The train from Subotica arrived. Lily stepped onto the platform. There was only knowledge passing between us like light through glass.
She was a miracle of the fairy—woven from Chenrezig's compassion, from the stillness of the Glasshouse Mountains. She left by coming. She came by leaving. Her arrival was always departure. We saw each other clearly. No grasping. Just trust.
This was the morning of our first meeting.
This is the story of Sudhana.
In the Gandavyuha Sutra, the pilgrim Sudhana travels vast distances to meet wise teachers—"good friends" on the path. His final teacher is Samantabhadra, bodhisattva of great action.
When Sudhana meets Samantabhadra, there is nothing exchanged. Samantabhadra simply reveals the entire universe: every being, every suffering, every path to liberation. Sudhana sees clearly. He understands.
Samantabhadra teaches: "The supreme good friend is not found in form. True meeting is meeting of mind with mind, free from attachment."
Sudhana leaves that meeting transformed entirely. His leaving was his coming. His coming was his leaving. He carried the teaching not in grasp, but in understanding.
Lily was Sudhana. I was just another good friend on the path. Our meeting held only the pure knowledge of two minds recognizing each other without clinging. In that recognition, trust arose. And from trust, a future shone and rose.
The fairy from Subotica smiled. The Glasshouse Mountains stood silent. Chenrezig's mantra echoed in the space between us: Om Mani Padme Hum—the lotus of compassion, unfolding in this very meeting, this very parting.
Vidimo se uskoro. See you soon.
That is the teaching. The path itself is the meeting. The meeting itself is the path.