First Sitting and the Teacher’s Transmission (2of2) — Eight Days of Learning
The next day friends visited all day and there was no time to sit. By past midnight the child and husband were both asleep. Though I was exhausted, my back and waist aching, I could not suppress the inner urge. By that point, sitting had become as necessary as washing my face or brushing my teeth — a fixed rhythm of daily life. Going a day without it left body and mind uncomfortable. I got up and sat.
By now I could watch whatever arose in meditation with calm steadiness — no longer as curious and excited as I had been at first, swept up in the experiences and reluctant to come out. After sitting for about ten minutes I entered samadhi, and suddenly before me appeared a vast Buddhist sutra. It flipped rapidly to a page in the middle. One line of text stood out, enlarging itself and turning red against the black characters: four words — “Look into the mind and find the Buddha.”
Those four words remained before me a while, then the sutra disappeared. I found myself entering a valley fragrant with birdsong and flowers, where a winding path curved into its depths. At the entrance sat a young monk, striking a wooden fish drum and chanting sutras. I walked over, bowed to him, and immediately asked: “Master, what does ‘look into the mind and find the Buddha’ mean?” He seemed to explain a great deal, but the more I listened the more confused I became. Then he set down his drum, stood, and said: “Come with me.” I followed him into the valley’s depths until we stopped at the foot of a steep cliff. He pressed his palms together in deep reverence toward the cliff face and said: “Master, I have brought her.” Then he simply turned and left. I stood there bewildered.
A voice came from the cliff: “Child, I have been waiting for you a long time.” I looked up. There at the top stood an elderly monk — stout, tall in stature, wearing a long gray monastic robe, a large string of sandalwood beads around his neck. I had no idea how I suddenly found myself standing before him. He had kind, gentle eyes and spoke in a calm, even tone. The moment I saw him I felt an instinctive trust, warmth, and sense of belonging.
He began to explain the meaning of “look into the mind and find the Buddha.” Though I cannot recall his exact words, I understood within the stillness that our exchange was a kind of direct mind-to-mind communication. Each phrase he spoke carried a universe of meaning that I grasped immediately in my heart — far more than any words could convey. He told me he was my teacher, and that starting the next day he would transmit to me his dharma method: the Eight Parts of the Great Luminosity Practice. I was delighted. I asked his name. He smiled: “You need not know my name. Just call me the Old Man of Tianzhu.” That day he took me through all the mountains and waters of that place and spoke to me at length about Buddhist teachings and principles.
When I came out of stillness I could still feel the warmth of his energy surrounding me. My heart had developed an immense sense of belonging to him — like a child who has been separated from her mother for years and finally found her again: excited, moved, and filled with wonder. The next day I eagerly waited for the child to fall asleep early. That sincerity found its response — the child fell asleep by mid-morning. I sat down in excited anticipation.
The Teacher appeared with a somewhat solemn expression, seated on a meditation cushion. I had no sense of where we were — it was very still, with only an occasional sound of flowing water. I sat across from him. He began transmitting the first of the Eight Parts: Illuminating the Mind and Seeing One’s Nature. He explained the origin of this method, the practice itself, and the degree to which the mind and body’s energy channels transform upon its completion. After he finished I began to enter into contemplative cultivation according to the method. In the samadhi I felt approximately half an hour pass before I had completed the first stage of practice. The Teacher praised me, and I was overjoyed.
Each day I learned one stage. Over eight consecutive days of sitting I completed the entire curriculum. In the second through sixth stages I learned five kinds of supranormal powers. The seventh and eighth stages offered an overview of knowledge concerning numerology, astronomy, feng shui, and ritual arts. The Teacher was very pleased with me, praising me almost constantly. He always called me “child,” and I felt in his presence that I was truly just a small child of a few years old. His encouragement multiplied my confidence in practice, and I found myself growing ever more attached to him.