I returned to Master Fwap’s temple the next day. We again sat on his yak-hair rug, but this time, the table between us had a tea pot and two empty tea cups on it.

He poured each of us a cup, saying, “Today, I am going to teach you about enlightenment.

“But before I do, I would like to answer the question that I know you are just burning to ask me.”

If I had a particular question on my mind that I wanted to ask Master Fwap, I was certainly not conscious of it.

However, after a few moments of silence, a question occurred to me.

“Master Fwap, I don’t understand any of this. I came to Nepal to snowboard the Himalayas, not to learn about enlightenment and the secret teachings of your Buddhist order.

“Are you sure you have the right guy here?”

Master Fwap smiled at me but didn’t say a word. Then he closed his eyes.

Several minutes passed, and he still didn’t respond to my question.

As I sat on the yak-hair rug, a very strange thing began to occur.

The air in the room thickened, turning a beautiful bright golden color, not all at once, but very gradually.

Golden light surrounded Master Fwap’s body.

I rubbed my eyes with both hands, but it didn’t make the slightest bit of difference.

The color of the air around Master Fwap and in the room remained a soft and beautiful gold.

As I watched in amazement, the golden light that was filling the room became even thicker.

After a few more minutes, I could barely see Master Fwap at all, even though he was sitting directly across the table from me.

Then I felt my entire body begin to tingle with a prickly heat.

It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, just unusual.

It was then I first knew Master Fwap was enlightened.

Somehow I could feel inside of his mind, and I knew it was made up of the pure golden light.

I also knew, without knowing how I knew, that the golden light in Master Fwap’s mind, and the golden light that was currently filling up his room, was the light of enlightenment.

I could sense that Master Fwap’s mind stretched out endlessly in every direction, throughout all time, space, and dimensionality.

I had never felt or experienced anything that was so incredibly beautiful before.

Then Master Fwap spoke to me in a soothing tone. He didn’t open his eyes as he spoke.

He talked about enlightenment.

As he spoke to me, the waves of golden light continued to emanate from his body in an endless variety of kaleidoscopic patterns.

At other times, the light seemed to pulse rhythmically throughout the room, in time with his speech pattern.

“Enlightenment,” he said, “is the complete awareness of life without any mental modifications.

“It is happiness, ecstasy, and all that is beautiful, perfect, and fulfilling in life.

“Enlightenment is a perfect state of mind.

“It is the direct ‘seeing’ of reality.

“The world most people see, which they call life, is really just a dream.

“Just as the events in a dream have apparent solidity while you are dreaming them, so also day-to-day life seems solid and real while you are experiencing it.

“But when a day, an experience, or a feeling has passed, it loses its apparent solidity, just as the events in a dream lose their sense of reality after you have awakened from them.

“They only last for the blink of an eye, and then dissolve back into that unknowable and formless eternity from which all things come, and to which all things eventually must return.

“But behind this transient reality that comes and goes so swiftly, there is something else. It is the deeper, more permanent, and unchanging reality that we Buddhists call nirvana.

“As I told you yesterday, nirvana is not really a physical place, although sometimes in conversation, I talk about it as if it were.

“It is not really an experience, although sometimes for purposes of explanation and clarification, I mention it as if it was.

“Nirvana is the intelligent light that makes us, and everything that we experience from birth to death, and from death to rebirth.

“It is also the same light that makes up everything that is beyond the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

“It is wonderful beyond knowing.

“It creates all of the transient worlds, and the beings that inhabit them, out of itself!

“It sustains them, transforms them, and eventually draws them back into itself again.

“And yet, while the beings it creates will experience the pleasures and pains, and the successes and failures of existence, it remains aloof from them.

“It is untouched by their happiness or unhappiness.

“Nirvana is the state of perpetual bliss and ecstasy unaffected by the transient ups and downs of its own creations.

“Tantric Buddhist Yoga is the pathway a person can follow to enlightenment.

“Through the tantric practices, you can unite your consciousness with the eternal bliss and ecstasy of nirvana, and rise above the limited conditions of pleasure and pain, success and failure, happiness and sorrow, that all of the countless unenlightened beings in creation are slaves to.

“If you want to constantly experience the unalloyed ecstasy of life, you must first break contact with the things that cause you pain.

“You can accomplish this through the twin Buddhist practices of meditation and mindfulness.

