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MAKING PEOPLE WAIT in my courtroom because I'm late is my favorite power play but today I relish every moment. Right now there are three of them, his father standing beside him, to his left, and the venerable Magallan Rinboku, on his right, Mahá stands waiting, practicing mindful patience. I'm sure they think my being twenty minutes late is a sign of my incompetence. Today, in this meeting, I will assign Mahá a position in my Royal court.
There are two open positions in the court. One is for the Ambassador of Commerce, and if Mahá is offered this position, he would work with his father, the Royal Treasurer. The other opportunity is the Ambassador of the King's Guard, meaning Mahá would spend his days traveling alone across the planet. However, there is a third position. It is a Royal position that none of them expected since his father was certain he had persuaded me not to assign it to his boy.
I enter my court and walk past the three men. The sound of my little feet walking across the rock-tiled floor causing a faint echo off the walls. The echoes sound like a person tapping their fingertips on a tabletop.
I ask, "How has married life found you, Mahá? What is it, one year since the wedding?"
Mahá answers, "Yes. In three days it will be a year. I find it satisfying."
I take a seat in my grand chair. I say, "We've never spoken before, and I presume you're feeling timid. What with speaking with me, the King of our world. So I want to give you a chance. That is, I'll make this a one-time exception. However, I expect you to speak loud and confident when addressing me. I scorn quiet and disregard timid people."
Mahá didn't flinch or change his expression when he responds with a voice of confidence and clarity. "I'm certain that you never spoke with me. You seldom speak to anyone in our world. So perhaps my voice was quiet when I answered because I have been standing here in silence for over twenty minutes waiting for you to arrive. But I am not timid."
Mahá’s father is distressed as he speaks. "Mahá, speak to our King with respect."
"Hold that," I interrupt. "Let the boy speak. The days of needing his father to guide him have passed. He's offended that I ignore showing reverence to him and the venerable Rinboku. I haven't invited any of you to sit with me at my table either. And he believes I'm late. But, as the King of our planet, I will tell you this, Mahá I hold the privilege for these and more."
Mahá’s father nodded at me in agreement. The two of us spoke for several hours yesterday about this meeting. I was not willing to put Mahá in the position of Ambassador of Commerce but at the end of the conversation, I agreed that I would.
Following yesterday's meeting and unknown to the King, Mahá’s father met with his son and told him he had nothing to worry about tomorrow's meeting. "I promise you the King will make you Ambassador of Commerce and the two of us will work on many projects together," he told his son.
Sitting back in my big chair I analyze the boy's answer. Everyone told me that Mahá is charismatic and that he is confident. I'll agree. He's likable, good-looking, and he's big too. I think he's the biggest man I ever saw. There's something about him. I get a sense he is special and holds the essence of leadership. I don't like that. Not one bit!
Dramatic and beautiful, my courtroom is comparable to a museum where the walls display many of my paintings and large shelves are decorated with my sculptures. There's a long table with chairs on each side to accommodate twelve, with my raised chair at the head.
Most of my art illustrates the bio-molecularity of plants—grains and legumes. My ancestors are a lineage of bio-molecular scientists.
My skills in painting and sculpting are exceptional. Many of those privileged to see my courtroom say the art is a display of perfection. There are ornate pots filled with beautiful plants and cut flowers. Plants and flowers are my passion, and I insist on perfection in each display.
The Humanoids built the palace, and all the city's architecture was done by them long before the first people arrived. As a result, the architecture is ornate and elegant. And while color is absent, there is also a notable departure from fascism, as found in government and royalty buildings on other human-settled planets.
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"Mahá, your father is the best friend I've ever known, and he's also my most valuable member of the Royal Council. You must uphold tradition and follow his lead." My right hand fondles the large, square, gawu box amulet dangling around my neck. "So answer me this, Mahá as the second clan of the forty-four, what is your family vow of duty?"
In the Buddha's instructions on Earth, he produced forty-four laws for assuring social harmony. The Humanoids assigned each of the ancestral families one of the forty-four laws. Each lineage is committed to being the pillar of that assigned law for the people.
Mahá responds to my question fast, loud, and precise, "My family upholds the second law, which states, 'Others will destroy life; we shall abstain from the destruction of life here.'"
