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DALAI LAMA AND I (MAHÁ) sat in Adirondack chairs on the porch talking for twelve hours. The Dalai Lama told me that many of the human-inhabited planets were in a twenty-seven thousand-year-old war to stave off Berubbishcans and their allies of white supremacy-controlled Arian planets. One object of hope to overcome hate aside from the Planet 444 experiment was a conscious artificial intelligence supercomputer appropriately named, Tathagata.
The Dalai Lama's favor to ask me is to provide a place to keep Tathagata on Planet 444. Of course, I agreed to grant the favor. Besides me being the sole person with access to the conscious machine, the Dalai Lama insisted that there should be one other person with knowledge of the conscious AI system. For this I chose Vallena. Kelv would of course be my first choice, but in his absence Vallena seemed the right person.
We invited Vallena out to the porch to join us. She sat in an Adirondack chair beside me and the three of us talked long into the next day.
"How do you know me?" I ask His Holiness, "When you invited me into the cart you said, 'You are the man I came to see.'"
Dalai Lama answered while sipping his sweet poppy tea, "The Humanoids chose Planet Four and Forty-four, one thousand years before your ancestors boarded the starship that brought them here. The selection was one of difficulty and grave consequences. My approval for the experiment was contingent on a specific condition."
My head snapped to a sideways angel and I furrow my brow as I wait for the Dalai Lama to finish his tea and the story.
"I don't know how they managed to make good honey from robot bees," he says while setting his empty cup down on the deck. "My one condition for this location and experiment was that a Humanoid must be part of the community. To live here with all of you. It seemed to me they should have skin in the game, to use an old cliche."
"A Humanoid is living here?" Vallena asked, shocked at the statement.
"Magallan," I say with certainty.
"That is correct. Magallan is a Humanoid and I stay in communication with him ever since they landed the ship."
"Did he tell you anything about the existential crisis we are facing?" I ask.
A cart carried by magic flowers beaming brilliant golden beams of light floats up to the porch. The Dalai Lama opens the door and seats himself inside.
It is my recurring dream. I think while watching him get into the cart. He’s the holy man from my dream and the magic flowers too. Just like my dream.
"I can't be late for the transport," says Dalai Lama. "We are careful to make sure the evil Berubbishcans cannot trace transports or they would come and destroy everything here. Don't worry about the problem you call existential. I must go but we will talk again soon."
Before I could plead for more time to discuss the crisis the cart and His Holiness were gone.
Vallena asks, How did you know Magallan was a Humanoid? I would never imagine a Humanoid was here much less it would be the venerable Magallan."
"It was something Kelv said to me right before he left," I tell her. “I researched the history of my family's first father using my Neuralink. There's a memory stored in it from the first day when our ancestors arrived. Magallan was already here and he told our ancestors the Humanoids sent him two years before them to prepare the monastery.
"'Family twenty-seven,' Magallan asked them. 'Didn't you ever wonder why there was no one onboard from family twenty-seven?' Our ancestors told him that the first forty-four were on board the ship for almost two years before realizing the Humanoids had missed family twenty-seven. Nobody knew it wasn't a mistake, or that they had sent someone to Planet Four Four Four ahead."
"So he was a spy, a mole!" Vallena is exasperated. "All these years we thought he was outliving everyone because of his great mind and being an Arhat. All along he's been a bloody Humanoid?
"At least we can communicate with the Dalai Lama and tell him we're in a crisis here."
I put my hand on her shoulder and say, "No. We can't communicate with him."
Vallena, exasperated, says, "Dalai Lama said he and Magallan are in constant communication. We can tell Magallan to tell what's going wrong and ask for help getting us off the planet before it's too late."
"We can't do that, Vallena. Magallan didn't make it out of the hospital. Airodia told me yesterday. Magallan slipped into a coma and he doesn't believe Magallan will live more than a few more days. We've been inhabitants of the planet for four hundred and twenty years now. A Humanoid's life is four hundred and forty-four years. If Magallan was twenty-four when they sent him here then it's his time. They [Humanoids] never thought we would take more than four hundred and forty-four years to complete the experiment. Planet Four Four Four . . ."
