Appendix A

Once, there was a Monk that achieved such a high level of spiritual attainment that all the animals of the forest would come to him. Deer would come and bow their heads. Birds would land upon his shoulders, singing joyously. Then after a time this Monk, deep in meditation, reached an even higher enlightenment and the animals came to him no more.

In breaking with my [perhaps] bad habit of writing in riddles (I flatter myself to think of them as koans), I'm going to do some exposition on that last post.

Some of you will recognize the former title as a quote from Avatar, the Nickelodeon cartoon series, from the episode The Guru. The words are given to us by Aang, the last airbender, who at the time is looking to cleanse his 7th chakra, the crown chakra, governed by pure cosmic energy but blocked by earthly attachment. At that time Aang faces the conflict between his love for Katara and his desire to achieve a transcendent consciousness. As he begins to let go of these attachments he is struck by a vision of Katara chained to a wall, suffering. This plot point is nearly identical in The Empire Strikes Back, the next quote I reference, where Luke rushes off to save his friends, against the stern protests of Yoda.

So you ask, why is this significant? What do these moments have to say about our experience?

In certain strands of Buddhist philosophy there is the idea of a Bodhisattva that holds himself back from enlightenment until all beings may achieve enlightenment.

Sometimes one's spiritual attainment is symbolized by a circle. When one first heads out on the path, the circle is blackened. The student lives in ignorance and darkness. As he (or she) continues down the path, a light appears, reaching across the circle like the growing brightness of a waxing moon, first crescent, then half, then gibbous and then full. But in this metaphor the highest level of attainment is always a return to darkness, and once again the circle is blackened.

These pop culture references are meant to highlight the limitation of the guru figure. The wise, impressive figure in a high mountain abode, deep in meditation, is limited by an attachment to enlightenment which keeps him utterly serene but still separate somehow from his brothers below. In both cases, it is the impetuous student, riddled with attachment, that through toil and sacrifice, saves the day.

How many of you got that from the last post?

also, the full Avatar episode I was talking about is here:

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/avatar-the-guru-full-length/485803236