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Music playing is Medicine Buudha Mantra (Tea Tah) by Deva Premal When my beloved parakeet left his tiny body, it was by accident. His name was DJ, short for ‘disc jockey.’ Like most birds, he loved sounds, including songs on the radio and our CD collection. He was a real cutie, white and brilliant turquoise, with a constantly cheerful personality. He loved to sing whenever a song was in the air. He was especially fond of sweet love songs. Living with DJ was a little like living inside a Barbara Striesand musical. He was A Real Lover.
DJ loved to fly, and he was extremely proud of his navigational skills. He could land on a pin head. Unfortunately, his wings were constantly clipped, to keep him safe. Later on, as he developed a feather-picking problem, he also wore a colorful flannel neck collar. He looked like a little priest. I sometimes affectionately called him “Father DJ”.
Although DJ had his wings clipped and wore the little collar, he still could fly just about anywhere he wished. He was amazing in this regard, whereas our other parakeet would simply ‘plop’ to the ground. | ||||||||||||||||
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One day DJ had an accident. He flew straight into our Eclectus parrot’s nesting box. The day before I had clipped DJ's wings. He must have miscalculated his strength, flying on his way to his own cage. I think he just couldn’t make it and flew into her box from the sheer weight of his own body.
Running into the bird’s room, I gave a terrible scream.
“NO!!!!!!” I screamed in utter shock.
There in her nesting box, was a dead little DJ. His neck had been broken. He was gone.
I picked him up, screaming in disbelief.
“No....this can’t be happening! DJ!!! Oh my precious DJ,” I cried and sobbing wails came out my throat.
I held him to my heart, cried, and rocked, saying, “I love you, DJ. I love you so much, please don’t die,” over and over again.
He had been ‘my best friend’....better than anyone, ever.
He had sat on my head as I had recovered from eye surgery for 6 weeks, and couldn’t look up.
He had driven in the car with me, singing out loud Great Love Songs to the car radio, perched up on my shoulder.
He had said, “I love you,” over a million times.
We had connected too deeply. He just couldn’t be gone. I couldn’t live without him.
Yet, it was over. He was dead.
How long I sat with him on my chest, crying, I can’t recall. I was in deep shock, mystified as to anything beyond this pain, this suffering.
I had, in the past 2 years, lost my 14-year-old niece, my mother and father, and two other family members. My husband’s mother was also on her death bed. I had survived them all, had mourned, and learned to celebrate their passings with love, song, dance, prayers, and of course, tears. I knew how to do this.
Yet DJ was different. He was like a part of me.
Finally I said to him, “Don’t worry, DJ. We know about mantras and prayers. We know how to “let Go.” We know how to celebrate everything. We can do this. I want you to find Liberation. You have suffered enough. I have to find some way to help you Over To The Light, to some Heaven or Pure Land, some place where you will never again be unhappy. I want you to have a good ‘send off’ into The Divine.”
I tried saying prayers and mantras over his little limp body. But I sensed nothing was really happening for him. I sensed his spirit was flying around my head, trying to reenter his little body. I sensed he was shocked I could no longer see him.
I visualized a Buddha’s Land in my mind. I connected with his mind, and showed him the land.
“Go there, DJ,” I said, “you will be happy there.”
I actually saw him fly into a beautiful etherial landscape three times. But each time he flew back to me. No matter what we did, it wasn’t working. We wanted to be back together.
"I can’t let him come back as an animal again,” I thought. “Animals have too much suffering here. I have to help, and there isn’t much time.”
I placed his little body in the arms of my Buddha statue, went into the bathroom, and screamed and cried some more. I didn’t want to live. My love, my baby, was gone. I had never felt such pain. I thought I would die.
Suddenly, from nowhere, I heard a “Shhhh!”
I sensed two figures standing behind me. They both felt to be male. They were not in physical bodies. The one closest to me spoke.
“Shhhhh,” he whispered, “you need to stop. Stop screaming and crying. Shhhhh. We are The Ones Who Come When You Cannot Live Without Someone.”
I felt a soft touch behind my heart. I was not alone. I kept crying, but now it was different. I was not alone. I could make it through this, somehow, as long as I was not alone. They were strangers, yet there was a soft, powerful multidimensional love.
“Shhhhhhh!”
A peace finally descended. I stopped. The two figures left.
“I was going to die,” I thought. “They came to save my life.”
I went over to the computer and turned on the Tibetan Buddhist Internet Radio, www.LamRim.com . How often listening to these teachings had helped me through tough times. How often they helped me to put things ‘into perspective’.
I listened to Nagwang Chotak’s, MESSAGE OF LOVE. I began to feel better. We all were going to die some day. Nothing was permanent. This was the Buddha’s Dharma Truth, the Truth of Existence.
Everything that is born, dies. All that comes together, disperses. Death and Impermanence....they were basic teachings. He went on to explain how we got here and how we could move on.
I went over to DJ’s body and lovingly placed it in front of my computer speakers, so he could hear The Dharma Talk. I sat next to him. Closing my eyes, I allowed this Dharma Stream to pour over me. We had meditated together his whole short life of 6 years. It was second nature.
A Peace again descended. DJ and I were meditating on the teachings. I felt once again connected with my little best friend.
The talks took us through the first turning of The Wheel of Dharma, and then on to The Second Turning. This was when I suddenly realized that DJ had “taken off.” His spirit had left his little body for good.
I wondered where he had gone.
My mind opened up, expanded, and I actually SAW HIM. He was traveling up the Dharma Stream of Buddha's Teachings. He was flying on top of the Talks, following them back to their source. It was like he was flying up stream. I realized the Dharma teachings were an actual stream, flowing from a rock. Behind this rock was a Silent Pool. Sitting on the edge of the still pool, was a Golden Buddha.
The Golden Buddha was sitting cross-legged, with his finger pointing, as he spoke. His essence, his vibrations, were entering the pool, which then streamed down to The Earth, through The Rock. It seemed as though This Rock were Speaking The Universal Truths of Exisitence, which then flowed down as a Dharma Stream toward Earth.
The Rock was a Portal. A Statue. A Buddha Statue.
Then I heard a voice. It was the same little voice I had heard for the past 6 years, the voice of DJ.
"Mommy, I found my way Home. I Followed The Love. It was Easy. Just Follow The Love,” he said.
"The Buddha isn’t here any more,” he continued in his usual cheerful voice. “He left a big rock here, and it speaks for him. He had to move on to other things. The Rock is doing the work for him, now.”
DJ was talking to me!!!!!!!!!! It was so clear, as if he were still on my shoulder!
"I love you, “ he said.
"Mommy, look deeply into The Buddha Statute’s face. Keep looking and pretty soon his face will disappear. It is like a veil. You can go to any Buddha’s Lands through the veil. It’s a hole you can fly through.”
This was to be The Beginning of many teachings given to me by my Beloved DJ. Over the next several weeks, his communications with me were nonstop. He explained so many things to me, that I couldn’t keep up. I couldn’t even write them all down.
To this day, DJ has continued speaking to me, as if on my shoulder. He has become My Mentor.
As a Dedication to My Best Friend, I have decided to write down as much as possible of his teachings, to share with others. I have decided to call DJ's teachings The DJ Chronicles. | ||||||||||||||||
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(DJ keeps me company as I recover from eye surgery with my head down, for 6 weeks.)
copyright Anupama Deanne Kallman AHA! STORIES
MEDICINE BUDDHA MANTRA:
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