December 18, 2005
-
The Meadow
“Heaven– Where Is It?
How Do We Get There?”To air on ABC
Tuesday, Dec. 20
(John Spencer’s birthday)By Trevanian, who died on
Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2005:From
Shibumi“Well…
the flow of the play was just right, and it began to bring me to the
meadow. It always begins with some kind of flowing motion… a stream or
river, maybe the wind making waves in a field of ripe rice, the glitter
of leaves moving in a breeze, clouds flowing by. And for me, if the
structure of the Go stones is flowing classically, that too can bring
me to the meadow.”“The meadow?”
“Yes. That’s the place I expand into. It’s how I recognize that I am resting.”
“Is it a real meadow?”
“Yes, of course.”
“A meadow you visited at one time? A place in your memory?”
“It’s not in my memory. I’ve never been there when I was diminished.”
“Diminished?”
“You know… when I’m in my body and not resting.”
“You consider normal life to be a diminished state, then?”
“I consider time spent at rest to be normal. Time like this… temporary, and… yes, diminished.”
“Tell me about the meadow, Nikko.”
“It
is triangular. And it slopes uphill, away from me. The grass is tall.
There are no animals. Nothing has ever walked on the grass or eaten it.
There are flowers, a breeze… warm. Pale sky. I’m always glad to be the
grass again.”“You are the grass?”
“We are one another. Like the breeze, and the yellow sunlight. We’re all… mixed in together.”
“I
see. I see. Your description of the mystic experience resembles others
I have read. And this meadow is what the writers call your ‘gateway’ or
‘path.’ Do you ever think of it in those terms?”“No.”
“So. What happens then?”
“Nothing.
I am at rest. I am everywhere at once. And everything is unimportant
and delightful. And then… I begin to diminish. I separate from the
sunlight and the meadow, and I contract again back into my bodyself.
And the rest is over.” Nicholai smiled uncertainly. “I suppose I am not
describing it very well, Teacher. It’s not… the kind of thing one
describes.”“No, you describe it very well, Nikko. You have
evoked a memory in me that I had almost lost. Once or twice when I was
a child… in summer, I think… I experienced brief transports such as you
describe. I read once that most people have occasional mystic
experiences when they are children, but soon outgrow them. And forget
them….”“And we may see
the meadow in December,
icy white and crystalline.”– Johnny Mercer,
“Midnight Sun“
