Heavenly Creatures

I halfheartedly cleaned the apartment at night and slept early. The next morning, I found a bowl of cereal waiting for me. After I had eaten it, the old man suddenly appeared in front of me.

“You call this clean?” he asked, looking critically at a spot of milk I hadn’t mopped up.

“I just ate!” I said. “I was going to clean it.”

“Don’t lie to me, Tara. I know you weren’t going to.” The old man tutted and wagged his finger at me, which made me angrier than it should have.

“Fine!” I said, getting out a yellow rag and wiping down the table. “Happy?”

The old man sniffed. “Adequate. But just barely. You have far to go.”

I threw the rag onto the table. “What do you mean?”

The old man put up three fingers and ticked them off as he spoke. “Keep this apartment clean, remember your prayers, and be happy.”

“Oh, well, that’s easy, then,” I said sarcastically.

“Don’t give me sass, young lady,” the old man said. “I will be back when you can maintain at least one of these precepts.”

I scoffed. “Oh, please, of course I can do one of them.”

“We shall see,” the old man said. He held up a hand in greeting before disappearing into a thin mist. I walked over to where he had been and waved my hands through the air, half expecting to find he was still there. But my hands went through the space easily.

“Amazing,” I said, impressed despite myself. I had always been the one teleporting with Sun; seeing the result of it amazed me all over again. I looked up. “When can I learn to do something like that?” I asked, sensing that the old man could probably hear me. But there was only silence in reply.

Sighing, I picked up the yellow rag and began cleaning the table. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

The old man didn’t return the next day, or the next, or the next. Each time he didn’t show up, I redoubled my efforts regarding my apartment. But all of the cleaning in the world seemed to be in vain.

One night, I had a dream. In it, I stalked through a burning village wielding my sword. A woman ran across my peripheral vision, and I followed her to where she and her husband were hiding. The man looked strong, and it wasn’t in my nature to show mercy.

“Please,” the woman begged, falling to her knees and holding my leg. “Please don’t kill him.”

I looked down at her, and all I could feel was contempt for her weakness.

“Woman, get out of the way, or I shall have to kill you both.”

“Please don’t kill us,” the woman begged, weeping.

I drove my sword through her, then through the man. But their eyes remained imprinted in my memory.

The dream changed to show me in the backseat of the gray car, with my parents slumped over the seats in front. It seemed to me, looking into their glassy eyes, that they mirrored the eyes of the man and woman from the village.

I woke up with a start, disturbed, and looked around, hoping that Sun or the old man would be near. But my room was empty. The clock read 5 a.m.

I got up and picked up the yellow rag, which was a bit gray. I decided to wash the rag first. After I had done so, I cleaned the apartment with more vigor than before, wanting to erase the dream from my mind. But as I scrubbed the floor, all I could see were the eyes of the woman, which had seemed to lie open in resentment even in death.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered as I scrubbed a spot of dirt off the corner of the floor. “I’m sorry.”

A strange pair of shoes suddenly appeared before me, and I looked up to see a long white beard. The old man had returned.

“You aren’t praying,” the old man said, muting my happiness at having him there.

“Yes,” I said in reply, wanting to share my dream with him but unsure of where to start. Then again, maybe he already knew about it.

“Let me teach you a prayer to use,” the old man said, unfolding a long scroll. “This is called the Heart Sutra. Ahem.

“Avalokitesvara, while practicing deeply with the Insight that brings us to the other shore, suddenly discovered that all of the five Skandhas are equally empty, and with this realization, she overcame all ill-being.

“Listen, Sariputra, this body itself is emptiness, and emptiness itself is this body. This body is not other than emptiness and emptiness is not other than this body. The same is true of feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness.

“Listen, Sariputra, all phenomena bear the mark of emptiness. Their true nature is the nature of no birth, no death, no being, no non-being, no defilement, no purity, no increasing, no decreasing.

“That is why in emptiness, body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness are not separate self entities.

“The eighteen realms of phenomena, which are the six sense organs, the six sense objects, and the six consciousnesses are also not separate self entities.

“The twelve links of interdependent arising and their extinction are also not separate self entities. Ill-being, the causes of ill-being, the end of ill-being, the path, insight and attainment, are also not separate self entities.

“Whoever can see this no longer needs anything to attain.

“Bodhisattvas who practice the insight that brings us to the other shore see no more obstacles in their mind, and because there are no more obstacles in their mind, they can overcome all fear, destroy all wrong perceptions and realize perfect Nirvana.

“All Buddhas in the past, present and future, by practicing the insight that brings us to the other shore, are all capable of attaining authentic and perfect enlightenment.

“Therefore, Sariputra, it should be known that the insight that brings us to the other shore is a great mantra, the most illuminating mantra, the highest mantra, a mantra beyond compare, the True Wisdom that has the power to put an end to all kinds of suffering. Therefore, let us proclaim a mantra to praise the insight that brings us to the other shore.

“Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!

“Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!

“Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!”

Ceremoniously, the old man closed the scroll and handed it to me. I snapped my mouth shut and took it carefully. Before I could get in a word edgewise, the old man bowed to me with a smile.

“Remember: keep this apartment clean, pray, and be happy. I shall be back when you can keep two of these commandments.”

And with that, I was alone once more.