I pound my fist on the arm of the chair and the faint sound echoes off the walls and ceiling of the courtroom. "Well said, and my family upholds the first law, which states, 'Others will inflict harm; we shall not inflict harm here.' I felt you harmed me when the Oracle spoke at your wedding ceremony. It was the most unpleasant experience. The Oracle announced to the entire universe that you, Mahá would become King of the planet. After the Oracle spoke those words (an epiphany of the future), I was harmed.”
Mahá thinks back to the wedding ceremony a year ago at the outdoor amphitheater. At the time of the Oracle giving the prediction for him and his wife, Visákhá. He recalls the memory . . .
At the end of the third rotation around them, the Oracle stops in front of Mahá. The Oracle looks into Mahá’s eyes. Then, as fast as a lump of hot coal burns your fingertips when plucked out of the fire, the Oracle grabs Mahá’s head with both hands. Mahá startled by the movement, resists and struggles to free himself from the grasp. The Oracle's grip is firm, and as Mahá struggles, he soon realizes he cannot break free from the unimaginable strength of the Oracle. Mahá surrenders, relaxes his posture, and calms his mind.
The Oracle forces their foreheads together, and they stand right there, head to head for several seconds. Everyone present notices a slight twitch from the Oracle's body. It was a very slight twitch, but just as you would think maybe you hadn't seen it, there was another. Now it is obvious—there is movement—as the Oracle begins to stamp, and the whole body begins to shake and vibrate out of control. When at long last, the Oracle released his hold on Mahá swung his hands straight out to the side with a burst of energy that sent Mahá falling backward and onto the ground. Mahá jumped up onto his feet and moved back to where the Oracle had placed him. The Oracle stands with arms outstretched and face turned up and speaks aloud the fortune, the prediction for Mahá's future.
Oracle says, "There is a path with two directions. In one direction, Mahá works every day in the King's court. Before the end of two years, he will rule the kingdom. In the other direction, Mahá works as the King's Guardian. Before the end of four years, he will rule the Galaxy and all humans."
When the King starts to speak again, Mahá ends his thoughts of the wedding and listens.
"Some people think I rule with the temperament of a child. They say I'm stubborn and demanding, too. What do you say, Mahá Do you think I'm childish and challenging?"
The venerable Magallan Rinboku clears his throat in preparation to speak. Indeed, my tough questioning seems unnecessary to Magallan. He and I had a meeting last week and Like Mahá’s father, Magallan wanted me not to put the boy in charge of my gardens. The Abbot of the monastery, Magallan, came to know how powerful Mahá’s cognitive mind is. He feels the boy would do the community the most benefit by working in the commerce position. I agreed not to place Mahá in charge of the gardens. But before Magallan could say a word, Mahá spoke.
"The King is a perfectionist, not a child. It is Kung Fu," Mahá says. "Our existence requires mastery of our actions. The perfection of thoughts must be in harmony with the perfection of the body. This is called Kung Fu. I find you to be a King who mastered Kung Fu."
"Kung Fu is indeed correct, '' I reply. "You are the sole person to realize the purpose of my fascination with perfection. I spoke with your father at length regarding your position. Likewise, I spoke to Rinboku about granting you a position as well. Your father disagrees with my first choice for you, and Rinboku told me you, Mahá have great power."
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The King's tiny face and features remind Mahá of a recurring dream. When he looks at the King's small frame seated on his large throne, he seems like a child all dressed up playing king for a day.
Mahá slips into a daydream recalling the dreamscape:—I'm talking with a man who is also of small stature but he’s not the King. Whereas the King's voice is high-pitched and his words are over-emphasized, exaggerated with adverbs, and when he talks he sings but he is out of tune.
The man from the dream is soft-spoken, and he is also well-spoken and he's trying to explain something of importance, though I cannot understand why, or what is so significant. He's a holy man from a distant planet (maybe Earth). I ask him why it is impossible for us to transcend? What is holding people here in this present moment and how does life make it impossible for us to choose to come and go as we wish?
"Mara sprung the trap," he answered. "We are bound in the existence of her making. Mara invented this duality. It was on the day when she stepped through a black hole from a different universe. Her body and essence were ripped apart by the black hole even to the molecular level and smaller. For billions of years now the event has been known as the Big Bang and the creation of our known universe.
