> Thus I have heard: there are a million streams into the near shores to the Ocean of Enlightenment. Some are tributaries, others are rivers. Some are false, some lead into lakes. Joining the proper stream is important, disciples. That is the necessity of a master.

>

> Kindred Sayings Sutra

The sun burned the night sky into silver. In its own cursed way, it heralded the dawn. In fear, the cocks crowed, tearing through the silence. Even in the monastery, the omnipresence of the crow was to be applauded. Despite this, the crows were far, deep in the jungle. No doubt they were jungle fowl.

And so they followed the Forest's Laws. And so they revered the enlightenment of the Buddhas.

The monastery was not abuzz at this time, not just yet. Raxri determined that it was still a bit earlier than the usual wakening time. But now, there were already a surplus of students already milling to and fro, going to their assigned stations, reading their sutras. To be in an environment that encouraged only the practice toward liberation... the students here valued their time.

Raxri couldn't help but notice that a good mix of people were here. There was a good mix of monks and nuns. Some were corpulent, others were stick thin. Others were pale, as if chilled to the bone, others were the beautiful darkness of night, though most were that standard color of wood bark. Others were built like athletes, others were built like bandits. Some of them were missing teeth, others had teeth blackened, others had teeth plated with gold. Some of them seemed to walk with the yet unforgotten grace of a noble, others walked with the humility of a servant, others with the braggadocio of a beggar.

All of them wore robes of varying degrees of color. Many of them wore the signature scarlet, some wore a bright saffron color. Others wore the same monochrome gray that Raxri themself wore at that moment. They set about to inquire about this color ranking with the abbot.

Inside the meditation house, monks and nuns had already begun their austerities. Bowing thrice, and then sitting on floor cushions and assuming various sitting positions, with hands in various mudras. Palm leaf manuscripts of the prayers and scriptures laid in front of them upon their wooden table. They chanted a mantra in chorus. The Great Light Prayer, which asked the Illumination to turn the chanter into a being of pure light so that they may explore the bounds of non-existence, and so that they can become ever closer to the blazing realization of Buddhahood.

To Raxri, it was just interesting chanting in chorus with little gongs that were struck to make sounds like a xylophone. In conjunction with the tranquility of the morning, the chants pierced Raxri's very core, and they almost felt bad for not kowtowing at that moment to the Buddhas.

Yiwaritala and Head Abbot Wairojashra were there at that moment, seemingly waiting for Raxri. When they spotted Raxri, they nodded and approached.

"Follow us," said Yiwaritala, and Raxri did so.

They ventured out of the monastery itself, walking around the mountain side for a good few minutes. The air here was still so cool. Raxri held onto their gray robe as they walked. At times Raxri was sure they would slip and fall down the side of the mountain, but no. This mountain path was well trodden. In fact, Raxri conjenctured that it was carved onto the side of the mountain for the monks themselves.

They were silent all the while. With every step they took, a gravity clad Raxri. They felt as though they were walking into their own grave.

They arrived at another grove of bamboos and trees that grottoed away three mountain streams that joined to become a slight river. The land here was solid: they had placed stones about this very place. A spirit shrine stood at the edge of the stone platform. It was decorated with very flanged roofs, made to look like it was made of solid fire. Within it was a bronze statue of the Scarlet Buddha. It was placed in the middle of a mandala, and at the southern edge of the mandala was a porcelain plate, where incense, jasmines, and uncooked rice grains were offered.

Yiwaritala and the Abbot performed three crown reverences to the spirit shrine. Raxri couldn't help but do the same. Then, the Abbot said: "Raxri Uttara."

Raxri bowed to the abbot as well. "Y-Yes, abbot."

"Let us sit."

And so they did. There were patches of soft grass here. The bamboos and trees provided a thick canopy against the rising morning sun.

As the three of them sat, the abbot said: "You do not remember who you are in truth."

Raxri nodded. "I would never lie to the abbot, of one so committed to the Law."

"If this be the full truth, then understand you this. You are no longer that Raxri Uttara."

Raxri was quiet. They waited for the abbot to follow up their statement.

"Have you made peace with this?"

Raxri nodded. Whether it was true or not didn't matter to them. They had to make peace with the fact whether they liked it or not.

