Perfect Light

Human history is history of hope and disappointment. From the beginning people expected life to be peaceful and meaningful. But what happened,  Lord Buddha   Shakyamuni  tried   to   be   poisoned,  Jesus Christ was crucified, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr were shot. In our time,  Pakistan   is angry at India, India does not get along with China, Iran hates Israel, Israel treats Palestinians improperly. Everything move from darkness of disappointment to darkness of disappointment.

Clean Clear Quietness

The  list of Masters can be extended, science and technology can progress into sophisticated stage, but history does not change.  For that reason, a friend who is the chief editor of a spiritual magazine in Bali - after deeply disturbed reporting much conflict - asked impatiently: is there any solution? To be honest, in the stage of clarity the nature of each creation is always in pairs. Similar to pairs of day and night, hard rock paired with soft water in the river. Whether it is analyzed or not, just as it is. Even when in the times when there were prophets -  for example the story of Rama and Ravana - fixed pair of creation were born. Rama representing the good, Ravana representing the bad. In the language of Balinese elder: "nak mula keto" (thing just is).

Each Self inquiry who cultivate deeply then meet  the well of silence understand, that  the nature of creation  is in pairs outside (read: good is the enemy of bad, right is the opposite of wrong, etc). This causes a lot of stress because the mind of lay people is full of conflict. People with narrow mind even dare to kill because they think they are right and the others are wrong. But in the depth of the deep, these pairs are interdependent. People need bad guy to know good person, because there are bad people then the good ones are well respected. Destroy one pair elements - for example eliminate crime entirely - the same as destroying the two. If there is no evil, goodness disappeared because without comparison.

That's why highly realized  spiritual Masters have judgment-free eyes, their attitude is like the full moon that illuminates all without discrimination. Especially because  both  pairs   need   each  other,  the  two  are mutually illuminating. In addition, the difference between good and bad just as thin as a hair. In a round of long time often seen, a disaster in one day could be a blessing in another time, a friend in a life turned into an opponent in another life. That is why, a lot of friends who have captured the essence of meditation then thanked to the medicine of  S3 (senyum senyum saja). No matter what happen, keeps smiling. Borrowing from  Rumi,  all is sent as guides from the beyond. This is the fruit of meditation, the  inner clear and clean quietness.

Guru as the Light

Some friends who spent much time in clear and clean quietness asked: why nature often gives sign of light? Put it simply, one who is light inside (similar to the positive-negative synthesis that produces light) could see light everywhere, one who is darkness inside will see darkness everywhere. That is why, in all religion there are abundant symbol of light. In Islam it is called Nur, the Hindus  termed  it as Teja, in Buddhism there is Jiyoti,  in the Church often heard the message "I am the Light". Various approaches available to meet the Light.

Eiji Yoshikawa (Japanese famous writer whose masterpiece is Musashi) wrote with clarity about the journey  to find perfection in the way of samurai. The consecutive stairs start from soil, water, fire, wind, sky, full moon and the sun, and the peak of journey is Perfect Light. A series of secret staircases that thrilling. The number of ladder is seven, which is well known in the community of saints as holy number.

To be honest, every inner inquiry  of Perfect Light is unique. In the story of Musashi, he began with a man with an amazing muscular strength. Repeatedly on the journey, he was reminded by living Guru, Guru of holy scripture, symbolical Guru, the inner secret Guru: "It is a big mistake to assume that muscular strength only can bring one into perfection". For this reason, Musashi diligently trained himself to be softer and more gentle as well.

It is not easy to change muscular strength into softness of the heart. Musashi was tied up in the trees for days by his master. Been inserted into the library for three years. Many times he was face to face with death through the battle that brought risk of death. Musashi was once frustrated then pursue a Master zen. At the peak of frustration, he bowed respectfully to the foot of his Master, and the Master just draw a perfect circle as symbol of perfection (mandala) on the ground. That was not the end of the trip, especially since the mandala was not yet embodied. In order to embody the mandala, Musashi spent much time in the open space like the mountaintop alone, soaking in a very cold river, cultivate barren land into well-fertiled land. And the most important was educating himself as hard as possible, serving others as humble as possible.

