Pilgrimage to Mount Wutai — Emei — Jiuhua (1of2) — Five Peaks and the Energy Channels
The Master’s second notification was for me to make a pilgrimage to Mount Wutai. This time almost no one in the family objected. Mount Wutai was only about two hours away, and the stay would be short — just one week. I had been to Wutai once before, but only as a tourist — buying souvenirs and coming back. This time was, of course, entirely different. My eldest sister was also enthusiastic and took a week off work to accompany my brother and me. When we arrived, we found a small guesthouse to stay in and then visited Pusa Ding. During our prostrations in the main hall at Pusa Ding, a young attendant suddenly appeared before me and said: “Manjushri Bodhisattva is not here today — he asked me to tell you he will return when the moon is full tomorrow.” We then continued to make our way around Dailuo Peak.
The next evening happened to fall on the fifteenth of the lunar month. I thought to myself: I’ve never encountered Manjushri — tonight I’m determined to wait and see him return. I began sitting at eleven o’clock at night, facing the window. Through the glass I could see the clear night sky and the full moon hanging in the air. I don’t remember whether I entered samadhi or kept my eyes open, but I suddenly noticed what appeared to be a small dark dot moving toward me from the direction of the moon. In a moment the window glass was bathed in white light, and I watched in astonishment as Manjushri Bodhisattva, enthroned on a green lion, entered through the window. I was completely stunned. How beautiful! If the most beautiful being I had previously seen was a celestial maiden, she would already seem altogether ordinary beside Manjushri’s appearance. In the soft luminous haze, Manjushri appeared in masculine form, his robes and adornments solemn and magnificent, holding a transverse flute to his lips. The green lion was curled at his feet. The flute seemed to be playing, yet I heard no sound. I asked: “Bodhisattva, what are you playing?” Manjushri said: “I am playing all the sounds of the world.” He seemed to ask if everything was well with me. I said yes. I told him I planned to make the pilgrimage to all five peaks the next day. A little over ten minutes later Manjushri’s form vanished from the room.
The five peaks of Wutai are each built on a different summit, representing Manjushri’s five wisdoms. Visiting Dailuo Peak counts as a small pilgrimage; visiting all five peaks is a full pilgrimage. At that time all five mountains had winding roads under construction and no vehicles could reach the tops. We rented a motorized three-wheeled cart that proved difficult to navigate on the rough roads. Except for the North Peak, which the cart couldn’t ascend, we rode all the way to the top of the other four peaks — one mountain per day. Five days later the three of us had all peeled a layer of skin from our faces in the sun, because throughout the pilgrimage to all five peaks we also paid respects at every temple along the way: any monastery we could find on the map, we visited. Even if only ruins remained, the Master asked me to see them — for the sake of forming good karmic connections far and wide, he said. At that time my hands were still itching every evening when we returned. My skin was covered with tiny blisters, and even my unburned left hand had begun to show the same symptoms as my right — redness, ulceration, and seeping. But the itching was within a range I could endure. The Master said the toxins were being expelled and instructed me to eat as little as possible, to drink plenty of water, eat fruit and vegetables, practice more sitting, keep a peaceful and even-tempered heart, and not get angry — this way fewer new toxins would form within the body.
After returning from Mount Wutai, my body intermittently felt unwell. I frequently had no desire to eat or drink, my whole body soft and without strength, with occasional low-grade fevers. But a few days of rest in bed and everything would return to normal. The Master said the energy channels were transforming. He said that for one person’s energy channels to be completely transformed requires hundreds of rebirths of varying depth — and the energy needed for that transformation would be enough to explode several Earths. I sat in meditation for over two hours each day; for a period the Master stipulated a minimum of eight hours of sitting per day, so I squeezed out time wherever I could. As long as the accumulated time in a day reached eight hours, I considered the task done.
But the Master said even that was far short of what was needed. The main problem was that after sitting, the arising of thoughts and intentions dissipated most of the energy the meditation had gathered. So the Master said: “The transformation of the energy channels must begin with the transformation of mental activity. However much the mind empties, that is how much energy can gather. Only when the mind abides nowhere can the energy stop leaking away in large quantities.” In daily life, the energy gathered in sitting was depleted in small amounts through the six sense faculties, but mental movement consumed the greater portion. Even if we were quiet all day long but could not reach a state of no attachment or concern, we could at best open a portion of the energy channels. If the transformation is incomplete, channels that have opened can close again. We are often left going back and forth within this process.
From my own experience in cultivation and realization I found that at the beginning, the central channel, left channel, and right channel spoken of in Vajrayana Buddhism cannot be seen clearly at all. They are filled with blood, entangled with the hundreds of subsidiary channels, intertwined with the organs — the channel pathways are very impure. Once the practice reaches a certain depth, the channels begin to purify and take on some definition, opening occasionally. Continuing further, the channels start to be suffused with light — as we accumulate enough energy it transforms into light. At that point the left, central, and right channels become fully visible, exactly as described in the texts: the central channel radiates blue-red light. Because all our internal organs are arrayed alongside the channels, once the channels are opened, slight repositioning of the organs is natural, though the movement is so subtle it cannot be detected from outside. The intersecting points of the hundreds of channels and the three main channels are the energy centers, the chakras. These chakras open to varying degrees as the energy channels transform. With each chakra that opens, different supranormal powers emerge. It is rare for anyone to open them all fully — in good practice one may open portions of individual chakras.
The energy channels throughout our body are as numerous as all the rivers on Earth — beyond counting. If all the energy channels were fully opened and transformed, then every cell would simultaneously be suffused with light, surpassing the Five Eyes and Six Supranormal Powers: we could gather into form or disperse into energy at will.
Body and mind depend upon each other. Ordinarily, transformation of the physical energy channels can only begin through transformation of mental consciousness. But if there is external assistance, sometimes physiological transformation can work in reverse to influence the transformation of mental consciousness. My path of cultivation and realization belonged to this second category.
During this period, in my samadhi or in dreams, small animals would often come to visit me or seek my help — generally to avoid some karmic calamity or to ask me to help them be delivered. Snakes and foxes were most common. They would often bring ginseng, lingzhi mushrooms, or precious objects as offerings in return. In the samadhi I would consume these, to increase my own energy. Once a short, thick black snake came to present a treasure — it produced a dark green pearl from its mouth. I thought it was the snake’s inner alchemy bead, and if I accepted it the snake would die. Then a voice called out: “Catch it and eat it!” I did as instructed. Suddenly before me appeared tens of thousands of snakes, along with turtles — they all seemed filled with excitement, dancing and crying out with joy. The snake king said they had lived for hundreds of years in a marsh several hundred kilometers from my home, but now a great calamity was upon them and their entire clan was to be destroyed — they were pleading for me to save them.
After that episode the Master told me: in the future, whenever these animals come bringing anything at all, accept it. If you don’t receive their offering, you cannot form karmic connections with them, and cannot deliver them. Besides, your cultivation requires an enormous amount of energy — far more than short-term sitting practice can accumulate. What they offer has gathered energy over hundreds or even thousands of years. Consuming it allows you to absorb it directly. There are some side effects, however: when this energy first gathers in my body it takes a short time to integrate with me, and some toxic residue must also be expelled, causing discomfort. If the energy is too strong, my channels can temporarily struggle to handle it, leaving me feeling blocked and very uncomfortable — alternating between hot and cold, agitated and restless. The Master would teach me some simple methods for adjusting and releasing the energy.