The Stone That Was I

I was sitting with eyes closed; thought I was meditating. 'That stone and you', said my Master 'you are the same. You both lie and wait. You take the pounding. You love to be shaped. You both have uses. After people are done with you, they break you, trash you, ignore you or cast you away.' My Master had said the stone and I are the same. I smiled visualizing I was a stone, as if the smile was etched, carved, or branded by forces of nature; a smiling Buddha in stone. 'Are you saying I am as strong as the stone, as hard as the stone and as big?' I asked, knowing nothing He says is so simple. I suddenly had a doubt, 'Could a stone simply roll down the mountain?' He laughed, 'You are clever, aren't you? You can roll down, you can erode, you can crumble, and you can corrode. Go deeper.' I became thoughtful. I let His words seep in. I looked within. 'I may break, I may crumble, and I may chip and wear down. Yet, deep within I am every bit the same as the mountain I was. Deeper within I am that molten energy whence I became the stone.' 'You are getting there', He said, 'discover yourself. Discover your real Self. That can never crumble. You are right, you are not the stone, you are not the mountain, you are just the energy within.' Came a day when I felt I was shining. I felt I had been molded and polished by Him. I felt I was ready, but not sure for what. Ah, but I felt heavy. 'Why do I feel heavy? Can't you make me light? I can then be free and fly with You?' I pleaded. My Master said, 'You still are a stone. You have the identity of a stone. You are a stone because you don't listen to your body, to your soul, to your being.' He is right, but not as much as I would like him to be. 'I do not wish to be a stone, I wish to be a feather so that I can fly with you' I pleaded. 'I'll not spoon feed you', He said firmly, 'the path is for you to make.' I cry, I plead, I beg. I said, 'But Master, what will happen to the beautiful form you molded?' 'That was the stone. Are you a stone? You say you don't wish to be one.' He said. He had said look deep within. Let me seek, I thought. Let me seek answers to find out who I am, and who I wish to be? 'Am I a stone? I don't think so. No not at all. Why did the Master say I was one? Maybe because I was one then, at the point I started. Now, I'm softer, more like clay. I'm neither soil nor stone.' I began to burn from within. The debris-like images, memories, desires and attachments slowly dissolved. I seemed to shrink, grow lighter. Finally I looked one day at the Master with no feeling. I saw not the Master, but a grain of sand, just like me. 'Now' said the Master, 'you have evolved into the highest form of stone. You are not a stone, but a fine grain of sand.' 'I am still the same substance, Master, even if I am of a finer grain' I said. 'That you are, that you were, and that you will be always, but, you did not know that was what you really are. Now, you know. You can now fly. You can do anything you want. You are a stone no longer' He said. 'Come fly with Me.' Tears flowed down. I was one with Him. He had said I shall be in you when you drop Me. I am now complete and replete within and without. The Master is my universe I care not to comprehend. I cannot. But I know! Master sits in blissful silence. I sit waiting in joyful silence. Two crabs walk by and say, 'Hey, look at these two stones. They look massive!' I am still a stone to the outside world. I'm sand within, just a bundle of grains of sand. All truth, all love, all Universe and my Master wrapped into that. He says I am light. People may think I am heavy. I care for neither. Yes, I am both and more. Transformed within, transparent to the master, translucent to the world, I live like a stone. My Master said I am a stone. He, of course, is right. The stone and I are the same. The stone didn't make a mountain. It stood alone and by the truth of Master's word, by His love it became a grain of sand. The transformation was complete!