A Spiritual Experience

Mae-geri (front kick) to Yogo-geri (side kick)
to Ushiro-geri (back kick)

A. Assume the right-front stance in the ready position.
B. Apply a front kick with the left leg.
C. Return the kicking foot to the knee of the supporting leg and then apply a side kick to the side.
D. Again return the kicking foot to the supporting leg and kick to the rear with a back kick.
E. Reverse the position of the feet and practice the sequence of kicks with your right leg.

Dynamic Karate - M. Nakayama

A single cut to the right .. a divine cut to the center .. I fell.
One thrust through the solar plexus .. and darkness descended, before the light.

My Masters and teachers at the Buddhist temple never liked my ability to fight. They discouraged me from practicing that which I could not know .. as they secretly discussed my ability to know the unknowable. They did not understand and I did not understand. I was hundreds of years before my time!

Lost... Out of place .. and alone.

Day after day I would practice moves that I should not know! Not really understanding why I chose this path... Times change. In the next few hundred years, respect for the Monks within the temples would reach an all time low. A time when spirituality was perceived as a threat. Where peace was dangerous and where the minds of those who see were the most dangerous sword of all.

Deep in the middle of this conflict were the innocent Monks...
Trying to attain enlightenment in times of future war.

A Spiritual Experience
I told no one at the temple about the Invisible Guides... They were not part of the scriptures and they laughed at enlightenment. The Guides laughed so hard and so long that I had to consider: Why is the Buddha laughing? That was it, wasn't it? In all the statues and paintings there was the enigmatic smile of Buddha. The fat Buddha was laughing no matter what form he took: Medicine Buddha, travelling Buddha, wealth Buddha, spirituality and love... and they were all laughing. Why were they laughing?

I would leave the temple each day and the Guides would show me .. through my body .. complex moves .. kicks .. blocks and jumps. All of these moves hundreds of years ahead of the times I was born into. Why did they show me? How is it I could understand them? My body and my mind understood all the moves .. as I watched in amazement.

To the other Monks .. my brothers .. and to the Masters .. this all seemed like a form of violence. They tolerated me and my strange ways. They prayed for me. They tried to dissuade me from my strange behaviour. No one understood that, for me, this was a spiritual experience. I felt alive when I moved with the Guidance. I felt alive! But I could not teach... I was alone.

Times change .. and times changed within my lifetime! A brutal warrior class was born who cared nothing for spirituality and the sanctuary of respect.

They were highly skilled killers - on sale to the growing power of the warlords.

The chicken or the egg? Which was created first? Without the egg, there is no chicken .. and without the chicken, there is no egg. Who came first .. the ruthless warlords or the warriors? And .. why did both have the same brutal characteristics of mind? Perhaps, chicken or egg is the wrong question... As, both appear to have the same impulse at birth.

Who or what gave birth to the warlords and the warriors at the same time?

I was a Master of the peaceful fighting arts by the time I was killed.

I was not a killer... That, is the difference.

They came to kill my brothers .. and that is why I stood between them and the temple. It was not an act of war .. it was an act of defence.

I could hold to the last moment...

Seeing the fight .. the Masters began to move the Monks secretly from the temple. The older Monks would lead the younger apprentices out into the paths of the night. They fled as I fought .. and they suddenly understood .. we all understood.

The warrior never let go of his sword .. even though all I had was my body.

In reality, all I had was time.

He was an experienced killer .. whose sword had hacked countless opponents to the ground. His blade was thirsty for blood and more deaths. That was his way .. but it was not my way. I would not defeat him .. simply delay him. By the time I had finished .. my brothers would have disappeared into the night, never to be found. By the time I was finished .. the temple would be empty and eventually burned to the ground.

Only one man remained behind and did not move .. and that was my Master.

Go .. go .. why don't you move! Why does he not leave?

He did not leave .. he stayed there with me until our end.

Buddha says: It is easier to die than watch others die...

Master! Why don't you leave? Leave now!

The warrior opposing me was highly skilled. I felt sorry for him as he attacked me. Swinging his killer sword against a force he could not comprehend. I effortlessly sucked in and moved aside his violent power and deflected it with a power unknown to man. His muscles began to ache... The longer he had to fight .. the weaker he became.

