Peter Hunter, Excerpt #5: Flowers and Sparkles




Excerpt #5: Flowers and Sparkles

“The idea is to let your mind settle. Think of waves on a lake. When the water’s too agitated, you can’t see to the bottom. When the mind is too busy, you can’t see your own thoughts clearly.”

Peter raised an eyebrow. “Again with the water?”

“The more control you have over your thoughts, the more control you’ll have over yourself and your world. In fact, there’s a story about the Buddha just before he attained enlightenment.”

Sensei Rob started using his hands while he spoke.

“He sat down to meditate and Mara – the head demon dude in charge of all the bad spirits – came to distract him. He assembled all his minions, thousands of demons, and they threw spears and shot arrows. But the Buddha kept his thoughts focused and the weapons turned into flowers and sparkles.”

“Flowers and sparkles?” Peter asked warily.

“Then Mara sent his daughters, right?” Sensei Charlie asked.

“Yes.” Rob nodded. “They tried to distract the Buddha by dancing, but he remained focused and in control of his thoughts.”

“Did the girls also turn into flowers and sparkles?” Peter asked.

Charlie snorted.

“The point is,” Rob continued, “your mind is so powerful, it can even defeat the forces of evil and temptation. And meditation is how you get there. Humor me. Let’s try some right now.”

“Meditate? Right now?” Peter asked unenthusiastically.

“There’s this form of meditation where you take in the moment without passing judgement. You’d be surprised how much we judge everything. ‘It’s too cold;’ ‘It’s too hot;’ ‘Sensei Rob is annoying!’”

“Can you read minds?” Peter joked.

Rob smiled. “The best way to free your mind of judgmental thoughts is by focusing only on your breaths, nothing else. Try that for one minute.”

“Just breathing in and out?” Peter said. “Because, I don’t want to brag, but I’ve been breathing in and out this whole time. My entire life, in fact.”
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