"Good. Then you must become a new Raxri Uttara. Do you understand? Void of your past accomplishments, void of your past accumulations, of your past cultivations. Are you willing, now, to start from the beginning? That long journey across the wheel? The Royal Road of Enlightenment?"

Raxri nodded again. "I would want no other way."

"It will be a long and arduous road. You will have to travel across the islands. Find your past masters, or find new ones, and ask for the transmission of their powers once again. Only then will you grow your capability. Only then will you become greater than the Raxri Uttara that you were before."

Raxri kept nodding. "I will!" I have no other choice. I must do this.

"Tell me, then," said the Abbot. As they spoke, their voice seemed to echo, to cry out from every direction, crying upon the thousand winds that wound about them. The little gods and spirits that watched them at that moment seemed to cry out every Abbot's word, as if in echo. More than mere punctuation, more than mere divinity. "What spurs you on?"

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

But it was not the abbot's voice.

Raxri looked up at the Abbot. Instead of the Abbot, however, they saw a God of Gods. A wild-eyed, grinning being with the skin the color of the night, hair trailing behind them gloriously. A tigerskin pelt wrapped around their waist, their tunic reached the ground. Their third eye stared and pierced Raxri's very being. In one hand they wielded frozen lightning, held fast by a vajra. In the other hand they kept their hand in a mudra. The gods that watched kowtowed.

"Wh-what..."

"What is thy wish? Greater than all obsession, greater than all desire, greater than all ambition! Hm!" They billowed scarlet smoke from their gigantic nostrils. A Thus-Come-And-Gone sat upon a lotus throne, a Lord for all to see. They were flanked by dakinis, heaven dancers watching all about, manifestations of their bladed enlightenment. Their skin was a bright red, their hair the color of bright sapphires. Their eyes danced with enlightenment, and four hands performed a different mudra each. Their furious eyebrows scowling, they screamed at Raxri without moving their mouth. "Speak your reason! If you are to become a God Worshipped by God, your reason must be greater than all lightnings!"

"I... I wish to help all beings!" Razri let the vow flow out of them. "If I were to lose my memory again, then I would want to leave this world having made it better than when I entered it."

"Speak truth!"

"I must save all beings and destroy suffering!"

"AHOM!" Lighting struck from heaven, and ten thousand thunders destroyed the grove all about them. Raxri, at the point of ultimate destruction, was blasted into emptiness.

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Raxri couldn't remember much of emptiness. Other than, of course, Utter Bliss.

When Raxri opened their eyes, they still sat in a lotus position. The abbot and Yiwaritala sat too,meditating with half-lidded eyes.

When they saw Raxri had roused, the Abbot smiled. "Good. With a reason so noble... It was to be expected from Raxri Uttara. A shadow yet resides within you."

Raxri's throat was parched. It was as if they drank fire. "B-But... w-what was that?"

The abbot smiled kindly. "A glimpse into the truth of reality."

Raxri blinked again. "I-I..."

"The less you think about it, the better," interjected Yiwaritala. "Understanding of these things come as you progress on Enlightenment's rungs."

The abbot nodded. "For now, you have attained a very unique kind of meditation. The visualization. You must climb with us. Until transcension is imminent, and Extinction is close."

The abbot reached into their pocket and pulled out a red stringed necklace with three stones upon it. The stones were uniform in shape and smooth. They looked like teeth in a way. Fangs. Round at the top and then sharp and pointed at the bottom. Each one was colored differently: one was colored a deep blue, another was colored a bright scarlet, and another was colored a pure white.

The abbot gave it to Raxri. They took it with both hands, bowing at the same time.

"These are the Tristones," said the abbot. "Wear it if you wish to step into the Lightning Path and follow the Infinite Law."

"O-oh." They thought. But Raxri had a penchant for ritual all the same, so they said: "Yes. I... wish to step into the Lightning Path."

"Good. Then wear the Tristones and repeat after me." Raxri did so. The abbot took their own tristone necklace and held up the deep blue stone. "I take refuge in the Wisdom of the Buddhas, whose teachings grant Extinction."

Raxri repeated it, staring at the Azure Stone of Wisdom..

The abbot then held up the scarlet stone. "I take refuge in the Strength of the Law, the teachings of which grant final release from suffering."

