It's 2:45 am here now, and I am up to tell you all about a wonderful dream I just had. Now, dreams are just dreams. We shouldn't even take 'reality' that seriously, much less dreams. I think we need to filter dreams through what I seem to remember Grand Master saying about them, perhaps in one of his books, although I can't say which. (Maybe someone can help, if they recognize it.) The "filter" is that genuine spiritual response dreams will never be confusing. You will always know exactly what they mean, and they will never be distressing. And, if a person, through a dream or some other sudden insight, starts to think that he has reached some sort of 'personal understanding', it needs to be evaluated to see if it is true, because a genuine teaching dream will in no way contradict the normally taught Dharma. It will be perfectly consistent. But it doesn't matter. We all of us are like little children and, if a story makes us happy for a little while, so be it. Who's going to burst the bubble and point out, for example, that there really are no unicorns? Yes, there are. Well, personally, I have never seen one, but I'd prefer to believe that they are possible. And since no one can prove that something is not possible....well....
The dream. It was at the Seattle Temple. Grandmaster had come in to walk around through the groups of students there in the courtyard. He walked by me, and I put my hands together and bowed. Then he went over to sit by a Chinese lady. He was leaning against her, and I thought to myself that they must know each other well, then I realized that he was not feeling well. He got up and headed toward the temple, and was sweating and shivering as if he had a fever. His steps were unsteady. I took off my jacket and went over and draped it around his shoulders, and steadied him as he walked on. He recognized me and asked, "How is your business?" I answered, "Fine." We walked on and he told me "I sometimes wonder if they (westerners) will ever really understand. This empowerment today is called the Penetrating the Layers of Heaven empowerment, and I am doing it only because so many people wanted it......a quick way......like instant coffee! They don't realize that it took me three days of preparation. It is an extremely complex process and if even one step is left out or a mistake is made, one has to start all over! And even with the empowerment, they don't see that the easy way is really the hardest way and the hardest way is really the easiest way." When we got to the crowd of people, he joined them, I took back my jacket and put it on, thinking, "How lucky I am!"
Then, later there was some sort of drawing going on and several people urged me to enter, so I did, not really knowing what it was about, but going along with what my friends were saying anyway. Master Samantha Chou picked the winning ticket and said, rather surprisedly, "The winner is Darrell!" Everybody applauded, and I went up to the front. I didn't even know what it was I was supposed to have won! Alice took me over to a 'money tree' that had about thirty bunches of money all over it. I asked "Have I won all this?" Master Samantha translated what I said to the audience and everybody had a laugh. Alice told me, "No, since it is Father's Day, you get to pick three bunches. All are different. Pick one for D, one for A and one for D. So I did, and when some of the others unfolded the money in the bunches I had picked they said something to Master Samantha, and she told the audience, in English, "He picked each of the three highest amounts!" It was about $1900 in all. That was good, but I was still happy about the coat. The money was okay, but not nearly as good.
So, I will keep you all informed about this. It would not surprise me at all if someone sends me $1900 soon. :) Already good things are happening. Today my brother gave me an acre of land. I offered to buy it from him, and he told me that he would not sell it to me. At first I was disappointed, but then he said, "But I will give it to you."
Tomorrow (today) I will find out if I am going to get a new mobile home that I applied to get. I have poor credit, due to a bankruptcy on my record, and no down payment. On top of that I am self employed. Not a good credit risk. But, after this dream, I feel very certain that things will be ok. Is it a spiritual response? It doesn't matter. I feel great. I feel lucky. I feel blessed. That much is real.
The dream. It was at the Seattle Temple. Grandmaster had come in to walk around through the groups of students there in the courtyard. He walked by me, and I put my hands together and bowed. Then he went over to sit by a Chinese lady. He was leaning against her, and I thought to myself that they must know each other well, then I realized that he was not feeling well. He got up and headed toward the temple, and was sweating and shivering as if he had a fever. His steps were unsteady. I took off my jacket and went over and draped it around his shoulders, and steadied him as he walked on. He recognized me and asked, "How is your business?" I answered, "Fine." We walked on and he told me "I sometimes wonder if they (westerners) will ever really understand. This empowerment today is called the Penetrating the Layers of Heaven empowerment, and I am doing it only because so many people wanted it......a quick way......like instant coffee! They don't realize that it took me three days of preparation. It is an extremely complex process and if even one step is left out or a mistake is made, one has to start all over! And even with the empowerment, they don't see that the easy way is really the hardest way and the hardest way is really the easiest way." When we got to the crowd of people, he joined them, I took back my jacket and put it on, thinking, "How lucky I am!"
Then, later there was some sort of drawing going on and several people urged me to enter, so I did, not really knowing what it was about, but going along with what my friends were saying anyway. Master Samantha Chou picked the winning ticket and said, rather surprisedly, "The winner is Darrell!" Everybody applauded, and I went up to the front. I didn't even know what it was I was supposed to have won! Alice took me over to a 'money tree' that had about thirty bunches of money all over it. I asked "Have I won all this?" Master Samantha translated what I said to the audience and everybody had a laugh. Alice told me, "No, since it is Father's Day, you get to pick three bunches. All are different. Pick one for D, one for A and one for D. So I did, and when some of the others unfolded the money in the bunches I had picked they said something to Master Samantha, and she told the audience, in English, "He picked each of the three highest amounts!" It was about $1900 in all. That was good, but I was still happy about the coat. The money was okay, but not nearly as good.
So, I will keep you all informed about this. It would not surprise me at all if someone sends me $1900 soon. :) Already good things are happening. Today my brother gave me an acre of land. I offered to buy it from him, and he told me that he would not sell it to me. At first I was disappointed, but then he said, "But I will give it to you."
Tomorrow (today) I will find out if I am going to get a new mobile home that I applied to get. I have poor credit, due to a bankruptcy on my record, and no down payment. On top of that I am self employed. Not a good credit risk. But, after this dream, I feel very certain that things will be ok. Is it a spiritual response? It doesn't matter. I feel great. I feel lucky. I feel blessed. That much is real.