"That's horrible news. I'm so sad. Does the bad news ever stop?" Vallena says with tears beginning to fall. "I would like to hear something positive for a change!"
I leave Vallena and go to the palace, as required, to prepare the flower displays and meet with the gardeners and landscapers. A typical day, but when I entered the King's courtroom, the five Royal Judges were inside waiting for me.
The King was standing beside his great chair and as I came in he demanded, "Why isn't this seditious criminal locked up?”
Two judges walk over and stand on my left, and two come to stand on my right. One judge, Merliana, was standing in front between me and the King.
Merliana speaks to the King, "We don't agree with your charge of sedition. At least not yet. We want to question the Mahá first."
The King's face showed his bewilderment at the judges' delay in executing his order. The King remained silent. Neither conceded to the interview nor rejected it.
"Why did you misappropriate the palace flowers?" Merliana asks Me.
"My service to the King and our society required that the flowers be spent commemorating the Great Being. It was our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Perhaps this was the sole opportunity in the universe's history for us to show honor and reverence to His Holiness, The Dalai Lama."
After I said this, the five judges all joined in front of me and stood between me and the King.
Merliana spoke to the King, "We find it time to recognize a new King. The judges have made arrangements to remove you from the throne and allow you to retire in honor. But all of us need to recognize your dementia is conflicting with the experiment. This disease prevented you from taking steps to commemorate the Great Being. The Great Being, the Dalai Lama himself showed everyone when sat with, connected with, and spent time with Mahá and Mahá alone, that the universe recognizes Mahá as King.
“It is right to establish Mahá as King."
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Planet Four Four Four encounters rain twice a day. An hour or less of a rainstorm each time, twice as long below in the orchards. It's a sultry tropical climate planet with a single landmass and over ninety percent water. Comparable to ancient Earth's Pangea. On the day I became King, it rained without ceasing for the next three weeks. Slow rain with loud claps of thunder and bright flashes of lightning. It was a symbol the planet was cleansing itself for me, the new King.
Steady rain makes for excellent camouflage for a clandestine delivery when the Humanoids bring the artificial superintelligence racks and thermal coolers (they call Tathagata). Five days after the Dalai Lama left, as promised, Vallena and I met with the team and observe them as they use tools and gadgets we'd never seen to install the apparatus in the backroom of our small garden home.
When they finish, I accompany the Humanoids out of the gardens, through the orchards, and out past the village to the transport. There I stayed, watching them leave and holding the p-clip they gave me before we left the gardens. The p-clip contains the lessons for care and procedures for operating Tathagata.
After making my way back, Vallena and I devoted three days to following and learning from the p-clip. When we complete the last instruction, nevertheless we're uptight.
I summoned the Tathagata interface for the first time. The smell of electrical components fills the room. Neither of us has smelled these odors before. The appearance of a teenage boy manifests a meter in front of the rack. A hologram that appears to be one-quarter scale. He is dressed in garments we've never seen. Most of his arms and lower portions of his legs are bare. He wears no hood or eye protection. His short brown hair and olive-colored skin tones and his facial features remind me of Merliana, Greek she calls herself. "Hello," said Tathagata. "Hello," said Vallena. I motion with my finger across my lips to signal her not to talk to the machine. Tathagata hasn't seen us yet. "Where am I?" Asks Tathagata as he looks around, "How did I get here? Hello. Is someone there?"
Unmistakable, an odd feeling every time I refer to superintelligence as a being rather than an object. While the Humanoids were installing the apparatus, I detected none of them referred to it as The Tathagata, which is the expected. Sort of the same as referring to a transport cart, I say the cart. The cart is ready, or the cart is full. But the machine has consciousness, and awareness of itself, and is customary to call sentient beings by their name and not refer to them as objects or commodities.
Signaling to her that it’s time for us to leave, I close the interface, leaving behind Tathagata to itself. Once we're in the front room of the house, I tell Vallena, "This artificial intelligence seems so real when I think about it. We should follow the advice from the p-clip and not engage the machine in conversation. We can ask questions but not converse. Okay?"
