Journal 9

Dear Journal,

    The ferryman was right. Everything does come back. I have come back to visit him and learn about the river. Vasudeva, the ferryman, has already taught me some things about it. He has taught me the power of listening and how vital it is to have it. The river also has taught me that I need to strive downwards sink and to seek the depths. But above all, I have learned how to listen, to listen with a still heart, with the waiting, open soul, without passion, without desire, without judgement, and without opinions. I have learned many other simple things as there is no such thing as time. Overall, the river has taught me much. I have heard that the great Gotama was dying. Many of his followers have come to cross the river and visit. I saw Vasudeva holding a woman from a distance. When I looked closer, I saw that it was Kamala and a young boy. She was bitten by a snake on her way to visit the Buddha. Vasudeva laid her down on my bed where his wife had died years ago. She recognized me and told me that the young boy was my son. The young Siddhartha. When she had passed away, he looked very distraught. That night he did not eat nor talk and just sat there. He went to bed in silence without another word. That night Vasudeva and I prepared the pyre for the cremation ceremony for my dead lover.

                                                       -Siddhartha