The peak of softness happened when he was ready to do high level of fight against Sasaki Kojiro. Unlike the samurai in general who prepare sword for fight, Musashi spent much time in the silence of nature, in a boat on the way to fight he carved wood to blend perfectly with the mandala (perfection). As a perfect circle representing the mandala, birth is not the beginning death is not the ending. The victory does not defeat losers. Both winning and losing keep rotating all the time. Everything flows painting the same perfection. And when the fight happened, Musashi was in trance, he could not separate the sky and the earth, which is friend which is opponent, which is the self which is not self. In the spiritual language, the long experience of Musashi is framed by purification, perfection, union. Beginning with purifying oneself from all forms of obstructions. Or being free from negative qualities, being free from any external knowledge. Continued to enhance the positive qualities such as loving-kindness and compassion. Then it may be born of oneness experience. In this oneness,  all couples - including self-enemy, win-lose, sky-earth - embraced each other and illuminate each other. As a result, in few movements Sasaki Kojiro fell. Few seconds after that, Musashi began to realize that he was Musashi.

In a much more simple language, purification is the first step. It represented by the figure zero. Zero is not only free of negative energy, but also can combine the positive-negative (one form of perfection). As a result, the figure zero is not only the representative of passive apathetic life but also emit light. As the full moon and the sun that naturally emit light, one who arrived here is naturally emit light of loving-kindness and compassion.  And when one perfectly embodying compassion then life becomes an experience of oneness (by which read: figure one). The natural consequence of this,  as the numbers in mathematics, life flows dynamically between zero and one.

Guru Devotion (Guru Yoga)

And one of the important bridge to be in one with Perfect Light is Guru Yoga. A kind of deep spiritual practice that unifying  student's mind and heart  with the mind and heart of Guru *) (living Guru,  Guru of holy scripture, symbolical Guru and innermost secret Guru). In relation with practice of Guru Yoga, the most magical and thrilling time of doing Guru Yoga is when the full moon sets in the west, the sun rises in the east, that's the perfect time when Perfect Light is visualized as a living Guru who meditate above both sun and full moon.  When the Perfect Light appear in the form of god for example, it would be difficult to understand the teachings since the language and the realm are different. When Perfect Light manifest  in the human body then the holy teachings can be easily understood. Therefore, in Tibetan Tantra a living Guru with human body is valued as Perfect Light.  This is also the reason why Musashi respected a living Master like Takuan Soho very much. It is impossible to go out from dark tunnel without the help of light. In the same way, it is impossible to embody Perfect Light without the help of Guru. Sometimes someone asks,  what is the characteristics of a living Guru who has perfectly embodying Perfect Light? One of them, he/she has transformed five kilesha (ignorance, anger, pride, lust and envy) who are hated by all lay person, into Five Dhyani Buddhas (Vairocana, Aksobya, Ratnasambhawa,  Amitabha,  Amogasiddhi). **) When the anger and arrogance for example actually represent perfection, then it is easy to see perfection in many positive qualities.

In this light of understanding, then history is no longer hystory of hope and disappointment. Life then is decorated by S3 (senyum senyum saja). Keep smiling all the time. Smile is not only a form of mouth yoga, but also representing that one already become a master of life. Only by being a master of life, then one can have perfect compassion.

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*) The reason why a living Guru is valued as the Perfect Light, because it helps the disciples much in embodying the holy teachings. Something to do with the student, not the Guru. Here are some reasons why such respect and believe in Guru is important. First, as explicitly written in the holy books of Tantra that "Guru is the root of the path". Without roots certainly there is no  growth.  The  famous  story  about  the  old  lady in Tibet who devoted to a dog teeth then it turns into relics (sacred objects) is a good example, and the old story of Kinakilaya in India who devoted to a statue of Guru Drona then could be a perfect archer, is another example of how important faith to the Guru is. Marpa even told his pupil Milarepa, when your teacher is no longer seen as human, but rather seen as a Buddha indicating that enlightenment is very close.

Second, the behavior of any holy book is full of contradictions. In one section, the command of holy book: "bring umbrella", on the other part there is an order that saying "do not bring an umbrella". Only in the hands of Master this contradiction can be resolved. A number of students asked to bring an umbrella because they will pass rainy weather, the other students ordered not to bring an umbrella because the weather will be bright. Third, the Guru is respected  because he/she is a living scripture.  He/she is sacred because deeply inside there is the living spirit of holy book. Fourth, Guru is sacred in Tantra because in the four cardinal directions  are guarded by sacred guards. Not in all circumstances guards can be controlled. Fifth, the teacher-student relationship in Tantra is a very long relationship. If one does not pass in this life it will continue to the next life. So that violations against Teachers could bring consequences not meeting the Guru in the following life.

**) This is one of the secrets teaching of Tantra, as well as a secret message of perfection that is stored on Java Indonesia on top of Borobudur temple.