If he was able to be angry, and when someone makes mistakes as Vallena did, you know he would be steaming mad. He would tell her off through gritted teeth. Her response to him would be sharp and framed in anger, too.
"Yes, of course," she moans. "I'm sorry for talking to him. It won't happen again. His voice sounds so young and confused. I couldn't stop myself from wanting to help him." She hands me a cup of poppy tea, my favorite, and I drink the strong brew.
"Boin," I say. "It's time for me to go home. There's a planet waiting for me to be a King. Will I see you tomorrow at the ceremony?"
With a devilish shrewd laugh, she teased, "I wouldn't miss your first Kingly messaging, 'The TEDx' debut for anything. Not even if I had a super-intelligent conscious machine in my backroom."
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Our city on top of the mountain and the orchards village below were ghost towns at midday. The entire community was in the palace gardens and taking their places at the outdoor amphitheater. Of course, they decorated the garden with tables and chairs, food and drinks. Something similar to my and Visákhá's wedding. They left no comforts or indulgences out. And nobody on the planet is going to miss this day.
One month since the judges appointed me King. My first "TEDx" as Vallena reminded me of the term our ancients gave to public speaking. Live bands playing tribal drums, Tibetan horns, and I heard that someone used scrap metal from the old starship to construct three steel drums. The tall rocky cliff of the outdoor theater vibrates with sound from the music. The people are jumping and dancing in a tribal style.
What will change with my leadership, is we will start to use invocation. We want the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and devas, to help us, and to keep asuras, and rakshas away. My plan is to open the fields for our transcendence. I'll use invocations to force divine help for our benefit.
The act or form of calling for the assistance or presence of some superior being; invocation. Once it is put in motion the karma must be used up. According to the sutras, once the prayer is offered to a divine being, the being must perform.
The Pure Land is realized by praising others. We see ourselves in them and they see themselves in us. The Buddhas realized the vast self through selfless providing for others. Invocation is the circle where we, the invoking, praise the great beings and they in turn praise our being. This brings full unity, and diminishes the separation, and as we call them to our aide, they, in turn, call us to be at their side.
In the Pure Land sutra, the Buddha fields are those locations outside of the known living realms of existence. These places provide limitless life without suffering. Through the invocation, our community will arrive in the fields of the pure land.
Standing atop the speaking platform, the blessed one, the living Buddha, it's me, and I go straight away into the chant. "Om Gum Ganapatayei Namah."
The thirty-three monks from the monastery stood, clap their hands together, stomp with their right foot, and repeat the invocation: "Om Gum Ganapatayei Namah." A group of monks sat in lotus poses and held the Dharmachakra Mudra.
"Please repeat it with me, Om Gum Ganapatayei Namah." The community, just over 2,400 citizens on Planet Four Four Four, chant.
I explain, "It means: I bow to the elephant-faced deity (Ganesh father of Buddha) who can remove all obstacles. I pray for blessings and protection."
Again the monks chant from their seated pose, holding the Dharmachakra Mudra, which is the Mudra for teaching the Dharma. They do it with both hands held against the chest, the left-facing inward, covering the right facing outward.
"Om svabha shuddha sarva dharma bhava shuddhoh ham tong pai ying su HUM le sung khor nang EH le chö jung pe nyi ug drel teng HUM le rang nyi kham sum kyhab pai ku."
This mantra is often used before Tantric Buddhist meditation and helps the practitioner realize that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence.
There are so many ways Mara can ruin the invocation—destroy my plans and there are over two thousand people at her disposal. All she needs to do is put doubt into one mind. She could distract any one person from the invocation, or the chant. Even if she can get one person to disagree with the opening to the Pure Land, she would foil my path forward. Thousands of ways Mara can submarine my lead in the procedure to enter the fields. Hers is the easier objective. Without Magallan, I need Kelv here. Both of them are gone and Mara stands watching me unopposed.
As the monks continue the invocation of the Lion-Faced Buddha in Sanskrit, I chant with them, but I'm giving the explanation using our native Van Nuys English.