"Many philosophies and theories suggest that this universe, we call Samsara, will end when Mara recognizes herself in all the creations. Everything that exists in this universe is made from Mara. Some think it will be in human form that she will awaken and remember. At that instant, everything will cease to exist. Until then, we are trapped in this dream-like state of being."
After his explanation, and after taking several minutes to myself evaluating how the words affect me, I said, "Mara, in an act of suicide, destroyed herself. Everything on this side of that black hole is the result of her death and everything is limited by death. Everything that has a beginning will end. Planets, stars, people, with one exception: Energy. The essence of her life never goes away; it is always in motion and forever changing. Did I get that right?" I ask the holy man.
At this point in my recurring dream, the holy man is sitting in a floating chair that is made of multi-colored lights beaming in all directions. The lights change in color and pulse, twinkle and stream.
"Consciousness is the common thread. There is the potential for consciousness in everything, but the illusions of self distract us from awakening. The meaning of life isn't to live a life. It is instead to awaken to the consciousness of the True Self.
"Imagine the great wealth and benefit the True-Self awakens to. When your ego-self stops doing for the ego, awakens to consciousness then you begin to love everything and everybody as if it is all one True-Self." He laughed in delight and said, "Try to help everybody in every moment of the heart beating in the form called, me. The I dissolves into a perception of we. Then after practicing charitable life, soon 'we' dissolves and there just is. What you might call, isness." He laughs with delight and a smile bright as the lights that beam from his floating chair fill my eyes.
"One last word to be aware of before I leave. Karma is the result of action. It is both the cause and the effect. For every action (doing) there is an effect (result). The merit of actions that benefit the True Self is returned in the heaven realms. The merit of all other actions is delivered in the hell realms, animal realms, and the human realm. As if by magic it is only in the human realm that we get the possibility of awakening to actions that bring great wealth and opportunity. Always silence the ego-self. Silence the thinking mind. Awake the True Self. Return to The Source.
"Samsara is the cycle of karma. Birth leads to aging, sickness, and death. Over and over again the cycle continues. Your rebirth may be in the heaven realm but even there, life is temporary. You may be reborn in one of the hell realms, but even in hell life is temporary. In every birth your karma is used up through that lifetime, it is the energy that you made previously. Once you burn off the karma in one realm, you die. Maybe you will be reborn again before Mara wakes. Maybe you won't. Life is a miracle."
"What happens if Mara recognizes herself in this existence and wakes up before we can liberate our True-Self?" I ask.
"One thing is for certain regarding her waking. She has not yet woken."
"How do you know?" I ask.
"Because we are having this conversation." He laughed with great delight and he floats away.
I'm watching the holy man floating away in his chair made of light. But now I hear the King's high-pitched voice saying something to me about power. I stop daydreaming and focus on the present moment back here in the King's court standing with my father, and the venerable Magallan. The King is speaking.
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"Power is a subject I can relate to. Power is an addiction. At least it can be when paired with privilege. Therefore, I bear reservations as the Oracle revealed you would become King if I gave you a job within my court." My fists pound against the arms of my high throne. This boy wants to take my place as King. He’s strong-willed, intelligent, and his confidence threatens me. I’ve learned plenty about this Mahá today that I didn’t know before.
"However, based on what I learned about you today, Mahá I appoint you to the position of Ambassador of the Palace Garden. From today and always."
Mahá’s father and Magallan moan and grumble. Magallan rings the prayer bell he holds in his left hand and turns the dorje in his right. Unmoved by their audible and visible protests, I continue with my appointing for the position.
"I had many Royal families detached from the Royal council because they failed in this position. Therefore, placing you as Ambassador of the Garden causes me a great deal of discomfort. Almost as much pain as the Oracle caused me at your wedding." I leap down out of my throne, the chair squeals as it slides across the stone floor, and then I slap my bare hand on top of the long table. My eyes locked with Mahá.
"Do you understand, Mahá? If you fail in this position, your household will no longer be a Royal family, and do you know all the repercussions of being removed from Royalty?"
The second rainstorm is gathering full strength outside, and a gust of wind forces the chamber door open. The door slams against the wall with a crash and leaves, dust, and farm plant debris come flying in with the gust. Mahá always sturdy as a stone pillar, walks over to close the door. A loud clap of thunder gets muffled as he pushes the door firm against the jam.