Raxri repeated it as well, staring now at the Scarlet Stone of Strength.

The abbot finally held up the white stone. "I take refuge in the Compassion of the Community, through whom I practice the Law and glean greater skill."

Raxri repeated that as well, holding up the White Stone of Compassion.

Then the abbot chanted: "HOMAGE TO THE BUDDHA HOMAGE TO THE DHARMA. HOMAGE TOT HE COMMUNE."

Raxri repeated after the abbot those three words. Then repeated it again. Then repeated it again.

After the third, a silence. All the gods that watched them seemed to wait with bated breath. This was all part of the ritual, Raxri knew. And as the silence dragged on, the gravity of their actions weighed upon them, pulling them down, grounding them to the earth.

Then, after a long moment, the abbot spoke: "Those three words make up the Refuge Mantra. If you are ever lost, chant that mantra to reaffirm and realign your thoughts, to pull you back into eternal meditation."

"Thank you, abbot Wairojashra." Raxri bowed. "A weight has been placed upon my shoulders." Raxri bowed the crown reverence at the Abbot. The abbot stopped them.

"I am but a teacher. The Crown Reverence is for the Arhats and the Buddhas. I am a sentient being, just like you. The mouth reverence is all you need."

"I-I see. Forgive me, and thank you for the illumination." Raxri performed the mouth reverence is instead.

"That weight you now carry you have always carried," said the abbot. "You simply remember it now, again. That burden to save all beings and to lessen suffering... That is a duty worth a buddha."

Raxri tilted their head to the side. "Do you not believe it is too grand? Too ambitious? Too haughty?"

The abbot smiled to his eyes, and shook his head. "A grand determination as that is the determination of all Bodhisattvas. To have that as your duty is aligned with the Dharma. You accumulate great karma following this."

"I see."

"If you have any more questions," said Yiwaritala. "Now would be the best time for them, while you have the abbot alone."

"O-oh! Okay. If it be all right with the Thunderbolt Master... why do you speak of Extinction?"

The abbot bowed and said: "Extinction is the ultimate goal of all beings. Extinction of attachments, of unwholesome desire, of disastrous passions, aversion, ignorance. Extinction of the very things that binds the mindstream to suffering. The very things that deludes one, and causes arising, which causes suffering."

"It is not Liberation?"

"Extinction, Cessation, Dissolution, Liberation, Enlightenment... as with everything in this world, they are but different words and different means to the Ultime Reality. They are the answer all the same."

"Ultimate reality?"

"Emptiness. That is, the state of being Buddha, touching finally your own Buddha-Nature. In so doing, you turn the world from suffering into flourishing."

"Is this what the witch Akazha meant when she said that Extinction and Suffering are in truth one and the same?"

The abbot smiled. Yiwaritala's eyebrows furrowed. The abbot made sure to sneak a glance at Yiwaritala. Then, he said: "That is truth, but stating that without the proper context, initiation, and understanding will lead to horribly wrong views. Do not meditate upon that truth just yet. We will get there."

"I see."

The abbot continued: "The core of the Anantadharma, the Infinite Law, is as follows: "

"Everything is temporary.

"Clinging to temporary things is suffering.

"This suffering can be severed from you by letting go of clinging.

"The blade that can cut this is Enlightenment.

"Enlightenment is understanding the Emptiness of the world.

"In understanding the world one attains Extinction. There are a million paths to this enlightenment, for in the understanding of Emptiness one realizes the truth of all things. They are all threads spun upon the same loom."

Raxri ruminated on this for a moment. They thought long and hard if they had any questions. "By removing clinging, one is severed from suffering?"

The abbot nodded. "And one then becomes a liberated being... though there are many varieties of liberated beings. None of them are greater than the other, they are all states of Extinction all the same."

Yiwaritala shook his head. "You would do well not to worry yourself about the metaphysics of Extinction. At least, not yet. Start small, start from the beginning."

"Tell me, o Thunderbolt Master," pleaded Raxri. "What are the rungs of the Thunderbolt Ladder, that I may learn how to climb them?"

The abbot smiled. "Visualize the thunderbolt." They chanted a mantra--

--lightning crashed beside the abbot.