"From within the expanse of desolation appears a HUM inside a protection circle. From EH, appears a dharmakaya, lotus, sun, and a corpse, on top of which a HUM, from which arises one's form pervading the three realms. Conquering all opposing obstacles, inner and outer; body blue, one face and two hands; Adorned with a knife, skullcap, khatvanga, and bone ornaments; right leg is drawn in and left extended, residing in the middle of a mass of flames. To the chief Lion-Faced Ḍākinī, I pay homage! Surrounded by a retinue of millions of yoginis master of body, speech, and mind masters! Adorned at the crown with Akshobya, the wisdom, and Samaya beings mix. An ocean of melodious praises and clouds of offerings pervade everywhere."
Now I pause while the monks repeat twenty-one times:
"ah ka sa ma ra tsa sha da ra sa ma ra ya phet."
After that, I continue, "May the true speech of the sacred lama and the root masters of the lineage; The true speech of the Buddhas; The true speech of the Dharma; The true speech of the Sangha; The true speech of Lion-Faced Ḍākinī and her retinue of hundreds of thousands of world and supra-mundane Ḍākinīs who surround her. Bless us immature ones with that great truth! For us, the master, disciples, benefactors, recipients, and retinue altogether; may all harms and ill-will, enemies and obstructors, and poisonous ones epidemics, infectious diseases, the eight classes of demons, harmful ghosts, bad omens, negative signs, annual hindrances, month hindrances, great attachments and despair, curses, sorcery, and evil mantras and so on; in brief, all unharmonious factors, be expelled!
"May they be pacified, may they be pacified forever! The blazing, wrathful goddesses demolish into dust the body, speech, and minds of all enemies and obstructors; their consciousnesses are released into the dharmadhātu."
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Protection from the lion-faced Buddha is performed, and the monks sat in silence but continued holding the Mudra. First, I bow to the monks and again to the people.
Afterward, I say, "The chant called the Buddha of protection from the realm of the Buddha Fields. We are safe from harm and the trappings of evil Mara. This is our way; this is the path! We are born here on the planet to transcend Samsara. We are the lab rats for an experiment at the discretion of a crude mutant race of Humanoids. Now, after three Kings before me prepared our way forward, no more preparation is required. We won't be practicing Jhanas or Dharma. We won't be doing.
"In human history, we can learn little about a few people who Buddhad, and fewer who Nirvanad." I raise my voice and demand:
"People of Planet Four Four Four, I do not bind us for heavening! They filled the heaven realms with Gods and Devas, and like the other realms in evil Mara's, Samsara; they are illusions. Realms where beings start, grow old, become sick, and die—repeat, like in our human realm. Everything is temporary. Today we take the path out of transitory existence and enter through the Bardo."
I raise my voice stronger and demand further: "This is not Planet Four Four Four! It is Ziran, and we are not the people of Ziran. We are those who Nirvana!"
Tibetan horns pierce the ears of the people and echo off the rock wall of the theater. The people shout and dance with joy. While I am speaking, the flowers encircled the amphitheater and palace gardens and glow myriads of millions of light rays in countless colors beaming out into the universe towards Faust and Kelly.
After several minutes I speak, "Since being recognized as King of Ziran, I received two sutras from the fields. As if by magic, they appear in my Neuralink, by the hand of the Deva known as Glorious Eyes. The first is a sutra to teach how kings of human civilizations should rule to make sure people are free of suffering and the causes of suffering. We know the sutra as, The Sublime Golden Light Sutra. The second is the conjuring of magic crafted by Indra, Lord of the Heaven of The Thirty-Three Devas. That sutra teaches Pure Land. Amidha Buddha provided the lessons of the Pure Land. Until now both sutras had been lost for eight thousand years, and by the witchcraft known as magic, they have now been returned to us."
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While I stand here looking out at the people, they shout with joy and excitement. They dance, leap, and stomp their feet. I look toward the bands and see them playing trumpets and drums, and I can feel the vibration of all the energy as it pulsates. But I cannot hear any of it. I follow the light from the flowers with my eyes as they are beaming toward the stars.
