Yasho and the cave of enlightenment – an original fantasy story ch3/10

Ending the meditation
Full moon arrived at the end of winter and Yasho was prepared to exit his cave after three years, three months and three days of meditation in darkness. He had spent the last lunar cycle more and more in waking consciousness, as well as activating his physical body, via yoga stretches and subtle pressure point stimulation. The month of preparation was necessary in order to properly re-acclimatize to the outside world. 39 months in his cave had been a powerful and life-altering experience, as anyone can imagine. But now it was time to emerge.

While in deep meditative trance for hours on end, day after day, month after month, with no distractions, Yasho had felt time stand still as he became the silent witness and observer. He was able to dis-identify with his body, which had become like a mere piece of clothing that he temporarily wore, only to be discarded when it had outlived its purpose. He had felt what it was like to be outside the body, to look down upon it, and to be free to travel far and wide without it. He knew it was not his self, which existed before the body emerged from the womb of his mother and which will exist when the body is gone. As a result he felt little attachment to the body or to any extensions of the body, like nationality, family, caste or tribe. While in his meditation Yasho had been able to change his shape to any other form he chose. He could fly as free as an eagle, swim as deep as a whale or even escape the earth’s stratosphere altogether and journey to other altogether more heavenly planetary realms situated throughout the galaxy. Once the body was transcended he was able to move at the speed of the mind, faster than the speed of light. There he met heavenly beings and demigods, visited their celestial palaces and learned their wonderful arts, all of which he brought back with him as memories and gifts that he could share with those who qualified to receive them.

Yasho slowly flexed his limbs and made an effort to stand. He had been seated in meditation for many days solid during his last stage of intensified practice. And for the past few days he had begun adding more movement in order to gradually build up to this point at the full moon, when he concluded his retreat. He ate some of the last remaining chickpea flour from his supplies, mixed with water trickling into his cave via the rock crevices. He had not eaten for several days but knew it was necessary now in order to assist his body to regain some strength to carry him back down the mountain. Most of his energy was coming from the abundant “prana” or “chi force” that he assimilated from the atmosphere through his chakras, the energy centres running up the spine from base to top. Nevertheless, some protein from the chickpeas would add to that, especially since he was now going to use his body for the first time in three years. While in the cave his movements had been gradually reduced to mere yoga stretches and postures, accompanied by hours of motionless sitting in trance. Now he had spent the last month gradually returning to a more active routine in order to stimulate his body and prepare it to carry him out of the cave and back into the world of humans.

Yasho could feel his long beard flowing from his face. He had been in total dark for 39 months while in the cave, so had no idea what he looked like, or what anything looked like, or if his eyes even worked. Now with the full moon peaking high in the sky, he knew it was time to test his faculties and find out for sure. The nails on his hands and feet were so long that they curled over like leaves once they passed the tips of his fingers and toes. His simple pieces of cloth that covered the upper and lower halves of his body were worn and in tatters, but since the temperature within his cave had remained fairly constant throughout, he had never needed much else. The one extra blanket would come in handy for his descent from the high mountain cliffs down to the hills below where the ancient monastery awaited him, like a long forgotten memory or something imagined or dreamed once long ago. He had already sent a message to the monastery head via mental telepathy. It was a reply to the one he received telling him that his final month in isolation was about to end. He acknowledged the message sent to him and prepared for his return to the world.

Yasho stood and walked to the cave entrance 9 paces away. There he found his sandals and slipped his feet into them. And then he removed the wooden branches that had held the wooden cave door in place. It fell toward him onto the floor yet still Yasho saw nothing. He felt nothing. Probing with his hands toward the exit of the cave, he made contact with the wall of snow that had piled up against his cave door during the past winter months. He would have to scrape away at it in order to get through to the outside world. Using the tree branch that was available, he poked away at the snow wall until parts of it began to flop to the floor of the cave. He dug at it still further and after some time it began to offer less resistance. The stick made a good digging tool in the hardened snow but it was not enough to unblock the doorway enough for him to crawl through. Yasho saw that the snow had been prolific over the past winter, and it would require more than the stick to move it from the doorway. So he placed the palm of his hand upon the snowy wall and focused his chi force toward his hand as it pushed against the snow. He sent volumes of heat radiating down his arm and to his palm and fingers. After a few moments he felt his hand pushing through into the snow as it melted all around his palm. By sending more chi force through his hand, the snow wall gradually began to cave in and fall to the floor, until he was able to feel a tunnel big enough for him to crawl through.

(image pixabay)