The Second Parable:

Build the Heavenly Palace in
 Your Spiritual Heart!

        Lao Tse was walking down the path slowly.
        Invisible for strangers, His Teacher Huang Di was near Him all the time.
        None of the casual passers-by could hear Their conversation.
        And no one who observed Them could note anything unusual.
        Lao Tse gradually was recovering His ability to see and hear His Master.
        “How do You come here from the Abode of Tao?” — asked Lao Tse.
        “This is easy!” — Huang Di laughed in response. — “This is much easier than to come in the Abode of Tao!”
        Huang Di continued with a smile:
        “Love unites so firmly that even the death of a body cannot break this union! All that we love — is securely stored in the memory of the soul!
        “I remember You! And now You try to remember about the life with Me in Your past incarnation. Try to remember the Universal Home where All Those Who have cognized Tao obtain the Oneness!
        “Anyone who at least once has entered into this Mergence in the Abode of All the Perfects retains this skill forever. And one day this memory will awaken the soul and call it again to stand on the Path leading to the Mergence with Tao and to the consolidation of this Mergence! Just as a river rushes to the sea, so such a soul, after being born again in the material world and matured there, rushes to the Boundless of Tao! These souls are looking for the Oneness, in which they find their Ultimate Happiness! And if we took all the pleasures of the material world and put them on a scale, they wouldn’t be able to match with this Greatest Happiness!
        “The wise choose the Jewel of the Mergence with Tao! The wise prefers this Happiness to all the pleasures of the material world!”
        “Could You recreate Your body — so I could embrace You?” — Lao Tse asked.
        “I can do everything! But for You it will be better to embrace Me without Our bodies.

        Do this by the arms of the consciousness, of the soul! I’m not going to indulge You with the ‘miracles for the babies’! Soon You will recall everything, and the events that You now perceive as miracles will be Your usual knowledge and style of life.
        “Meanwhile embrace Me tightly, My beloved!”
        … Great Huang Di, in His Transparent Appearance, stretched out His Arms to embrace Lao Tse.
        … Keenness of this touch of the Souls was much stronger than similar embraces with embodied people…
        Now the Teacher and His Disciple merged as Souls.
        Anyone who has experienced this — understands the importance of such an event.
        And those who have not experienced it yet — can do this some day…
        … Huang Di continued His lesson:
        “Now recall what you should do to stay firmly in the Heavenly Palace, which You should create in Your middle dantyan. There — You can always see and feel Me!
        “Always remember that the innumerable multitude of the material objects and the sequences of the events are just the outward manifestations of life. A human mind wanders from one external object or event to another. It looks at the past or dreams about the future… Still it’s possible to subdue the mind and to teach it to be in calm! For this, one needs to switch one’s attention from the external to the internal…
        “This is possible when the mind is immersed in the middle dantyan, or, which is the same structure, in the chakra anahata.
        “Then in that chakra, one can clear the space and create the Heavenly Palace of the soul. Only after this the Infinite Divine Consciousness called Tao can live there by the Part of Itself.
        “In other words, the Heavenly Palace for Tao should be built in the vast depths of the human developed spiritual heart!
        “And then one also can live in the inner chambers of this Palace — without grieving because of misfortunes and without rejoicing because of successes, but knowing the Base of everything — Tao!
        “If You invite Me to this home, then I come there from My Home — the Abode of Tao. And I’ll come to You again and again until You yourself can come to My Home and settle in it forever! This is the Infinite Divine Home of all Te! There — all They are One, and this Unity is called Tao!
        “So Your spiritual heart can become a home for Te, Tao, and You yourself!”
        … Now Lao Tse began to submerge Himself in His spiritual heart consciously, and not spontaneously, as it had happened before during His contacts with Huang Di, when the emotions overfilled Him and the entire soul turned into love.
        Yet at that moment, this area in His chest was not large and transparent enough…
        Huang Di continued:
        “Feel the arms of the soul, that is, the arms of the spiritual heart, which are consubstantial with it. You can use these arms to clean this space so that You can invite Me!
        “You haven’t cleaned here for a long time. That is why, the inner chambers of the soul became like a house in which no one have lived for long time…”
        … Huang Di left His disciple for a while, and Lao Tse began cleaning His inner chambers.
        Soon they became like a crystal glass room shining like a diamond in the light!
        “You worked well to be able to invite Me!” — Huang Di said manifesting Himself once again.
        Then He continued:
        “At the beginning, the spiritual heart may occupy little space. But the one who strives to merge with Tao should deepen it and then expand it again and again, trying to make it as infinite as Tao!
        “Expand Your Heavenly Palace by the arms of the consciousness so that it can be decent to invite Me in it and You can contain as much of Me as possible!”
        … Lao Tse pushed the transparent wall of His Heavenly Palace by His arms of the consciousness, and, oh wonder! — it yielded and moved easily towards the infinity… He did the same with all other walls, then with the floor, and then with the ceiling… He repeated this again and again, and soon the Freedom, the Expanse, the Light, and the Bliss were all around!…
        “Now, this is truly the Heavenly Palace! — Huang Di said with approval. — “You’ve done it in a very short time, but You shouldn’t forget that for Your students it will be much more difficult. Some of them will need months for this work, if not years. Now I just have helped You to recall what You knew in Your former life on the Earth. That is why, it was possible to do all this so quickly and easily.”
        “What should I do now? How should I live?”
        “You should live with Me, recalling and studying further the Great Path!”
        “And right now — where should I go?”
        “Now — turn to the left. There You will buy for yourself a white donkey. Then You should gather writing instruments and set out on a journey. We have a lot of work to do!”
        And in fact, having turned to the left, Lao Tse found a road leading to a market. He reached it and found Himself in the midst of bustle and hubbub of that place. But, surprisingly, all this did not disturb the peace that reigned in the Heavenly Palace of Lao Tse.
        Feeling the presence of Huang Di, He was walking among people who were bargaining.
        Soon He saw a man selling a donkey, but Huang Di said:
        “Not this one! Keep going!”
        … Lao Tse wondered at His new feelings: He spoke with the Immortal so easily as with an incarnate person! And He perceived the presence and the words of Huang Di even more clearly than the noise of the market!…
        Finally, They found a cute white donkey.
        Lao Tse began bargaining with a seller… and lost the sensation of the presence of Huang Di…
        At last, the donkey was bought.
        “You overpaid! The former owner was cruel to this kind animal and didn’t deserve such a payment!” — Lao Tse heard suddenly. — “Well, for the first one of our concerted actions, it is not bad…”
        … Being guided by Huang Di, Lao Tse quickly finished all His affairs and disposed of His property. Then He gathered writing instruments and some food for the road.

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