I deflected him using his own violent force and intent to kill.

I never intended to kill him nor defeat him.

My defensive moves sucked in the mind of the whole attacking warlord's force. Why did they want to destroy the temple? Why did they want to destroy our world? Why were we a threat? I pulled their attention with the force. No one moved .. they all watched .. brutality was their focus. For the first time I felt compassion.

With desperate eyes the warrior gaze at me between stokes.

Eye to eye I saw his fear .. his despair .. and death.

How he feared death...

Master, why do you not leave... Please leave... Why does he stand there?

It was a spiritual experience .. a moment of compassion.

I could not kill the warrior. That was not my purpose!

Chicken or the egg? Buddha or disciple?

A single cut to the right .. a divine cut to the center .. I fell.
One thrust through the solar plexus .. and darkness descended, before the light.

I was stronger .. as his arms began to show signs of weakness and fear.

I leaned my body into his right cut .. I lunged into his center swing and I forced myself into the final solar plexus kill.

The last thing I saw .. before I died .. was his fear.

May the Buddha bless you.

The warriors expected my Master to oppose them in the same way I had held them back .. but he did not oppose them. Together, with me, he simply died. The Master died as our beloved brothers silently disappeared into the dark strategic landscape we knew so well. Into the darkness .. into the light.

I fell for a long long time .. through the darkness .. through the shock. The Earth was changing. The Planet was in turmoil. These were physical spiritual wars. The force of violence against the force of peace. Why do the violent fear peace? I fell for a long long time.

We were happy .. we moved with the seasons .. we are not fighting people by choice. Legend says that c. 480 A.D. a wandering Buddhist teacher came to China from India. He was called Buddhabhadra, also known as Batuo or Fotuo in Chinese.

No one knows our true history.

Illusions of Pain

I was one of the best...

Silence... Sunrise was one hour away. The deep dark star filled sky began to turn a characteristic purple. From the sandy ridge we could see everything that moved on the plains and in the valley below.

Everyone else was asleep. I was on watch alone.

I loved to sit and watch the white-blue Sun appear over the low horizon. It was the quietest moment on this Planet. Nothing moved. I think even the mountains were listening to the giant star as it slowly appeared close to the horizon.

Nothing in sight...

This was a second rate desert planet rotating around a second rate star; but the rebels were causing the early Interplanetary Empire of Sirius A a major headache and so Interstellar war had broken out. We were part of an advanced team sent down to the surface to locate and contain the rebels within a severely restricted zone. No matter how many we killed, it did not seem to stop them.

I put the heat sensitive viewer on top of my pack and began to kick the legs of the others behind me to waken them up. We were trained not to eat the local animals on other-world missions for fear of contamination. We caught and cooked anyway to help spare our pack rations.

"Come on, get up you guys and heat me some food. I'm hungry."

The white-blue Sun rose above the horizon as I pulled the helmet shield down over my face. Our body armor was seventy percent invulnerable to the rebels weapons. We were pretty much invincible. The rebels, in their woven cloth, had no defense against our photon pulse ejector blasters. All they could do was hide and attack using weapons banned under the Federation Treaties.

"Come on! You guys! Get me some food... " The lazy bastards!

I turned back to the approaching daylight. Now things will start to move. Now we can get going and do what we came here to do. Get some of those desert rats, before we have to return to the orbiting command station.

One of the guys prepared and heated some dark grounds in sterilized water and handed me the hot black liquid. I took the drink from him and turned away. I never said thank you. The guys knew me well. No one cared. They just accepted me as I am.

Now there was talk of the Space Planetary Federation negotiating an end to all fighting on this scrappy dried up world. I hope they don't agree... We have to take these bastards out and finish them off once and for all. Well, by the next sunrise we will be out of here and back to the orbiting station. One month active rotation is the maximum each team receives before being replaced.

I picked up movement below. "We've got them... Look!"

This was going to be easy. They were way out in the open and close enough for us to get down there and finish them off. With our active cloaking device it would only take an hour to surround them and finish the job.

