by Rick Fields

Thus have I made up:

Once the Buddha was walking

along the forest path in the Oak Grove at Ojai,

walking without arriving anywhere or having any

thought of arriving or not arriving.

And lotuses, shining with the morning dew

miraculously appeared under every step

Soft as silk beneath the toes of the Buddha.

When suddenly, out of the turquoise sky,

dancing in front of his half-shut inward-looking

eyes, shimmering like a rainbow

or a spider's web

-- the Goddess appeared quivering

like a hummingbird in the air before him.

She, for she was surely a she

as the Buddha could clearly see

with his eye of discriminating awareness wisdom,

was mostly red in color

though when the light shifted

she flashed like a rainbow

She was naked except

for the usual flower ornaments

goddesses wear.

Her long hair

was deep blue, her eyes fathomless pits

of space, and her third eye a bloodshot

song of fire.

The Buddha folded his hands together

and greeted the Goddess thus:

"O goddess, why are you blocking my path?

Before I saw you I was happily going nowhere.

Now I'm not so sure where I go."

"You can go around me,"

said the Goddess, twirling on her heel like a bird

darting away,

but just a little way away,

"or you can come after me

but you can't pretend I'm not here,

This is my forest, too."

With that the Buddha sat

supple as a snake

solid as a rock

beneath a Bo tree

that sprang full-leaved

to shade him.

"Perhaps we should have a chat,"

he said.

"After years of arduous practice

at the time of the morning star

I penetrated reality and."

"Not so fast, Buddha," the Goddess said,

"I am reality."

The earth stood still,

the oceans paused,

the wind itself listened

-- a thousand arhats, bodhisattvas and dakinis

magically appeared to hear

what would happen in the conversation.

"I know I take my life in my hands,"

said the Buddha,

"But I am known as the Fearless One

-- so here goes."

And he and the Goddess

without further words

exchanged glances.

Light rays like sun beams

shot forth

so brightly that even

Sariputra, the All-Seeing One,

had to turn away.

And then they exchanged thoughts

And the illumination was as bright as a diamond candle

And then they exchanged minds

And there was a great silence as vast as the universe

that

contains everything

And then they exchanged bodies

And then clothes

And the Buddha arose

as the Goddess

and the Goddess arose as the Buddha.

And so on back and forth

for a hundred thousand hundred thousand kalpas.

If you meet the Buddha

you meet the Goddess.

If you meet the Goddess,

you meet the Buddha.

Not only that. This:

The Buddha is emptiness,

The Goddess is bliss.

The Goddess is emptiness,

The Buddha is bliss.

And that is what

And what-not you are

It's true.

So here comes the mantra of the Goddess and the

Buddha,

the unsurpassed non-dual mantra. Just to say this

mantra,

just to hear this mantra once, just to hear one word

of this

mantra once makes everything the way it truly is: OK.

So here it is:

Earth-walker/sky-walker

Hey silent one, Hey great talker

Not two/ not one

Not separate/ not apart

This is the heart

Bliss is emptiness

Emptiness is bliss

Be your breath, Ah

Smile, Hey, And relax, Ho

Remember: You can't miss.

Reprinted with permission from Marcia Fields