The Eighth Parable:

Huang Di’s Lessons of Healing

        This time Huang Di stopped Lao Tse on the way to a village. He pointed to the poor and rickety old shack on the outskirts of a settlement and said:
        “Today we will spend the night here.”
        “Why? We’ve always shunned villages, keeping the solitude, since the calm life with Tao shouldn’t be perturbed with the vainly of a worldly life!”
        “That which was good for a certain period of time not necessarily will be good always! It is wrong to be too attached to certain rules — either in a meditation or in Your daily life!
        “Ask the owner to let You stay overnight in this house — and you will know the reason why You and I came here. It is time to change something in Your life: now You can start learning to help people.”
        Lao Tse knocked on the door, but there was no  response. Only after a long period of silence, He heard shuffling footsteps, and a haggard old man opened the door.
        Lao Tse came in and saw a woman — evidently the wife of that old man — sitting at the bedside of a sick young man.
        Lao Tse guessed that this young man was their son and that he was seriously ill.
        The old man said:
        “He is our only hope and support in our old age… But now he is dying! We prayed to all gods, whom we know; we evoked the spirits of our ancestors; we gave all our savings to the healers, but no one could help…
        “Could it be that Heaven finally heard our prayers — and You came to save him?”
        … Lao Tse did not expect such a reception and such a course of events…
        He called Huang Di for help and got His answer:
        “Give him My drink, and immerse yourself in meditation: I’ll teach You how to heal this young man…”
        Lao Tse took from His bag a vessel with a potion made of mountain herbs, which Huang Di taught him how to prepare, gave it to the parents and told them to give some of it to the young man from time to time.
        The old thanked the guest as if the miracle already had happened!
        “What can we do for You, holy traveler?”
        “Now I will ask Huang Di to help Me with the healing. If you take care of my donkey, that will be enough…”
        And Lao Tse dived into the meditation of Mergence with Huang Di…
        Yet instead of direct instructions on how to cure the sick man, Lao Tse again saw the pictures from His past… And the material world disappeared completely from His perception…

* * *

        They were again present during the lesson in the room for conversations.
        “Why Lu isn’t with us today?” — Huang Di asked.
        “His wife fell ill, and he stayed with her,” — one of the disciples replied.
        “But if he’d come here, You would have helped him to learn how to heal her. What will happen to her now?” — another asked.
        “Will You help his wife, Huang Di?” — a third disciple said.
        “I will, but not right now… All events — troubles and joys — don’t come in one’s life by chance, but in accordance with the Will of Tao and by means of Te! They can teach a lot of things to the one who is willing to learn.
        “Until man learns lessons from all these situations, it will be very difficult to help him or her…
        “Lu knew a lot about the Supreme, and it was his right to make this choice. The consequences of this choice will form his future destiny.
        “As long as one person is attached to another rather than to the Infinite Tao, this person should stay among the worldly, in the circle of births and deaths…
        “On the other hand, to find the real Immortality, tenderness, care, and the help to other beings — one should obtain another Base: Divine Primordial Tao.
        “If now any of you manages to convince Lu that his love for Tao should be stronger than his love for his wife, and even if he follows this advice and leaves the worldly because of the external indication, but not because of the internal choice of the soul, then the similar situations will repeat again and again in his life.
        “It is wrong to pull people to Tao! Each flower blooms in its own time! And the fruits also appear when they should!
        “Tao patiently waits for the time when each soul blooms!
        “… And now we can practice our healing abilities.”
        Huang Di pointed with His Arm of Consciousness to a shepherd that fell from the mountain and injured his legs severely.
        “Let’s visit this place all together!” — Huang Di said.
        And in a moment — by Huang Di’s Power — they were carried to the place in the mountains where the body of the shepherd was.
        Huang Di approached the moaning man and passed His hand over him. The shepherd became quiet…
        “Is he dead?” — one of the disciples asked.
        “Not at all! Look closely: he has simply fainted. The soul left the body for some time, but this is not death. He won’t feel any pain now.
        “Look at his body with the consciousnesses and find the places of fractures and other injuries.”
        … Huang Di observed how His disciples joined the broken bones…
        When it was done, He said:
        “Observe now that a body has numerous energy channels, through which vital energy flows. Connect these channels in the sites of injuries,  using your arms of the souls in the sites of injuries. Repair so that the energies can flow freely in all channels.”
        … Huang Di kept explaining while His disciples were working, and half an hour later, the shepherd stood on his feet!
        He started looking anxiously for his flock and became slightly scared after seeing the strangers. But when one of the disciples pointed to the herd of goats, he calmed down, thanked with a bow and went away…
        “Huang Di, why have You made it so that he couldn’t remember the miracle of healing?”
        “It wouldn’t have helped him. He wouldn’t have become better due to this, since his mind isn’t capable of understanding how he was healed.
        “This lesson was useful for you rather than for him.
        “You saw the possibilities of using the Power of Te during the healing.
        “At the same time, you should remember that it can’t be done without the consent of Tao!”
        … They came back to the room for conversations in the same miraculous way.

* * *

        Here they met Lu, who was waiting for them…
        Feeling himself guilty and sad, he fell at the feet of Huang Di.
        “Huang Di, help me! My wife is very ill, no remedies could help her! Save her if possible!”
        “Get up, Lu! You are still my disciple, so behave with dignity, please!”
        Lu, wiping his eyes, stood up and made an effort to calm down his emotions. Finally, he managed to do so and, being in the deep inner silence, bowed before Huang Di.
        “That’s better…
        “Love for individual creatures is truly beautiful, Lu.
        “But it should be developed into the Divine infinite Love, devoid of human attachments and conventionalities!
        “This kind of Love knows no barriers! Its possibilities are enormous!
        “Besides, as you’ve heard many times, the death of the body doesn’t mean that someone parts from you or that someone’s life ends. Now you can really understand this…”
        “Yes, Huang Di! While I was waiting for You here, I understood a lot…”
        “Yes, you’ve learned a lot, and it is — good! But you missed the lesson of healing, Lu, and we all have to repeat it for you again.”
        Huang Di addressed all His disciples:
        “Look, we don’t need to be close to the body of a patient to heal that person… We can just — being merged with the Light-Power of The Great Te — bring, from below, the Arm of Consciousness close to the body of that person…
        “Look, here is the wife of Lu…
        “Act attentively! Now we can cast out all the energies affected by the disease from her body and replace them with Light.
        “There is the Will of Tao for this…”

* * *

        At this point, Lao Tse realized that now He was again in the room with the sick young man…
        “Now do the same by yourself” — He heard the approving voice of Huang Di. — “When I say ‘yourself’, I means that You — as a spiritual heart with gentle arms — should feel the Infinite Divine Power that flows and works through You. Don’t worry: I will help You to understand what to do and how…”
        Lao Tse began working.
        Half an hour later the young man opened his eyes and uttered his first words.
        … After that, his parents started believing in the existence of miracles; they were not capable of something more yet. But love-reverence for Tao and gratitude to Huang Di and Lao Tse — from that moment on — always filled and lit up their lives.
        … The next morning, Lao Tse wanted to leave the house where He healed a person for the first time, but Huang Di stopped Him:
        “Through you, Te prolonged life of this young man in his body. Now You should teach him something I taught You. This is especially important for him! If not, he will become a debtor of Tao and Te.”
        … Thus Lao Tse found His first disciple.

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