None of the guy's ever talked about it .. but I knew they felt the same as I did. The pleasure of firing fast and furious rounds of photon bursts into an enemy camp. The fast and rapid external fire... Maybe that is why we guys got such primitive pleasure from something so devastating.

Only, later .. came the pain. We never thought much about that .. the pain!

Down and around we silently came. It was a small group of rebels carrying supplies from one network to the other. Maybe they had heard of the Federation Truce ahead of us. They were totally at ease, talking, laughing and no one was paying any attention.

Just as we surrounded them the call came in through our headgear: Truce! Ceasefire!

I was frozen solid... The rush of pleasure had surged into my hands as I lay ready to finish them off. The other guys in my team backed off as I opened fire, killing everyone. They did not know what hit them.

That was all I knew... Then came the pain.

It was dark... At first I was falling .. falling so fast .. falling faster than a shooting star. My own team had killed me, after I destroyed the rebels. They had tried to stop me. But I knew nothing of that. All I knew was the sudden rush of pleasure and then the devastating pain. Why do I hurt so much?

Was there someone at my side? I could not see anything - only feel.

Far below me was a blue Planet. A tiny marble of rich blue in a dark Universe. The Planet was shooting up towards me .. or was I shooting down to it? Tiny and then gigantic. Dark and then light. I screamed as the woman picked me up from the rough blankets.

A new Ruler had taken power on the Tibetan Plateau. It was the time of the Reign of Songtsän Gampo. By the age of six my parents had been killed by rogue elements within the Kingdom. Villagers took me to the Temple. All I remember screaming was hate: I have to kill them... I have to kill...

... There was so much pain.

I remembered nothing of the rebel wars in this human body. All I knew were recurring nightmares. A power, an energy surged through me and then I collapsed in pain. Everything went dark and I always woke up covered in sweat.

I stayed in the Temple and studied the teachings of Lord Buddha. I had nowhere else to go. I had nothing else to do. I admitted to no one that the fear of those dark dreams kept me at the Temple .. praying .. and studying.

The Monks brought me my food. I never said thank you. No one seemed to mind. They accepted me as I am. No one seemed to mind...

At 22 Earth years I was sent higher into the Himalayas, to the Cave Temples, to study with the Ascended Masters. Despite my dark dreams I was showing signs of rapid understanding and silent compassion. I did not need to say thank you. The other students grew to love and respect me. I always carried out the hardest tasks, carrying heavy loads, lifting the heavy burdens from my fellow man.

They appeared sad to see me go .. but no one spoke of their feelings.

I climbed to the highest plateau and dutifully carried out my tasks until I was 36 Earth years. Nothing much was asked of me. I simply carried out the heaviest tasks and helped my brothers and sisters where I could. Then one day...

One day I had to carry sacks of lentils and rice to the higher Sanctuary of Master Gautama. The path was so steep and harsh that the small donkeys could not make their way up. I began carrying each sack and then return for the others. One by one I took them up there without seeing Master Gautama.

When I had finished carrying, my teachers asked me to return and stay at the Eternal Cave until Master Gautama appeared. I had never met him... No one in our Temple had met him. He was as mysterious as the mountains themselves.

I bowed to my teachers, said thank you and I left for the upper cave.

Illusions of Pain
"We forgive nothing .. if we do not forgive ourselves."

I patiently waited for weeks at the upper cave far above the plateau. At first I did not eat any of the food I had carried there. How could I eat! The food I carried was for the Master! I simply waited.

The cave itself had a strange effect on me. When the dark dreams returned, I began to eat some of the food, cooking with water from the stream and burning small amounts of dried yak dung stored at the back of the Masters cave. The dark dreams were exhausting me. I would apologize to Master Gautama and would bring him more food.

Weeks and then months passed... I felt abandoned and alone. My friends .. the only family I had .. were far below and out of my reach. I had to stay here and follow the instructions of my teachers, even though the cave had an unsettling effect on me. I never like to be there and would go for long walks, exploring the surrounding area.

In the deepest darkest part of the night the darkest dreams surface. Demons seemed to haunt this cave. The walls echoed with the vibrations of my sweat and my pain. But, before the pain .. there was always a moment of pleasure .. a rush of energy and then the fall.