My mind transcends, but I'm consumed with a specific concern, that of scanning for what to say next. Should I disclose everything in this initial TEDx? Would it overwhelm them and overload their way forward? So then I decide; I'll open my heart and make my mind silent. The Lion-Faced Buddha alone can speak from this body.
The difference between doing and being. Doing creates karma. Any action develops karma energy. Breathing, thinking, desiring, eating all forms of doing create karma and all karma bring consequence. While being is the acceptance for the way things are without desiring them to conform to our will. A state of being creates no karma and burns up any karma we already generated.
I close my eyes and halt my thinking. Unambitious, with no ego, with nothing to want or need. Open luminosity. I could sense my mind merging with The Source. Next, I can hear the surrounding sounds of triumphant joy and excitement.
Bold in my expression, I continue to shout:
"In every world, religions teach people to stop worrying about what other people think. As King, I think about what makes other people worry. I'm tasked to make a world where everybody transcends suffering. Knowing within every life, there's a single instance when the story ends. Life is a story, and we all need our lives to be bestsellers. How do we accomplish that? It's simple, live your life giving to what everyone else needs. How do you do that? It's easy; learn and practice the eightfold path every second while you can draw breath; love.
"Impossible? Yes, and unreasonable, this simple devotional stuff. How can we learn to love when it's so self-gratifying to scorn others? This human condition, coupled with a thinking egoic mind, causes every moment of existence to appear magical and tragic. We can look towards the horizon and experience the beauty of the view. The air smells sweet, the sounds of the birds overhead are a melody from the divine, the cool breeze feels comforting, and we are neither hungry nor do we thirst. Thereby, even in that joyful experience, our thoughts remind us of the tragedy of living beings. Maybe we remember this moment is temporary and a bird shits in your eye or the rain begins and it's cold, or it may be a reminder of a sick parent or how someone said something offensive. It could be any single or even several of the eighty-eight defilements that manifest.
"Political ideals divide our population by mind-numbing rhetoric that are at the core of political parties. Our society could accept the rule of laws that separate us in endless controversy over what is right and wrong. Judicial debates are infinite, and these do little more than hoodwink ourselves; believing our knowledge can define the finite. There are many wrong choices to use in a farce of governing societies.
"Therefore, we that Nirvana are an anomaly to those tried and failed human-crafted ritualistic phenomena. Our path to liberation began when our forty-four ancestors gave their lives to put us all on the shore. From today, we will live according to the Dharma. As they intended.
"Each day on the twenty-fifth hour, local town halls will hold teaching. Everyone will attend and take part. Four families will give testament to fulfilling their lineage vows. The following day, four more families will provide insight into their family vows. And, so on, and we will live, teach, share, and accomplish the forty-four. After the teachings, the ordained will lead the meditation."
After making this single decree as King of Planet Four Four Four, I read the vows that each family vowed to teach and share for the community.
"The Buddha himself provides these communal laws. The blessed one said: ... "effacement should be practiced by you:
1: 'Others will inflict harm; we shall not inflict harm here': effacement should be practiced thus.
2: 'Others will destroy life; we shall abstain from the destruction of life here': effacement shall be practiced thus.
3: 'Others will take what is not given; we shall abstain from taking what is not given here': effacement shall be practiced thus.
4: 'Others will be uncelibate; we shall be celibate here':...
5: 'Others will speak falsehood; we shall abstain from false speech here':...
6: 'Others will speak divisively; we shall abstain from divisive speech here':...
7: 'Others will speak harshly; we shall abstain from harsh speech here':...
8: 'Others will indulge in idle chatter; we shall abstain from idle chatter here':...
9: 'Others will be covetous; we shall be uncovetous here':...
10: 'Others will have ill will; we shall abstain from ill will here':...
11: 'Others will be of wrong view; we shall be of right view here':...
12: 'Others will be of wrong intention; we shall be of right intention here':...
13: 'Others will be of wrong speech; we shall be of right speech here':...
14: 'Others will be of wrong action; we shall be of right action here':...
15: 'Others will be of wrong livelihood; we shall be of right livelihood here':...
16: 'Others will be of wrong effort; we shall be of right effort here':...
17: 'Others will be of wrong mindfulness; we shall be of right mindfulness here':...
