The Magical Journey Of The Lotus
The lotus flower is one of the most remarkable creations of nature.
In a beautiful and remote land, where silence sounds like the most magical music and the air is sweeter than honey, there lies a Magic Lake. On the azure surface of the water, on thin but strong stems, every morning, beautiful lotuses open, greeting each other and the surrounding world.
Each of them is beautiful and unique in its own way: white, pink, red, and even yellow and blue, and the Magic Lake gently reflects their images in its pure water.
One day on the lake the following story happened ...
An immaculate Great Lotus, extraordinarily beautiful, began a conversation with its little seeds, which had matured in his pocket in the middle of the flower.
"My dear children, here you have all grown up and it's time for you to find your own way. A complicated and dangerous journey awaits you, at the end of which each of you may become as beautiful as all the inhabitants of our world. But not all of you will be able to go all the way and come home. Listen to me carefully. Within each of you are hidden three priceless treasures. If in a moment of danger you will remember this, you will be able to pass any trial. the three treasures are Truth, Goodness, and Forbearance. There is no situation in the world that They will not help you overcome. Listen to me even more carefully now...", said the Great Lotus, whispering his last instructions to his little seeds.
Finally, the Great Lotus added: "I believe in each and every one of you and I will be waiting for you at home on The Magic Lake."
The Magical Journey Begins
In the evening, the seed pocket leaned over the water and all the seeds fell into the waters of The Magic Lake.
One of the seeds was rushing faster than the others, and kept asking itself: "I do not understand! Why did the Great Lotus say that the journey will be difficult and full of danger when the water is clear and transparent, look, even the sun can be seen through it?"
(The little seed was too inexperienced to know that falling is much easier than climbing.)
The deeper the little seed sank, the darker the water became, until it was all mud and fen. "Oh, come on!" cried Seed, "you can't see anything here!".
The World of Absolute Darkness
It kept sinking deeper and deeper into the mud beneath the water until at last the descent ended. Frightened, the little seed closed its eyes. After a while, Seed dared to open one eye and then the second, but absolutely nothing could be seen around as it was completely dark. "Well, where should I go now? Where is my home? How do I get back?"
In answer to its questions, the seed suddenly heard a strange sound. Something dark and long was approaching it very fast. Soon, the little one managed to see a creature that looked like a hideous crocodile, with a spine-covered body. On the back of the monster was written its name, but due to the darkness, it could not be read.
"Little seed," the spooky creature said, "I've been waiting for you, where we have another kind of world."
"But do not be afraid, a new life awaits you, and I am willing to give you a piece of precious advice. In life, there are all sorts of situations. Sometimes someone might accidentally (because it is very dark here), or under the influence of a bad mood (and the inhabitants of our world are always in a bad mood) might tell you insulting words. Under no circumstances let this go unpunished! Give it back double, triple, hit him back strongly, so that others know how things stand."
The mysterious creature continues his squeaky speech. Frightened, the little seed thought: "Maybe that is what it takes. How else can you survive in this horrible place?" But it immediately remembered the words of the Great Lotus and began to reflect, "If I follow the monster's advice, I will stay forever in this filthy place and look just as terrible."
The monster continued to approach slowly. If the little seed had accepted even one of his ideas, the crocodile would have had every right to bite a piece of it - because in this world no one offers anything for free, not even a piece of advice. In that case, it would have become impossible for Seed to return and become a beautiful flower above the Lake.
"Any situation has a solution! Any situation has a solution!" - Seed kept repeating in its mind and suddenly remembered the three Treasures. This was the main secret of the Great Lotus: always remember that deep inside you are hidden three bright and powerful Treasures: Truth, Compassion, and Forbearance. For sure, that which is most righteous and necessary will come to your aid.
And then a miracle happened! As soon as Seed refused to agree with the monster's evil counsels, an enchanting glow kindly enveloped it, and the shining star of Goodness illuminated everything around. The seed took the time to read what was written on the back of the beast: Evilness.