I sat up! Crawled to the entrance. Looked out at the stars. The sweat turned cold on my body and I returned for a blanket. I sat alone at the entrance in quiet meditation. I would no longer sleep in the cave. I would sit here until Master Gautama returned.

The energy of the cave badly effected my states of mind. I would sit here at the entrance until the Master appeared. Keep out of the darkness. Maintain peace of mind.

"The brightest light shines in the darkest corner."

"The Earth is a school," they said, "waken up!"

Someone kicked me... I jumped awake. The shadow hovering in front of me was so dark, so dense, so depressive. I broke out in a sweat. Is this the Master? The shadow floated closer at the entrance of the cave. How had I fallen asleep?

It was fear. My body was shaking. Pure primordial fear. I cowered down against the floor of the cave, terrified. The shadow was not a quick surge of pleasure washing over me .. nor the energy of pain. It was fear...

"Waken up! See it! Face it! Do not run away! Lifetime after lifetime!"

I pulled myself up and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes and calmed myself down. The cloud of fear drew closer. I sat still, observing the fear, observing myself. Seeing is its own action...

From somewhere deep inside I transcended the dark cloud of fear and from my heart a powerful compassion sent rays of light into the darkest corners. The fear was so old, it did not belong to the Earth .. it was much older. Alone. Frightened. Seeking any kind of human warmth. Seeking freedom and yet fearing that ending .. that death .. and so it held on.

Humans did not create fear .. they inherited fear from us. Yes, I remember how we helped create and feed this twisted and lonely distortion we call fear. My world was long gone. That warlike civilization was long dead. We created the pathetic entity of fear that now haunts this world. Carelessly exported through our genes.

How long is it since I have cried?

The last time salt tears stung beneath my eyes was my parents death. Since then I had taught myself not to allow those inner tides to disturb my existence. Only, this time the tears were not those of self pity .. but were the self realizing tears of compassion. I did not drive the shadow of fear away with my own petty reaction. I felt compassion for this formless creature - a twisted psychic root of our own minds.

What happened next surprised me. The dark shadow of fear inverted and collapsed in on itself forming a large energy Torus. The illusion of its own deep loneliness was gone. Fear was free... The rotating energy Torus merged and became part of the surrounding background of the Universe. My mind was strangely peaceful, at rest.

Salty tears still stung under the lids of my closed eyes, but they were not tears of sorrow .. they were tears of joy. My mind was still. My energy had returned. My heart was at peace. The first rays of the morning Sun appeared far below the peaks of the worlds highest mountains.

The presence of Buddha appeared in the sky before me. I opened my eyes. He was there. He was real. All around the Buddha were many other small Buddhas, all in an eternal state of deep meditation. Elusive and strangely beautiful blue disk shaped lights hovered above the seated figures.

Without compassion, we separate ourselves from our own true nature .. lifetime after lifetime.

I lived in the cave for many months, leaving the stored food for a brother who would follow. After the last of the Spring snow had melted I returned to my teachers on the Eastern plateau.

They greeted me... Brother Gautama has returned. Buddha bless us.

Teachers of The Path

I never meant to come this way... To travel in this strange direction...
Unknown Masters of Reality trick us along "The Way"...

"Brother, where are you going?" he asked.

He was a Buddhist Monk .. travelling unseen in the wilderness .. the places we fear most of all. Perhaps his journey crossed thousands, tens of thousands, millions of years .. who knows?

"Brother, where are you going?" he asked.

I had spent my entire life - seeking "The Way".

"Where are you going?"

Ahead of me the mountains were high and covered with snow. These mountains were the highest mountains in the world. Towering above me .. rock and stone .. colour and light .. wind and air .. pressure and intensity.

"Brother, where are you going?" he asked.

He was a Buddhist Monk, dressed in traditional robes of the ancient peoples. He appeared to be younger than I .. but appearances can be deceptive. I was - at that time - 60 years old... and the Monk? Who knows how old he was?

"Brother, which path do you seek?" he asked.

Teachers of The Path
The towering mountains shimmered before my mind .. the Buddhist Monk faded .. ever so slowly .. in front of my eyes. The mind or the human eye? Which is accurate? Which one is the path to truth? Where do I find truth?

