The Sixth Parable:
Find the Treasure!
One day, riding on his donkey, Lao Tse saw people digging zealously under the ancient walls.
“What are you looking for?” — asked them Lao Tse.
“If you are a sage who can see through all things, then tell us where the treasure is buried here.”
“Is it worth to spend so much effort on a treasure hunt? Gold and other jewelry will not make you better or happier! If you dug up the ground and planted some seeds, the land would reward you with the harvest for your hard work. You would be well fed and happy and be able to live in calm. Why do you want to obtain what you haven’t created?”
“We don’t need your sermons! If you can’t see through stones, then don’t play wise and go away!” — the treasure seekers became outraged.
… Lao Tse realized that these people did not need his words and went his way.
However, he recalled that once he read about the great Treasure that must be found by a person who seeks Tao.
“Huang Di, tell me about the Treasure mentioned in the ancient tales. They say it has to be found on the Path of cognition of Tao. They also say it is like a spring that lifts the mortal to the cognition of the Immortality.”
“You’ve asked a good question! It’s just the right time for it,” — replied Huang Di.
Lao Tse dismounted from his donkey and wanted to start writing down the words of Huang Di, but He stopped him, saying:
“Don’t write about this Treasure now. Just hear Me out.
“The time has come for you to know this. It will also come — when it should — for every seeker of Tao. Then they will hear My words and see the priceless, sacred depository of the energy of consciousness that they have accumulated during many lives in many bodies…
“Every person, living in the world, begins to collect — incarnation after incarnation — precious particles that make up this Treasure gradually.
“By loving unselfishly and tenderly, souls grow as the spiritual hearts, preparing themselves for the life in paradise. By giving bliss to others and admiring the beauty, they become subtle, approaching gradually the Abode of Tao. Thus the consciousnesses grow, enriching themselves with the best, subtlest components.
“To prevent spending all this real wealth of the soul on worldly affairs only, some of this energy is saved for the future — for the activities on the Path to Tao.
“A lot of people have this Treasure, but only few of them know about it.
“Some people have more of it, others less…
“If a treasure is buried under a house, but the owner of this house doesn’t know about it, that owner can’t get any benefit from this treasure. In the same way, if a person doesn’t know about the real Treasure, that person can’t get any benefit from it!
“And there is no point in trying to find this Treasure in order to use it in the material world.
“Only the one who knows the essence of this Treasure and is able to use it for one’s own real spiritual progress can be its owner.
“People don’t need much in the entire material world, but they don’t know about this. They are looking for a lot of things but of little significance, whereas the great Treasure is near them! This Treasure gives the power on the Path to the worthy one. In India, yogis know it as Kundalini.
“However, if people who are unworthy because of their negative qualities of the soul try to use this ‘spring’ — the great power of this Treasure— to dominate others, then this force will throw them to the foot of the stairs that lead to the Heavenly… Their existence will become miserable and their destinies sad… They will fritter away their lives and have to begin accumulating this Treasure again…”
“Do I understand right that a person who has found this Treasure can’t return to a usual worldly life?” — asked Lao Tse.
“If a good person chooses a worldly life and wants to return to the external, Te will never stop this person. Everyone is free to make his or her own choice…
“Nevertheless, it is impossible to take into a material life those riches that were intended for the Path to Tao. If not, they will disappear, become elusive, so to speak. This is similar to the situation with gold and pearls, jade and jasper, which can’t be brought into the worlds of Tao and Te! There different ‘gold’ shines!
“The Treasure that is lost by a person because of the wrong choice is saved for him or her in the Absolute, and later on that person will be able to find it again in the next incarnations.
“When the soul is ready, I give it this Treasure, and all Te are always glad about the successes of everyone on the spiritual Path!”
… Huang Di continued His explanation, directing the attention of Lao Tse to the subtle worlds:
“Look, here is your Treasure! All your anterior subtle states of the consciousness — drop by drop — have created this sea of diamond light, which is stored in a special huge container that extends in the depths of the multidimensionality. Now unite yourself with this Divine part of you!”
In the depths under his body, Lao Tse saw — with his sight of the soul — a huge reservoir that was filled with radiance and that looked like some diamonds sparkling in the sunlight. He touched this Treasure with the arms of consciousness — and the bliss overfilled His body… He perceived that the diamond radiance was turning into the flow of radiant and transparent Heavenly Bliss and was uniting with the embodied part of the soul…
Huang Di recommended:
“Now make a comfortable place to lie down and let this Heavenly Bliss pass through all parts of your body. Whenever you unite with the Divine part of yourself, you will be able to use all the power and all the skills of the soul that has been accumulated by you during many lives, during all the time of learning from Me!”
Lao Tse spread a rush mat and lay down comfortably.
As soon as he placed his arm of the consciousness into the container with the Treasure, the flow of Bliss filled again his body up to the top of his head and poured from there… It was as if his body had become a transparent hollow vessel, and the diamond shining stream was flowing through it like a spring river that has broken the ice…
For several days, Lao Tse lived in this Blissful Mergence interrupted only briefly.
Now he could experience himself like the Great Te, by becoming a huge consciousness consisting of Light. This consciousness could take the form of a human body and had a face and arms. Thus he could stand above the earth, touch and cleanse his material body with the arms of the soul…
It seemed to him that he had achieved the compete Divinity and that nothing would ever shake this state!
It seemed to him that he had cognized everything, that the Perfection had been attained and that the Supreme Ultimate had been reached!
Huang Di did not “open his eyes” since his disciple really was in the state similar to that of the Great Te. Yet… this was only a small separate “drop” of the Great Ocean of the Divine Consciousness — “drop” with name Lao Tse.
To flow completely, together with the obtained Treasure, into the Ocean of Tao, Lao Tse still needed to work hard.