Mahá’s father stood fast, I can imagine his mind filled with conflicting thoughts and fears. Fears of his son being given the worst position on my council. Also, the fear of his entire lineage being expelled from Royal status and removed from the mountaintop city. His conflict with our entrusted friendship and me having promised him yesterday that I wouldn't assign the Ambassador of Garden to his son.
His father and I have been friends since we were children. Our relationship grew over the years, and we are best friends. Our friendship made him feel confident that his son would thrive in any position but this one. For my peace of mind, I gave the boy this position. If Mahá tries to take my place as King, I will squash his entire family long before he can take the first step.
The boy answers me with determination, "Yes. I understand the requirements and the consequences."
“This meeting is finished,” I said. That was it. The end of our meeting. I stepped around the table where I stood in front of them long enough to meet eye-to-eye with each one. These three must think I'm a fool. Their plot to sneak this boy into my court and ease me off the throne is obvious to me. While they look up to see if I'm throwing a snare over their heads, they're unaware. The whole time they run their game, my foot, below their view, rests on top of the lever that opens the trapdoor below their feet. Not a word as I stomped across the floor.
Mahá can sense from the King's words as well as the fear in his voice that the King is full of pride, conceit, and fear of losing his power. The King strips away other people's titles and homes, acting out his own fears of having the same done to him. But, Mahá too is filled with self-doubt and fear. All of his friends and the monks at the monastery tell him he will be the King one day. That they believe in his strength of mind as The First Priority. But Mahá doesn't share their confidence.
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After the King was out of the courtroom. Magallan and Mahá’s father were expressing their disappointment in the meeting's result. Mahá says, “Please stop worrying about the assignment and my ability to serve the King.”
Magallan smiled and agreed. “You possess the gift of leadership and the divine help of the Bodhisattvas. I should try to exercise more faith.”
Mahá leads the three of them out of the courtroom and down the path toward Main Road. “Faith is nothing more than a word describing a mental escape from life. None of us should hold on to faith. Knowledge and wisdom are what we seek.”
Then Magallan and Mahá’s father got in the cart to leave the palace, but Mahá stayed behind. “Aren’t you coming with us to the monastery?” Mahá shook his head, then waved them farewell. After they were out of sight, Mahá went to meet with Merliana. She’s the Chief Judge of the King’s Court. She was waiting for him as he made the appointment several days before.
Merliana greets him as he enters her courtroom. “Hello, Mahá Rinboku. How can I help you? I’ve been eager for our meeting since you made the appointment and excited to see how I can assist.”
“You are so kind, Merliana,” he says. “There are three subjects of concern, and I want to address them with care and respect. My concerns are genuine, but my concerns are confrontational too. First, I want to reinstate all the people who have been told they are no longer a Royal Family. There is nothing in our doctrine of community which provides anyone, even the King, with the power to change who is a Royal Family.”
Merliana asks him to continue, “The second of the three concerns. Please continue.”
“Three families were told to move out of their homes and to leave the top of the mountain to take up residence in the orchards village below. They were told that since they are no longer Royal, they must do this. My second concern is that there are no homes below for these families. They had to find other families to share a residence with and there are no resources for the children to attend school either. Each day, their children take a cart to the top of the mountain to attend school, and the parents have to do the same. They take a cart to get to their fields and work. Twice a day each to get to school and work and then to return to the orchards village to the shared homes.
“Carts are being used for transportation when they should be for farming and producing crops. People’s motivations are being distracted as well as crops being lost. Yesterday I told those three families to go back to their homes on top of the mountain. The third subject is the King’s dementia. It is becoming more of a detriment to the community with each passing day. This entire initiative for the use of privilege to the Royals is a disease and a poison. It causes suffering to non-Royal families as it made them feel inferior and suffering to Royal families when used as leverage enforcing certain performance behavior.”
Merliana says nothing, as she weighs all he has said. Her posture as she sits behind her large ornate desk is straight, and you can’t even see her moving to breathe. She’s in her early thirties and a mother of three children. She’s average height, and her figure shows her age and its effects after bearing three children. Shoulder-length yellow hair, with bright green eyes. People feel accepted and appreciated when in her presence and her tone further puts them at ease.