I finally had to accept that I was lost...

Exhausted, I fell face down onto the rocky, sandy slope of the highest mountain in the world.

"You do not choose," they said, "you do not choose... we decide... "

I lay defeated .. my entire life .. seeking "The way".

How can you know compassion? Other than compassion for your own self?

The energy of the ancient ones penetrated my innermost being. When and how did I forget? How could I not know? How could I spend my entire life searching for truth and do not find the subtle reality that I sought?

I was utterly defeated.

"You do not choose... we decide... " they said ...

How could I be so lost? How?

In despair I pressed the skin of my face against the sand and stone of the eternal mountain. Do we lose sight of who we are or do we discover the truth in the energy of our own existence?

We decide...

I fell asleep on the extreme mountain slopes and some strange energy awoke inside me above the Center of Initiation. I was .. I am .. I see .. I understand .. the teachers of the path show us who we are... lifetime after lifetime.

All that it takes is a realisation...

"Brother, where are you going?" he asked.

I reached out my hand...

Where are you going?

Across The Path of Time

You cannot measure time...

There is the Infinite Path .. out of which arise the ebb and flow of the tides.

I spent my youth sitting on the rocks at the edge of the sea. I would sit there for hours and watch the ocean waves. At low tide I could climb out pretty far to the rocks below and at high tide I had to scramble back closer to the shore.

The whole coastline had changed dramatically over the last five hundred years... I did not tell anyone - at that time - that I saw the changes long ago in my dreams. I just sat by the sea, whenever I could, watching the movement of the water.

In reality, I knew that time does not exist. All that exists are the tides. Continents may come and continents may go on the surface of the Earth; but time is an illusion. The Masters taught me that all that exists are facts... and they were right.

I was born in 2513, very near to the coast. Things were stable now and we did not expect such severe changes to occur again for at least two thousand years. The coastline changes were so severe that the seabed swallowed everything made by man.

The buildings did not only disappear underwater, they were swallowed by the rocks, lava and silt, buried deep under the sea. It had happened before in Earth's history and it will happen again.

The Taoist Masters laughed at our concern. They said they regularly talked with their Ancestors across the illusion of space and time. All is one. Time is an illusion.

I wished I could talk with the Ancestors!

Only now and then could I see different worlds than the one we have today. I once saw myself sitting on the rocks of a wild shoreline. That was another life. For hours I sat watching the waves and that is why I know time is an illusion.

You can never remember the size, nature, movement and form of each wave.

Our Ancestors did not think of time - but only of the movement of the tides.

One day at the shore, the sea seemed calm and friendly. There were few clouds in the sky above. The sunlight sparkled like diamonds on the surface of the water. Suddenly, out of the blue, a large wave crashed over my head. Soaking wet I sheepishly returned home - I never saw it coming towards me.

Today I call them Ninja waves .. they sneak up to the shore flat and silent, hidden among the larger and smaller waves. The swell is massive and yet you barely see it coming. It's as though the ocean knows you are there and it touches you deeply.

I wish I could talk with the Ancestors!

All events that unfold in our lives are the rocks, trees and landscape of The Path, the Taoist Masters said. The Path is timeless, although it may take you a lifetime to follow its Way and understand.

The Taoist Masters had no intention of allowing us to sleepwalk the Path in this life. The sudden wave soaking me now is their teachings. I walk ahead, paying attention, soaked to the skin with their energy, alert and observing my own nature.

Getting soaked by the sea and getting soaked by the Tao is one and the same.

The Path is the Path...

It was the energy that had changed my life way back five hundred years ago. It is the energy that is changing my life now in 2513. This is why I say, time does not exist.

The ebb and flow of energy is the cosmic tide that guides us on our Path. Guidance is the past and the future manifest in the present. Past, present and future are NOW.

The Path is all around us in every moment in every aspect of the landscape. The next wave washes gently away from the sand and crosses the last wave and the one before, and the one before, and the one before - lifetime after lifetime.

I still love to sit and watch the ocean - even on stormy days.

Observing my own nature.

Sunlight Reflected On The Oceans

Sparkling light sends out rays that no one sees...

