The Road to Awakening - Chapter 1; The Calling

        I was a thirteen year-old boy lying on a beach in Korea on a deep, dark night, looking up at the stream of stars, wondering, why.  The night was enchanting.  Only one or two houses with thatch-roofs and earthen walls reminded me of human presence.  The mating song of owls harmonized the rhythm of the night.  The night air filled with the ancient smell of seaweed tickled my nose.  The full moon was in the ocean making many tiny waves, shining like gold.  In the midst of the moon stood an island in the shape of a snake's head; beyond it another island in the shape of a dragon's tail emerged from the ocean moon.  The crawling snake's head broke the waves into a million tiny pieces of moon.  The rising dragon's tail pierced the stream of stars in the sky, causing the stars to fall one by one, dragging their tails in the night horizon.  They fell all around me on the beach.  

        A larger wave swept over the crawling snake's head and one piece of the ocean's golden moon broke away from the rest.  Riding the wave, it came ashore.  Jumping with joy, it turned into a young girl.  She danced around, gathering fallen stars.  Her hair, wavy like the waves, shined like the golden moon.  Whenever she turned her head, droplets of the golden moon dripped away from her hair into the night horizon.  Her face was pale under the moonlight.  Her lips were smiling;  her smile remained in the air even after her lips were gone.  Expressing clearly what pleased her and what did not, her eyes mischievously judged everything in sight.  She was dressed in faded away army fatigues, appearing as if she were wrapped in falling autumn leaves.  Her body blossomed with joy.  She wiggled her hips according to the rhythm of the waves, which she paced with her hand by hitting her hips.  Suddenly noticing my gaze, she became startled and missed a beat.  Blushing, she turned around coyly while tenderly grasping the mid-air with her fingers.  She looked sideways at me and then held her hand out toward me with her palm up.  Her fingers curled in, gesturing me to follow her.  Enchanted, I got up.  

        I was being drawn into her.  Noticing my helplessness, her eyes sparkled with joy.  Holding my hand gently she led me into the ocean.  The water was cold and slippery.  The waves swayed me back and forth.  She turned around and looked into my eyes.  A shadow of death passed by her forehead.  Then I fell into her eyes.  I entered into her death.  Without protest I followed her into the bottom of the ocean, engulfed by her death and captivated by her joy.  The sea water was all around me.  I breathed in the water; the salty and dense fluid played around in my lungs.  My chest heaved up and down according to my motion.  Bubbles of water came out from my nose.  The moon, the stars and the snake-dragon creature were held above my head as if a child had pasted cut-out drawings up there.

        Crossing the ocean terrains, we came to a spot where different currents met.  It formed a whirlpool, spinning endlessly.  The column of the whirlpool swirled up from the ocean floor.  Turning toward me, she spoke.  Her words formed bubbles which burst in my ears, ringing my head gently with her words.  "Enter the whirlpool from the northeastern direction.  I shall enter it from the western direction."  I hesitated, not knowing which direction was northeast.  Noticing my hesitation, she told me the northeastern point of the whirlpool was where the ocean mountain reached its highest peak.  I circled the whirlpool and came to the highest summit of the ocean terrain.  The whirlpool swirl was calmer there.  I plunged into the swirl.  To my surprise I tumbled down the slope of the mountain.  Inside the whirlpool, there was no water.  The moonlight reflected inside swirl of the whirlpool and the whole place had a golden glow.  At the foot of the mountain there was a pond.  The pond stretched into the center of the whirlpool from the ocean floor.  