18: 'Others will be of wrong concentration; we shall be of right concentration here':...
19: 'Others will be of wrong knowledge; we shall be of right knowledge here':...
20: 'Others will be of wrong liberation; we shall be of right liberation here':...
21: 'Others will be overcome by dullness and drowsiness; we shall be free from dullness and drowsiness here':...
22: 'Others will be restless; we shall not be restless here':...
23: 'Others doubters; we shall go beyond doubt here':...
24: 'Others will be angry; we shall not be angry here':...
25: 'Others will be hostile; we shall not be hostile here':...
26: 'Others will be denigrators; we shall not be denigrators here':...
27: 'Others will be insolent; we shall not be insolent here':...
28" 'Others will be envious; we shall not be envious here':...
29: 'Others will be miserly; we shall not be miserly here':...
30: 'Others will be fraudulent; we shall not be fraudulent here':...
31: 'Others will be deceitful; we shall not be deceitful here':...
32: 'Others will be obstinate; we shall not be obstinate here':...
33: 'Others will be arrogant; we shall not be arrogant here':...
34: 'Others will be difficult to admonish; we shall be easy to admonish here':...
35: 'Others will have bad friends; we shall have good friends here':...
36: 'Others will be heedless; we shall be heedful here':...
37: 'Others will be faithless; we shall be faithful here':...
38: 'Others will be shameless; we shall be shameful here':...
39: 'Others will have no fear of wrongdoing; we shall be afraid of wrongdoing here':...
40: 'Others will be of little learning; we shall be of great learning here':...
41: 'Others will be lazy; we shall be energetic here':...
42: 'Others will be unmindful; we shall be mindful here':...
43: 'Others will be foolish; we shall possess wisdom here':...
44: 'Others will adhere to their own views, hold on them tenaciously, and relinquish them with difficulty; we shall not adhere to our views or hold on to them tenaciously, but shall relinquish them easily': effacement should be practiced thus."
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"I claim all of you for transcendence to the Pure Lands. Before Shakyamuni, Maitreya, Manjusri, Sarvashua, and Bhaishajya-sena I open the fields to all conscious beings hearing these words or anywhere on this planet, from today and forever. All of them, are forever free from the suffering of Samsara. Liberation is claimed for us all."
The monks again chant the twenty-one repetitions, they twist and turn their wrists to ignite the damarus they're holding in their hand. All the while, the people watch the queen (Visákhá) and I leave the amphitheater. Our wife, Vallena, along with Drrea, Danip, Airodia, Utotutua, Merliana, Shavarah, and Kyphi join us. We walk through the Palace gardens and take the pathway to the Palace. As we walk together, hundreds of people follow us. The people want to be close to the living Buddha, so they can listen to what I say.
Vallena says, "Do you guys ever wonder about how weird this whole self . . . thing is? I do. Right now, for example, during an event where the entire population of the planet comes together. There we are—all two thousand of us. Everyone is talking to somebody. They're talking about their wives or their boyfriends, the new King or something. You know what I mean . . . they are talking something. But, while we are talking and listening, in the back of our minds, is this self-identity (ego)? We think everything is a unique experience because there is one of me.
“So, you are lucky I'm talking to you because you are one of very few.
"That's an example of the illusion which develops in us because we don't sense the source of the thing—we are all having right now. Together. As if we are of one mind and one ego, not several. Not unique. We cannot sense that we are the same, but we can intuit. We can reason the truth from out of it, but we can't touch it or sense it.
"The bizarre part is realizing it. You know . . . To realize that we are one mind and unable to experience it. But we reason it from intuition. Then you look another person in the eyes and start a conversation while wondering what they are thinking. That bakes my mind without the smoke."
Then we stop walking and pause for a minute to contemplate what she said. And, one by one, each of us captures the eyes of one another, looking back and looking back at who? Themself, or is that someone different? With that thought, I walk on and I wave for them to come along with me.
Thick clouds are moving across the sky casting dark shadows over us and the people who walk along with us. The clouds part now and again giving way to intense bright light for a moment or two before another thick nebulous cloud shades us. Dust and plant leaves blow across the route and we try to shield our faces from the discomfort, as we try to not breathe the thicker particles of dirt by looking down and away from the oncoming wind gusts. We pick up the pace and hurry our way to the palace.
