Q: In ‘VAJRAS DORJES’ you mention that Indra uses a Dorje (the Deva counterpart for it) to create thunder and lightning. Do you mean lightning on a Deva Plane or does it include the thunder and lightning on Earth too?
A: “Thunder and lightning on a deva plane” is entertainment. Similar to us watching the film of the Titanic from an armchair. When it reaches the material plane, it is similar to sitting on the deck as the icy arctic water rises.
There are innumerable planes of reality where the conditions vary enormously. Also there are links which enable passage between them. A church, a saint’s bones, a dorje, an antique, a photograph. Even a plant. Think how an acorn pushes out from its exit point from the Centre all the way out into the material world and then stands enormously looking down at you disguised as an “oak tree”.
Q: So Indra uses thunder and lightning to entertain (himself and) other devas, knowing that his lightning might hit living beings on planet earth? That doesn’t sound very compassionate. What I also meant is whether all thunder and lightning comes from the deva plane down to earth or is there also thunder and lightning caused by the natural phenomena described by science? Do Zeus and Thor/ Donar also still do the same?
A: You are stirring up so many waves that you are in danger of forgetting that you are a wave yourself. All this speculation is just a smoke-haze of thoughts.
Q: Thank you for all your answers, especially the one on Viññāna. I’m deeply sorry for stirring up so many waves (and for their effects). One may compare this body and this mind to a wave. Often, especially in meditation, there isn’t an “I”. The questions arise on the level of thought and there they seem justified. Some things I see, some things I find easy to believe and with others common sense seems to say: Indra, Zeus and unicorns, that’s a bit much – please help me believe. I’ve experienced things many people wouldn’t believe, so I know that much more is possible than one might have thought.
A: “…please help me believe.”
“Seeing is believing” but believing is not seeing.
Q: I know. Then help me see the things I cannot yet see.
A: Everything is to be found within you. Outside, there is only an infinity of “things” which mask the transformations of the One. No matter how many waves you count, they will never amount to the ocean. This is why the Buddha put as his keystone, the First Noble Truth – Suffering and not knowledge.
Q: Thank you. Everything, everywhere, up to the highest realms is dukkha, even deeper states of meditation, although one sees that they lead one closer to the source and thus less suffering and then no suffering because there is no sufferer. I forget that only when I get into things, which is a terrible mistake. I’m deeply grateful for Buddha-Dhamma and for being reminded of it.
Thank you.