Enlightenment

fictionspawn Aak, ,

A dragon and a monk Aak fictionspawn

Every day he sat by the river side, meditating to the sound of the waterfalls. There was nowhere in the world he felt more connected than right here, nowhere he felt closer to himself, to the Universe. Nowhere he could see clearer.

Today he had gone up there before the sun went up. He sat there all day, the river always changing, always the same.

He sat there through the morning, through the afternoon. The sun was going down in a distance, colouring the sky. He was there, and only there, drifting on into eternity. So real. So present.

He saw something, in the mist floating over the little lake. Something moved, making shadows. The mist rose, Colours appeared. A dragon took shape before him, staring down at him, watching him where he sat, observing it all.

You have been searching, the dragon said.

I have, he answered in his silent mind.

Your search is over, my old friend. You have found me.

The dragon flew up in the air, spun up towards the clouds in the sky. It dived down, down towards him, through the air between them. The old man was waiting for nothing as the dragon reached him, entered into his body, entered his mind.

As they became one, he knew. He knew he was the river, and the river was him. The dragon was everything, and everything was the dragon. He knew all he needed to know, and there was nothing to be afraid of. There never had been.

 

https://www.thoughtco.com/dragons-449955

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-enlightenment-449966

The Old Man Who Knew

Published by fictionspawn Aak

Norwegian trilingual writer and illustrator. Contact information in my Gallery.

20 Comments

  2. Nice, poetic piece. We are living in a time which require revolving to the ancient times, the nature an humanity is one. (I am not so sure about the dragon)

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    1. Thank you. Indeed, the Buddhist view on nature is a lot more sostainable than the one of Christianity and the cultures based on it. The dragon is in Buddhism a symbol of enlightenment, which I found out doing some research for the story when the illustration was already more or less done. The story was kind of written in the illustration even before I knew it 🙂

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  4. Succintly told. I am in awe of the brevity and depth of this. Like a Japanese painting that looks like it was done with a few simple brush-strokes but lays bare an entire landscape of possibilities.

    Well done.

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  9. Good to see that you are still working away. I remember you said to me once “I won’t give up” and so you haven’t. Nice work here, and a fine illustration, too.

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