My visit with Golden Buddha on Mt. Shasta

\r\n\r\nI had an experience of great mystery to me, which showed me that we indeed have beings of Light on the “other side” who can assist us in our quest of enlightenment. Years ago, while visiting the sacred mountain of Mt. Shasta in northern California, I had a visitation in meditation that astounded me.  For many years this beautiful and powerful mountain had drawn me into its mystical spell.  I felt the magnetic pull to visit the mountain at least two times per year and each visit gave me food for thought and spiritual inspiration.\r\n\r\nOn this particular day, I had been in meditation almost the full day when I asked for a spiritual experience.  This I did often and found that when I would ask, I would be given what I call visions.  My encounters with the other realms are always very visual and I have a sense that I am actually in these realms experiencing beings and realities as clearly as if they were here in third dimension.  I did not have to wait very long before I “saw” in my mind’s eye two huge stone tablets looming before me that seemed to be about ten feet tall.  I call them tablets because for some reason they looked to me like the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were etched.  They were clearly functioning as gates or doorways.\r\n\r\nI waited to see what would happen and soon the gates opened slowly and revealed a huge field of fire behind them.  I intuitively knew that there was something very important on the other side of the vast sea of fire and that I would have to go through the flames in order to find it.  This did not daunt me because I had been “through the fire” many times in my spiritual search and I knew I had the courage to forge on ahead.\r\n\r\nI quickly made my way through the inferno.  Reaching the other side, I found two huge golden doors that also looked like tablets.  I waited until the doors slowly opened to reveal a small cave lined in gold also.  In the center of the cave sat Buddha, his legs crossed over each other in the lotus position.  This Buddha was made of solid gold but I knew that he was “alive” and could move and speak as if he was in third dimension.  Now, being raised Catholic, I had no real interest in Buddhism nor did I know anything about Buddha himself.  It was not that I recoiled from this expression of God but I just had no curiosity to seek information about it.\r\n\r\nWhat happened next surprised me and at the same time made perfect sense to me, until the final experience.  Buddha spoke to me and said to me that he had some gifts for me.  I sat before him and watched in awe as he reached out to me with his right hand and gave to me a jewel encrusted dagger, a knife that was truly beautiful.  At first I thought this “gift” was an expression of violence.  Why would he give me a knife?  I had to ask my inner guidance if he was “of the Light.”  The quick reply was that yes, not only was he of the Light, but this was truly authentic.\r\n\r\nThen Buddha reached out his left hand and opened it to reveal five perfect pearls.  He told me to take each pearl, one by one, and put it up to my third eye between my eyebrows.  I followed his guidance and found, with the first pearl, that I “saw” an explosion of golden/white light.  I heard the words, “God is.”\r\nWith the second pearl at my third eye I “saw” a beautiful, iridescent, starry veil surround me and heard, “When you become human, you separate yourself from the knowledge that God is.”\r\n\r\nThe third pearl at my third eye revealed little explosions of white light appearing to shine at different intervals and varied places within my body.  The words were, “There are times in your human incarnations that you can experience God.”\r\nWith the fourth pearl at my third eye, I “saw” green beams of light radiating from my heart, piercing the veil, and then returning as white light back to my heart.  I heard the words, “You find God through love.”\r\n\r\nAnd with the fifth pearl nothing happened.  I waited and waited to see what the experience would be, but nothing came into my mind’s eye.  “I am trying too hard,” I said to myself, so I decided to just lay down and see if anything more would be revealed.  As I lay there on this powerful mountain, I began to feel an exquisite energy filling my body.  It was intense and beautiful.  I felt as though I was being blown up like a balloon.  This energy kept up its expansion until suddenly it just stopped.  I waited some more, and when I finally knew that this was the extent of the experience, I thanked Buddha for such a wonderful visitation and for the special gifts.  I ended the meditation and in a state of awe began my descent down the mountain.\r\n\r\nThat evening I returned to my sister, Joani’s, home in Mt. Shasta City.  We sat at the dinner table in deep conversation as I revealed to her the astounding experience with Buddha.  I asked if she had any knowledge about Buddha or had an inkling as to the meaning of it all.  She said that she, too, did not know anything about Buddha—and was pleasantly surprised about my experience, however, couldn’t really give me information about the meaning of the last pearl.\r\nSuddenly, we heard a knock on the door.  Upon opening the door, Joani had a look of such surprise when she saw an old friend she had not seen in more than eighteen months.  This friend just happened to stop by and just happened to be a Tibetan Buddhist!  Great, I thought, she will be able to enlighten us as to the meaning of my experience.\r\n\r\nThis friend was not at all surprised to hear about my experience because she knew what these gifts meant.  “Yes,” she said, “these are indeed special gifts from Buddha, and it is all perfectly clear.”  “But what about the fifth pearl?” I said, “I did not get anything but some energy from it?”\r\n“Well, of course” was her reply, “That is because it is enlightenment, and you are not ready for that yet.”  I was astounded.  I had the opportunity to commune with an enlightened master and receive gifts that I had no awareness of before this wondrous experience.  I felt so privileged to have this mystical visitation and to receive these gifts of enlightenment.  The experience gave me faith in my humble search for the truth of reality and taught me that any of us can do the same if we ask for guidance with a pure heart.\r\n\r\n