        Surprisingly, the pond was calm.  The surface gently reflected my shadow,  from which the young girl emerged from the pond.  Her hair was undulating, her facial expression tenderly yielding, yet her hands and legs showed strength, firmly holding her body and mind.  Smiling cautiously, she spoke.  "My name is Tae.  I am the Maiden of the West.  I am the smiling mouth.  I am the blossoming flower.  I am joyous.  I am the time of harvest:  autumn.  I am also the time of judgment.  When the time of judgment comes all human cultures from all over the globe look upon me to celebrate my blossom.  They flock to me to flower.  All of human civilization eagerly take on the culture of the nation of the West in order to prosper and to multiply in plenitude.  Yet I am sad because in the midst of the blossoms, I cannot find fruits.  When my time comes, my joyousness needs to bear fruits.  When the judgment time comes, there shall be harvests.  Those who bear fruits shall be harvested, and only those who are harvested shall be able to enter the time of autumn.  In my search to bear fruits, I inquired the Mother Earth as to where I can find fruits to my Joyousness.  The Mother Earth told me in order for me to bear fruits, I needed a groom.  She told me that the West is her face.  And I, the spirit of the West, am her face.  She told me that my groom could be found in the nation of the Northeast.  She told me that the Northeast is where her womb lied.  The mountain range of the Northeast is the sacred vagina of the Mother Earth.  She told me that at the nation of the Northeast, her Truth shall bear fruits.  From the nation of the Northeast my Joyousness shall spring forth fruits.  The spirit of the Northeast is my groom.  She told me that his name is Kan."  Her voice sounded far away,  yet it was clear and crisp like the sound of pearls rolling on a golden platter.  

        I lingered over her words momentarily and hesitantly asked, "Where am I?"
        "You are within the circle of eight directions."  
        "Why am I here?"  I inquired.
        "Because you are the spirit of the Northeast - my groom.  You are the giver of life from my time of death."  With a puzzled expression on my face I squinted my eyes in order to see her more clearly.  She kept on speaking.  "Autumn is joyous.  It is the time of harvest.  It is the time when the fruits of the field are brought home.  But autumn, notwithstanding its joyousness, is also the time of judgment.  Autumn is the beginning of death.  Thus autumn without its harvest is without its joy - its purpose.  The spirit of the West cannot be joyous without the fruits of the spirit of the Northeast.  Kan is the nation of the Northeast.  Kan is the mountain where lines are strong above and yielding below.  It is the center of life and worship.  Words bear fruits at Kan, the place of birth beyond death.  It is where a new cycle is set in motion.  Kan is where a work that continues the past and passes something on to the future is completed.  Thus time becomes new and meaningful.  Time asserts the moment in reality into the new opening in time.  Kan is the womb of the Mother Earth.  It is where the Time gives birth."

        I intently stared into the golden female shape that stood before me.  I began to realize who she was, gathering my courage I declared, "My dear young bride, you know only half the story.  I am what you say I am; but I am also of the place of the dogs.  Kan is of the place of suffering and human agony.  Your desire to partake in this is commendable; yet I wonder whether you are truly prepared for the pain."

        "My young groom," she replied, "I have been searching long for meaning in the midst of my wealth.  My beauty showcases the world over; but it is without meaning, without purpose.  It is without direction.  I long to erase this empty feeling in my heart."  Her tears rolled into her smile.  

        I looked down at my feet and reflected on her answer.  Then I raised my eyes with a new determination and stated,  "Dear Tae, autumn is near.  And there is much work to be done.  Death, destruction and pollution abound everywhere.  Who shall be harvested?  Those who know the season.  I shall bring forth the fruit of Truth.  I shall renew the time of death into time of birth."

        With a tremble she spoke.  "My dear young groom, at your presence my heart thumps wildly with joy."  Her radiant hair glowed and her pale smile with the trail of death lingered in her space long after she faded away into the moonlit glow of the swirl.  

        A moment later the seawater tumbled into the whirlpool and I began to float upward.  The whirlpool disappeared.  I now found myself floating on the surface of the ocean.  I swam to the direction of the snake-dragon islands.  The moon was still in the ocean.  The stars still fell all around me into the surrounding water.  I swam into the moonlit ocean and climbed the island of the dragon's tail.  Turning to the sea I looked far and long over the night vista.  In the West, I spotted a golden fish jumping into the starry night horizon.