Category: Non-Fiction
Rights: All Rights Available (except China)
600 AD, Luoyang Valley, Sui Dynasty China. It is a cold winter night. The year’s first snowflakes are falling in Henan province and the barren winter fields are being powdered white. The Chen River is steadily and unhurriedly meandering through Luoyang.
While the snow is falling, a lady of Chen is sound asleep carrying within her, nine moons. She is having a vivid dream. There is a nobleman in white robes. He is walking away from her, heading towards the West.
“My son, where are you going?” she asks. The man stop, looks at her, and with a look filled with compassion says, “Mother, I am going away. I am going to seek the nectar of truth.” He leaves his mother who is overwhelmed by a mix of emotions: Sorrow at her son leaving and journeying into the unknown, and pride at his confidence and determination.
The next day at first light, everything is white and calm. Even the screams of a woman bringing new life into the world are muffled. There is silence and stillness.
In that moment arrives the new life, as white as the year’s first snowfall. He arrives with clenched fists, a sign of sheer determination. He is Chen Yi, destined to walk thousands of miles in his lifetime in search of the Truth.
The author: Pawo Choyning Dorji