"Wake up, little one..."

Rays of light shimmer across deep blue waters.

"Wake up .. wake up..."

Sunlight ripples on the surface of the oceans waves.

"Don't you hear me?" ... "Wake up..."

A large wave crashes onto the shore .. the bright sand soaks water .. wake up !!

"Oh! I'm sorry... "

"I'm sorry, Master .. please forgive me!"

"What were you dreaming - little one?"

"Why! Nothing! I wasn't dreaming... Please forgive me Master!"

"The Tao is endless and so .. why not dream!"

Sunlight sparkled on the surface of the sea. Wave after wave rolled onto the sandy shore. The Sun shimmered in waving lines across the wet sand as the ocean waves receded. Everything on our world depends on the sea.

"What were you dreaming of, little one?"

The surface of the ocean reflected onto my blue eyes.

"I'm sorry I fell asleep, Master!"

Each wave rolled across the sand and receded. All reflecting light.

"What did you dream of, little one?" he asked.

How can a child know truth, when those around us do not? I bowed my head and closed my eyes. I tried to hide my dreams deep, deep beneath the ocean waves, like the sea cockles and clams buried and hidden deep under the sandy shore.

I did not want to insult my Masters, and so I hid my secret treasure deep beneath the ocean.

"What did you dream little one?" he asked.

"I .. I .. dreamt of the ocean..."

"I saw the sunlight reflected on the surface of the sea."

"And where were you?" he asked.

"I was not .. there was only the vast ocean and the sunlight."

"Then, how did you see both water and the Sun?" he asked.

How did I see both water and the Sun? "I don't know!"

"Consciousness is like sunlight reflected on the ocean of my mind."

"Buddha protect you child... The sea is all consciousness .. timeless .. and the reflected sunlight is awareness. Now, waken up from your dreams," he said.

"May Buddha bless you..."

Gateway .. Origins

Doorway of Eternity ..

Egypt 2113 BC .. I slowly pulled myself off the ground .. sand embedded in my face.

2113 .. the Kinship passes to Ur ... I brush the fine grains of sand from my skin.

The open passageway shimmered in the heat of the midday Sun. Dark entrance silhouetted against fractions of light hitting the pupils of my eyes. I crawled blinded towards the dark entrance.

I felt like an insect crawling across a fabric of earth crystals. The scorpion's needle like claws scurried across the burnt skin of my open fingers. I looked up at the dark entrance .. how far could it be ?

Our ancestors had survived the destruction of Atlantis. The great ocean swelled .. but not here .. in this hot desert landscape! The dry sandy desert cut into the skin of my mouth. How long would it take for me to reach the Gateway .. to reach the Origins? I'm not going to make it...

Should I drown .. or should I die of thirst?

How could we come from the deep swell of Atlantic ocean waves to the dry dust of hot desert sands?

I was a small child .. I loved the changing ocean waves.

The coastal depths were so severe and so deep that dolphins swam between the exited children of Atlantis... we laughed and swam .. chasing dolphin tails .. they were always faster than us.

But here I am .. crawling in desert sand .. the skin of my hands covered in the crystal dust of the Earth. The life essential water in my body buried and sealed deep beneath the surface of my skin. The Gateway shimmering ahead of me .. moving further and further away.

My mother always told me that we Atlanteans were nothing without water.

The passageway ahead grew deeper and darker .. as it moved further and further away. The muscles in my body tightened. The skin on my arms burned.

Gateway .. Origins
He appeared before me... The Master of Time .. silent .. observing .. watching. The Master of Time seemed to exist beyond the cool deep swelling ocean and the hot dry life-threatening sands eating at my soul.

I dragged my soul towards the dark Gateway as my dehydrated body seemed to lose its life in the hot sand.

Entrance and Initiation .. the darkness sucked me into the depths of its womb.

I crawled towards the future like a serpent seeking its origins. Was I human or sperm ?? Was the hollow opening ahead of me the womb or a mysterious new beginning ??

They built the stone castle in the 13th Century .. woven from cool darkness and warm light. My still body lay on the ancient sands of Egypt as my soul crawled into the future.

Time^Travellers swim effortlessly though the portals of Eternity...