One
summer afternoon, an Au Lac male disciple and I were doing some editing
work with Master in Her kitchen. Aware of the heat, Master compassionately
asked Her attendant to serve us a cold dessert -- "silver fungus and
lotus seed soup" which requires cooking over low heat for a long time.
The soup, with its crystalline transparency, was highly appealing
to the eye.
However,
the perceptive Master immediately detected that something was missing.
"It will taste better with ice!" The attendant quickly retrieved the
dessert to add some ice. Concerned as I was about health, I gently
refused, "Please don't take the trouble. I am more used to warm food."
The Au Lac male disciple, who happened to be a naturopath, explained
the ill effects of iced food on health and insisted on not having
any ice. Master smiled at us and said briefly, "Just eat it, you won't
die!"
That
was a very concise sentence but I felt as though nectar was pouring
down on me and tranquilizing my soul. My heart suddenly opened up.
"That is right! The worst that could happen is to have a stomachache;
it won't kill me!" Within moments, I had gulped down the tempting
golden dessert, and felt my body and soul, from within to without,
immersed in cold sea water; the heat had vanished.
When
we had finished our work, I bid farewell to Master. Master turned
around, selected a big yellowish red mango from the fruit basket,
and placed it in my hands lovingly. The fragrance of the ripe fruit
filled the air, but it did not make my mouth water. I was stunned
on the spot and departed somewhat stupefied. I cannot even remember
whether I thanked Master or not.
As I made my way
downhill, questions flashed into my mind, one after another, and I
answered each one of them as though I was studying Zen enigmas. "Doesn't
Master know that I have not eaten a single mango in the last ten years
because I have had a skin allergy since childhood?" "Of
course She knows; there must be some `truth' behind Her action."
"The basket was full of all kinds of fruit -- apples, guavas,
grapes. Why did Master single out the mango that I dread?" "She
must be testing me; She wants to check whether I would follow Her
instructions or not."
This question-and-answer
session went on even after I had arrived back at my tent. Staring
at the knife on the cutting board, I asked myself, "To be or not to
be?" But the mango was given to me by Master personally. How could
I let it go? Well, the worst that could happen to me was to suffer
a fatal itch, and a bodily itch was better than this indecisiveness
that was eating at my heart. Resolutely, I picked up the knife, cut
a big slice of the mango, and tasted it. "Wow! It was so sweet, delicious,
smooth, and fragrant!" I had missed this wonderful taste of the mango
for a long, long time. Since then, I have regained the joy of "biting"
mangoes. Even more incredibly, my allergy has vanished naturally without
any medical treatment. 
Between
Master And Disciples