A mighty force like a giant swing tossed the little one upwards. When the light gradually faded, a completely different world appeared around it. The World of Absolute Darkness was already far away and a new Obscure World now surrounded the little traveler.
The Obscure World
Here there was a little more light and easier to breathe. Seed looked around and noticed, "Two petals have already appeared! Hooray! I'm turning into a real flower!"
But it was too early to rejoice.
Out of the darkness approached a hideous frog. It stepped carefully with its feet over the sticky bank and muttered: "I greet you in our world! The rules we have here are very simple. Every man for himself. You must not help anyone. Just mind your own interests in every situation. And to that end, you can even lie. If you did something wrong - blame it on others; if you share sweets, do it like this: five parts for you, one part for the others".
Seed examined the creature who said these strange things with wide-open eyes. What it was saying was so different from what the Great Lotus had taught the little seeds on the Magic Lake!
This time the saving thought about the Three Treasures came faster, for the little one had no intention of staying in the Obscure World, living by its rules and resembling its inhabitants. Instantly, the brilliant star of Truth appeared and shrouded Seed with a protective veil and forcibly pushed it up. Seed had just enough time to read the inscription on the frog's back - The Lie.
The Gloomy World
At this point, our traveler reached the Gloomy World, where it could happily move all six petals! Yes, yes, now they have become three times as many! With each victory, the little seed grew and became stronger. Through the translucent water, the rays of the sun could be foreseen somewhere far away. But the trials were not over.
In the distance, there was a disgusting worm that looked like a thick snake. It crawled slowly, examining and studying the little Lotus as if it wanted to find out where its weal point was. The worm was more cunning than the other inhabitants of the World of Absolute Darkness and the Obscure World, though much weaker.
Its voice was so flattering: "You're lucky, little Lotus - now you can call yourself that. Our world is very quiet, there is no wind, the water is not too dark either. The rules are simple and pleasant. First of all, if you don't want to do anything, then you don't have to. You do not have to learn or make any efforts, you can get around any difficulty. Secondly, we don't need friends either, otherwise, we will sometimes have to put up with their bad moods or help them in difficult situations. Thirdly, if someone tells you something unpleasant, don't restrain yourself, say the worst things that come to your mind... ".
"Of course, it is very tempting all the time to sit back and do nothing, but that way you won't learn anything interesting and you won't learn anything. And on top of that, you get bored being alone all the time - it's so awful. No, no, no! I have everything in my heart to get out of this gloomy world", thought the little one.
Little Lotus was right and the third treasure was ready to come to its aid. The Forbearance Star grew rapidly in its heart until its glow enveloped the little Lotus and began to lift it up. The worm named The Sloth was rapidly shrinking in size until it disappeared somewhere far below, and the sunlight became brighter and brighter and the water became more crystalline.
Gradually the star's light went off, but the young Lotus was not needing any extra help. It became stronger and the stem supporting the flower grew faster and more confident. The Dark, Obscure, and Gloomy Worlds had remained far back. Going through the Transparent World was very easy and pleasant, as the sun warmed it and enlightened it with its golden rays.
Now the boundary between water and air was left behind, and the young Lotus - that yesterday was just a little seed - has majestically emerged on the surface of the Magic Lake.
"Welcome home!", resounded the happy voice of the Great Lotus. It was the kind voice that the young traveler always heard during his trials, and whose invisible support he always felt. "Now you have become strong and splendid so beautiful, you will be able to support others with your strength and you will delight them with the perfection of your beauty".
The young Lotus looked at its reflection in the water... and saw a beautiful flower with transparent, shining petals.
All around, more and more lotuses grew. Each one of them has gone through his own way and brought their unique beauty to the world. If you pay attention, everyone looks at YOU with great hope: Follow YOUR own way as well as you can!
(The story was written by Ludmila Oriol, a Ukrainian practitioner of Falun Dafa - an ancient spiritual practice that has the principles Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance at its very core)