“In meditation, by fully focusing your mind on your chakras, stilling your thoughts, and increasing your kundalini flow, you can rise above your body consciousness, and unite your mind with the clear light of nirvana.

“This establishes a flow of bliss and happiness between your mind and enlightenment.

“With the happiness, ecstasy, and power you gain from meditation, you can then gradually remove your mind from the things that it’s become hooked to that causes pain.

“Once you have accomplished this, regardless of what happens to you in your physical life, you will always be happy.

“When you draw your happiness each day from the endless awareness of nirvana, you are no longer a slave to fortune.

“When pleasant experiences come your way, you can enjoy them. But if pain and misfortune befall you, you can rise above them and remain unaffected.

“The bliss and ecstasy of nirvana will lift you far above the transient sorrows of both life and death.

“After you have united your mind with nirvana in deepest meditation, you will always be in an enlightened state of consciousness.

“Then let the rain of unhappy and tragic experiences fall, as sometimes it inevitably must, even in the lives of enlightened masters.

“If your mind has become one with nirvana, through the practices of meditation and mindfulness, you will remain happy at all times.”

“But Master Fwap, how do people who meditate feel before they become enlightened?

“Are they as unhappy, and do they still suffer as much as other unenlightened people?

“Do they have to become enlightened before things really improve for them?”

Master Fwap said, “When you first begin to meditate, you should not expect too much, too soon.

“The first day you start studying a foreign language, you don’t expect to speak it, do you?

“But after several weeks of practicing meditation, you will begin to have more energy, and be a little bit happier.

“Gradually, as your meditation practice improves, you will experience even greater happiness, and have more internal energy at your disposal.

“Eventually, you will experience ecstasy and knowledge that is beyond the power of words to describe.

“As your meditation practice improves from month-to-month, more and more light and ecstasy will spill over into the moments of your daily life.

“Eventually a time will come when you will always exist, as I do, in a state of continual light.”

“Master Fwap, if all you learn from a master are the secret meditation techniques, why would you need to continue to study with the master, once you have learned the techniques?”

Master Fwap said, “You will need correction, direction, and most of all, you will need your master’s auric empowerments.

“An enlightened master is a perpetual source of the cosmic light, because his mind is always merged with nirvana.

“You can literally tap into his aura, anywhere, and at any time.

“This empowerment gives his students an extraordinary amount of prana.

“This increased amount of prana—the energy of consciousness—enables them to meditate more deeply, and to accomplish other things in their lives more rapidly, and with greater happiness and ease.”

Master Fwap paused and looked directly into my eyes.

The golden light was still filling the air between us.

I felt my awareness change, and I simultaneously felt a strange tingling sensation at the top of my head.

After staring into my eyes for several minutes, he resumed speaking.

“Nirvana, enlightenment, these terms are interchangeable.

“Call it anything that you want to, its nature is perfect harmony, peace, and joy.

“Unlike the transient days of our lives that constantly come and go, nirvana has always been, is now, and always will be.

“This is the hardest thing in the universe to understand,” he said.

“You must look beyond my words in order to know what I am talking about.

“You need to experience the reality of light yourself in your own meditation.

“Only then will you really understand how perfect life is.

“Then, of course, you will be happy forever.”

“But Master Fwap! How can a person be happy in a world in which there is so much injustice and unhappiness?”

“Only the enlightened are consistently happy, because their happiness is not predicated upon the events and experiences that take place in this world.

“Instead, it is based upon the boundless inner energy they gain from their connection with the world of enlightenment.”

For a while, we both sat silently.

MASTER FWAP DEFINES ASTRAL TRAVEL

Then Master Fwap said, “Beyond this world are countless dimensions. They stretch on forever, and you can travel through them, and have experiences in them.

“Some astral dimensions are bright and filled with ecstasy.

“Advanced cosmic beings live in them.

“But there are also very dark astral dimensions that are filled with pain and confusion.

“They’re often inhabited by beings that are filled with hate and despair.

“The experiences that you have in astral dimensions are not essentially all that different from the experiences you have here in the physical dimensions, in the sense that they are also transient.

“Some people make the mistake of assuming that it is always better somewhere else.

“But life is more or less the same wherever you go, because wherever you go, there you are.

“I mention this to you only because so many people seem to confuse the experience of meditation and enlightenment with astral travel.

“Some people travel to other dimensions in their astral bodies when they meditate.