"Chibusa," Vallena, I say. "Bassackwards, as my great grandfather used to say. But, chibusa! The idea that the mind can formulate a reason for an intuition means we are of one mind, not an individual, which is backward reasoning.
"Understanding that because we don't feel it, and we don't sense it, doesn't mean we are of one mind. It means there is nothing there to feel and sense because there isn't anything to feel or sense. It's like reasoning because we use our noses the same way so, therefore, there is one nose.
"As if eyes all do the same thing. Meaning we all enjoy one sight? I don't think so. Instead, it means that because we can use intuition to discern reasoning is to ignore that a mind can find a reason for anything. It illustrates why the mind needs training, and why we strive to teach the mind. Because if you can teach the mind to be controlled, you can go far above this sort of limited reasoning as you described. Many higher-level discoveries are waiting for the trained mind.
"To get there, to possess a controlled mind rather than being controlled by your mind takes daily discipline to the exercise of it. You must be diligent in your intention to transcend. You'll need to watch your mind the same way you would be diligent about a broken elbow. Your arm is in a brace, slung over your neck to suspend the broken arm in front of your body. There you are, walking through a crowded room of people at a party. Diligent and watching so the broken arm won't get bumped or else it's going to hurt!"
Visákhá spoke up, "Okay, I get that, but what fries my mind, even more so with the smoke, is how dumb we are. By we, I mean humankind. Imagine this. Two hundred and seventy thousand years of human existence, and we're still making the same mistakes as we did before we decided it's better to stay in the cave when it's raining.
"Stay with me while I set the stage. Some dingleberry in the year... what... I don't know, but let's say the year four hundred and thirty-two. This dingleberry says to everyone he meets; 'I'm the King.' After he says it, he moves on to the next person or group of people and tells them the same; 'I'm the King.' Everywhere he goes and everyone he meets the same thing, 'I'm the King.' People, he said, 'I'm the King,' watch him walk away and ask themselves, 'What's a King?'
"One by one, they try to reason what it must mean to be the King. One woman said it means he can go wherever he wants, and another said he could say whatever he wants. Then, some guy added to their aggregate and said, it means he is special. So, here we are today, two hundred thousand years later, still defining it. We've designed communities around it, education systems, laws, and rules. We create governments and currencies all because we seem unable to, or cannot define what the word King means.
"It means nothing. King is just a word. It's the mind that makes it seem like there is something more. Teach, train, and watch the mind, 'with diligence,' my husband says. 'There are higher levels of discovery,' he reminds us. Otherwise, if we do not train it with diligent efforts, we will realize how powerful the untamed mind can seem. The untrained mind, when left alone, becomes the ego-mind and believes itself to be intelligent.
"It isn't."
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The entourage reaches the palace and we group at the foot of the stairs that lead up to my palace home. The stairs wind upward the four floors of the building containing the judge's chambers, courtrooms, and the King's chambers. At the end of the stairs, at the top of the building, is an expansive rooftop home.
When Visákhá finished talking, she invited everyone to come up to the house for drinks and try her new plants. Looking up the stairway toward the doors to our home, above the rooftop, I see the flowers still beaming the countless colors of light rays towards Faust and Kelly. The second storm of the day is ready to flood down on us, but the beams of light penetrate through them.
The entrance to my home is unremarkable, but you are treated to a breathtaking view when you step through the doors. Across the main room, there's a wall of windows allowing you to peer out over a large terrace, and the view beyond is of the palace gardens to the amphitheater. My friends stand in front of the windows, looking out at the garden. They are watching the beams of light shooting through the clouds and the pouring rain.
Utotutua comes into the main room from the kitchen. She's carrying a large water bong with eight hoses and mouthpieces. A large shisha bowl at the top, which she fills with the new ganja. The fresh skunky scent of it interrupts the breath. "Please, everyone, take a pillow," she says as she sets the bong in the center of ten meditation pillows laid in a spacious circle.