“It is a problem that isn’t easy to help you with, nor is it pleasing to hear. You don’t have the authority to overturn the King’s directions. What consequence of your actions? Might I ask you who you have in mind to ascend to the throne if we judges decide we must replace him?”
“That’s not for me to say or to choose,” Mahá was quick to reply.
“Yet you feel it is within your authority to countermand the King and to request he abdicates his place in our community? Don’t answer that. You’ve already said more than you should. While I will not decide today, I will discuss your three concerns with the other judges. Is there anything more, Mahá?”
“Nothing more, Merliana. Other than to thank you for meeting with me and allowing me to express these concerns.”
Merliana still hasn’t moved. Mahá wondered if she had even blinked or taken a breath the whole meeting. Even as she speaks, she is absent of expression physically and in tone. Her eyes never look away from the person she talks with. Though she has been Chief Judge for less than two years, she has perfected the personification of a Royal Judge.
“I wish you all the best in your new position on the King’s court. Goodbye for now,” she says.
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Following the King's court appointment, and his meeting with Merliana, Mahá's days became routine. First, he wakes to a modest breakfast with the love of his life, Visákhá. The first meal is always shared with the sharecroppers, cooks, and housekeepers at the long table in the kitchen. The smell of fresh-baked bread, pies, and soups fills the house as does the conversations between the hungry group. Then he's off to the growers to pick up the King's fresh-cut flowers.
He meets with the landscapers and the palace maintenance crew at the center of town to go over their progress and needs for the day. Then he takes the fresh-cut flowers to the King's courtyard, halls, and courtroom to decorate and arrange the decor. Finally, he waits for the King to enter the courtroom. Then after a brief conversation, Mahá leaves the palace and goes to the Monastery to teach the law, meditate, and exercise his body and mind.
At long last, he goes home to relax on his deck in his favorite Adirondack chair. There he combs his fingers through his thick soft beard while counting the clouds in the sky, watches the wind pass over the valley below as it whips through the orchards and nut trees. And he waits for his lover to join him. Together they watch the binary stars and clouds crossing the sky, and they talk about their day's activities until it's time for sleep.
Twice a week, the routine includes Vallena. She's Visákhá's BFF and comes up to the top of the mountain on the third day of the week. She stays with Mahá and Visákhá for two days. Kelv, Mahá's BFF, comes to their house on both of those days to visit. Kelv and Vallena develop a magical rapport, and he holds Vallena's heart.
Kelv committed to the path of a Bodhisattva, but Vallena pledged to give her love to him even though she knows he'll never take a wife, and he lives a celibate life. Vallena and Kelv spend the latter part of the day walking through the crowded fields of Mahá’s farm as they discuss her work and his quest. Often they'll stay up talking until the start of the next day.
Visákhá manages the farm, and, as she promised, she committed all the land and the sharecroppers to grow Vallena's cannabis plants. The plants provide fibers to produce ultraviolet and X-ray protective fabrics and are key ingredients for pharmaceuticals.
Vallena's days are spent working on new plant strains, while Visákhá focuses on higher production, new fiber uses, and drug applications. The challenges of living on a planet with a binary star are many, but the extraordinary benefits from Vallena's and Visákhá's efforts are nothing short of miraculous.
It is anger, the Buddha said, that is the single human emotion that can instantly erase, destroy, and undo all merit. Anger is the enemy of those who desire liberation from Samsara. Through a million actions of earning merit of great wealth and opportunity by helping others, a single instance of anger will destroy all that merit. When the Humanoids discovered the serum that removes anger from the DNA, they theorized humanity's destiny was written.
The people on Planet 444 are all born free of anger. They wear thick full-body robes that are designed to protect them from the x-rays that are emitted from one of the stars their plant revolves around. They wear hoods and eye protection as well. But as the smaller star's gravity tugs on the x-ray-emitting neutron star, it changes its wobble and causes more intense emissions. Sharecroppers grow marijuana plants to use the flowers in producing pharmaceuticals that help fight radiation poisoning. The fibers from the plants are used to make more protective clothing as well as glass coating for the windows of their homes.
The routines are clockwork, and friendships continue to flourish. But life here is the same as it is everywhere; the one certainty in life is change. The question is, is it changing for the good?
