A speck of dust hides itself tightly against a slab of stone, dodging rays of bright sunlight that are shining every single aisle and alley. Many years have passed by as has the speck of dust curtailing its life and activities within an empty shell. Once in a while, the speck of dust rolls its body out of the shell to collect the materials around in order to fortify its place — under an illusion that it would last forever or remain unchanged. Thus, the world and its activities, to the speck of dust, is no more than just a small view at the opening of the shell, almost unmoved and unchanged.
Regardless of how hard the speck of dust tries to hide away, a warm ray of sunlight still approaches and shines on it. Couldn’t stand from the out-of-control provocation, the speck of dust rebukes:
–Hey, that ray of sunlight. I tried to avoid you but why do you always keep picking on me to shine on!
–Hello the speck of dust. Please do not misunderstand me. I didn’t have that evil thought. I am a ray of sunlight just like thousands of other rays. We shine everywhere indiscriminately. Wherever there is an appearance of the sun, we will be there to fulfill our duties.
–Please do not shine on me. My shape is so rough and ugly. The more you try, the more ashamed I would feel. You should shine on the flowers with the beautiful colors and shapes over there. They deserve that chance more than I do. Moreover, my place is so dim and moist, incomparable to the nice and ventilated areas that the flowers have.
–The speck of dust! Do not let the attachment of form make you feel so unsatisfied. Is our goal of life just merely to decorate our outside appearances and to make us more attractive or to keep striving to improve our spiritual qualities and to open up our hearts to make us more beautiful and richer from the inside?
Having paused for a second, the ray applies:
–In this world, there are people who don’t have the attractive figures. Yet, they attract others through their patient and luminous personalities. Those qualities that make people beautiful from the inside are truly more important and outlast those that are superficial. However, they don’t exist naturally. They exist because people cultivate them. You should be content with what you have and keep accumulating these good qualities. Someday, you would notice that more friends coming to you because you have improved yourself with those qualities.
The speck of dust contemplates on the ray’s saying. It silently takes a deep look at the ray. Oh! How sparkling and glorious the ray is!
–You are so brilliant! I wish I could have some of your charms. Definitely, you must have a lot of beings worshiping you. Does that make you feel proud?
–I was proud of my radiance before. I thought I was the only one having that independent nature. And so, I looked down on the sunset rays and teased them on their weakness. Unfortunately, those bad words rippled to the sun. The sun reprimanded me and ordered me to go back to the source to reflect. Obeying the order, I flew toward the sun. The closer I approached the sun the quicker my form and color faded away. I wasn’t myself anymore but a brilliant mass that is impeccable. Moreover, I knew that I am indifferent with the ray of the sunset light, and the beauty and glamour of the dawn light that I possess soon would fade with time. Since then, my arrogance disappeared.
The speck of dust sighs.
–You have a source of the sun. I am just a small speck of dust. With my tiny appearance, how could I do anything that is beneficial to the world?
–You are wrong! In the past, I had a similar thought as yours. But later on I could use what I have learned, the personal experiences that I have gained, and the current ability to help all other sentient beings. Since then, having transformed my mind to realize the significant meaning of every single action regardless of how small it is, I always find pleasure and happiness through the compassionate deeds.
–Would you elaborate more on how you experience the pleasure and happiness?
–Because of the compassionate deeds, I attach less to my own self. I no longer feel disappointed or annoyed when I see others who don’t do what I want or like. I bring my warmth to the earth’s poles. Over there, I always see people with glowing smiles on their faces whenever they see the appearance of the sun. I merge into their happiness, and I am also their happiness. On another occasion, I saw an exploding coal mine. Rocks and debris sealed the mine’s entrance and trapped the workers inside alive. Fumbling in the darkness, they tried in vain for a way to escape. Using all my strength, I threw myself through the cracks between the rocks to guide them the way out. My light at the time was just glimmering but, to them, it was their huge hope. Following my light, they could dig an opening, big enough for them to crawl out.
–How could I obtain the spiritual knowledge like yours?
–What I know is just a textual knowledge, with little practical experience. More importantly, you should ask yourself to see if you do really want to learn, to research and to transform your mind. Gaining the knowledge alone is just like spending your time sharpening an axe and then leaving it alone until it returns to its corrosive state. If you could rather use that axe to chop down trees or to split open firewood, you wouldn’t waste your time and energy for sharpening it.
–I do really want to transform my mind. Would you please guide me on the path to search for the spiritual path?
–I know a place where there is a yogi living in hermit nearby. I would ask the wind to take you there. Good luck to you!
Immediately, after the sunray stopped talking, a cool wind whirls the speck of dust up in the air. The speck of dust no longer feels that it’s just a speck of dust anymore. The speck of dust becomes part of the cool wind. The speck of dust is now the clear, blue sky. The speck of dust looks down to where the former shell was. The shell becomes smaller and smaller as is the self-attachment of the speck of dust.
Duc Q. Nguyen
(Winter 2001)