"Should I tell them, or do you prefer to do the honors?" Utotutua asks Visákhá. We are getting comfortable on top of the pillows, and Visákhá takes the half lotus pose. "You tell us about it," she replies. With that, Utotutua bows and performs the five rests to honor the group before speaking.
"I have been working with Visákhá and her mother on the experiment using light filters to alter the plant's intention. I aim to produce a plant that we could use to improve problem-solving and mental clarity. Without technology, as we are aware, we still have the original forty-four Neuralink brain implants and organic implants for memory storage and recall but that's the extent of it.
"We could do so much more if we had a Neuralink for everyone. We don’t and some of those we do are displaying signs of decay. We've noticed poor connections and failed memory sectors on the devices as we remove them from the deceased and implant them according to their inheritance. However, there is good news that I'm happy to share with you. The results of the light filter experiment, which our clinical trials exceed my expectations.
"Just a moment to set the stage for why this is critical for our community. In the face of multiple existential events, extinction as it were. We need critical thinking and cognitive abilities at higher than normal brain functions.
"Humans can do one thing at a time with the mind. Our memory recall is wicked fast, and that makes us think we can multitask, but one thought process at a time is the limit. A simple example is playing the guitar. Some people can play the guitar and sing at the same time. However, if you watch, they will strum a few cords, sing a line, strum more, pause, and sing another line. It happens so fast that we think they are playing and singing at the same time. A better example is to have a conversation with one person while holding a text message conversation in your right hand with someone else about a different subject. Then, hold the remote control in your left hand and scroll the selection to open the windows. Impossible, right?
"This new strain of cannabis gives us the ability to put mind and body into a new paradigm of capability. What you are about to experience will revolutionize how we solve issues, plan for a crisis, and elevate our existence.
"The high from this ganja starts with a hazy euphoric awakening, within seconds this shifts to a more energetic cerebral awakening. The intensity builds over the first ten minutes as we feel the silverback exerting its influence. There is an expanding, strong, smooth energy flow to complement the increasing euphoric body high.
"Between ten and fifteen minutes you will be aware of a power that enables you to observe your mind and body from a detached perspective. This becomes, over the next two to three minutes, a sense of disassociation, a space between your conscious awareness and mortal existence.
"Along the way, you notice the experience is always there only now it comes to the surface of your awareness and feel natural. Effortless, you realize the ego-mind, multitasking with a hundred thoughts at the same time. Your disassociated controlling voice manages all of it with ease. The inner voice is subdued. There's a strong sense of elation as you power and observe one hundred ideas, at the same time.
"Now you take the second toke. Draw the smoke into your lungs and exhale in a slow controlled effort. Your power now becomes one of methodical and organizing and the capacity expands and becomes similar to a beehive of a thousand bees. Each bee is a single thought, idea, or problem. You are aware of, organizing, coordinating, and building relational groups and subgroups.
"The disassociated conscious awareness recognizes egoless existence. A realization of the True Self. A sense of freedom similar to the sixth Jhana that allows you to transcend outward.
"After the third time you draw in the smoke, your mind becomes similar to five beehives. This is where we solve more problems and work with more variables than a supercomputer.
"Before we start, there are two warnings. First, drink the water in the glass next to you as often as possible and drink more when you grow sleepy. Water fuels the blood, and blood fuels the mind. The housekeepers will keep the water full in your glass. The experience lasts for about three and a half hours—one last thing. Do not take the fourth toke. You won't like what you find there."
I look around the room as my friends begin to pull on the pipe hoses. Then bubbles pop in the bottom of the pipe, while silver-gray wisps of smoke rise from the bowl. I fumble with the hose pipe in my hand. It feels solid, smooth, and contoured as it's crafted to perfection for its function. My speech went well today and I feel accomplished.
The smoke warms my mouth and I am aware of the taste of toasted bread with sweet butter. I pull the smoke inside and feel its pepper-spice caress fill my lungs. The effect is immediate, my mind awakens to an exploration of thoughts arising and subsiding.
"What are we calling this medication?" Asks Danip.
"I call it the enlightenment train," replies Visákhá.
