healer from ancient China who would know healing.”
I asked to see what the area looked like, before the mud and rock slide. As I asked this, I could hear voices and movement of people in the area. On this site was a village full of people, going about their business of living, growing food, building or repairing shelter, sitting and visiting, and children running and playing. In the distance I could hear thunder and see dark clouds forming. The mountain became hidden in the clouds. I then heard a loud explosive sound, within minutes the entire village was buried, covered in mud and stone. You could not see any remains of the village or its people. There was dead silence.
I opened my eyes and sat there in front of the jujube tree, surrounded by the fragrance of the flowers and grasses. I could hear the answer. “This area was devastated in the disaster of the storm and mud slide, just like people can experience devastation in their lives, from the loss of loved ones to abusive childhood, abusive adulthood, abusive relationships, or to the creation of disease. There are many forms of suffering for humans and a great need for healing. Humans will work at healing a disease, trauma, or some form of pain, without stopping to enjoy each piece of their healing. This garden took many years to create; it took many years to heal this area. This garden was created in stages; the human body heals in stages. If one stage overlaps another stage of healing, it blocks the healing.”
I remembered this from my teachings of Tai Yi. Just as in Tai Yi, you must allow one exercise to work to heal before beginning another. You cannot overlap them, it blocks the healing. The same is true for all types of healing. The human body heals in stages and the stages must not be overlapped. It was a simple answer. I was excited to go back up the mountain and share with my teacher, what I had learned from the jujube tree. I walked rapidly up the path toward my teacher. I could see him standing there waiting for me.
As I approached him I asked, “Is this the correct answer?”
His answer shocked me and pushed me into another realm of consciousness to explore…Hossca