“But astral traveling doesn’t bring a person lasting happiness.

“As a matter of fact, if astral traveling is not done properly, it can be quite dangerous.

“It is an adversarial world outside of the safety of nirvana and enlightenment.

“There are many different forms of life in the universe,” Master Fwap warned, “and human beings are unaware of most of them.

“As you know, one small virus can take away your physical life.

“And as you have also learned, there are dangerous people and situations in life that you need to avoid, simply to go on living, let alone to achieve happiness and perfect enlightenment.

“The point I am making is that enlightenment is not interdimensional travel.

“Enlightenment is the experience of pure light.

“I have nothing against interdimensional travel.

“As a matter of fact, I do it frequently.

“But I learned to do it safely and correctly from my master, Fwaz Shastra-Dup.”

Master Fwap had finally brought up a topic that sounded intriguing to me.

“What is interdimensional travel like?”

“It is similar to traveling from one country to another.

“Sometimes it is refreshing and elevating, and sometimes it is tiring and dangerous.

“But interdimensional travel has nothing to do with enlightenment, which is beyond dimensionality.

“If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t provide permanent liberation from sorrow.

“That is why enlightenment is really worth seeking.

“It is the only thing that gives you permanent happiness.

“When you experience the ecstasy, peace, and perfection of enlightenment, everything is all right.

“You are happy and free. You know life.

“Once you are enlightened, you can do whatever you want without fear or sorrow.

“You can choose to have a career or live in a monastery.

“You can go snowboarding, get married, stay single, be rich and famous, or live unknown in a high Himalayan cave.

“It is up to you.

“The enlightened understand that nothing, and no one, really dies.

“At the moment of death, a being simply changes form.

“When you are enlightened, you know that everything and everyone, including yourself, is eternal.

“Armed with this knowledge, you no longer fear death, or feel as much sorrow when those you love die.

“Once you have personally experienced enlightenment, you will see beyond the ocean of death to the everlasting shores of immortality.

“When you are enlightened, you have united your mind with the deepest and most ancient part of the mind of the universe.

“You are not affected by suffering the way other people are.

“Naturally, your physical body will still feel pain if you get hurt.

“But you will not be overwhelmed, even by extreme physical pain, because your mind will be filled with light, love, and understanding.”

Master Fwap paused and closed his eyes.

As he did, the golden light that filled the air between us suddenly became more solid.

I couldn’t see Master Fwap or anything else in the room.

It was as if I had joined Master Fwap in a dimension of solid gold light.

Nothing seemed to matter to me anymore.

My mind had an unbroken continuity with all of creation.

I was at peace.

When Master Fwap spoke to me, it seemed as if his voice came from afar.

“Because of your karma from your past lives, you will become enlightened in this lifetime.

“You have been enlightened in a number of your previous lives. You cannot avoid becoming enlightened. It will come to you when you are twenty-nine.

“But first you must prepare yourself. You must learn to meditate and stop your thoughts. You must overcome all egotism and selfishness by serving others.

“You must cleanse your mind so that enlightenment will find a happy place to reside there.”

ॐ

His words touched something very deep within me.

I knew, after he had spoken, that what mattered most in life was to be as aware as he was—to be enlightened.

I don’t think I consciously understood most of what he said to me that day.

But as he talked, I could sense the light and the wisdom that was behind his words.

Somehow I could feel that he was in touch with the most perfect part of existence, and that was enough for me.

Without my knowing how or why, I simply knew what he had told me was true.

Master Fwap answered a few more questions, and then somehow, without my noticing it, the golden light had vanished from the room and the two of us were sitting together in silence.

The tea had grown cold.

ॐ

Master Fwap left me at the entrance to his temple, and I walked back to the hostel along the narrow streets of Kathmandu.

As I walked, everything I saw seemed to glow and give off wave-like vibrations of light.

Not as bright as the light I had witnessed around Master Fwap, but more subtle and subdued.

Looking at the buildings as I passed by them, I could see they were really made up of dancing particles of energy.

I now knew that the world wasn’t really as solid as it looked.

Walking along the cold dark streets of Kathmandu, I didn’t feel very physical.

Instead I felt as if I was pure motion, a feeling I have experienced both before and since, when on rare occasions, I have been snowboarding without any self-consciousness.

I slept well that night, and dreamt of snow falling in the Himalayas.