To behold Maitreya, one had to contemplate him in the tantric way. To do this, Asanga found a Teacher who knew the tantric way of contemplating Maitreya, received initiation from him and went into a cave for meditation. In the first three years, he contemplated strictly according to the rules specified by the Teacher, with the recitation of mantras. But time passed without any noticeable success. He did not see Maitreya even in his dreams. Then he lost heart and went to wander the world. One day he met an old man on the bank of a dry river. When Asanga approached him, he was busy knitting a fishing net. Asanga asked him in surprise:
- What are you doing?
The old man replied:
— I knit nets for catching fish.
- But where do you have water in which there would be fish? — asked Asanga.
The old man, pointing his finger at the dry river, said:
“Water will flow along this riverbed in the future, and there will be fish.”
Asanga thought about it and came to the conclusion that he had not been engaged in contemplative practice enough, for mere mortals, fighting for life and hoping for the almost impossible, do not deviate from their life goal and continue to stubbornly act, but he, desiring to see the Victorious One, retreated from his goal. With these thoughts, Asanga returned to the cave.
Three more years of practice passed, but still he was unable to see Maitreya even in a dream. This time, passing by an abandoned quarry, he noticed a man rubbing a large piece of stone against another stone. Asanga approached him and asked:
- Why are you rubbing this block?
The man explained:
— I am an expert on precious stones, especially diamonds. This block in my hands has thin white veins that converge like rays in the center. This is a sign that there is a diamond in the center of the block. But if I break a block with a sledgehammer, then the diamond will also break, so by rubbing against another stone I will gradually get to the diamond itself and will be a rich man. All wealth comes from hard work.
Asanga, having heard this, thought about it and said to himself: “If people do not spare strength and energy for the sake of their own enrichment, then how weak am I in seeking guidance along the Path leading to Nirvana. It is necessary to continue tantric practice without sparing any effort.”
He returned to the cave again and continued contemplating Maitreya.
Another three years passed, but he did not feel any changes. Asanga thought: “I sat for nine years in contemplative practice in order to see Maitreya and achieved nothing. Apparently, karmically in this life I am not destined to fulfill my plans, and therefore I express my wish to Maitreya that I can see him and receive instructions on the paths of improvement in a future life.”
And again he went to wander. This time Asanga walked under a large stone terrace and noticed drops of water constantly dripping from above at regular intervals into the same place, causing a bowl-like depression to form in it. This amazed him: “How many years and how many drops fell on the stone slab for such a depression to appear in it? Apparently, it took the drops more than a dozen years to carve such a bowl.”
And then Asanga realized that all actions require perseverance and perseverance to achieve the set goal: “After all, I am looking for Buddha Maitreya to receive from him the teaching on the path of improvement, and I still do not achieve the desired result due to laziness and lack of perseverance. We must persist until complete victory. I will not stop contemplating until I see him.”
And so he sat for another three years. Now the contemplation has taken a total of twelve years. But he never noticed any results. Only occasionally did intuition tell him that the goal was not far away.
Asanga left the cave again. Not thinking about anything, not paying attention to anything, he wandered, not understanding where he was going and why. He was no longer looking for anything: neither wealth, nor happiness, nor Maitreya. Nothing worried or touched him. He walked wherever his feet took him. But then he suddenly came across a sick dog lying by the road. From afar, he heard her whine pitifully. As he came closer, he noticed a deep wound on the hind leg, and this wound was full of swarming worms. The dog helplessly licked the wound and looked pitifully at him with watery eyes. He looked at her for a long time, wondering how to help her. Suddenly his whole body began to tremble, and a strong feeling of compassion suddenly arose in the depths of his soul. The rational desire to help the dog was replaced by an ardent, passionate desire to save it, at all costs. Rushing towards her, he touched the wound and then noticed the moving worms - with the same force as the dog, he pitied the worms too. His task became more difficult, because throwing the worms onto the ground meant destroying them. The feeling of pity grew more and more and finally engulfed his entire being. All thoughts were absorbed in one desire: to save both the dog and the worms. In his entire inner world, nothing real existed except this thought, this task. He pulled out the bone knife that he carried with him everywhere, he did it unconsciously; instinctively cut open his thigh and began to pull the worms out of the dog's wound, carefully transferring them to his own wound. At the same moment, the dog miraculously transformed into Maitreya - in a rainbow radiance, in the same form in which Asanga imagined him during his contemplation for twelve years.
Asanga threw himself at His feet in amazement and exclaimed indignantly:
“Did I contemplate for twelve difficult years just to see you in the guise of a wounded dog?!”
Maitreya answered him:
— All material dharmas (things) arose from shunyata (emptiness), further, in their development, they are spatially united thanks to the creative power of earth and water. Combining, they become material objects possessing various qualities, such as beauty or ugliness of form, useful or opposite qualities. All these different qualities of things, arising at the moment of unification of the elements of matter, which act on klesha-avidya (fetters-ignorance), are called illusions of the senses. These illusions of the senses remain with a person until he experiences enlightenment. With the advent of enlightenment, the veil of illusion falls away. Only then is a person able to see, feel the root nature of things as shunyata, and then he is able to contemplate the true nature of the Buddha. You, Asanga, have only now lifted this curtain of illusion thanks to the emergence in you of the bodhisattva mindset, which expressed itself in pity, compassion for the wounded dog. But I was next to you from the very moment when you sat down to contemplate me. I have not left your side for a moment for twelve years. Three years later, disappointed, you left the cave and met an old man knitting a net - it was me. Three years later, you left the cave again and saw a man in the quarry - it was me too. Three years later, you left this place and noticed a drop of water - and it was me. Finally, for the fourth time you left the cave, and now you were destined to achieve bodhisattva altruism, and you saw Me in the form of a dog. Sinful people believe in illusion as truth and do not believe the words of the Buddha.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru